My Dear Kadir

I was able to come back. This trip's itinerary is:

Lacock, England, UK
Romania - drive around the southern part
Turkey - the Cappadocia area, then Istanbul

Turns out, it ain't just America which is a big country. Turkey is too. For this trip I've been working with Kadir, a fabulous agent from the Travel Atelier agency. I'm a "worst nightmare" kind of customer. I like everything customized, priced out and I research endlessly. He's been wonderful for suggestions and has really helped me focus on what would be doable for this trip.

One of the biggest considerations I've come to find in travel planning is that while the world out there is infinitely interesting, your time isn't. Dave & I hate, hate, HATE packing up & moving every single frickin' day to go somewhere else. You can never make friends with a waiter. You can never get to know the cheese monger's name. The bellhop will never remember you. People pass in a blur; places, scents, and sounds blend.

Trying to plan for Turkey was really hard. The country is large and has so much to look forward to. Kadir helped me plan the itinerary with travel time in mind. The train & plane infrastructure in Turkey is hub based. I didn't want to fly into Istanbul every third day only to fly out an hour later. So, we've opted for longer periods of time in Cappadocia (3 full days, plus 2 travel) & Istanbul (5 full days, plus 2 travel) at fewer places.

Also, even though Turkey isn't on the Euro, everything is Euro based. Rats. I do so miss the Italian Lira and I had such high hopes for the Turkish Lira against our falling dollar. *sigh* But it was not to be, either that, or I really have gotten snobby about the quality of my mattresses.

So, this post is to thank Kadir for his help in planning this trip.