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Travel The MEGA Travel Thread!

Kenickie said:
yeah he got a 30 day visa for russia but told customs he would only be there for 7 days. he was on an overnight train to ukraine and arrived at the border on the morning of the 8th day. so technically his visa wasn't expired but you know. they held him for like 8 hours until apparently someone came in and looked at his face (which is this like perpetually stoned puppy hippie face) and said "let the american idiot go." he laughs about it now but he said at the time it was terrifying.
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Yeah this doesn't surprise me, Russia is ultra-strict when it comes to visa's.. it can be a pain in the ass. You need an invitation document first before applying for a visa, you have to specify where your staying, how long you will be there, which cities.. you have to leave before or on the exit date, if you overstay even a couple of hours there's a good chance they will arrest you. I've visited Ukraine because I didn't need a visa.. I wanted to also visit Russia but as I usually travel without a schedule the whole process with the Russian visa makes it difficult, perhaps sometime in the future when I can schedule bookings and dates.
 
I'm going to take my 86 year old mom to Turkey in April. I usually travel on the complete cheap but will have to think of her comfort (she still gets around fine) a bit more. Has anyone been? Any tips? She wants to go for the history so I will be traveling throughout the country.
 
I don't think it should be that much different than you have been traveling. more time on buses and trains and taxis instead of walking, and more planned activities, and not sleeping on sofas. i'm hyper interested in their design stuff. the istanbul design biennial is a destination conference for me. recently we're supposed to go to hong kong this year but the visa thing is freaking me out so i'm thinking we might skip around and actually go to turkey this year. i also got a text this morning from the hopper app saying that tickets round trip from atlanta to istanbul were only 600$ which is disgusting.
 
herbavore said:
I'm going to take my 86 year old mom to Turkey in April. I usually travel on the complete cheap but will have to think of her comfort (she still gets around fine) a bit more. Has anyone been? Any tips? She wants to go for the history so I will be traveling throughout the country.
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I have been but I only spent one week in Istanbul.. I had plans to visit Cappadocia in the centre of the country but unfortunately I got food poisoning from some eggs and was violently ill for days. The worst part was I had them that morning and had got onto a boat heading up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea before I realized that something was very wrong, I vomited some 6-8 times throughout the day.. major cramping and couldn't eat or drink for almost three days. - I wish I had better memories of Turkey.. lol.

But that aside, before I got sick.. I spent a lot of time moving around Istanbul.

You will be approached by street vendors and people wanting to sell you items, this is unavoidable.
When walking through the Grand Bazaar, be aware of your belongings.. it's extremely packed full of people.
I would highly recommend visiting the interior of the Blue Mosque.. it's absolutely stunning. Depending on when your going.. the lines might be very long, but it's worth it.
The Airport is very far away from the city and if you arrive during peak times you might get stuck in traffic jams which can make taking a taxi ultra-expensive. I took a bus from the Airport all the way to the Bosphorus for around $10-15 and then caught a free boat across to the 'European' side of Istanbul. A taxi might be better considering your mums age though.
The 'European' side of Istanbul is very hilly.. you will want to use the trams to get around.

There are a couple of scams to be aware of, the ones I noticed are:

Been invited in for tea, usually it's an attempt to sell you Persian rugs. - This is mostly harmless, but if you have a hard time saying 'no'.. you might just walk out with an overpriced rug.
Been asked to take a photo at night. - The idea is you take the photo, and then they ask you to join them for a tour of the city or some restaurants/bars.. but wherever you go, you will get stuck with an expensive bill.

I wish I had more to add but half the week I was there I spent in bed, I might visit again in the future.. There's a lot more of Turkey I want to see.
 
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& my love.. im back wit her
 
I wish I could travel more often. I have a mortgage and a 45 hour a week job though. 20 vacation days per year, paid, but I can't take more than that. It makes significant travel difficult to impossible especially since I need some of that time to visit family every year. But when I was younger I went to Europe 3 times, I extensively saw France and all the British isles, as well as a bit of Italy and Monaco. I've also been to a lot of places in the USA and also to Vancouver Island, BC. I have a good friend who lives in Spain, in Catalonia, and I want to find some time to get out there and visit.
 
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