Hi to All,

My wife and I have been pondering our next move for a little over a year, although why it took so long to choose Turkey, I don’t know. It has everything that we want. A real Box-Ticker!

We are coming down in our Camper van, and have decided to spend the best part of a year touring as much of this beautiful country as possible before we decide where to buy a home and settle down.

We look forward to arriving in September - or before if possible.

My first question is one of practicality:

Where can I find a Mailing Address to hold or forward mail to me whilst we’re touring?

I like to keep in touch with people, some of whom are not always on the net, so over the years I’ve become quiet a busy correspondent.

Does anyone know if there are any establishments that undertake this sort of thing, or have any ideas of their own on this problem?

I’d be really pleased to receive any advice.

Thanks!

Best Wishes,

Paul

Hi Paul,

Do you intend to use the camper van for the whole year? If so, bear in mind that the winters here can get a bit cold, with many parts of Turkey having snow at some point in the winter. The south should be milder but the evenings can still get chilly.

The only establishment I can think of for post, is the post-office. I don't really understand what you mean by them "undertaking this sort of thing", surely you write letters and post them?

I would assume there are mail forwarding companies, perhaps even the post-office offer such a service, someone on this forum will let you know.

I don't want to be negative about your plan, but I'd make sure I have lots of info and advice before coming here. Turkey can be a very difficult place to get your head around when you first get here.

David

the other issue is, that you wont be able to keep it in the country for a year, well not unless you import it.

Hi David,

Thanks for your advice, it is much appreciated.

The understatement appears obscured in your comment about the difficulties Turkey might present to the first-time visitor! If you had a beer-mat and a Biro, what would you jot as the top five things most likely to puzzle and confuse or confound an ordinary traveller???

If this has been done before, please excuse me.

Best wishes from The Ardennes,

Paul

1. Beauracracy
2. Driving
3. Language
4. Fuel prices; probably the highest in Europe

Can't think of anything else that might apply, but David is correct about the temperatures. In the East during winter, the temperatures regularly get below -20 and several cities are cut off by snow. Even Istanbul during the winter has low temperatures and often snow, although the winter just gone was very mild.

There is also the threat of terrorism, the further East you go, although how real that threat is I could not say; is it a perceived threat to keep people away or a genuine one? However Turkey does share borders with some interesting neighbours; Iran, Iraq & Syria to name but few, so it may be worth avoiding those areas? Even though I've been here a while, I have to confess to being no further East than Antalya, so others who have travelled would be in a better position to advise.

In the East, especially between Bingöl and Van and Hakkari you always have military police check points on the roads. In winter the streets in this area are blocked by snow usually. Also, it is not advisable to go into the mountains there (many of them are closed for the public anyways) and many of them are covered with land mines and people shooting at each other. Don't know about the colour of your camper van, but olive green is not a good colour for that area. Also, you should not consider going to the East and Southeast during Ramadan, if you wanna drink alcohol in public places (bars, restaurants etc.), they have a "dry month" there. During the day, many restaurants are closed during Ramadan as well.

I wouldn't want to put you off what should be a great adventure, as long as you remember that you will have left Europe behind you should be ok.

Are you aware that you can only bring a vehicle in for six months before having to take it out again? I believe that you then have to wait for another six months before bringing it back in again, although I'm not 100% on this. You will also need entry visas, which are stamped into your passport, every three months. This also means crossing the border.

When you enter the country with your vehicle, an entry will be made in your passport. This will mean that if you need to fly out, for any emergency reasons, or to spend xmas with family, you will have to take the vehicle out of the country first or leave it at one of the customs posts, which will cost a nice few pennies.

There are very very few dedicated camping areas in Turkey, and many of those that do exist have terrible facilities. You'll find you have to pitch up wherever you can, which if traveling east or north might not be such a good idea as these areas get very few caravanners. The West and South should be better as they get more visitors in caravans and have more places to stop.

Make sure your vehicle is properly serviced before you get here, and carry spares for as many things as you think might wear out or need replacing. Mechanics here are not all well trained and will often bodge a job, no amount of arguing will get them to do it properly. Bring your own puncture repair stuff. There are no AA or RAC national recovery organisations. If you break down and need recovering it will cost.

Be aware that there are not many motorways in Turkey. Very often you'll be on what are single carriageway A-roads, which can get clogged with very slow moving trucks. This happens mostly at night although it can still be difficult in the daytime. Plan journey times accordingly. 200 miles here takes much longer than in the UK or elsewhere in Europe.

90km/h is the speed limit on most roads outside of the city, motorways are 120. City police rarely stop anyone for speeding and there are no speed cameras. On rural roads the police use static radar, the fine is hefty and they do good business.

That's enough for now. Let me know if you need more specific info.

David is right about preparing for a roadtrip. You need to think of this almost as a venture into the wilderness, as it sometimes will be. We can all probably help you make a list of what you need to have on hand. As for the three-month border run, which you must make, check out the legal/logistics aspects of taking your van on a ferry to one of the Greek islands or maybe driving to Bulgaria (Ploviv is nice and not as far as Sofia). It would be good for you to have contacts in the areas you plan to visit. I can put you in touch with helpful Turkish folk in Selcuk, Kayseri and Nigde.

A positive aspect about travelling to the East is that fuel and booze are very cheap (both being bootlegged in on donkeys through the mountains from Iran), not to mention other drugs.

Plenty of food for thought.

I'll need to look in my 'intrepid box', and see if there are enough reserves!!

Thanks to all who contributed.