TURKEY PART I : PRE-TRAVELLING

PRE-TRAVEL & EXPECTATION

Administrative
No visa is required. Just passport would do.

Climate & clothes
September expected to be early fall with temperature between 18-22 degree Celsius in the day and 10-15 degree Celsius at night depends on the area as the country is quite large with almost 6 times bigger than Peninsular Malaysia.

We bought simple jacket but also prepare for double clothing for nights at northern side of the country especially in Bolu.

We both brought our own rubber flipper slippers just for night walk and especially during Hierapolis visit. We also had our swimming attire for hot-spring swim and I brought my own towel for the swim just to be ready.

Other preparation
First Aid is a must for every travel complete also with ActivFast, musclepain tablets, plasters, musclepain cream, Silonplast, Minyak Cap Kapak, nasal spray etc.

Largest and mid size luggage with small travel handbag and small bag pack. We had a total of 19kg check-in luggage to give free space for some shopping stuff.

I had my pouch to keep camera, passport, cash, coins, tissue, handset and ray ban. We also did not forget to bring toiletries.

To ensure we do not leaves solat, I make sure I have all the solat times for all different cities and to bring compass for qiblah direction.

Overall expectation
People

We expect the Turks to be very friendly based on interaction with some pilgrimage during our hajj and umra. The Turks looked very friendly to us as they oftenly approach us first but they can't will speak English and will continue to speak Turkish eventhough we repeatedly do not understand any of their words.

Religion wise we expect them not to be that religious, may be almost like us Malaysian Muslim. They may be able to read Al-Quran but only few would really understand the meaning word by word. But we expect them to have the fundamental knowledge of Islam .

Food
Food is expected to skewed to any European countries with some mix of Asian and Arabic influenced. This is based on mere location of mix between east and west.

Places

Turkey cities are expected to be very modern whilst the villages are expected to be less developed relatively to other European countries.

DEPARTURE DAY
1800: made online check-in via MalaysianAirline.com online service. Online check-in would allow us to buy more time as we only need to be at the airport 1 hour before boarding time instead of 2 hours. 2115: Call for a cab to KLIA. 2130: Cab arrived and we reached KLIA at 2230. Straight to check-in our luggage. We then make some withdrawal from the ATM for some pocket money. Change some currency into Euro and USD as Turkish Lira (TL) is not available in Malaysia. Euro and USD is widely acceptable there.

0030 MH30 night flight expecting to reach Istanbul Atartuk Airport at 0615, requires us to have good sleep in-flight so to get fresh travel day the next morning. Small tea would be enough if plan to take in-flight meal but as we plan for a good night sleep, hence, decided to take meal at KLIA instead.

TIPS

• If possible make on-line check-in via Malaysian Airline portal so that can be at airport only 1 hour prior to departure instead of 2 hours. Online check-in would also allow us to select our seats.
• Pre-withdraw our cash as much as possible for the amount you need rather than waiting for final day withdrawal from ATM coz there will be withdrawal limit. ATM will be closed at 12 midnight/morning.

.....to be continued..kindly visit next posting "Arrival in Istanbul and visit to Bursa City"