Stage 2 · Your Journey
Travel & stay
From the flight out to the flight home, it is arranged for you.
The dates come from the plan
How long you are in Istanbul is decided by what is being done and by how you are expected to heal — the tests that have to happen before surgery, the days you need to be seen afterwards, the check that has to happen before you are cleared to fly. Your written plan states all of it before a single ticket is issued, because a flight bought around a guess is the most expensive mistake in this process.
The tickets are then booked against those dates, and the return is left changeable wherever the fare allows it. Recovery mostly runs to schedule and occasionally does not, and a fare that cannot be moved turns a cautious extra day into an argument with an airline.
Landing
Someone meets you. Transfers between the airport, where you are staying and the clinic are arranged as part of the plan rather than left as a thing to solve with a taxi rank in a language you do not read, and the same is true on the way back.
- Return flights booked against the dates in your plan
- Airport transfers on arrival and departure
- Transfers between hotel and clinic on the days you are seen
- Accommodation booked against your dates
- A host who is reachable the whole time you are here
No ticket is bought around a guess, because no ticket is bought until the plan is written.
Bringing someone with you
Bring them. A companion is the single practical thing that makes the first days easier — someone to hold the paperwork, remember what was said, and be awake when you are not. Tell us at planning rather than at the airport, so the accommodation is booked for two from the start.
What to bring
Less than you think, and two things people forget: the medication you already take, in its own packaging, and clothing that does not have to go over your head. The rest of the list is short and dull, which is how it should be.
- Passport, and travel insurance if you have it
- Your own medication in its original packaging
- Clothes that button or zip at the front
- Flat shoes you can put on without bending far
This article is general information, not medical advice, and does not replace a consultation. Every procedure carries risk and outcomes vary from person to person.
What does not change
One coordinator, start to finish
The person who answers your first message is the person who answers the one you send from home a month later.
Your own language
Seven of them, spoken by the people you deal with rather than routed to a service — including in the room on the day.
In writing, before you commit
Procedure, surgeon, dates and cost are a document you can read at home, not a number said on a call.
No pressure to book
There is no month-end offer here. People who decide slowly are the ones who arrive certain, which is how we would rather they arrive.
Linspired by you.
Your becoming starts with a conversation.
Tell us what you are considering. A coordinator who speaks your language will come back to you with an honest assessment of what is realistic — not a sales pitch.
Seven languages · No obligation