tcreath, yep that's the guy and I remember some mention of his trips to FL. The Turkish woman never said anything to me but the Canadian girl chimed in once in a while. She looked about 20 with short, blondish hair. And they also cornered me near the Topkapi Palace. I wonder how many tourists they talk to in a day? I'm kind of glad I didn't have the Pig Latin idea at that point, as the young girl might have caught on. :-))

Thanks for the report, P_M! What was the deciding factor for you choosing Gate 1? Were there other tours you considered? I'm looking at a Rick Steves tour of Istanbul only...also read about Pacha tours on another board. Most likely going solo on this trip so prefer to do a tour. Carpet vendors aside, did you have trouble communicating? Did you learn to speak Turkish prior? Most likely I will have the day prior to the tour on my own. Will work on my Pig Latin...it's been years...

Hi AMC, good to see you. :-) Of course I became quite fluent in Turkish before my trip so I had no problems at all. If you are not totally fluent in Pig Latin that's OK, they don't seem to notice and will never correct you. :-d

Actually communication was never a problem, as so many Turks speak good English. I'm sure Rick Steves and Pacha are good tours too, but this was my second trip w/Gate 1 and they never disappoint. If you have any other questions I will be happy to answer if I can.

One word of advice AMC. If you buy your plane ticket thru Gate 1 then you may disregard the advice below, as transfers are free. But if you book your own ticket as I did then transfers are not free so please read on: There is only one thing about Gate 1 that is a total rip-off and that is the airport transfers. I took the metro to the hotel which cost me about $3. A taxi will be somewhere around $20ish, but ask in advance. It seems like Gate 1 was charging around $90 each way, which is absurd. Otherwise it's a great company.

Thank you, P_M! ((F))

I will let you know if (as!) further questions arise...I'm in the planning stages. Can't make a move until my passport (renewal) arrives. Thanks for the language tip--although I try to learn as much of a language as possible it's helpful to know what the barriers are. Pig Latin was like SUCH a challenge for me...I hope Turkish is the easier of the two. ;-) Also, thanks for the transfer tip with Gate 1--your good experience with them says a great deal.

I hope all is well with you!

Where did you stay in Kusadasi? I'm looking for a hotel. Thanks!

Hi ctkathy, I stayed at the KoruMar Hotel in Kusadasi. If you can get a room with an ocean view you will love it. Even if you can't get the ocean view I think you will like this hotel.

http://www.korumar.com.tr/english.htm

Wow, did you hear that? That was the sound of the hotel taking my breath away....how on earth could you leave? I plan to move in.

I thought I heard a howling wind--was that you AMC?? :-o I never wanted to leave that hotel either and I would definitely stay there again.

BTW AMC, I tried to email you yesterday and it kicked back to me. Either I have your old address or you have placed me on your junk mail screener. :-( If you have my address please drop me a line. If not, I'll check with one of our mutual pals in TX.

You can also make arrangements through the hotel to pick you up. Two of us, women, are arriving late, 10 p.m. and didn't want to tackle public transportation at that time of night. Our hotel is charging 25 euros to pick us up. We felt it was worth it to have someone waiting for you.

southeastern, I assume you are referring to your arrival into Istanbul. I arrived mid day so the tram was great. But if I had arrived at 10pm I definitely would have used the hotel car service and not the tram. On my trip home I had to leave very early and I did use the hotel car. The tram wasn't yet running when I left, but the darkness at that hour would have sealed the deal. I don't like public transportation at odd hours.

P_M, you have set the bar high for trip reports! Video and pix are excellent. Is that your voiceover? If you aren't a pro, you should consider it!

Only read first post so bookmarking for later. WOW!

Thank you very much TDudette. For the audio bit I wrote the script and chose most of the music, but the announcer is my sister who used to work in radio. She has recording equipment and she does the sound effects. I do audios for most of my trip reports. If you are interested you can find those on my profile page if you open my other trip reports. :-)

P_M, you give me too much credit--I don't know how to put people in junk mail screener, lol. My email is amc578 at geemail :-) Cancelled the skates account when I stopped skating. Would love to hear from you!

AMC, you've got mail. :-)

you have made my day! We (4 travelin' old chicks) are lv for Turkey Sep 23rd. Sorry to hear about Pamukkale, I was looking forward to that too..but it'll make great pics.Have made reservation for the ballooning. Do you (or other Fodorites)have any other good travel suggestions. Sounds like you like to go to the unusual places too (saving the cruises till the mind and body collapse-which may be soon!)Been to
China,Egypt,Tanzania,Russia).

mveth, I'm so glad you will be visiting Turkey. Pamukkale wasn't all bad, the cliffs were very pretty. My disappointment was mainly the ice cold water and my inability to walk on those rough cliffs. But in Sept the water might not be so cold. And the ancient cemetary was really cool so Pamukkale is still worth a stop.

You will love the balloon ride, just hope and pray the weather cooperates on that day.

Thank you for the report. Which company did you use for the Hot air balloon. Thanks.

Hi joh, I'm sorry I don't remember the name offhand but I will look through my things later and see if I can find out. I do know it's not the company that had the accident in May.

Joh, I'm still searching through my things but I still can't find the name of the company. I booked it at the last minute thru Gate 1 Tours so I will try to call Gate 1 today to see if they have that info.