For me, a holiday doesn’t begin until my bags are checked in, I’ve got my boarding card firmly in one hand and I’m sat in the lounge with a beer in the other.
Travel arrangements are an integral part of any trip away from home and the smoother they are - in terms of timings, speed, service and comfort - the better. In fact, that’s exactly what I want - a stress-free journey on which everything falls seamlessly into place, pleasant people for whom nothing’s too much trouble and a service that’s efficient yet friendly - and maybe even some good food served up along the way.
I have actually just described my recent trip to Cappadocia in central Turkey with Turkish Airlines, which my colleague Rob and I undertook for work. Neither of us had flown with this airline before (it is the 4th largest airline in Europe - and still growing) but, once we had recovered from seeing Kevin Costner’s face emblazoned everywhere (apparently he’s very popular in Turkey), we began to take notice of how nice everyone associated with our journey was.
From check-in to boarding, we were treated to genuinely warm smiles, with a tasty free meal of more than acceptable food (Turkish Airlines was recently voted ‘Best Economy Food Worldwide’) and even free beer! There was plenty of leg room, the seats were comfortable and the in-flight films were - oh well, you can’t have everything!
Our connecting flight in Istanbul was on time, easy to locate and equally as comfortable and we landed in Kayseri on schedule. No mess, no fuss, like clockwork.
This stress-free and hugely enjoyable flight set us up nicely for what lay in store - a week’s relaxed walking round the fascinating region of Cappadocia - it really is quite extraordinary and I would thoroughly recommend that you take up the offer if you ever get the chance to go. Our walking holiday explores the narrow gorges and strange fairy chimneys that litter the landscape, never quite knowing what’s around the next corner or how far these almost fluid looking landscapes stretch. In fact, we decided that there was only one way to find out - and that was to take a balloon ride for the ultimate aerial view.
It’s not part of the holiday but it’s one of those things that you just ‘have to do’ when in this part of Turkey. So, nice and early one morning - about 4.30am - we were collected by Kapadokya Balloons and driven down a dusty track to climb into the basket of our brightly coloured balloon. As we gently rose into the crisp morning air, we were greeted by the incredible sight of at least another thirty balloons rising all around us (see bottom image). It was a remarkable sight - but things were about to get better.
How our pilot, Mustafa, controlled the balloon so brilliantly is still a mystery to me. It’s blown by the wind, yet he made it turn corners, go over ridges, drop down to the ground and do full rotations. We floated along, hugging the cliff walls, so close that we could almost touch the fairy chimneys, then suddenly shot skyward to admire a fantastic aerial view (above) of the Red, Rose and White Valleys where we had walked the previous day, with all the other balloons dotted below us.
His party piece, however, was the landing. Again, I don’t know how he did it - but he brought the basket down onto the trailer! Rob and I were dumbstruck - just how did he manage to control this huge powerless bag of hot air with such confident ease? Pure genius! (Mustafa, pictured left, serving after-flight drinks.)
One thing I can say for sure is that when it comes to flying, the Turks have got it nailed, from the high levels of service and comfort in economy class at Turkish Airlines, to the sheer skill and professionalism of their hot-air balloon pilots. “Come fly with me?” Absolutely!
