Stop over in Istanbul

[Scrapr]

We are on the West Coast and planning a Tuscany trip next year. I have over 20 flights I'm watching on Google Flights. Earlier this year we stopped over in NYC for a couple days to lessen the jet lag. It seemed to help some.

One of the flight options is Turkish air with a stop over in Istanbul. Turkish air offers a free tour of Istanbul during longer layovers.Anyone have experience with this? I know it's just a quick look and very limited view. But it's something.

Also have a question on the long travel time. We will be flying Business so will have a chance to sleep a bit. Any experiences on a long trip & sleeping a bit? Versus breaking the trip up in 5 or 6 hour segments & sleeping a bit shorter

*I really want to experience Turkish Air & the Istanbul lounge.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

We are on the West Coast and planning a Tuscany trip next year. I have over 20 flights I'm watching on Google Flights. Earlier this year we stopped over in NYC for a couple days to lessen the jet lag. It seemed to help some.

One of the flight options is Turkish air with a stop over in Istanbul. Turkish air offers a free tour of Istanbul during longer layovers.Anyone have experience with this? I know it's just a quick look and very limited view. But it's something.

Also have a question on the long travel time. We will be flying Business so will have a chance to sleep a bit. Any experiences on a long trip & sleeping a bit? Versus breaking the trip up in 5 or 6 hour segments & sleeping a bit shorter

*I really want to experience Turkish Air & the Istanbul lounge.

It seems that going to Istanbul on the way to Italy would be quite a bit out of the way. Unless you're flying over the Pacific, I guess. Which would also seem to be out of the way. Is this a trans-Atlantic flight?

 

[OldShooter]

Six or eight years ago I was planning a trip to Greece and Turkey. A little way into the planning I realized that there was so much in Turkey that I ditched the Greece idea. We have been to Greece subsequently, but I still think the Turkey-only decision was the right one.

We were in Tuscany and north (Bologna, Venice) in March of this year. If you're going for the food, that's the right plan. For everything else especially history, I would recommend Turkey. For example, something like 80% of the place names in the Bible are actually in Turkey.

For a short layover I don't know that you could do much. Maybe drive by Hagia Sophia for braggin' rights?

 

[Scrapr]

It seems that going to Istanbul on the way to Italy would be quite a bit out of the way. Unless you're flying over the Pacific, I guess. Which would also seem to be out of the way. Is this a trans-Atlantic flight?

It is an Atlantic flight. We are in Portland but Portland is not a major hub. So we look at SEA, YVR, SFO, LAX. We would typically travel to these departure hubs on points. Other stopover hubs I have saved is Chicago, Detroit, Washington, NYC & Boston.

The Italy landing points could be Rome, Milan or Venice. Thinking to stay in Tuscany at an agriturismo for a week or so. Whole trip about a month

 

[Bigdawg]

It is an Atlantic flight. We are in Portland but Portland is not a major hub. So we look at SEA, YVR, SFO, LAX. We would typically travel to these departure hubs on points. Other stopover hubs I have saved is Chicago, Detroit, Washington, NYC & Boston.

The Italy landing points could be Rome, Milan or Venice. Thinking to stay in Tuscany at an agriturismo for a week or so. Whole trip about a month

Understood. But, if you are leaving Tuscany (via Milan, Rome or Venice) on your way to Portland (via SEA, SFO or LAX) you wouldn't/shouldn't have to go through Turkey. Turkey is a couple hour flight east, southeast from Italy. It would be like flying from Chicago to Portland but going to NY first. Why?

 

[Scrapr]

Understood. But, if you are leaving Tuscany (via Milan, Rome or Venice) on your way to Portland (via SEA, SFO or LAX) you wouldn't/shouldn't have to go through Turkey. Turkey is a couple hour flight east, southeast from Italy. It would be like flying from Chicago to Portland but going to NY first. Why?

Total travel time gate to gate is fairly similar even going out of the way. SEA-FCO 13-14 hours on other than Turkish air.

Turkish air gate to gateto Milan is 17 hours. Probably has to do with layover times. I'd rather have a longer layover time instead of rushing to the next gate

 

[HarveyS]

I prefer longer flights and longer sleep opportunities.

 

[OldShooter]

... But, if you are leaving Tuscany (via Milan, Rome or Venice) on your way to Portland (via SEA, SFO or LAX) you wouldn't/shouldn't have to go through Turkey. Turkey is a couple hour flight east, southeast from Italy. It would be like flying from Chicago to Portland but going to NY first. Why?

The OP said that the offer is from the Turkish flag airline. The "why" is that the airline is trying to promote tourism. Same story for Icelandic Air -- free stops in Iceland.

 

[Scrapr]

I prefer longer flights and longer sleep opportunities.

Thank you....I may be changing my mind on this. Do you tend to have much jet lag on arrival?

I tried an app called Timeshifter on our last trip. It was difficult for us to keep with the reccomendations

 

[braumeister]

Growing up in NYC with long commutes to school, I learned to sleep on the subway. I think that training worked to help me later, as I can usually sleep on a plane as well. Did it in the Air Force, and still doing it now. Not strictly necessary, but business class helps a lot.

 

[OldConch]

We are on the West Coast and planning a Tuscany trip next year. I have over 20 flights I'm watching on Google Flights. Earlier this year we stopped over in NYC for a couple days to lessen the jet lag. It seemed to help some.

One of the flight options is Turkish air with a stop over in Istanbul. Turkish air offers a free tour of Istanbul during longer layovers.Anyone have experience with this? I know it's just a quick look and very limited view. But it's something.

Also have a question on the long travel time. We will be flying Business so will have a chance to sleep a bit. Any experiences on a long trip & sleeping a bit? Versus breaking the trip up in 5 or 6 hour segments & sleeping a bit shorter

*I really want to experience Turkish Air & the Istanbul lounge.

Never slept better on a plane than on a Turkish Air 777 from Seattle to Istanbul. They had older style seats with no footwell and you could stretch out with lots of room. The airport and the lounge are both excellent and the food on the flights was outstanding. Have 5 flights booked through Istanbul so far in 2024 and am looking forward to the newer style seats on their 787's and A350's.

Flying to Porto in April and found an Iberia flight from Chicago to Madrid with a separate flight to Porto. Great flights booked with points but that required a positioning flight to ORD. A couple of months later I found Turkish Air award tickets available from Seattle direct to Istanbul with a connection to Porto. We will save time and money flying to Istanbul.

 

[brett]

We have been to Istanbul a number of times. Typically for three or four days at a time. We always enjoy the city and find new things, new areas to explore.

IF you can, try to spend a few days in the city.

We have done a number of flights on Turkish. Mostly domestic or in Europe plus a longer one from Cape Town to Rome. We have found the equipment to be modern and the service
very good. We would not hesitate to do a transatlantic flight with them.

As an aside, Turkish Airlines just this week placed a huge order for 200 new Airbus planes with an option to buy 100 more.

 

[HarveyS]

For beating jet lag I avoid caffeine the day before and day of the flight. I avoid alcohol on the flight. I try to take the last flight of the day, leaving the east coast at 9-10pm. When I can, I eat before boarding and skip the dinner service. Drink a couple of ginger ales, maybe watch a movie, then put on noice cancelling headphones, eye mask and drape the blanket over me. It's easier to remove the blanket than to find one if it gets too cold. I usually wake up for the breakfast service, but if not I ring my call button and get a cup of coffee.

Once on the ground, I stay awake all day. That means keep moving. I shower as soon as I can (airport lounge, if available, or as soon as I get to hotel). I usually change my shirt as soon as I can also. I find a fresh shirt helps refresh me.

If I am absolutely dead tired, I set an alarm and take a not-more-than 45 minute nap. I get to bed at about 9-10 pm local time.

Never tried Timeshifters. Seems like too much effort.

This is all quite a bit more of a challenge if you leave on a 5pm departure. The later departure is closer to bedtime, and you have 4-5 less hours to stay awake when you land.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

During one set of legs of a big trip in 2019, we flew from SIN to IST on SQ with a planned 23.5hr layover (~7:30am to 7am) and onto CDG on TK.
Really enjoyed biz class on Turkish Airlines on an A330. Felt modern and enjoyed the overall service. Thought is was one of the better biz class products we experienced during this trip.

Note that they moved the IST airport to new facilities and is now a 45-60 min ride into town. Very modern although some areas felt a bit sterile (however it was only open for 2 months when we were there).
The TK lounge is fantastic. Open 24hrs, huge, fantastic food selection. There's a set of semi private loungers where you can take a bit of a nap also. Showers obviously. Also one of the top lounges we experienced during this trip.

Depending how long your layover is, you can cover a lot because many of the big hits are relatively close to each other but entry lines can also eat up a lot of time (on top of the long ride into town). Group tours however can help skip the regular lines. We've been to Istanbul before so during our layover, we didn't enter a lot of the attractions again but were easily able to re-explore the Sultanahmet district and walk Istiklal Avenue from Taksim Square to the Galata Tower (which is my favourite activity) during the day before heading back to the airport/lounge in the late evening.

We stayed at an agritourismo outside of Siena and loved the experience combined with renting a car and driving through Tuscany. Would recommend it.
Enjoy your trip!

 

[bmcgonig]

I visited the Istanbul Turkish Biz lounge this summer. The most impressive biz lounge I’ve ever seen.

I just did a 17.5 hour biz non stop from SFO to Singapore. I was a little worried that it was so long, but it was the best flight ever. Slept about 7-8 hours, not great sleep, but good enough. The flight left around 11pm and I skipped dinner and went straight to sleep. They even gave me jammies! So I’d recommend the long flight. The sleep helped considerably with the jet lag.

 

[Scrapr]

Tickets are booked. Decided against Istanbul. We'll line up another trip there. Going to Amsterdam. I've been once (Thanks Volvo!) but much more to see. The general plan is to cut out all the connecting flights. So PDX-AMS....stay a few days. Looking at a houseboat stay on a canal. Then travel on to Italy. We are planning to be in Ravenna for a friend/family racing in Dragon boat world championship. 5-6 days in an agriturismo. Would like to go to San Marino....never heard of it. A country in a country...get my passport stamped maybe. Maybe a week totally open. We had to redo a trip on the fly in late 2021 and it turned out great. I'm a dinosaur but am learning to embrace the chaos. Back to Amsterdam & likely stay in Harlaam. Then direct flight home

 

[foxcreek9]

Six or eight years ago I was planning a trip to Greece and Turkey. A little way into the planning I realized that there was so much in Turkey that I ditched the Greece idea. We have been to Greece subsequently, but I still think the Turkey-only decision was the right one.

We were in Tuscany and north (Bologna, Venice) in March of this year. If you're going for the food, that's the right plan. For everything else especially history, I would recommend Turkey. For example, something like 80% of the place names in the Bible are actually in Turkey.

For a short layover I don't know that you could do much. Maybe drive by Hagia Sophia for braggin' rights?

" For example, something like 80% of the place names in the Bible are actually in Turkey"


Umm, maybe for the book of Revelation (the seven churches mentioned are in modern Turkey), but Israel is the winner in total number of places named.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Tickets are booked. Decided against Istanbul. We'll line up another trip there. Going to Amsterdam. I've been once (Thanks Volvo!) but much more to see. The general plan is to cut out all the connecting flights. So PDX-AMS....stay a few days. Looking at a houseboat stay on a canal. Then travel on to Italy. We are planning to be in Ravenna for a friend/family racing in Dragon boat world championship. 5-6 days in an agriturismo. Would like to go to San Marino....never heard of it. A country in a country...get my passport stamped maybe. Maybe a week totally open. We had to redo a trip on the fly in late 2021 and it turned out great. I'm a dinosaur but am learning to embrace the chaos. Back to Amsterdam & likely stay in Harlaam. Then direct flight home

Just piping in to say that that sounds fantastic! Enjoy it!

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Just piping in to say that that sounds fantastic! Enjoy it!

+1 Yup sounds like a terrific trip!
We were in Ravenna last June for a day pre-cruise. Nice little town. If you have time, I'd also encourage trying to make a side trip to Bologna which is somewhat near. We tacked it onto our trip and were pleasantly surprised. Cool main square. Fantastic food. Less crowded than the big hitters like Florence.

 

[Scrapr]

Thanks both of youse....Bologna going on the list. We are all about the smaller cities. It's not a given that we go to Florence. Rome was "ok"....we loved Sienna

 

[HarveyS]

Please consider booking tickets to attraction in AMS in advance. For example, in 2022 when I was there you could not get walk-up tix to Anne Frank House or VanGough museum.

 

[Scrapr]

I have an alert to book tickets to Van Gogh museum. undecided on Anne frank house. I'll confer w/my wife if she wants to see it. I took a walking tour of the Jewish quarter in 2017. There are markers in the sidewalk of the familes on each building & each floor that were taken to concentration camps & their death year. Very sobering. It affected me for days