Istanbul

After a relaxing day snoozing poolside at the Southern Sun in Dar es Salaam, a nice place but I far prefer the Sea Cliff, I was off to the airport in the wee hours of the morning for the second leg to Istanbul.  I had my bike bag in addition to my regular luggage, as I broke the frame on my twenty year old featherlight mountain bike two tours ago, and I needed to get the salvageable parts (full XTR!) and the bag back home to possibly bring another bike next tour.  I was very pleasantly surprised Turkish  Airlines didn't charge excess baggage fees!  Now relaxing in one of the world's best rated lounges in Istanbul, impressed I remember a fair bit of Turkish thanks to living here for over a year some time ago, I'm equally stoked to find I've been upgraded for the eleven hour haul to Canada!  Lufthansa Airlines is in the middle of a strike and cancelled some 3800 flights today, so everyone was scrambling to find other routes, and Turkish has overbooked economy.  Gold status on Star Aliance from flying over 85,000 miles last year certainly has it's advantages.  I may even get some sleep.