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 “Spotlight on Greece”

SCORE: ★★★★★

LOCATION: GREECE

LENGTH: 4 DAYS

DATES: 31 AUG 2015 – 03 SEP 2015

REVIEW ON CONTIKI WEBSITE:

This trip was such an incredible experience! You get to see and experience so much within a very small timeframe. 4 days (well technically 3) I got to go and visit some incredible historical sights that have been on my bucket list for years.

Athens was amazing one of favourite places from my entire trip (5 weeks) the Acropolis and the Parthenon are spectacular and incredible and the views from the Acropolis are breathtaking you get a 360 view of Athens. I highly recommend if you have time in Athens before or after this tour to visit the Acropolis museum a lot of the artefacts are in the museum and there is a really interesting movie about the Acropolis.
The Contiki extra dinner for 43 euro in my opinion was not worth it. The entertainment was great i loved the greek dancers and the singer was amazing but the food was at best average and defiantly not worth what we paid, however the greek dancing and joining in is defiantly something you should try.

Olympia was defiantly my favourite part of this tour and it was the part I was most excited about. The Olympia museum was incredible i loved seeing all the statues and artefacts. The Original Olympic Stadium was incredible to see. Even though most of it is just rubble and ruins you still get an image and idea of how it would have looked thousands of years ago. The Stadium itself is just a dirt track but it was fun to race on with the group and take some photos.

Delphi was okay I wasn’t really interested in the beehive tomb we went to as it literally an empty tomb. The hotel was stayed at was incredible the views from our room were stunning. This was the first time the group all went out together at the only club in town. As this was the last night we all went hard and had a lot of fun.

Every hotel we stayed at was amazing very clean and comfortable and all had pools which was a bonus.

But what made this tour amazing was the people I meet. Even though we had only spent 4 days together we all became very close and i have defiantly made some lifelong friends.

Also shout out to Contiki Tom or as i called him Tomas! Best Contiki tour manager i have ever had super funny and know a lot about greek history and mythology. He was always up for a chat and a laugh.

If you don’t have much time in Greece but want to do and see a lot this is defiantly this trip for you.

My Contiki was: Fun, Incredible

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

Review: Contiki “Simply Italy Winter”

Score: ★★★★★

Location: Italy

Length: 12 days

Dates: 16 Mar 2015 – 27 Mar 2015

REVIEW ON CONTIKI WEBSITE:

Best thing I have ever done! This trip was incredible you spent 12 days falling in love with so much history and culture of Italy. You really got to take time and experience cities and towns and not feel too rushed.

I meet so many amazing people on this trip and made some great new friend and the Enzo’s (Tour Manager and Driver) were amazing really went above and beyond to make our trip that much more special.

Defiantly do all of the Extras as they are all worth it the only one I didn’t like too much was the final dinner the food wasn’t the nicest also the Gondola ride in Venice was too crowded with 5-6 people and wasn’t what I expected, defiantly book your own. But everything exceeded my expectations. All hotels were really nice except for Sorrento but can’t expect more as it’s a small town not city. All hotels were in pretty good locations either close to city centre or close to public transport. Food in Italy is amazing as we all already know, defiantly try this cute restaurant in Castello, Venice called Marco Polo for really yummy pizza for decent price.

My favourite places and experience on the tour

– Isle of Capri and boat ride around the Island
– Florence, Statue of David and Bell Tower climb
– Dinner in Verona
– Venice and Palazzo Ducale
– Sirmione and boat ride on Lake Garda
– Wine Tasting Tuscany
– Sistine Chapel Rome

All in all an incredible experience and I recommend to anyone who wants to slow down and get an in-depth history and cultural experience of Italy.

My Contiki was: Unforgettable

Review: Palmers Lodge Swiss Cottage

   

Score: 7.8/10

Location: London, England

Nights: 5

Dates: 4th April – 9th April 2015

Room: 12 bed female dorm with en-suite

Staff 8/10

The staff at reception were really friendly and helpful when asking for directions. However the staff/cleaners that came into the room to clean were rather rude and always had an angry look on their face, they didn’t ever say hello and act friendly.

Location 8.5/10

I loved the location! At Swiss Cottage, northwest of Central London. The hostel was literally a 2 minute walk to a tube station and was very close to some shops and restaurants such as McDonald, KFC and this really great pub. By Tube it only took about 7-10 minutes before you were in Piccadilly Circus.

Cleanliness 7/10

This hostel wasn’t the cleanest in fact, it was quite dirty. The en-suite bathroom that I shared with 12 others was always dirty with muddy floors from people’s jandals that they wore outside then wore in the shower and always had hair everywhere. I know this isn’t the hostels fault but I wish they would of cleaned more often. In the 5 days I was there I only saw them clean 1 time. The room itself wasn’t exactly dirty, but it was very old and the carpets and curtains on the beds were not very nice at all.

Comfort 7.5/10

The beds were actually really good, very comfortable, but the bunk itself was very old and seemed unstable, which was bad considering I was on the lower bunk. However, I did like that there was a small shelf overhead with a reading light for each bed. The room was quite large and a good size for 12 people.

Facilities 8/10

There was a common room I didn’t use, but saw it had free coffee/tea and two vending machines and also a restaurant downstairs (in the basement) which I thought was a great idea. The WiFi from what I remember was good. I loved how at the reception they had over 20 different brochures and maps for London for free so you always left the hostel knowing what to do and how to get there. The one thing I didn’t like was there wasn’t a plug socket for each person, I was fortunate to have my bed right by one so I could charge my phone and still use it in bed.

Review: Code Pod Hostel

Score: 9.1/10

Location: EDINBURGH, Scotland

Nights: 3

Dates: 1st April – 4th April 2015

Room: 6 bed mixed dorm

 

Staff 9/10

I didn’t have much contact with the staff as everything ran smoothly during my visit and due to my lack of time in Edinburgh I was out the door at 8am and not back till 9pm. But the few times I did speak with the staff they were incredibly always friendly and nice.

Location 10/10

The location was amazing in the new town of Edinburgh, literally only a 2 minute walk before you are on princess street that main area for shopping and public transport. But the street the hostel was on still had a medieval vibe with cobblestone streets. The old town of Edinburgh is also very close only about a 10 minute walk away so in the perfect position for both modern era shopping and history.

Cleanliness 9/10

The hostel was kept immaculate. Cleaned every day (as all hostels should) and done thoroughly the bathrooms were always spotless and never dirty or smelly, dorms are always clean and my sheets were in excellent condition. A lot cleaner than some of the hotels I have stayed in.

Comfort 8.5/10

The pods are such an awesome idea. Your bed/bunk has the head against the wall with two walls on either side and a curtain at the end for optimal privacy. My mattress, however was a little thin, so when you rolled over you could feel the wooden boards underneath. All pods were equipped with a charging point, reading light, a small shelf and a rack at the end of your pod for your towel.

Facilities 9/10

I didn’t use much of the facilities as I was rarely there. The bathrooms were great. The showers had two areas a drying/changing area and then the shower part, between the two was a glass door not a curtain which meant no water went everywhere. The common room and kitchen upstairs, I didn’t use, but did and a look and was good with couches and cooking appliances for you to use. There was also a balcony off the common room and it had amazing views of parts of Edinburgh. You did get free breakfast, but I never got a chance to try as breakfast was so late in the morning I was already gone. The best part of this hostel was the code you got in your locker and the front door, instead of a key or card they give each person a unique 4 number code that you type in to get through the front door and you use to unlock your locker.

So far the best hostel I have ever stayed at.

Review: St Christopher’s Inn

Score: 7.9/10

Location: Paris, France

Nights: 5

Dates: 27th March – 1st April 2015

Room: 4 bed female dorm with private bathroom

Staff 9/10

The staff was incredibly friendly and always up for a chat with you and other travellers. What I found most appealing with the staff was they were all backpackers themselves. The staff was always helpful and informative about how to see the best sites and what local restaurants to go

Location 8/10

I really liked the location some may find it too far from the city centre (closer to the Eiffel Tower). Located in the 10th ARR of Paris the hostel was right next to Gare du Nord Station and only a 20min walk to Montmartre District including Sacré-Cœur. This is a great location if you don’t want to be in a bustling tourist crowded area but the more of a local area. It took me 35min to walk to the Louvre.

Cleanliness 7/10

My bed sheets did have a large yellow stain when I arrived (GROSS) so I asked downstairs at the reception and they were more than happy to give me another one. The bathroom was always clean except the floor due to no floor mat so water went everywhere. All in all acceptable.

Comfort 8/10

I really liked the beds they were proper mattresses they were incredibly comfortable. Each bed had a curtain to pull across perfect for some privacy. Also, each bed had a reading light, USB plug and 1 charger point with a little shelf above head. The room itself was a good size for 4 people, it had a desk and chair with a full length mirror.

Facilities 7.5/10

The bar and restaurant were great they had live bands playing at night and the food on the menu looked amazing. However the free breakfast in the morning was a let down it consisted of cereal and milk with stale bread and jam and water downed juice. Probably my favourite room (don’t ask me why) was the laundry great service had 6 washers and 6 dryers sold packs of washing powder and softener for 1 euro in a vending machine. WiFi was great! Always working fine no matter where you were in the building.