Reviews Karen Fedorko Sefer

Karen and her staff were well informed and especially attentive to all our needs. Whenever a change was needed, they were on top of everything. She did great job picking the best guide in Istanbul especially . If there is anyone travelling to Istanbul or to Turkey WITH kids, the only names you need to know are Karen Fedorko, and our guide Ms. Tulay (Ms. Tulay-she was outstanding at keeping us and kids entertained at all times). Parents can rest assured that parents and kids alike will absolutely love the trip. Her guide Tulay made our experience with kids excellent. We are itching for the next trip. Thanks so much to Wendy, Karen Fedorko, and Ms. Tulay our guide.

Our four days (late April 2016) in Istanbul were perfection! Our guide – Tulay is superbly outstanding and engaging. Istanbul’s fascinating rich history comes very much alive with Tulay’s narrative. It was a wonderful experienced navigating the iconic landmarks of the city with a walking historian….thanks Tulay!!

Also, thanks to Karen Fedorko Sefer and her associate Damla for an exceptional itinerary service, your promptness and professionalism in responding to all my queries (who’s counting really). And thanks to our driver – Chief & Mike who met us in the airport – so seamless service.

Karen’s relationship with The Four Seasons Sultanahmet is commendable. We could almost touch the historic Hagia Sophia from our room balcony. It was a bliss!!

Thank you Karen for a lifetime memories…..you are highly recommended!!

Anka, our guide, was outstanding and professional. She expressed great passion for the history, architecture, culture and food of Turkey. She was spontaneous, altering our plans as needed based on the weather and our interests, which really enhanced our experience.

The driver and the airport guide “Mike”, Mr. Ugur Sert, were both excellent. We had problems with Turkish Airlines at our departure and Ugur went way out of his way to advocate for us, for which we are truly thankful.

We will gladly recommend Karen and her team to our friends and would absolutely use Her on our next trip to Turkey.

Sea Song did a fantastic job of arranging our tours and managing our logistics during our visit to Turkey. Every detail was managed perfectly and we were able to relax and really enjoy our time visiting a very fascinating country. There suggestions were perfect and we were able to see so much more than would have been possible on our own. I would highly recommend their services.

What an awesome experience using Wendy’s recommendation for a guide in Istanbul. Spent the day, with our 2 teenage sons, 15 and 17 with Cinan ~ truly the BEST guide we have had. Interesting, knowledgeable, and accommodating with our jet lagged 4-some. Would use Wendy’s recommendation anytime!

We recently (Sept) spent two days in Istanbul and the trip was as perfect as a trip can be. Evren was our guide and he was very knowledgeable and personable. We would absolutely use this travel expert and Evren again.

She was extremely informative, but most of all she was flexible and willing to change it up when we wanted her to. Always arrived early and the escort through the Istanbul airport was well worth the money. We will be back!!

It is our pleasure to provide a recommendation for Karen Fedorko, owner of the Sea Song travel agency. We are seasoned travelers, having traveled extensively both for business and pleasure. We have always planned and executed our own private itineraries. However, when we decided to visit Turkey in October 2014, we opted to engage a travel specialist because we had no prior experiences in Turkey and our proposed itinerary included visits to multiple areas. We referenced Wendy Perrin’s list of recommended travel specialists for Turkey, interviewed several and were immediately impressed by Karen’s approach and knowledge. She took the time to understand our interests and expectations including hotel and dinning preferences. The Private Anatolian Tour that Karen designed for us was perfect in every way. Her guides were very well-educated, exceptionally knowledgeable, always prompt and spoke perfect English. Her recommendations on lodging, sites to visit—even a private cooking session with a chef—met all of our expectations. I was also impressed with her hands-on approach—checking in with us during the 15-day trip to ensure all was going as planned. Our thanks to Karen and her staff for many wonderful experiences in Turkey!

Karen Fedorko and Sea Song arranged a four-day trip for us this past October 2014 from Istanbul to Cappadocia before our cruise departure. Our time in Cappadocia was wonderful, in large part due to the professionalism, compassion, and care of our guide Gokhan and driver Selim. The vehicle was comfortable and spacious and we were always picked up on time. Gokhan especially was mindful of my husband’s mobility problems and did his best to make sure we saw everything and my husband was able to navigate most areas. He is a most engaging young man and very knowledgeable and we enjoyed his company. He was more than willing to make any adjustments to our sightseeing or lunch venues that we wanted. From pre-trip contact, to the detailed itinerary (always at our discretion) to the Museum Hotel stay and our return to Istanbul, all was expertly arranged. Karen and her staff deserve all the accolades they receive.

We hired Sea Song in October 2014 for 4 travellers based on Karen Fedorko’s reputation (read in Conde Nast) and because although we travel a lot were nervous about travelling near the Syrian crisis.

Karen assisted us with making an initial plan tour and to assure us. She excelled at this. Gulsen, in Sea Song office then groomed the plan to meet our needs, and was awesome at communicating via email. The entire planning process, and trip were seamless. The details were exactly as promised, yet there was amazing flexibility to alter to accommodate for crowds, tired backs, exploration of markets we wanted to visit, etc.

The best attribute I think Sea Song offered was their amazing guides…we had a local one for each area in Turkey we visited. Their knowledge, pride and passionate enthusiasm was remarkable. All were different from one another but equally exemplary.

I have returned from a wonderful trip to Turkey and have made a point of recommending Sea Song to our acquaintances and to those who listen to me!

It’s a pleasure to be able to tell you how much we enjoyed the Sea Song tour on September 12 of this year.

Our guide was so knowledgeable about every place we visited—an incredible wealth of background historical information. Moreover, I appreciated the fact that he was a listener—he was patient with our questions and we gradually felt that we were with a very articulate old friend rather than a tour guide.

I obviously would recommend Sea Song to anyone visiting Turkey—friendly, helpful people and marvelous sights.

We spent a week in Istanbul and hired Sea Song for our tour guides. For 4 days, Met was our fearless leader. He was impeccable in his knowledge and ability to change our itinerary to suit our requests. We have already recommended Sea Song, and Met, to several people.

Excellent, friendly, reliable service.

Communication to set up the tours was easy, secure and efficient.

Tugba in the office—outstanding.

Let them pick you up from the airport and deliver you on your departure day.

When we left, we felt that Met was a friend.

When we go again, it will be Sea Song with Met all over again! Thank you, Sea Song!

Our trip to Turkey started in Istanbul on October 13th and ended on October 22nd. We toured Istanbul, Cappadocia and Ephesus.The trip was well planned and the guides were either good (Istanbul) or very good to excellent (Cappadocia and Ephesus). The best hotel, by far, was the Tomtom, although we were pleasantly surprised about how nice was the Turkish Air hotel at the Istanbul airport. In the Istanbul office, we dealt primarily with Tugba who was very responsive and easy to deal with—even when she was away, someone stepped right up and took care of us.

The VIP service was worth every penny, and being met on arrival at each airport by a Sea Song representative, often our guide, was a nice and welcome touch. We don’t know if VIP service is available for departures from Istanbul, but it would be nice to avoid the chaos at the departure gates in Istanbul—and this was so even though we were in business class.

A special thanks to Karen who arranged to meet us early on in our trip to address our safety concerns raised by the notices from the US Embassy. She explained which areas of Istanbul we should avoid (none of them were even close to the usual tourist sites). The vans (which I believe are owned by Karen) are very upscale and well maintained.

In summary, we wholeheartedly recommend Sea Song.

I chose Karen and her team at Sea Song because a good friend had used their service (with great success) for an earlier trip to Turkey. We traveled to Turkey in October 2014 with a group of six adults. From the moment I contacted Karen by email to begin planning our trip, until the day we left Turkey, I felt that everything was first class. We arranged a VIP pick-up from the airport upon arrival and immediately I could see why Sea Song has such a good reputation. Each and every person that works with Sea Song is excellent, including drivers and transport personnel. When I first contacted Sea Song I worked out the parameters of our trip with Karen, then I worked with Cigdem, a Sea Song sales associate, to arrange all the details. Cigdem and Karen were great—I always felt like we were in good hands and there wasn’t ANY question too small or not worthy of an answer. Once we arrived in Istanbul Sea Song’s guide, Esin, showed us the old city and other parts of Istanbul—she couldn’t have been better! She was knowledgable and personable and we had the best time. Esin made last-minute itinerary adjustments to avoid the large cruise ship crowds: We still saw everything on our itinerary, just in reverse order! Sea Song is great for folks wanting the experience of staying at the Four Seasons in Istanbul or small boutique-type hotels as well. Whether you are a seasoned traveler or using a travel service for the first time (as was the case for us) I highly recommend Sea Song Travel. They will not disappoint!

Karen Fedorko Sefer and her team at Sea Song are absolutely first class. They worked with me to plan a 12-day trip to Turkey in June of 2014 for my family (my wife and I, two 17-year-olds, an 11-year-old, and my 76-year-old mother). I chose Karen and her team specifically because she lives in Turkey. From the moment we arrived until the moment we left I felt like the team was looking over our shoulders making sure everything happened when and how it was supposed to. Our family has traveled extensively and I can honestly say no trip has ever gone more smoothly. Drivers were where they were supposed to be, guides were ever present, and excellent with the children and the adults. Sea Song’s suggestions—which gulet to rent, how long to stay, where to stay and why, where to eat, activities to do—were all spot on. During our trip, Karen’s team made numerous last-minute itinerary adjustments and reservations. Karen called me personally one of the days to make sure all was good. If you go to Turkey there is only one company to work with and it is Sea Song. Karen and her team have got Turkey wired for the high-end traveler.

I have no words to say except thank you to Karen for sending her guides Onder and Mutlu to us. Each has his own personality and his own way of sharing historical knowledge, his love of his country, and pride in his job. We were truly sad to see each one go. The wonderful parts were when Mutlu would suggest we take the longer walk or skip something, knowing we would rather see something else that was more important to us, and Onder sharing villages with his personal touch.

Karen has spoiled us. Truly, we may never travel by ourselves again.

I’ve used several of Wendy’s Trusted Travel Experts (for a safari, for Alaska, and most recently Karen at Sea Song for Turkey) and been very happy with all. Sea Song listened to what I wanted to do, took my interests, budget, and timing into account, and gave me a terrific itinerary. They were honest with feedback—explaining whether there was time to do something in my packed schedule, or making a suggestion about some hidden gem I would not know about. Very nice hotels and excellent guides, especially Bill our archaeology professor in Ephesus. Transfers were seamless—very helpful at the smaller regional airports. The responses from the office over our several months of planning were very quick and thorough. We had one problem that was no one’s fault at a hotel in the middle of the night, but Karen personally called us and resolved it for a full refund. Excellent customer service, personally tailored itineraries, and thoughtfulness about the individual experience made for a wonderful trip. I would recommend Sea Song to anyone, whether seasoned traveler or neophyte.