Here we go!

Balkan Trip 2023 has begun!

Today marks the start of 6 1/2 weeks of backpacking through the Balkans.

Of course, I had to get there first…

The day before

Unlike other trips, I had the entire day off yesterday before I headed on my trip today.

Normally I work Thursdays – Sundays so I book my trips to leave on Monday and return on a Wednesday.   This last week, however, I was asked to pick up a Wednesday shift so I had them shift my days for the week and ended up with a Sunday off.

I used that day to casually do all the last minute touches I needed to do to get ready for my trip.

It was kind of nice to go about it slowly spreading out everything over the day rather than the usual frantic doing of a last load of laundry at 11pm after my work shift.

Anyway, along with the laundry, I did all the other grunt work yesterday too.   I did the dishes, replaced the cat litter, took out the garbage, cleared out the fridge, cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the place.

Oh, and yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far – 32C.   Ugh.   I was sweating up a storm.

I called the banks to let them know I was going to Europe, set up my sim card in my old phone, moved apps around on my travel phone and packed everything up.

By midnight, I was all done.

Now the question was – was I going to go to bed?

My aunt Heidi was picking me up to drive me to the airport at 6:15am to I could either stay up all night or try to catch a few hours sleep.

Well, as hard as I tried, I just couldn’t sleep.   Something about going traveling the next day makes it hard to sleep.   Go figure.

Anyway, before I knew it, it was morning and my aunt was at my door and we were on the way to the airport.

Two hours to kill

You know how they tell you to be at the airport 3 hours before your international flight?

I’ve heard of crazy lines and people missing flights because they got to the airport too late, so, like a good little boy, I arrive at the airport around 7:30 for my 10:00 flight.

Because I was traveling with only carryon bags, I was able to checkin for my flight online the night before and just headed straight to the security area when I arrived at the airport.

I was in and out of security in less than 10 minutes and even with an unexpected detour to US Customs, I was through and on my way to the gate with another two hours before my flight left.

The US Customs really surprised me.   I mean, I know I’m flying via San Francisco but I just wasn’t expecting US customs to be in a Canadian airport.

Anyway, like I said, after answering probing questions about my trip, I was on my way to the gate.

With two hours to kill.

It’s funny how the wallet opens up when you’re in travel mode.

Bottle of water? $3.50? Sure!
Bag of chips? $3? Sure!
Tuna sandwich? $10? Sure!

The tuna sandwich actually has a story behind it…

Joe & The Juice

When I was on my most recent trip in Europe, I came upon a great little sandwich/café chain called Joe & The Juice than had amazing paninis available on gluten free bread.

Well, wouldn’t you know – the one and only location in Canada just happens to be located in the Vancouver International Airport!

So, naturally I stopped in there to get my favorite Tunacado sandwich.   Of course, as luck would have it, they didn’t have any gluten free bread available but, hey, I’m in travel mode – I just got the ingredients in a bowl and skipped the bread.   Gotta roll with the punches!

It wasn’t as great as before but it sure did bring back fond memories.

Soon it was time to board my first of two flights of the day.

On to San Francisco

My itinerary to Istanbul today included two flights.

The first was an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to San Francisco lasting just over 2 hours.

The flight itself was non eventful.   I mean, it was, after all, just a short little flight.

My big concern was my transfer to my next flight.

The two flights were only a bit over an hour apart and the first flight had left 15 minutes late.

I had no idea if the transfer between flights would be easy or if I’d have to go through a big US Customs line before boarding my next flight.

At 12:30pm, my flight landed in San Francisco.

Guess, it was time to find out…

The transfer

I got off my flight in San Francisco not knowing what to expect.

My expectation was that there’d be someone guiding people to their ongoing flights especially since it was only an hour between flights.

My fear was that I’d have to go through a huge US customs lineup and end up missing my second flight.

In the end, it was neither but there was a bit of panic on my end nonetheless.

As we walked from the plankway into the terminal there was nothing there waiting for us with direction.   No person.   No signs.   Nothing.

I just started to walk, very briskly I might add, down the terminal looking for some kind of information desk or signage for international flights.

I was happy to notice that I was walking in the area behind the TSA checkpoints so the fear of having to go through immigration and customs was happily put to rest.

I finally asked a TSA agent and they directed me to the G gates in the International Terminal.

Of course I had to get through the A – F gates first so it was a pretty far walk.

Oh, and walking with all my carryon (a 40L backpack and 15L daypack) was not fun.   I’m going to serious rethink the whole “checkin vs carryon” pros and cons for the next trip cause walking 30 minutes with all that was exhausting.

Anyway, eventually I made it to my gate and, not long after that, I was boarding my final flight to Istanbul.

On to Istanbul

My 12.5 hour flight to Istanbul today was the longest direct flight I’ve ever taken.

For long flights I’ll pay the extra $30-50 for an assigned seat while the short 2-4 hours flights I just let the seat Gods determine my fate.

Of course they also have $130 assigned seats for the “specialty” seats.   You know, the preferred seats that have extra leg room or are in the emergency row.

And, as much as I would love the extra leg room, I could never justify paying an $100 for it.

Well, I was in for a treat today!

You see, I couldn’t select an assigned seat when I bought the ticket online because I bought it through Air Canada and this flight was operated by Turkish Airlines.

I had to actually email Turkish Airlines to book the seat.   They asked me what I preferred and I told them an aisle seat near the front of the plane.   I paid my $50 and it was all done.

They gave me seat 11D.

Wouldn’t you know it – it was in the first row after business class.   You know what that means?

Extra legroom!

Oh.   My.   God.

Life changer!

I had 12.5 glorious hours in a seat with extra legroom!

Of course I might have had an hour here and an hour there of sleep cause, no matter what, I just can’t sleep on airplanes.

But, whatever – I stretched out and enjoyed the extra space.

After the doors closed, the flight attendants came by and gave everyone a little amenity bag with socks, slippers, sleep mask, toothpaste and toothbrush.

Everyone.   Not just the first class but everyone.   That was something I’ve never seen before.

Oh yeah, they also had real cutlery for our meals.

Real cutlery!

And they had free cheese sandwiches and muffins available throughout the flight!

Of course, like many other airlines, their gluten free meal kinda sucked.

I mean, am I being too demanding to ask for a gluten free roll that isn’t as dry as the Sahara desert?

I know, I know – first world problems.

Anyway, I don’t really want to spend too much time on that part because, honestly, Turkish Airlines gets top marks in my book.

After a long night of watching movies and having brief naps, it was soon breakfast time and, not long after, we landed in Istanbul.

Balkan Trip 2023 has officially begun!

Want to see what happened when I finally got to Istanbul?   Check out part two here.