First of all, I’m having a great trip. Turkey is a beautiful country to visit and my travel situation has been excellent.
Itinerary : After some time in Istanbul, we headed to Canakkale by way of Troy. We stayed at a wonderful waterfront hotel with amazing views of the Dardanelles and across to Gallipoli. The next day primarily a travel day, but we stopped part way through for a lovely home visit lunch in a mountain village. We were assigned in groups of 6 to different homes where our lunch of local specialties awaited. Our host families were exceptionally welcoming and using google translate plus hand motions made communication possible. We stayed the next two night at Izmir in a Doubletree Hotel. We had a full day visit to Ephesus which was so, so interesting. Next onto Permukkale/Hierapolis for a good long time of exploration. The travertine terraces were beautiful. Currently headed to Antalya for the next two nights. Turkey is big. You will be spending some time on the bus if you visit here. The payoff are amazing sites everyday.
Tour: I was prepared to somehow have “less of an experience “ than a RS tour since I was paying less per day. I don’t really think that has been my experience at all. The bus is the same quality, the tour guide good, hotels and meals have been fine. We don’t have local guides the way you might on a RS tour, but our tour guide has been doing a good job guiding at every stop. I would say I am traveling with a far more diverse group than I ever have with RS and I consider this a plus. The minus would be that there is not the emphasis on using local transport in cities and educating tour members how to be effective independent travelers that you would have on a RS tour. I was afraid I would really dislike having my luggage handled by porters. It turns out it is just fine. I put it out when I head to breakfast and it is delivered to my room within about 10 minutes of checking into a hotel.
Gate 1 is exceeding my expectations and I really enjoy Turkey!