Thursday 12th January – Friday 13th January
TK85 22:25 – 06:15 (13hr 15min)
Ninoy Aquino International Airport – Istanbul International Airport
TK 1975 08:35 – 10:15 (4hr 40min)
Istanbul International Airport – Dublin Airport
We travelled back from Manila to Dublin via Istanbul, with Turkish Airlines.
We said an emotional goodbye to the Philippines, this beautiful country we’d spent the last 4 weeks in, and headed to the airport, arriving at Ninoy Aquino Airport in good time – around 5 hours before our flight was due to depart.
A queue trailed almost down the check in hall from one particular desk, which we soon came to realise was the queue for our check in desk. We joined the queue and spent at least an hour in the queue to check in. No other passengers were queuing down the airport, so I’m not sure what the problem was. Due to this and delay getting through security, we had to go straight to the gate. We had given ourselves extra time in the airport as we’d been planning to spend some time in the shops for extra gifts for friends and family, but we ended up not having any time for that.
The flight departed on time, and we were again provided with a lovely little pouch with compression socks, toothbrush and toothpaste (unfortunately plastic and single use) and slippers. The meals on this flight were particularly disappointing. I couldn’t get a good picture of either of them due to the lighting as we were flying through the night. The evening meal was boiled courgette, rice which was firm, diced potatoes, bread roll, a salad and a fruit salad. Breakfast was a little better – scrambled tofu, diced potato, boiled carrot and a bread roll. Both were quite bland and neither really felt like a complete meal, the combination of items seemed quite disjointed.
The flight arrived more or less on time into Istanbul International Airport and we had enough time to peruse the shops. The flight back from Istanbul to Dublin was fairly smooth going and our second breakfast, I enjoyed very much. For the main part there were delicious pastries with spinach I think, little roasted mushrooms and a tomato. There was the obligatory fruit salad, but also a bread roll with plant-based margarine, black cherry jam, and a nutty, cakey treat. Delicious!
We landed in Dublin on time, but the luggage didn’t come out for another hour so that was a bit frustrating. However, it was a beautiful, sunny, wintry day in Dublin and we headed back home in a taxi. We were glad to be off the flights but pining for the beautiful Philippines and planning the things we’d do if we get the opportunity to return.
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The Greedy Herbivore 