I almost missed my first long flight. It seems that the airport pants-down long-distance run has become my favorite. The problem was that I now had more luggage than the voluntary exercise described in the “Wales 2” post.
The thing is that after writing the previous post, I got myself together and went from the arrivals side of the airport to the departures side. As I accumulate experiences, I can share them immediately. While I was writing the post, my mobile credit for use abroad (meaning, not in Hungary) ran out. To the best of my memory, this has never happened to me before. Of course, this should happen during a trip like this. I started using a free wifi. The article was completed in both Hungarian and English in my editing program. But when I uploaded it to the blog, the system got stuck. My first thought was that the free wifi was boring with me. That’s why I bought myself an additional mobile data card. Which for some reason didn’t bring me online connection right away. I hope I didn’t end up paying for an additional service that I can’t even use.
So it’s very unpleasant to experience while driving that the service provider (in this case Yettel) sends you an SMS message saying that the internet has stopped, but you have no choice but to click on the link in the message. Since I – oh, you clingy creature – was bothered by the fact that the message “accidentally” didn’t say what this click would cost, I’m trying to find out. So there’s no internet on the phone, and the free wifi just froze under me. Fortunately, the wifi was fixed with a down and then up connection. I thought that after that, the easiest thing would be to ask what’s on my mind on the Yettel chat. Well, getting to the chat wasn’t easy either. Then I became suspicious that it wouldn’t be AI chat that I was waiting for, but human help. When I finally got to the window where I could sigh my question, I received a regretful answer that everyone was very busy, to try again later. That’s it. I hope this is not just another example of the service provider’s inability to find a usable method of providing help.
The point of the whole internet misery is that after I quickly got to the departure page, I had to realize that without an online connection, the phone would not be able to reach Google Drive, where all the travel documents are always carefully saved. In other words, I can’t even approach the plane without an internet connection. After that, only luck, coolness and ingenuity remain among the tools. It’s good if you can work with these, but I personally prefer to work with pre-planned and smooth solutions.
I was able to reconnect to the internet. As it soon turned out, this was not a buffet internet, but the airport’s. I quickly downloaded the Istanbul boarding pass. Then, with foresight, the Bangkok one too. After all, there it would be questionable how I would have an online connection.
Isn’t it interesting!? You only have to go a little further away from the country and you will already have so many interesting and immediately solvable tasks.
Why did I almost miss my first long flight? Because I was lame. Ok, let me be more understanding and kind to myself. I’m inexperienced. That’s the right word! Because even though I’ve flown a lot, I still haven’t seen everything.
At the airports I’ve visited so far, I’ve gotten to the seat where I fly above the clouds in the following way:
- I find/know where the departure gate is.
- I find/know where the security check is.
- I enter the security gate using the QR code on my boarding pass.
- I go through the snake game track to the scanner, where everything is scanned. This is where the bonus rounds occur. When you have to take your laptop and tablet out of your bag/not take them out. When you have to take your shoes off because you stepped on the wrong field. When you have to pantomime with your hands outstretched if they think I’m a terrorist based on my face/behavior/system signals.
- If we’re over the fact that I’m not the biggest enemy of passenger security, they’ll wave for me to go. Then none of the bags went to track B, where they’ll definitely throw something out of it into the trash. Then you can start putting the metals back on yourself, which you unpacked in front of the scanner onto a large tray. At this point, your watch goes back on your wrist, your change goes back in your pocket, and if there is time, your belt goes back into your pants…
- At this point, we are already inside. Here you have to pay attention to which gate you can board the plane at. If you arrive early enough, this information is not yet written down. At this point, you can make mistakes. For example, a leisurely breakfast can easily get you there, and by the time you realize it, the last reminder in red text will appear next to the gate number.
- Once you have the gate, you can stagger there. It is very important to be aware of where you are starting from. Because when we head towards the gate, we leave the most important point of the airport. The duty free shop. The Mecca of perfumes. The sanctuary of consumer society. This is the origin. And the gates are located to the right and left along all sorts of winding corridors. You should know that there are gates that are 2 minutes away from the origin, and there are some that are up to 15 minutes away on foot. If you have to run, it doesn’t matter…
- Finally, once you are at the right gate, you have to show your passport and boarding pass again. Plus, they can also argue with you about whether one of your bags is big/heavy.
This process description is more or less true within the EU. We are used to this because of Schengen. But if I go to the UK or Bangkok, I have to insert a passport check somewhere into the above process. Because an ID card is no longer good here, and it is not enough to have a valid flight ticket.
I guess I have been dragging my feet for a long time with the presentation of the processes, so I will get to today in Istanbul.
There was a baggage screening right on the departure side. It was right behind the entrance. This is where I realized that I could not show my boarding pass without internet. And this is where things went wrong. Since I had the scanner, and the boarding pass accidentally appeared in my mind, I associated it as if I had already passed the security check. I looked at the big information board to see where my plane was departing from. This was my second mistake. Because this sign – contrary to usual – did not show the boarding gate, but the check-in point. What I looked at, and by the way, I always check in online, while still at home.
So I went to the place indicated on the sign, took note that I had to be there at 15:50, and sat down for a coffee. When I went back at 15:50, I immediately felt that there would be another rush. My plane leaves at 16:30, in 40 minutes, and there was no one where I was standing. The airline’s logo was no longer on the screen. And of course, it dawned on me that at most one paper plane would take off from where I was standing. So I missed it.
Moreover, I didn’t even know where to go. When I found out, I wasn’t much happier. At the end of a terrifyingly long line was the passport control. Then at the end of another terribly massive line was the security check. I did something I had never done before in my life: I said I was short on time and asked to be at the front of the line. Despite this, after security, I felt like I didn’t have time to put my belt back in my pants. It’s a complicated and time-consuming process. So I started running because next to my flight number and gate number 14, it was written that it was a last minute. And 14 is a big enough number to hurt if you run…
Running is good in that it comforts me to think that I am making at least a few people happy. It can be a funny sight to see a marathon runner with a desperate face at the airport. On the other hand, it is very unpleasant to get on the plane with water dripping off me.
I reached the plane, I still had a seat. Happiness!
The expected flight time according to the plane is 9:45.
I spent the first half of the trip mostly sleeping. Then I collected experiences and wrote this post.
What are my experiences now:
- There are many more people on such a plane, we don’t travel in the middle, but on the right and left sides. Like in cool airplane movies.
- On such a plane, everything is twice as big as on the wooden benches. Since today was the first time I flew on it, and now on this one, based on fresh experiences I can see, for example, the size of the windows, the size of the wings, etc.
- We were given proper, normal hot food twice, a complete meal each. And something to drink.
- I am able to sit in one place for 8.5 hours, sleeping, eating, reading and writing in the meantime. During the 2-hour journey in the morning, I didn’t even unfasten my seatbelt. Here, the first time it happened after 8.5 hours. The second time will be in an hour and a half, because that’s when we get off.
- The staff on this plane is much nicer. I believe in the kindness here. On the wooden benches, I feel like a role in most cases.
I really enjoyed this flight. With its comfort, its naturalness. For the first time in my life I flew over Africa. I experienced some aspects of a long flight.
A Muslim man just performed his prayer a meter away from me. There are many and diverse people on the plane and I didn’t feel at all alienated here.
The first date went well!
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