2. Travel Day #1 - Sept 26th, 2025

Up to this point, I’ve had pretty good fortune with all my airline travel. No major delays and only one missed connection on our way back from Lima, Peru in 2016 which the airline was able to quickly fix when we landed in Houston. They had already rescheduled the affected passengers and handed out our boarding passes for our changed flights when we got off the plane.

Today was a day that made me realize I shouldn’t push my flight luck. My flight path today involved Victoria -> Vancouver -> Toronto, meet up with Judith and then Toronto -> Istanbul -> Cairo. I knew I had a tight connection in Vancouver and Judith pointed out to me that my Toronto connection was also thin given I had to collect my bags and re-check in, so any delay of these flights was going to be an issue.

Right out of the gate, my morning flight leaving at 10:20am was delayed to 11:10am due to a high volume of traffic at Vancouver. That Toronto flight was originally scheduled to depart 11:30am so it was clear that I was going to miss that connection.   I already had a restless night thinking about my tight connections and when it became reality, my anxiety level did rise a lot.  But as luck would have it, there were 17 of us that needed to make that connection so they held the flight for us.  As I fast walked to the connecting departure gate with my other flight connectors, I could hear the last call for passengers.  I had a concern for my luggage but the pilot announced that we needed to wait at the gate until all the connecting baggage could be loaded on.

Even better was the tailwind pushing us to Toronto. The pilot quoted a 3 hour 59 minute flight time. We actually landed at 6:50pm, a full 17 minutes before the original time it was supposed to arrive (according to the pilot). That left me plenty of time (about 2.5 hours) to gather my bag, and get it back into the system as my domestic flights weren’t booked by the tour agent. Yes, I caused my own mess.

I spent a lot of time on the Vancouver to Toronto flight checking our flight path.  Wifi on the flight was free and I discovered that I could track our progress on Google Maps.  It was interesting to find towns, roads, bodies of water, landmarks etc., as we proceeded along and excellent way to self entertain myself.  

Screenshot of Google Maps as we head towards the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario.  I wanted to see Flowerpot Island from the air, but there was a solid cloud cover all over the area.  

I was surprised at how recognizable the places showing on google maps were as we travelled over them.  

It took a full hour in Toronto to grab my suitcase (it was about #15 off the carousel!), find my way to the Terminal 1 train, pick the right train direction, board (the individual cars are only about half the length of a skytrain or subway and that appealed to me for some unknown reason), de-board and follow the signage to the departures level, find the Turkish Airlines counter (which of course is at the far end of the terminal and Judith had previously texted its exact location), get checked in, proceed through security, meet up with Judith in the Maple Leaf Lounge, grab a small bite and then begin to decompress from my anxiety-filled day.

After we caught up a bit we left to make our way to the departure gate.  Judith mentions something about US cash, as all tipping is done in that currency.  Oops, I’d forgotten that preparation detail and brought $0 USD, so we head to a currency exchange so I could pay an outrageous amount for some US cash. When I finish emptying out my bank account and get to the gate, we hear our call to line up. Perfect timing.

We board and get excited by the features of our business class seating: a generously spacious seating arrangement, a bag containing slippers (said bag is then used to hold your shoes), Lanvin designer swag bag (socks, eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste, hand lotion, lip balm), and the fine treatment that Turkish Airlines staff has to offer. 

Our spacious pod.  My backpack is sitting on a footrest which opens up to store your personal items.  When the seat is in the sleeping position, it connects to the footrest to form the bed.  

The flight has two onboard chefs who take your order and then apparently make it. We thought Emirates was the gold standard for business class luxury but Turkish Airlines isn’t far behind.

The onboard chef taking our orders. There was another chef working the other side of the cabin.

The seat adjusts into a full recline and a steward comes and attaches a padded seat and back cover for comfort. The flight is only an hour old and I’ve already been asked twice if I’d like something to drink (Lemonade both times for me!).

The steward putting on the back and seat pad on my seat.  Later she puts a pillow case on my seat pillow.  It already had a lovely cover but maybe this cover makes it more bed-like.

Although the luxury is fabulous, I feel that I don’t need to fly business class being small enough and with a sleeping talent that lets me doze for long periods in economy class seats. A few trips back when I mentioned this to Judith, her response was that I could travel economy if I wanted, and that she would come and visit me from her business class cabin seat. Well, I know that would clearly suck, so we both happily travel together in business class.

After looking at the meal choices on the menu, I order grilled shrimp for dinner from the onboard chef (!!!). Judith decides to sleep instead. She’s unfortunately experiencing gut issues and is now trying to figure out what foods she can consume that won’t upset her tender system. She isn’t far along in her research, so it won’t surprise me if she doesn’t expand past rice and bread and a bit of fruit on this trip. It will be a bummer for her because there’s nothing better than experiencing a country through their food.

The cabin lights are being dimmed. It’s time for a bit of sleep.