TRIP REPORT: Into Turkey and The Sheraton Levant, Istanbul - Growing Old in Style

Into Turkey and The Sheraton Levant, Istanbul
Growing Old in Style

Time for a new country to tick off. Let’s enter Turkey properly, and head off to my residence of the night – The Sheraton Levant.

In this mammoth trip report

Docking somewhere at Istanbul Airport, it was time to begin the long hike to the transfer and immigration area.

Going up!

Resting A350 face.

Thankfully, there were a few moving walkways to make the process a lot easier – but it still felt like you were walking for a good 15 minutes to get anywhere fast.

It goes on…

And on…

And on. ..

At least this time, I had my passport. Small improvements, as they say.

Down to immigration.

Eventually, I made it to the transit and immigration area, one which I didn’t have pleasant memories of. With a lot of areas dedicated to transit, I found the access area for immigration and business class processing.

Turkish Border

In the past (if I came from the UK), I would have needed to buy a visa on arrival stamp or complete paperwork online. That changed in 2019, when no Visa-on-arrival is required for a British citizen.

Thus, it was a case of presenting myself and having my biometrics captured. With a passport stamp, I was allowed to proceed into Turkey for the first time.

A new country… tick.

As well as the duty-free shop.

Exit via Duty Free. And it’s a big old shop too.

I continued onwards, as my luggage was checked through to Oslo, so my suitcase would not be meeting me at this point through to customs and the exit.

This way looks kind of good…

Ah. Exit sign.

Coach Sales

Once though to the public area, I started a full re-check of where I was due to go next.

When I clicked on the booking and selected the hotel, I thought I had selected Sheraton City Centre and thus was preparing for a long, convoluted journey.

Then I rechecked the address. I would be staying at the Sheraton in Levant. Yes, this is why I always triple-check my paperwork.

With my original planning now sitting in the bin and my transit planning failing me hard, I fell back on Google Maps. This was giving me ridiculously long transit times (and I would find out why the next day). I could have fought the bus (if I knew where I was going), or tried the train, but even with the decent doze on the aircraft – I just wanted to get to the hotel.

I tried to find the Uber pick-up point and failed, so I got some cash out and headed for the taxi rank. A talk with the taxi queue and a driver, and I was off to my next hotel.

The drive was mostly motorways at night. Eventually, we neared the city with bright lights showing up.

With the taxi peeling off the motorway, I was keeping an eye on Google Maps, as the road turned into an urban jungle.

With the taxi costing 1,800 Turkish Lira (which is around the same amount Uber would have done me for), I was at my night stop – The Sheraton Levant.

Sheraton Levant

Price paid: Included in Turkish Airlines flight as part of the Stopover Istanbul programme.

I entered the property, and the first thing I needed to do was put my bags through a security scan.

With that done, I proceeded to check in, where I was welcomed by the desk staff. They did a little digging and found the reservation that Turkish Airlines had put in for me, which was one night, including breakfast at the property.

At this point, I remembered I had a Marriott Bonvoy Account, so I had that number added in so I could get free Internet access. Things like that matter to me, as I had planned to do a few things once I settled in.

With all the formations complete,d I was directed to the lifts and was left free to explore.

Workspace

I swear I saw those seats in an airline lounge years ago…

The room that had been allocated to me was on the 11th floor. That was nice as I like a high room in a hotel.

Lift area

Here we are.

Heading into the room, it’s a reasonably sized affair, although I spotted a window in the bathroom.

Uh oh.

I popped my stuff down as I took stock around me. It was 7 pm at this point, and my brain was travel-foggy.

Looking to the bathroom, yes, there’s a proper bathtub. Delicious after the day of travel I had. What wasn’t delicious was that someone had put a goddam window in it, with blinds.

(Unrelated note. I needed five minutes away from the keyboard before I started to type again).

CAN YOU NOT, PLEASE?

I’m not sure who this is aimed at – someone who likes looking out at a city whilst in a small room? Vouyers? ****olds? I’m honestly not sure at this point of the point of this.

There’s also a toilet, sink and bulk amenities to be fresh as a daisy with. All nice and such. But that window. Let the world look at you as you go.

But that window. I remember I stayed in the Crowne Plaza Geneva, which had something equally stupid – a sliding partition between the room and the bathroom (why, on this planet, do something like that?), but this is a whole new level of… why?

Moving onto the main room itself, there’s a queen bed in the middle, which is good to see, even though that window to the bathroom is present. Well, at least for the single traveller, it’s fine. If you’re travelling together as a couple. I hope you’re comfortable with each other by this point.

Peakaboo.

The bed was extremely comfortable, being a queen-sized one. Good enough to spread out, have laptops on, relax, all the things you want to do after a long flight.

To the side of the bed, there was a sofa too.

There was a large TV too – with plenty of places to charge. That’s always helpful, not that I tend to use them (thinking about it, watching SpongeBob in Singapore was the last linear television I watched till Christmas. Since the Christmas break, the TV has done a good impression of being “off”), as well as the lonely chair.

Moving towards the Minibar, one has to be a little careful here. There’s a kettle here, with tea and coffee. Then there’s some wine on display, so yes, this hotel carries a full minibar. That’s well and good – its just another thing to bear in mind.

Most of this is free. The wine isn’t. Nor is the minibar underneath.

Whilst the world outside was dark and busy, I was… travelled out. In some ways, I wish I could have skipped this and gone straight to Oslo. But as the last flight had long gone, Istanbul it was.

And my energy levels were low. Whilst I could have gone to get a bite to eat, my energy levels had been depleted.

I made the best of the situation and dined on snacks I brought from Singapore, as well as some M&S Dark Chocolate discs I had in my bag. Yes. I had brought it with me back and forth. Am I proud? No. Did I add to its carbon footprint? You bet. Did I care? Not at all.

It was a perfect time to hit the in-hotel WiFi. After confirming that I was a Marriott Bonvoy member, I was allowed to access the hotspot. It was plenty fast to keep up with high bandwidth requirements.

For me, I sat back, watched YouTube, did a bit of writing and let sleep naturally hit me. On the plus side, it would help adjust me back to UK Time a lot easier… so in some ways, this was not a bad stop.

Waking up early in the morning, I sat at the window and watched the sun rise over the Levant, as well as getting stuff ready for the day off a little later on.

But there was one thing to do first – breakfast. Hey, it’s included in the rate. Better take advantage of it.

Heading downstairs, it was an easy find to where breakfast was being hosted in the Levantino restaurant.

With my room number confirmed, I was seated at a table for two.

From here, it’s time to experience another feast. And it was a feast. Here are some impressions of it.

Caffeine. Even Kevin runs on Caffine.

Cold meats and yoghurts.

Pick a fruit.

Salad items

They got that bread.

Olives

A honeycomb. Never seen that at breakfast.

Sparkling water – How to keep a German happy.

With breakfast done and dusted, it was time to head back up and complete putting everything together. Thankfully, I had a clean shirt for this trip (so no emergency t-shirt buying this trip). As the clock moved on and my thirst for adventure started to grow (as well as not paying for a taxi or an UberTaxi), I checked out of the hotel.

All details were confirmed, and they confirmed that my Marriott number was used for internet access, thus I would not be charged.

It was time to start tracking up to the Nordics.

Overall:

A very nice property for sure, given that Turkish Airlines is offering the programme free of charge for passengers with 20-hour layovers or more. For those with economy tickets, you can get a four-star hotel for one night, and for those on business class, two nights in a five-star hotel.

The hotel and room were clean, with everything accessible within, offering a reasonable view and a fantastic breakfast in the restaurant.

In terms of location, it’s pretty accessible too, making it a good choice.

Just make sure you check which Sheraton you book. After all, turning up at the wrong hotel is never a good idea.

Let’s try trains in Istanbul as I attempt to get back to the airport. Hmmmmm.

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TRIP REPORT: Into Turkey and The Sheraton Levant, Istanbul – Growing Old in Style

Into Turkey and The Sheraton Levant, Istanbul
Growing Old in Style

Sheraton Levant

Overall:

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Into Turkey and The Sheraton Levant, Istanbul Growing Old in Style

Sheraton Levant

Overall:

Next:

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Into Turkey and The Sheraton Levant, Istanbul
Growing Old in Style