Kalkan Turkey Forum - EnjoyKalkan.com
Kalkan Discussion => Holiday Reports and Reviews => Topic started by: Pompeyalbie on April 25, 2014, 12:22:42 PM
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The cases are out of the loft, I've been ordered to get the clothes I'm taking out for inspection, tickets printed, E Visa printed, API done, registration details sent to the renters & only 2 more days at work. This time next Friday we should be looking at sunshine instead of cold rain. I have mental ideas of how our week will plan out with a "bucket list" so just can't wait for it to get started. A few jobs still to do like make sure camera batteries are charged, I need to load some AVIs into my media player to watch on the plane while Janet sleeps.
I know there are a few on here going over on Friday but is anyone else on TCX1556 out of Gatwick?
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I know the feeling. I am already on the "this time next week ....." sayings. In fact this time next week I will be at the airport checking in/checked in/dropping bags off if I can check in online at home. Not flying from Gatwick but from Bournemouth. Maybe see you around in Kalkan.
Jo
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Sorry Pompeyalbie, I'm sadly not on that flight but I just wanted to say that I hope that this is a little taster for us and you will doing another holiday report while you are in Kalkan?
I love this run up to the hols - I'm getting butterflies for you, although I was strangely calm in the run up to ours, despite the various hitches that happened!
Anyway, I need to know about which jewellery shop Janet's been in, where you ate lunch and how Adem is, so no pressure, but really hope you can find time to squeeze a few words in for us.
Have a wonderful holiday 8) :)
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Great! Two more regulars off next week.......lots of reports please :laugh: :laugh:
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Lizilu, the Ipad will be coming with me and hopefully the free wifi in the complex will be tapped into or it's down to Merkez for a juice & tap into theirs. Janet is already making plans to visit the boutique by Angora to look for an outfit to wear at Royal Ascot, Ozey at MissSilver has requested his duty frees so we'll pop in there, I have seeds for Adem so must go out and see his family again. I'm dreading Fethiye market on Tuesday as we'll only end up in town looking in jewellers for her next "sparkly" anniversay present.
Hopefully I'll have some new experiences to report back andI don't mean tyre burning trying to drive up Cardiac Hill in the wet like last time.
Jo I never realised there were flights from Bournemouth, would certainly be easier to get to than Gatwick. Saying that I do like to travel early morning so we arrive in daylight and don't lose a day. I remember a delayed flight to Cyprus & trying to find the apartment around midnight in the dark & not knowing where to go. Thankfully we found a taxi driver who spoke English to give me directions.
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Fab! Looking forward to reading all about it :)
Hope you can manage to fit a report in too Jo. ;D
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This time next week I'll be packed and ready for our Saturday flight out of Edinburgh. Cannot wait! Trying not to think about everything I have to sort out at work before the bliss that is Kalkan ;D
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Pompeyalbie, Jo and Rachey......the nation expects. No pressure but please post when you are there and let us know all about your stays.
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I'm taking my ipad so will post from my sun lounger by "our" pool K4E, when I can summon the energy to do so :D
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I cannot think of a better place to post from, Rachey. Enjoy "our" pool without me this year :( :(
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Looking forward to some trip reports. I have booked our flights for July and the payment is due on the apartment so I can officially start the 12 week countdown!
I am slightly addicted to the KTLN webcams....good to see boats in harbour! Excited!
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Won't be the same without you K4E :-\. We'll raise a glass (or two) to you!
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That's fab Rachey!! I can't wait for all these holiday reports! Hope you all have wonderful holidays and really looking forward to reading all about them 8) 8) 8)
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Well our excitement has been dampened this morning sadly. We were due off at 9.45 this morning to visit our apartment for the first time since October but unfortunately our lovely yellow lab has had 3 very bad episodes of fitting on 3 successive mornings and this morning we lay with him at 4.15am until he came to, looked at each other and had no hesitation is saying 'we just can't go off and leave him'. (our very good friend was at this stage already fast asleep in our spare room with her case unpacked to be on doggy duty in our house for the week)!
So the cases are still packed, the hire car has been cancelled, our doggy sitter has been sent home with her case too and we are now all snuggled up watching the rain outside!
A big sadness in my heart for missing Kalkan :( but a greater one I am afraid :D for the furball curled up with his head and big brown eyes on my lap right now, so no contest really!
A trip to the vets to hopefully sort the wee lad out, then we can look at booking some more flights soon when we know he will be ok and we can Enjoy Kalkan without spending our week worrying.
For those off you off soon, have a fab time and save some Efes for us in June!
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Oh macrefield mom, how sad for you.
I completely share your pain......why oh why do we have dogs ??? They just break your heart when they are not well, they are a tie, they are naughty and drive to to despair!
It must be because they are loving, trusting and adorable. :angel:
Last year we didn't know until literally a week before our booked holiday if we would be able to get our poor little old dog looked after while we were away......some of you may remember the saga? I'm pleased to say he's still with us and as naughty as ever. A bit wobbly on those old pins of his but he only has to look at me with his big, now rather cloudy, brown eyes and I'm like putty on his paws!!
Hope your furball is soon on the mend and that you can get out to Kalkan very soon.
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Aw thanks so much Babs. I am sure some people will think we are barmy but how can you enjoy your holiday when you are worrying? Much better to come out with peace of mind. We would have been sitting on our terrace, G n T's in hands, fab view but heavy hearts and wishing we were home with him. Lets hope the little monkey has not been watching the cases being packed and has orchestrated this to his advantage ha ha! Bless him 8)
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Not barmy at all, we would do exactly the same, you would have a miserable time worrying and your pooch will most definitely recover quicker with you there. Fingers crossed for his recovery...and your next holiday, I am sure it won't be long.
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macrefield mom........I like you ;)
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MMom - I like you too x
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Oh what a shame. A dog is part of the family so you can't just leave them when they are unwell. However I would be devastated to cancel at the last minute! You are taking it with good grace. Last year my husband had a heart attack 3 weeks before we were due to go...luckily he got the all clear and could come...thankfully the doc was ignorant to the aptly named Cardiac Hill or I bet he wouldn't have given the go ahead!
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Every dog owner would feel the same. 3 years ago when we was away for a short break in Cornwall our dog died while staying with our friends. They got up one morning and he was laying in their hallway asleep or so they thought. He had been fine with them so all we can put it down to was a heart attack.
Really miss having a dog in the house as this is the first time in over 40 years we have been without one. Love another one but worried now the dog would outlive us.
Hope Goldie is better soon.
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Thank you all for your thoughts. My Macrefield boy (Macrefield Lancelot is his pedigree name) is having a lazy day completely oblivious to the gentle chaos he has caused! Snoring away nicely. Our flight appears to (it would of course!) be ahead of schedule for once!
So....having run the fridge down, I will need to go and restock it, so am thinking Sea bass, a bottle of white and will go EFES hunting and tonight we will eat as if we were in Kalkan but with the additional benefit of our boy sitting by us, instead of the street cats, waiting patiently for the choicest pieces of fish to slip into his soft golden muzzle. :laugh:
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I also feel for you, Macrefield Mom. I don't think we could bring ourselves to go on holiday leaving a sick dog. Last year was the first time we had a dog and knew we couldn't take him to Kalkan. It was a wrench even knowing he was well. We spent quite a lot of the time looking at photos of him and wondering how he was getting on. They do become family members.
Hope you will soon be able to get to Kalkan again. It is too early for me to start packing but reading the posts from those about to go (or already there) brings a real feeling of anticipation. I lulled myself to sleep last night imagining I was stretched out on a sunlounger by the pool.
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I'm glad I'm not the only one that does that tortoise lady! :)
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I typed a nice long post to this thread and forgot to hit the Post button before going on to my emails. Can't see that it has appeared now, so will try again. Sorry if I have repeated anything if my original post comes out of the ether.
Sorry to hear about the cancelled holiday due to the poorly dog. I can't imagine how I would feel if I had to cancel my long awaited trip to Kalkan. This time next week I will (hopefully) be having a shower and getting changed before walking into town to decide where we are going to eat. Will have to think about that over the next week.
Flying from Bournemouth with Thomson as part of a package. The flight on its own is almost as much as the package. We booked when the holiday was still at the cheap stage last October.
Will try and post some messages from Kalkan, but I have a cheap tablet that gets confused with the conflicting wifi signals in the Old Town. The best place I have found previously has been out at Fener. Good job really as this is where we spend most lunchtimes.
Jo
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Those of you who a going out shortly, have a fantastic time. macrefield mom, our hearts go out to you. Those of us who have had and loved our pets as family members know your pain, I also know how desperate you must feel at missing your planned trip....I would be devastated. A couple of years ago when a weight got dropped on my foot the day before we came away, I refused to cancel our holiday and soldiered on. I couldn't walk, lost a couple of toenails and discovered some time later I had broken several small bones.....I couldn't bear the thought of missing our trip but a beloved family pet taking ill the day before would be a no-brainer. You have made the right choice, you know that. BTW, if you have a B&M store near you they have 4 bottles of Efes for £2.48.....that could actually be cheaper than Kalkan :o
I hope he gets well soon and you can plan another visit soonest :-*
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Jo, how did you manage to get booked up from Bournemouth last October? I enquired at my local Thomson travel agent and they couldn't find anything except from Bristol and Gatwick last October. Online it was the same, and I got fed up waiting for them and booked with EasyJet.
To me, it is almost like Thomson don't really want to sell the minor regional airports, which is a pity as Bournemouth is only 15 minutes from my house.
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this time tomorrow we will be half way there on the graveyard monarch flight out of Gatwick at 6.10 am, but will have an effes by 2 pm hopefully, if the taxi gets his boot down!
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Oh my goodness macrefield mom. That must have been a horrible morning for you, a poorly pooch and not able to fly to Kalkan, but as the owner of a crazy jack Russell who we love with all our hearts, I can certainly understand how this was a no brainer for you. Hope he gets better soon and you can rebook your holiday. Babs, you summed up so eloquently, how us animal owners feel about our pets and so glad to hear that your doggy is well on the mend. :)
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Thanks Lizilu20!
He has perked up a bit today, waggy tail and bright eyes, so a trip to the vet tomorrow and possibly a blood test followed by an MRI scan to check for any tumas. We are happy just to be at home with him and seeing him content. Kalkan will be there waiting for us when the time is right. Our neighbours are keeping us up to date via Skype and ensuring that our home is well looked after in our absence, so we are very lucky to have such support.
Meanwhile we are still on holiday so will enjoy some lovely walks near our home in North Yorkshire, a few visits to the pub and some good food and wine :D
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So glad to hear he's perked up. I'm sure the vet will get to the bottom of his problems and like you say, Kalkan will still be there waiting. Sounds like you've a lovely holiday contingency plan. Enjoy your time off, and take care. X :)
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Stage 2 completed, clothes laid out on bed in the spare bedroom for inspection, 1 shirt rejected because it doesn't travel well, 1 teeshirt rejected because it was tatty, "those trousers need ironing!", wash bag all checked (forgot razor last time), camera batteries all charged up, CDs to listen to when driving recorded, media player loaded with plenty to watch and just checked with neighbours to feed the cat from Friday onwards. If you see an chubby old bloke in a teeshirt with George Best's face on or an FSU one looking bored outside a jewellers or the boutique come and claim your 5TL note.
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Sounds just like our house Pompeyalbie. OH gets his kit out and I put it back and get his real holiday clothes out. He's none the wiser haha!! ;D
Not long to go now! 8)
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In our house we don't even go for the pretence of letting him get it out. I get his clothes out, then "let him check it" and then if he wants to make any changes I explain why he can't! :laugh: :laugh: control freak?? Me?? :laugh:
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I just pack his clothes and he does not know what's ^-^ in the case until Kalkan!!!! ^-^
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BubblesG
I don't think Thomson like selling flights on their own. They like to sell the whole package. We booked last October so as not to be disappointed. It is so easy to fly from Bournemouth as we live in Christchurch as well. We have the brother-in-law to carry out the transfers. We did book right at the beginning of October within a week of returning from our last trip. Just 3½ working days left now. I am not going to get all the work done this time. They will just have to manage without me. I am not cancelling my holiday!
Jo
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I like my holidays......I get New Pants!! :P 8)
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BubblesG
I don't think Thomson like selling flights on their own. They like to sell the whole package. We booked last October so as not to be disappointed. It is so easy to fly from Bournemouth as we live in Christchurch as well. We have the brother-in-law to carry out the transfers. We did book right at the beginning of October within a week of returning from our last trip. Just 3½ working days left now. I am not going to get all the work done this time. They will just have to manage without me. I am not cancelling my holiday!
Jo
Jo, Brother in Law's do have their uses. Mine is coming to take me to the station in the morning, I hope!! Happily, being retired means I don't really have to count down the days to holidays, (but I do). 196 days since leaving to just 11 hours before we depart. Does anyone else think that this winter has flown by?
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Hope you have good news mm. A few years back our doggy of fifteen years was a little under the weather for him but nothing awful just a bit lethargic. This was the evening before a very early flight. My sis-in-law always doggy sat and he loved his hols there and was so excited to go there. My sis-in-law assured us she'd keep an eye on him and we were quite reassured. Unfortunately two days into the hols she rang sobbing to say he'd had a massive stroke that night and the vet needed to talk to us to ask our permission to put him to sleep. Needless to say we were heartbroken and it really took the shine off the hols but at least we knew he was in safe hands as my grown up kids buried him under the christmas tree in the garden with his favourite blanket. I know if we'd known what was to come we'd have stayed home and perhaps silly felt guilty for a long time. We still miss him but decided after much soul searching some time later to rescue our lovely Cairn Angus, he could never be a replacement for Buster and their characters differ in some ways too. We still have to leave our new dog to go away but always ring up once or twice to check, not that we could fo anything so far away lol. Good luck again mm hope all will be ok x
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Once our children grew up and left home we decided not to get any more pets. It's just too heartbreaking :'( :'( BH really misses having a dog but we both work long hours and it would be unfair to leave a pooch at home all day on their own. We dog sit now and again for our eldest daughter's Jack Russell and we adore him - gives us our fix. Have to say we don't miss the ties a dog brings, but we do miss their company and the joy they give you.
Hope things are starting to improve with your dog, macrefield mom. let us know how he's getting along.
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Well my handsome boy is doing well I am pleased to report! He has been to the vet and we have asked her to test him for everything she can, through his blood, so he sat very still and held up his big paws as she shaved them and then drew off two phials of blood. Poor lad never flickered, just looked at her with his big brown eyes and waited for his biscuit.
So now we wait for the results to see if he has a food allergy, a liver infection or any toxic allergies, if they are negative then we will have to have an MRI scan to check his brain patterns. But he certainly has perked up so we are delighted.
The upside of all this is that we have had lovely weather here this week and have had lunch in the garden, drinks out last evening and I have a bit of a tan! Meanwhile it looks like the weather in Kalkan hasn't been so good, more cloud than sun all of this week, so at least when we return in June we should get some decent weather.
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That's great news macrefield mom. Fingers crossed all is well with your boy and what a brave and well behaved boy he is. I wish I could say that about our Charlie! The minute his vaccination notes are produced from the cupboard and he hears the jangle of car keys - he becomes the hound from hell!!! We even give him doggy calm pills starting the night before and he's had lots of social visits to the vets in order to make him less frightened but all to no avail. He's just a neurotic pooch I'm afraid ;D
Not long until June now and I'm so glad you've made the most of your weeks holiday. :) 8)
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So glad to hear your "handsome boy" is doing well.....the things we do for our pooches? ::)
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This week hasn't gone as smoothly as I'd hoped, on Tuesday Janet woke up with the sniffles & by Wednesday it was full blown runny nose time, needless to say I kept well away to the point of sleeping in the spare bedroom. No joy on Thursday I was sniffing and Friday (travel day) she was alright & I was like death warmed up & dosing myself with a 3am Lemsip then Sudafed at Gatwick. Not the best fight due to my state but have to say the seats in the plane were better & my knees weren't under my chin & table stuck in my ample belly.
The new E Visa is great, no double queuing to buy it & then go through control. The man from Brave Tours was there waiting for us then the paperwork was done at their new office just outside the airport as opposed to doing it over the bonnet. The drive was straight forward and passed 3 traffic controls but they didn't seem to be stooping anyone. There is a long stretch Kalkan side of Fethiye where it is down to 1 carriageway sharing a lane each while the resurface the west bound side.
The proper blog will start tomorrow if I can get wifi connected.