Things went a bit wrong coming to Istanbul, but I've safely arrived. Here's the saga, which might be useful if anybody else ever flies into SAW:
First, in the morning, my cellphone didn't want to turn on. I think maybe I didn't plug the charger all the way in or something. So I sent a quick email to my host in Istanbul, saying I was having trouble with it.
We'd previously agreed to meet at a pier on the Asian side of Istanbul. One reason it was good is that the main bus from the smaller SAW airport (called Havas), goes right there.
I didn't do my homework on Havas though, and it wasn't clear when the next bus was coming. My guidebook mentioned that they were timed to coincide with Turkish Airline flights, which I was not on.
The next Turkish flight wasn't for hours, so I went back through security to ask the information desk. Nobody was there. Through the window I saw a Havas bus pull up, so I ran out. The driver didn't speak English, but he pointed to the domestic terminal and said "station".
Upon walking over there, I found the same driver was the only one there, so we set about trying to have a conversation. After deciphering the way I was absolutely mangling the name "Kadikoy", he explained that the next Havas bus wouldn't be for a while, and I should take the city bus that said Kadikoy.
At that point another Havas bus hit me from behind. It was gentle and absorbed by my camera and laptop. The driver apologized and yelled at the other driver.
So I went to get on the city bus. One came quickly, and I got on board. Again, no English, so I said "Kadikoy?" with the correct pronunciation, and then "Bilet?" when he said yes. He held up three fingers for 3 Lira, but unfortunately I only had 50 Lira bills from the ATM.
He waved me by for free, but a few minutes later came back to where I was sitting and asked for the 50 with his hand. I gave it to him, and he left the bus with his clipboard. 5 minutes later, while I tried to not wonder if I'd been scammed, he came back with change and everything was good.
The next problem was that unlike the Havas shuttle, the city bus made many stops. My plan was to wait until I saw the Bosphorus, then get off. It didn't help that the only map I had showed only subway stops in the area.
I dozed off and on for an hour or so (I also had no correctly set clock since my cell was off), then saw something that looked promising. I jumped off, and it was the wrong pier. I found the right one only a five minute walk away, and succesfully made contact.
Things went great from there (except going to the wrong airport later that evening for another pickup), and Istanbul so far is just a flurry of lights and colors.
Some tourism tomorrow!
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