@ the Maple Leaf Lounge

With a full day free prior to the 10:15p departure of flight TK18 to İstanbul, Türkiye, we could have taken the light rail into Toronto for some sightseeing. Instead, after the hectic days we spent arranging this last-minute trip, we opted for a relaxing pre-flight day at the Sheraton Gateway.

Waking up around 7:00a, we started our day with breakfast at the Club Lounge. Then, we hopped on the LINK train and went back to Terminal 1 to do a bit of recon. Primarily, we wanted to find out where and when to check in for our THY flight. A map answered the where question. A member of the ground crew for the airline sharing the same check-in counters with THY answered the when question.

Extending our check out from the Sheraton Gateway to 5:00p made for an easy day … no need to wander around the airport with bags in tow until the THY counters opened at 6:00p.

After checking in for TK18, we headed to the priority security checkpoint for business class passengers. In minutes, formalities completed, we were making our way through the concourse to Air Canada’s Maple Leaf Lounge … where we are killing the remaining hours until it’s time to go to our gate to board our flight to İstanbul International Airport (IST).

I’ll write again once we are in the air. We’ve been advised that there will be a short delay in departure, however, so whether it will be today or tomorrow when I take up the iPad again … well that is TBD.

P.S. We got Mui’s COVID-19 PCR results minutes before checking out of the Sheraton. Negative … as expected.Read more