A dear TWA classmate of Pat's, Dorothy Stone, and her husband, Gordon, are planning on exploring some of the Caucasus countries with us. We agreed to let them explore Istanbul for a period without us, while we're visiting Jason's family in Ukraine. We've been to IST many times and plan on departing back to the USA from IST and shopping at the Grand Bazaar in IST before returning home and don't want to carry souvenirs (Turkish glass lamps!) around the Caucasus for weeks!
We're going to rendezvous in Istanbul. In advance we: procured our visas online in advance for Turkey & Azerbaijan, purchased medical/MedEvac insurance, made hotel reservations for our 1-night stay in IST the day before our flight to Cappadocia, bought Turkish Airline tickets IST-Kayseri Airport (Cappadocia), and made hotel reservations in Cappadocia in an awesome cave hotel. Dorothy & Gordon have booked a rental car for us at Kayseri airport. Also, have booked the train from Kayseri to Erzurum, Turkey and a hotel for one night in Erzurum when we arrive.
Dorothy & Gordon used their American Express points to fly from JFK-IST. We're flying from DC to Kiev standby and probably won't decide until the day before we go whether to take UAL to FRA and Lufthansa to Kiev OR just standby for Turkish DC-IST-Kiev. Will also be flying on a ZED standby ticket from Kiev-IST.
Game plan is to take a bus from Erzurum to Hopa, Turkey and then cross over into Georgia However, we're winging this and have decided NOT to book accommodations/transportation in advance from that point forward. If we're bored, weather is crummy, etc. we'll catch a bus/train/marshrutka and continue. If the area/people are interesting...we'll linger. We have a vague idea of the cities where we want to base ourselves in while touring Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Looks very doable to enjoy day trips and base ourselves and not lots of packing/unpacking and can "chill" longer in each country.
We all have purchased 1-way tickets to the Caucasus and are retired.....Will keep you posted:-)
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