Istanbul and Italy trip summer 2005

Free ISP in Rome
Google's budget airfares directory
Qixo

Itinerary:
  • Los Angeles to London via Newark, ordered through expedia (frodesteen/gracie) for $1222
    • Continental 1703 LAX Term 6 d. 8:10am 30 June 2005, a. Newark 4:30pm Term C (dep same)
    • Continental 18 EWR d. 6:50pm 30 June, a.  London Gatwick 6:40am 1 July
    • Train/bus from Gatwick to Heathrow Terminal 3 (you have five hours)
  • Istanbul 1 - 23 July 2005
    • London - Istanbul (IST) (6 hour flight)
      • Turkish Airlines  (frodesteen/frodesteen)
        • +1 800 874 8875 (9-5:30 PM MF)
        • TK1980 LONDON (Heathrow 3) - ISTANBUL Ataturk d. 1 July 2005 at 11:25 a 17:10
          • Tord ankommer Istanbul 01 July 05 kl 17.45 TK1783, tel. 011-47-90 54 59 96
          • Reiser fra Istanbul 23 July kl 10.25
          • Celal Sultan, booking #84.329.568 from 1-10 July for €585
            • add request for airport pickup for €20 per pickup
          • Ahmet Suner (Renu's friend) in Izmir, tel. 90-232-483-16-20 (h) 90-532-695-11-24 (c)
            <msuner@usc.edu>
          • Pinar in Istanbul
          • Michael and Deb <debburk1@juno.com>, tel. 415-931-4367 (h) -- runs yoga school in San Francisco (where exactly?)
          • Map of Bodrum and Marmaris region
        • TK1979 ISTANBUL-LONDON (Heathrow 3) d. 23 July 2005 at 8:05 a 10.05
        • £220 charged to Sony card (show to get ticket)
  • Not to Norway -- missed flight
    • dep. London STN Saturday 23 July 13:55 Ryan Air 36 (conf.  JF9EBM - missed)
    • dep Oslo Torp Tuesday 2 August 9:50 Ryan Air 35
  • England -- 23 July - 2 August (nine days) -- stayed in Cambridge
    • dep. London STN Tuesday 2 Aug 12:35 Ryan Air 3006 (conf. HNZ1AW)
    • arr.  Roma (Ciampino) 16:05
  • Rome -- 2 Aug - 18 September (six weeks)
    • dep. Roma (Ciampino) Sunday 18 Sep 10:00 Ryan Air 3005 (conf. HNZ1AW)
    • Turid Eidsmo, tel. 0039 06 5809-849, via Ettore Rolli 46 (5 min from Stazione di Trastevere)
    • arr. London STN 11:40
  • Norway 18 Sep - 26 Sep £103
    • dep. London STN Sunday 18 Sep 13:55 Ryan Air 36 (conf. OPNJBV)
    • arr. Torp  17:00
      • Stay in Oslo for eight days -- see Last leg for return
    • dep. Torp 26 September 17:25 Ryan Air 37 (conf. OPNJBV)
    • arr. London Stansted 18:25
  • London transit 26 September (one night)
    • Corbigoe Hotel, 101 Belgrave Road, London SW1V 2BP, near Pimlico (FindLondonRooms.com)
    • Take the Gatwick train from Victoria
  • Return to the US
    • Continental 29 Gatwick 12:30pm 27 Sept 2005 a. Newark 3:25pm Term C (go to Term A)
    • Continental 1185 EWR 4:45pm Term A, a. Chicago ORD 6:23pm Term 2 (dep same)
    • United 7780 ORD 8:05pm Term 2, a. Indianapolis IND 9:09pm
  • Conference in Bloomington, Indiana 28 September (see Last leg and Castronova)
    • Hampton Inn, 2100 N. Walnut Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47404 (tel: +1-812-334-2100)
  • Return home via Chicago
    • United 7549 IND 6:00am 2 October 2005, a. ORD 7:05am Term 1 (dep same)
    • United 854 ORD Term 1 8:00am, a. LAX 10:05am Term 7
Turkey

General
  • Map24 (excellent European maps and driving directions)

Italy
  • Lodging
    • Turid Eidsmo, tel. 00 39 06 580-9849, friend of Line, who is friend of my cousin Tord
    • Trastevere flat, 90m2, two bedrooms, €1,500 for period 2 Aug - 18 Sep 2005
  • Contacts
    • Grazyna (Graziella) Sciacca (Ilona Grabarzcyk's aunt)
      tel. 011 39 06 4542 5099 (h)
      cel. 011 39 34 8312 0720 (c)
  • WiFi
    • General: service is not free, except at McDonalds, and mainly in hotels
      • The network is expanding, but doesn't seem to include many places where you can work
      • The university is a good option, but will you have access?
      • It would be better to have your own GPRS connection from anywhere
    • Freestation wireless network
      • Sign up -- you need an Italian phone number
      • help desk 840 000 214 (9-18 MF), card@freestation.it, 802.11b Wi-Fi
      • €5 cards give you 100 minutes online, or €3 an hour (card a scalare)
      • €35 cards give you a month of (unlimited?) usage (card a scadenza)
    • Tin.it wireless network -- new kid on the block?
      • Sign up and buy codes online with a credit card
      • You can only buy a code at the hotspot itself, and it's only valid there
      • €5 gives you five hours online -- way better than Freestation
      • Site locator
    • Universita degli Studi di Roma has good coverage
      • Facolta di Lettere, via Columbia (half-way to Frascati)
    • McDonalds Piazza di Spagna
      • free, WLAN (802.11g, 55Mbps), SSID: wifi-italia
    • Valle Aurelia (public square less than a kilometer behind the Vatican)
      • free, WLAN (802.11g, 55Mbps), not yet activated?
  • Naples and Sicily
Flight reservations
  • OpenJet for cheap flights within Europe -- see routes (flash plugin) -- but the site has no flights!
  • Cologne/Bonn (CGN) and Stuttgart have direct flights to Istanbul Sabiha (SAW -- Asian side)
  • Cologne/Bonn has connections to Rome Ciampino, Rome DaVinci, Naples, London Gtw, London Stn, and Oslo -- a huge hub
  • Berlin-Schonefeld (SXF) also flies to SAW, but it costs €200 there and €100 back, worse than London
  • Stuttgart (STR) has connections to Rome, but not London or Oslo -- a smaller hub
    • STR - SAW €140 and SAW - STR €84 -- that's pretty good
    • STR - FCO €44
    • So far, Stuttgart looks best, cheaper than Turkish Airlines
    • LAX - STR $1038
  • SkyScanner works:
  • Rome Fiumicino (FCO) - Istanbul (IST) with Alitalia or Turkish Airlines
  • Opodo says £232 (return) with Turkish Airlines (direct) or Lufthansa (one stop)
  • Turkish Airlines changes €323 -- dates are available and they take credit cards
  • JetBlue is US only -- cheap to NYC
  • BMI is UK based -- no cheaper than Continental + Ryan Air
  • Flights London Istanbul $400 (Ryan Air doesn't fly -- but Turkish has a sale £137 (June 14 - 30 only)
  

 

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