Here goes the second part of my post about my journey home!

To get me from Guam back to Italy, I had booked an award ticket in business class for 75,000 United MileagePlus miles that I earned with credit cards and $21.80 in taxes. I had just flown from Guam to Manila to Taipei and had a long layover in each intermediate city. Now it was time to finish off the trip with a couple flights on Turkish Airlines.

 

Taipei to Istanbul

Turkish Airlines flight 25
TPE [Taipei] to IST [Istanbul]
January 4, 2019
Depart: 10:10 PM
Arrive: 6:00 AM
Duration: 12hr50min
Aircraft: 777-300ER
Seat: 2K

I didn’t have too much to eat at the lounge in Taipei, as I wanted to grab a shower and save my appetite for the sumptuous dinner onboard my flight. But I did help myself to some Häagen-Dazs before boarding.

Boarding started right on time and I made my way to my seat in the second row, on the right side of the plane. Now, I’m rather picky with my seats and if you’re extra tall, seat choice means everything. You can’t tell from the map below, but the fuselage curves inwards at row 1, so the window seats in row 2 have an extra 6 inches of legroom. Needless to say, I had plenty of room to spare!

Seating was in a 2-3-2 arrangement in business class with a larger four-row cabin in front and a smaller three-row cabin behind the second set of doors.

After I got situated, the crew came by to offer me a pre-departure beverage and the chef came by to offer me my menus. Oh, right. There’s a chef!

The menu was impressive and all the catering is done by Turkish DO&CO catering.

Once we reached cruising altitude, it was time for dinner. It began with a glass of Glenfiddich 15-Year, and some canapés, followed by an appetizer of mezze, some asparagus soup, stir fried beef, finally a dessert of baklava, Turkish flan, and some strawberry ice cream.

The food was absolutely fantastic. I had flown short-haul on Turkish in 2017, which gave me high expectations for what to expect on this trip and those expectations were definitely exceeded.

After dinner, I checked out the bathroom before heading to bed. Check out that sink!

I went ahead and finished my movie before turning in for bed. I loved these Denon headphones that they provided.

Although I didn’t get a photo, the bedding was quite nice, and on par with what you’d find in a proper business class.

After a restful night’s sleep, it was time to eat yet again. When you board, they give you a list of all the available breakfast items and you’re free to check off everything that you’d like.

I decided on a smoothie, coffee, muesli, fresh fruit, and an omelet. Everything was great, but I was quite impressed with the quality and consistency of the smoothie.

After finally waking up all the way, we made our descent into Istanbul airport and enjoyed a lengthy taxi to our gate.

I already covered the incredible Turkish Airlines lounge back in 2017and nothing much had changed since then, so I won’t bother posting extra pictures. Expect more of the same quality Turkish DO&CO food that you get on the plane.

 

Istanbul to Naples

Turkish Airlines flight 1879
IST [Istanbul] to NAP [Naples]
January 5, 2019
Depart: 8:15 AM
Arrive: 8:40 AM
Duration: 2hr25min
Aircraft: 737-800
Seat: 2K

Turkish Airlines’ short-haul business class is most certainly the best in Europe and this flight proved to be just as good as the other four I’d flown with them.

Once onboard, the crew came by to offer pre-departure beverages. No alcohol, just refreshing juices. I highly recommend the orange juice. I guarantee they squeeze it at the kitchen that morning, as it tastes like nothing I’ve ever bought from the grocery store.

After another long taxi, we were in the air. After another 20 minutes, it was time for breakfast.

I decided on the scrambled eggs and Turkish pastry accompanied by a delicious Turkish coffee.

Once again, I have nothing bad to say about Turkish’s catering. For a 2-hour flight, this is just about as good as it gets in business class.

The winds were in our favor that day, so we got to experience the approach over the city from the west and landed on runway 06.

Overall, it was a great trip from Guam to Naples and a fantastic deal at only 75,000 miles and $21.80 in taxes. If only all my flights could be on Turkish Airlines!

Thanks for reading, more to come soon.

-Matt