Your Man in Istanbul

The delay leaving JFK was four hours, and it was at the gate--but after boarding. But Turkish Airlines was notable for what it didn't do. It didn't keep giving us pointless updates ("we're 38th in line for take-off"). When it was time to go, we went. They didn't act like people were unreasonable for getting up to pee, and when it was time to take-off they didn't freak out about making everyone sit down posthaste. And they didn't forget to crank up the A/C or dole out lots of beverages while we were waiting. Memo to American carriers: free fluids will keep trapped passengers happy for hours.

A day later and that peeled-grapes-eye feeling later, I'm in Istanbul, the greatest achievement of Islamic civilization. An amazing world-class city with layer upon layer of history, architectural and otherwise, no one should die without having seen it.

Tomorrow I'll go see "Spider-Man 3." (Istanbul has a highly developed movie culture.) Then, it's off to Dushanbe, where blogging may or may not be possible.