Tour companies for Turkey travel . . .
Sep 11th, 2004, 09:36 AM
#21
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I'd still like input from anyone who went on the OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) trip to Turkey, since I already have it all booked, but need to decide whether to cancel for reasons explained above.
Sep 11th, 2004, 12:45 PM
#22
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cmt - can you be specific as to where the "hiking" will be. I've been to Turkey (not with OAT) and while there was walking to get to and through varous sites, and often on uneven ground, nothing was near what I would consider hiking. I've looked at the OAT itinerary, and can't see where there is hiking. Which areas in particular are you concerned with - maybe I can help.
Sep 11th, 2004, 01:37 PM
#23
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cmt -
Sorry, my error - forget what I said above. I was looking at another itinerary; might not have a bum knee but am a bit dyslexic. You do have quite a bit of hiking on this OAT itinerary. Even without a bum knee, I wouldn't be participating in each and every hike and I'm in fine physical condition. And it wouldn't surprise me if half the group passes on the hikes, especially around the Aegean area where there seems to be a hike each day.
In the Cappadocia area, simply going into the Underground city can be a challenge and pray you're not chlaustrophobic; there's a hike in this area as well.
The more I think about and remember our trip to Turkey, there is uneven ground at many sites. Lots of shallow hills at Ephesus; within Goreme and Zelve in Cappadoccia area. Even in Istanbul - at Aya Sofia, you'll be fine on the main floor of the sanctuary, but you won't be able to make it up to the second level. No steps, just a steep winding walkway going up (then down). And while the Cistern was one of my favorite visits, it is always wet on the walkways, so one has to be careful.
In fact as soon as I saw the suggestion to wear hiking boots and that OAT would provide walking sticks - pretty serious stuff. If you are currently having any difficulty walking uphill or downhill, the hiking on this tour will be a challenge if your knee is swollen; and you're currently doing physical therapy! I'd say you have a serious situation with the knee. If I were in your situation and was really interested in the hiking, but hadn't greatly improved within the next two weeks, I'd consider cancelling. That's not to say that you couldn't have a wonderful trip without the hiking - what you will be able to do and see is still something amazing - you won't be a happy camper. More then likely you'll feel you've wasted your time (and money); might even aggrevate whatever healing has taken place on the knee.
But this is a very good itinerary and something you seem to really be interested in. So maybe you would do better by rebooking for sometime in the Spring when your knee is heeled. Sorry for the misunderstanding above, but this is something you should take seriously.
Sorry, my error - forget what I said above. I was looking at another itinerary; might not have a bum knee but am a bit dyslexic. You do have quite a bit of hiking on this OAT itinerary. Even without a bum knee, I wouldn't be participating in each and every hike and I'm in fine physical condition. And it wouldn't surprise me if half the group passes on the hikes, especially around the Aegean area where there seems to be a hike each day.
In the Cappadocia area, simply going into the Underground city can be a challenge and pray you're not chlaustrophobic; there's a hike in this area as well.
The more I think about and remember our trip to Turkey, there is uneven ground at many sites. Lots of shallow hills at Ephesus; within Goreme and Zelve in Cappadoccia area. Even in Istanbul - at Aya Sofia, you'll be fine on the main floor of the sanctuary, but you won't be able to make it up to the second level. No steps, just a steep winding walkway going up (then down). And while the Cistern was one of my favorite visits, it is always wet on the walkways, so one has to be careful.
In fact as soon as I saw the suggestion to wear hiking boots and that OAT would provide walking sticks - pretty serious stuff. If you are currently having any difficulty walking uphill or downhill, the hiking on this tour will be a challenge if your knee is swollen; and you're currently doing physical therapy! I'd say you have a serious situation with the knee. If I were in your situation and was really interested in the hiking, but hadn't greatly improved within the next two weeks, I'd consider cancelling. That's not to say that you couldn't have a wonderful trip without the hiking - what you will be able to do and see is still something amazing - you won't be a happy camper. More then likely you'll feel you've wasted your time (and money); might even aggrevate whatever healing has taken place on the knee.
But this is a very good itinerary and something you seem to really be interested in. So maybe you would do better by rebooking for sometime in the Spring when your knee is heeled. Sorry for the misunderstanding above, but this is something you should take seriously.
Sep 11th, 2004, 01:53 PM
#24
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Sandi: I'll e-mail you later, if I can find your e-mail address. (Right now I can't figure out how to get my computer out of "safe mode" and back to normal mode. That's what I get for aborting a scadisk in DOS.) Thanks for the response. I can't seem to get specifics from OAT re exactly what the hikes ares. There are 6 optional hikes. The "supervisor" I spoke to yesterday kept saying that if I've been on hiking tours with BCT, etc, these would be easy for me. Well I know they would've been easy before I hurt my knee!!! He kept missing the point, that I'm concerned about now, in my somewhat impaired condition. I tend to be a fast healer, so maybe I'll be "normal"--my knee, that is 
--in 4 weeks. But I'd really like to make an informed decision.
--in 4 weeks. But I'd really like to make an informed decision.
Sep 12th, 2004, 06:23 AM
#26
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Thanks. I might call the sales # of OAT this a.m., in the hopes thaat they might have more info than the "customer service" # that's for the people who've already booked. The sales # has much more extensive hours, while the othr # is available mainly at the most inconvenient time (i.e. when I'm at work) and there are ridiculous hold times.
Sep 13th, 2004, 01:59 PM
#27
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Thanks to the people helping me on this thread, which I more or less hijacked. Since my big tangent here is on someone else's thread, I started a new thread for my own needs, and I hope if you have anything else to tell me, we can discuss it on the new thread. Here it is: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34528379
Sep 16th, 2004, 01:20 PM
#28
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In 6 days I'll be off on Pasha tours "Black Sea and Eastern Turkey" tour. I've travelled with them twice and was quite satisfied both times even though Atilla was a walking-talking encyclopedia of all things Turkish and would never shut up. I swear that trip was more of a seminar than anything. But I can't remember a tour I enjoyed more. The buses are comfortable, the hotels are fine, the food delicious and only a couple of options. I suspect Attila (wonders of anatolia )got very nice commisions on my rug purchases, but he was truly a great guide. Timur was also very good (super value western turkey), just a lot less talkative: I could get in some quality nap time on some of the longer bus rides.
Oct 30th, 2004, 12:45 AM
#29
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I just came back from a tour with Overseas Adventure Travel, which I highly recommend. I wrote about it on this thread: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34528379 Overseas Adventure ("OAT"
is the "active" branch of Grand Circle Travel ("GC". My understanding is that both Grand Circle and Overseas Adventure run tours to some of the same places, and parts of their itineraries even overlap, but the tours are quite different in many ways. I've heard that Grand Circle was established as a tour company for retired people. I've heard from several people it's very good, but I don't think I'd like their tours myself. They have big-group (~40 people) tours. The guide on my OAT tour also does the Grand Circle tours in Turkey, and from some of her stories I have the impression that the people on regular GC (i.e. NOT the OAT tours)tours are often infirm, and the trips are much much less active because they accommodate people who cannot always get around so easily. OAT tours, on the other hand, are small group tours (mine had just 10 people) and are "active," i.e. include hiking or a lot of walking or "adventurous" activities. Because Overseas Adventure still seems to market its tours mainly to older (50+) people, the people who take their tours tend to be older, but I think the itneraries would be of great interest to people in their 30's and 40s (actually to people a lot younger than that as well). I also thought that, considering what was included, the price was an excellent value and should be affordable to younger families and not just wealthy retired people.
is the "active" branch of Grand Circle Travel ("GC". My understanding is that both Grand Circle and Overseas Adventure run tours to some of the same places, and parts of their itineraries even overlap, but the tours are quite different in many ways. I've heard that Grand Circle was established as a tour company for retired people. I've heard from several people it's very good, but I don't think I'd like their tours myself. They have big-group (~40 people) tours. The guide on my OAT tour also does the Grand Circle tours in Turkey, and from some of her stories I have the impression that the people on regular GC (i.e. NOT the OAT tours)tours are often infirm, and the trips are much much less active because they accommodate people who cannot always get around so easily. OAT tours, on the other hand, are small group tours (mine had just 10 people) and are "active," i.e. include hiking or a lot of walking or "adventurous" activities. Because Overseas Adventure still seems to market its tours mainly to older (50+) people, the people who take their tours tend to be older, but I think the itneraries would be of great interest to people in their 30's and 40s (actually to people a lot younger than that as well). I also thought that, considering what was included, the price was an excellent value and should be affordable to younger families and not just wealthy retired people.
