At the end of an already crazy, crazy work period, I had a very bad project. I determined to spend all the income from that one project on a big trip. However, at the same time, I was too exhausted to do a lot of planning. I decided to book a circuit, and since China was about 7,000 € above my budget, I ended up choosing to visit Türkiye. It also felt like a good moment to do so, before tensions in the Middle East escalate even further than they have, and while the country is still somewhat laic and not the Islamic Republic it seems on the path to turn into.

I booked my trip in August for October as that was when work would be over for the year. The only thing left was crossing fingers for good weather, and survive work till then.

Overall, the experience was on the wrong side of disappointing. The tour I chose looked good on paper, but it turned out to be badly managed and even more badly implemented. I’m not even a food-driven traveller, but none of the places we visited offered much in regards of Turkish dishes except the same sweets over and over again. Most hotels were falling apart – literally – and in the middle of nowhere, so when we arrived there around 18:00 at the latest, there was nothing around to explore. On top of that, pure bad luck this time, my flight connection were rather inconvenient – I arrived late on my first day in Istanbul, and left early on my last, so there was no way to enjoy those days.

One of the big problems I ran into was the diffusion of responsibility, as I booked a trip from Viajes El Corte Inglés, distributed by MapaTours and implemented by the local Oxin Travel, whose guides were… let’s say lacking.

I was excited when my travel agent called to give the documentation, a couple of weeks before the adventure started. There were some errors in formatting, and a reference to a photograph which was not there – I tried not to worry about that. A link can easily break when paperwork is prepared for printing. It was a sign (or a metaphor) for all the small things that would go wrong, I see now.

I am aware that I come from an incredibly privileged place, complaining about a nine-day to Türkiye. However, I paid for a service I did not receive, and that miffs me. On top of everything, the single supplement was 400€, because Türkiye does not do single rooms whatsoever, almost 20% of the total price excluding extra day trips.

I booked a circuit named Turquía Única (Unique Türkiye), which started and ended in Istanbul. The itinerary included Ankara, the region of Cappadocia, Pammukkale, Izmir, Pergamon, Çanakkale, Bursa and back to Istambul. I landed on the 2nd and returned on the 11th, but I was only up and about between the 3rd and the 10th. I also made the mistake of booking the optional Istanbul day trips trying to avoid long queues at ticket booths and monuments.