Saturday, November 15, 2014

Istanbul: The Basics.



Location: Istanbul 
Date: 31st October - 8th November

We started planning the trip in March, and by the first week of April we had bought the tickets and paid the 25% deposit on the apartment.

Flight Details:
Ticket Price: RM2,056

Airline: Etihad


Details: A layover of 3 hours on the trip there, and 7 hours back. Both at Abu Dhabi airport. 

Total flight hours (one way): 12 hours ish. This is from Malaysia.

This was the cheapest option, as well as the shortest ish duration of layover.




Apartment Details:

Price: 300 Euro for 8 nights (This is a off peak season rate) and for 2 people. If its 3 people, 10% increase and 4 people (max) its 20%.

Location: In a quiet street in the Beyoglu area, the apartment is an old 4 story building renovated to accomodate 5 units (1 being the basement level) with 3 different rates.


Apartment: One bedroom, one bathroom, one living room with a small dining area and a kitchenette. It came with a small stove, coffee machine, water heater, washing machine, iron and board, hairdryer, wireless internet, tv and satellite, heater, air-conditioner.

Opinion: I really liked the apartment, though our taxi driver found it impossible to find and dropped us off about 300 metres away.  (It cost about 60-70 Turkish Lira from the airport to the apartment and vice versa) Its not suitable for family with kids, and people who are really particular aka would like a proper hotel. But if you are like my friend and I, who did not want a hotel but want our own bathroom, the apartment would be great.

Link: Dogan Studios Istanbul. It is owned by a couple, who lives in Germany. The units are managed by a local shopkeeper. Semih and Semra (the owners) are really friendly and helpful because I remembered asking them questions like "Is there a lift?" and "Is there an iron and board?" to which the answer was no and yes.

Payment: It was made via Paypal, and the remaining 75% could be paid before you arrive or you can pay in cash to the manager (Soner who only speaks Turkish).

Next post, I would be talking about the expenditures, travelling/public transport, obtaining food, weather and all.


1 comment:

Laila N Mysis said...

A lot of this is not applicable to me at present, because prices are definitely gonna vary from Oz, plus I don't actually have an income yet, so I can't even begin to consider this. But I can't wait to hear about what you actually did, and see more photos... PHOTOS. I need photos of this glorious city. I know I could just look them up, but there's something more real about seeing it from someone you sorta-know.

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