Holiday to Istanbul

[TW]Fox;29299586 said:
Do you even know what Visa free travel is?

It's exactly the same thing people from Columbia get. Or New Zealand. Or Argentina.

Or us when we visited the USA. Or Australia.

It doesn't mean you can live there or kick around there for as long as you want. It just means you can visit without paying for a visa if you are an eligible citizen.

It's also only for the Schengen zone so they can't enter the UK without a visa anyway.
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So you are honestly saying you don't think they will abuse the privilege? :)

The Schengen Zone is all but history, realistically minded member states are building fences or operating outside its remit already.
 
Chris Wilson said:
So you are honestly saying you don't think they will abuse the privilege? :)
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If they wanted to 'abuse' the privilege of entry into the Schengen zone they could already have done so by paying 45 quid for a Schengen visa.

This really is 'Turkish people can now save 45 quid on travel to Europe' not 'OMG THE GATES ARE OPEN' that some people seem to have convinced themselves it now is.

It's also completely irrelevant to the UK anyway as entry into the UK requires admission through the UK border and whether or not you've got a Schengen visa makes no difference to that process.
 
I can understand the OPs point of view here but it is a shame when people change plans due to terrorism. ALmost feels like they have 'won'.

Back to the question though - have you considered Marrakech. We went here a couple of years ago. STayed in an all inclusive on the edge of town. We could get into town whenever we fancied on the shuttle bus, and it was a great bustling Arab city. Most people really welcoming.
 
Akmeeda said:
Okay, thank you everyone for sharing their experiences and advice regarding Istanbul. The attack that has just happened in Istanbul has completely put us off so we have crossed that off the list!

Now to find somewhere else to go..
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Umm, you should have listen to the experienced travellers here before the bomb went off, if not, what for did you post here? That suicide bomber could have chose the day you went on a stroll around Istanbul, boom, your line of the family wiped out! The silver lining from this is, the musilm sucide bomber saved you from you putting your family in a higher than normal danger.
 
Tosno said:
Umm, you should have listen to the experienced travellers here before the bomb went off, if not, what for did you post here? That suicide bomber could have chose the day you went on a stroll around Istanbul, boom, your line of the family wiped out! The silver lining from this is, the musilm sucide bomber saved you from you putting your family in a higher than normal danger.
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Agreed. Funny it took the incident happening today to make you change your plans, when before that nearly everyone warned you to not go. Might as well not bother posting on here.
 
Moses said:
Experienced travelers saying don't go. Experienced travellers, and the FCO, saying it'd be fine. It's not as clear as you want it to be.
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3 for and 13 against :o (including your @lol turkey, so yeah... :o )

As for FCO it would be the last place I'd check for safety, down there with you (no offense bro)
 
You need to put this in proportion. On any given day in Turkey an average of 20 people die in a car accident. That is every day. (Out of interest that is a lower per capita rate than the US).

Terrorism is a blight on the world but your chances of actually being involved in such an incident and very very small.

There are all sorts of reasons why Turkey may not be destination of choice but Terrorism should not be it.
 
Akmeeda said:
Okay, thank you everyone for sharing their experiences and advice regarding Istanbul. The attack that has just happened in Istanbul has completely put us off so we have crossed that off the list!

Now to find somewhere else to go..
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Personally I always find Portugal to be a great place to visit, but I tend to go to quite rural places in central Portugal. Although I imagine you would go to the Algarve, which is much more touristy but still a nice place.

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I've also been to Marrakech which I did enjoy... but be ready to get pestered constantly in the old city and get completely lost in the souks (stalls). Quad biking in the desert was great fun as was going up to see the waterfalls. There's also some really nice restaurants and bars in the new town.

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I belive that is the same attack frim six hours ago.
Just a newer report now they know that some westerners have been hurt.
It wasn't usually the kurds style to attack westerners.
Who knows, might be like that protest that was blown up in some potentail false flag style event.
Region is such an utter mess now, best to stay the hell away, shut up shop, patrol borders and stop giving them our money in travel and tourism.
 
A2Z said:
Agreed. Funny it took the incident happening today to make you change your plans, when before that nearly everyone warned you to not go. Might as well not bother posting on here.
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Actually, I took everyone's input and was still sceptical about going. The attack this morning was just the final straw. If I was going with my family then I would have just completely abandoned the plan after reading the comments regarding how women are treated there, but since it's just a group of my friends and I (who are all guys), this wasn't an issue.

Raikiri said:
Personally I always find Portugal to be a great place to visit, but I tend to go to quite rural places in central Portugal. Although I imagine you would go to the Algarve, which is much more touristy but still a nice place.


I've also been to Marrakech which I did enjoy... but be ready to get pestered constantly in the old city and get completely lost in the souks (stalls). Quad biking in the desert was great fun as was going up to see the waterfalls. There's also some really nice restaurants and bars in the new town.
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I will look more into Portugal, it does seem like a nice place. Also, we are happily agreed on going to Marrakech, however, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to get there from Scotland in July. The only option being a connecting flight in London which has an 8 hour overnight layover time on the way back :(.

Or a train down to London or Manchester but the flight times don't really fit in with the train timings. Marrakech looks great though!
 
I'd still go, and I want to go asap. Istanbul seems a fascinating place with lots of history and lots to see.
Terrorist attacks can happen, and do happen, anywhere. The recent troubles are just one of these things. You can't protect yourself all the time, and whilst it may be prudent to minimise risk I think the benefit of going outweighs to slim possibility you'll be caught up in something. I'm sure Glasgow is a target, I'm still going to go into the city centre tomorrow.
Hopefully I'll see Istanbul in the next couple of years.
 
It's not just one of those things, the whole area is like a pressure cooker of conflict. Sure London has been attacked but the last time I checked our leader isn't a crazy despot and we don't share a border with Syria.

Portugal is a better shout.
 
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