Preparing for Iraqi Kurdistan
My flight to a new adventure starting in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan departs at 1835 this evening. I thought I could do a bit of sightseeing this morning. But this is a familiar city and I’d just be largely repeating myself. And I have two late night departures coming in the next week or so, which means I have plenty more time.
I stayed in and attended to things that might become useful if internet was poor in the next few days. I printed off (as PDFs) travel information from various blogs that might be useful and saved them. Then loaded offline maps for various places and routes.
And also organised a taxi pickup at Erbil airport. There’s a monopoly on taxis and I had read it was USD35 or USD10 to the city. That’s very conflicting. They replied to me on WhatsApp and quoted USD25. Pretty dear for a 20 min drive but I don’t want any hassle.
At Istanbul’s New Airport
I checked out at 1200 and grabbed a chicken durum roll-up before boarding the bus to the airport at Sultanahmet. I thought it was a safer boarding point than Eminonu as they might have no seats at the intermediate point. We left Sultanahmet at 1230 with two spare seats, only for them to fill up with a couple and an infant at Eminonu. The ride took just under an hour with half of it at a fast pace on the motorway … the half beforehand was at a slow pace on both sides of the Golden Horn.
Like the other Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen airports, one needed to go through an initial security screening to get in. I timed it badly and had to join a queue. I managed to check in at a kiosk, and then exited immigration to the proper security screening. Altogether, I was airside in 30 mins taking my sweet time. It could have been faster; there weren’t any queues but I was just being careful not to leave anything behind and putting things away carefully.
It was around 1400. With plenty of time up my sleeve, I explored the large spacious airport. I rate the airport badly as there weren’t any water fountains! Small bottles of water were for sale at vending machines for TRY6 (USD1 which is reasonable by international standards) but it is grossly overpriced compared to in the city where a large bottle sells for TRY1.50 (USD0.25).
Like in the city, I noticed people who had had cosmetic surgery. Men with slightly bloodied scalps where hair has been transplanted. And women with post-rhinoplasty bandage. Istanbul appears to be a popular place for appearance medicine!
I spent about just under three hours at the IGA lounge before my flight. The TV screens were showing Turkish news channels. Operation Peace Spring was in force; since Trump suddenly withdrew forces from Syria recently Turkey had begun bombarding inside Syria. On the news, Turkey claimed to have neutralised 595 terrorists.
Flying to Erbil
I arrived at my boarding gate just less than an hour before departure. The gate agents were going round checking documents very casually. They either knew the visa requirements for Erbil really well, or they weren’t taking it seriously. Other airlines would check against the computer in TIMATIC but here they just did it off the top of their heads.
Boarding was completed 20 mins before schedule and we closed up 10 mins early. The flight was uncomfortable; while I could feel some cool air moving it was warm and stuffy as if there wasn’t enough cool air to feel the cabin completely. Others around me commented on this too. Perhaps this 737-800 has cool blue lights in the cabin to make up for the poor temperature control.
A light meal with two choices was served. Drinks appeared to be non-alcoholic on this flight. I’ve never seen an airline offer both Coke and Pepsi before!
Playing with the inflight entertainment map, I noticed that Armenia wasn’t labelled whereas other countries including Israel were! Turkey lacks maturity in owning up to its past.
Armenia doesn’t show on Turkish Airlines’ inflight map whereas other countries do. Even Israel shows on the map!
We landed about 25 minutes early in Erbil. It was a short walk to immigration where there was no queue. They scrutinised my passport to make sure that it hadn’t been tampered with (stitching, photo etc) but I was quickly let through.
I noticed cleaners at the airport were from the subcontinent. I later learnt that there are Bangladeshi and Nepali (and some Filipino) workers in Iraqi Kurdistan, just like anywhere else in the Middle East.
I had prebooked a taxi for USD25. It was pricey but the alternative was to wait and take the free shuttle bus off site where taxis would be waiting for a cheaper price. I didn’t want any hassles at night in a place which has a bad reputation (but is very safe supposedly). In situations like these, I try not to think of the price but the difference … all going well, I could have saved USD10 but if the drivers played hard ball, maybe less.
It was a 20 min drive to the Janet Bludan Hotel. My first impression driving through Ankawa and downtown was that it was like a spruced up version of Sana’a outside of its old town. My chosen hotel was the cheapest central one with an modest but acceptable rating. To my surprise, it was simple and clean.