Turkey package holiday

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 11:06:12 GMT, "a.spencer3"
wrote:


wrote in message
roups.com...
Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:
I have booked my holiday, going to Kusadasi for 7 days for 139 GBP.
I would be interested to know how much people would expect to pay for
vehicle hire? It seems that the done thing is to hire a moped.


Your insurance will almost certainly exclude this unless you hold a
UK
motorcycle licence.

That is a very good point, and I shall check before I go. I have year
round travel insurance (from alliance + leiscter with my current
account), and a few years ago I read through the policy. From my
reading it seemed to exclude very little, so I am hopefull.

If I did hire a car or bike, and ended up getting stopped by the
police, is it the done thing to offer a bride? It was quite
acceptable in Morroco, but was warned against it in greece.


It would probably work if you'd grown up in the same village as the
cop. Or if the cop asks quite explicitly. Otherwise I suspect it
would just make him throw the book at you.

OK, I shall be very carefull. When I was in Morrocco I was stoped by
the police, and he just pointed to 400 at the top of one of his forms,
I gave him that much money (about 30 GBP IIRC) and he saluted me as I
drove off. Very pleasant way of dealing with the police.


Yeh - the Nigerian police used to make a good living like that, too. Dash
expected in lieu of a fine for going through red traffic lights.
There were then no traffic lights anywhere in the whole of Nigeria!
But the guns and the nature of the Nigerian police station to be
'visited'
encouraged settlement!
(And 30 GBP in Morocco is a small bloody fortune to a cop!).

So when you pay an on the spot fine in UK do you see that as a bribe
too?
--


There's a slight difference (in types of gun carried!) :-))

Surreyman

wrote in message
ups.com...
Martin wrote:
On 22 Sep 2006 01:48:02 -0700, wrote:
OK, I shall be very carefull. When I was in Morrocco I was stoped by
the police, and he just pointed to 400 at the top of one of his forms,
I gave him that much money (about 30 GBP IIRC) and he saluted me as I
drove off. Very pleasant way of dealing with the police.


It's called an on the spot fine. Not unique to Turkey.

Make sure your insurance covers the cost of flying you home if you
break both legs.

I can assure you it was not an offical on the spot fine. The number he
showed me was the identification number of the form (like V5 on the log
book).

So you paid that form's number in dirham? He must have thought it was
Christmas!
(Well, maybe not!).

Surreyman

a.spencer3 wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
I can assure you it was not an offical on the spot fine. The number he
showed me was the identification number of the form (like V5 on the log
book).


So you paid that form's number in dirham? He must have thought it was
Christmas!
(Well, maybe not!).

I did, yes. I am fairly sure that is what he was expecting, maybe not
though. He pointed at the number at the top of the form, I gave him
that, he saluted me (that is a first).

I have to admit I was somewhat fritened, having heard all sorts of
stories about 3rd world policing. It turned out to be one of my most
pleasant interactions with "the man", and an experience to remember. I
was not in the slightest concerned about the money.

wrote in message
oups.com...
a.spencer3 wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
I can assure you it was not an offical on the spot fine. The number he
showed me was the identification number of the form (like V5 on the log
book).


So you paid that form's number in dirham? He must have thought it was
Christmas!
(Well, maybe not!).

I did, yes. I am fairly sure that is what he was expecting, maybe not
though. He pointed at the number at the top of the form, I gave him
that, he saluted me (that is a first).

I have to admit I was somewhat fritened, having heard all sorts of
stories about 3rd world policing. It turned out to be one of my most
pleasant interactions with "the man", and an experience to remember. I
was not in the slightest concerned about the money.


Generalising horribly, we've long found Moroccans to be amongst the most
genuine and naturally friendly of most places we've been - the Arabs
certainly, but especially the Berbers..

Surreyman

Hi David;
I wrote you an e-mail regarding your holiday in Turkey... We wait for
your reply..
Thank you...



wrote:
Hi All,

I have decided on the easy and cheap option of a package holiday at the
beginning of October (see thread "Advice on a european package or
driving holiday"). It seems turkey is by far the cheapest, so that is
where I shall go (probably around 150 GBP per person). I would be very
interested in hearing anyones thoughts on what it is like. In
particular, I have the following questions;

A) Is the weather likely to be hot enough to sit on the beach and go
swimming? I have not been able to find a good weather histroy site
that gives me this information.

B) Which resort should I go to? It seems that most of the holidays are
in the Bodrum region, in one of; Altinkum, Bodrum, Gumbet and Kusadasi.
Does anyone have any thoughts on these? Our priorities are (roughly
in order);

History. It would be nice to be able to hire a bike or car and go and
explore some ruins or other interesting sites.
Beach. In particular interesting snokalling and rock pools, so a plain
sandy beach is not great.
Fishing port. My friend is a vege, but he eats fish. It would be a
big advantage to be able to buy fresh fish and cook it ourselves.
Night life. We are not expecting Ibiza type things, but to be able to
get a drink in this Muslim nation would be an advantage, and to be able
to go out and meet people would be good.
Sight-seeing. A large interesting city would probably keep us busy for
a day or 2, so access to something like that would be an advantage.

C) Can one get by with English? We will make an effort with turkish,
but I would imagine that starting from zero we will not get very far.