The business class line was short, which was handy because we had to go through the line twice. The first time, we discovered that we did not have the required visa. Another traveler directed us to the visa line and told us it was "really easy". She was right. For $30 each, we had visas to enter Istanbul. We returned to the line for a second attempt. This time, we flew through passport control and quickly made our way past the baggage collection area to clear customs.
Just outside, we encountered the usual mob of people waiting to pick up friends and family, as well as numerous people offering rides and hotels. We ignored all of this and tried to find the Turkish Airlines Hotel Desk. In keeping with all our adventures in the Istanbul Airport, we walked just far enough toward one end of the hall to decide that what we wanted wasn't there, only to find out at the information desk at other end of the arrival hall that we simply hadn't gone far enough to see the hotel desk.
Finding the hotel desk, we also found an incredibly long line. We joined the line, which was really only moving as people gave up and left. I walked back to a coffee shop and got bottled water for both of us. After some time, I suggested that I would stay in the line and Craig should go around and see if, perhaps, there was a second line for business class passengers that was just out of sight (and hopefully shorter).
He walked around in time to encounter another business class passenger looking for the same option. That passenger, however, was loudly complaining. I had commented on this behavior of another passenger up in the lounge - I understand that it's upsetting and frustrating and difficult, and that you might be tired and cranky and disoriented, but shouting at and abusing the only person who might help you seems like a really bad idea. So Craig hung back and pretended he did not hear the conversation. After the abusive customer left, Craig politely inquired about a business class line (despite having just heard a lengthy rant about why there ought to be one). The employee said there was not a line, but there was a business class help desk just upstairs. He wasn't sure they could help, but thought they might.
Craig returned to me with this story and left me in the line to inquire at the help desk upstairs. While I waited in line: two young women ahead of me heard back from someone they knew only through social media, this person offered them a place to stay, so they excitedly left the line; two college boys behind me decided to return to the airport and find a bench to sleep on; at least three other couplets abandoned the line for reasons I could not hear or understand. These departures were the only perceptible movement in the line.
Also while I waited, one of the polite travelers I had seen up in the lounge stopped by and asked me if this was the line for the hotel desk. I knew from his conversation upstairs that he, like us, was traveling to Abu Dhabi. Like us, he would have accepted a flight to Dubai if that option had been available. Unlike us, he had gone into the lounge to use the wifi for a bit before embarking on his adventure to find a hotel room. He headed toward the back of the line. He stopped to take pictures twice - I would be willing to bet that his pictures look very similar to the ones Craig took from nearly the same spots. But ultimately, he did not join the queue. He disappeared in the direction of passport control.
A few minutes later, Craig texted telling me to get out of the line. He came down the escalator behind a Turkish Airline employee from the business desk upstairs. She did a double take at the line, which was snaking around the open area. She guided us through and around the line to a side door to the hotel desk. She disappeared inside and returned with a hotel voucher. She told us that the shuttle would be at least 30 minutes from now or we could take a taxi for a ten minute ride.
We decided on the taxi. As you might expect by now, we walked the length of the reception hall to find the door that led to the taxi queue. Once we got in a taxi, we had a new challenge. The voucher didn't have the name of the hotel. Craig tried to call Turkish Airlines customer support but could not get an answer. The taxi driver searched on his phone a bit, while driving which added to the fun, and decided on a hotel to take us to.
We arrived at the hotel, still uncertain this was the one for which we had a voucher. Security at the hotel opened the taxi's trunk before letting us in. We needn't have worried. At the reception desk, our voucher was exchanged for two room keys, a dinner voucher, a lunch voucher, and the promise of a buffet breakfast. It was late, but they were still serving dinner in the hotel restaurant.
We stopped in our room just long enough to leave our bags and use the bathroom and wash our hands. Usually, we would shower before going to dinner. We had clothes to change into, but we decided to keep them for the following day.
Dinner was edible, but nothing to write home about. I do have pictures, though! We had two options on the voucher - chicken or meatballs. We both ordered chicken. We were served the oddest selection of chopped veggies as a salad. We were served a lentil soup that I very much enjoyed. The chicken was unexceptional, but the rice did taste amazing despite the fact that it appeared to be plain white rice. I'm not sure if it was the rice or the fact that we were both exhausted and we've been eating low carb for so long.
By this point, the cold/flu I had been fighting before we left was starting to take hold. We returned to our room to shower and crash.
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