7NNT25: Day 1 – A whole lotta transit

Soundtrack: “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” Bon Jovi

We queued, we waited, we napped, we queued, we flew, we got there in the end.

Due to reasons too boring to detail, our chosen airline to take us into Uzbekistan was Batik, a budget airline that doesn’t have a universal reputation for punctuality. When it’s on time it’s on time, but when it’s late, well, our 4 hour delay out of Perth at least wasn’t the 9 hour delay another of their flights was experiencing. I don’t know what went wrong but their schedule ran to the toilet faster than someone after a bowl of improperly stored rice.

There are 4 hour delays, and then there are 4 hour delays to 1.30am flights. Suffice to say, while I do still have the occasional late night, it’s been a long time since I’ve done an all-nighter. At least we scored $20 vouchers for food and drink for our wait, which almost covered a bowl of loaded fries and a coffee. Eventually our turn to board came and we hauled our sleep-deprived carcasses onto the plane.

The flight was at least uneventful: an edible chicken biryani, fitful dozing, an occasional bump but nothing too exciting. Credit to the pilots, they managed to make up some time on the route and we touched down in Kuala Lumpur less than 5 hours later. We’d been over cautious in our connecting flight booking, so what would have been a 9 hour transit was pared down to a more manageable 5. We’d also booked a room at the airport hotel, which meant a pause for a shower and some sleep — of course at that point my brain was too wired to make the most of it, fl of the fear of oversleeping and missing the flight.

Spoiler alert, we didn’t miss the flight, despite feeling more tired on waking than I did before going to sleep. I don’t know if we were special, but we ended up on the most pimped out airport transit shuttle bus, where every seat was an arm chair.

The flight was KL to Tashkent was more comfortable as we’d gone for business class. Budget airline business class can be a bit hit and miss, but the chairs reclined, we had space, and while there were no working screens nor Korean movies, I finished reading a book, ate an okay teriyaki chicken, and dozed some more.

Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan. I’m not awake enough to offer any real first impressions. The airport is vary clean and white, the baggage claim area has a couple of little duty free shops tucked away at the sides, while the big space in the middle are stands selling SIM cards and a guy accosting everyone with “Taxi? Taxi?” Outside reminded me of a lot of airports, with even more calls of “Taxi? Taxi?” though fortunately we’re doing a tour and had a driver organised.

Our driver’s name translates to “hope” in English, hopefully not in the sense of “hope we don’t have a car accident” as it does appear that rear seat belts aren’t mandated here. Indicators too seem to be optional, especially for lane changes. We arrived after 11pm so all I can really say is that there’s still a lot of traffic at that time on a Monday night, the main streets are wide, and they have lots of bright street lights.

Tomorrow, or today really as it’s now after midnight, we’ll start the tour proper with a whole lot more Tashkent. After over 40 hours of constant air-conditioning, mass-produced meals, and no more than 2 consecutive hours of sleep, I’m looking forward to getting out in the sunshine and among the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of Uzbekistan.