WARNING: This post is rather critical in a negative sense and in no way reflects the entire culture and city. I intend to go back and get a better sense of what being there is like, so don't take my words to be 100% fact.
First off, I had a 16 hour layover, which is why I ended up booking a hotel there via Airbnb (my go-to for these short stays). Furthermore, because my layover was over 10 hours, the airport wouldn't hold my luggage. I had to either put it in a locker or take it with me. According to the airport map there are 4 places I could leave my luggage. Don't be fooled, there are only two: there's a luggage locker in the arrivals area of the International terminal and there's one in the arrivals of the domestic terminal. I searched up and down for the lockers in the departures terminal because it would make my life easier if I can just go get them and then check in, but nope. Furthermore, it's on the far end of the international terminal.
Ataturk airport isn't really that confusing, thank goodness, so I was able to find my way easily enough. Before I could get my stuff from the turnstile, I had to pass through customs. i was mentally freaking out because I was only staying for one night, but I didn't have a visa and Turkey isn't a country where Americans can just go to like France or Japan (I'll make a post about visas later). It completely slipped my mind that I may actually need a visa to get out of there. However, there is a solution. Inside the airport you can buy a visa sticker for about $25. Really. I'm not lying. It's near the customs line. They have kiosks and a desk. I would suggest going to the desk if it's open, it's easier.
The interesting thing though, I was already in line for customs before that and it hit me that I probably had to get that visa. First I tried to ask one of the airport staff who spoke English, but he just said I was in the right line. Obviously he was wrong. I asked an American who had visited Turkey before and she said I needed to get that visa and she told me where to go. So nice of her.
So after I got my visa and got my stamp and passed through customs, I went to go get my luggage and then I went to lock it up. Then I went down below to catch the subway to my hotel. The hotel was only 2 stops away from the airport, a stop called Yenibosna, and the hotel was only about 200 meters away from that stop. Not far at all. I could walk. However, my contact at the hotel told me to take a taxi and call him to give the address to the taxi driver. WTF? Why would I do that when it's only about 15 minutes walking? Anyway, I did what he said, but the guy didn't pick up the phone so I ended up wasting 10 lira.
I tried calling him again and he told me to put a Turkish person on the phone so they can tell me how to get there. WHY NOT JUST GIVE ME THE ADDRESS? I asked him for it but it took a while to send it. He insisted that people there speak English and I'm sure they do, but people are terrified of speaking English to a native speaker out of the blue. And I didn't want to give my phone to some random person. I was about ready to return to the airport, to be honest. I was annoyed and it was getting late. I told him so. Finally, when I got the airport, I just walked to the hotel because it wasn't far. That would have been a lot easier then trying to convince me to take a taxi.
The hotel itself was alright. It was better than I expected for the $40 I paid for it. It also came with free wifi. I'm glad I ended up there because I could take a shower and be all fresh for the next flight. The next morning the person at the counter asked if I needed a taxi and I said no, I can walk (cuz I can) and I did. I made it to the airport with no further problems.
However, when I arrived, I couldn't find my flight. I when to the help counter for Turkish airlines only to find that my flight had been cancelled. And they didn't notify me. What? How can you not tell someone who bought a ticket that their flight was cancelled? I didn't really mind that my flight was cancelled. Shit happens. They would've put me on another flight anyway. My issue was that they didn't notify me AT ALL that it was cancelled. That just isn't professional in my opinion. I know that our cultures are different, but it would be common sense to notify a paying customer that their product can't be delivered. I know that my ticket was really cheap, but there are some things that should be a given.
I had to options: wait 2 days for another flight to Bordeaux, or fly to Paris and take a train to where I needed to be. I ended up choosing the flight to Paris because after calculating things, both options would cost me the same amount of money. It was either spend 100 on 2 more nights in a hotel, or spend 100 on transportation. It didn't really change much of anything. Besides, I'd rather be stuck in a country where I spoke the language
After changing my flight I got my bags checked in. My flight was going to be 4 hours later, so they didn't have my gate ready yet. All I could do was wait in the airport. I got a bite to eat and when my gate was announced, I headed to my waiting area. After waiting and boarding at last, one more thing happened that wasn't the fault of the airline. They had nothing to do with it. Anyway, a passenger ended up having a medical emergency just after the plane was fully boarded and she had to be evacuated, and then the crew had to go and find her family members (2 people) and escort them off the plane, and then they had to grab their luggage from the cabin and from the luggage compartment down below. It took quite some time to sort everything out and so we ended up leaving about an hour late.
After we finally took off I relaxed because I was finally on my way. All in all, I think my usually zero luck decided to take a turn for bad luck for a brief 24 hours. I don't know what happened, but my experience wasn't positive. I sincerely hope it's an isolated incident. However, this makes me wary of flying Turkish Airlines, even if it is extremely cheap. But hey, you get what you pay for.
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