I was thinking about booking the Best of Turkey tour, but in order to get "pre-existing conditions" covered with travel insurance, I need to buy it shortly after I pay the RS tour deposit. So I'll need to go ahead and book airfare too. All before getting my RS guidebooks to figure out what to do before and after the tour.
For the front end, how many days should I arrive early to Istanbul?
For the back end, please make a recommendation. Stay in Izmir? Go back to Istanbul? For how long?
Thanks!
This really depends on your particular interests. At the very minimum, plan to arrive the day before the tour is scheduled to start, which means flying out 2 days in advance. Add additional days as you determine how much extra time you think you might need.
A great deal depends on how much time you want to be exploring independently in addition to the tour.
As Carol said, it depends on your particular interests. I arrived two days early, as I wanted to visit a museum that wasn't included in the tour, and I stayed at the tour hotel. I was living in Rome at the time, so jet lag wasn't a factor, but it could be for you. When the tour ended, I was ready to go home. There were some people in our group that took the ferry to Greece from Kusadasi and extended their trip that way. It's a wonderful tour!
We did RS Turkey in 2019. I would recommend getting there at least two days before the start of the tour. Figure you won't get much done on the day you arrive. The day before and day the tour starts you can do stuff.
1. It will give you time to get a good look at Hagia Sophia. We spend an entire morning there before the tour, 4 hours. The tour is there maybe 1-2 hours at most.
2. You can check out the National Museum, that is work 2-3 hours
3. The underground cisterns, really great columns.
4. Mosaic museum near Hagia Sophia.
5. Spend more time wandering Egyptian Market.
There is so much to see in Istanbul that the tour doesn't cover. On my tour, everyone went to Izmir airport at the end of the tour, some heading home, some to other countries, some back to Istanbul. You should probably allow at least 2 days pre-tour to get over jetlag. Staying at least a day or 2 after, when you're familiar with the city, is a good idea. It also allows you to return to places you saw on the tour that you would like to spend more time at. For instance, if you see things in the spice market or the grand bazaar that you'd like to buy, get them at the end, not the beginning, of your trip.
Three places you could get more free information:
- The RS Best of Istanbul tour description
- Your local library, for old editions of the RS guide and other travel guides - the sights don't change much from year to year.
- The RS scrapbooks for both RS Turkey tours will have lots and lots of info, tips, and good advice, as well as what you can expect during the tour.
So I'll need to go ahead and book airfare too.
With most insurance policies, you can add coverage as you book flights, hotels, activities. Generally, booking your flights is not a prerequisite to the conditions for obtaining pre-existing coverage.
I just had a long talk with the trip insurance rep so now I understand how they define "pre-existing conditions" and how it plays out. Thanks for the advice!
