turkey -pros and cons

alba37

Also, that reminded me, they wanted English bank notes, not Scottish where we were. (rather than any other currency)

MrSmartprice

taxiphil wrote: »

It's all a bit of a shame as it's the last thing you remember about Turkey, and it leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth.

As bad as the vomiting induced by the salmonella or campylobacter you contracted when you had that last kebab before getting the coach to the airport?:rotfl:

bestyman

taxiphil wrote: »

Prices in Dalaman Airport are eye-watering. Imagine the worst rip-off prices you've ever seen in a UK airport, then double them and add a bit more.

To give you an example, feeding two adults and two kids in McDonalds (one burger, one drink and one fries each) is £42.

.

That reminds me of when I was at that very Mc donalds. The server mumbled something to the guy in front that he didnt understand , she mumbled again. After a while he just said OK ( think he wanted an easy life) . Next thing he had had his meal super supersized - at a supersized price. They argued and then he gave up and walked away .

When it was my turn to be served she started mumbling to me and pretending she didnt understand ( funny, as most locals spoke good english) . I made it perfectly clear that I didnt want supersize.

Then she did the same trick to the guy behind me and he just said ok. I told him he had just been scammed and he corrected her just in time.

Another post reminded me that the wife did get food poisioning there . The chemist said 90,000 for some medicine. I said leave it. He replied 19,000 is only XXX english pounds, whats your problem. Yeah

We went on a Turkish night where you could drink as much wine as you like after paying in. Only problem the wine was undrinkable ( I drink anything) . Still Vodka and cokes were available at £5 each . No thanks- We left.

Voyager2002

taxiphil wrote: »

They also have a scam going on in the duty free shop where prices are only marked in Euros. Unless you pay in Euro banknotes (which is highly unlikely as a UK tourist probably wouldn't take a wad of Euros to Turkey) you get a terrible deal on their own "special" exchange rate in the shop - and they LIE to you by giving a quote in £s/Turkish Lira which is far lower than what you will actually pay.

Example - I was told I would be charged £82 (it even said this on the electronic display at the till), and when I got my credit card bill I'd been charged £91.

This sounds like Dynamic Currency Conversion rather than the shop doing it themselves. In which case, had you checked carefully the amount being put on your credit card (and if necessary insisted on paying in euro rather than sterling) you would have been OK.

SOUF_OF_THE_RIVER

Nobjocki
And my first impression of the Turks were that they were untrustworthy,doltish and prone to serious bouts of female intimidation.
Some people love the place - others,myself included,liked the country but found Turks,particularly Turkish men,to be rude and arrogant.
Then there was the time in Turkey I was sat at the bar chatting to the barman about the reputation of Turks being untrustworthy.

Replace the word "Turk" with, "Brittish", "French", "Greek", "Indian", "Nigerian", "Jamaican" etc... alot of what you write sounds really racist at times. Your writting about a whole nation as if they're all identical.

There are rude, arrogrant, untrustworthy, doltish people in every country across the world, doesn't mean we have the right to tar everyone with the same brush.

Nobjocki
I mean here's the difference - the Greeks brought us democracy,Plato and the Hippocratic Oath.
And the Turks - a rather sickly chocolate bar and the kebab.
Greece,on the other hand,has similar scenery to Turkey but it's people are much friendlier.
No wonder the Greeks can't stand them.

Sounds like somebody has a complex :rotfl:
What are the constant referrences to Greece about...I never noticed this post was about visiting Greece.

Anyway, Turkish cuisine is rated as being in the top three in the world so it must be pretty good. And they have their fair share of philosophers, spectacular architecture plus they gave us "smallpox innoculation" which saved millions of lives.

Also I find your comparisons hypocritical, your making Greece and Greek people seem like a heavenly paradise while applying exactly the opposite to the Turks.

I've also been to Greece, its a lovely country aswell and so are the people.

However, you bash the Turks for trying it on with alot of woman, how about the Greek men? its not like there any better now is it, I mean statistically speaking their worse.

<H1 class=heading>Try Greece for a dangerous holiday

Official figures show that more Britons suffer from rapes and hospitalisations in Greece than in any other country

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/news/article2182341.ece

</H1>


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00193/TOP_10_MOST_POPULAR_193599a.jpg


And you were saying...

Now if somebody was to come along bashing the Greeks saying the same stuff about them it wouldn't be very nice would it, neither would it be true, there are good and bad people in every country, in every city, in every town and village. Learn to accept people as "equal humans".

taxiphil

taxiphil wrote: »

They also have a scam going on in the duty free shop where prices are only marked in Euros. Unless you pay in Euro banknotes (which is highly unlikely as a UK tourist probably wouldn't take a wad of Euros to Turkey) you get a terrible deal on their own "special" exchange rate in the shop - and they LIE to you by giving a quote in £s/Turkish Lira which is far lower than what you will actually pay.

Example - I was told I would be charged £82 (it even said this on the electronic display at the till), and when I got my credit card bill I'd been charged £91.

Voyager2002 wrote: »

This sounds like Dynamic Currency Conversion rather than the shop doing it themselves. In which case, had you checked carefully the amount being put on your credit card (and if necessary insisted on paying in euro rather than sterling) you would have been OK.

Believe me, I'm usually very shrewd and wise to these scams, but even I was completely flummoxed by the trick they were pulling, and only managed to work out what they'd done when I got home.

It was obviously designed to confuse and blind people with complex mathematics, and was not made easier by the rude and impatient women on the till who pretend not to speak any English and are extremely keen to grab your credit card from your hand and swipe it.

They price the stuff up in Euros (WHY, for heavens sake? It isn't their currency!!!), but if you hand over a card they charge it in Turkish Lira. The big sting is the conversion rate used by the shop between Euros and the Lira they actually charge - it's an awful rate. There is no way of actually paying in Euros, unless you have Euro banknotes on you.

Your own bank then converts the Lira into £ at their own rate and you lose out further.

If you ask what the price is going to be in £ they give you a "projected" price at the till (which of course is a load of balls), and by displaying it on their till screen, you fall under the illusion that you will actually be paying that amount, when really it will work out about 11% more.

But you'll only know that by the time you get home and see your bank statement.

You would need to be a mathematical genius and a psychic to know what the true price would be before purchasing - you'd need to convert their advertised prices from Euros to Lira at the shop's rate (which is a mystery) and then Lira to £ at your bank's rate (which you're probably unaware of on the spur of the moment in a foreign airport).

In a nutshell, anyone buying on a card from Dalaman airport duty free shop should be aware there's an 11% surcharge on everything. Bear this in mind if you're buying items like perfume, as it might cancel out the small saving you are making against UK high street prices.

sevlow

I bought a property in Turkey in March, and although a 10 minute drive from a holiday resort we live in a completely Turkish community and although we are having Turkish lessons we are pretty useless.

I can tell you ALL of the people we have come across have been superb and beyond anything I would have expected.

Just a few examples;

When we moved in I arranged for white goods to be fitted. When the guys came to fit the appliances there were problems with the plumbing etc. Our neighbours (who we had never met) took us to their house for tea while a friend of theirs sorted it all out for us - which meant him having to fit new connections etc.

Regularly neighbours and peopl from around knock our door and bring us food and when we go out for walks in the evening and simply say "hello" to folks eating out in there gardens we are dragged in and given food and drinks.

I have been truly surprised and humbled by just how friendly and generous they are.

I often wonder how they would fair if they came to live in England under the sanme circumstances.Not so well I think.

milkydrink

I like Turkey, though I realise it can have "hassle" problems.

Currency conversation.
The Turks will offer you a better exchange for currency conversation than the UK. You ask how much it is, they give you the price in Euros or Sterling. THEY ARE NOT SCAMMING YOU, YOUR CREDIT CARD ARE.
If you had paid the price they asked for in cash, then thats what you would have paid, duh!
But your credit card DOES NOT GIVE YOU A FAIR EXCHANGE RATE, & probably puts a charge on too.
If you wanted to pay by credit card & KNOW how much it would be, then you would have needed to ask them the price in Lira (if you had bothered to ask I'm sure they would have told you) & then phone your credit card company & ask THEM their exchange rate. You can't blame the duty free shop for the credit card company rip off.

Food at Dalaman
Yes it is a rip off, DON'T BUY IT.
Have a meal before you leave your resort & better still buy a packed lunch to take incase of delays, wn't cost much in resorts.
As far as I know, MCDONALS ALL OVER THE WORLD ASK YOU TO "SUPER SIZE".

Turkish men
Yes, lots of them do come across as sleezy. But to be fair they are used to sl*ggy British women (usually old enough to know better) going over there for a bit of fun.
First time we went, my sister & I went without husbands on a reckie. We didn't get any insulting behaviour. Yes a few men did try, but they realised pretty quick we weren't those type of women.
When there with husbands they are extremely respectful.

Hassle
Yes this does go on. We were in Turgutreis in May & I found it much more full on than the Fethyie region. Don't pretend to be interested if your not, just say NO THANK YOU & KEEP WALKING.

Food & drink in general.
You cannot say Turkey is expensive.
Yes imported sprits are, what do you expect. Do you think they should import expensive brands from abroad & sell at a loss. They sell the Effes & local stuff very cheaply.
Do you really think its a rip of to charge £2 for a cooked breakfast & £1.50 for a tea, usually served in a nice setting with a pretty view & waiter service? Damn you much eat in some cheap joints at home. You would get a tea for £1.50 here, but I don't think a full fried breakfast has been sold in this country for £2 for a few years.
Personally I don't go abroad to eat an English breakfast with "real" HP & a roast on Sunday with "real" bisto. I find I can cope without for two weeks. If I couldn't tear myself away, I would consider Blackpool......

MarkyMarkD

We've stayed in Turkey twice - near Kemer, and in Alanya, and we are going to stay in Icmeler in November which I understand will be VERY quiet. We've found Turkey great. It's easy to eat or drink out at very reasonable prices indeed. Whilst shop/bar/restaurant owners are keen to get you into their shops, that applies in most resorts around the world - it was no different when we were in Spain in May.

dalyan05

whizzkid wrote: »

hi,
i've heard so many mixed reports about turkey that i really don't know what to think !

is it a beach holiday place or a sightseeing place or both ?

a list of pros and cons of a holiday to turkey would be much appreciated !

I have been in Turkey about 15 times and I´m a real Turkey fan.
It is a wonderful country where you can just relax on the beaches or explore a lot of historic sites.
There are many archäological excavations, Lykian rock tombs, gorgeous mountains, mysterious canyons, lovely villages and interesting and lively cities, marvellous and large beaches and romantic bays, it is a country with many options to spend your holidays.
And there are of course the turkish people, hospitable ,kind and warm-hearted.I never found such helpful people anywhere.
I know that there are places in the touristic areas where you might get harassed and bothered , but if you avoid those areas you will spend very nice, relaxed and interesting holidays.
The turkish food belongs to the best of the world, it is tasteful and digestible.
I would always recommend to have a trip to Turkey and get your own experiences.