The Airport
I landed in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on just a few hours of sleep on the flight from Turkey. I had a six-hour layover in Bishkek but thankfully there was something to keep me entertained. The Vanderbilt vs. Kansas State football game was on, and I found wifi at a cafe right after arrivals to eat breakfast and listen to the game (the wifi definitely wasn’t good enough to watch). Actively fist-pumping in the airport I’m sure people thought I was crazy but I was very excited for Vanderbilt to actually win a close game over a ranked team!
After a good start to my morning, it quickly set in how boring the next few hours would be. There was zero to do in the Bishkek airport. Luckily I was able to find wifi again after leaving the cafe. I found someone to take my picture with the airport sign, and I found witnesses who had been on my flight. After wandering around the airport (and the absurd bathroom where a few of the stalls literally just had holes in the ground instead of toilets?) I was finally able to check in for my flight and head to the equally as boring terminal. I was able to work for a little while on the slow wifi and also watched a little Netflix to pass the slow moving time.
I was definitely stressed for my next country because it would be the shortest turnaround time on a flight that I have seen (and hopefully ever will see) due to the horrible lack of flights in the Central Asia (Stans) region. I finally boarded my flight and hoped for the best for both me and my luggage on the super tight transfer to come in Tajikistan.
44 countries down, 152 to go.
