We arrived in Istanbul late thursday to the surprise that we needed to purchase ‘visas’ upon entry. A quick reference check in our lonely planet and we see it’s a 10 pound charge. Ok, no worries, luckily we have about 20 quid on us. We join the massive line for the visa (I think everyone on our flight had to get the visa, and was just as surprised as us) when we get to the front we see a list of countries and prices. UK 10 pounds, a selection of European countries 20 euros, USA … 20 dollars.
And the lonely kanada (with a k) … 45 euro!!! Each! Wow. What did Canada do to piss off turkey so much?! Double any other country!
How much for Canada with a c, I thought.
I did happen to have euro on me (I was hoping to pay the hostel in euro) and some how between a selection of british pounds and euro notes we managed to scrape together the 90 euro fee.
At least we had cash. Many people didn’t have any, and the nearest atm happened to be on the other side of passport control. Clever.
Still feeling the sting, we instantly bonded with another Canadian and shared a taxi into town still wondering, why no love for Canada?
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