Our flight to Bangkok was short and uneventful. We had bulkhead seats and shortly after takeoff the flight attendants brought our a bassinet for Alyssa. She went to sleep immediately and slept for the entire flight. By now, Jessie had become a first rate traveler and was able to keep herself busy. Soon we touched down in Bangkok and made our way into the terminal.
Unlike our previous jaunt through the Bangkok airport, we weren’t in any big rush this time because we had eight hours to wait for our flight to Istanbul. We strolled lazily along the terminal corridor looking for the transfer desk where we would be able to find Turkish Airlines representatives. It was a long walk. The airport in Bangkok is so large that there are signs posted giving the distance in meters to the next terminal. So, we were able to determine that we needed to go 500 meters to get to Terminal 1, our departure terminal. We finally arrived at the transfer desk only to be told that the Turkish Airlines reps wouldn’t appear until 8:00 PM. It was now 2:00 PM. Only six more hours. But, we had a plan! This was not going to be one of those painful layovers spent in uncomfortable plastic airport chairs.
During our previous stop in Bangkok, we had learned that day rooms were available in the terminal and since we had so much time on our hands, this was the perfect solution. Originally, we had contemplated leaving the airport and taking a quick tour of Bangkok, but with Alyssa’s undetermined status we thought it made more sense to remain at the terminal and not deal with yet another immigration official. But, the day rooms in the terminal were just fine. Although the room wasn’t luxurious, it did have three beds, which was all we needed.
We all rested for a little while before Jessie and I decided to wander around the terminal. We really didn’t want Jess to sleep all day and then be up all night on the flight back to Turkey. Besides, she and I were on a mission. During our frantic rush through the Bangkok airport on our outbound journey, we had managed to lose Jessie’s new pink backpack that she and I had picked out in Wisconsin just a few weeks earlier. We had been racing through a crowded chaotic terminal, trying to keep up with an airport official who was helping us. Despite my pleas for hime to slow down and allow the rest of the family to catch up, this very eager young man wanted to make sure we got to our desination with plenty of time to spare. In fact, we weren’t even sure where he was taking us since our rebooked flight didn’t depart for two hours. But, there we were strung out in a line, dodging scurrying passengers and strolling shoppers. I was in front keeping an eye on our guide, who just seemed to melt into the throngs of people, Patsy was in the middle and Nancy was bringing up the rear with Jessie. Fortunately we were able to use a handcart for all of our carry on luggage, but unfortunately Jessie wanted to push the cart in this crowded situation. This resulted in several near misses with oncoming human beings and apparently during one of these encounters, Jessie’s new backpack slipped off the cart unseen. We only discovered this when the airport official led us to an escalator, which we discovered took us to an airport lounge. Since we couldn’t take the cart up the escalator, I grabbed all the carry on baggage and realized just as Jessie exclaimed “Where’s my backpack?” that her bag was missing. I made sure everyone was in the lounge and then made a mad dash back through the long terminal frantically looking for Jessie’s backpack. I figured it had slipped off the handcart and wanted to get to it before airport security found it and decided to blow it up. But, it was no where in sight. We assume someone must have picked it up or, for that matter, it could have been snatched directly from the cart. But, in any event, the bag had gone missing. Jessie took this in stride as we explained to her that we had contacted the airport lost and found department and that, if we didn’t find it now, we’d have a lot of time on our return trip to look for it.
So, here we were on the return, looking for the beloved pink backpack. Of course, I didn’t really think we’d find it laying on the terminal floor after two weeks, but it was a way for Jessie to be involved in the search for the lost bag and also kept her awake and busy during the long layover. When we didn’t find it during our walk through the terminal, we stopped at an airport information desk and asked them to contact the lost and found department. I described the backpack and they said they had nothing that matched the description. So, now it was time for Jessie to realize that we weren’t going to find it. But, she was a real trooper about it and didn’t complain. As we strolled back to the day room, she told me that perhaps she’d ask Santa to bring her a new backpack for Christmas along with one of her favorite dolls that, unluckily, had been in the backpack. She was so accepting and took her loss with such maturity that I decided then and there that I’d get her another pink backpack exactly like the one that had been lost. (Follow up note: After our return to Ankara, I ordered another backpack from the same store where we had gotten the original and gave it to Jessie on the day we had a belated birthday party for her. She was elated and now uses it to take her lunch to school every day.) Once Jessie understood that her backpack and its contents were gone for good, she asked if she could buy a small ’stuffy’ to replace the one that had been in the backpack. Since she had dealt with her loss so calmly, I thought it was appropriate so we shopped for a while and finally she decided on a small bear that now has become one of her favorites.
Our little jaunt through the terminal had taken a couple of hours and had whittled away a fair portion of our layover. Upon returning to the day room, we rested while Nancy and Patsy went out for a stroll in the terminal. Soon, it was time to go check with the Turkish Airlines officials, to see what they were going to say about Alyssa’s visa or should I say lack of visa? Nancy, Jessie and I went to the transfer desk and found the Turkish Airlines section, which had finally opened at around 8:00 PM. We had hoped this desked would be staffed by at least one Turkish individual since we had copies of letters to the Turkish Immigration Authorities that were only in Turkish. But, this was not the case, the entire staff was Thai. So, we tried the same approach that we had taken in Ho Chi Minh City with Thai Airways. We used the very official looking letter with the red ribbon. Again, it took a long time, about an hour. But we were finally able to convince these folks that what we were doing was legitimate and that it would be no problem for us to get Alyssa a visa when we arrived in Istanbul. One more obstacle in our journey home had been removed. Now the only question left was what would happen in Istanbul. But, we felt confident everything had been taken care of and were happy to get our boarding passes.
Soon it was actually time for us to head to the gate. It hadn’t seemed like we had been in the Bangkok airport for eight hours, but we all attributed that to the day room. It was so much more pleasant to be able to recline and to escape the hustle and bustle of the terminal. We didn’t feel totally rested, but we certainly felt better than if we had been stuck in plastic chairs for the entire time.
At 10:30 PM, we boarded our flight for Istanbul, which was scheduled to last ten hours and get us to Istanbul around 4:00 AM on Monday morning, September 11. Again, we had bulkhead seats, which was a real blessing, not only for Alyssa, but the rest of us, too. Not long after takeoff, Alyssa fell asleep and proceeded to sleep quietly for the next seven hours. Jessie was thrilled that the entertainment package on the aircraft included cartoons and watched them for about an hour before curling up on her seat and sleeping for several hours. I watched one movie and, after a typical airlines meal, fell asleep. Only Nancy and Patsy had difficulty sleeping. But at least there were plenty of movies to watch. And so we made our way west, back across Central Asia to Turkey.
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