One more thing, the weather!

I forgot to mention how bummed I am about the crappy weather over there. Ugh! It's supposed to rain or be overcast the whole time! I was expecting sunshine and warmth. Boo. I pray that weather.com is wrong. I mean how accurate are weather people anyway?

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/TUXX0014?from=36hr_topnav_business

OK, so to look on the bright side...at least it won't be freezing cold...

Just a few more days

I dropped Adam off at the airport today. He'll be in Rotterdam for a few days before Turkey. I get this really excited feeling in my stomach when I think about our rendez-vous in Turkey!

He amazed me this morning. He had one backpack...ok, kinda two, because it's the kind that has the little pack that zips off. Anyway, he was able to fit enough clothes in there for 10 days, plus a laptop, plus a digital SLR, and books and such. What a man. I'm bringing this big old suitcase thing...the plan is to leave extra room to bring back gifts though. ;)

So preparation is still going strong. I contacted the Orient Youth Hostel about belly dancing. They usually have it on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. The guy said it was the slow season so they will probably just have in on Monday or Friday. I think we have dinner plans on Friday, so maybe we can go the Monday night before we leave. From the Web site though, it looks like their belly dancer is a bit...hmm...risqué. I am going to try to talk Adam into going to one of the expensive Oriental shows designed for tourists. We'll see.

So I watched a docu-show last night called Globe Trekker: Istanbul. It was pretty cute. The hostess was good and she went to the main attractions plus some. My favorite part was where when she went to watch the "gypsies" dance. She came out in yellow bedlah that was too big for her and I was afraid she was going to pop out the whole time. She was in a small room with some musicians and some really young looking dancers. You could tell they were not quite Roma-style dancers, not Oriental either, something in between. My other favorite part was when she ate sheep brain at dinner. EW!!!

The night before that Adam had me watch a show on Turkey called "The Silk Road". It was from a French television show and he downloaded it from the Internet so it was all grainy. It was also pretty good though. The show explained more of the inner-workings of things in Turkey, as opposed to Globe Trekker that just showed tourist stuff. The Silk Road showed the gold trade and they went into a gold smith. They also went to Cappadoce where they worship pigeons and collect their poop for fertilizer.

The show felt really long because it was in French. I understood a bit of it, but not a lot. Adam started translating for me and it was much better. I didn't want him to at first, but I am glad that he did. Actually, it's not that I didn't want him to, it's that at first he was just translating the easy stuff that I could understand. It is when he was explaining the complicated stuff that I wouldn't be able to understand even if I did speak better French, that I appreciated it. Gosh, I am stubborn!

Anyway, I still need to do laundry, pack and add my tourist schedule to the itinerary. Then I'll be all set. Woo hoo!

Thank you

I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me prepare for my trip thus far. I couldn't do it without you. A more complete thank you will be done after the trip, I am sure.

Thanks to Adam for being the best boyfriend ever and for paying for my hotel room. :)

Thanks to mom for the early B-day present

Thanks to Terri and Erika for letting me be your personal shoppers

Thanks to Audra and Courtney for the advice

Thanks to Karah for lending me your giant suitcase

Thanks to Sheila for watching my cat

Thanks to everyone else for their love and support.

I am just feeling so grateful that I am able to go on this trip. I know I had to put it on my credit card initially, but with the help of everyone I should be able to pay off most of it. I am so lucky that this will be my sixth adventure abroad. My life is just full of blessings! It is equally exciting that I will get to share it with my love. We're going to have great memories that will last a lifetime.

I am just now rounding out the rest of my preparation. I see Adam tonight to discuss last minute logistics. I bought a daypack, travel toiletries and a watch yesterday at Volde-mart. Now I just need to do laundry and sit tight. I can work on my itinerary some more and there are few things I've been meaning to look up...I can't remember what they are right now.

Oh, I just remembered...belly dancing, of course. A nice, random person from Tribe offered to help with our trip and he suggested a particular dance teacher. I doubt I will go because it is expensive and the teacher doesn't speak English. It seems like it would take a whole day too. I would really like to learn Turkish Rom, but there is a workshop in town coming up after my trip. If I am not too broke, I should try it. It would be great to take a class while I am over there, but I won't be too disappointed if I don't get to.

Anyway, six days and counting...

Dum, dum, dum...the countdown has begun

I leave in seven days! Yay! Yay! Yay! The list making has begun...the little details are being worked out. I am so excited!!! Not much else to say.

http://english.istanbul.com/index.aspx

A little more than a week left!

Wow, time flies...I can't believe how soon this trip is coming up. I leave a week from tomorrow. I am thrilled. Adam finally booked our hotel for the extra two night we are staying there. This hotel was recommended in the Time Out Istanbul guide. We tried a few other places, but they were all booked. And get this: we are getting a shuttle to the airport at 3:00 am the day we depart. UGH!!!

Here's the hotel: http://www.sarnichotel.com/


None of the rooms have views, but the breakfast terrace looks really nice. That's the Blue Mosque in the background.

Adam also bought a really nice DSLR for the B-school. I think he's going to get some lovely pictures. I am going to bring my camera, which I have pretty much decided needs to be replaced. I wish I could before the trip, but no such luck. I think I am going to bring my extra lenses too.

I still have a few more things to think about before the trip. I am ok on money at this point, which feels really good. I need to buy some little items (like a money belt) before the trip and figure out which luggage to bring. I want to bring my nice rolling suitcase, but I fear it is too small for 7 days. I might ask my sister if I can borrow hers. There is also the question of what I am going to use as a daypack. I want something that is big enough so I don't have to carry a purse, but not so big that it becomes a hassle. I am planning on using luggage locks for the day pack.

Adam leaves for Rotterdam in a few days, which means we only have a couple more days to prepare together. I think he's a little stressed about getting everything together in time. I would be too.

There is also the question of what to do with my cat. I asked my neighbor to watch him while I was out of town this past weekend and she did fine. She's a little weird though, so now she sort of acts like she owns him. Anyway, she's the easiest and she does take good care of him. So I asked to watch him while I was in Turkey and she said she may be going out of town for work. Uh-oh. I guess I could ask my sister and I think I may have already. I can't imagine boarding him. He's never been boarded and I think it would change him forever. I think this is going to be one of my longest trips away from him. He'll be fine, I just want him to be able to have a normal routine when I am gone. Anyway, I really hope my neighbor's trip doesn't go through, even though she's nutty.

Time out, Istanbul

I got my last travel book yesterday, entitled "Time out Instabul." It had the highest ratings on Amazon, so I thought that would be good. I do like Rick Steves' better so far though. This one has advertisements in it...I paid for a book with ads. Seriously.

Anyway, it has a lot of great information about cultural activities. It is concise and each section is seperated by neighborhood. I think this will be useful to carry around with me while walking. It's slick and full color.

The Arts & Entertainment section looks great. While it doesn't rate attractions like Rick Steves' it offers many more choices. They have a nice night life section, including the places to go to see belly dancers. And get this, I am flipping through the book and who do I see? The dude from that German film Crossing the Bridge! Ha ha. He's on a boat, playing the bass, with hair whipping through is long goatee. Gross!

Oh and I just found out that there are factory 'outlets' where you can buy European and American clothing for cheap. Drool. Basically they are large markets that sell rejects from H&M and Miss Sixty and such. The labels have been ripped off, but you can buy a pair of jeans for about 40 YTL ($32). I have to go to this!

Adam and I are still working out details on our trip. We have plans to do this more on Wednesday. He's going to check with the hotel on a few things and we're going to figure out our transportation options. According to the hotel's Web site, they have shuttles that run to the two major tourists parts of town. It would be great if I could just take one of those every day. Hopefully I could get picked up again too. That would be awesome!

Anyway, so my books are proving useful thus far. I read the Rick Steves' one about twice a day and I plan to flip throught this new one more at lunch. The only one that hasn't been useful is the first one I bought with the flip out maps. We'll see if that comes in handy once I get there.

Making a list and checking it twice...

One of the things that can be the most fun, yet the most challenging part of travel are the gifts for others. It's like Christmas shopping only compacted into one week. I am feeling a litte overwhelmed by the prospect of picking up a little something here and there for friends and family.

Here's the list:
Parents (mind you I have four)
Siblings (another four)
Friends (just a little something-for about 6-8 people)
Belly dance friends (you get your own category as my shopping for you is different another 6 or so)
Adam (even though he'll be there he gets something too)
Friends at work (about another four)

And the grand total is ~27 little gifts for those I love.

Any requests??? Valerie has already asked for jewelry. :) Which I love to buy and I will be going to the gold market. Erika has asked for a shawl. I'll have to get the proper name for it soon. Just let me know, and if you're sweet to me you might get a little something!

Love,
Andalee

Less than a month left!

Wow! I can't believe how fast this trip is coming up! I don't feel ready. I should relax and take it easy on myself. I mean, it's not like I have to have every second planned.

I am a little disappointed that I won't be able to buy any nice costumes. That is a bummer. My last post was all about the costume designers and now I just have to go look. I have offered to buy nice costumes for my friends if they give me the money up front, plus a little extra (let's call it commission) for lugging it around and such. I hope that works out, because I would love to do shopping even though it wouldn't be for me.

At the very least, I will buy a cheap bra and belt set from the Grand Bazaar. I will probably also buy some hip scarves for myself and students/friends. Let's see what else? Shopping, shopping, shopping...That's about all I can think about...except for the Bath. I had the wildest dream about the hamam the other night. I can't even explain it, but let me tell you it got me excited.

Adam and I took a cold, hard look at my money situation last night. So far I have a little less than $500 saved for the trip. That was supposed to go to my plane ticket, but it looks like it will have to be my spending money. I can pay for the plane ticket after I return. I need money to eat! I plan on getting a little more money here and there, but we'll see.

I just received Rick Steves' Istanbul today. It says that you should plan on $100 per day for room and board, which includes $ for lunch and dinner, and assumes breakfast is included. Since I won't be paying for a room, I can assume $50 a day. Then I have to figure in entertainment to be about $7 per sight and a total of $20 per day for all that. So, I am up to $70 a day now, plus shopping and transportation. I think that sounds reasonable--although it looks like I will need to save a little more money... Any benefactors out there? ;) JK

I pray I can manage. I also pray that I have fun adventures out on my own. Adam will be working for a lot of it, which only gives us a couple of days together. I get sad when I think about it. I want him to experience it with me! I mean I know he doesn't want to do the belly dance shopping or the Bath, so I can do that with no guilt for sure. But for all of the other stuff, I want him to be with me. Although, Adam will get to go an excursion that I will miss because it is before I arrive. So at least he'll get to see some of the other sites.

We really need to get together and plan out those days we can be together. He'll have to tell me exactly where he wants to go and I will do all of the other stuff alone. Say he picks the cruise (hoping) and the Topkapi Palace, or other places like that. I would wait for him and we could go together. We still need to decide if we are going to change hotel rooms. I am leaning toward yes, but I am not sure if it is worth it.

For those days that Adam is working, I'll have to figure out how to get to the city-center by myself. After about 4 days of that I will have it down and so if we changed rooms, I would be back to square one. But it would be cool to have a place that is walking distance to points of interest. It would also be cool to travel outside the city to see other places and the countryside, but I don't know if that is possible. Probably not.

Anyway, as you can see there is much to be done. Now it's time to layout all of the details and groundwork. Hopefully we'll get to figure it out this weekend.