The best time to visit Türkiye

The best time to visit Türkiye is between April and May and September and October.  We picked to travel with SA Travel from the 14 to the 24 October under their "10 DAYS 7 NIGHTS TÜRKİYE HIGHLIGHTS" package.  

Are you wondering where Türkiye is? You may know it better as Turkey. It was a rebranding effort by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current president of Turkey since 2014, to rename it Türkiye. The rebranding campaign began in December of 2021. What is the reason for the change?  Its former name, Turkey, is a bird traditionally associated with Christmas, New Year or Thanksgiving.  Its official name has always been, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, since its declaration of independence on 29 October 1923. However, in English it is known as the Republic of Turkey.

In January, a tourism campaign was launched with the catchphrase "Hello Türkiye" and this is the video they shared to promote it. Watch it to learn how to call it by its new name correctly.

  

Through this tourism effort, we found out from our Turkish Tour Guide, Yavuz Arsland, that his government is currently sponsoring 40% of the travel fare for Malaysians.  So don't miss going to Türkiye while this offer is still on.  

First thing first. Let's look for toilets.  Then to the baggage reclaim area to collect our lugagges at carousel No 16.

Then locate a nice spot at the airport to take a photo that will prove that you have been there.

Here you go.

It is a good idea to form a team of traveling mates while holidaying overseas.  In that way the traveling mates can watch out for one another and alert the tour guide if anyone is missing. My teammates for this trip were my sister, three of her friends... 

...and my hubby cum cameraman.

This was the tour bus we boarded on arrival in Istanbul.

Check out its interior.  You can see our Turkish Tour Guide, Yavuz, standing right in front.  

Before boarding the bus, it is a good idea to snap a photo of the front view of the bus with its license plate. You do not want to be caught wondering around a car park filled with tour buses, when it is time to return after a free and easy excursion.

On 6 October, our Malaysian Tour Guide, David, started a chat group on WhatsApp to share  information we need about the trip. So, we could also share photos like this and useful information we discovered with all our tour mates.  I think this is a good idea, as it helped us bond on the trip and we became friends. Now back in Malaysia, we still keep in touch on the same chat group.

We were provided WiFi service on the tour bus and we could even charge our phones during our rides. The electrical outlets used in Turkey are type F. Do you need it? The longest bus ride we had lasted 10 hours. So, if you want to charge your mobile phone in the bus, make sure that you have the right travel adapter with you.  

Since WiFi service is provided in the bus and in the hotels we stayed at, you should still consider getting a Travel Prepaid SIM Card or an oversea Wi-Fi rental service, just in case you get lost and need to contact your tour guide for directions. The locals, even those in the service industry do not speak in English, so you will have a problem getting assistance. If you are traveling with your family members, you can consider getting Wi-Fi rental service as service provider like Roamingman, provides WiFi connection for up to five devices.  

I have been told by my friends who have been to Turkey earlier that our tour fare with SA Travel is low.  I have to thank my sister for introducing me to this package. 

Malaysia is five hours ahead of Turkey. By default, your cell phone is supposed to update after "checking in" with the cell towers in your immediate area.  So, when you travel from one time zone to another, your cell phone is set to automatically update the time as it changes.  If this does not occur, you can update the time on your cell phone manually.  Wear a watch if you need to know what time it is in Malaysia or check TimeBie for the difference. 

It was an 11 hours flight on Turkish Airlines TK61 which left Malaysia at 2305hrs.  By 2235hrs we had already boarded the plane. The plane landed at the airport in Istanbul on schedule, past 0500hrs local time (1000hrs). All our checked in luggages arrived on time and were already stacked on the floor for our collection. We were given time to clean up in the toilets at the airport and to take out whatever we needed from our luggages before we boarded the bus for our tour in Istanbul. By the time when we were all ready to board the tour bus, it was already in the afternoon. 

If you do not want the hassle of opening your luggage, these are the items you can board the plane with in your carry-on bag or backpack:

-toiletries 
-umbrella
-cap
-hand sanitizer (Covid-19 safety measure)
-scarf (for ladies visiting mosques)
-jacket or coat 

You can always leave any items that are not needed on your seat in the tour bus when you are out on excursions.

This was our itinerary for the trip. 

I managed to find out what the weather would be like from Weather 25  and how long it would take for us to reach each destination from Distance From. There were some changes made to it based on the advice made by Yavuz, our Turkish Tour Guide, which I will update later.  

Turkish buses are usually not equipped with onboard toilets. I found out that bus drivers are required to take a break after every 2 to 2-1/2 hours of driving. So, Yavuz arranged to have our driver stopped at rest stops or shops or petrol stations along the way that have clean toilets that we could use free of charge. This is one of the stops we made.

This map from SA Travel brochure will give you an idea about the routes we traveled.  

In total, according to Yavuz, it was a 4720 km journey by bus.