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Days 16-17 (July 15-16, 2025): The road home — via Dublin

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With a 10:30AM departure to Ireland, we had adequate time to have a buffet breakfast at the hotel and get a cab to Sabiha Gocken Airport. Sabiha Gocken is the hub for Turkish low-fare carrier Pegasus, which has grown exponentially since we first took them about 15 years ago. It has outgrown Sabiha Gocken, which was wall-to-wall with passengers when we arrived. Despite that, we were able to stop by a crowded lounge for a cool lemonade before boarding, which was on time, and enjoyed a smooth flight to Dublin. Dublin Airport seemed just as crazy as Istanbul. Irish tourism definitely seems alive and well! A long wait for our bags, due to a lack of baggage handlers, meant that we didn’t catch our bus to the hotel for an hour after landing.  It was a showery day in Dublin, with sporadic downpours from the time we landed until late in the afternoon. After getting settled away at the hotel, we set out at 4PM and did several hours of sightseeing and walking, which was quite nice! Central D...
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Day 15 (July 14, 2025): So long, Kazakhstan! Plus, a day in Istanbul.

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What a long day! We got up at 1 AM Kazakhstan time (which was 11 PM the previous night, Istanbul time), and at 2:30 AM we were in a taxi to the airport. Things always seem a little frenetic in former Soviet airports, and such was indeed the case at Aktau International Airport, where many flights tend to leave for Europe in the wee hours of the morning. Anyway, we tucked ourselves into our seats on board our Pegasus Airlines flight to Istanbul, enjoyed a wonderful pre-ordered meal, and slept a little bit.  The flight was an hour-and-a-half late arriving in Istanbul. We made our way to our hotel by taxi, where we took a brief rest before setting out at 11 AM to explore Istanbul for the day. And what a day it was!  Oh, my, the crowds in Istanbul! We missed the peaceful sights and nonexistent crowds of Central Asia, big time. Anyway, somehow we made our way around despite exhaustion and the 30° heat.  Having been here before, our goal was as simple as this: walk around the t...
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