30 May 2023
We began our Turkey visit on 9th March 2020.
Started without any hitch. All the guides from Anker were experienced and very helpful.
While still in Istanbul, we saw men clad in white coveralls spraying chemicals in buses. Surprised, but we did not give it much thought.
Continued our journey. Travelled through Cappadocia, Kusadasi, then Izmir, where we were supposed to proceed on to Athens, Greece. However, at this point, news of Covid started filtering in. We decided to cancel Greece and go to Antalya instead. The pandemic started getting worse when news of flight cancellations became regular. Unfortunately, we were caught like everyone else.
Turkish Airlines cancelled on us, we contacted Expedia (which we booked flights through, no response. We have since boycotted them). You cannot imagine the nightmares and stress my wife was going through. Even a call to the Malaysian Embassy was a mistake. They not only failed to offered any assistance but one of the staff said some very foolish things to us.
Mr Mehmet knew our strive and he did his best to secure a flight (21st March 2020) on Qatar Airways (one of the few airlines still operating during that time) for us. What a relief when we landed in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia closed its borders on 18th March. We arrived on 22nd March.
When even our own country's (Malaysia) embassy failed us, Mr Mehmet and his family came through for us. I cannot thank him enough. I will definitely let Mr Mehmet handle our travel plans the next time we are back in Turkey (hopefully soon) and to personally thank him.
You want friendly, responsive service with integrity, contact Mr Mehmet and Anker. Second to none.
#Note 1: We still keep in regular touch with Mr Mehmet on emails till today.
#Note 2: The date of our visit was March 2020. Choice wasn't available in the required selection list.