It's November 1st but we're not in Sri Lanka. We weren't able to make the connection flight to Colombo. Our plane arrived in plenty of time for us to make the 1 1/2 hour flight but we didn't de-plane at a gate. We rolled and rolled to a far end of the airport, and as Istanbul is one of the largest in the world, that took a while.Last night, we were aware of some sort of minor ruckus onboard. Apparently, some ladies woke up in the night and other passengers were going through their belongings while they were sleeping. There was something about missing credit cards. So, our trip to the far end of the airport gave time for police arrive and take three male passengers away. We were at least 40 minutes late getting off the plane and we had to take buses to the main terminal. We got inside through security to see that the boards listed our flight as closed.
We got a nice ride to the Hilton Garden Inn near the old airport, a substantial distance away. We had vouchers to eat at the airport and then dinner, breakfast, and lunch at the hotel today. It was all gratis.
There are daily flights to Colombo, so we leave at the same time, around 7:35 pm. We will get in early tomorrow a day late but much better rested. We got a shuttle back to IST at 4:00 and we're a go on time.
