Ataturk: Thank you, oh grandfather of Turkey, for this bustling airport. Now may we please sit down?

My initial impression of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, was that planning to sleep here was perhaps not a good idea.  Not only is it a bustling hub, but the seating was quite limited.  After 20 minutes of cautiously searching, I did manage to find a section of less crowded seating that would have worked.  In fact the seats are not divided by arm rests like much of London Heathrow, so that helps.  This spot, however, was at a gate.  I thought one must pretend that they know where they are going, confidently pass the ticket desk and find a corner of an unused gate as though these things were guarded by the airline officials.  In fact, this technique worked perfectly until the unused gate amid the other active gates was assigned a flight, at which point it too was packed with travelers and became a hassle. 

Initially I was afraid that I would wander into the wrong section of the airport and inadvertently pass through security or beyond a customs line and then have trouble getting back to my gate when it was time to depart.  Luckily I was tired enough that the only way I could stay awake was to wander and keep moving.  This led to hours of roaming around the airport.  My discovery:  there are whole sections that are completely vacant.  Row upon row of unused chairs (traveler translation:  beds).  I’m not sure if it’s the scheduling of the flights or they layout of the terminals, but if you wander around long enough you can find gate upon gate of ghost terminals that are completely abandoned.  These are perfect for sleep should you have the time, inclination and reliable enough alarm clock.  Unfortunately, by the time I figured this out I had run out of time before my flight.  Oh well, there’s always the 5 hour layover on the return flight.