I wonder what made you travel to Turkey the first time?

And what had you expected before coming, and what did you find not as you had expected after coming (good or bad)?

To convince my lover of my love The first time i ran away from home, i did it GOOD, to Turkey

And i got what i hoped for, even more

We first went to Turkey 18 years ago.We had no idea what to expect. Altınkum was the first place we went to and back then there were only a row of holiday homes and restaurants along the beach and a few hotels. We had a wonderful time and we have been going back to Turkey every year since.We now usually go to the Fethiye Ölü Deniz area.

It was on May 2003 when i came to Turkey for the first time. My excuse for this trip was a short holiday with my best friend. The real purpose was to meet somebody i had been talking with,for months, through internet.

I was adviced, from friends and relatives who had been there before, not to wear a mini skirt, not to wear tight jeans, not to smile and talk to strangers and (lol) to always wrap a jacket around my weist while walking in Istanbul's streets! Because, they said, turkish men find it easy to lay their hands on women's b*tts while walking Also, to keep my money safe at the hotel, not on me, to hold my bag tight and to never buy anything without bargaining first. Most of all, those who had never been in turkey, were worried about my greek nationality and how turks would behave to me cause of this.

What i really found there was polite people, friendly, who never embarassed me in any way, no matter if i was walking alone in the streets or not, with or without a jacket around my weist I realized that they were being even more friendly to me, as soon as i was mentioning i was greek, especially when saying i was from Selanik (Salonica,Ataturk's motherland). Nobody ever tried to steal my bag and they even gave it to me when i left it in a coffee shop!

The people were amazing and so was Istanbul. And i have to say the same about every other place i ve ever been in turkey, except from kusadasi. (I have to admit that there, shop owners at least, were less innocent with tourists)

The only good piece of advice my friends had given me, was about bargaining. Yes i did it, and yes i had fun with it though its not my style at all.

Since then, Turkey has become my favorite destination. And every time i pass the borders to enter this amazing country, i feel like coming home...

To be honest the main reason we went to Turkey was because we could get late booking Saturday to Saturday flights during half term, not the best of reasons to choose a holiday destination. However it proved to be a good choice, the company we went with, the location of the hotel, the hotel itself, the country, the people, the food and hospitality were wonderful.

My friend and I went to Turkey for the first time last year and we loved it so mush we have been back 3 more times. we have already booked again for June of next year and can't wait.The Turks are such lovely people.

My first time in Turkey was about 24 years ago, i had never been abroad before and i did say that i would never go abroad but circumstances at home, i had a landlord that wanted to sell his house and he had to pay me to leave, i thought what should i do with some of the money, so i got the passport went to the travel agent and got a flight to Samos a greek island, yeh that was ok, but i went for a day trip to Kusadasi, and never went back to greece, then i booked to go to Turgetreis for 2weeks then it was only about 2 hotels a couple of bars and shops, but was told to be careful going there as i travelled alone terrible things happen out there and people didn't have a good word to say about the turkish people, and these people hadn't even been there, so what do they know. I've always been treated very well and been looked after well and have a lot of respect for the turkish people, and i have been going ever since 2 or 3 times a year and absolutely love it, and it's a shame i have to come back again.....One day!!!

My first time, was last summer. I have been back 7 times since and I'm off again in January.