Retreat-Holidays
What to bring to Turkey
Baggage:
A soft wheelie bag is best because it takes up less room than a hard suitcase - in fact, most wheelie cases can be stowed in the cupboard under the bed.
Shoes:
The Prenses Begüm is a barefoot boat. That is to say that the captain strongly encourages everyone (crew and passengers) to go barefoot when on board. However, he will accept soft-soled shoes, slippers or sandals if you really want to wear them (as you may well on occasion, if the sun heats the deck up so much that it is painfully hot to walk on - or if it's cold at breakfast-time or in the evening).
We strongly recommend swimming shoes: they protect your feet from sharp rocks, sea urchins and so on while you are swimming and are also useful if you want to swim ashore and explore.
Clothes:
The average maximum temperature in October is 24oC, average minimum 13 oC (76 o and 55 oF). However, the highest recorded temperature for the month is 37 oC and the lowest -1 oC!
- You don’t need any smart clothes and makeup seems redundant by the time you have plastered on the suncream.
- You will spend much of the time in a swimming costume, so bring a couple of them.
- A pareo/sarong is useful.
- Even if you would not normally expose yourself to ridicule by wearing shorts, when it is hot they are much the most comfortable and convenient garments to wear on board.
- Bring long trousers for cooler weather – they also protect against mozzies in the evening. Skirts are not practical on board.
- Among your tops, include a couple of shirts with collars, to protect the back of your neck if it has caught too much sun.
- One long-sleeved shirt would be useful if you want to visit a mosque. For this, the dress-code for both men and women is clothes which disguise the shape of your body. So a long, baggy shirt with long sleeves, worn outside long trousers, is suitable. You should also wear socks and women should cover their heads - wrapping a sarong round your head is ideal.
- A sun-hat which protects the back of your neck and which will stay on in a breeze. (A long shoe-lace can sometimes be attached to a hat to tie it under the chin.)
- Mostly, it is likely to be cool at breakfast and in the evening, but hot through the day, so cotton clothes are much more comfortable than synthetic.
- However, it can also be cold if the wind gets up, so bring a fleece/sweatshirt and a windproof jacket in case of cooler weather.
- When it’s hot, people sometimes choose to sleep on the sunbeds, beneath the stars. If you think you might do this, bringing pyjamas would be a good move!
- On the other hand, given that you are likely to spend much of the day in a swimming costume, bringing a dressing gown seems unduly coy!
Other:
- A Bible
- A pen and notebook to use as a retreat journal
- High-factor sun-screen and after-sun. Perhaps also our patented invention: a shoe-horn for smearing the cream on the middle of your back!
- Sunglasses
- Mosquito repellant and a bite-soothing product
- Any medication you think you might need – getting to a chemist’s will not be easy. Remember to pack it in your hand luggage – and please bring extra, just in case of delays.
- The boat will provide two large towels and two small ones per person for the week. If you want more than that, you'll need to bring them. As all the towels provided by the boat are white, it is easy to confuse them when they are hanging out to dry - especially if someone kindly brings them all in because it starts to rain. We suggest you exercise your ingenuity and find a non-permanent way of marking your towels (eg an adhesive coloured paper dot, a coloured thread or a safety-pin with an identifying marker of some kind attached to one corner...)
- Don’t rely on electrical gadgets onboard. There’s no point bringing a hairdryer. There is a low-voltage two-pin continental socket in each of the shower rooms, but it is supplied with power for only part of each day, so as to preserve the charge in the boat’s battery. You will be able to recharge your mobile phone (bring a continental adaptor) but using an electric shaver is awkward as there may be no current when you want it.
- A few coat-hangers
- Some of the cabins have cupboards rather than drawers. If yours is one of those, it is useful to have three or four carrier bags for keeping your belongings organised.
- If you happen to have a sponge-bag which opens up and hangs from a hook, it would be a good thing to bring.
- There are no plugs in the wash-basins, so you may wish to get a "universal plug" from a hardware shop.
- Snorkels and masks are available on the boat, but you may prefer to bring your own if you have them.
Money:
- Drinks, including bottled water, need to be bought from the onboard bar. Your bar bill on the boat can be paid in cash in Turkish liri, sterling or euros, though the captain may not accept foreign coins and may give change in liri. People often ask how much their bill is likely to be. This depends on how much - and what - they drink. In 2009, most of the wine-drinkers had bar bills of around £33 for the week and half-litres bottles of water cost 30p.
- As gratuities for the crew and the minibus drivers, we suggest £40 per passenger. Although tipping is a personal thing, you need to be aware that it is very much part of the culture in Turkey - and especially on gulets - to tip if you appreciate the service received. On a gulet, the norm is for the group leader to collect up the gratuities and to give them to the captain of the boat to share out with the crew.
- Apart from your bar bill and gratuities, the only other money you need is for personal expenses such as postcards, stamps, presents, souvenirs and drinks when you go ashore. There will be postcards of the boat on sale on board.
- We do not recommend bringing travellers’ cheques as it is difficult to find places to change them.
Turkish gulet