Arrival, Local Transportation, Registration Procedure, etc.

The following is a list of helpful information that you may need after your arrival at Istanbul. We advise that you read it carefully and carry with you a printed copy for future reference. A pdf file the same information may be downloaded from here.

Transportation from Istanbul Atatürk Airport:

There will be two shuttle minibuses departing the airport at 18:00 and 21:30 on June 19, 2005. In order to catch one of these minibuses you must find one of our students who will be waiting inside the airport (International Arrivals Terminal). The students will carry the sign PHHQP3 and one of them will be near the information desk at the airport’s International Arrivals terminal at least half an hour before the departure times of the shuttle. In order to catch the shuttle you must find one of the students at least 5 minutes before the above given departure times of the shuttles.

If for any reason you will not take the shuttle, you can take a taxi. They are yellow in color and quite reliable. We advise that you change some money at the airport and pay the taxi fare in Turkish currency. Once you are in the taxi hand in the driver the instruction for the taxi driver that you can find in the website of the workshop (see Travel and Visa). Taxi driver will now Sariyer and from there even without any instruction he will be able to find the university campus by following signs and/or asking people. So at least record the names Sariyer and Koç University (The letter “ç” in Koç is pronounced as “ch” in chair). The same is essentially true for those who wish to go to Fuat Paşa Hotel which is very close to Sariyer also.

We do not recommend you to take the subway, as its destination is far from the campus and Fuat Paşa Hotel, and you will need to take a taxi and pay almost the same fare to go to the university. You may try to catch the airport shuttle bus called “Havaş” to Taksim Square and then take taxi from there. This may save you about 5 Euros, but it will take an extra hour of your time. Another possibility is to take the airport shuttle to Taksim, take the subway to its last stop (Subway station is marked by the sign Metro and there is a single line), exit the station from “Yeni Levent”, and take a taxi from there to the campus. This will save you about 10 Euros. Note that airport shuttle bus to Taksim Square is only available between 5:00 am and 11:00 pm.

Transportation from Campus to Istanbul Atatürk Airport:

A shuttle minibus will take the interested participants to the airport on June 23, 2005 at 10:30 am. Others will need to take a taxi.

Transportation from Fuat Paşa Hotel to Campus:

There will be a minibus shuttle departing from the Fuat Pasa Hotel according to the following schedule:

June 20, 2005 at 8:00 am

June 21, 2005 at 8:15 am

June 22, 2005 at 8:15 am

Transportation from the Campus to Fuat Paşa Hotel:

There is a university shuttle minibus (fare=1 YTL) that goes to Sariyer (10 minutes walking distance to Fuat Paşa Hotel along the Bosphorus). The schedule will be included in your conference material. We can also arrange to call a taxi on request (taxi fare from campus to Fuat Paşa is 8-10 YTL).

Turkish Currency:

Last year we have dropped six zeros from our banknotes. So currently there are two types of banknotes in circulation. The old ones are integer multiples of million TL (Turkish Liras) except for 500 000 TL and 250 000 TL that are rarely used. The new banknotes are multiples of 1 YTL (New Turkish Liras). The equivalent banknotes have the same color and features, so there is very little chance of making mistakes. You may change some money at the airport for taxi and other thinks. We also have a bank at our campus (that is open from 8:30-16:30 daily) where you can change money. There are many private exchange offices in the city center and one in Sariyer that offer slightly better exchange rates than the banks.

The approximate exchange rate is as follows.

1 US Dollar = 1.36 YTL or 1 360 000 TL

1 Euro = 1.67 YTL or 1 670 000 TL

Registration Procedure:

The registration will start at 8:30 am on June 20 in the University Student Center, level -1, next to Koç Bank. It will involve the following two steps:

1.     You will be given an envelope including the Registration and Support Forms that you must complete.

2.     To pay the conference and proceedings paper fees (if any) take the completed Registration Form to the bank, pay the fees in Euros, take the payment receipt and the completed forms back to the registration desk to complete your registration.  

Note that there will be a number of students who will help with the registration, but because the bank transactions may be time-consuming it is important that all participants arrive at the registration desk as early as possible. Also recall that the fees must be paid in Euros in cash.

If for lack of time you cannot complete your registration before 9:30 am, you may do so before during the lunch break, on June 20, at the same location.

Lecture Halls:

The plenary sessions will be held in the Sevgi Gönül Auditorium which is located in the Social Sciences (SOS) Building. The parallel sessions will be held in rooms SOS B07, SOS B08, SOS B10, and SOS B21 all located in the Social Sciences Building (one floor below the Sevgi Gönül Auditorium).

Telephone:

There are public phones in the Student Center, Level -1, next to the University Post Office (marked as PTT) and the Migros Supermarket. You will need to purchase a phone card at the post office to use public phones.