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   at 04:15. They had asked me yesterday if I wanted a pick-nick styled breakfast as the restaurant wasn't open. I told them that I would come for breakfast, this early call is just because I had forgotten my sleeping pills and I want to be tired tonight when I'm on the plane flying to Suvarnabhumi International.
 Early morning at Helsingborg's train station
 Early morning at Helsingborg's train station
Breakfast at 7 o'clock and I went to the train station at 7 thirty and I had to wait for 30 minutes before the train came. I could have spent the time in my hotel room instead but it is kind of  nice to watch the train coming and going. Something I loved to do when I was a child and back then it was real trains. Today you never see the real trains, only the rail bus/ tram styled trains.
I was so close to fall asleep on the train to Kastrup, Copenhagen International Airport so I was really hopeful  to be able to sleep on Turkish Airlines flight TK 64 to Suvarnabhumi.
I was on the train departing 3 minutes before the next train and this is the express only stopping  in Lanskrona, Lund and Malmö before Kastrup International. The other day  going to Nisses in Malmö I took the train departing 3 minutes later and we stopped at every stop. But this  time I was flying through the beautiful landscape of Skåne.
I had been looking at Nettbuss web page to see if there was any busses, but there was not any bus reaching Kastrup around 9 o'clock so I had to go by train. I have not many good experiences going to  and from Kastrup by train. Too much passengers and luggage. The Nettbuss was perfect but this time there wasn't any bus suiting my schedule.
 But I was pleasantly surprised by the Øresundståg today. Not much people and I had no problems sitting down with my luggage. The train reached Copenhagen International in 1 hour so I was happy going on the train.
Kal P Dal
Struggling to stay awake, is there anything that can go wrong with my plan? I hope not! But I won't be surprised. The Øresundståg stop at Terminal 3 at Kastrup International Airport and the  check in is at Terminal 2 so I had to do some walking. Check in at Terminal 2, well, it sounds like it is a huge airport with all the terminals.
But it is only the check in, after check in I will have to walk back to terminal 3 to get to the SAS lounge and departures to outside the EU is from the C gates. So it would have been much closer to check in at terminal 3. And maybe, I say maybe, they will have all the STAR Alliance flights from the same terminal in the future. But as this is Copenhagen International I don't hold my breath for a dedicated STAR Alliance terminal. Or any other improvements. I checked-in to flight TK 1784 and I went up on level 2 for the security check. BOOM!!! It was a queue hundred meters long with 4 or 5 people shoulder to  shoulder. How to get to the FAST TRACK? I asked someone up there on level 2 and I was told to keep to the right of the long queue.
First I have to try to cross the line and from there it was a clear way all the way to the security and I made it in about 1 minute instead of having to wait for at least 1 hour. So I was happy to have the access to the FAST TRACK at Kastrup and I was soon walking towards the SAS lounge. I stopped in the  TAX FREE to have a look for Marabou Schweizernöt for my friend. What a disappointment, no Marabou Schweizernöt at Kastrup International Airport.
This was bad, seriously, the biggest or second biggest airport in Sweden and no Marabou Schweizernöt. Well, just in line with the rest of the service they provide here at Kastrup with self-service kiosks all over the place. 
Coming in to terminal 3 it is almost impossible to get to the very few check-in counters because of all the self-service kiosks all over the place. OK, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover the FAST TRACK this time so there are hopes. Why don't they do it like in Singapore, all business class passengers with STAR Alliance can check in at a special room and then straight out from the check-in to the immigration. Anyway, I left the tax free behind and I walked to the SAS lounge where I will have to kill an hour before it is time to board the flight.  SAS lounge
I had 2 glasses of soda water in the lounge, no need to eat as I'm flying with Turkish Airlines and good food is guaranteed on board the flight. And of course, I will have to spend time at their  lounge in Istanbul. So there will be enough good food and baklava before I'm back home in Bangkok.
Turkish Airlines flight TK 1784 had no departure gate when I checked-in so I went to check the monitor. Gate C34 but they had changed the departure time from 11:20 to 11:05. So I went to the gate just to discover that the departure time was still as schedule at 11:20. The eleven zero five was just a trick to get people to board the flight. I was not too happy about it as I could have been enjoying an extra  glass of soda water back at the SAS lounge.
But there wasn't many passengers so it was OK and I had my own 2 seats and I enjoyed a glass of Turkish Airlines water     Turkish Airlines short haul business class, impressive
Flying with SAS and many European airlines and it is the normal shit seat. With the difference
that they have put a tray between you and the passenger next to you “for privacy”   Backing off the gate
 Taxi to the runway
 Flying over the Öresunds Bridge
 Flying over the Öresunds Bridge
Flight time to Istanbul was scheduled to be 2h and 45m. I started a movie and they were soon bringing the lunch menu. The Steward asked what I wanted to have for lunch - Anything Turkish, I said. I was quick to add that I wanted to drink tea and they were soon back with tea and my starter. Some fish of some kind. Different kind of cheeses and a shrimp salad. Then they brought a  beef stew gratin something with mashed potatoes.
It tasted excellent. And one thing is for sure, of all the airlines I have been flying with I have had the best food on board Turkish Airlines. And this is on board the plane, just wait until we arrive to Istanbul and their lounge. I was drooling just thinking about it. So we arrived to Istanbul and I was going straight to the lounge, and I'm obviously not the only one finding the lounge at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport best in the world as we can read HERE in Huffington Post. But how to find the lounge? There was no signs with any directions when we came out from the flight. I walked in the wrong direction so I was not happy when I stopped at an information sign. I had to walk all the way back in the opposite direction. But first I had asked the guy why the f*** they didn’t had any signs with the direction. And yes, I met other people in the lounge with  the same experience. Anyway, I entered the lounge and I checked out the baklava table.
Instant disappointments, no sign of any baklava, only western styled cakes and pastries. For sure nothing I was interested in. I stepped over to one of the kitchens and they were making BBQ. I had a plate of BBQ meat, red bell pepper and rice. I usually like the Jasmine rice but this rice was something very special. But this was most likely because the oil and stuff they had added. I had set up my computer and I had two brimmed plates with the Turkish delights. I was full and in order to avoid having a third and a fourth plate I took my computer and I moved to another table next to the salad bar. I was drinking diet drink updating my web page when I guy from Lebanon came to ask for the password for the WIFE He was on the way back home to Lebanon from USA and he brought baklava - Where did you find the baklava? I asked - There is a table full of them - Last time I was here they were close to the entrance, I said. I went to explore the baklava table and I brought back a full plate. And I knew that I would not have anything to eat on my flight to Suvarnabhumi. I was full, well, a few baklava is all you need to get full. Time passed very quickly in the lounge and it was soon time to go to board flight TK 64 to Suvarnabhumi International Airport.  I found the baklava table
  I should have stayed at the salad table...
 ... or at the fruit table
   Turkish Airlines flight TK 64 is departing from gate 208, on the far end of the airport and it was a lot of trotting to do to reach the gate. Boarding was just about to start when I came to the  gate. But there was a lot of passengers so it took a while before I could take my seat on board.
I asked if the flight was full and as it was not quite full I was hoping to be able to move seat so I could sitt alone. I heard “boarding completed” and I moved over to the seat across the aisle. Yes, I was lucky, my own place again. They brought the menu and I told them that I didn't wanted anything to eat. But I had to fill up my breakfast request. We taxi out to the runway and as there were several planes before us we had to wait. I could see the planes from my window seat and it looked like they had 2 runways as the planes were waiting side by side before taking off.
 Waiting to take off
 Waiting to take off
 Waiting to take off
 Preparing my seat for the night
 Preparing my seat for the night
 Preparing my seat for the night
I was watching the other aircrafts taking off and suddenly it was our turn and we took off leaving Istanbul and the Ataturk Airport behind. And again, I never stop being impressed by the size of  Istanbul. City for long as you can see.
As soon as the seat belt light came off the crew came to prepare our seats for the night. Some kind of cover on the seat, a few cm thick so it is not mush for a mattress. But it is amazing the difference it makes for the feeling. Quite a difference to lie down on the seat with the cover on. I took my seat again and I repeated my “I'm on diet” when they brought the dinner. Well, I had a few of the Turkish delights they served as starters, but nothing more as I was still full from my visit to the lounge. But I had some tea and they brought a bowl of nuts with the tea. I had one or two cups before I decided to try to sleep. I had been struggling to stay awake the whole day, but now it was impossible to fall asleep. I'll be darned, tossin' and turnin’ all night long. I turned the seat back in to a seat. I was thinking that this might help as I had been falling asleep during the day sitting up. This was not helping and I tried several  different declines on the seat. The hours passed by and by the time the clock turned 6 in the morning Bangkok time I managed to get a wee bit of sleep.
I had manage to get about two hours of sleep so my plan had failed big time. I woke up 45 minutes before arrival to Bangkok and I had a few cups of tea and some excellent Turkish breakfast. Soon home again and I have planned to get up 5 o'clock tomorrow morning to go for some bird watching in Bangkok. We will see how the plan turns out. We were flying over Bangkok and it will for sure be nice to get back home.  WI-FI on the plane and I could use Line to chat while on board. And I could kill time by reading the news, but it would of course had been better if I could have been getting some sleep. Click HERE to find out how Bangkok is this time of the year.  
    
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