Andrew Jerome

Going to bed early last night was a smart idea, since we managed to get about nine hours sleep. Well I did anyway, since Ted claimed I was snoring all night. Also the air conditioning in the room, whilst a welcome addition, is playing havoc with my sinuses as we probably aren’t used to it coming from a cold Adelaide.

We went downstairs for a mediocre breakfast which didn’t offer many options that Ted could eat. Also, the traditional music they played in the dining room was loud and annoying! Since we have booked for two nights, we have day use of the room before heading to the airport tonight for our flight to Amsterdam.

Ted suggested we head out for a coffee, so we walked down towards the main area of Seminyak. Unluckily for me, I rolled my ankle whilst stepping down from the kerb onto the street. The pain was awful, so Ted ran to a nearby convenience store to get me some cold cans of drink to put on the ankle to reduce the pain. After about ten minutes, I managed to hobble back towards the hotel.

Since we still hadn’t had our coffee, we stopped at a street side vendor called “What the Truck” to rest my ankle and have an iced coffee. They also gave me some ice to place on my ankle. Ted suggested I could help my ankle by relaxing it in the pool which sounded like a great idea. We got changed before heading down to the pool area for some R&R.

After a while we needed some lunch so we went to nearby Taris Bali for a simple meal of nachos and a tuna sandwich. The waves again were a sight to behold - I had read that there was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia however, it wasn’t at a concerning level. Either way, watching the waves did still unsettle you slightly.

Ted bought me a compression bandage to stabilise my foot before we headed out for another massage today. Walking there was difficult but not impossible as it is very close to the hotel. I decided to get a facial instead of a foot massage, for obvious reasons! The massage today was better than yesterday’s, although lying sedentary for a while made it more difficult to put weight back on my foot.

After hobbling back to the hotel, we decided to go to the airport slightly earlier to avoid the Bali peak hour traffic. Fortunately our taxi driver was quick to arrive, and similarly the traffic wasn’t too bad. Our cab did sustain some damage though when a motorcycle coming the other way in heavy traffic swiped the side of the car.

As we were very early, we ate a small meal at the Two Dragons in the departure hall before going through to the check-in gates. As we’re flying Business Class we went straight to the appropriate queue, only to be stuck behind an enormous group from Brazil travelling together who seemingly took forever to check-in. It was so slow that people who arrived at the Economy Queue at the same time were almost checked in before us.

Ted has been stressing out continuously about this flight, solely because we were unable to check in using the Turkish Airlines app. The worrying was fruitless though as we checked our bags and ourselves in easily all the way to Amsterdam. We were pleasantly surprised to find out we were also entitled to lounge access at the Tujuwan Lounge before boarding.

We made the right choice at the immigration line which moved very quickly and made our way straight to the Lounge. As far as business class lounges go, it was very mediocre however, we still appreciated the quiet space and complimentary food and drink.

Since I’m still struggling a bit with my ankle injury, we headed off towards the gate a bit early since walking there wasn’t the easiest thing to do. We didn’t need to wait very long - the flight boarded on time and we were among the first ten passengers onboard.

The business class is quite different to Qantas - it was great to see that each seat was like a personal capsule for ultimate privacy. There were some other benefits too including the larger entertainment system and the onboard chef to ask us for our meal order.

Since there was complimentary wifi for business class, Ted and I wasted no time before posting a photo of ourselves in business class on Instagram! The food service onboard was incredible, receiving some nuts and a drink before the main course. I had the marinated prawns and a zucchini soup which were both divine, following by rigatoni with parmesan tomato sauce, and a selection of traditional Turkish desserts. The first wine I chose - Bodega Beronia Crianza - was not only unfamiliar to me but also wasn’t my type of wine, so the Flight Attendant brought me another which was much better.

After the flight attendant made up my bed, I settled down for some sleep hoping that the glasses of wine would help. Alas, I only managed three hours before feeling mostly awake. The rest of the cabin though managed to sleep a lot more than I did. I did some meditation though and got another hour but I sort of feel like I’m too wound up to sleep. One interesting thing was seeing all the bright cities as we were flying over Iran.

The breakfast served was just as awesome as the dinner, as I had an omelette served with fruits and a scroll. I was hoping to get one of my trademark “crewfies” with the crew but they advised me that Turkish Airlines don’t allow crew to be in photos.

Thankfully this flight was really enjoyable and before we knew it, we were in Istanbul. And I did like the way the Captain said in his pre-arrival PA “I wish you a good landing”.Okumaya devam et