Turkey!!! First Experiences and Travel Tips

For those of you in the know, I just spent three weeks in Turkey. While there I took over a thousand pictures!! Unfortunately, I haven't had the motivation to go through them all so I haven't posted any pics before now, as you can see. But that is about to change.

So, I hope these pics motivate you to visit Turkey which is a beautiful place with beautiful people.


Monday May 12, 2008


I left Calgary, Canada on Sunday, May 11, 2008. I flew Lufthansa to Frankfurt to Istanbul, arriving on May 12, 2008. Thus I "lost" a day.

For those of you flying Lufthansa, do not, I repeat do not, list yourself as a non-dairy vegetarian. I'm not, but that is the option my travel agent (never again!) put on my ticket when I told her I am a vegetarian. Apparently the people who plan meals for Lufthansa think that the only non-dairy vegetarian meal is a dry, tasteless patty...thing...for dinner and breakfast. I was pretty choked when one of the meal options for the rest of the passengers was a spinach and cheese tortellini dish.

Arrival in Istanbul revealed that there are many cultural differences between Turkish people and Canadians. Apparently some Turkish people don't believe in standing in line. I was waiting in line to check-in for my flight to Cappadocia (straight from Istanbul) but when an agent became free, people just walked right around me and went to the agent. One guy budded in front of me by ducking under the tape airports put up to direct people on where to make a line. I learnt quickly to just charge my way through to the ticket counter. And I didn't get any dirty looks. It was the same getting on the plane. There was a barrier across the boarding gate to prevent people from boarding the plane, but a Turkish man just walked up to it, took it down, and we all walked on the plane. Apparently we were good and ready to board.

Travel Tip: When in Rome (or in Istanbul), do as the locals do or get left behind.


Another thing, I brought a specific bank card (ask me if you need more information) with me because the bank has ATMs all over the world. However, the bank network wouldn't connect to wherever it needs to connect to and I couldn't take out money from my account. Luckily I read about this somewhere and brought another, different bank card. This bank card worked.

Travel tip: Bring two different ATM bank cards with you when you travel just in case...

Okay, that's it for now. On to the show!