Long weekend in Istanbul at end of May - Turkey on Govt Red List

[feedthegoat27]

It's arguably the greatest undertaking to attend a game that we will ever experience. I think 4,000 tickets will be hard to shift.

The cost of flights, hotels, airport parking, taxis, food/drink, match ticket and Covid tests is one thing. The requirement to self-isolate on return for 5 or even 10 days is another.

The problem for me is the latter. And quite simply due to work.
If I could work from home then I'd have no qualms about isolating for 10 days, that wouldn't and doesn't bother me.

Things like tests just add another layer of cost and hassle. Everyone will have their own individual thresholds of what is an acceptable number of hurdles to jump to attend, and personal circumstances will likely dictate this.

I can justify the cost (because I'd do the holiday route to keep it reasonable)
I can just about justify the testing and all that additional ballache.
I'm just not sure I can justify the home isolation when I'll likely be needed at work, and any potential consequences from that.

Full credit to those Blues who are going, particularly ones who have already stumped up for flights despite all the uncertainty; great dedication and I do hold out a very slim chance of joining, time will tell. I've been to Istanbul once before (ironically it was when the UEFA Cup was held there back in 2009 (?) the year Hamburg dumped us out in the quarters, me and my Dad took a punt on some cheap flights just in case we did make it), great place and would love to return.

I know we shook off the 'typical City' tag many years ago.....but this is so fucking typical that we make our first Champions League final in the midst of a pandemic.

 

[Impeccable One]

I’m going away on the Thursday after the final for 4 nights which would cross over with any isolating so I’m buggered

it’s one thing going to Istanbul for a couple of nights and spending a small fortune. It’s another thing telling the missus and kids that their holiday is cancelled because of it.. FFS!!!

If your ‘going away’ is outside the UK, then no problem. Quarantine means stay at home if you’re in the UK. It doesn’t mean you can’t travel abroad. And yes, I know, doesn’t seem to make sense, but thems the rules :)

 

[Lavinda Past]

It's arguably the greatest undertaking to attend a game that we will ever experience. I think 4,000 tickets will be hard to shift.

The cost of flights, hotels, airport parking, taxis, food/drink, match ticket and Covid tests is one thing. The requirement to self-isolate on return for 5 or even 10 days is another.

I agree with you about the difficulty in shifting 4000 tickets. There'll obviously be plenty of initial interest / demand, but I suspect that the vast majority of fans will have second (and then third and fourth) thoughts when they discover the actual cost and likely consequences of attending.

 

[JGL07]

Up to 10 weeks. Usually takes about 10 days.

You can renew a passport instantly if you pay an extra fee.

I was travelling to Oman two or three years back and they wouldn't let me on the plane because my passport ran out five months and three weeks later. It needed to be valid for six months after the date of travel.

I was supposed to travel out from Glasgow to Dubai on the Friday morning. I missed out on an appointment at the Glasgow passport office for Friday so arranged one for Monday morning. They did offer me an appointment in Belfast on the Friday but I ended up flying out on Monday afternoon clutching a brand new passport.

 

[tedmak]

The more I think about it, the less appealing it is to me. I want to be at a champions league final with 20k+ City fans roaming a European city. Having a minimal amount of fans there and with the possibility of a lot of the bars and restaurants to be closed, I’d rather just have a blow out in Manchester.

You are 100% correct.
But by the same token. I wanted 30k City fans at Wembley for the LC final (that I attended).
I want Town mobbed for the Everton match.

The epidemic we didn't choose, but it is what we have.

If I get a ticket and it is in Istanbul, I am om going, and have prepared accordingly.

I fully understand people who don't want or can't go. But this is the biggest match I have wanted us in since the 2011 FA Cup final. Bigger even.

 

[Hayley Croppers chopper]

Would say its probably best to go to Istanbul/Turkey direct where possible.
Changing planes en route shouldn't cause too much bother, but it does leave you exposed to any prohibitive measures in place for country to country issues (IE if Turkey are happy to accept travellers from the UK but will quarantine arrivals from Holland for example and your flight goes via Amsterdam)
Similar scenario for something like flying to Sofia and getting the train in....under normal circumstances I'd say crack on with something like that but services could well be limited and you'd have to ensure no border issues with Bulgaria and Turkey.
In what is already likely to be a stressful trip for anyone making it due to the numerous hoops you'll have to jump through, my advice would be to keep any itinerary as simplified as possible.

On the testing front, it's quite unclear what testing will be required before leaving the UK, even to green countries.
A country might not request a negative PCR test on arrival but an airline might only agree to let you board on production of a negative test.
I'd go on the assumption that anyone travelling to Turkey will need a negative test before outbound departure, even if Turkey aren't requesting it. Coming back will definitely require further testing, both before leaving Turkey and upon arrival into the UK.

If people have the time and inclination, booking a holiday to Turkey that covers the final weekend and then jumping on an internal flight to Istanbul from your resort could be the least stressful and quite cost effective way of doing it (posted yesterday how cheaply that can be done)

That’s all well and good but currently you need a reason to travel (ie work etc)
Going for a holiday is not allowed at the moment.

 

[fathellensbellend]

All those European nights when the club were begging us to attend, supporting is a 2 way thing, surely they are going to do everything in their power to help.

 

[Forzacitizens]

Uefa should be making an announcement today about travel plans. Yeh, surely city and uefa should liaise with the authorities to make travel possible for the 4000

 

[KPXBLN]

Is that why people are pricing it up, you have to have a test in Turkey before coming back? I know the LFTs before Spurs were free.

On a separate note re travel has anyone looked at flights to Germany and then onwards from there as a big Turkish community so assume a few flights going?

Currently about €100 return from Berlin, when I checked yesterday. But Frankfurt and Munich are bigger hubs so check them too, if you are thinking of doing it.

 

[John Wayne]

The problem for me is the latter. And quite simply due to work.
If I could work from home then I'd have no qualms about isolating for 10 days, that wouldn't and doesn't bother me.

Things like tests just add another layer of cost and hassle. Everyone will have their own individual thresholds of what is an acceptable number of hurdles to jump to attend, and personal circumstances will likely dictate this.

I can justify the cost (because I'd do the holiday route to keep it reasonable)
I can just about justify the testing and all that additional ballache.
I'm just not sure I can justify the home isolation when I'll likely be needed at work, and any potential consequences from that.

Full credit to those Blues who are going, particularly ones who have already stumped up for flights despite all the uncertainty; great dedication and I do hold out a very slim chance of joining, time will tell. I've been to Istanbul once before (ironically it was when the UEFA Cup was held there back in 2009 (?) the year Hamburg dumped us out in the quarters, me and my Dad took a punt on some cheap flights just in case we did make it), great place and would love to return.

I know we shook off the 'typical City' tag many years ago.....but this is so fucking typical that we make our first Champions League final in the midst of a pandemic.

Funnily enough, I went to the UEFA Cup final in 2009 with my Dad. We booked it after scraping past Aalborg, so it was never in doubt City weren't going to go all the way. Like you, I thought it was a great place and being in town for Atatürk's birthday was quite a sight.

I am fortunate enough to be able to work from home so, making assumptions about how travel is going to look after today's announcement, I will have booked a flight and hotel in Istanbul. I really sympathise with all of our fans who desperately want to go but cannot be there for the occasion.

I could be very wrong here, but I can't see how the government are going to enable more people to travel through special dispensation. If I'm in the cabinet I'm looking at it thinking "enough people will travel to satisfy demand as an amber country. What we don't want is thousands more ticketless fans going and milling around because we've made it easier to travel".