The First Submission

Well I can't actually believe it has taken me almost 3 years to get this blog up and running. A few years ago, when I started travelling again, everyone said to me..."you should start a blog, you should start a blog" and I never did....till now! I’ve finally pulled my finger out, got inspiration from others and here is my first ever post on my brand new blog, hopefully one of many to come.

Please have no expectations on the lay out, or this blog looking pretty or anything fancy, as this is all so new to me. But I hope you will all enjoy reading the posts or you may find something interesting or entertaining on my time here in Turkey. I would also love it if fellow travellers out there get hold of this and its some kind of help on what to do in Turkey.

When you add it all up, it’s almost been 15 years since I started coming to this wonderful, amazing place that I call my second home - Turkey. I remember every single trip fondly and have many wonderful memories from all my visits here. The first time I came here, I had literally moved out of living at home with my mum, to live on the other side of the world. I had set up a home in London and had lived there for about 5 months, before visiting Turkey for Anzac Day, 1999. What an eye opener! It was the first place that I had visited that felt truly foreign to me. I had done a quick tour through Europe and had settled into London life, and although that is all different from home, it was not that much of a culture shock. I remember feeling quite out of my comfort zone for the first day or two that I was in Istanbul….

….but then the love affair with Turkey began.

That trip ended up being way too short for my liking. Only seeing Istanbul and Gallipoli for the short 5 days was nowhere near enough to scratch the surface. I knew, before I even left that I would be back, but didn't quite realise, Turkey would get such a hold on me and I would end up making this my home (for now). I am not the only one in love with this country either. There are so many other foreigners making this their home and having their own love affair with Turkey. We often laugh together through the good times and frustrating times, but I can still see why we all do it.  

Most of the time, when I land back into Turkey, I feel a sense of home. I find this strange seeing as my home is 21 hours and thousands of miles away. But there is something that grabs me every time when I come back. I met an older American man in Istanbul on one of my holidays here 3 years ago. After sitting with him and giving him all my tips on Istanbul, he said to me "Why do you love it here so much?". You know what, I couldn't answer him!

I still struggle to pin point what it is that I love so much about this place called Turkey, so maybe writing this blog will bring out all the reasons why I love it and be able to answer that question. Maybe it will become obvious to you, before it does to me and you can let me know.  

So what will this blog be about then? Well I’m going to use this as a way for you all to read and share my experiences and maybe start some new love affairs with Turkey. I'm going to go down memory lane and talk about all the adventures and experiences I’ve had, things I've learnt, things I love, things that frustrate me and people I have met along the way.

You know, that same American man I met in Istanbul emailed me when he got home to his family and said "Your love of Turkey is truly infectious, I will be back" and I hope you will all be back to visit the blog again too!

The skyline of Istanbul - Blue Mosque and Ayasofya

 

Fethiye - where I call home for now