Business Trip

(The Jameson Vintage was 350 Euros...didn't buy it, but I sure wanted to. This is Duty Free in Istanbul.)

Just returned from Istanbul. We had a sales meeting there last week, and I had to spend a Saturday night to get the cheap fare. $700 for a round-trip from Chicago to Istanbul (on Delta, via JFK) vs $2,900 with no Saturday night stay. So a week blown for a 2 day sales meeting. Go figure.

Also, the return flight was 2 hours late leaving Istanbul, and the winds aloft were very strong, so the return trip was 11 hours from IST to JFK, so I missed my connection to Chicago and had to stay overnight at JFK. The delay was not Delta's fault, as they had to stop in Dublin on the way over to let off a very sick passenger. All in all, Delta handled the overnight very well. I have over 3 million miles on Delta/Northwest, and this was one of the best "bad" experiences I have had in 30 years of flying.

I may post a few pics of IST, but the weather was crappy (1st snowfall there in 5 years) and we were locked in the hotel for the meeting, so we didn't really get out. The people at the hotel were very nice, great service, and very reasonable prices. I didn't like the food, though, but I'll chalk that up to it being hotel food instead of restaurant food. I've traveled extensively throughout Europe, and I'd have to give Istanbul about a 5. I'm sure if I had a few days, a chance to play golf, and warm weather, my rating would go up!

More later.