Cheap Flight: Houston to Istanbul $700 RT

For those that are from Houston, I'll be posting any cheap flights that I see coming out of IAH. One thing that I will try to do is limit deals where you're flying out Monday and flying back Friday night. Most of us are working, and the majority of us have a limited number of vacations days (I do have Unlimited but I'm doing my best not to abuse it)
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Istanbul: Istanbul is a favorite city of mine for a few reasons. The food is cheap, there's a lot to see, and flights to Europe from Istanbul are very cheap as well. Not to mention, the Turkish Airways Lounge in Istanbul is one of my favorite lounges in the whole world but I'll follow up about the lounge in a later post. I've been to Istanbul twice this year (December and May) so I will most likely not be going back.

The reason why I like this fare (United also offers one if you leave a day later at a similar price) is because it falls on Thanksgiving. Personally, at my company, the Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving we have off. By taking this flight, you're taking 3-4 days off to go to Europe/Asia. You can take advantage of one of the few times this year where you get two holiday days in a week.(Christmas Eve/Christmas and NYE/New Years). I've paid anywhere from $600-$1000 for this route and I would jump on it for $700 if I wanted to go back again. Lastly, You don't have more than 1 stop which is ideal for many travelers. I personally like trying as many lounges in different cities as I can but for those like my Mother who want to get to the destination as fast as possible, your only other option is the direct flight on Turkish Airlines from Houston which is significantly more expensive.

Average Prices:
Large Beer (Efes):  10 Lira ~ 5USD
Kebab: 6 Lira ~ 3 USD
Large Bottle of Water: 1 Lira ~ $.50 USD
15 Minute Taxi Ride (Taksim - Sultanahmet:): 12 Lira ~ 6 USD
Light Rail Ticket (1 Set Price): 3 Lira ~ $1.5 USD