EuroMeet 2012 - Istanbul

smbilgin said:
I can say Starbucks if you'd like to have a breakfast we can find another place.

There are almost 3 months. We can find the best place to meet. Don't worry.
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We could go to McDonalds for dinner too 🙂

You're right, we don't need the exact place, but a general area will help (me). choose a place to stay for the days.
 
SimonSawSunlight said:
well, if it makes sense financially and you or anyone else (preferrably someone we know already 😉 ) is willing to share a little appartment for a few days more (from monday or tuesday to monday)... 🙂
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I've been wondering about an apartment share as they can work out much cheaper than even a budget hotel. I'm also with Kully when it comes to actually booking flights/places to stay - I want to know roughly where we'll be so I don't end up having to commute across continents (apologies, but I refuse to grow out of infantile humour😛)

Even something like this... http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p820030 ...works out at around a tenner a night if we can get seven people together. Certainly if some are planning to be around for more than the weekend itself.

Perhaps thats the answer for Sara too, a readymade load of housemates to travel through the city with.:angel: Though I don't know Sara so she may be winding us up a bit😛😀
 
kully said:
I'm in for the apartment or sharing with anyone to keep costs down (I'd like my own bed though).
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I'm looking for a suite of rooms with the finest views in all Turkey however I'm willing to downgrade to my own bed, to fit in you understand. My days of sofa surfing or sleeping under a bivvie aren't necessarily over but I do so enjoy the luxury of a bed when its available.
 
I'm in for that flat, if it's possible i also want a single bed...an will be great if we do a snorer room! (i'm not, btw);-)
About your question, Simon...don't know the days..but from thursday to monday will work for me...let me see first the spanish airline offers..😎
 
I'm hoping to stay for at least 3-4 days but it will depend on work. If I'm not too busy and can find a cheap enough place to stay then maybe 5-6 days but that may be pushing it.😀

Istanbul has always been one of 'those' places for me, so I'd like to have enough time to have a snout around having never been before.

It sounds like there may be a few takers on the shared apartment idea.

EDIT: Lluis, I would like to stake a place in the non-snorer's room as I don't believe I snore, my wife on the other hand....well lets just say if you keep me away from the ales, wines, spirits and lagers then she's a liar, out and out liar...otherwise, perhaps she has a point😱😀😎
 
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For me, I'm already booked on the 06:30 from Luton on Friday, coming back... either Sunday (boo) or Monday (yay) - I'll find out tomorrow.

Simon, leave the sleeping for the plane home. Snoring problem sorted.
 
It is great that RFF members travel from another country to such an event. I wish that I could alse be there. I am sure thst you will document the meeting well with photos and discussions here. I have met with RFF members in Portugal, Germany, and Italy outside tne USA.
 
It's a shame you can't make it Raid. It'd be nice to meet you and see what you got in terms of photographs from Istanbul....I remember your Egypt pictures well!
 
OurManInTangier said:
Even something like this... http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p820030 ...works out at around a tenner a night if we can get seven people together. Certainly if some are planning to be around for more than the weekend itself.

Perhaps thats the answer for Sara too, a readymade load of housemates to travel through the city with.:angel: Though I don't know Sara so she may be winding us up a bit😛😀
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that doesn't look too bad does it? we'll book our flights this weekend and then we can talk precise dates. lluis, kully, simon, lisa, simon and maybe sara, maybe one more? I take it that lisa and me are going to be there first, so we might be alone for the first night, but that's not a biggy. I think Istanbul deserves more than 3 days of your time though, good sir. 😉
 
Cairo

Cairo

OurManInTangier said:
It's a shame you can't make it Raid. It'd be nice to meet you and see what you got in terms of photographs from Istanbul....I remember your Egypt pictures well!
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Thank you, Simon. I certainly would love to meet you too in person.
I am planning a third one-month trip to Cairo for May of this year, and traveling outside May is difficult for me because of my work schedule at the university. August is a month during which overseas travel is possible each year, but not April. I hope that the security situation in Cairo will be good in may.

We will have the first ever Pensacola RFF Meeting on April 28/29 this year, so I will have to settle for it! If there are RFF members in the USA who cannot travel to Istanbul but manage a trip to sunny Florida, maybe some of them could plan to join us here in Pensacola.

Istanbul is on the Top list for my family as our next overseas trip. We have been watching Turkish soap operas since a couple of years, and the daily lives of simple Turkish people (not the fake rich characters in TV) remind us of good old times with family back home. Drinking tea or coffee seems always to be a good thing to do at any time of the day, and eating Kabab and lots of fresh vegetables make each dinner look just wonderful on TV. I would focus on the lower income parts of Istanbul, and try to meet with ordinary people in villages around the city. Quite often, paying a taxi driver for the day to take you to such areas could be arranged. Maybe a Turkish RFF member can help out in the logistics.
 
SimonSawSunlight said:
No.1 I take it that lisa and me are going to be there first, so we might be alone for the first night, but that's not a biggy. No.2 I think Istanbul deserves more than 3 days of your time though, good sir. 😉
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Point 1. Now don't you two go trashing the place with your youthful wild parties, wait until some of the old farts turn up too😉

Point 2. I know, I know. Why does work and all that other annoyingly grown up stuff keep getting in the way of my good times?!

raid said:
Thank you, Simon. I certainly would love to meet you too in person.
I am planning a third one-month trip to Cairo for May of this year, and traveling outside May is difficult for me because of my work schedule at the university. August is a month during which overseas travel is possible each year, but not April. I hope that the security situation in Cairo will be good in may.

We will have the first ever Pensacola RFF Meeting on April 28/29 this year, so I will have to settle for it! If there are RFF members in the USA who cannot travel to Istanbul but manage a trip to sunny Florida, maybe some of them could plan to join us here in Pensacola.

Istanbul is on the Top list for my family as our next overseas trip. We have been watching Turkish soap operas since a couple of years, and the daily lives of simple Turkish people (not the fake rich characters in TV) remind us of good old times with family back home. Drinking tea or coffee seems always to be a good thing to do at any time of the day, and eating Kabab and lots of fresh vegetables make each dinner look just wonderful on TV. I would focus on the lower income parts of Istanbul, and try to meet with ordinary people in villages around the city. Quite often, paying a taxi driver for the day to take you to such areas could be arranged. Maybe a Turkish RFF member can help out in the logistics.
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Another trip to Cairo, and for a month, lucky you...or perhaps I should say, good on you for making it happen! My wife is a teacher so I understand only having certain times of the year you can get away. I assume you end up paying more to travel during school/university holidays over in the States too?

Enjoy your RFF meet up in April, I've been lucky enough to meet some interesting people and photographers on various RFF meets, plus its good simply to put a face to a name when you can.

I'm not sure we'll get much time to scratch much more than the surface of Istanbul, it sounds like you may have both more time and better connections when you visit, however the Euro Meets I've been on have always allowed me to see a more local view of the city we're in due to the knowledge of the local RFF'ers that live there - and that makes it worth the price of admission on its own!
 
kully said:
We could go to McDonalds for dinner too 🙂

You're right, we don't need the exact place, but a general area will help (me). choose a place to stay for the days.
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General area would be Taksim Square then. This is a good place to start the tour, so if you choose your hotels nearby, we can decide a cafe that we can meet.


@ Raid: As I said before another route can be organized to the places; how can I say... 'unfortunate'... But this is a decision that you all visitors can make. Because I think it doesn't matter for local RFF members, since we have been to both 'sides' of Istanbul thousands times. On the other hand, it also depends on our number of members. If we go to those neighbourhood with 30 people, well armed (tele lenses, extra gears...) this may bother them a litlle and local people may be embaressed. If we are 5 people, no problem. They will share they food with us, drink tea or cofee and have a great talk. Even some excellent stories maybe...
 
kully said:
I have happy memories of just wandering about Paris that first meet with the spring sunshine, looking about an empty penthouse in Berlin which we somehow managed to get in to ( trespassing/ break and enter, check), a fellow RFF'er getting my gear to safety in Barcelona during an alercation with a drunken dude (drunken punch up, check), walking about Florence on the Saturday night with a 5 litre bottle of red wine...(boozing in the street, check)
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Going back through the thread to confirm dates I re-read this, almost sounds like a Club 18-30 holiday to Magaluf.

smbilgin - the group tends to split into smaller groups depending on what people want to do. So hopefully there shouldn't be 30 odd photogeeks in their holiday togs all focusing on some poor fella trying to do some mundane task, like put his bins out.
 
Cheap flights are plentiful between London and Istanbul, however I'm finding that I'll have to spend two hours in Geneva or Zurich before continuing my journey onto Istanbul.

So, its that and risk losing much of my stay in journey time, go for an extra day either side which work commitments may not allow or jump on Kully's flight from Luton and fly direct for a wee bit more.

Fancy a long haul bus buddy Kully? I assume Easy Jet will land somewhere in Italy and bus us the rest of the way
 
OurManInTangier said:
Cheap flights are plentiful between London and Istanbul, however I'm finding that I'll have to spend two hours in Geneva or Zurich before continuing my journey onto Istanbul.

So, its that and risk losing much of my stay in journey time, go for an extra day either side which work commitments may not allow or jump on Kully's flight from Luton and fly direct for a wee bit more.

Fancy a long haul bus buddy Kully? I assume Easy Jet will land somewhere in Italy and bus us the rest of the way
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try to spend 5-6 hours in geneva if you haven't been there. 😉
 
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