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Türkiye 2021

September - December 2021
Our trip to Turkey this year is set for 4 months ... give or take a few days so that we can make up for family time lost in 2019-2020 due to COVID-19. Read more
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  • Türkiye 2021

    Turkey ... Spring Instead of Fall

    August 1, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    We canceled a bunch of 2021 travel plans yesterday. But we also made some new ones ... risk-free plans that will give us something to look forward to.

    Whenever we go to Turkey, we try to add some travel plans in Europe to break up the long flight back to the US. Oceania [O] is currently running an Ultimate Sale promotion with some really good fares. Would be a shame not to take advantage of it, wouldn’t it? So, we booked an attractive itinerary with the fancy name of "Icons of the Isles."

    What this means is that we will be going to Turkey in the spring instead of in the fall as we usually do. But that's OK ... spring is a good time to be there.    Read more

  • Türkiye 2021

    THY Tickets for March 2021 ✔︎

    August 2, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    This afternoon we booked saver award tickets on Turkish Airlines to travel to İzmir, Turkey from Houston, Texas in March. Why aren't we flying from Denver? Because that would require connecting flights. It's bad enough that we have to take a flight to get to my home city from İstanbul ... no need to add a second stop.

    Our miles are with United Airlines, so we made the booking through the UA website — 77,000 miles each for business class … one way. Plus $6.80pp in taxes and fees. That’s pretty much the same as what we paid in March this year and is a good deal. If due to COVID-19, the trip falls through, we’ll just redeposit the miles and still be good to go.

    Seats for the long haul flight — IAH to IST — open up 100 days prior to departure, so we'll have to wait until November to make our selections.

    We plan to drive the Cruiser to Houston and leave it at the storage facility we used when we were full-timing in the Phaeton. Of course, we could always change our minds about that … there is still plenty of time to make up our minds.    Read more

  • Türkiye 2021

    Phoenix Cruiser Staying Home

    August 24, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

    Wasn't it just four days ago that I was still saying that we'd be driving the Cruiser down to Houston to catch our flight to Turkey? In fact, didn't I just buy tickets to return us to Houston so we could drive the Cruiser back home? "Yes," to both of those questions. But things have changed now.

    This morning, looking at the nearly 1,100-miles it would take to get us to Houston from Colorado Springs, we started re-thinking our plans. Four or five campground stays in each direction ... no time to dally along the way ... the possibility of snow and ice on the roads on the way down to Houston ... the wear and tear on the cruiser ... the expense of storing the Cruiser in Houston for several months. Hmmm! Suddenly the plans and logistics were no longer very appealing.

    When we found non-stop flights from COS to IAH, we started to seriously rethink our plans. That the cost of roundtrip tickets was about half the expense of the Cruiser trip down and back made flying more appealing. That we could book the tickets under United's current change fee waiver sealed the deal.

    We were unable to add the COS-IAH-COS flights to our existing plans, but the UA agent linked all three reservation codes, so for all intents and purposes it seems like we booked one set of tickets. Now to keep our 🤞🏻 that COVID-19 does not throw a wrench into our plans.    Read more

  • Türkiye 2021

    PCR Testing for Entry into Turkey

    December 24, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 46 °F

    Up until now, Turkey was not requiring any kind of COVID-19 testing to enter the country from anywhere in the world. That has now changed. The reason? The explosion of COVID-19 numbers in Turkey. Apparently the rules now require a negative PCR test within 72 hours of arrival.

    The possible good news? The rule is set to expire on 1 March 2021. That’s before we fly out from IAH on 9 March. Of course, there’s no guarantee things won’t change again. These are uncertain times.

    Anyway, it’s just one more thing to consider when we’re making a decision to go or not in March.    Read more

  • Türkiye 2021

    Annual Trip to Turkey Postponed

    January 14, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 36 °F

    This is one of the dominoes that fell when we canceled our May 2021 Icon of the Isles cruise on Oceania.

    Though we usually visit Turkey in the fall, this year we moved the trip to the spring. The plan was to fly to Turkey in March, visit our families for a couple of months, and then fly to England to embark on Oceania's Sirena.

    Those plans have now been trashed.

    Instead, we'll be going to Turkey in September. The new plan calls for spending several months there, returning to the USA after we bid hello to the new year.

    These new plans all came about when Turkish Airlines (THY) sent an email yesterday with their latest promotion ... 40% off on fares through December 2021. What did that mean? Basically that we could fly BizClass for the price of Economy seats. Too good to pass up! But we had to move quickly since the promo was only good on purchases through 15 January.

    So, we canceled the March tickets purchased with United Airlines miles and bought new tickets directly from THY.

    UA has already redeposited the miles at no cost to us. And the taxes and fees are already showing as a pending refund on the credit card. No hit to the wallet. That's a good thing.    Read more

  • Türkiye 2021

    COS-IAH Logistics

    February 5, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 37 °F

    Our revised plans for this year's annual trip to Turkey return us to Houston on 2 January 2022 ... the latest date I could book with the 40% Turkish Airlines promo.

    A few days ago, the United Airlines booking site showed domestic flights for that date available for booking. We have flight credits, but they have a "fly-by" date in August. Since we don't begin our trip until 6 September, I looked at award tickets instead.

    I found a schedule that fit our needs. In fact, our outgoing flight to Houston is the same one we had booked for March. I did run into a small glitch on the inbound flight. You see, our Turkish Airlines flight from İstanbul is not scheduled to arrive @ IAH until 7:00p. The connection is too tight to make the last UA flight to Colorado Springs that same evening.

    No matter. We'll just stay overnight, get a good night's rest, and fly home the next day.

    I booked a fully-cancelable room — no deposit required — at the Marriott @ IAH. Not only is there an underground shuttle between the terminal and the hotel, but we can also walk the passageway to stretch our legs after the long haul flight from İstanbul. We stayed at this hotel in 2018 and know how it all works.    Read more

  • Türkiye 2021

    TK33 Equipment Change

    March 1, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 39 °F

    Our hopes of flying the Dreamliner on at least one leg of our trip to Turkey this year have been dashed.

    When we bought our THY tickets earlier this year, the IAH-IST flight was showing the equipment as a B777 ... with the return flight — TK33 — on the Dreamliner.

    Checking our reservation today, we found out that the Dreamliner has been switched out for the B777. Darn!

    Not that we mind flying the 777. We've flown it to Turkey before and know what to expect. It just would have been nice to try out BizClass on different equipment for a change.    Read more

  • Türkiye 2021

    Logistics Changes: IAH-COS

    April 23, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 52 °F

    The connection time between the arrival of our flight from İstanbul to Houston on 2 January is just too tight to make the last flight out to Colorado Springs. Hence the need for an overnight hotel stay.

    Earlier this year, I booked us into the Marriott at IAH ... connected to the terminal via an underground shuttle and walkway. Pricey, but I figured I'd keep checking for a better rate. So far no go.

    While checking rates today, I saw a much better deal at the Marriott Courtyard. Yes, it would require a shuttle ride. Yes, we're still leery of riding with "others not in our COVID bubble." But we're also less leery since we are now fully vaccinated ... and the ride is under three miles.

    So, I switched us to the Courtyard. We can cancel the rez until midnight on 1 January. That means no fuss ... no muss if we change our minds. Or, if suddenly United adds a later flight to COS and we no longer need a hotel.

    FLIGHT SCHEDULE CHANGE

    Schedule changes aren’t always welcome. But this time I was pleased to see the change that popped up on the UA site when I went to look at our booking. I can’t say what prompted me to check the website, but I am glad I did.

    At the time I booked our flight home for 3 January, the only non-stop to COS was at 2:30p … a lot of time to kill at the hotel and airport. Well, that’s no more.

    The new schedule has us departing IAH at noon. This means that we’ll likely be home by the time the original flight was to have taken off from IAH. That’s a good thing. Mui can do some provisioning so that we don’t go hungry … and the shopping will keep him from succumbing to jet lag.    Read more

  • Türkiye 2021

    Outbound Flight Changes

    July 28, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

    On my to-do list today was a note to check our flights to Turkey for schedule and equipment changes.

    We’d received notification of the IAH-IST flight changes back in May, but I was too busy with our Alaska roadtrip to write about it. Nothing major. The aircraft is scheduled to depart 5 minutes earlier at 8:50p and arrive 10 minutes earlier at 4:40p. Still with plenty of time to make the IST-ADB flight.

    Then, 10 days ago we got notification of a change for the Colorado Springs-IAH flight. Again, minor. We leave 8 minutes later than scheduled arrive in Houston 5 minutes later at 3:25p.

    The schedule change today was for the IST-ADB flight. Once again, nothing major. No change to the 7:00p departure, but we will arrive 15 minutes earlier at 8:05p. No complaints about that.

    There is an equipment change as well ... for the long haul to IST. Looks like we just might be flying a Dreamliner after all.

    The BizClass cabin has a 1-2-1 layout. We prefer not to fly in the middle section, so I was happy to see that we were automatically switched to 2K and 3K … both window seats. That means we will be seated separately. That doesn’t bother us, however, since Mui will likely put on his sleep mask and doze off as soon as the meal service is completed anyway.

    With several weeks to go before our September departure, I'll be curious to see how many more changes we have to our flights.    Read more

  • Türkiye 2021

    HES Codes ✔️

    August 15, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    What is that you ask? It’s something anyone who wants to travel domestically in Turkey needs to present before being allowed on any form of public transportation, including planes, trains, buses … even drivers of private automobiles traveling between cities and provinces must show this code.

    The system was implemented as a pre-cautionary measure after COVID-19 started exploding in early 2020. It’s basically a tracking/contact tracing system to monitor and aid in preventing the spread of the dastardly Coronavirus. Since its initial implementation, the program has been expanded to include places like restaurants, movie theaters, etc, etc … at least that’s my understanding.

    The code is easy enough to get … either online or through a special app. And it is good for 18 months. It took Mui just a couple of minutes to get our codes today.

    So, now we can make some logistics plans for a short trip we’ll be taking in September.    Read more

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