Someone (likely Rick Steves) once said, “Don’t tell me what books you’ve read, tell me where you’ve been.” I have to say books are important, but traveling does open up your horizons in ways that books don’t. Traveling allows us to become more open minded and tolerant. It allows us to see Mother Nature’s best … Continue reading Why Do We Travel? →

The arrival of the weekend in Istanbul is our cue to escape the city to avoid the crowds. So we saved our trip to Princes Islands for today. Princes Islands, an archipelago off Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara, so named because this is where the princes were exiled to during the Byzantine time, and … Continue reading Princes Islands →

We have leisurely covered all the must see sights in 9 days, and are now looking for things to do and see. We went to Kadiköy, on the Asian side of Istanbul, a week ago for our food tour, and enjoyed the market place as well as all the hip areas with the bars and … Continue reading All The Time In The World →

As we travel more, we begin to appreciate that the journey is often more rewarding than the destination. When you pick a destination, you already have some kind of expectation of the place. However, the journey there is often full of surprises. We decided to walk to Ortaköy today to check out the Ortaköy Mosque … Continue reading It’s The Journey →

We have settled into a routine after a week. No more jet lag, and no more 2-hour naps in the afternoons. I go to bed around 8PM and wake at 4-5AM. We don’t venture out the door until after 9:30AM since Joe usually has a later start in the mornings. We tour the city, have … Continue reading Our Turkish Routine →

Sidebar - We spent a good hour in the morning to reschedule our Malta flight because we were set to fly out Nov 4th AM, which is when the US election results would be coming in. Joe needed to make sure he has access to good WiFi in case he needs to make trade adjustments. … Continue reading Fiscal Responsibility →

Since we’ve covered the basics of the Old Town and New District, it was time for us to venture out into the surrounding neighborhoods. Senem, our food tour guide, had recommended the Fener neighborhood, which is close to the Chora Church (Kariye Müzesi). Chora Church/Kariye Müzesi We were told to take a taxi to Chora … Continue reading A Walk In The Neighborhood →

Saturday was forecasted to be a hot day, so we decided to go on a cruise and get out of the city. The word ‘cruise’ conjures up images of a multi day voyage in the open seas on a mega ship with hordes of people lining up in the buffet line. The Bosphorus cruise is … Continue reading Bosphorus Cruise →

As Americans we have largely benefited from decades of a robust currency, and as a result, we can make our dollar stretch when traveling to most countries. Due to poor economic growth, policies, and large foreign currency debt, Turkey is now one of those countries where Americans can really make their dollars go farther. The … Continue reading The Depreciating Lira →

We finally made it to some of the sights today. Unfortunately, there was not much to write home about. Haifa Sophia was recently converted from a museum to a mosque, and the interior of the Blue Mosque is currently undergoing renovations. The only place we actually got to have some fun with was the Basilica … Continue reading Three Puddings →

Vicky would not have approved how we did our first day in Turkey. There was no itinerary that we stuck to, nor did we visit any of the museums or mosques. We instead meandered our way around town to explore to get a lay of the land. Since our Airbnb is right off New District’s … Continue reading Turkey – Day 1 →

After a 13-hour flight, instead of taking a taxi to our Airbnb, we of course opted to prolong the misery by taking the Havaist-14 bus to Taksim square and then the Metro for one stop. A cab costs 25-30€, whereas the bus only costs 50 liras ($7) for both of us. It was a no … Continue reading Our Home For The Next 2+ Weeks →