Where Are You From?!

So far, all of our travel has been "independent."  We rarely book in advance and instead opt to show up at the bus/train station and figure it out there.  Though, here in Turkey, we've noticed things are a bit different.  There are numerous companies competing for your business and they go to great lengths to win you over.  "HELLO MY FRIEND.  WHERE ARE YOU FROM?!"  It's a bit abrupt at first, but you quickly learn that it's just how things go here and regardless if they get your business, the people are still very willing to help you find your way.
 
This whole idea of booking early really hit home for us when we attempted to score a last minute deal on a 4 day / 3 night 'Blue Cruise' in Fethiye (to Olympos) and found out booking ahead through a travel agent was actually cheaper. As fate would have it, we discovered a travel agent two hostels down because we needed to do laundry, and they were the only ones that could do it.  The hostel owner / travel agent, Omer Sherif, turned out to be the key maker that guided us into the tourism matrix, and offered to book us without commission.  We saved 100 Turkish Lira ($50) by not buying directly through the main boating office.  (Thanks, Omer!) 

Goes to show, there's no one proven formula for getting the best deal.  Turkey is definitely opening our eyes to at least some pre-packaging...and hey we'll take it.  A deal is a deal.

LOGISTICAL STUFF:
Many (and I mean MANY) hostels / travel agencies, especially in Istanbul, will offer package deals for your entire trip in Turkey. They may differ in price and length of stay, depending on your preferred flavor, but they all typically follow the same path. Even though we decided against the packaged deals (outside of the Blue Cruise), we happened to mimic the same EXACT route as many of the tour junkies. 

ISTANBUL >  SELÇUK / EPHESUS > PAMUKALLE > FETHIYE > (Blue Cruise) > OLYMPOS >  GÖREME (CAPPADOCIA)

Istanbul

Selçuk

Pamukalle

Fethiye

Blue Cruise

Olympos

SUGGESTED ITINERARY: 
So alas, there may be something worthwhile in at least considering a package, even though we didn't. However, it's important to mention, that quite a few people we spoke to who did do a tour wished they had stayed longer in certain places, and shorter in others. So, we thought we'd put in our two cents on what spots we felt deserved a little more attention, and which can be enjoyed as a day trip.
Note: These are minimum days suggested. We stayed longer in some cases.

• ISTANBUL (4 nights) - Massive city. New Mosque, Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, and so on - too many attractions to name.
• Overnight bus from Istanbul to Selçuk
• SELÇUK / EPHESUS (1 night) - Small town. Arrive in Selcuk around 6am. If it's a Saturday, go to the enormous farmers market. If you like ruins (and you probably do since you're here), you'll want to visit St.John's Basilica, then around 4:00pm (after all the large tour groups/cruise ships are gone) take a Dolmus (minibus) to Ephesus. After entry, make a beeline to the Terraced Houses (extra ticket cost - last entry at 6:30pm) and view the enclosed area almost entirely alone. Then make your way around Ephesus and end at the Roman Theatre (next to the entrance) right as the sun is setting. Must be out by 8:00pm.
• 3 hr bus from Selçuk to Pamukalle
• PAMUKALLE (Day Trip) - Arrive in Pamukalle around noon. All the attractions here are included in a one day ticket to the National Park, which has the famous Cotton Castle, Ancient Roman Bath, Roman Theatre and various other ruins. Last bus to Fethiye leaves around 5pm. If you want to stay another day to see more of the park, you will have to buy another entrance fee.
• 4.5 hr bus from Pamukalle to Fethiye
• FETHIYE (2 nights) - Small boat town with cool Lycian tombs carved in a cliff. There are all sorts of day trip cruises to surrounding attractions, like Butterfly Valley and the like, but we opted to take this time to relax from the very fast-paced last few days. 
• Blue Cruise (3 nights / 4 days) - Sailboat with no sails - only engine used. Not a must. So, Lonely Planet notes this as one of the most memorable things you can do in Turkey. We wholeheartedly disagree. If you want to soak in the sun, relax and read a book, than this is for you. If you want to take in the Turkish culture, pass and save your money for something else (like a balloon ride in Cappadocia).
• OLYMPOS (2 nights) - "Treehouses" and Roman ruins.  More tourists than Turkish in this area. Treehouses is a term to be used loosely - these are more like cabins, so think along the lines of camping. Again, nothing to really do here, but chillax and enjoy the pebble beach. Only real attraction are the naturally occurring Chimera flames, which are totally worth seeing (even if it costs 25 Turkish Lira to do so at night).
• Overnight bus from Olympos to Göreme (make sure your ticket says Göreme not Cappadocia)
• GÖREME (3 nights) - Small town. First: Hot air balloon ride over valleys and fairy chimneys. If all else fails, this will make your entire trip to Cappadocia, however short, worthwhile. Bus picks you up at 4:30am. You'll be back by 7:30am. Second: you will be offered the 'Green Tour' or the 'Red Tour' by your hostel when you arrive. If you are staying for one night only, take the green tour. It includes our favorite three attractions - *Derinkuyu Underground City, Ihlara Valley (4km hike) and *Selime Monastery. (*Bring a torch with you.) Red tour includes Rose Valley. If you are staying longer, try renting a scooter. Basically, the colored tours all start and end at the same time (9:30am - 6:00pm), so each attraction is swarmed by tourists, like locusts attacking this summer's crop, at exactly the same time each day. With your own transport, you'll get to spend more time at the places you want, when you want.  If you wish to see Selime Monastery deserted, than go before 2:30pm - when the first tour bus arrives. You'll need at least 1.5 hours to really enjoy the place. Derinkuyu is clear around 12:00pm. Ihlara around 4:00pm.

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Checklist

We've got 10 days to go until we leave and my notebook is getting mighty full of checkboxes, some conquered and some staring me down, daring me to cross them off at high noon with their pistol drawn. So, with all these checkboxes defying my every move, I've decided to add yet another TO-DO to my list - blog about it.


When Matt and I were planning this trip, I never really thought about all the logistical stuff that would need to happen before we could break free from all our responsibilities. There's a GINORMOUS amount. Now, this is not to scare anyone, but it's simply to say I was a bit dumbfounded by things that crept up once I started cleaning house.


MAIN THINGS TO DO BEFORE LEAVING THE TARMAC:

• General Itinerary
• Budget??
• Weather / Time of Year
• Tourist Season?
• ATM availability
• Visa Requirements
• Foreign Embassies / Consolates - To obtain visas.
• Vaccinations / Anti-Malarial Pills
• Work / Volunteer Opportunities
• Book Departure Flight (one-way ticket out of the US)
• IDs - Up-to-date
• Passport - Make sure there's enough pages. If not, can always add more at any US embassy abroad.
• Passport Photos - Make sure you have enough for number of countries requiring visas.
• Driver's License
• Diving License (PADI?)
• Make copy for family, in case you lose any of these
• Credit / Debit Cards - Cancel, Keep, Enroll
• Find ones that reimburse you for transaction and exchange fees
• Capital One Venture Card (Credit Card)
• Charles Schwab (Debit / ATM)
• Travel Notification
• Go Paperless
• Change address on all of them to permanent address
• Check when they expire
• Permanent Address?
• Absentee Ballots
• Cancel or Forward Mail
• Taxes
• Pictures / Video / Electronics
• Camera
• Storage - Hard drive, external hard drive, memory cards, flash drive, online storage?
• Computer? iPod? Tablet? E-Reader? None?
• Backpack Items - Do you really need every shoe in your closet?
• Household Items - Sell, Keep, Donate
• Doctors Appointments
• Immunizations / Vaccinations Clinic (Including Anti-Malarial Pills)
• General - Yearly physical
• Dental - Teeth cleaning
• Dermatologist - Yearly check-up
• Gynocologist - Yearly check-up
• Optomologist - Order contact lenses for the year
• Make sure there aren't any outstanding claims
• Insurance - Decide if you want to sell or keep the house or car(s) and if you want insurance on anything. 
• Travel - Scan receipts for anything expensive you're taking
• Health - Any outstanding claims?
• Car - Would you rather sell or turn in your tag for your car?
• House / Apt
• House - Who is going to make the payments? What about renewing the lease?
• Insurance
• Mortgage
• HOA
• Tenants
• Contact Sheet for family and friends - How are they going to get ahold of you?

Which Way Do We Go?

"Wasn't he pointing the other way?"

So, I'm starting to feel a little like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.


All this time, Matt and I were thinking that we'd be traveling from EAST TO WEST, going from Northeast Asia (starting in Japan), Southeast Asia, Africa, Middle East then Eastern Europe (leaving from Western Russia). There were a few reasons we chose this. 1) We are on a budget, and from what we've heard from those that have traveled in Southeast Asia say that your buck goes a long way - from food to clothing to hostels (or even monasteries). Our thoughts were that we should start spending our money in the less expensive countries of SE Asia before we headed to the more expensive Middle East and Eastern Europe. That way we could see how much money we had left and spend accordingly, ie. to splurge or not to splurge. 2) We are intending to stay in Asia the longest amount of time (6 months out of 13 months on the road) and didn't want to run out of time before we got to Asia. Lastly, 3) Getting adjusted to time zones is supposedly a little easier when traveling from East to West.


BUT, all that changed when we started investigating weather patterns for each of the regions. It turns out that starting in May meant that we would be visiting SE Asia during the summer months, which we've read is the less desirable time to visit. In other words, we would be smack dab in the middle of the rainy season. Oh, well! We'd have fun either way and were thinking whatever, no biggie, let's go anyway. But, then we checked when we would be in Eastern Europe and found out that we'd be getting there (according to our time schedule) around Winter time. Hello cold fingers and frosty noses. SOOO, we had some thinking to do. Our hearts were set on going from EAST TO WEST and we had already been doing all sorts of research for that part of the world, getting all excited. Nevertheless, we talked it through (and I mean A.D.D. style - for like 3 days) and decided changing plans is what it's all about. If you find out some info and it turns out to be better than originally planned, roll with it. So, that's what we did. WEST TO EAST we go, starting in Western Russia (St.Petersburg or Moscow). Time to get excited about a different part of the world and get to buying our first plane ticket. Yay! :)


Here's our itinerary thus far: