Got up at 2 AM. By 2:55 AM I was on my way to the airport in a booked transfer. The last time I saw Tbilisi it was dark — streetlamps, empty roads, the Sameba Cathedral dome silhouetted against the pre-dawn sky. A fitting farewell for a city that gave me 29 days of light.

🛫 Tbilisi → Istanbul

Much to my surprise, the airport was chaotic at 3:30 AM when I arrived. Fortunately, my flight on AJET did not have long lines like other airlines. I breezed through check-in and did the same for immigration — the kind of efficiency that makes you grateful for low-cost carriers and their smaller passenger loads.

My Chase Sapphire Reserve card grants me access to the Priority Pass lounge, but the line was 20 people deep to get in. It didn’t matter anyway — I only had about 30 minutes before boarding, so I skipped the lounge and headed to the gate. Boarding was smooth, but the way most flights board here is through a bus that drops you off at the plane on the tarmac. No jet bridge glamour. Just a bus, the morning cold, and the smell of jet fuel.

Landed in Turkey and used the Kepler lounge for a quick shower and rest. The Chase Priority Pass finally came in handy — a shower between flights is one of travel’s great underrated luxuries — but the lounge was a bit full. No quiet corner to claim. Just a functional pivot point between continents.

🛫 Istanbul → Milan (Bergamo)

Took off from Istanbul on AJET at 10 AM and was pleasantly surprised: the plane had a mini “business class” seating in the first two rows of the craft. I got seat 2B and was worried it was a middle seat — but it turned out to be an aisle seat. Small victories on budget airlines are the sweetest kind.

Landed at BGY (Bergamo) at 11:30 AM — 12:30 PM from my former time zone. Immigration was uneventful. Luggage was uneventful. The best kind of airport experience is the one where nothing happens.

🚌 Bergamo → Milan

My choices to get to the heart of Milan and my apartment: a €128 taxi or a €12 bus. I chose the latter. I have time to spare, and paying one-tenth the cost makes sense. Left the airport at 12:30 PM, arrived at Central Station at 1:30 PM. One hour, €12, no drama.

Near the bus station is a restaurant where I decided to sit and have a pizza — €15. It was good: fresh dough, fresh ingredients, the kind of pizza that reminds you why Italy owns this food category. Next to my table was a couple from Australia, and we exchanged travel tales. The first strangers I’d properly talked to since leaving Tbilisi. The traveller’s universal currency: where have you been, where are you going, what surprised you.

👁 First Impressions of Milan

It was a 40-minute walk to my apartment. I could have taken a taxi, but I wanted to explore the city and the weather was fair. The first thing that hit me was how the working locals were fashionably dressed — Milan earns its reputation. Even the people running errands looked like they’d stepped out of a magazine. The second thing that hit me was how dead the city felt. No large crowds, no hustle and bustle. It felt more like a small town Sunday after church than a thriving European metropolis.

It is well known that Italy has a demographic crisis — one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, an ageing population, young people emigrating for opportunities elsewhere. The empty streets of Milan on a weekday afternoon might just be one lens through which to see it. Beautiful, elegant, and quietly shrinking.

👅 Palate — Carbonara

After getting checked in to my apartment, I headed to Officine Universelle Buly to buy some items for someone back home. Sadly, they were out of stock of most items. The quest continues.

It got late and for dinner I stopped at an Italian cafe and ordered carbonara — €12.50. When in Milan, the first proper meal should be exactly this. Egg, pecorino, guanciale, black pepper. The Roman dish done right on a quiet Milan street. Tomorrow I have a tour of the Duomo. But tonight is for settling in, setting up the tech stack, and letting Italy wash over me.

By the Numbers

Item	EUR
Bus (Bergamo → Milan Central)	€12.00
Pizza (Milan Central)	€15.00
Carbonara (Italian cafe)	€12.50
Total	€39.50

Airport transfer in Tbilisi and AJET flight costs to come.