Dorinda Gym

So let me give you a little background. In Turkey, there are 3 main mobile operators, namely Turkcell, Vodafone and Turk Telekom. Turkcell has the biggest subscriber base, with Vodafone as the second largest, followed by Turk Telecom. If you would like to know more, you can check this link to see the latest figures. 

Check it out here

Should you purchase the Turkey SIM Card at the airport?

There is no right or wrong with purchasing the SIM card first or after arriving in Turkey. However, since we are traveling in a big group, we'd figured that if we get it in advance, it will save a lot of time when we are there. 

In order to skip the hassle of stopping or queuing at the airport, we decided to purchase the SIM card in advance. Our friend helped to check some of the options available in local e-commerce site Lazada and we ended up choosing this - https://bit.ly/34tImus

Actual product received of the Vodafone SIM card we purchased for the Turkey trip:




Review of the Turkey Turkey SIM card - Vodafone: 

Friendly reminder: The SIM doesn't come with the PIN, please bring along yourself 

What about other Turkey SIM Card? 

Additional information: 

Do you need to purchase mobile data in Turkey? 

If you have read the above, I guess you're thinking about getting a SIM card for internet usage in Turkey. So the next question that you have might be: "Is it needed for everyone to get their SIM card?"

Well the answer actually depends greatly on the user. If you want to share every moment, like posting Instagram Stories or going live in Facebook, then it's definitely a yes. You can also ensure that you are able to stay connected with the group of people whom you are traveling with via Whatsapp, WeChat or any messaging platforms.

Other than that, almost all the hotels that we stayed provided WiFi. If you don't need it for those #InstaMoments, then you don't really have to get it.

Guys I made a video below compiling some of the Instagram Stories that I have posted during Turkey trip, check it out :)

Hope you enjoy your trip in Turkey as well!

-Love, Mel 

Let me tell you something straight, it’s highly not recommended to drive yourself if you have more than 5 pax in your group (which means you will driving a bigger vehicle than usual).

Our family of 7 got into a minor car accident- on the FIRST DAY of the Jeju trip. Yup, I said it. It was really a huge blow-off and generated lots of anxiety until the incident was settled.

If you have decided to self-drive in Jeju/ rent a car in Jeju:

1. First thing first, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE INCLUDED COMPREHENSIVE INSURANCE in whatever package that you have signed up.

This is very very crucial! For our case, our insurance is not comprehensive but just partial. So we had to pay a part of the damage cost while insurance covering the rest of the damage cost.

If we had purchased the full insurance, we would have only paid for the rental cost that the rental car company lose.

2. Make sure you have someone who is a good driver

As the driver seat would be different from Malaysia, which is on the left. It might take some time for the driver to actually get used. Not only does the driver has to get familiarised with the different seat, the entire road is different. Like how cars are making turns, which way to look, even the roundabout becomes anti-clockwise.

2A. Make sure you also have a good GPS Navigator assistant

As mentioned in point 2, it’s already a difficult task enough for the driver in getting used to the different driver seat and road condition. The last thing he/she wants to be doing is to be distracted on checking out on the GPS.

Of course you can choose not to use the in-car GPS and choose your own phone if you prefer that way. Still, the driver will need someone to help so he/she can stay focused on the road instead.

And please, do the driver a favour and don’t sleep throughout the journey. Since the distance between different tourist spots could be from 30mins up to 1.5hours or more (depending on how you arrange your itinerary). But you get my point, it’s better if the driver has some sort of support from the passenger seat.

3. TRY TO ARRANGE YOUR ITINERARY IN EARLIER DAY

My traveling period was quite a popular season of the year- Autumn, 18-21 October. I can say that the day starts really early, and the day ends even earlier. The sky starts getting dark as early as 5pm+. Which also means your visibility starts decreasing 6pm onwards. It’s going to be more difficult for your to find the routes.

4. Check if your hotel/Airbnb provides parking space (and still be prepared to look for parking space even if they do)

Obviously when you are renting a car, you will need to park it in the property that you are staying. For two consecutive nights, we had some difficulties to park. First night was due to the incredibly small parking space to fit our 7-seater car. Second night, the car park was full. We didn’t even get to see the car park and wasn’t sure how many parking space exactly do they have.

5. Parking space are REALLY SMALL and roads could be narrow in the Jeju town area

We were in the area near the black pork street, I’m not even kidding, the roads were so so narrow and the cars were just simply parked on the side of the road. Literally we had to check left and right to make sure we don’t brush any cars. Phew!