Having said our goodbyes to Penang, we boarded the short 45 minute Malaysia Airlines domestic flight back to Kuala Lumpur, from where we’d embark on the next leg of our round-the-world itinerary.
All in all we’d be in the air for just over 14 hours of the coming 24, with the rest spent in airport waiting areas and lounges.
We were unable to do online check-in for our flight leaving KL because this next journey, despite being part of our single RTW ticket, involved three separate flights and two different carriers: Turkish Airlines and Aegean Airlines. That also potentially meant that our luggage would not tag through past Athens to Heraklion.
Once we’d collected our baggage in Terminal 1 at Kuala Lumpur International we headed directly for the self-serve kiosks in the hope of generating boarding passes and luggage tags.
Nope.
We were far too early, and the kiosks would not recognize our flights for almost another three hours, which we spent just sitting on the departures level dreaming wistfully of comfy lounge chairs, food, and drink.
Finally, at just before 8 p.m., the check-in counter opened, happily confirmed that our luggage would not have to be picked up in Athens, and we headed to the blissfully quiet Global Lounge, where there were plenty of charging stations and lots of dividers creating semi-private spaces.
Having been on the go with no food since breakfast, I was really pleased to see lots of hot and cold options. I went straight for the mee (noodles) in one of the large chafing dishes while Ted started with an Asian chicken and vegetable soup.
Suddenly, a full hour before our flight time, the departures board changed to “final call”, and we found ourselves rushing to the gate. It turns out that the security check is done right at each individual international gate, necessitating extra boarding time, but once we were through that security we walked right onto the plane.
Turkish Airlines’ Business Class has things we’ve seen before, like large comfortable fully reclining seats, comfortable noise-cancelling headphones, luxury branded vanity kits, mirrors at each seat, socks, and slippers, but something we had not seen before was an onboard chef!
He came to greet each of us by name and take our meal orders.Since we’d eaten in the lounge (not expecting that a midnight flight would have a full dinner after takeoff), Ted and I both just ordered appetizers and desserts. As my aperitif I had the minted lemonade.
Take-off was exactly on time at 23:45 (11:45 p.m.), and we could watch the progress of our plane along the runway by accessing the forward, downward, and tail cameras right on our seatback entertainment systems!
It was such a very cool thing to watch that Ted even videoed it. (Forewarning: the video is about 5 minutes long)
Our pre dinner drinks arrived shortly after we were in the air, and came with warm mixed nuts.
The meal service (in our case just the appetizers and desserts we’d ordered ) followed.
My Turkish meze platter had delicious fresh tabbouleh, a slice of smoked chicken on potato salad, and muhammara (roasted red pepper spread) with walnuts.
Every airline tries to have something that sets it apart. On international flights with Turkish Airlines it is “the oldest bread in the world, now in the sky”.
Next was dessert: three kinds of baklava.
And then, sleep, on quilted sheets, under a generously sized soft duvet, with our heads resting on pillows with Egyptian cotton cases. Heavenly.
I slept quite soundly for 6 hours, waking when my internal clock (on Malaysian time) said it was 7:30 a.m. Unfortunately, that was only 2:30 a.m. Istanbul time. Ted was already awake. Nonetheless, that meant only 3 hours to go in our flight, made more pleasant by being able to brush teeth in a lovely bathroom redolent of a light fresh Lanvin fragrance and with lots of light and mirrors (regular, makeup magnifier, and full length), followed by coffee in a real cup accompanied by a cube of dark chocolate with almonds.
When it was time for breakfast, we were both inspired to try the pineapple pancake, but first there was an appetizer course!
I’m particularly enamoured of the tiny salt and pepper shakers with their onion domes.
When the Captain announced that we were landing, it was hard to believe we’d just spent almost 11 hours in the air. The service throughout the flight was exemplary, and our parting treat was a small box of chocolate-covered Turkish Delight, just about my favourite sweet.
We got to watch the plane land and taxi all the way to the gate via our screens. So cool.
Our turnaround time in Istanbul was just two hours, and the airport is HUGE. We walked briskly straight to our transfer gate and only had to wait about 15 minutes to board. It made no sense even to look for the Turkish Airlines lounge, although from what I’d researched online Istanbul’s airport lounges are noteworthy. Maybe on some other trip.
We were back on Turkish Airlines for the 90 minute flight to Athens, in a different and possibly even roomier seat, although we’d never seen a 2-3-2 business class configuration before.
The timing of the flight offered another chance at breakfast, after a welcoming drink. I was intrigued by the offer of cherry juice, but opted for sparkling water, while Ted had coffee.
Then we were presented with the breakfast menu. Based on today’s flights, I’d say that Turkish Airlines really does food well within their Business Class offerings.
The smell of buttery croissants coming from the galley was almost unbearable, making me salivate even though I couldn’t possibly be hungry again after only 4 hours.
It turns out that breakfast menu wasn’t choices – we each got everything,
We waddled off the plane in Athens.
While we’d still been in the air between KL and Istanbul, this email arrived:
Our scheduled turnaround time was 2 hours. We had our boarding passes, and didn’t need to retrieve luggage, but we did anticipate needing to clear EU customs and immigration, which we’ve not done yet using the new system. The last time we were in Europe the system was in place, but Rome’s airport was so crowded that those of us with biometric passports were diverted through an express lane.
Because we were in the second row, we got off the plane quickly and into what was already a scarily long line. When we finally reached the Greek customs and immigration officer, he took our passports, scanned our faces, but then waved us away from the fingerprinting screen that everyone else had been asked to use with “it’s fine, you’re perfect”. It’s certainly nice to be perfect (LOL), but we’re confused.
We also had to re-clear security, but made it to our gate on time. Funnily enough, we were the only two business class passengers on the plane, which meant we were the only people who got a snack during the 50 minute flight. I would never book business class on a short commuter flight, but since this was part of our overall round-the-world ticket, it defaulted to that class.
We got our first glimpses of Crete and a couple of the smaller Greek islands as we landed.
We arrived to perfect weather: 20°C/68°F under bright blue skies. It was a welcome relief after two weeks of weather reaching 40°C/102°F almost daily.
Our accommodation for the next 10 days is Kipos Suites in Heraklion, where the plan is to truly allow Ted the leisurely pace he’s been craving.
It’s not fancy, but it’s in a great location in the old city (to be fair, everything in Heraklion is old), has most of what we need for a comfortable stay (no washer), and came with a bottle of Greek white wine as a welcome.
We spent our first afternoon stretching our legs on a walk to the AB Vasilopoulos (ΑΒ Βασιλόπουλος) grocery store for fruits, cheeses, and drinks, stopping for delicious cheesy bread and pizza slices at one of the many tempting bakeries nearby. Availability of good food is not going to be an issue on Crete.
Tomorrow? It’s our 48th wedding anniversary, but we have no firm plans.
Rose and Ted’s Excellent Adventure 
Happy Anniversary Rose and Ted! I hope you get over your jetlag enough to enjoy it.
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