in theory i'll get around to making a video of the flights, but canada aeroplan currently has kind of a sweet spot of 60k miles one way for business class between any route thailand to istanbul, or 80k for first class. rare to see direct availability, i mostly saw it on etihad and oman air, a special partner of air canada at the time. air canada is star alliance, oman recently announced they are joining oneworld, and their sepcial partnership ended with air canada after i booked my ticket. in 2024 they will be bookable via AA. i visited turkish and oman lounges at BKK, the former as a result of priority pass from an amex plat, normally star alliance biz would grant access too. it was a 2 class 787, although they have a rare first class that does actually fly between BKK-MCT; i said screw it and actually booked it on the way back. my flight is through muscat.
on my way back i'll use the oman air first class lounge; there is also a nice priority pass lounge there (could be one of the best) i meant to check out but didn't. on the way back i have a long layover and will check out muscat too for a bit. as was i ate some more in the lounge, had a shower, then used a sleeping room which they let me use longer than normal. i'm not sure how many people were there but there were a decent amount at night really. i know the first class lounge sometimes even has only 1 person in it. business was fairly busy and i was suprised they did let me stay in the room longer than normal, which i think is 3-4 hours. i was there like 1am-7am or something.
i believe this was a 3 class a330, also with a rare first class cabin for them. i actually hard a hard time in general finding a stopover city to IST that had lie flat seats, these guys even had the fancy fancy suites here. i'm not sure they were even bookable really or if this plane normally flies this route; no one was in first class. i try to purposefully avoid breakfast on planes although theirs was more interesting than is often the case.
my turkish airbnb is through a bookstore, i have a building code and pay some pets to the cat as an entry tax. i typically try to choose an airbnb with a decent place to work from.
istanbul is my favorite city so far in the world to walk around and just get lost in, lots of cool things to see and it is fun to go down and explore each random small street you come in. some are small enough to not be on google really, or at least clearly. you also have passages through buildings, rooftop restaurants, everything is old to really quite old (i'm just off istiklal street, 2 turkish baths from the 1400s are right next to me) etc. i also like cats and they are literally everywhere, a coffee shop i settled on occasionally working from is a few minute walk for me, and i'll see at least 10 cats every time i go. my other visits were spring and fall - which i would really recommend instead of now. snow makes some pretty pictures sometimes but i wouldn't want to be here when it is that cold or slippery, and summer now is just a bit too warm to be comfortable. i need to shower here more in thailand. on my island it's fairly flat, plus i'll scoot around. here it is pretty hilly and i walk a lot, at least i did on the other visits - here i still am but much less than i'd like. also eating a ton and definitely acquiring some mass and it is all fat chonk. in any case, light jacket weather here i think is perfect. summer too warm to deal with the hills. up and down, especially if it's up with the sun on you and up for some time and a steep incline. the hills are legit. some streets and cats and a famous passage:
on my way back i'll use the oman air first class lounge; there is also a nice priority pass lounge there (could be one of the best) i meant to check out but didn't. on the way back i have a long layover and will check out muscat too for a bit. as was i ate some more in the lounge, had a shower, then used a sleeping room which they let me use longer than normal. i'm not sure how many people were there but there were a decent amount at night really. i know the first class lounge sometimes even has only 1 person in it. business was fairly busy and i was suprised they did let me stay in the room longer than normal, which i think is 3-4 hours. i was there like 1am-7am or something.
i believe this was a 3 class a330, also with a rare first class cabin for them. i actually hard a hard time in general finding a stopover city to IST that had lie flat seats, these guys even had the fancy fancy suites here. i'm not sure they were even bookable really or if this plane normally flies this route; no one was in first class. i try to purposefully avoid breakfast on planes although theirs was more interesting than is often the case.
my turkish airbnb is through a bookstore, i have a building code and pay some pets to the cat as an entry tax. i typically try to choose an airbnb with a decent place to work from.
istanbul is my favorite city so far in the world to walk around and just get lost in, lots of cool things to see and it is fun to go down and explore each random small street you come in. some are small enough to not be on google really, or at least clearly. you also have passages through buildings, rooftop restaurants, everything is old to really quite old (i'm just off istiklal street, 2 turkish baths from the 1400s are right next to me) etc. i also like cats and they are literally everywhere, a coffee shop i settled on occasionally working from is a few minute walk for me, and i'll see at least 10 cats every time i go. my other visits were spring and fall - which i would really recommend instead of now. snow makes some pretty pictures sometimes but i wouldn't want to be here when it is that cold or slippery, and summer now is just a bit too warm to be comfortable. i need to shower here more in thailand. on my island it's fairly flat, plus i'll scoot around. here it is pretty hilly and i walk a lot, at least i did on the other visits - here i still am but much less than i'd like. also eating a ton and definitely acquiring some mass and it is all fat chonk. in any case, light jacket weather here i think is perfect. summer too warm to deal with the hills. up and down, especially if it's up with the sun on you and up for some time and a steep incline. the hills are legit. some streets and cats and a famous passage:
