Luggage Lessons in Turkey

 Hotel Rixos, Tersane, Istanbul, Sunday 25 May 2026

I had a very easy trip through Bangkok  - went straight from one plane to the other with no waiting (that should have been a warning sign). I was in business class, thank god, so was able to lie down and get a couple of hours sleep. So far, so good.

I arrived into Istanbul Airport around 5am Saturday. I had deliberated a lot before I left as to whether I should take a proper bag or just hand luggage. In the end I reasoned there was just one stop over, quite a simple route, so I would take a bag in case I wanted to shop. That was a BIG mistake that I have regretted a thousand times since!

Yes, my bag did not arrive. I waited over an hour for all bags to get unloaded and it wasn’t there. I was trying to communicate with the driver picking me up and was getting a bit stressed as connecting was not easy. So, when it was clear my bag would not come, I rushed around searching for the lost and found baggage department. It is a huge airport with over 30 baggage carousels. In the end, I couldn’t find the lost and found (the irony). I asked a ground staff person what to do, and he indicated I could call to make a report after I left the airport. So I left without reporting the lost bag. Another mistake!

I got to Hotel Rixos Tersane around 8 or 9 am Saturday morning – what a beautiful hotel! Its 5 star, newly built, and right on the river. The receptionist was very proud of it and showed me around.

Very fancy hotel

Looking back at the hotel from the boat

After settling in, I spent an hour or so calling various airport people getting shuffled around. The airline was saying contact the ground staff; the ground staff refused to talk to me because I didn’t have a report number (because I didnt do the paper work at the airport); and so on – one of those loops it’s impossible to get out of.

To give myself a break, I went for breakfast – WOW! Hands down the best breakfast buffet I have ever seen. I managed to eat an enormous variety of food (halloumi, salads, olive dips, and so much more) without sending my blood glucose into overdrive!

Amazing buffet breakfast

Plate number 1

After breakfast I did more calling/ emailing and - to cut a long story short - around 3pm it turned out my bag arrived in the airport at Istanbul. But I discovered they don’t deliver lost bags... You have to physically go and collect them from the airport yourself. Thank goodness an organiser of the conference, Begum, arranged a driver to take me to the airport, wait, and then return me.

The airport was chaos and I had no idea how I was going to get in without a ticket. The process it turned out involved calling on a special phone in the Arrivals area, and then waiting for a ground staff person to collect and escort me ‘to the other side’’. At the phone, there were many other travelling -strays having an array of different catastrophes, like an elderly guy who had just put all his travel documents through as baggage (which meant he wouldn’t be able to enter whatever country he was going into). And another poor guy like me had to come to the airport to get his lost luggage. He waited with me well over an hour, but then when the guy finally turned up, he didn’t have his passport so he wasn’t allowed to proceed any further, and had to go all the way back to his hotel.

After what seemed hours, I was escorted to lost and found and then we searched for my bag in the storeroom. It was there, hiding amongst 100 other black bags, yay  (that’s it for me and black bags as it was literally like finding a needle in a haystack!).  I filled in forms and then the man escorted me out again, I called the driver and we began the long trip back to the hotel. 

I was so grateful to the man who took me to get my bag. He was amazing – trying to help all the distressed people even though it was clearly beyond his job. He told me he has 12 hour shifts seven days a week.  Imagine doing that job!

I was exhausted when I got back around 8pm but forced myself to go out and eat just to stay awake a bit longer. I finally collapsed into bed about 930pm – and had best sleep ever!

Data from my sleep watch  - 11 hours and 27 minutes sleep. About twice as much as usual!

I felt fantastic when I woke up on Sunday morning, had another amazing breakfast, and then a chat to Mark whilst sitting outside near the water. Whilst I was chatting, a boat pulled up about 2 m from where I was sitting. What were obviously hotel guests started getting on. I thought it might take me over the other side of the river, where I’m keen to have a walk, so I asked if I could get on. It turned out it was a boat for hotel tourists but it was going to a museum. As it was free, and there was space, I spontaneously decided to jump on….

It turned out to be quite an amazing but weird industrial museum, with boats, cars, bicycles, trams, steam engines, tractors, and other forms of transport. Plus all sorts of small exhibitions like doll house making, pharmacy, wood work, and many more bizarre and strange occupations. I was a bit surprised to be spending my first proper morning in Istanbul in such a place, but I went with the flow and enjoyed it. I also found a table at some point and did a bit of work.

Model T Ford

An old tractor

Post tour, I went to the shopping mall hoping to pick up some makeup but I couldn’t bring myself to buy it at 4 times the price at home! I had an afternoon swim, did a bit of work at the hotel, and now having a yummy Turkish dinner. Am having a beer even though glucose-wise its not the best idea, but it is going down very well 😊  

Tomorrow is my talk so lets see what that brings!

This is the outdoor swimming pool