Taking child on holiday

So i am planning to take my 8 year old on holidays to turkey this year with my Girlfriend and her kids and two other families in the summer.

Spoke to childs mother a while back and told her ill be taking her away for a week in the summer rather than take her for the week and staying at home.she wasnt too happy as she has been away from our child for a week since she was born,


went to book today and had to confirm with her that them dates were 100%, and she was yes thats fine and asked where, once i mentioned turkey she was texting me that its very dangerous at the moment and is politically unstable and that she wouldnt go there. she referred me to the DFA site which has a "high degree of caution" warning.
i read through it and it mentions trouble over near the syria border and dont see any reason to not go there at the moment.

any advice or opinions? i did anticipate a problem any where i booked to be honest as she didnt like the idea of going away for a week.

splinter65

Youre going to Turkey because it’s cheap and it’s cheap because tourists are steering clear of it because it’s not a happy place at the moment.
Political trouble could break out in Turkey at any time and it’s high risk for an Isis attack on tourist resorts.
I’m not the type of person who sees danger everywhere but I’d prefer to go to Santa Ponsa or Salou where you can just relax and not have to have that worry in the back of your mind.

troyzer

She's probably slightly over reacting but she's not wrong.

As splinter said. You're going because it's cheap. It's cheap because the tourism industry is on his knees and the industry is on its knees because the country is in turmoil.

Innocent people are being thrown into prison because of the coup and just today it was announced that the Turks have every intention of striking at YPG strongholds in Syria which increases the risk of a domestic terrorist backlash.

It's dodgy at the moment. Go to Spain, Greece or Portugal.

tampopo

My barber goes there every year and loves it. Stays in a resort and doesn't mix with the locals, but there you go

Birneybau

Cool cool.

myshirt

I have to say man, I'm with her on this one. You cheaped out when you shouldn't have. If you can't afford a proper holiday then don't go on one. You should have known when you seen the prices in Turkey.

lol i am not a cheapskate, ive been there befor a few times and actually liked it, price never came into it.

i am having some second thoughts now as i wasnt really aware at all of this political or war stuffs

Spanish Eyes

I don't blame her. I have no doubt that it is a lovely place in spots, but there is absolutely no way I would support that megolomaniac Erdogan with my foreign currency. Feck that.

Gavin "shels"

Dublin City?

sorry i dunno how it end up in there...been a while since i started a thread

tricky D

Moved to Travel

thanks for replies guys now i am too scared to go turkey....back to looking at holidays for a week woo woo

grimm2005

I'll deviate from what most others are saying and suggest you will nearly certainly be completely fine particularly if you're staying in a resort and personally I wouldn't be put off booking a trip, I'd possibly think twice about booking a big city like Istanbul but there haven't been any terrorist attacks on resorts so far and a quick internet search suggests tourism is picking up quite a bit and returning somewhat to normality since the 2016 coup attempt. Ryanair only launched a Dublin to Dalaman route last year and they wouldn't bother if tourism wasn't picking up there.

The DFA have "high degree of caution" for plenty of places that's it's perfectly safe to travel to like France, Belgium, Morocco, Ukraine, Thailand. You're not going to be anywhere near the border with Syria therefore the chances of anything dodgy are probably quite slim.

Obviously it goes without saying that wherever you go you should always be a bit more cautious whether it's Barcelona or Marrakesh just due to the fact you're in a place you're not familiar with and always get comprehensive travel insurance.

Ultimately it's up to you whether or not you're comfortable taking the trip but you might get some peace of mind from folks who have been recently on travel forums.

I actually looked on the site for other countries with the high degree of caution....thanks for that was surprised to see France there.

Was booking a resort over on the West side, i still may end up booking there but if i do ill need to keep a close eye on the news and the DFA page.

thanks for that message Grimm it was kinda reassuring...

StreetLight

Ryanair are also launching a regular service between Dublin and Bodrum. There has been nothing on this route for years - and before that it was just the charters from the holiday operators. So things appear to be on the up again.

cdeb

I was in Turkey for a week there 15 months ago. Partly in a resort near Antalya, partly in Istanbul. Great place and I didn't experience any hint of trouble or unease. If anything the people are even more friendly because tourists are rarer these days. (Would say the same about Ukraine having been there last year)

I'd go again. Partly I guess it comes to whether you want your breaks to be just nondescript sun/sea/sand or to include a bit of travel.

Ludo

I think the major issue here is the childs mother feeling anxious about having her child being taken away for the first time without her. As the OP pointed out this was always going to be an issue. I think then the choice of a destination which has a reputation of being risky and potentially dangerous didn't help and gave an easy opportunity to object and express concern (understandable really to be honest). A "safer" location like the Canaries or something might have removed this reason for concern in this situation but sure it is easy for me to say that after the fact.
I don't think the issue is whether anything will actually happen or not (it almost definitely won't) but simply the perception of danger and that is not going to go away.

afkasurfjunkie

Planning a holiday at the moment for myself, husband, and 2 young kids. Won’t consider turkey. If it was just me or the husband I’d go there no bother but not with kids.

uck51js9zml2yt

Would avoid turkey at all costs. Too dangerous.

_Brian

You also have to look at the long term relationship between yourself, the kid and your ex.

It’s not something worth creating trouble over as the longer term effect in your kid isn’t worth it.

Find somewhere everyone is happy with and try keepntue relationships on a good level.

Raytown Rocks

Been going to Turkey for years
If you go to the resort locations your grand
Kusadasi is fab
Kids are treated superbly by the locals
Weather is superb during the summer
Great food

Your choice but don't bin it off just yet. Keep an open mind

pwurple

I was in Turkey years ago, and said I'd never return. Absolute kip of a place, leering blokes everywhere trying to grab women and girls. And it's ridiculously hot in the summer for a child.

cdeb

Ludo wrote: »

I think the major issue here is the childs mother feeling anxious about having her child being taken away for the first time without her. As the OP pointed out this was always going to be an issue. I think then the choice of a destination which has a reputation of being risky and potentially dangerous didn't help and gave an easy opportunity to object and express concern (understandable really to be honest).

That's fair, and probably something we can't really give advice to the OP on, other than to suggest from experience that posts like this -

Yara Yummy Lioness wrote: »

Would avoid turkey at all costs. Too dangerous.

- simply aren't true at all.

grimm2005

cdeb wrote: »

That's fair, and probably something we can't really give advice to the OP on, other than to suggest from experience that posts like this -

Yeah agreed, the issue probably isn't really the destination but I guess more between the OP and his child's mother and her perception of where he's taking her rather than any actual logical threat. If going somewhere in western Europe is going to make it an easier sell to the mother, perhaps it's better to keep the peace and book somewhere else but in the context of this forum we can only really give travel advice.

wall

And, you could gain brownie points with your ex by saying you've taken her concerns on board (not other people's), and will look for somewhere safer.