It's Greek to me.

It makes sense the the non-planned portion of the trip would be the toughest to plan.  Oh just spend  week island hopping in Greece before you go home - sounds cool, romantic, fun.

Ok here so the dilemma - I take a ferry from Kusadsai to Samos on the morning of Saturday May 28. I need to fly out of Athens at 11:00AM on Friday June 3.

I would like to have 2 days in Athens and Friday does not count so I need to get into Athens on Tuesday night or kind of early on Wednesday.

Getting out of Samos on Saturday and getting anywhere but Athens is impossible.  Other destinations? I am drawn to Santorini for reasons that I don't even know other than it seems like my image of a what a Greek Island should be.

Does it make sense to do Athens before heading out to Santorini? That is get there on Saturday spend 2 nights. Go to Santorini on on Monday for 3 nights and back to Athens on Thursday night.  _Too nervous about catching Fridays flight.

My real preference would be multiple islands connected via ferry and it does not seem like it should be that tough.

More on this later...

The Pieces of the Puzzle

Traveling with a group for of 26 people for almost two weeks is going to be interesting - A good size group for me. Group dynamics are very for much of this to be a success. Not that someone else has the power to control my outcome, they can affect it.  Besides the the one that shall be nameless until he swoops down at the Istanbul train station. The tour consists of  5 married couples, 2 women with the same last name - sisters or mother daughter,  9 solo women, 5 solo men (including myself) and our guide Mine Karahan.

From Ricks website Mine Karahan (do read the linked interview) is one of Turkey's best kept secrets. Bubbling over with enthusiasm and energy, she is as excited to show you Turkey as you are to see it. Mine (pron. Mee-nay) also brings a worldly perspective to her tours, as she's visited more than 60 countries on five continents. There is certainly no moss growing under Mine's feet.

Turkish Kahve and Practice Dinner

I went to The Black Sea Restaurant  last night for a practice dinner. The restaurant has been there for many years, in fact it was the first Turkish Restaurant in Minnesota. I remember when it opened I meant to go there, funny why it took so long.

It was a cozy and and older cafe feel to it. Tolga (sp?) the waiter cook host made me feel quite welcome. He was from  eastern Turkey in a region on the Black Sea thst I will not be visisting, but it looked lovley from the photos he shared with me.
For dinner I had iskenderkebab - I was a pita - flat on the plate with gyro meat on it with yogurt and a spicy red sauce.  For my beverage I had ayran. It is a yoghourt and water drink.  It usually has salt in it - but they let you put in your own. The drink is served with most meals in Turkey - It is good for your digestion and the salt is good for dehydration on hot summer days.  The taste was a little bitter to start out, but grew on me. This drink was the one I felt I needed the most practice with and had a successful work out with it.

After dinner I had a Turkish Coffee (Kahve) this is a thick heavy coffee - much thicker and stronger than any espresso I have had.  As I really did not get to sleep - I learned not to drink it after dinner when it is so late.

Eating iskenderkebab and drinking ayran

Panic attacks

it is 3:09 am and I am up -- not because I have taken a nap or drank too much coffee, it is these damn panic attacks - where I wake up thinking that I can not breathe.  Even when I am awake and can tell I am breathing I think I can't.  I need to get up and walk around to convince myself of it.  (ok I am going to try to sleep again, more on this later)

Ok - I made it through the night.  It is 9:18 PM.  I have thought about this a lot today.  It is amazing that I do not have that control over my mind -- it just wins, I tell it "no worries I am breathing" and it says -"dude we got to get you breathing here".  Hopefully this wont happen too soon, but we tried this single nostril breathing exercise in yoga today which I might try next time.

It goes like this, place middle finger of right hand between eyes, place thumb on right side of the nose to block nostril, inhale, put ring finger on right nostril and remove thumb, exhale, then Inhale and replete.

here's to hoping to sleep.

The try out

If it is ever as cold and miserable in Turkey as it was here today, I will be in a little trouble.  I tried out my warm costume  and it was OK, but I have been more comfortable in colder weather  before.  
The quest for comfort in the planning process is a big part of the planning process. We feel it is something we can control- as I said earlier it is why we make reservations, a level of comfort in a strange world. The word is-tan-bul rolls off my tongue and every time I hear it or say it, teases me with many different emotions.  Anticipation,  fear, excitement, anxiety, hope.  Istanbul - Constantinople- destination

Say it slowly     is     tan      bul     - I can smell the spice market

Istanbul Turkey
Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Hamam
A Turkish delight

Trip Prep

Here we are deep in trip planning

It takes a community or Ballooning in Cappadocia

There are a couple things I seem to have trouble with - waking up early and parting with a lot a cash on a quick little whim.  And so came the internal battle when I saw that I had the option to take a balloon ride in Cappadocia.  1) you need to get up at 4:30am and 2) it is about $250.  So I posed the question on Rick Steve's traveler help line
Click here to see   the discussion

I bet you can't wait to see the pictures either.

The soft release

On the way to Nina's tonight I made a couple stops. The first was at a new bike shop in the neighborhood and the second at solo vino for a wine tasting.  It appears that the bike shop has been open for almost a month, but their grand opening is on Saturday.  They needed the time to work out the kinks before they let everyone there know that they were really open  for business.  Just a little practice until spring arrives and they had to actually run a business. Nice shop, good equipment  busy beaver in back tuning up bikes = only a week and a half wait right now which is fine because it will be several weeks before the weather really turns.

I marveled today at the (and I am not exaggerating) 20 foot pile of snow by sears.  I don't recognize as snow because of its black color.

Snow is pretending
hiding under a black shroud
spring will never come

Like the bike shop I have had my soft release of these writing - letting a couple friends know they are out there.  Tuning up for the real deal.

So far the bike shop has been doing pretty well.

Today's preparation

I went to a Mandolin lesson today.  Apparently it had been a while since I had been there, at least from the comments I got from various people there.  All indicating that it has been some time.  I have not gone since November - it was nice of them to notice.  I find  my mandolin lessons to be like a good yoga class, spiritually uplifting and putting my mind in to a good place.

So how was this trip prep?  Well pretty much everything I am currently doing is experience that I will bring on the journey, but we did spend a half hour working in a Turkish folk tune -- 2/4 time with a lot of 16th notes.

The value of the travel interaction

Some of my most memorable times from traveling abroad are the interactions I have with fellow travelers and locals.  What I never have really figured out is why am I so shy.  But I don't know if it is really shyness or being too respectful.  A general acceptance for ones space and not wanting to interfere with their existence. This ignores their common need to interact also.  A friend said compliment them on their shoes -- Dude nice hiking boots -- not too sure about that - but I went out in to the world tonight thinking about the interaction and actually pursue it.

Here is the interaction
.Oh oh she is sitting cross legged.  I cant see her shoes, but she has a chocolate chip cooky  - the very one I would have ordered had I got there earlier.  David> "was that the last chocolate chip cooky or was someone else the responsible party for making me end up with this (molasses) cooky. "  Get appropriate laugh -she says afraid so and laughs again >> "at least it wasnt the orange cholclate chip cooky" her  "I have not had one of those before"  David > "they are really good, unless they are the last one then I would stay away from it"  She>> Laughs again.

Thus concludes the interaction.  My skills are emence

New Socks

Big day today, I am trying out my new Columbia travel socks.  They are thinner than most of my trekking socks, merino wool (mostly), they have some stretch, no seems. They are crew, but seem a little higher than that.  It is interesting with the relative thinness, that my shoes seem almost loose. These are black, my other are  green and really fit my trip palate better than . the black ones do.  These really are not made for sandals.  I know there are some who believe that there  no socks that are made for sandals.  I do feel that heavy socks are OK with sandals.  But these black ones with shorts and sandals? even someone like me with little concern for fashion would have to pass.

How many socks to bring for 3 weeks?  I am guessing that 5 to 7  is the right answer, that is the same answer for underwear. That means big laundry twice or little laundry 4 times.  We will see how it goes when we really start to pack.

That leads me to packing anxiety.  I always suffer from it - but I always have enough - primary fear is being cold and not have the ability to change that -- I hear that nowhere in the world could you actually buy something warmer to wear if you need it.

So as long as I am thinking about packing here is my clothing packing list (including what I am wearing on the plane)
3 pants - One Kahki normal weight, one light weight,one convertable.
3 short sleeve shirts -- one of a color other than dull.
3 long sleeve shirt including a lightweight sun protecting
4 tee shirts.
1 Longer shorts
1 Sweater
Rain jacket
Short sleeve pullover
Tilly hat
wool cap
light vest
2 Shoes ecco and keens
Swim Suit
nightshirt
I think that is it.

Did I mention the new socks?

Taking a break

I am taking a little break, having a Guinness and looking at people.

My walk to Ninas

 The walk to the coffee shop began on a familiar path, the stairs for the second to the first floor.  Even pausing on the landing the trip seemed so familiar.

 Looking down my porch I could see that all the porches were still there and pretty much in line.  Signs of winter are still everywhere.

 Spring, a time of rebirth? Man looking around all that seems to be popping up is dead twigs and trash

Some day it will melt

Look it new green sprouting thru the dead leaves

but for the most part not much green.

Winter must have took these people by complete surprise.

What the... That is very spring like

and so is this

Curling club parking lot is empty - that is a sign of spring

Made it.

This was mostly just practice to see how the blogging tool and camera etc worked

Spinning Wheels

I am at an odd crossroads in my life, single and petless for the first time since I was 21. That gives a guy a lot of freedom that I should embrace. The trip is an example of that -- the only example- or is sitting in a coffee shop an example of freedom or loneliness?  The trip is a marker on my horizon something I can point to or hide behind.   An excuse for doing nothing except planning for the trip and working -- What would I do to be more proactive with my life? And really what does that mean . I find that I ache in ways that I can't process or understand.
The joke here is that I don't think i am really planning a trip I am pretending to plan a trip - I have all the props, it is easy to do. 
I need to stop the spinning before I spin too low and can't back up or is that just pretending too?

Here is the route of the Turkey tour

I start with 4 nights in Istanbul