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.

Day 5: Dolmabahce Palace & Taksim

– 19/08/2015 –

 

Day 4: Süleymaniye Mosque & Faith,Istanbul

– 18 August 2015 –

 

Day 3: Faith, Istanbul

– 17 August 2015 –

Day 2: Taksim, Istanbul

 

– 16 August 2015 –

Day 1: Brisbane Airport

It’s finally time!
I’m here at Brisbane Airport waiting for my flight to Singapore which has now been delayed by half and hour. I have checked in my luggage been through security and now waiting by my gate with a bottle over seriously over priced water and reading the Paper Towns (which is amazing).

I had a pretty emotional farewell with my mum we hugged and I started getting pretty sad and teary eyed, I don’t like leaving my mum she is my rock. But this trip has been a long time coming and planning and no matter how much I will miss my mum I know it will be worth it for everything I will experience in Turkey and Greece and all the memories I will make.

I will try to blog travel journals every few days to keep you all updated but I’m not 100% sure I will or can as I’m not sure if I will have WiFi on the boat when I’m sailing around.

αντίο for now!

1 WEEK TO GO!!!

This time next week I will be at the airport, my backpack will be checked in I will have my boarding pass and I will be with my mum having some lunch holding on to the time I have with her before embarking on my journey to Istanbul Turkey.

My nerves are starting to get to me, but I’m also so excited to finally be able to travel through and see two counties that have been on my bucket list for years. Places that I have seen on Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr and been in awe of their beauty, food and culture.

This trip has been a long time coming and I can’t believe that in 7 days I will be jet setting off to experience it!

Countdown!

14 days until I fly off to Istanbul to start my 30 day trip around Turkey and Greece. I’m so unbelievably excited I finally finished buying things I need for my trip like travel sized body lotion, and I will start sorting and packing my stuff next week to make sure I have a very thing sorted. Nothing worse than the night before a flight racing around trying to get things organised!

Turkey & Greece Budget

Now that everything is booked and paid for, I can start getting a clearer idea of what my budget is going to look like for my trip in August. I defiantly want to try and budget a lot more than I did in Europe and the UK as I spent and splurged quite a lot. After my tours and accommodation are paid for, I want to budget around $70-$80 a day for food and shopping.

$1560: RT Flights PAID

$480: Internal FLights (2) PAID

$946: Contiki “Turkish Sailing” PAID

$879: Contiki “Spotlight on Greece” PAID

$369: Accommodation (1 hotel, 2 hostels- 9 nights)

$1600: Food/Shopping/miscellaneous (1600 ÷ 20 days = $80 per day)

$200: Travel/Public Transport (Mum)

$6034: TOTAL

$2169: LEFT TO PAY/TAKE

 

Accommodation- Turkey and Greece

Now that I have finalised, where I’m going in Turkey and Greece and my dates. I have planned and booked all my accommodation in Istanbul, Bodrum and Athens. I booked all my accommodation through the website Booking.com.

Istanbul

Istanbul is such a busy city with a lot of different areas/suburbs within the city and where you stay depends on the experience you want in Istanbul. I was stuck between two areas Faith and Taksim. Faith is in the old town part of Istanbul near all the mosques and sights, but I have researched and found that it is a very busy tourist area to stay. Where’s Taksim is more of an urban local area with a lot of bars and restaurants and where locals live giving you a more authentic experience.

At the end, I decided on Taksim because hostels were a lot cheaper and the public transport between Taksim and the rest of Istanbul is good. The hostel I chose for Istanbul is rather expensive, but I choose based on good location near public transport, quality of hostel and ratings.

Bunk Taksim is costing me $155 for 4 nights between the 16th-20th August, staying in a 6 bed female dorm with en-suite and balcony. Breakfast costs $8 per day, which is quite expensive, so I’m not sure yet if I will pay for breakfast at the hostel. The hostel has great reviews with 8.8/10 from 915 reviews.

 

Bodrum

Bodrum is quite a small town so there wasn’t much to choose from but the prices did vary from dirt cheap to expensive. I ended up finding this adorable small family run hotel called Mavi Ada Pension only 20m from the beach and right in the town centre the reviews for this hotel were incredible with 8.9/10 from 100 reviews. The room itself is quite basic but what sold me was the location, view from the roof balcony and the reviews. For 3 nights between 20th-22nd August and the 29th August its only costing me $144 which is incredible for the location. The room is a single bedroom with en-suite and balcony and includes free Turkish breakfast.

Athens

Athens was super easy considering the amount of accommodation available but the first hostel I found was in the most amazing location that I didn’t even bother looking at others. Its about 200m away from the Pantheon and Acropolis of Athens! The hostel is called Athens Studios and I choose a 6 bed mixed dorm room with en-suite and balcony with free breakfast. For 2 nights the 30th August and the 3rd September its $35 per night. Again, it has great reviews of 8.2/10 from 550 reviews.

All up for 9 nights its costing me $369 which is on average $41 per night.