The signs at Ataturk aren’t exactly world class. I paused when I got into the terminal to get the cell phone on and make sure I was receiving service. I sent a quick text to let Greene know I was on the ground.
It’s not cheap to communicate by cell while still on Verizon. Saudi Arabia is not on the list of countries that allow purchase of a data package, so I forwent the package while in Turkey knowing I would have Wi-Fi while in the lounge. In Saudi, Verizon charges me $0.50 for every text sent, $0.05 for every one received, and north of $2/MB of data. Needless to say, data was restricted and texts were and continue to be precious.
So, back to the signs. After texting, I looked around for signs to anything. The line separated as soon as we came in for international connections, so there was little direction on which way to go. I started following the masses. I got my first dose of multi-culturism, hearing no English as I walked but seeing many pilgrims on Umrah during the holy month of Ramadan. The white robes associated with Ihram were everywhere. As were boubou and thawb. I slowly strolled and took it all in, realizing with a 9+ hour layover, I had plenty of time to find the lounge.
I came to an intersection and the masses seemed to evenly split. I went against normal convention for a right hander and took the left. This led me into the main hall of the concourse and more decisions. My back to the corridor I just came through, I could either turn right or left. Security was directly ahead of me, so that diminished my possibility of picking the wrong direction from 66% to 50%. I took the right, since it seemed marginally more trafficked.
I walked past many airport shops, more duty free alcohol and tobacco than I had ever seen, more Turkish Delight than I ever hope to see again, and many small restaurants and shops. And people. The ihram seemed to dilute in this area of the airport. It seemed most of the pilgrims were more comfortable waiting in the gate area, away from the massive Victoria’s Secret display in the main concourse.
I saw the end of the concourse and figured I had chosen…poorly. I then rounded the last food stand and saw the entry to the lounge. No large signs. I had chosen…ya know.
My first order of business was a shower. I mosied around a bit until I saw a lady holding some towels. She stood behind an empty concierge desk, so I figured this was the place. There was a gentleman already waiting, so I waited behind him. The concierge soon returned and we traded our boarding passes for a restaurant style buzzer. She indicated the wait was about 1 hour, so I went to find a water and a seat. I connected to the wireless and did a brief FaceTime back home.
The place was huge. Directly behind me in this picture was a reading room with a billiards table. There is a room full of clear lockers for dropping off those carry-ons so that you can carry food and drink in both hands. Next to that, there was a small cinema room with 18 recliners and a popcorn machine, showing mainly concert movies (I only spent any appreciable time in there during the showing of Clapton’s Crossroads and skipped Michael Jackson’s This Is It).
The upstairs had several of each: coffee/tea bars, water/soft drink coolers, pide stations, salad bars, wet bars, wine stations and fresh grills. While walking around getting my bearings, my buzzer went off and I went directly to the desk. I was given a shower room number and after about 45 minutes came out ready to “enjoy” the rest of my layover.
I took advantage of a sampling of everything they had to offer. Here’s a sampling of my sampling.
All this was upstairs. I sat by the stairs for awhile, eating and drinking, before venturing downstairs.
No pictures downstairs, but imagine the lockers and food stations duplicated. Then add in sleeping rooms, golf simulator, RC racetrack, video game station and garden.
With all this being said and done, I was slightly disappointed to find out my arrival was outside the timing for TourIstanbul. For those with layovers between 6 and 12 hours and arriving before 12 noon, Turkish offers free tours of Istanbul. It’s only the major landmarks but I had hoped to get my first experience during my layover. The city will definitely be on our list of quick, easy getaways, with direct flights from Yanbu.
I left the lounge about 2 hours before the flight to wander around the airport a little more and make sure there were no delays. It was still very crowded at 11:30 p.m. The gate area was fairly empty when I arrived. As people filled in, I noticed the split between those already wearing the abaya and those waiting until arrival in Saudi to don the abaya at about an even 50/50.
While sitting, there was a large family that arrived, from grandmother in a wheelchair for assistance, to a few kids running around. Several of the older “aunts” left the gate area for some purpose. I noticed that when they returned, they were on the moving walkway that went by the gate. One of the family members chased them to let them know they were going too far. The group of 5 ladies then decided to turn around on the walkway rather than ride it out and return the old fashioned way.
4 of the 5 made steady progress. It was the 5th one that had me worried. She would walk in place for about 5 seconds, grimace, advance 2 feet, then sustain the gain, grimace, advance, sustain…
This went on for about 3 minutes, with the rest of the family laughing and offering encouragement. She finally made the exit from the moving sidewalk. It was a welcome introduction to the Saudi family life.
From Tennessee To Texas to Saudi Arabia 