Airports across the world are an expensive necessity. With a captive audience, they can more or less charge what they like for a sweaty cheese roll and a small cardboard cup of flat coke. At least getting to and from the airport isn’t usually too costly. Even the four main London gateway airports provide relatively low cost alternatives to taxis and trains, tedious and time consuming as they are (think buses negotiating the rush hour and the packed Piccadilly Line tube from Heathrow). Not so at Milas-Bodrum Airport. It’s bad enough that, come August, the small, uncomfortable and overcrowded international terminal, virtually mothballed in winter, resembles the Fall of Saigon. Worse though is the rip-off expense of getting to your final destination. Sure, domestic passengers can take the Havaş bus to and from Bodrum Otogar which costs about £8, but anyone arriving from abroad without a pre-arranged transfer has one option: get stung by an extortionate taxi fare. And don’t think  your driver will know where you’re staying. They don’t do the knowledge here: they expect visitors to know the way, even if  they’ve never set foot on Turkish soil before. It’s all done with a smile though.

It can work the other way round as well. Earlier this year, our airport transfer didn’t turn up and we were forced to jump into a yellow taksi. It cost us sixty quid for a half hour drive. That was done with a smile too. Bloody cheek!

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