Do I look like a terrorist to you? Part II

No, seriously, do I look like a terrorist to you?  Well apparently I fit the profile of a terrorist.  Why? Because only me (& terrorists) buy one way tickets to Istanbul!

My flight to Istanbul was on EgyptAir and had a stop in Cairo.  (Yes, I know I'm not supposed to go to Egypt) but there are no direct flights from Johannesburg, South Africa to Istanbul, Turkey.   I did have a choice to change planes in Heathrow but that flight was twice the price and was 23 hours long instead of the 13.5 hours that I had.  The actual flight time is 9.5 hours from Joburg to Istanbul with a 4 hour layover in Egypt. 

My flight was a redeye so I got to the Joburg airport early and wasted some time.  I lined up at the counter for EgyptAir at 7:30 pm to check my luggage and get my boarding pass.  While I was in line, twice, young men came up to me and tried to take my luggage to be cellophane wrapped.  Both times I told them No Thanks!    I finally get up to the ticket counter and the agent tells me that I can't check my bag until it's cellophane wrapped!  Oops.  I went back to the two guys and apologized and they wrapped my bag in cellophane.  Apparently, theft of items from inside your luggage was so bad on EgyptAir that they instituted a free suitcase wrapping policy to cut down on theft. 

I head back to the ticket counter with my wrapped suitcase and I'm intercepted by three swarthy men in suits. They look very serieous and are obviously Security for EgyptAir.  The supervisor asks me where I am going, & why do I not have a return ticket?  I tell him I'm traveling around the world one stop at a time and I don't usually get a ticket until a week or so before I am planning to fly.  He says, You must have a return ticket.  I tell him I'm not planning on coming back to South Africa so I don't need a return ticket.

 He asks, Where are you going?  Now if I answered him truthfully I would have to say,  Duh, I dunno, I'm not sure.  So instead of sounding stupid I say, oh, probably Greece.  (Which if you recall was not even on my list!)  He says, Okay, you need to get a ticket going on to Greece.  I ask him if EgyptAir flies to Greece and he says no.  Who does? I ask.   I don't know he says.

I leave my wrapped suitcase behind the counter at EgyptAir and I head for South Africa Airway and ask if they fly to Greece from Istanbul.  They also say no but they check their computer and tell me that Turkish Airlines does.   I head back to EgyptAir and tell them I'm going to Turkish Airlines to see if I can get a ticket.  Now EgyptAir is in Terminal A and Turkish Air is (of course) in Terminal B.  So I grab my carry-on and hustle on down to terminal B and I finally find (after much confusion) the Turkish Air ticket counter is closed.  It's 8:07pm and they closed at 8pm.   I'm screwed.

I walk slowly back to EgyptAir trying to figure out what in the world I can do.  Maybe they will let me fly to Cairo and buy a ticket there from Istanbul to Greece,  Maybe I can do some sort of bond or something.  If I had internet access, I could possibly buy and E-ticket.   Maybe I should try to bribe them -- Bad idea, Shari.

I walk back up to EgyptAir Security and there is a new guy there. He's obviously the Boss.  I tell him I have a problem - Turkish Air is closed and only Turkish Air and Olympic Air fly from Istanbul to Athens.  He asks for my passport and he looks at every single page and examines every single stamp and visa.  Very slowly and very carefully.  I start babbling, I tell him & the ticket agent that I only plan on being in Turkey 2 or 3 weeks, and here's my hotel reservation and I was planning on getting a tourist visa for $20 USD and I didn't know I had to have a follow on flight...

The Security Boss looks at the ticket agent and nods Okay.   The ticket agent processes my wrapped suitcase and gives me my boarding pass.  I breathe a sigh of relief and head for Security and Customs.

Security in the rest of the world is a cakewalk.  I have never had to take my shoes off and they aren't as picky on the liquids but you ALWAYS take your laptop out of your backpack.  After Security is Customs which fortunately had very short lines.  The Customs lady stamps my passport and tells me I better hurry because the flight crew went through about 5 minutes ago.  I race through the terminal to Gate 12 with about 10 minutes to spare. 

I made it.  Istanbul here I come!
Shari