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December 30: It's about 10:00 PM and I'm writing what will be the final posting for this blog. It's about my experience in Izmir and Selcuk.
December 25th: We left pretty early this morning to catch a Ulusoy bus taking us west to Izmir. The trip went fairly quickly, and and the buses are very comfortable. I rode in a lounge-like chair and I slept all the way there. When we got there, we rented a car from a local company and drove down to Selcuk. We heard about Selcuk for it's camel-wrestling, but we didn't expect there to be any the day that we went. It's not supposed to happen until mid-January, but they must get started early because that was practically all that we heard about in Selcuk that day. We chatted with a few friendly locals, and they said that there are many other festivals similar to this one year-round, and it's a pity that we wouldn't get to stay for longer. For example, there is the oiled wrestling festival in early June in Sarayici (near Edirne), and there is the Watermelon Festival in September in Diyarbakir. Somehow, I'm not so sad that I missed the oiled wrestling festival. We drove back to our hotel in Izmir at the end of the day and got a good night's sleep.
December 26th-28th: We spent these last two days relaxing in the pleasant atmosphere of Izmir. We had a conversation with a hotel staff member in his twenties, and he said that he still lived with his parents, which surprised Allison and I. He said that men often live with their parents until they are financially independent. Apparently, the parents also buy their son a house as inheritance when this happens.
December 29th: The trip back was fairly easy. I was so tired from the trip, that I slept the entire way!
Overall, this was a fantastic trip. I learned a lot about Turkey's culture and my wife and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. The temperature was great over the trip. It rarely became above 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The accommodations were great. We stayed in the Presidential suite in Istanbul, and we stayed in suites in Ankara and Izmir. I'm glad that our expenses were all paid for. The total cost for travel and living space was 14,969 American dollars, and that broke up into:
Transportation: $9,000 for plane from Austin to Istanbul (first class)
$430 for plane from Istanbul to Ankara
$20 for bus from Ankara to Izmir
$1,870 for plane from Izmir to Austin
TOTAL: $11,340
Living Accommodations: $1,265 for Best Western the President Hotel
$980 for Best Western 2000 Ornek Hotel
$1,384 for Hilton Izmir
TOTAL: $3,629
Thanks for reading the blog!
Jack Van Norman
December 25th:
This post describes the travel from Istanbul to Ankara and our experience in Ankara.
December 19th: We were planning for an easy trip on this day. We were supposed to just fly from 9 to 10 in the morning and then be done with it. What we didn't take into account was Kurban Bayrami, the most important public holiday for Turkey. All good Muslims are supposed to travel to Mecca to pray, and this made travel very traumatic. We got to the airport in Istanbul an hour and a half early, but our spots were still lost due to overbooking. Luckily, they were able to get us a later flight over, but we only had time to eat dinner in Ankara that night, even though we had a full day planned. We had one mishap in the restaurant that night. I got overconfident, and making a show to my wife, I plopped my feet up on the dinner table with my feet facing the table next to us. Apparently in Turkey, pointing the sole of your foot at someone is a grave insult. In short, I got my ass kicked, then, in the spirit of Turkish hospitality, he bought me a cup of string tea. Turkey only has two other public holidays: Seker Bayrami, the three-day festival at the end of Ramazan, and National Sovereignty Day on April 23rd, which commemorates the first meeting of the Republican parliament in 1920.
December 20th: We wanted to take care of some of the obvious tourist attractions before we got to just enjoy ourselves in Ankara. It's all well and good to absorb the culture, but while you're there, you might as well see what the place is famous for. The first one we went to on this day was the Ankara citadel, which also has some historical significance. It is the oldest part of Ankara and has lots of old architecture. It was very cool how the citadel is located right above people's houses. You're walking along the street, and all of a sudden you see this giant citadel rise above the houses. It had amazing walls and an interesting inner castle. Next, we went to Bogazkale, the ruins 3000-year-old capital of the Hittite empire. This was very interesting and took us the rest of the day.
December 21st: On this day, we finished up the historical part of Ankara that we wanted to see by walking along the Silk Road. This used to be a caravan path from Asia to Europe, and it is dotted with Seljuk Turk caravan stops and mosques. Later that day, we saw a man walk up to another man and hug him and kiss him on the cheek. A person next to us must have noticed our facial expression because he told us that this was very common in Turkey and other countries in southeastern Europe or the Middle East. When my wife asked if public displays of affection were acceptable, he simply raised his head up sharply. We weren't sure if we had offended him and quickly moved on, not wanting to aggravate him further. Later that night, I looked it up on my laptop and found out that this gesture can mean no, and he probably meant no anger in his movement.
December 22nd: We wanted to go to a museum today, and we decided on the Museum of Anatolian Civilization. I learned a lot, but it was REALLY boring. We kept joking loudly, and I thought that the employees would kick us out, but their stereotype of hospitality was actually true. They just smiled and tried to politely tell us to quiet down.
December 23rd: We had wanted to fly on one of Turkey's famous hot-air balloons, but we found out when we got to Ankara that they don't usually run in the winter. We were very upset by this, so we found a company that organizes hot-air balloon flights and offered to buy a hot-air balloon from them. Although they were reluctant at first, we payed them enough to keep them happy. This was our trip's souvenir, and we planned to use it once we got back to Austin, where we had it shipped.December 24th: We had a relaxed day on this day. We slept in until about ten, and then were surprised to find that the hotel stopped serving breakfast at nine. They said that most people eat their breakfast at about seven and get started early. After that, we took a bus and hiked up to Lake Karagol and had a romantic picnic by the beautiful water. 
December 19th:
It's our last day here in Istanbul, and I'd like to relate our experience here to you.
It's been great.
December 16th: After we took a quick nap at the hotel, we were ready to go explore the town. We walked around the area near our hotel and saw many interesting things. After we got a few blocks away from the hotel, there was a small lot where a bunch of kids were playing a game of soccer, and some kids were just messing around with the ball along the sides. We soon became really hungry and decided to try out a hazir yemek, which is basically like a cafeteria, that we say on the street. The food was delicious. I had a stereotypical but good shish kebap, or skewered, grilled lamb, and Allison just nibbled off mine, as she's not much of an eater.
December 17th:
We spent this day going to some major tourist destinations that I found on the internet. We went to the Hagia Sophia, a Christian church, much like St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, that is an incredible sight if you're in Istanbul. The Blue Mosque is right next to this church and is also an architectural masterpiece that is a must-see. Both of them were awe-inspiring and caused Allison and I to stare in silence for several minutes. We were hoping to see the famous Topkapi Palace, but we ran out of time.
December 18th:
We spent this day just absorbing the Istanbul society. We went to a hamam, or Turkish bath house to enjoy a robust washing in the hot room, a gentle cleansing in the warm room, and relaxation in the cool room. I was shocked when I discovered that the women were supposed to take off all of their clothing, but men were required to wear a small towel for modesty.
December 16th:
It's about 2:00 PM and we just got in to our room at the Best Western here in Istanbul. The trip was horrendous.
Airplane:
Partway through the trip, they served what's apparently called kahve, a thick, black coffee. I almost gagged! It tasted horrible! Later in the trip, they started speaking in Turkish as well as English. I realized how unprepared I was to go to this foreign country. I couldn't understand a word of it. My wife and I had bought Drive Time Turkish so that we could listen to it in the car and try to learn some of Turkey's official language, but obviously it didn't pay off.
Airport:
When we arrived, we had to wait on the tarmac for forever! When we finally got off, I got a pleasant surprise when I exchanged my money. We had brought one thousand dollars to exchange for the Turkish Lira, but we got 1,200 Lira back instead! I realized later that this was because the exchange rate is one American dollar to 1.2 Turkish Lira. We took a short airport shuttle ride to the hotel, and then were able to get to our room and collapse.
December 10th:
It's five days until we leave for Istanbul! Allison and I had a great wedding and now we're just counting the days until we get to start our incredible adventure.
November 21:
I've been doing some research on where to go in Turkey, and my wife and I have finally planned out our travel itinerary.
December 15th: We leave at 11:55 AM from the Austin-Bergstrom Airport and fly to Chicago on American Airlines. We arrive in Chicago at 2:30. Then we leave Chicago at 5 PM on Turkish Airlines.
December 16th: We arrive at 11:45 AM in Istanbul and stay at the Best Western The President Hotel in the presidential suite until December 19th. I was checking review about this hotel, and people said it was even better than some five-star hotels they had been to! While we are here in Istanbul, we will want to see the Blue Mosque, a famous Muslim place of worship, and Hagia Sophia, a church converted into a museum.
December 19th: On this day we fly to Ankara on Turkish Airlines again. There are two other domestic airlines called Istanbul Airlines and Onur Airlines, but Turkish seems to be the most convenient. We leave at 9 AM and arrive at 10 AM. We stay at the Best Western 2000 Ornek Hotel here in Ankara because it is located near the train and coach stations and Ankara's famous historical castle, which we will undoubtedly see. We will also probably see Lake Karagol and the Museum of Anatolian Civilization.
December 25th: On this day we leave Ankara and take an Ulusoy bus straight from Ankara to Izmir. From here, we plan to rent a car and drive down to Selcuk, a small town to the south to see the rural lifestyle. This will just be a day trip. We will drive back to Izmir in the evening and stay at the Hilton Izmir until December 29th.
December 29th: Our flight back from Izmir to Austin is about the same as the one to Istanbul. We leave Izmir at 8:00 PM, change planes in Istanbul and Chicago, and get in to Austin at about 8:30 PM on the 30th.
November 15:
Hello everybody. My wife Allison and I are getting married at the end of the month, and I can't help telling everyone about our honeymoon. We've decided to go to Turkey, and we are working on planning exactly what we are going to do and where we are going to go. Both of us are well off, so we don't need to worry about finances while we're there.
It's going to be great!
