Turkey Travel Guide
Tags: Turkey Travel / Travel Advertising / Tourism Boards / Tourism Campaigns / Religious Travel / → All Tags
Turkey Launches Campaign To Capture Hearts, Tourism Dollars
Turkish tourism has taken a sustained hit this year, both because of the recession and because of some geopolitical dustups that we aren't about to get into. Regardless of the cause, the country's tourism board realizes they need to make up some ground. As a result, they're launching a new campaign to emphasize the wide array of travelers who will find something in Turkey, from history buffs to pilgrims to sports tourists.
The ad push includes a commercial they planted in the center of Times Square, a revamped new web presence with information about events, to a YouTube channel with a bunch of videos. The channel can be a little over-exuberant in places—the description of Turkey as the "cradle of civilization" and the "center of world history" will be news to Baghdad and Rome—but it does a good job highlighting the different kinds of options travelers can avail themselves of.
Tags: Advertising / Turkish Airlines / Celeb Travel / Kevin Costner / → All Tags
Kevin Costner Shills For Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines wants you to feel like a flight attendant is always hovering over your shoulder on your next flight. The Star Alliance member tapped Kevin Costner for its latest commercial, which features the "Field of Dreams" actor making significant eye contact with an attendant who then serves him dinner and puts in his bookmark (not a euphemism) as a bouncy tune suggests he "feel[s] like a star." Let's just hope he didn't show her the business in gratitude.
We saw this spot over and over on CNN International last month and never once registered that it was Costner. (In fact, we didn't even remember the airline name, just the tune as heard through a haze of jet lag.)
That said, doesn't his presence actually undermine the claim that anyone flying Turkish Airlines will feel like a star, considering Costner was an A-lister at one point and is still pretty famous. Maybe they teamed up with him because of his long and happy history with turkeys from "Waterworld" to "Swing Vote." Costner has actually been to Turkey before, though, on a world tour with his country band, Kevin Costner and Modern West.
Turkish Airlines recently suffered a nasty crash outside Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in February in which nine died as the plane broke into three places in a botched landing.
Related Stories:
· Kevin Costner Rounds Out The Wacky Crowd At Tribeca Grand [HC]
· Turkish Arlines Jet Crashes Outside Schiphol Airport [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Turkey Field Trip / Markets / Grand Bazaar / Spice Market / Istanbul Travel / → All Tags
How To Survive The Grand Bazaar and Spice Markets in Istanbul
Last week Shira Levine spent a few days getting her Turkish Delight on in Istanbul, Turkiye ("Turkey is a bird; Turkiye is the country"). Any questions about what to do in Turkiye? Send 'em to us and we'll have Shira answer them for you.
We've been through plenty of shuks, souks, ferias, and open-air markets in both developing and developed nations. The Turkish Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market take the pistachio or saffron-flavored cake in offering interpersonal adventures, thanks to the unbelievably high levels of persistence shop owners have in hopes of making a sale.
Even if you don't buy, these sweet and sensitive guys get very offended if you don't engage them in conversation and step into their shops. Resist! No one has that much time or patience.
Here's our list of tips on how to make the most of your trek through the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar.
Tags: Turkey Field Trip / Hammams / Spas / → All Tags
What a Foamy Scrub and a Rub Inside a Turkish Hammam is Really Like
Last week Shira Levine spent a few days getting her Turkish Delight on in Istanbul, Turkiye ("Turkey is a bird; Turkiye is the country"). Any questions about what to do in Turkiye? Send 'em to us and we'll have Shira answer them for you.
Going for a hammam experience is something not to pass up when in Turkiye. While a Turkish bathhouse is not for the body conscious, we recommend the body conscious suck it up and go for it. And, to go for the real deal.
While most hotels offer a hammam treatment, they typically are glossy spa treatments and private. In an authentic Turkish hammam, guests essentially lounge together buck-naked on a hot plate in a steam room. Together everyone waits their turn with mostly non-English speaking scrubbers who then randomly beckon for patrons to come to them for their individualized soapy body scrub. Remember: people have been bathing like this for over 500 years. Oh, and men and women are separate of course.
Tags: Turkey Field Trip / Turkish Air / Airobics / Travel Health / → All Tags
Get Some Exercise In-Flight With 'Airobics' on Turkish Air
Last week Shira Levine spent a few days getting her Turkish Delight on in Istanbul, Turkiye ("Turkey is a bird; Turkiye is the country".) But first, she had to fly there. Fortunately, Turkish Air cares about her in-flight health.
About an hour into the New York to Istanbul flight in our turquoise, upholstered 1980s vintage seats on Turkish Air, our private screening of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" was interrupted with an in-flight video exercise session dubbed "airobics." Seriously.
Featuring a similar vibe to the randomly quirky Dutch Mentos commercials, a man and woman demonstrated for passengers how to keep blood flowing and the body active for a long flight. The cheery duo shared tips by doing a series of small foot, leg, neck, head, arm and hand exercises all while sitting down in their seats. (Nearly the entire flight participated in the activities too -- including the enormous Turkish man wearing a swine flu mask who ultimately snored the remainder of the flight.)
Tags: Train Travel / High-Speed Trains / Trains / → All Tags
Turkey Launches High-Speed Train In Hopes Of Impressing Europe
For a long time now, Turkey has been trying to play with the big boys in Europe. Joining the European Union couldn’t be going slower, and it wouldn’t surprise us if they never got into the club. However, one thing that may help its chances, albeit ever so slightly, is a high-speed train. If Europe has one thing going for it—it’s awesome trains—so what better way to get on their good side than to build your own?
Last week, Turkey launched the first trip of their new speedy rail transportation system, the Yuksek Hizli Tren, or YHT. Not only did the new train depart Ankara with speeds over 150 mph, but it also featured some pretty nice on-board amenities that would make even the shower-equipped A380 jealous—or not. Anyway, business class seats have access to personal televisions as well as power ports to keep your iThis and iThat all charged and ready to go.
Tags: Airport Lounges / Turkish Air / Travel Snapshots / Layovers / → All Tags
The First Class Lounge at Turkish Air is Rather Palatial
We don't want to wish any serious airport stranding on ourselves, but if and when, then couldn't it be somewhere as bizarre as this, the executive lounge of Turkish Air at Istanbul's Ataturk airport?
We're pretty impressed that some people felt relaxed enough here in this über-decadent airline lounge to not just put their feet on the seats, but actually stretch out--we would be hearing our mother's voice in our ear telling us to behave.
We can't put it better than the photographer who described this place as having a "your flight has been delayed so now you're stranded at Dolmabache Palace" feel to it.
What we can't figure out is why our delays are always at airports where we can't access any decent lounge and end up sleeping on plastic benches at fast food franchises instead. Can anyone tell us which god we have to pray to?
Related Stories:
· Security Guards in Qatar's First Class Lounge Won't Allow Any Pictures [Jaunted]
· Turkey Travel Guide [Jaunted]
[Photo: WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong?]
Tags: Smoking / Bars / Cafes / Turkey Travel / → All Tags
Adventures of Link: Please, No More Cold Turkey Puns
As of today, Turkey has banned smoking in all enclosed areas. But getting people to comply may be quite a task, as half of all Turks smoke at least occasionally, according to Gallup.
If you're not ready to quit, you'll find a reprieve at bars, cafes and restaurants: They'll have until July 2009 to go smoke-free. Until then, one waiter says, you'll be able to skirt the restrictions:
I don't think the Turkish people will follow this law ... They will find a way around it. But I think it's a good change. Even as a nonsmoker, I feel like I am smoking.
Maybe we shouldn't be so cynical, though. If the French kicked the habit, maybe the Turks can too!
Related Stories:
· Turkey, Smoking Nation, Tries Out Ban [NYT]
· Turkey without Tobacco? [IHT]
· Turkey Widens Smoking Ban to Enclosed Areas [AP, via Google]
· Places You Can't Smoke, from Bhutan to Uganda [Wikipedia]
· Smoking coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo from Istanbul: John Picken]
Tags: Television Travel / TV Travel / Matt Lauer / Turkey Travel / Protests / → All Tags
Matt Lauer Continues His Globe-Trotting
"The Today Show" publicity stunt/geography lesson that is "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" continued today with a stop in Istanbul. We'll give Meredith Vieira a pass on her claim that "New Zealand is on a submerged continent" and instead focus on the cool info that Lauer had on Turkey, where tourism has doubled in the past six years.
The morning host was also joined by Lester Holt who did a quick tour around the country to Bodrum, Pamukkale, Cappadocia and Ephesus. We also got a look inside the famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
Oh, and it's a good thing Matt did his introductory stand-up on a boat in the Bosphorus. Helped him avoid those May Day demonstrations that police in Istanbul put down with tear gas and water cannons today.
Related Stories:
· Where in the World Is Matt Lauer? [MSNBC]
· Television Travel coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Crime / Europe Travel / Gambling / → All Tags
Nobody Wins At Turkish Bingo
We've long thought of playing bingo as a crime against common decency, but a real crime? Who would've thought? Certainly not the British tourists in Turkey who just got taken to the police station and fined for playing bingo at an Altinkum bar in the hope of winning a drink.
British holidaymakers Sarah Holland and Carla Harrison had this to say of their run-in with some Turkish police who considered the bingo game unlicensed gambling:
They seized the bingo ball and took our tickets away from us. It was a terrifying experience and very scary.
So if anybody in Turkey tries to talk you into playing bingo, just say no. Unless you're an elderly pensioner with a bingo addiction that shouldn't be too hard, right?
Related Stories:
· Tourists Seized For Playing Bingo [BBC]
· Dirty Bingo in the Meatpacking District [Jaunted]
· Turkey Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Hotels in Turkey [HotelChatter]
[Photo: sleepydisco]
Tags: Turkish Airlines / Airport Security / Onur Air / → All Tags
Dumb Travel Ideas: How To Not Miss Your Plane
A loving Turkish wife tried to help her hubby out this week but only succeeded in landing them both under arrest. Since her husband was running late to catch his Onur Air flight, she called in with a bomb threat to try to delay the flight.
Of course, everyone got a bit of a fright, but soon figured out that it was a hoax. Instead of having to make an emergency landing in Ankara, the Istanbul flight continued on to Diyarbakir, where the husband missed the flight anyhow because he was busy with the police. We recommend simply getting to the airport on time or, in an emergency, finding a known bomber to make a more realistic hoax call. No, really, just get to the airport on time.
Related Stories:
· Onur Air [Official Site]
· Fake Bomb Alert No Help to Husband [CNN]
[Photo: iambigred]
Tags: Travel Deals / Airlines / Turkish Airlines / → All Tags
Turkish Airlines Honors Teachers
Looks like it's a good day to either be a teacher in Turkey or someone with a genius plan to impersonate one.
In the age of non-sales and crrrazy discounts that somehow still leave us with $5,000,000 in extra taxes and fees, Turkish Airlines is truly slashing its prices. Of course, because of this particular sale's limited conditions, one can't quite pit them against other wimpy airline deals. For domestic travel in Turkey between November 24 and 30, or international travel on November 24 only, Turkish is providing a 50% discount to teachers and retired teachers. That means 50% off economy class or even business. November 24 is Teacher's Day in Turkey.
Because the deal does not appear on the airline's USA-specific site, we're assuming that you must be teaching in Turkey in some capacity to qualify. Those taking advantage of the discount must have papers to prove their status. Tough parameters, sure, but what a deal!
[Photo: Planero]
