Turkish Delight

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In October this year my husband and I went on a cruise round the Black Sea which was wonderful and

a great experience. However travelling to the boat was a nightmare!

I am not a wheelchair user and can walk short distances on the flat but am unable to manage steps of

any kind because of very weak leg muscles so we had booked all the necessary assistance and

confirmed it in writing with the travel agent, the tour operator and Monarch Airline.

After a lot of hassle (including a mystery tour of Gatwick Airport) we landed

at Istanbul and were the last to get off the plane as we had requested the

lift. There were about 10 of us requesting assistance and we were then

left standing in the dark on the tarmac wondering how we were going to

get to the terminal. Eventually a bus arrived (with steps!) and I had no

choice but to struggle on board with the help of my husband and fellow

passengers.

On arrival at the terminal we were of course at the back of the queue to get our visas

(over an hour's wait) and there were no seats and definitely not a wheelchair or

assistance in sight. Eventually one of the party who represented Bath Travel,

decided to take matters into his own hands and wandered off to find the

promised assistance, no luck - but he did use his own initiative and came back

pushing a selection of office chairs on wheels.

These we sat on and were pushed along the queue and eventually through immigration and to baggage

collection. It must have looked quite a sight. However and we had to laugh or we would have cried!

Our booked taxi was waiting for us and we cheered up a lot when we got on the MS

Discovery had some excellent food and found a delightful bunch of flowers in the cabin from

the Travel Agent. The cruise itself was great. We went ashore when we could and used

taxis for sightseeing as I couldn't use the coaches and the weather was perfect so it was

very relaxing until we docked in Cyprus for our return flight.

The taxi had not been booked and at check in they had no record of requested assistance but assured us

that the seats allocated on the Monarch flight were those for disabled passengers. Rubbish!! To cut a

long saga short I had to share a wheelchair with a lady to get to the plane (she could manage steps but

not walk and I could walk but not manage steps!) and if I had sat in the seats allocated to us I would still

be there!! At one stage my husband threatened to get off the plane but thanks to the help and concern of

our fellow passengers we eventually got a seat that I could manage to get out of.

I won't be flying Monarch airlines again - back to Virgin who have always been very helpful and arranged

the requested assistance but of course you pay more for a scheduled flight rather than charter.

Elaine

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Turkish Delight
“We had to laugh or we would have cried”

Istanbul