Global Wanderer

23/6/23 – 26/6/23

After spending most of the morning procrastinating, I finally got my act together and sorted myself out for my upcoming series of flights, and caught the train to the airport.

Like any good traveller, I had tried to check in online beforehand. Unfortunately, it is not a seamless operation, namely because the final destination on the ticket I had booked was Istanbul. Australian passport holders require a visa for Türkiye, and therefore before you can properly check in for your flight, someone at the check-on desk has to sight your visa. I didn’t HAVE a visa, as I was intending to enter Türkiye on my UK passport visa-free, which was quickly and efficiently accepted by the check-in staff. The most confusing aspect of this whole thing, however, is that for at least 5 major airlines flying internationally here, they have done away with traditional check-in desks, and instead have a series of self-check-in kiosks, and a small number of staff helping out with any issues. Unsurprising that the benefits of cost-cutting haven’t been passed down to consumers in airfare reductions.

Despite having an hour and half until departure, I quickly whiled away the time playing sudoku, broken up by a rather hilarious final call announcement for some passengers going to Bali, with whom I had happened to go to school with. I wonder if they managed to get their flight? Boarding was uneventful, save from a handy free bump to an extra legroom seat.

Extra legroom seats!

Once the plane started moving, I sent my last tranche of text messages off. Now to suck up the time and make a hasty change in KL, where I’ve been informed that the aerotrain between the terminals is currently out of service… good thing I’m wearing my gym trainers!

Well this has descended into chaos. After being told to go to the transfer counter, being sent by the transfer counter to gate C15, and then being told to go back to the check-in counter because I was not processed by the transfer desk… who had told me to go to the gate. Despite my pleas, I wasn’t able to board the flight. Edit: I’ve had some time to think about it, and I’m pretty sure I know what happened. I had a 1h30m scheduled layover in KL which is typically plenty of time, except for the fact that my flight had been delayed a little and was late getting to KL. I think that somewhere along the way, Malaysian Airlines decided that all passengers connecting to Istanbul on TK61 were going to miss their flight, and bumped us off accordingly, and sold on our seats. They obviously didn’t bank on the fact that I sprinted off the plane and through the airport, and was quite capable of making the departure, shown by the fact that I was at the gate whilst they were still doing boarding.

Anyway, after dealing with the world’s rudest customer service agents (one of them called another passenger a ‘stupid person’), I was given a hotel voucher, meal coupons, and told to take a bus at the exit to the hotel. Before I could leave, however, I stopped to help a young French lady and her two children (one who was only a month old!) navigate the customer service desk. My impromptu stint as an interpreter revolved around Malaysian’s refusal to let them board a flight to Sydney without an Australian visa, despite the fact that they had a connecting flight from Sydney to Noumea and were within the requirements of the visa-free transit scheme. Anyway, once that was finally sorted (I got the message through!), I found myself eventually on a minibus to the Nilai Springs Hotel. Hopefully I can get some sleep now!

It seems that I have found myself with a full day in KL to kill! I’m not sure what to do with my time, but I’ll work something out. I managed to book an Azerbaijan Airlines flight for the 25^th at midday to replace my now-lost connection to Baku. This time, I booked a flight leaving from Istanbul’s main airport, saving me that trek across the city, and putting a $900 hole in my pocket. I guess this is what travel insurance is for? Unfortunately though, it means that I have about 7.5 hours in Istanbul Airport to kill. The plan is to be in Baku at 16:10 tomorrow!

I guess I should probably get a shower (edit: the hot water didn’t work) and changed before heading out. I don’t have any real internet connection but I do remember the city centre quite well from the last time I was here on exchange in 2018. Funnily enough, that was also the first stamp in this particular iteration of my Australian passport. I’ve organised a taxi to come and pick me up at 19:00 tonight to give me plenty of time at the airport to sort out any issues that might arise, particularly in regard to my flights home. Fingers crossed that everything goes to plan. I’m going to get the bus into the city and go for a wander (and hopefully get some roti canai!).

It definitely could be worse, at least the weather here is nice.

Got back to the hotel, used my meal coupon for dinner there, and eventually got on the minibus at 7:30… nobody here seems to run remotely on time! It was enough time to sort out my flights though, and after explaining my situation to the lady at the check-in desk, and showing my British passport, my Azeri visa, my return flights home, and all the other random documentation I’ve picked up, she was convinced that I was okay and let me check in. That’s one hurdle cleared! Immigration was a breeze, I have had a beer at the bar near the gate, and I’m ready to board. Once I get on that plane I’m going to feel like I’m back on track!

Having slept for the majority of the flight to Istanbul, I was feeling alright as we came in to land. Unlike the last time I was here, we have an airbridge straight into the airport, and I headed for the immense transfer gate, where my mobile boarding pass for the flight to Baku was accepted without hesitation. After acquiring my traditional chicken burger and cheesy fries at the Shake Shack in the airport (you have no idea just how good that tasted when I was coming back from Uzbekistan!), I found a nice nook on a couch and settled down to get some writing done.

Flight to Baku is now boarding. Woohoo! I feel like I am finally on my way. Not a single other tourist in sight. The flight was relatively uneventful, and we touched down in Baku a little early. I raced through the immigration queue, as I already had my visa in hand, and was greeted outside by a bloke who had been sent to pick me up by my Dad. After realising that Azeri and Turkish are pretty much mutually intelligible, we had a chat about Baku and how it had developed over the years. Finally, we got to the Baku Palace Hotel, and met Dad upstairs. A long and rather nightmarish trip to get here for sure, but I was definitely glad to finally be in Azerbaijan! Dad, having been there for 3 days prior to my arrival, had the opportunity to see all the sights and get a feel for the city, and so we decided to make the most of my reduced time in the city and went out immediately. First up on the agenda was the Maidan Tower and Fountain Square. Literally a 3 minute walk from our hotel!

Made it to Baku!

The boulevard around Fountain Square is a very pretty little street, full of people, and INCREDIBLY clean – as in, this is by far and away one of the cleanest places I have ever been. Maidan Tower, which is at the end of said street, was an impressive monument to Baku’s past, a striking piece of Old City architecture behind which the gleam of the new city was clearly visible. I thought it was good that they had decided to preserve it as a symbol of what Baku once was, before the Soviets, the oil money, and the glamour that the city now exudes.

The gated entrance to Baku’s Old City.

Next up was a decent hike up to the Flame Towers. These are three buildings, curved at the top and arranged in a shape that resembles a flame (hence the name, duh!). The buildings dominate the skyline, but you really have no idea of the size of them until you are underneath them. They are utterly huge, and their prominence is helped by the fact that they are built on the top of a hill. You get an amazing view over Baku and out to the Caspian Sea from the top of the hill, which was very much worth the climb. Also up here is a small cemetery dedicated to soldiers who died during the Karabakh conflict in the early 90s, as well as a Turkic-Azeri friendship monument, and a small mosque, which looked a little mismatched underneath the gleaming towers.

One of the three impressive Flame Towers.

Once we had walked down from the top of the hill, the sun had begun setting, and the Flame Towers lit up with some impressive illuminations including the obvious flames, as well as Azeri flags and some animations of people walking, amongst other things. It was really quite a sight to behold!

Last but not least, we took a walk through beautiful streets of Baku at night.

Well, my whistlestop tour of Baku (thanks Dad!) was complete! Definitely will need to come back here again in the future, hopefully next time with no hiccups in my flights!