This happened with our travel agency
Let's be honest, we hire travel agencies because we can't handle the details of travel ourselves. We choose to outsource that task to more capable people. Road Runner came highly recommended by our family when they went to Cappadocia, so we decided to try them too!
Read on for an honest review of this travel agency for Greece and Turkey.
Booking The Tour with Road Runner
The people who run the agency are easy to talk to, they speak English, and can provide tour guides for English, Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish.
We went to their website to pick a Tour Package and we chose the two-day, Ephesus and Pamukkale tour. Then we sent them an e-mail saying we wanted to book, and they replied with a secured link where we can make our deposit.
We chose the Economic Class package, which was USD 300 per person, and we gave them the dates when we were available to leave, February 21 to 22.
The Itinerary
We still had to go to their office in Faith/Sultanahmet to pay in full, and that's when we received our itinerary.
Day 1
0600: Pick up from our home
0800: Flight to Izmir
0845: Arrive in Izmir, meet Road Runner's rep at the airport, drive to their office in Ephesus
0930: Arrive at their office in Ephesus, get on a 20-seater tour bus with the tour guide
0945: Arrive at Mount Koressos, to see the Virgin Mary's house
1045: Leave for Ephesus
1050: Arrive in the Ancient City of Ephesus
1240: Leave to have lunch
1340 to 1415: Visit local businesses
1530: Arrive at the Temple of Artemis
1630: Leave for the hotel
1700: Check-in at the hotel in Kusadasi for one night
Day 2
0700: Check-out and van pickup to drive to Pamukkale (Pamukkale is THREE HOURS AWAY)
1045: Arrive in Hierapolis & Pamukkale
1130: Free time to go around and take pictures, take a dip in the mineral-rich waters
1250: Depart Hierapolis & Pamukkale for lunch
1320: Lunch
1420 to 1520: Visit local businesses
1530: Drive back to Road Runner travel agency's office in Pamukkale, to wait for our vans to the airport
1600: Get on van to the Denizli airport
1800: Return flight to Istanbul
1845: Arrive in Istanbul
1930: Meet with the tour's rep to get on vans that will drive us back home
Fair warning, the original itinerary wasn't as detailed as this. I honestly didn't know we would be visiting local businesses. And in the afternoon of Day 1, Allegra fell asleep right after lunch. So we stayed in the van while the rest of the group visited a Turkish delight shop.
Areas for Improvement
Mistake in Booking Dates
Remember when I said we told them that we wanted to travel from February 21 to February 22? Well, they messed our dates up. I suspect they didn't really mess it up, though.
They booked us for February 20, which was FINE because my husband took that day off too, but what if he hadn't? We would've had to rearrange leave days with work and that's not easy. I felt that they knew we were available on the 21st but chose to book us on the 20th because it was more convenient for them. They appeased us by upgrading our hotel to the Comfort Class package, so instead of staying at the Liman or Sözer Hotel, we got to stay at the Ilayda Avantgarde.
To be fair though, they lumped us in the van with an Argentinian family of three, a Canadian duo, two ladies from Korea, and some other people who took the day-trip. They were all lovely, and are mainly the reason why we finally have a non-selfie family picture. But we would've preferred a lot more free time and flexibility in the itinerary, which would only have been possible if we weren't waiting for 15 other people.
Early as hell call time
I can't with the 0700 pick up time. Why is it so early? The hotel breakfast opens at 0600 so we barely had enough time to eat. I was not pleased. I would've wanted to spend more time in Kusadasi and then taken the late morning van to Hierapolis/Pamukkale. But alas, we were in a GROUP.
Lunches
Lunches were covered during the tour, even though some of them were strange. Like that lunch in Day 2 where they had a döner kebab but wouldn't give us meat from the skewer? They had cut meat in a heater ready to be served. So it was all dry and old-tasting. We asked for the ones on the rotisserie stick, and they wouldn't give it to us. I was about to lose my mind but I didn't want to ruin the tour for everyone. Whatever. I just ate the hummus.
Drinks are extra, too. There's water available during lunch but if you want soda or a fruit drink, it's an out-of-pocket expense.
Local Businesses
I suppose they HAVE to take us to support their local businesses. There aren't a lot of tourists in the winter and I suppose Road Runner does their best to bring in foot traffic from the tours to the local stores. Maybe I would've been more patient if I had more sleep. But on Day 1 they took us to a leather jacket store and I was shocked at the fashion show. They had people walking around in SYNCHRONICITY putting jackets on and taking them off. And on Day 2 they brought us to this gemstone factory where we could buy jewelry. All of these were at tourist prices though. Unreasonably expensive.
Plus points
Honestly, how can you beat door-to-door service? They picked us up from our home AND dropped us off. We didn't have to worry about taking a taxi or anything.
Bottomline
Would we use this travel agency again? Probably. It's super convenient. But we'll probably save up for their Comfort or High class packages in the future. We'll probably also inquire about customized tours.
Have you hired a travel agency to handle the details for you? Got any recommendations for me?