Travellers Pursuits

This is an open letter to whoever is planning to land in one of Türkiye’s international airports – the Istanbul Airport. My message is short and clear :

Watch Out.

please read all the way to the editor’s note at the bottom for a full explanation!

But first, dear reader, let me take you back to where it all started. We had just finished our stint in Nepal and on our way to the next chapter of our adventure – Europe. We had decided to start our journey at the edge of the continent, in the beautiful historic city of Istanbul and finish at the western end in France. To make it all the way there, we booked a flight from Kathmandu – Dubai – Istanbul. This whole voyage would take us through three different continents, three time-zones and 16 hours of airport travelling. Sufficed to say, when we arrived in Istanbul at 10:30pm Local Time, we were exhausted.

Our first obstacle was a surprising one. It was not the flight itself. It was not the landing. Hell, the passport control went actually pretty smoothly considering the line up was huge. Our first annoyance was actually the luggage cart. The airport required a deposit or outright rental of the cart. As we are die-hard cheapskates, we opted to bite the bullet and just drag and carry our stuff. I know, I know. Its no big deal. Some would even say I’m being pissy about a mere luggage cart. All of the other airports I have ever been to, luggage carts were free to take and use. Maybe I had taken this privilege granted. Maybe this is just a European airport thing. My dear reader, this was just the beginning.

Another privilege taken for granted and taken away by Istanbul Airport is Wi-fi. Every airport I have ever been to from big to small, from Singapore‘s waterfall spectacle to Cebu‘s cold floors, has had a free wi-fi. Our previous stop, Dubai, for some reason did not allow a purchase of an e–sim through Airalo – the app stated that it is banned in the UAE. I hadn’t given it a second thought as I foolishly assumed there would be free wi-fi at the next stop in Istanbul Airport and I could just buy my e-sim there. You see, dear reader, we needed wi-fi. During our travels, we have learned that access to the internet can be a life-saver when it comes to navigating ourselves in a new foreign country. However, our hearts sank when no matter what we tried, no wi-fi ever reached our phones.

Golden Horn

Galata Bridge

Narrow Istanbul Streets

Maiden’s Tower

With no internet, we were waiting on the passport control line like sitting ducks. Gnawing thoughts raced through my mind over and over as the line dwindled.

I was foolish to assume something as basic as free wi-fi would be provided in an international airport. (was I?)

I was arrogant to skip the basic research on Turkiye (I did not even know what the currency exchange rate was).

I was thoughtless with my e-sim (had I just bought the plan in Nepal, this would have all been avoided).

Luckily, through years of surviving shit-shows, mishaps, and travel blunders, we are adept at dealing with situations that are progressively getting worst. That’s right dear reader. It gets worst.

After Passport Control, I had decided to bite the bullet and take money out at one of the ATM‘s in the airport. This wasn’t such a big deal as we usually take money out of an ATM when we get into a new country – however, this time around it is under duress and way ahead of schedule. This time around, the Euro-net atm wanted to charge us 28USD(!!!) just for using their services. Nevertheless, I knew we needed cash to buy ourselves a sim card, so we could access the internet, so we could order an UBER, so we could access the check-in process of our stay and finally, so we can rest after a long day of travelling. The ATM shows me one last screen detailing exactly how much they will screw me over. With a deep sigh, and deep regrets in my heart, I reluctantly press the accept button in defeat.

But once again, the airport has a different plan for us.

“It didn’t work. “

“What do you mean it didn’t work?”

“I don’t know. Why didn’t it work? Im letting it screw me over!”

A blue screen with an error code popped at us; we stared at it dumbfoundedly.

“Maybe its just this one thats screwed up. Lets go try it to that one there”

We scooted over a meter to the next one. The same error code. The same blue screen. The same frustration.

We tried over FIVE different ATM machines in the luggage retrieval lobby. All the same code. At this point it was getting late and we had given up on the ATM machines. We were on to the next plan – exchanging cash. I have had a grimy, crinkled 50 US Dollar bill in my wallet for the past 6 months as the Indonesian government refused to take it for my visa-on-arrival payment (thats how bad it was.) My plan was to beg the “money exchange” stations all over the airport (we saw over a dozen) to accept my less-than-perfect bill in exchange for some Turkish cash so we could get around the city – as we wrongfully assumed they would not take cards. To my surprise, the lady on the counter took it no problem. Gave me my rate in the most carefree way possible and had me on my way. Later on, I would find out that these money exchange stations were also quite devious. You see, dear reader, none of them visually posted the global exchange rates. I went in there blind and foolish and they took advantage of that; the rate that I received was far less than what was internationally accepted. It was my fault, I’d agree with that; it still does not lessen the frustration and confusion when we first entered the country through this airport.

Istanbul’s Mosques reach for the heavens

Many fish the golden horn on the Galata Bridge

The city is full of life and buzzing with activity

An iconic Istanbul Landmark : the Galata Tower

Ok, we’ve got a little bit of cash now to get us by. What’s next?

We needed to get into the town center and time was ticking. It was 11:00pm by the time I got screwed over by the money exchange kiosk. The next task was getting a sim card, so we could take the metro into town, call an UBER and get dropped off at our stay and rest our weary souls.

Sounds Easy Right?

First and foremost, the phone sim-card booth was absolutely ridiculous. The plans they provided were extremely expensive and absolutely out of any reasonable range. I’ve gotten sim cards from airports (Bali and Nepal) and sim cards outside of the airports in other countries so I’ve got a pretty good idea of the price disparity and what is fair and what is downright crazy – the Istanbul Airport was on a league of its own.

The shock of seeing the prices sent me reeling to one of the Travel Agency kiosks. As I slowly meandered my way to their direction, staff of all the different kiosks perked up and started calling to me in hopes that I come to their shop. It was surreal, they all started screaming and barking at me in unison. Nonetheless, I chose one and talked to them. They told to me that there was no more metro for tonight and we had no choice but to book a taxi. Considering we saw a television screen stating otherwise, I was skeptical. They quoted me a price of about 150CAD to get a taxi towards Taksim. I chose the lesser evil and went back to get an E-sim.

I got a 3GB plan that works only in Turkiye and lasts for the whole month – I paid a total of 900TL which is about 35 CAD. The attendant was rude, direct and talked shit the whole time in turkish with his colleagues. I had no choice but to sit through it all as they were literally my only chance. Once we got the sim card installed, he kept pushing the price up from 900 to 1600. Then down to 1500. Then a final push for 1000. His reasoning was for “tip” and that this is “small” money. He did not know he was dealing with a cheapscake and I was not going to budge.

I was happy to see that they had VISA card machines. However, it would not take my card. At some point, I had thought he was pulling my leg and charging me multiple times. Turns out, it was all the machine’s fault. I was happy I had some cash on hand (from when the money exchange station happily screwed me over), and I paid my bill and started to leave. He tried one last time in trying to get more money out of me and asked me if I needed a taxi and he can book one for me (for a charge of course). I politely declined and said we were going to take the metro into town. His look turned bitter and promptly told me that there is no more metro tonight then proceeded to curse me in his mother tongue.

Leaving that kiosk left me with a really sour taste in my mouth; they’ve got what they wanted and are already over-charging me yet they wanted more. Worst yet, both vendors flat out lied to me as there was definitely still metro running this late towards town (at the very least all the way to Gayrettepe station) just to see if they can get more money out of me.

As the first step into the country, the first impression and potentially the lasting – this night did not bode well. We left the airport exhausted, insulted, and dreaded our stay here. “Is this what its going to be like? Are the people all like this? How will we stay here for 6 nights?”

We bought our Istanbulkarts, meandered towards the platform and waited for the metro chime to take us home.

Editor’s Note:

Dear Reader, thanks for reading this far. Fear not, as our stay in Istanbul was actually really amazing despite one of my worst airport experiences. The people are kind, lovely, and patient. We met plenty of Istanbul residents and have nothing bad to say about them. In fact, just as we were entering the Metro from the airport to the town we met such a man. With our Istanbul Cards in hand, looking as lost as ever, a man kindly affirmed to us that we were going the right way. We spoke to him throughout the whole ride and got to know him; he also gave us insight on how the country is, its lovely people and the beauty that can be found in here. We told him about our experience and he was shocked and disappointed.

I’m sure our experience was just an outlier. I’m sure it seems so much worse as all the little things that had gone wrong that night built up to a bad first impression. We ended up loving our stay in Istanbul and we would highly recommend visiting – just avoid making the same mistakes we did and make sure you are prepared for the airport.