Tuesday-Wedenesday, 21-22 October 2025

Los Angeles to Istanbul

We have a mediocre buffet breakfast at the Homewood Suites Hotel, and ride the free shuttle back to LAX to check in for our 1:40pm non-stop flight to Istanbul. We are assisted by an efficient and friendly clerk who takes our luggage and prints our boaring passes. But that is when the efficiency ends, as we are forced to wait for over an hour for Will's pre-ordered wheelchair ride.

After much fretting and worrying, we are finally taken through immigration and security before we can head to the airline lounge and then to the gate. In small-town Tucson, as I reported in the previous blog, a new type of x-ray machine allows us to go through the process very quickly, without removing computers and iPads, and no security officers rifling through the personal items in our carry-ons.

But it's a very different story at LAX. Not only must passengers remove these larger electronics, but a TSA agent decides to go through every item in my carry-on. He finds nothing amiss, of course, but he doesn't even put everything back that he had removed. And then, my new shoes cause a ruckus. It seems that that the company in Ohio that constructed the added height insert in my left shoe, put in a mesh lining that I had specifically said I did not want. And the mesh lining set off alarms in the security apparatus. I wore the same shoes leaving Tucson on Monday and those local machines didn't blink an eye.

Up in the Air

We are finally escorted to the airline lounge for less than an hour until our flight boards. Once on our nonstop Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, everything improves to a remarkable degree. In fact, our nine hour and 10 minute business class flight is one of the best I have ever experienced. The flat-bed seats, with mattress pad, blanket, and pillow, are extremely comfortable; the selection of entertainment is so vast it takes almost the whole flight just to make a choice; and the cabin staff, male and female, make everyone comfortable.

    

The best part is the food and beverage service. Passengers are greeted with a choice of drinks--our choice is champagne--and warm roasted nuts. We are each given a large menu that describes all the food and drink on offer. Even before taxi and take-off, the chef himself comes down each aisle to take the main entree selections. Will and I both have filet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. Other courses--appetizers and desserts--are offered on carts that are brought to each row of seats. I am sorry that I am too busy eating to take photos of the food, but I do offer a portion of the menu itself.

Will and I manage to sleep for several hours and I also watch the new "Mission Impossible" film, "Final Reckoning." My one-word review, "Meh." I pass time watching the "My Flight" videos that present our journey from as many different angles as possible. 

 

The remainder of the flight is smooth and uneventful. A light breakfast is served before we land in bright sunshine, about 20 minutes early at 1:20pm. The weather channel predicted a 90% chance of rain today, but it was 100% wrong.

The new international airport here is the largest in the world, in terms of acreage, Fortunately Will gets a wheel chair and I get to ride in an electric cart for the longest distances. We have help getting us to the proper exit to meet our pre-arranged limo ride to our hotel, just outside the Old City (Sultanhamet)

It is almost 4pm when we check in and are shown to our very nice deluxe "suite." For dinner we opt for the hotel's small restaurant for pizza and salad-- after all we did eat a great deal on the plane.

I will begin the next blog with photos of the hotel and our first full day of sightseeing in this incredible city.