Money

The cost of this tour includes accommodations, transportation, group meals as noted in the brochure (including soft drinks and local beer or wine at group lunches and dinners), entrance fees and gratuities for all group activities to guides, waiters, porters and gulet crew. You should need money only for personal expenses, meals on your own, beverages not provided at group meals and for individual purchases.

A few things to note about money while on this trip:

• U.S. cash is readily accepted, and you may find it is only necessary to change a small amount of U.S. dollars into foreign currency.

• Turkish lira is the preferred form of currency on the gulets.

• Use fresh, new-style bills, as overly worn or outdated bills are often not accepted.

• ATMs are readily available in major cities but not during the gulet cruise. You may have to split off from the group on excursions in order to seek out an ATM.

• Major credit cards (VISA, MasterCard and American Express) are accepted in virtually all hotels, most restaurants and large shops.

The currency in Turkey is Turkish lira. You can find up-to-date information and current exchange rates online, for example at Oanda.

Guidelines for gratuities that are not included in the program cost

These guidelines are for hotel housekeeping staff, private transfers, meals on your own, additional hotel nights or any other travel that is not with the group:

Hotels: Because of the difficulty of ensuring that gratuities get to the right person, tips for housekeeping staff at our hotels are not included. If you would like to leave a tip for your housekeeper, $1 per day is recommended. You may tip in USD or local currency.

Private transfers: If you have arranged a private transfer through Travel/Study, gratuities for your transfer driver are not included. If you wish to tip your transfer driver, $5 is the recommended amount, and you may tip in USD or local currency.

Taxis: Tips for taxi drivers are not customary, but Turks generally round up the fare to the nearest lira.

Restaurants: Tipping in restaurants (approximately 10% of the total bill) is customary in this part of the world. We recommend that you hand tips directly to the waiter instead of leaving the tip on the table.