It starts

Well I’m here! The backpacking journey of a lifetime begins here, with 14 hours or so in Gatwick Airport. Always fun! Most of the 14 hours was spent lounging in the shop and food area of the North Terminal. I tried my best to stay awake and stand watch over the luggage but I was pretty shattered from all the excitement.

I was able to check into the flight after a mere eight hours at the airport and came up against the first two issues: Liquids and oversize luggage.

Liquids

At no point when I’d packed my bag did I consider that there would be a limit to the amount of mini bottles that you can take. I had about six bottles of suntan lotion, two body washes, five bottles of hand sanitizer. The list goes on!
Apparently you can only take as many bottles as will fill into one of the clear bags that you are given at airport security. That’s actually not that many bottles. I had to bin my mouthwash in the end. Boohoo.

Oversized Luggage

Also today I learnt that rucksacks are classed as Oversize…so I had to take mine to a completely different belt after checking in! I will admit to freaking out a bit inside and worrying that the luggage wouldn’t get to me. It’s bad enough being on a transfer flight, which means that I check my luggage in once and then I don’t see it again until my final destination! Now I had the added worry of my bag going through a slightly different process to get there.

Once through to the Departures Lounge, I braced myself for the long flights ahead.

London – Ataturk (4 hrs)

The first plane was relatively small with only six seats across and an aisle down the middle. As I entered the plane, I got a little menu for the in-flight meal. I chose a burger and sauteed potatoes, but I wolfed it down so quickly that I made myself feel really rather green!

The flight actually went by so quickly! Before I knew it I was in Ataturk Airport (that is in Turkey) and going through the ‘transfer’ desk into the departure lounge. It was huge, with lots of people milling around. I sat and chilled again and got myself some extremely expensive drinks (I worked it out, about 7 UK pounds for three drinks).

Ataturk – Delhi (7 hrs)

The next plane that was a complete shock: Huge, big seats and everyone had their own little TV module with a remote control on the back of the seat in front. You could choose to watch a film or play a game or just track where the plan was located on the journey! I chose to watch some films: Shrek Happily Ever After and Crazy Stupid Love.

Arriving in Delhi was swift and efficient, Passport Control was no problem and Baggage Claim was the same. No issues, just through and onto the next area.

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