To Bucharest via Istanbul

Death-defying taxi ride

The taxi turned up at my Tehran hostel a little late and we set off at 0020.  The driver was rather aggressive: weaving, squeezing between cars and tailgating until the car in front moves off.  This was all done at high speed.  I was surprised there was some traffic jam after midnight.

I was quite terrified of his driving and it was probably 5x more aggressive than in Sicily!  Sebastian tapped me on the shoulder from behind to check if I was OK.  He obviously had his concerns too.

We got to Imam Khomeini Airport at 0100, only 40 minutes after leaving the hostel.  I was so pleased to be at the airport and out of that taxi.

Flying to Bucharest via Istanbul

There was a queue building  up for my Pegasus flight to Istanbul already and I joined it and waited about 30 minutes before it opened at 0135 (three hours prior to departure).  I was through passport control after 0200 but couldn’t go to gate till 0330 as they didn’t want people going through and be inconvenienced with a subsequent gate change.

We saw Alitalia and Lufthansa crew at the airport.  They women in their normal uniform (choice of slacks or knee-length skirt) plus a headscarf.  I thought legs had to be covered but I suppose it is only to get from the bus to the plane.  Then I saw two separate male travellers wearing shorts; I suppose they are leaving already and not roaming around town like that.

Considering tonight is the eve of EId-ul Fitr, there didn’t appear to be any festivities.  I had learnt that Now-Ruz, the non-Islamic Persian New Year is a bigger event here wheras where I come from, Eid-ul Fitr is the biggest on the Muslim calendar.

Our flight departed five minutes later than the scheduled time of 0435.  I shut my eyes for a rest for about 2h of the 3h flight.  We landed slightly ahead of schedule around 0610 at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport.

It was a bus gate but everything including security was swift.  I went to the lounge courtesy of on credit card and managed to get a seat before it filled right up.  I stayed for over less than 2h before leaving for the public area where it was actually less crowded.

The only first-world problem is that there were no water fountains around and I had only taken one small bottle from the lounge.

In Bucharest

The flight to Bucharest departed early and arrived early too around 1100.  Everything was swift at Bucharest’s Otopeni airport and I was out in no time.  Then I ran into some problems.  My ATM card didn’t work at a couple of ATMs; my duplicate card with the same bank had the same problem.  All attempts said “Declined”.  I tried a different card from another bank that was Visa-based rather than Mastercard-based and it worked; the second bank does charge a higher foreign currency translation fee though.

Next was to get a taxi to the hotel. There was a queue of taxis outside but the guidebook suggests that they’re sometimes a little dubious.  Instead, the recommendation was to order one using the automated kiosks.  My taxi arrived and it was of the same kind as those lining up.  I don’t understand how pre-ordering can be less dodgy than the ones waiting.  Also I don’t understand how the same little cars can have rates ranging from RON1.60 to RON3.50 per km.  Why would anyone take the higher rate ones?

Fortunately, the Bucur Accommodation was able to let me in to my room soon after arrival.  I slept for an hour, dallied around the room before heading out mid-afternoon.  I walked around the old town area and discovered a few atmospheric streets for dining.

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Not feeling like venturing any further, I stayed in until dinner time around 1900.  Re-energised I took an evening walk to stay awake.  I have had only an hour sleep since yesterday morning 0630 Iran Time (0500 Bucharest Time).

With a small delay, I expected Kim to arrive around 2130 so I stayed up planning our bus/train travel around Romania and Bulgaria.  With a lot of these short hops of 3 hours, I didn’t expect it was necessary to book, especially when undertaken by maxi-taxis instead of bus or train.  But I found some pre-bookable options and proceeded with some bookings.

Kim arrived a little earlier than expected and I was more than ready for my sleep.