Review: Mavi Ada Pension

SCORE: 9.8/10

LOCATION: BODRUM, TURKEY

NIGHTS: 3

DATES: 20TH AUG- 22ND AUG 2015 & 29TH AUG- 30TH AUG 2015

ROOM: DOUBLE ROOM

STAFF 10/10

The staff at Mavi Ada Pension were incredibly friendly and so caring to me and the other people staying here. The owner Ali goes up and beyond to make your stay a relaxing one. He is very attentive and always available to help you with directions and he even did my washing for me (which was a lot!) free of charge when I asked about laundry mats.

LOCATION 10/10

The location of this small hotel is perfect. Off the main street on the beach and down a small alleyway. It takes literally 30 seconds until your feet are in the sand or you’re sitting at a bar having a few drinks. The main street is filled with bars, restaurants and further down the street about a 2 minute walk is a lot of shops and stalls, you are spoilt for choice. Bodrum Castle is about a 10min walk and within view when you walk out of the alleyway. Also the main bus terminal is about a 10min walk.

CLEANLINESS 10/10

The hotel and my room were kept very clean and Ali and his employees are always out and about cleaning rooms and making sure the hotel is in its best condition. I had no problems with my room in terms on cleanliness everything was perfect.

COMFORT 9.5/10

The two rooms I stayed in on different occasions were both really nice. The beds are super comfortable and there was either the fan or AC which I used a lot due to the 38 degree heat. The bathrooms are good, although I’m not used to the wet room styled shower. The upstairs terrace was very lovely to read and have breakfast it also had an incredible view. Be aware that this hotel is very basic in terms of room and furniture.

FACILITIES 9.5/10

The WiFi here was great, but the lower floor you went to the rooftop terrace the more it played up. The breakfast here was AMAZING Ali makes it all himself and you get your choice of eggs, fresh bread, cucumber and tomato, delicious cheeses, olives and olive oil it was traditional Turkish breakfast.

This is the best experience I have ever had at any hotel or hostel.

Review: Bunk Taksim

SCORE: 8.1/10

LOCATION: ISTANBUL, TURKEY

NIGHTS: 4

DATES: 16TH AUGUST – 20TH AUGUST

ROOM: 6 BED FEMALE DORM WITH PRIVATE BATHROOM

STAFF 10/10

The few times I talked to the staff they were friendly and helpful when asking for good places to eat or best way to walk to a sight/attraction. Also the staff that worked at the rooftop bar were incredibly nice

LOCATION 8/10

Although the hostel is only 5 minutes walk away from the Havatas Airport Bus, metro about 5 minute walk away with line direct to Faith and short 15 minute walk from the main shopping street in Taksim the hostel is very far away from all the main sights and attractions such as the Mosques and Palaces. As Istanbul is a large city with a lot of suburbs within I found it quite hard to find a good location hostel.

CLEANLINESS 7/10

My room was clean to an extent, but the walls had a lot of scratches and marks and the floors were very dirty from peoples shoes and rubbish. The bathroom, although wasn’t that dirty apart from hair in the shower was never cleaned which I found disgusting. The room looked nothing the photos online.

COMFORT 7/10

Bed wise the mattress was comfortable, however the pillow was misshaped and lumpy so I had a hard time sleeping. Although this is not the hostel’s fault it did end up playing a large part in my overall review of this hostel. The girls I shared the room with were being very inconsiderate and loud, especially between 11pm and 2am they would come in turn all the lights on, have showers and sort out their suitcases before going to bed while fully knowing others including myself were sleeping.

FACILITIES 8.5/10

I loved the rooftop terrace it had great views of Istanbul and was a nice place to chill out and relax. The room was good as each bed had a shelf with 2 plugs and a reading light. Although in the bathroom the lockers were excellent as they were large enough to fit in my backpack and you created your own unique code for the locker which I thought was a smart idea. The WiFi was pretty good, occasionally it would cut out. I also loved that my room had two balconies.

Review: Contiki “Turkish Sailing”

SCORE: ★★★★★

LOCATION: TURKEY

LENGTH: 8 DAYS

DATES: 22 AUG 2015 – 29 AUG 2015

REVIEW ON CONTIKI WEBSITE:

The only way to start this review is to say this trip was the best experience of my life so far and you need to do yourself a favour a book this tour!!

Honestly you spend 8 days sailing around the Aegean Sea drinking, eating, tanning, sleeping and swimming. You get to just switch off and relax, no phones, no WiFi (although you can buy it onboard but why would you?) and no distractions. You never know what time of the day it is until the bell rings for meals.

First the boat is incredible and I love that you are on a traditional Turkish Gulet. You share a room and bathroom with one other person, the rooms are small and you do share a double bed but everyone used the beds to put their luggage and stuff on and everyone usually sleeps up on deck on the tanning beds which is an amazing experience to sleep and under the stars. Although a few nights I slept inside due to it being quite cold and I got sick on the boat (Contiki Cough).

The food on this trip is INCREDIBLE thanks to the lovely Mehmet. You get 3 meals a day and afternoon tea which is biscuits/cakes and tea or coffee. The food was my favourite part of the tour, it’s all fresh and incredible healthy but tastes delicious. Drinks you put on a tab that you pay for at the end of the trip. In my opinion the drinks were quite cheap but cheaper in stores on land. It was 50c for a bottle of water and a beer was 3 euro. I ended up only spending 55 euro.

The places we went to were incredibly beautiful and the water was always crystal clear and turquoise blue although very salty. Defiantly go on land when we dock as we saw some amazing ruins and the walk up the hill to watch the sunset was spectacular although the hill to get up and down is bloody hard and everyone ended up with scratches and bruises.

I defiantly recommend doing all the extras as I regret not doing them all. I regret not doing the mud baths as everyone who did it on my tour said it was really fun and they saw some turtles. Defiantly do Marmaris as it’s a really fun night out although I felt horrible the next day. Hungover on a moving boat is not the best idea. The turkish baths was probably my favourite such an awesome experience, defiantly pay extra for a massage.

The crew was another favourite part of the tour Captain JJ and the two Mehmets were so much fun and always eager to join in and go out with us at night even though they do this tour every week for 26 weeks straight! They didn’t speak much english but were always up for a conversation and to play card games and drink with us.

The people I meet on this trip were amazing and you really get to know each other as you spend so much time together. The others in my group were from England, Germany, Canada, Australia, NZ and USA.

Altogether this tour has been a highlight of my travels this year and I would defiantly do it again.

My Contiki was: unforgettable , relaxing, fun

Sorry (Not Sorry)

For the past 5 weeks I have been travelling around Turkey and Greece and it has been such an incredible experience, I have met so many amazing people and created some unforgettable memories.

I went swimming in the Mediterranean (a lot!), went skinny dipping in the moonlight, tanned by the beach and on a traditional turkish gullet (it’s a boat),  I cliff jumped for the first time, I went clubbing and bar crawling, I drunk a terrible amount of tequila, I accidentally tipped a waitress 50 euro, I went to some incredible museums and archeological sites, I climbed more steps than I’ll ever know, I watched over 10 sunsets with red wine but only 1 sunrise, I received over 20 bruises and 7 scrapes, I saw Angelina and Brad Pitts house in Santorini, I hiked up 4 hills, I went snorkelling around a sunken ship, I got hit over the head with a skateboard (don’t worry I wore a helmet), I went cave exploring  and I ate an incredible amount of delicious food.

I did all this and more, I experienced so much yet I failed to write about it and share with you. I promised after my Turkey Sailing that I would continue to write and post but I got swept away in my trip and completely forgot. But I cannot be sorry because all I did was experience 110% of my trip and allow myself to experience as much as I could, I didn’t focus on posting incredible photos on Instagram or on Facebook I choose to live in the moment.  So now after my incredible 5 weeks it’s now my mission to now get you all up to date on what happened and how incredibly lucky I was to experience these two countries.

Day 8: Bodrum (Turkish Sailing, Contiki)

Well today’s the day I finally get to go sailing for 8 days with Contiki! I have been waiting for months for this trip looking at pictures wherever I could of the Mediterranean Sea and pictures of Turkey Coastline, beaches and the boat I will be living on an official Turkish Gulet. So far I have had the best weather here in Bodrum and the forecast for the next 8 days is Sunshine and 32-36C 🙂 I cannot wait to share all my stories, experiences and photos with you all but I’m not sure about the WiFi situation for the next week, I won’t have it on the boat so when on land after all my exploring I will try and find some free WiFi and post when I can. So please be patient and see you in 8 days!!

Day 7: Bodrum Castle & Bodrum

– 21/08/2015 –

Day 6: Bodrum, Turkey

 

– 20/08/2015 –

Day 5: Dolmabahce Palace & Taksim

– 19/08/2015 –

 

Day 4: Süleymaniye Mosque & Faith,Istanbul

– 18 August 2015 –

 

Day 3: Faith, Istanbul

– 17 August 2015 –