With the ticket from Istanbul to Ankara safely acquired, we were pleased to see our coach pull in just a few minutes later.
It was a really rather lovely coach, with a 2-1 layout which made the seating spacious. The journey was around seven hours long, so it was handy to be comfortable. I had a panic that there were was no Internet, so the kindly staff member on board (there are two staff) typed a password into my phone so I remained quiet for the journey and didn’t have to complain about not having access to my email.
You get free water which is rather lovely, although it got even more decadent than that.
We got a free snack! I accept I should probably get out more…
There was a free trolley service and you don’t get that on a National Express coach. I was able to have two cups of juice which is helpful in keeping refreshed.
There was a stop at some services on the E80 which allowed passengers to use the toilet facilities and make some purchases. It was a long journey, taking over two hours just to get out of Istanbul, so it was handy to get off for at least a short while.
I purchased these and they were a true giant of a crisp, I might even make a separate blog post about these at some point. I know, it’s beyond exciting isn’t it? Jonathan was more local than me, finding some soup from the cafe in the services. I was too nervous about the coach going without me, I have a low risk tolerance here.
And safely in Ankara coach station, only seven hours after setting off.
Although it was disappointing not to be able to get a train, and a bit of a faff, it was really quite nice to try the Turkish long-distance coaches network. This is a big thing in Turkey because of the limitations of the railways and it was keenly priced, especially taking into account the snacks provided.