Help...Flying/getting 2 India from Istanbul or Athens soon

[alexk]

Hi there everyone....

Well, my girlfriend, another seasoned backpacker has asked me to try and find her an inexpensive way to get her to India (preferably New Delhi) sometime in mid-September from either Turkey (likely Istanbul) or Greece (likely Athens). I was with her just until this past Monday, venturing through Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania and Greece, but recently had to go back to the US. We both discovered the at Greece is a bit expensive right now due to the tourist season (as expected). She is going to travel through both Turkey and Greece before moving onto India mid September and then Nepal (where I'll likely join her again). Question is, which is the more affordable location to get her to India, preferably by airplane? I have searched skyscanner, looking into discount airlines from India and it seems it is very expensive to get her to India from those locations. Cheapest flight I found was $440. There are a few places to get her into India for cheap, but being a single female backpacker, she isn't to excited to do a layover in Kuwait or the United Arab Ems (which I still can't get her to those locations easily either). So, I am turning to you folks....do you have any suggestions on what to do or possible travel scenarios? If we have to fly her back to even the UK to make this cheap, we are willing to do it, just looking at any possible options at this point. Thanks everyone.

Alex

[joe7f]

First, welcome

Turkish airlines is about 600 Istanbul to New Dehli direct which is a little more but solves the layover issue. Btw, I think UAE is probably totally safe for her. It has become a playground for the wealthy and they don't have much of a terrorism problem.

--Joey

[space virgin]

If she's worried about a layover in Kuwait or the UAE, she's in for a mighty huge shock when she arrives in New Delhi as a lone female traveler...

[beergal]

Yeah i am with SV on this and i haven't even been to India. I would say the Turks are more of a problem then the Arabs. Other websites you could try would we www.travelsupermarket.com or www.opodo.co.uk

[pinknic38]

ahh I wish I would have discovered this a little earlier, so hopefully this helps. with the ongoing war in the middle east, people can be a bit squeamish about traveling out there and how they will be accepted, as americans and/or as women... and that's a legit concern these days.

however, being deployyed, I have traveled my share of the middle east trying to get from point A to point B, to include kuwait and qatar. I've been outside of just military bases in kuwait and honestly I've never encountered anythign but friendly people in kuwait city/kuwait international airport, in both uniform and civvies. this is coming from an american AND a woman. kuwait is pretty modern/progressive as far as people & places go so I would think there should be no worries about a layover in kuwait. lots of americans and europeans actually live in kuwait city because they are civilian contractors for OIF and OEF, and also have no problem.

as always, being in a new place and traveling along she should exercise smart traveling and some caution, but if she's a seasoned pro (which she sounds like she is) I'm sure she would anyway.

a layover in places such as pakistan and iran may be a horse of a different color, especially pakistan, but I think it also depends on who you encounter and how you conduct yourself. with such a contraversial "thing" (trying to be PC here and not display any political views and be objective ) going on, sometimes if you're an american, traveling ANYWHERE might get you harassed, depsnding on WHO how encounter and HOW you conduct yourself.

anyway this is my 2 cents, hope this helps.