Rina and I are the founders of Insight Travel in Istanbul, Turkey. I still work for Insight Travel as a freelance tour guide. The letters below written by clients to Rina about the tours I guided.

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Katie F. -Washington D.C.


Rina and Suleyman.
I wanted to send my sincere thank you to both of you. Our trip was perfect. Suleyman was a superb guide and we really enjoyed each day with him. My mom is telling everyone they must visit Turkey and they must contact you if they do. We were so impressed with everyone and everything. Ankara worked out well although it was a little colder. My mom's tour guide was quite ok, but not Suleyman (in her words).

Anyway, thank you again for all of your hard work and please know that I will be back.

Katie
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Cathryn K. - New Jersey, USA


Hi Rina,

I wanted to write to thank you and Suleyman for a wonderful time in Istanbul. It was something I will always remember. Suleyman is so knowledgeable and it was a real treat to have him for 2 days to tell me all about your beautiful city. I have been highly recommending your company to my friends and colleagues that have asked me about my trip.

Hope this is finding you well.

Cathryn
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John H. - Spokane, WA


Dear Rina --
I share your hope that we might meet sometime. My wife and son and daughter-in-law had a very enjoyable time with Suleyman, who is a veritable fountain of information and a model of patience. I'm very impressed with your operation, and hope you grow and prosper. If you two ever get to Spokane, I'll give you a tour for free.

John H.
---------------

Dear Rina,
The high point of our time in Istanbul, of course, was being able to spend a day in Suleyman's care. That was an excellent, and right sized, excursion, and Suleyman was a delight.

Although we had a day's rain in Istanbul, it really didn't matter as we had done the city tour the day before in magnificent weather. The weather during the rest of our stay in Turkey could not have been nicer, and warm enough that we swam twice in the Aegean: Dalyan and Kusadasi.
.....
If we do, we certainly will plan to make arrangements through Insight, and we also will recommend your company to anybody we know who will be traveling to Turkey.

Sincerely,
Keith
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Nathan and Kristin W. - Chicago


Hi Rina-

We had an absolutely wonderful trip! Thank you so much for the help in arranging our visit, and in planning the tour at the last minute.
....
And of course, the best part of Istanbul was our private tour with Suleyman. He was great and we learned an awful lot in a short amount of time. Topkapi Palace was great.

Overall, our stay in Turkey was wonderful, and we will be sure to recommend Insight Travel to anyone else who is thinking about going!

Thank you, Lisa and Suleyman again for all your help and assistance and for an unforgettable adventure.

Best Regards,
Nate and Kristin Wuerffel
---------------

Rina,
Thank you for your help in arranging our recent trip to Turkey. We had the
most fabulous time. All of the hotels exceeded our expectations. Our guide in Istanbul (Suleyman) was delightful and informative and our driver Mustafa was a pleasure to be with. The photo in Cappadocia is my favourite from the entire trip.

Many thanks,
Jenny D.
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Stacy R. - California

Rina,
Please forgive me for taking so long to tell you what a wonderful time we had on our tours in Turkey. Our guide was amazing and so patient with our children. He was very knowledgeable and knew people wherever we went. Thank you for making our trip more enjoyable than it already was.

Sincerely,
Stacey R.
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Nika & Boris K.

Hi Rina and Suleyman,
My wife and I would like to thank you for 2 great day tours of Istanbul. We were lucky to have Suleyman as our guide. It is highly unlikely that we would have seen and learned so much without your help. Best of luck to both of you. Please, if you ever need a recommendation, we would love to provide one.

Thank you very much,
Nika and Boris
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Shabnam K.
June 17, 2005

Hi Rina,
My parents has an amazing time in Istanbul. The hotel was perfect and they really enjoyed the tours with Suleyman. I will certainly recommend your company to others who are thinking of doing something similar.

All the best,
Shabnam
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Robert W. -Indiana

Dear Rina and Suleyman,
Thank you so much for all your help in planning and making our trip to
Istanbul pleasurable. Rina, Thanks for all your help in planning the hotel, pick ups etc.--it made the trip free of worry. Suleyman, Thanks for all your insights and tidbits on our tour on Tues. We will recommend you to anyone going to Turkey and will probably be back so will have you help us again in the future.

Thank you again!
Bob
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Biraj & Suruchi M. - Foster City, California


Dear Rina,
Had a great time, really enjoyed our stay at Istanbul, I am still craving for all the good food we had in Istanbul, all credit goes to you and of course our handsome guide Suleyman. Will be looking forward to do another trip to Turkey sooner than later.

Thanks a lot,
Biraj & Suruchi

Tokyo Unity Church Group

Some other comments from the same church group from Tokyo who did a Biblical Tour with me:

 

"Sulyeman the Magnificent": Thanks for all your great info and fun-you really made Turkey come alive. Best Wishes, Wendy

Thank you Suleyman. You have a wonderful country with so much history, friendly people and beautiful sights. Now I want to continue to learn about ancient history thanks to your inspiration! Sally

Suleyman the Great! Thanks for all the lecturing, the hikes, the cultural "B.C." immersion! It's been a great experience. You've been great and the best guide ever. Best Wishes. Sagulun. Jean

Suleyman-san: We appreciate your excellent introduction of your great country to us. Thank you very much. Jui & Keiko H.

Extremely happy and satisfied with our first trip to Turkey! Appreciate the coordination you and Rina had with the Thomas family get-together! The guide makes the difference- and Suleyman-san, you were great in encouraging and coaxing us into valleys, caves, ruins and sacred places! Thank you for the eye-opening adventures. Best Regards, Preman, Sajeeve, Anish, Preethi & Sarah Thomas.

Thank you for everything. You're the greatest guide. I really got to know Turkey and I appreciate your help. I'll never forget you. Kauru

Suleyman the Magnificent Guide! Thank you so much for making my first trip to Turkey so wonderfully memorable. Thanks for representing your country so beautifully. May

Dear Suleyman, I would like to say thank you very much for your help. We would not be able to enjoy this much without your help. I am still looking for the Iznik tiles! Nabuko

To Suleyman: Tesekkur ederim. Sayenizde iyi zaman gecirdim. Masako


Dear Suleyman, You are just great. May God bless you. See you in Tokyo. Suresh

Suleyman-Thank you for the wonderful introduction to Turkey. Wish you and Rina the very best in your future business. Best Wishes, Anna

Thanks for your patience, your generosity, and especially your sense of humor. It has really been a pleasure, and who knows, maybe we'll do this again when I'm at another church. And thanks as well to Rina for all her help in preparation. Craig H.
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I Pauline W. - California
Eastern Turkey Tour

Hi Rina,
I had a wonderful trip; the accommodations en route and in Istanbul were very good. I loved seeing Ararat the bald ibis, the "Garden of Eden" and every single ruin, fresco, cave and mosque and I don't think we passed anything older than yesterday that Suleyman was not able to discuss.

There was a congenial atmosphere in the bus attributed in no small part to Nihat's and Suleyman's easygoing way. I had a lovely time and have passed your brochure on to some friends.

Take care, Pauline
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David and Susan C. - Victoria, BC, Canada

Istanbul Tours

Hi Rina, we enjoyed our tours very much and will recommend your company to others. Murat was a great guide very friendly and professional and he certainly new the area. We also especially enjoyed meeting Suleyman and appreciated his vast knowledge and easy going approach.

If you plan on visiting Victoria, please look us up and we would be happy to show you our city.

David and Susan C.
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Lisa, Rina and Suleyman. We finally got home after a wonderful trip and I
am now rested enough to reflect back on the wonderful tours you provided for Marilyn, Kay and me in Turkey. All three of us are mentally ready to head back to Turkey and experience more -- alas, our bodies demand rest.
.....
Our day with you, Suleyman, was "the icing on the cake"! We had such a
wonderful time! We especially appreciated your openness in talking with us about almost everything we could think of concerning archeology, history, culture and religion in Turkey.
......
Through an agent's message board, I have been asked for your company
information and will be posting it. Hopefully I can send some more business your way and you can get that house finished. Please keep my name and e-mail and feel free to contact me if I can be of any help to you.

Hopefully, we will do business again in the future.

Bea
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Linda J. - Oregon, USA
Western Turkey Tour

Rina,
I thought I would follow up since we returned last night from our adventure! Thank you for your promptness in answering questions, making suggestions, etc. Your website and email proficiency were the reasons we booked the tour with Insight.

We thoroughly enjoyed the walking tour with Suleyman in Istanbul, and of course he was professional and a very well-informed guide.
.....
We all loved Turkey. It is such a fascinating place for so many reasons and we all felt that the Turkish people were so friendly and helpful. We had two wonderful lunches at Turquoise Cafe near your office and a couple of us had a wonderful Turkish bath at the place Suleyman recommended. Istanbul is such a great city and quite a contrast to Athens, which besides the ruins and Olympic sites, hasn't got much charm.

Regards, Linda
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Dear Rina,

This is to say a big thank you to you and your company for organizing
our tour and how beautifully everything went. Suleyman and Nihat were
great! and we all enjoyed their company a great deal. It was so nice to meet Lisa also. One of the highlight of the trip was seeing your Ottoman house. It was delightful and made us completely envious.

With regards,
Myra E.
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Liz and Margaret H. - Arizona
Aegean and Mediterranean Tour

Dear Rina and Suleyman,
We truly had a fabulous trip with you and have not, will not, decline from
mentioning our trip to friends and acquaintances. So far, everyone loves
the small, personal tour option to the Big Bus Bang. This was the part
that appealed to us as well.

Hope you are both healthy and happy and we wish you a joyous new year.

Take care-
Liz and Margaret
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Karen C. - New Zealand
Istanbul Tours

We had a wonderful time with our guide in Istanbul, Suleyman. He was well organised-we did not have to queue for tickets and things went smoothly. He shared lots of personal info about his culture we thought ending our trip with this tour made this trip special because we would have been completely lost with the short amount of time and would have only seen half of what we did. I don't feel finished with Turkey and would love to see more.
Take care,
Karen C.
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Barb D. - Prague International School

Dear Rina,
Sorry I haven't written sooner but I have been doing surveys of the students and teachers that were on the trip and I wanted to get the results before writing you.

Let me say firstly that we were very much impressed with the service that you gave us. Rina you were very accommodating and flexible and gave us the trip we were looking for, for the right price.

The students loved the trip. It was packed with great sites and gave them
some insight and perspective of Turkish culture and history. They found
the museums a bit boring but really enjoyed the other sites. Overall they
rated the program very highly and thought the trip was fun. They thought
hotel was good and the transportation excellent. Most of them said they
would do a similar trip again.

The teachers thought you and your guides (Suleyman and Erol) did an outstanding job and the program gave them great coverage of the sites in Istanbul.

Rina, thanks again for a job well done and I would recommend you highly
to anyone that is interested in touring your fascinating city.

All the best and I hope we can work together again.

Barb
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Lauren R.

We had a wonderful time. We will definitely recommend you to friends in the future. Thank you so much for a great experience.

Lauren R.
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Steve B. & Pam F.

Aegean & Mediterranean

Dear Rina and Suleyman,
Thank you for all the effort it took to plan and organize our just-completed tour. We very much enjoyed Turkey. We visited, ate at and stayed in many places which would not have been thought of by any other company. It was a fascinating trip, we got a great deal out of it, and our travel companions were the best. You and Suleyman do an excellent job.

Best wishes for a successful summer.
Steve and Pam
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Robert G.

Both Suleyman and the driver were great and very nice to be with on tour. Please give our regards to Suleyman. We of course will recommend your company to anyone we think would be interested in your services. Thank you once again for your help.

Robert G.
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Rachel P. and Ricardo R.

Dear Rina and Suleyman,
Thank you for your message. We were just about to write to you to let you know what a fabulous time we had in Turkey. Overall, the trip was among the best holidays that we have had. Our time in Istanbul was fascinating and we were very happy with our accommodations. Your recommendations of places to visit in the city and Suleyman's tour were excellent and we learned a great deal.



MARK RATAY
Vice President
Travel 'N' Tours, Inc.
5160 Tchulahoma Road -Southaven, MS


Reference:
Last year when planning an inspection trip of Istanbul, I came across Rina's web site on the Internet. My business partner and I wanted a private tour of Istanbul and its environs, and the Insight Travel web site seemed to offer what we were looking for in the way of a tour. I contacted Rina and explained what we wanted, and she replied promptly with a tour proposal and quote that we found very acceptable.

As it turned out, the private tour was conducted by her husband, Suleyman, who was extremely excellent as both a guide and a person. The tour was conducted in a late model car with a wonderful, safe, and courteous driver. We were very pleased and impressed with the tour, and as previously arranged we ended the tour at the offices of Insight Travel where we held a meeting with Rina and Suleyman to discuss how we might work together in promoting tourism to Turkey.

Since that meeting many months ago, Rina and Suleyman have developed a unique Christian itinerary through western Turkey that we are promoting to our data base of more than 700 churches and clubs. We are a small, custom tour operator, and we enjoy working with other smaller operators who provide us with personal attention. Based on this new itinerary, we created a multi-page color brochure, which is being mailed to our data base, and our web designer is incorporating the tour into our web site. Throughout this entire process, Rina and Suleyman have demonstrated to us that they are prompt, professional, and very competent at what they do. And since Rina is an expatriate American, there does not seem to be the language or cultural "confusion" that sometimes occurs when dealing with foreign operators.

Personally, I have no concern about making deposits with Insight Travel. We will do so whenever we have a group tour to Turkey, and while there are no "guarantees," I feel confident that Rina and Suleyman and their staff will deliver as they have promised. Their offices are located in a Sultan's mansion that they restored in the historical Sultanahmet neighborhood just a short distance from The Blue Mosque.

Should you have the opportunity to use the services of Insight Travel, I don't think you will be disappointed. If there is any other information I can share with you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Mark Ratay
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Fern S. - Florida, USA

Hello Rina,

Greetings from the USA. I hope you remember me for I purchased 2 of your tours last year in October. I haven't had a chance to to write to you saying I enjoyed both tours until now. I must say that your tours are different...case in point, the Blachernae Palace and dungeon. I'm almost positive that no tourists on other packages go to the dungeon.

I would like you to keep me on your mailing list. I am definitely going back to Turkey again and when I do, I am going to Bodrum and Antalya next. I would love to go back this year but I have already booked Italy and the Cayman Islands. So, in 2006 for sure!! Would you recommend going to Bodrum and Antalya in May or September?

Thank you for your time and let's keep in touch. From sunny Florida, bye for now.

Fern S.
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Yvonne G - SAS Airlines, USA


Dear Rina and Suleyman

Just a quick note to thank you for a wonderful trip you put together for my
husband and I. We absolutely fell in love with Turkey. The people, sights,
sounds, food, culture, history, religion....everything was amazing!

......
As for our tour guides and drivers... Let's start off in Istanbul. How
could we go wrong with Suleyman and Hazim? Suleyman was informative and led us to each sight with good timing. Hazim was the nicest and most
professional driver.

I guess we are not done with Turkey and need to come back again! Isn't that wonderful? I'll get to deal with you again then. Thanks for all your help Rina. You can be rest assured that I will always recommend you and your company to anyone who wants to visit Turkey!

Sincerely,
Yvonne
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Frank R. - UK


Rina/Suleyman,

Thank you very much for the email. I really enjoyed both tours. My favorite was the Byzantine tour on Sunday. As I told Suleyman, Byzantine history is one of my favorite areas of historical interest.

Best Regards,
Frank
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Noel M. - Australia
May 24, 2004

Hi Rina,
Thanks you for your email. We leave Istanbul tomorrow for Australia. Had a great time, but wish we had booked through your company for the total tour. Next time. We have been recommending you to all we come across and will continue to do so in Australia. Thank you once again and kindest regards to Suleyman.

Noel Milner and the group
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Judy A. - New York


Hi Rina and Suleyman....

So, this was definitely a calmer week....nonetheless infused intermittently with ongoing memories of our time with you both, and especially with Suleyman. I was wondering if Suleyman was available for "group management" on behalf of our contingent. We are equally unruly in the U.S. as we were in Turkey. As a matter of fact, it appears that we are grossly unmanageable in the world as reports would have it, although our family seems somewhat more benign.

The first thing that comes to mind is that I am almost out of Ibraham's apricots. My co-workers think I'm crazy (which is not always debatable) as I manage my stressful moments by reaching into my black backpack for a dried apricot or two. It works better than valium and only has a few more calories. Please tell him at your convenience that our time with him was very special.... really not ever to be forgotten and his graciousness made us feel so welcome. We wish him well. While we have a few pictures that developed well at his hotel....we have a great picture of Suleyman managing a smile about ten minutes after balloon lift off.....and simply adorable pictures of our sweet time with Mustafa and his dear family. Mustafa was a hard act to follow but Nihat was so warm and considerate managing always to be at the right place at the right time. Rina, you and Janie look as great on the pictures as you behaved in person....loose, balmed and American style Turks.

So what shall I say....from the little sweet hotel in Izmir where we fell in after 24 hours of flying, dinner in Kusadasi where we had to learn about how to be more of a group and less of our individual selves in order to fit in to our "new culture". ....ruins, caravansaries, camels, sheep and their shepherds, foods, whirling dervishes, shopping, pit stops, skies, disappearing lakes, palaces, mosques, people....such lovely people, hot potatoes on a rainy day, Janie on a donkey, caves, tunnels, food, more food, perfect hotels, drinking before dinner, fabulous Cappadocia and all it has to share with us, ballooning, exhaustion, exhilaration, wonders three times a day, mountains, my wonderful piece of pottery which did not disappoint me when I got home, that cheese and pastry thing that I even went running around the airport for the day we left...and found it!, meze, I'm now hooked on yogurt...(every day), your office and and sweet home, the tiles (great pictures coming for your friend), unbelievable space and beauty in the mosques for me and God, unique time with our children that we have been lucky to find once in our lifetime which could never happen in the same way again, coupons, white cliffs and hot springs, a lady and her family with whistles and a colorful spring, lunch way up somewhere in a school, the people who had lunch with us, the school kids on Childrens' Day, Konya, the WEDDING!, those lovely synagogues which preserve our history and of course, getting lost in the taxi in Istanbul, the bazaar, spice market, cistern, Topkapi palace, tea and Turkish coffee behind the palace, great lunch in that interesting school building where we filled up on great food and bought the local wine so that there was no chance of our ever having of a sober evening, always running into someone who loves either one of you or both of you, David's sword, the Bosphorous/ferry/museum, understanding more about the sultans' history and a million others things that we learned (sometimes despite ourselves), having all of the Bible stuff fall into a meaningful coming together of history, a perfect vase in that museum on the Bosphorous that was thousands of years old, and then.....there is Suleyman.....how you managed us with patience, just enough rope, not too much or too little, gentleness, perseverance, sharing of so much knowledge....fun, flexibility.....we feel much affection for you both....Rina ...asking the right questions....and planning this wonderful experience.....and finally spending time with us making us feel like family.....the words "thank you" don't do it ....but I guess it will have to suffice... please stay in touch...keep us posted....take good care of each other... and know that we all keep you close in our hearts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Judy
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Augustine F. - Bahrain


Dear Rina,
Thanks for the message. We did have one of our best tours in Turkey. It was great to meet your husband Suleyman who was a great guy. We appreciate the very personalized way he guided us during the tour. Our kind regards to him. Hope we get a chance to meet you again.

Kind regards,
Augustine
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Merrie S. - USA


Rina,

I am still smiling about my trip to Turkey. I really had the trip of a lifetime and enjoyed everything so much! I do look forward to another visit in the future going to central and east Turkey and will continue to spread the word about how terrific my trip was. In addition, I will recommend you to anyone who asks and yes, you can give my name as a reference if you'd like.

Thanks again for helping me plan my trip. And, please tell Suleyman that all the presents were a big hit - but, I do wish I had bought more leather bags and fish bowls. ;-)

Take care,
Merrie
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Francine B. - San Francisco


Hi Rina and Suleyman,

I was getting ready to write you when I opened your e-mail.

My thanks to you both for making my second trip to Turkey a trip to remember. I can't stop talking about it and telling people that I recommend your agency most highly and would never use anyone else when I plan my next trip. You care about each individual client and it shows. Please do keep me informed as you plan trips to other areas of Turkey. A trip to the Mediterranean area sounds perfect. I climbed steps I never would have climbed, I walked paths I never would have walked and saw things I never would have seen. Suleyman, you proved that my short legs can get me anywhere people with long legs can go - as long as someone gives me some leverage and a helping hand. Thanks again for going the extra mile.

All my black and blue marks are fading (they were proof of all I did). I'm now back on California time but wish I was still in Turkey. There is so much more to see and the people are so nice (at least the ones I met).

Sincerely,

Francine B.
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Rachel B. - UK

Dear Rina and Suleyman,

Thanks for your e-mail. We had a really great time in Istanbul. The two tours we did with you were the best days of our holiday. What was really good about them was that they took us to some fascinating places we would not normally have been able to get to easily. We thought the restaurants chosen to eat in were excellent too. Suleyman was a very well informed, patient and friendly guide! His real enthusiasm for Turkish history shone through.

I shall use your services again when I am next in Istanbul and I will certainly be recommending Insight Travel to my friends!.

Hope your winter won't be too cold and wet. It's like that here already........

Regards.

Rachel
---------------



John H. & Donald P. - NY


Dear Rina,

We had such a wonderful trip. Thanks so much for helping us at every step along the way.

we were captivated by the contrasts and textures of the city. The walk we did with Suleyman (looking for obscure mosques and churches) gave us a good feel for a part of town we would have missed otherwise. And we took his advice and spent the evening across the Horn, ending up in Taksim. So we experienced the crumbling conservative quarter and the ultra modern European town in the same day.

Once again, many thanks for all of your services. Best wishes to you and Suleyman and Emre.

John (+Don)
---------------



John and Maria C. - Sydney, Australia


Dear Rina and Suleyman

Just about "resettled" back into my working routine. I was seriously tempted by Buzz and Sue to extend the trip and hear all about the joys of retirement.

The trip was fantastic - really loved Suleyman's relaxed approach - as I said to him on departure that he not only performed as a Guide but also shared himself with us all. This has given us a very personalised and real
experience of Turkey and the local culture. We have many memories which will last for years to come.

Our enthusiasm is "rubbing off" a number of people who have expressed a desire to visit Turkey. We have no hesitation in recommending Insight to these people.

Great to have met you both thanks again for your attention. If you ever are thinking of coming over to Sydney we would be more than happy to show you around.

Regards
John and Maria
---------------



Dave B. - Livermore, CA


(A letter to Frommer's Guide)

My wife and I have just returned from a three week vacation in Turkey. We started out with some degree of anxiety, what with the international climate in that part of the world and the fact that our original plans were to be sailing the northern Greek Islands. The cruise was canceled, so we had 17 days to fill and no idea how. We decided to keep the flight to and from Istanbul and figure the rest out when we got there.

As we later found out, we crossed paths with several entities that you had covered in your book, and I want to say that each was well worth your recommendation. To start with, we decided to get some planning help in Istanbul so a person in my office sent us the name of Rina and Suleyman Tirosoglu at Insight Travel. They listened to our dilemma and objectives and helped us put together an absolutely fabulous experience.
... I believe you talked about Insight Travel, and they are the best! We didn't know what we really wanted, nor anything about Turkey other than it had ancient Greek ruins. They took real interest in helping us see where we were and what our options were, then made a series of wonderful suggestions, leaving the three days in Selcuk for us to work out.

Sincerely,
Dave B.
Livermore, CA
---------------

Paul S. - San Francisco

Hello Rina,

Thanks for the email. I had been meaning to write you a quick note too after returning home, but got caught up in all the details of coming home and taking care of things that happened while we were away. At least I got to the unpacking and the laundry!

We had an excellent visit to Istanbul and are so happy to have chosen your agency for a couple of tours. Suleyman is so knowledgeable and easygoing, and that made us feel very comfortable. If we weren't so jetlagged on that first all-day tour we might have learned much more.

You can be sure that I will recommend Insight Travel to any future clients I have going to Turkey. Thanks for all your help.

Paul Svedersky
Now, Voyager Travel
---------------


Tatyana S., Yakov L., Liana and Vladimir Z.


Dear Rina and Suleyman!
We would like to thank you both for the wonderful time we had in Istanbul and for the excellent service provided. Thanks to you we fell in love with your magic country. We will definitely recommend your service to all our friends and will post a recommendation on Frommers website.

Hope to see you again soon. Thank you again.

Tatyana, Yakov,Liana,Vladimir
---------------


Andre G. - Arkansas, USA


Dear Rina,

We made it back just fine, arriving yesterday, with memories of our wonderful "whirlwind" visit to Istanbul intact and cherished. Meeting you and Suleyman, and visiting with you was a highlight of our stay; what a wonderful, beautiful time in your lives this is--building a life together that is rewarding, and doing it in one of the great cities of the world.

The photos of John taken at the Galata Tower restaurant, alone, were worth the trip!

Our very best to you both, and please extend our deepest gratitude to Suleyman for a first-class introduction to your incredible city and its people (I've been fantasizing about returning, and spending a lazy afternoon at that incredibly beautiful area, on the Asian side, where Suleyman took us to enjoy the spectacular view, high above the city--sipping tea and visiting with whomever happens to be there).

Andre G.
---------------


Cliff R. - Boston


Hi Rina and Süleyman,

Although it is long overdue, I just wanted to drop you a note to tell you what a wonderful time I had in Turkey. I spent the first several weeks back getting caught up on my missed work and sharing my pictures and stories of my travels. Turkey was definitely much better than Greece and Gerry (who traveled with me and is very hard to impress) told everyone it was the "trip of a lifetime." For that alone, thank you for making the impossible possible!

Through my bragging and enlarged photos on my office walls, I found out that one of my employer's vice presidents was just about to leave for Turkey and that another coworker was also going. As you know, she got swept up in my tales/pictures and followed my footsteps (somewhat) with your help. I saw her today and she just loved everything. Thank you so much for making her trip as memorable (or more) as mine.

There's an article in the current edition of National Geographic on Istanbul. In case you haven't seen it, I've scanned text portion in the attached Word document for your reading pleasure.

Again, thank you for a perfect vacation.

Take care,
Cliff
---------------


Elizabeth K. - Illinois USA

Rina - I did not get the chance to see you on our last afternoon in Turkey, but I did want to tell you how much we enjoyed the trip and how much your efforts contributed to a great trip. Please feel free to refer future clients to me for a reference - I will definitely recommend you to people I know who express an interest in travel to Turkey and Greece.

Our last night, we went back to that restaurant we went to the first night with you and Suleyman. We had another great meal, this time all mezes - yum! The fried mussels were a real highlight, as was the restaurant's version of the tomato and pepper paste appetizer. If they will part with the recipes, we would love to have them (since its hard to pop over for a quick weekend...).

Anyway - thanks again, and we hope to see you and Suleyman again.

Elizabeth K.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
---------------


Wayne S.-California USA
October 13, 2002

Dear Rina and Suleyman,

It's been a long time. Hope everything is going well.

My uncle and aunt are planning a trip that will put them in Istanbul for 3 days next year. They're interested in a private city tour and whatever else you'd suggest. Of course I told them all about the two of you and that they could not do better in making arrangements to see any part of Turkey .

Anyway warmest thoughts from Nancy and I,

Wayne
---------------

Vivian and Miranda T. - San Francisco

Hi Rina and Suleyman,

Thanks again for organizing such a wonderful and memorable tour! Right now, it feels as if it was all a big dream -- that we were transported to another colorful world of adventure and excitement. We truly enjoyed every minute and are looking forward to a second gulet trip hopefully soon. We very much enjoyed meeting and dining with you, and would like to thank Suleyman for the inspirational tour in Istanbul! Please keep in touch and be sure to send us any updates on Turkey travels.

Take care,

Vivian and Miranda
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Amir S. - Maryland, USA


Dear Rina and Suleyman:
I wanted to thank you for the fantastic and first class service you provided us during our family reunion in Turkey. We all had a great time and we will definitely visit Turkey again and again. I have plenty of your business cards and I have already told my friends and family about Insight Travel. I hope to bring you much deserved business in the future. Once again, Thank you and best wishes.

Best Regards:
Amir S.
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Victoria S. - San Francisco


Hello Rina,
Thanks so much for your email. I have been meaning to contact you too to say thank you so much for organizing such a wonderful tour for us. I think it exceeded our expectations and we were all sad to leave Turkey.

Suleyman was so wonderful to shepherd us around the first few days and it really did ground us and give us a good sense of Istanbul. By the end, I
really felt like I had a reasonably good grasp of the old town.
.....
Victoria
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Regina FC


Dear Rina and Suleyman,
I simply love the way you organise your individual tours and I always recommend your agency, when people here ask me about Turkey. After all Insight Travel did a fantastic job for me twice. What would I have done without your expertise?! And on top of it all, it was great fun to travel and work with you.

All the best,
Regina