Boarding flight to Dushanbe after 10 hour layover in Istanbul

After about 30 hours of travel, which included 12 hours of layovers, I touched down in Dunshanbe airport Monday morning at about 3:30 am, March 28. I left my home for the Atlanta airport at about 7:00 am, March 26.  It was hard to come by first impressions because I landed in total darkness, but within a few hours I had two things to go on: my lost luggage and the patience and graciousness of my host. Now, my lost luggage had nothing to do with Tajikistan. It was Turkish Air that lost track of it in the Istanbul Airport. And during the hour plus I spent inquiring about it at the airport, my Tajik host, Tojiddin Haitov, and our driver were patiently waiting outside customs. After finally leaving the airport, dawn broke across the beautiful Tajik hills as we made our trip to Qurghonteppa.

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