I’m all about reasonably priced airline tickets, but they are not always the most convenient routes! This is when you need to decide whether your time or money is more valuable. In February 2024, we visited our son, Shaun, in Mozambique.(see the most recent posts of Tete and Tofu Beach) This is quite a journey from the US with a few more tricky pieces involving small airlines that do not travel to Mozambique everyday. So with the extra details, we decided to use our Iris travel agent, Shelly, who was super helpful!  

The most economical tickets by far, were ones which had very long layovers in Istanbul, Turkey. Praise Jesus for connections as I reached out to my friend, Melanie, who served in Turkey with her family as missionaries for many years. She shared how there is a great way to see some of the beautiful spots in Istanbul, Turkey for free if you have a long layover (6-24 hours) with a tourist program called TourIstanbul. Through Turkish Airlines, they used a complimentary shuttle bus to and from the airport for this tour. I will say that if sightseeing is not your thing and you are exhausted, you can ask for a hotel to rest if they have one available, but you cannot do both a complimentary room and a tour.

After more research and knowing this would be a good way to see Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey plus use up a lot of time, we took those reasonable tickets! After landing in Istanbul airport on the way to South Africa and Mozambique, we immediately went to the TourIstanbul desk where they gave us badges and had us wait with a crowd of people for the next evening shopping tour. Since our plane arrived around dinner on the way over, we could only do the evening tour which included shopping at Galataport and a complimentary dinner in the courtyard of the Dolmabahce Palace. But it was a nice way to pass some time! A couple of fun facts about Galataport is that it is the world’s first underground cruise terminal and it borders the Bosphorus Strait! It was gorgeous seeing this at night and I was able to pick up a few gifts in the mall.