I split up my very long travel excursion from Asia back to Europe with a stop in Bangkok. There I was hoping to rest, and find some medication that is running low. With no luck, I am now looking forward to leaving Asia where I have spent the last six months. This is my travel day Bangkok to Sarajevo via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines.
Bangkok BKK
A pretty, somewhat dark, large airport with all of the luxury shopping and regular stores one would find anywhere. If you walk around you will see some pretty Thai statuary which is a very nice touch.
I have flown enough in my life not to be shocked by the price of airport food, but am continually surprised. Being only 4:30am, I searched for a coffee and landed on Dean & Deluca. I paid just about $10 for a small coffee and old croissant.
TIP at BKK purchase a bottle of water from Boots for only $.30 or .50 cents (8 or 14 baht) depending on the brand. Everywhere else is around 110 Baht or more which is $4.10 and up.
When my boarding time approached, I headed for my gate to board my Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul.
BKK to IST
I have flown Turkish Airlines before and have been very pleased with the service. This was no exception. I had an economy seat, but it was comfy and included a blanket and toiletries bag! How cute, I was not expecting that at all.
This is a 9 hour flight and as such included two hot meals, both of which were perfectly fine. The best part though, I had the seat next to me vacant! This hardly ever happens for me and it was pure luxury to spread out a little and have that extra space.
The bathroom was so big I could do a dance inside! And it was clean, no stinky smells, with lotion and body spray to use as well. Turkish Airlines, I will fly with you any day of the week.
Istanbul IST
Touted as one of the best in the world, its not a favourite of mine. It is a massive, massive airport and is so time consuming to navigate. The departures area is a bombardment of luxury shopping, its crowded, too dark, very few places to sit down and even fewer areas to charge electronics.
The food prices are so extremely high here too. Yes, airports are costly everywhere, but BKK just takes the cake. I though I would find the cheapest meal at McDonald’s, but turned around and left when I saw the crappy cheeseburger meal, (small little burger, fries and drink) was $25.30 CAD! WTF. I opted to purchase a large Coke Zero only, I was so incredibly thirsty, and even that cost me $7.
This was after walking around and seeing that the small cans of Coke everywhere else were €5 or $7.40 CAD each. My gosh, its absolutely astounding how expensive the food and drink is at IST. I did not eat anything, simply could not afford to, and waited until my next flight to dine.
Delay
After taking the train to my gate, my flight was late because of technical issues. It was also oversold. The staff made an announcement to pay anyone €250 if they would be willing to fly the next day at noon. They needed 15 additional seats for a sports team that they had to get back home.
I volunteered to be one of these people, but at the last moment my passport was handed back to me and my original seat was confirmed. The Turkish Airlines staff favoured the locals for this deal over anyone else, it was not first come first served.
IST to SJJ
On board my late flight, now due to arrive at 11pm, I was again flying with Turkish Airlines. A small meal of a sandwich and salad was served. This is a relatively short flight, 1.5 hours and before I knew it, I was arriving into Sarajevo for the very first time.
Sarajevo SJJ
A very small, humble and underwhelming airport. Immigration was a breeze as it was only this one flight arriving. As I waited for baggage, I was thinking that I needed to get cash and a SIM card before leaving the airport.
Outside of the exit, is a bank of ATM’s, the fee to withdraw is 11 BAM or $8.30 CAD. This is the norm, so travellers, make sure you are withdrawing as few times as possible here in Sarajevo.
The SIM place was closed at this hour so now I have no safety and security of taking the bus into town on my own, without data. That leaves me with having to get a taxi. And the taxi mafia and rip offs here are wild, and I did indeed succumb.
Taxi Scam
Firstly, it was difficult to even find where to stand for the taxi. Once I walked across the roadway to where taxis were dropping people off, one waved me over. He already had a load of people in the back, and motioned for me to hop in the front. I did. Of course, he had no meter turned on and I was so tired and overwhelmed, I made the mistake of forgetting to agree on a price before I got in. Rookie mistake that cost me dearly.
I did get dropped off where I needed to be, at the Latin Bridge in old town, at close to midnight. The driver jumped out and demanded €20. After telling him, my friend (Airbnb host) said it should only cost $20 BAM, he kept raising his voice at me in front of a bar full of local people standing and watching. This felt incredibly intimidated and paid the $40 BAM which is equivalent to €20 he was so aggressively demanding.
I was so upset and disappointed in myself. I was scared to be here in the dark. My host had not arrived like he said he would, and did not show up for another 25 minutes. It was an awful introduction to the city.
Anyways, I’m here, I’m safe and a little ego bruised, but I’ll live.
