Myself 33 the good lady 33 and son 6
We got up about 5.30am and added to the last minute packing, pre booked taxi arrived at 7am to take us to Prestwick Airport. Our Journey was only 15mins and walked into the terminal , found our desk and was second in the queue .
Check in no probs then it was off to wh smiths for a couple of magazines to keep us entertained.
Not much to do in prestwick so headed straight through passport control, callum got his bag searched but the guy was only doing his job, much to a confusing 6yr old (why are they looking in my bag). Had a look around duty free and nothing takes our fancy except callum see's a teddy bear he wants and buys it with some of his holiday money.
Back into wh smith for some water and juice for the flight, then head to the bar and enjoy the first holiday pint even though it was nearly £4 a pint
Time comes to board which flew in i may add with no delays, all queue up and chat to fellow passengers about turkey and how we love it, had to walk onto the tarmac to board the onur plane and we ended up the row in front of the emergency exits so it felt like a row of seats had been crammed in, certainly felt squashed in it. Took off in time and the plane was clean enough with no in flight entertainment , so used mp3, psp's, netbooks to keep us all busy. Didn't buy anything onboard as we had our sandwiches etc in our bags. Landed on time with everyone jostling to look out the windows at our first glimpse of turkey. Usual scramble to get off a plane and headed to get our visa, and as usual pick the wrong queue to stand in as everyone elses queue looks to be going down quicker lol. Visas in and onto passport control again no probs then onto get the bags. Waited about 10mins as we all nipped to the toilet , cases came together quite quick so off we went to meet our taxi (non ICR)
We met our driver and he showed us to the taxi, we only booked the small fiat to take the 3 of us but found he came in a mercedes vito just for us, so had lovely comfy leather seats, black out windows and cool air con all waiting for us. Loaded up our cases and gave us 3 bottles of ice cold water which a lovely surprise and we felt chuffed that we got a wee free upgrade in travelling to icmeler as it was a much nicer ride than bouncing about in the small fiats.
Transfer was the usual 1hr 30-40mins and could see alot of work on the road as you head towards marmaris , cutting straight through corners of big rocks and hillsides you can see it going to be a better road once it's finished. Scary looking drops as they build up the sides of the roads but overall no hold ups.
Arrive at the devamli and the boys from the sports bar lift our cases to reception to be met by the owners who gives us letters from the hotel and ICR , stating that there was a problem with our room (double booked maybe) but they had booked us into the greenmar across the road (here we go) was my initial thought, was told to come back at 12 the next day and they would upgrade ( thanks to the girls in ICR office who negotiated this ) us to the honeymoon suite for the rest of our stay in the devamli. Excited about another upgrade we move over the road and shower and head into town. Had a lovely steak in harrys steakhouse then a wonder about town then down the beachfront to wonder about down there.
Arrive in the honeymoon suite true to their word and it was lovely, settle into the holiday and let the good times flow.
Ate breakfast once in the loveboat as we were never all ready for before 10am so ate out every other morning, Bonjour being our breakfast favourite just ahead of Aysima. Averaging about 7.5lira for a cooked or turkish.
Dinner wise we never had a bad meal anywhere and i mean anywhere, we ate in harrys steakouse, bonjour, friends ( both of them ) aysima (our favourite with Omar stealing the show for front of house entertainment) dream three bells, Istanbul, tandoori sizzler, Kontes, plus many more which i can't remember but we visited more than once to a good few. All of them very good with the kids and kept them busy whilst waiting for dinner pool games etc, most gave him free ice cream or free cocktail which was a winner. Dinners were anything from 50-100lira depending on how hungry/thirsty we were.
Temps were about 38-39 but as the holiday got on it was hitting 42 but felt lots lots warmer, spend most days lazing about the pool and the fab beds at the hotel. Always had a little walk late afternoon for a water and ice lolly, chill time then get ready for the evening.
Got the usual football strips for son and t-shirts and jeans etc.
Never shaved once while i was there and can recommend the hairdressers next to the entrance to hob nobs bar, very cheap and great guys and gal. Had a shave every 2-3 days , a haircut, the wife got her nails dones twice and and her haircut once with callum getting his cut twice, never tried to rip us off and very professional.
Got a lovely TAG watch melitas for about £30 rrp 7.5k back here no battery needed so will give it a try.
Never went to the beach to lie out , happy at the hotel nor did we do excursions as we'd done a few before so we knew what was there.
Went to the wed market for the experience and had a great time chatting and bartering and walking back through all the streets with our fresh fruit to nibble on.
Met some lovely people and had a great time, callum broke down a few times on the last day as he didn't want to come home as he loved it and miss all his friends he had made.
What else have i missed erm.... rooms cleaned every day by our wonderful cleaner who was so chuffed when callum said merhaba to her first , her face lit up that he tried to talk turkish to her and would try to teach him some new words
Last day we said our goodbyes with everyone asking for us to book up for september and come back and see them, all packed with our souvenirs we got picked up at midnight , 20mins early again in the merc vito with the water and the AC going for us, really chuffed we got the upgrade again. Fell asleep most of the way to DLM, checked in although it said we were going to Bournemouth first
, turned out we went prestwick first then it was going to bounemouth .As usual got ripped off at kfc for something to eat at about £35 for 3 of us, £6 for 3 small bottles of water.
Was about 15mins late taking off at 4am but slept a good bit of it and arrived back to a cold and raining scotland.
Taxi waiting for us with no problems and straight home.
heating on and empty cases and sort out the washing, all of us napped about catching up on sleep.
Holiday over, would we do it again ???
In a heartbeat, of course we will.
Probably missed out loads but...
Now that's enough drivel from me, hope you enjoyed it.
