FROM KUALA LUMPUR TO ISTANBUL

Salam Sejahtera...

Looks like kisah di Padang, Jepun dan China kita KIV dulu ler. Let's look at the latest adventure be4 it starts to fade.

Alkisah disebabkn cuti tak berapa nak ada tahun ni (next year lagi kaput cuti...hhuuuhuuhu) kami pon nak tak nak terpaksa utilize the 10 days holiday for our Eastern Europe Adventure. Sempat cover 4 cities aje for that 10 days..jadik la... next year dtg lagi...hahaha...

13 OCT 2017 (FRI)
That Friday night, semua jemaah berjanji akan berkumpul di KLIA. Ada yang muka biasa ikot saya travel, ada yang baru dan ada yang baru malam ni nak berkenalan...:) Semua jemaah ada 15 org including 1 tough 6 y.o child... itu memang blh jadik protegee kaki jalan tu...

Janji jumpa pukul 11 di arrival hall KLIA level 5. Bukan apa, sebab nak pick up Pocket Wifi di sana. Dah 2x pakai Samurai pocket Wifi, so far ok..no problem, hassle free!

Some new faces and some old ones... ada yang maiden long haul voyage pon ada.
A few of them, we just met that very night and alhamdulillah, travel makes us
 good friends now.

Flight kami pukul 2 pagi ke Istanbul via Abu Dhabi. Kami naik Etihad Airways this time around. Price range varied, from RM2100 to RM2700 coz some of us bought from Expedia, some bought from Traveloka. Ada yang belik lambat, so tu yang dah jadik RM2700... Cheap? Not so... kira average la... coz we really wanted that dates, therefore, no option, had to make do with the prices. Cheaper price to Istanbul would be around RM1600 to RM1800.

Etihad Airways? Ok..not great nor bad.  Service was ok. Food was fine, however seat was a litlle bit small compared to Saudi and Qatar Airways, even KLM. Promptness... good! Staff: ok, not super friendly nor rude. For the flight to Abu Dhabi, we had one heavy meal and snack, while for the flight to Istanbul, only snacking, sandwich kalau x silap.

Inside Etihad Airways. Flight almost full.. Ramai holidaymakers
rupanya...hehe

Deserts

Main meal

Kami bertolak around 2 am in the morning. The journey to Abu Dhabi took us about 7 hours 45 minutes. Sampai Abu Dhabi elok2 subuh. Transit for 2 hours or so.. sempat solat and window2 shopping before continuing to Istanbul. Airport Abu Dhabi sangat cantik dan gah ! Toilet cukup bersih, macam blh baring... Barang2 mahal, so kami x belik apa pon. Rasa airport Atarturk lagi affordable.

Safely arrived at Abu Dhabi Terminal, alhamdulillah!

Top: Some of the sweet tooth savouries sold
Bottom: Various nuts

At Abu Dhabi, ronda2 while waiting for our next flight.

Lepas solat subuh.

Sempat ke McD..haha...

Waiting lounge for our next flight.  Free wifi at Abu Dhabi Airport
and super fast. Tapi dalam surau memang x dapat line ya..:)

The airport

Perjalanan ke Istanbul diteruskan....

The 1st glimpse of Istanbul's land

Nak landing dah...

Sampai Istanbul, our airport transfer dah standby menunggu... saya memang recommend syarikat ni. sngt prompt dan harga pon ok. Ubah2 masa pon no hal. Cepat aja mereka reply. Mereka juga ada servis ke cappadocia dan bagai2 tu sumer... cheaper than u purchase from Malaysia. Office mereka di Sultanahmet. If u are interested in their service, blh email mereka di:  sales@istanbultourguide.com

Masa 1st time datang Istanbul, saya memang gunakan servis metro. tapi sebab kali ni ramai, dan harga transfer pon x mahal, so saya hire airport transfer. Actually, kalau pergi sendiri ke Sultanahmet pon sangat mudah dan tambang x sampai 10TL pon. Click sini untuk cara ke Sultanahmet menaiki train and tram. 

We are in Istanbul already..yaayyy!!! My 2 new friends :)

On our way to Sultanahmet. Journey about 45 minutes. 

Kami check in di Blue Istanbul Suites. Bolehla for one night crash, cuma management dia kelam kabut. Bilik macam x cukup pon ada...  tp oklah... murah... we've been in worse case.. This one was actually very fine and nothing to me... location, ok. 10 minutes walking distance to Arasta Bazaar and sultanahmet.

A few of us stayed at Comfort Inn as the rooms at Blue
Istanbul were occupied. Mcm sister hotel die la.. sebelah2 aja..
Tu yang tangga hitam tu, Blue Istanbul. Lif x ada ya...
so, kena burn kalori lah ya if tingkt atas...hehehe...
tp ada bdk tlng angkt brng... 

Actually kami di Istanbul petang ni aja, esok pagi dah nak bertolak ke Budapest. So, hari ni kita lepak2 dulu di Istanbul 1 malam.

Petang ni nak bawak kawan2 jalan di Sultanahmet tngk blue mosque, topkapi dan makan sambil tengok tarian sufi...yaaayyyy!!!

To be cont.