AnnFoszz: Day 15: Homeward bound

All good things must come to an end.

We packed our bags and headed for the airport.

We took the reverse tram+metro route we used upon arrival in Istanbul. Here's me at the Zeytinburnu station where we transferred to the metro.

TRAVELERS TIP: The metro direction you want is Airport. So, you'll have to go up and over the metro tracks when you transfer from the tram. The escalators are not broken; they're just sleeping. To get the escalator going, just push the button. Also, it takes an hour or more to make the journey to the airport. Plan accordingly.

Security was pretty tight at the Atatürk Airport. When you get off the metro and enter the airport, you immediately hit the first round of baggage screening. They questioned me about the butter knife in my soon-to-be checked baggage. Then you go upstairs to the check-in line and they ask you more questions about your baggage (Did you pack it yourself? Any weapons? etc.) before you can check it. Then you go to passport control. Then you get to the gate area and get screened again. This was the first airport outside the U.S. that had the same restrictions for liquids on board the aircraft. We had to throw away our water bottles. I was a little sad. I'd had that same bottle since we left the States.

Don't wash your feet in the sink at the airport.

Here was our plane. We were really going to miss Istanbul. It's a wonderful city.

Our seats for the 11-hour flight to New York were pretty sweet. We had the first row behind first class. We didn't have quite as much leg room as we did on the Chicago-to-Atlanta flight, but it was adequate. Plus, we had the LCD screen with movies right in front of us.

Our experience at JFK's Delta Terminal (terminal 3) was unpleasant. What a pig sty!! When you arrive, you're herded like cattle into a tight windowless room with lots of people and told to stand in a long line. Signage is terrible. There's filth everywhere. The carpet looked to be about 100 years old. They funnel the U.S. citizens into one line and non-U.S. citizens to another, but in reality, once you get to the front of the line, the staff directs you to whatever booth they feel like. The staff only speaks English and gets rude when you don't understand. If I were a foreign visitor, especially one who didn't speak English, I'd hate America before I crossed her border. It was not a warm welcome.

TRAVELERS TIP: There are no bathrooms until after you go through passport control. And once you do get to use the bathroom, they're disgusting. Plus, you could be waiting a long time in the line to enter the country. It is highly advisable to use the bathroom toward the end of the flight.

So, we were back on American soil, but our troubles had only just begun. We boarded the plane back to Chicago on-time, but then our luck ran out. The pilot informed us that there was a delay due to weather, and we would have to wait an unknown amount of time to taxi out to the runway. In order to keep our place in line, passengers had to stay in their seats with seat belts fastened. No bathroom breaks. No food. The "unknown amount of time" turned into THREE HOURS!!! The flight attendants did come by with water, but without being able to use the bathroom, that did more harm than good. There was a family in front of us with three little kids. Of course the kids were cranky and fidgety the entire time.

We were never so thankful to see the bright lights of Chicago.

Triumphant.

Technically, this is now Day 16. We arrived home around 12:30am, exhausted. Ma went to bed right away, but I was still pretty wired. It took me a long time to fall asleep.