We left London via Stanstead airport. It was very easy to get to from our place, and although its a small airport, it was very easy to navigate and I was happy because there was a Starbucks inside the security area!
We flew into a small airport on the outskirts of Istanbul and rented a car from Hertz. We flew on Pegasus airlines, which amused our daughter to no end. The flight was fine, with only a few incidents of turbulance. Our son had a blast with a little girl in the seat next to me.
Renting with Hertz was reasonably simple, and they asked for only the standard documentation, so that was fine. The toll roads work differently, though, and we had to purchase a special card to go through them. The tolls work on contactless payment methods through prepaid cards. Hertz charged us 40 turkish lira to buy one and put 20 lira on it!
We did not have our tom tom updated with Turkish maps ( this has since been rectified) and had to use our phone's google maps to find our way from the airport to our hotel. Luckily, this worked with only tiny kinks and we arrived to our hotel in Old City Istanbul in one piece.
We are renting a family suite in a hotel called the Garden House Hotel. The rooms are clean and well kept. Its not 5 star, but a solid 3, and its in a fabulous location! From here we are next door to the Topkapi palace and Aya Sofia.
We took the time to walk out and get dinner out of the hotel, which was nice. I think we all enjoyed the night air after being in the plane for a few hours. We had a good dinner at a little turkish kebap place where our daughter and I had meatballs on tomato lentils and the boys split some steak and aubergine dish. Yum!
Renting with Hertz was reasonably simple, and they asked for only the standard documentation, so that was fine. The toll roads work differently, though, and we had to purchase a special card to go through them. The tolls work on contactless payment methods through prepaid cards. Hertz charged us 40 turkish lira to buy one and put 20 lira on it!
We did not have our tom tom updated with Turkish maps ( this has since been rectified) and had to use our phone's google maps to find our way from the airport to our hotel. Luckily, this worked with only tiny kinks and we arrived to our hotel in Old City Istanbul in one piece.
We are renting a family suite in a hotel called the Garden House Hotel. The rooms are clean and well kept. Its not 5 star, but a solid 3, and its in a fabulous location! From here we are next door to the Topkapi palace and Aya Sofia.
We took the time to walk out and get dinner out of the hotel, which was nice. I think we all enjoyed the night air after being in the plane for a few hours. We had a good dinner at a little turkish kebap place where our daughter and I had meatballs on tomato lentils and the boys split some steak and aubergine dish. Yum!
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