Introduction
Hello amigos, welcome to the last part of a trip that took me to Mexico, Colombia and Turkey.
You can check the previous flights here:
Flight routing
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After this fun summer trip, it was time to go back home. TK usually flies between 3 to 4 times a day between IST and MAD using a mix of A330s and A321s (sometimes throwing in some 738s instead). I was hoping to fly on the A330, but schedules were inconvenient or far more expensive. So, stuck I was with the A321. Let's see what TK had to offer for its European hops.
At Istanbul International Airport
This airport is huge and far, far away from the city. I ordered a cab through uber and brought us at scary fast speed to the airport, and it still took quite a while!
Once in, you cross a first security check and then we were to look for the business class check in area.
The place was well appointed but empty. I don't see the point of the living room, but okay.
Security and passport control were a breeze, and we were into the massive mall in the middle of the terminal
But that's not were we were headed. I was eager to try TK's renowned lounge.
It does live up to the expectation. Lots of space, excellent food, great views of the planes on the field. I wouldn't mind spending a few hours here between flights.
Planespotting at IST is a treat. Lots and Lots of exotic birds.
Sadly our time came to an end and it was time to head to our gate
where our A321Neo awaited for us
A huge queue was already in place
Into Turkish A321 Neo
The business class seats were way above European standard
Economy class seats too!
Reasonably sized PTV
The hard product is great. The only thing missing, and that I cannot fathom why is so, are AC plugs.
10 am seems to be a quiet time at IST
Seatback contents came down to this.
Enroute to Madrid
Done with boarding it was time to go.
Another rare sight west of Istanbul.
A nice MEA A321 from BEY
We took of towards the Black Sea and then we turned left towards the west.
It was a smooth ride all along.
A very tranquil cabin.
Soon we were over Greece
Over SKG
It must have been a pretty warm day down there
We got our breakfast served. No choice other than the scrambled eggs, which were quite good.
After finishing our meals we still a good three hours to go. Feeling battered from our last couple of days I swiftly fell asleep.
Don't know where this was
We entered Spain over Valencia
And in no time we were on approach to MAD
Our route:
We parked on a hardstand
And after a bus ride we were dropped on Terminal 1's passport control zone. It was packed, which took us almost an hour to clear.
Our bags didn't take as long as they usually do in Madrid.
And so our trip came to an end.
