Guest Post: Why Hanna and Mike Are the Best Travelers Ever

Note: When we were too lazy to write original blog posts, our good buddy Kiwi Mike stepped in and wrote a post about why Mike won the senior pic poll. We asked for more guest posts, and we thought the lowered rate of paying us
US $500 was definitely fair. We had not received any takers…until now. Mike’s high school friend Susan met the challenge. She and her husband Alex recently went on a European sojourn, and she sent us a revealing post about why we are her travel heroes. (Her pictures are better than ours though…)

I have been not-so-secretly jealous of Mike and Hanna ever since they announced their around-the-world travel plans. I enjoyed living vicariously through their adventures as a faithful blog-reader (and voter…Hanna’s comeback in the high school photo contest was engineered by yours truly), while, like most of you perhaps, sitting behind my desk at work.

Inspired by the globetrotters, my husband and I planned our own ambitious trip: Istanbul – Cappadocia – Paris – Normandy – Provence – London in 2.5 weeks. While we successfully sprinted through our ambitious itinerary and certainly enjoyed the sights, culture, food, and people we encountered along the way, we were reminded firsthand of a very important reality that Mike and Hanna hinted at daily. Travel is work. Yes, travel can be relaxing and fun and wonderful in that it opens a window into another life and another way of living. But it is also hard. Very hard. And so, in my brief guest post, I’d like to pay tribute to the work that Mike and Hanna did for nearly a year and the service they did for their readers in letting us travel by proxy. Whatever led you here (wanderlust, schadenfreude), I’m sure you join me in saying “thank you!”

Here are three vignettes to illustrate my point:

1. IT’S HARD TO SPEAK TURKISH
On our first day in Turkey, we decided to take a cruise along the Bosphorus; we thought it would be a good way to see the city. We tried for an hour to book a cruise from the hotel, but we were thwarted by a shoddy internet connection, a front desk manager who tried to sell us the five-hour version for $79.95 (per person), and, yes, the language barrier. We decided to head to Eminönü (the departure point for many cruises) to see what we could find. New to the city and eager to find our ferry, we hopped in a cab. While the driver delivered us to our destination, he extracted a pound of flesh along the way. My husband handed the driver a TL20. The driver then held up a TL5, pretending that we had given him the smaller bill. “It’s TL7,” he said, “You owe me more.” Confused and jet-lagged, we gave him the additional cash, realizing our error as he sped away. The transport tribulations were replayed several times (we encountered more than a few surly bus drivers and one additional taxi scam) and then finally figured out the fairly convenient Istanbul tram. Hats off to Mike and Hanna for mastering public transport early on in each city.

2. THE DAY OUR FEET FELL OFF
Wary of cabs, we stuck to public transportation from then on. In Paris, we got along easily on the fabulous Metro and also chose to walk much of the city. And walk we did. One day we explored Saint Germain and then walked to the Rodin Museum, the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre, and the Pompidou. We ate dinner while walking along rue Cler and then climbed the Eiffel Tower. Defeated by Paris, we collapsed in our hotel room that night. The next day we headed out for a daylong tour of the Normandy D-Day beaches. Travel is wonderful, but we felt compelled to squeeze as much as possible from every second. This way of living is both exhilarating and exhausting. Again I applaud Mike and Hanna for finding balance in adventure.

3. A HOME IN AVIGNON
There’s nothing like resting at home after a trying or very active day. Unfortunately while traveling, you’re never sure of what “home” will look like until you get there. We booked what appeared to be a lovely hotel in Avignon…but what turned out to be a permanent sauna. Temperatures outside were around 90 to 100 degrees, and the hotel staff informed us their cooling system could only get the rooms 10 degrees cooler or so than outside. We had to grin and bear it. Too hot and tired to find different lodging, we procured a fan and made do. Once or twice we chose to nap in our car (after a particularly large lunch, for example) rather than brave the hotel. None of us need luxury, but predictability and comfort are crucial to peace of mind and happily co-existing with your mate/fellow travelers. Once again, here’s to Mike and Hanna for grinning and bearing it . . . together.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on the point of travel: the pay-off. Rather than speak in platitudes, I’ll leave you with a few pictures.

Yours in travel,
Susan

The Blue Mosque - Istanbul, Turkey

Süleymaniye Mosque from the Bosphorus - Istanbul, Turkey

Fairy Chimneys - Cappadocia, Turkey

Paris from the Eiffel Tower - Paris, France

American Cemetery - Normandy, France

Fisherman on the Rhone - Avignon, France

Spring Has Sprung

One of the things Hanna has most enjoyed about being in Europe is experiencing another season. We have been in hot weather since last August. Yes, many of you are jealous…but hot weather gets old after a while. We like our four seasons. We rolled into Europe at the end of March and definitely experienced some cold weather, especially in Turkey. As time has gone by, the weather has warmed up, and flowers have been blooming. Prague and Munich are both full of lilacs. Hanna absolutely loves lilacs as they remind her of home, and she has been stopping to get a whiff a lot.

Pretty Flowers.

On the flip side of this, Mike has been tortured by the new season. His allergies have been killing him, and he has been wearing his $12 Baby Geniuses glasses for the last month.

We never knew we were missing seasons so much. Summer will soon be here, and shortly we will be back in our hot apartment. You know that air conditioning doesn’t go on until we get jobs…or unless it hits triple digits. We did Thailand without air conditioning; we can certainly do New York City.

Boring Travel Day

The alarm annoyingly beeped at 6:45am yesterday, and it was time to head to the Istanbul airport. Bonnie’s flight was only half an hour later than ours, so we all took the tram/metro combo together. Bonnie and Hanna got all of their singing conversations out while waiting at the airport because Mike forbade Hanna from singing what she wants to say once our hooves hit the plane. We said goodbye to Bonnie, but it’ll only be about three months until we see her next. Not too bad…

The hour-long flight to Athens held a special surprise: we got an actual meal of chicken sandwiches, salad, and apple cake. This is a major coup for us backpackers as we are used to budget airlines where you have to pay for everything. Mike even followed up an absolutely disgusting glass of white wine with a mediocre cup of coffee.  Hey, free is free.

As we were about to land, Hanna had her hood up and was leaning against the window so that her face was obscured. The flight attendant stopped at our aisle, leaned over to tap Hanna, and said, “Sir? Sir? Window shade up please.” As Hanna turned around, the lady who made a grave error looked surprised and embarrassed that she called this fine-lookin’ woman a man. Mike giggled and won’t let Hanna live this down.

The relatively painless train ride got us to our hostel around 1pm, and we did nothing besides nap, quickly wander around to check out the neighborhood, and grab some dinner. These early morning wake-up calls for the past few days have finally caught up with us.

Final Thoughts: Turkey

Now that we have invaded Europe and are spending less amount of time in each country, our Final Thoughts posts aren’t going to be anything great. (Hey, we never like what we write for these posts anyways…so it all works out.) In Asia and Oceania, we spent almost a month in most countries we visited and thus got a better feel for each place.  We only spent eleven nights in Turkey, but herewith are our oh-so-thoughtful thoughts about this country:

Mike’s Thoughts:
Turkey is the first country which we’ve discovered wholly with a friend, and our time there raced past us before we realized it. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect because we left all the planning to Bonnie. (You’re welcome for all of the research-induced headaches, Bon. We do what we can.) Though Istanbul is a massive city, we mainly stuck to the historic area where all the major attractions are. We walked for a bit and sat for a long time in various places because Hanna and Bonnie like to sit and gab, but I’m totally okay with that. Being in this area, however, means being surrounded by tourists, and we almost heard the voices of as many Americans and Germans as we did Turks. Since the restaurants cater to this tourist crowd, they try to entice you as you pass by. There could have been flashbacks to Balinese vendors and “Oi, mate!”, but the restaurant hosts actually made me laugh as they used humor to lure you in. Once seated I found the waiters and restaurant owners extremely friendly. It wasn’t just an artificial kindness; they introduced themselves and genuinely wanted to know about us. On our last night in Istanbul, one host latched on to me for some reason, kept hugging me and calling me “brother,” and grinned from ear to ear as he spoke. For some reason, however, many a waiter and vendor thought we were Australian. Sorry, mate.

We only rented a car for two days, but I discovered driving in Turkey is expensive and frustrating. Putting those factors aside, I’m glad we did it because I’m not so sure we would have made our way to Aphrodisias. The ruins there were quite impressive, and it’s crazy that a majority is still not excavated. The marble statues and sarcophagi are excellently preserved, and you get a real sense of history and place.

With the exception of our four nights in Kuala Lumpur, it has been about three months since we have been in a country where English is not the primary language. My Turkish skills are non-existent, but getting directions while driving or buying ferry and train tickets wasn’t as simple as expected. The language barrier definitely was nowhere near our experiences in China, but it was a fast reminder that travel becomes a bit more challenging once other languages are thrown into the mix again.

I could eat doner kebabs and rolls with fake Nutella every day for the rest of my life.

Hanna’s Thoughts:
I had mixed feelings about going to Turkey. On the one hand, I was excited to explore the markets, baths, and eat kebabs. On the other, however, I had been told by fellow travelers that Istanbul was dirty and very reminiscent of Asia. I was worried that we would get to Istanbul and be reminded of all the things we disliked about Asia (i.e. dirtiness, pushy vendors, staring, etc.). Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised.

Istanbul is a beautiful city that really felt like a mix of the Middle East and Europe. Parts of it reminded me of wandering down a Parisian street, while the mosques and call to prayer reminded me that we were in a country where 99% of the population is Muslim. There was garbage, pushy vendors, and staring, but it just didn’t really bother me this time round. I think Asia has made us more tolerant of less Western places.

Turkey was made even more fun because our good friend Bonnie came to meet us. Having a friend from home was refreshing, and we had such a good time getting caught up on all that we have missed since we’ve been gone.

My favorite parts of Turkey included seeing the ruins at Ephesus, wandering through all the shops in Istanbul, getting my back scrubbed by Bonnie at the Turkish bath, eating kebabs, and seeing a bit of the Turkish countryside. I could have done without the 5am call to prayer every morning and the staring by men when I walked somewhere by myself.

I am really glad we decided to go to Turkey and hope to return one day. Maybe I will be able to find a Turkish lamp that suits me next time; this time I couldn’t decide on one that was just right.

Days Spent in Turkey: 11

Total Money Spent in Turkey: US $995.36
(This includes overpriced lodging in Istanbul, adequately priced lodging everywhere else, car rental, extremely expensive gas, and more kebabs than you could shake a stick at.)

Average Spent Per Day in Turkey: US $90.49
(It’s official: we’ve entered expensive Europe. This figure is slightly skewed because of the price of the car and gas. Eating street food was very affordable, but the high prices of attractions and transport around Turkey helped to bump the average up even more.)

Average Spent Per Day for the Whole Trip:US $73.31
(Our average bumped up another forty cents. After getting used to seeing our average go down after each country all throughout Asia, it’s a little hard for us to watch the average go up now that we are in Europe. Only to be expected… We are still budget-conscious but are doing the activities that we truly want to do. This average is only going to go up more because of the high cost of European train travel. We are working on being okay with this.)

The Couple That Exercises Together Stays Together.

Walking to Asia

So we walked to Asia yesterday…

Istanbul is split by the Bosphorus Strait into different parts: the European side and the Asian side. We have spent most of our time on the European side, so we figured we should spend our last day in Istanbul by walking over the bridge to the Asian continent:

Loads of Fishermen Line Each Side of the Bridge.

View of Asian Istanbul.

We really had no destination in mind, so we just wandered around Istiklal Avenue which is Istanbul’s equivalent of Fifth Avenue or the Champs-Élysées. Every chain store (Sephora, Diesel, Nike, etc.) lined the street. We never really get excited about shopping in cities around the world as we have all this stuff at home…

A Crowded Sunday.

Most Pairs of Chucks Were Over US $70. Absolutely Nuts.

After a ridiculously long walk in chilly weather, we rested in the hostel for a bit, and then the ladies decided they wanted to go the Turkish bathhouse for round two. (Mike chose not to go again. All he has heard is that it’s not so fun for guys.)

We went out for our last dinner of kebabs. This is pretty much all we ate in Turkey…and we loved every minute of it. The hardest choice each day was figuring out which stand we wanted them from and exactly what kind we wanted: wraps, pita, on bread, etc. The night was capped at a cheap bar where Bonnie kindly bought Mike a beer (he is her fake husband after all) and we smoked a shisha:

Team Turkey.

We like visiting with friends on this trip, but the absolute hardest part is leaving them.

Random Musings from Turkey

These little stories didn’t really fit in anywhere else.

• On our first night in Istanbul, we went out to dinner at a small restaurant around the corner. Mike was wearing his glasses. The waiter came up to us, smiled, and asked Mike if he was from Japan. We both weren’t sure if we misunderstood what he was asking. He repeated his question. Mike said that we were from the States, and the guy laughed and said, “Oh, not Japan? You look like you’re from Japan because of your glasses.” No, sir, those glasses were purchased online for about US $12 with shipping. He was baffled that Mike was not Japanese.

Evidence of Said Japanese Glasses.

• Hanna and Bonnie have taken to singing everything they want to say à la “Trapped in the Closet.” While it was semi-humorous at first, the joke’s gone on way too long according to one member of Team Turkey. The girls have entire conversations through operatic song. As we were walking over a bridge today, we passed a row of seafood restaurants where hosts would bark at you to come eat at their restaurant. One guy heard the two ladies singing, ran after us, and yelled, “You ladies have beautiful voices. Why don’t you come eat in my restaurant?” We will miss Bonnie when she leaves, but one of us will not really miss the constant singing. R. Kelly, they are not.

• After Hanna went back to the hotel after seeing the dead snake in Ephesus, Mike and Bonnie strolled around for a while longer. One street they walked down was nicknamed “Love Street.” An older Turkish man stopped Mike to say either one of two things: “You look very happy right now” or “You DON’T look very happy right now.” We’re not sure which. We assume it was the former because Mike was with fake wife Bonnie on Love Street. Why wouldn’t he be happy?

• Turkish drivers are, uh, interesting for three reasons. 1) Using turn signals seems to be optional most of the time. It’s lots of fun to have a car cut in front of you without signaling. 2) Drivers also have a tendency to cruise in the middle of two lanes. Picking a lane is really hard, isn’t it? 3) Cars will ride your ass and then flash their headlights to get you to move lanes. As soon as you move over, they drive by and then go slower than you were going before. So, uh, why did we move over in the first place? Driving for Mike was tons of fun.

Four Legs

Yesterday entailed another long day of travel from Pamukkale back to Istanbul. Hanna pointed out that yesterday’s journey was split into four parts. She made this observation about twenty-seven times yesterday and kindly pointed out what leg of the journey we were on as it was occurring. It seems only fitting to write this post according to each leg:

LEG #1: CAR
Our short time with the car quickly came to an end. We only rented it for two days because that’s what Bonnie (planner extraordinaire) decided. What she says becomes law. One thing she kinda forgot to think about? We had to return it by 9:30am back in Selcuk…a three-hour drive from Pamukkale. Good one, Bon.

We left our creepily empty hotel at 6am while it was still dark and managed to find our way back to the main highway without getting too lost. The only English-language radio station (all crappy dance mixes of current songs) fueled our early morning three-hour drive. We luckily did not need to fill up the gas tank again. Phew.

LEG #2: TRAIN
The car rental guy came to pick it up around 9:30am, but we still had two hours to kill before our train. As it was cold and pouring rain, Hanna went into an interior waiting room to take a nap. A creepy old Turkish man walked into the room, stared at her, and growled, “Nighty-night” in the voice of the devil every few seconds. Hanna obviously was not able to sleep with the creeper watching her and forced Bonnie and Mike to wait in the room with her. We played a few games of Taboo with the cards Bonnie ingeniously thought to bring. Time flew, and the monster of an old man went away. The train finally came, and the hour ride to the Izmir airport passed without event.

LEG #3: AIRPLANE
Before we left Istanbul, we scored a last-minute flight deal back there that was about the same price as the ferry/train/minibus combination. Why not, right? The only bad part, however, was getting to the airport around 12:30pm; our flight didn’t take off until about 5:30pm. The Izmir airport is no JFK or Heathrow, but we were shocked at food prices. Burger King meals were over US $10 each. Kebabs which should cost about US $3 were around $6-7. Absolutely nuts. The forty-five minute flight back to Istanbul was over in a blink, and our last remaining mission for the day was to get back to the hostel at which we previously stayed.

LEG #4: METRO/TRAM
Hanna’s a big liar. Technically it was a five-part journey as we took both a metro and a tram. The combo ride took a little less than an hour, and we were at our hostel with chicken wraps in hand by 8pm. Our fifteen-hour day of travel was finally over. Despite the music and talking from the restaurant below us, we slept like little drooling babies last night.

Just Like Home

We woke up around 9:30am yesterday (notice a trend?) and ventured out to the lobby for free breakfast. Sadly no rooftop terrace this time around, so we menacingly threatened to leave the empty hotel. In the end, however, we were won over by eggs, bread, olives, cheese, and coffee.

Feeling a bit lazy, we bummed around the hotel lobby for a while. Mike went to take a shower, and the womenfolk said they would be back to the room in a few minutes…which turned into an hour as they watched yet another episode of Real Housewives of Orange County. Mike was devastated that they watched an episode without him and did not speak to them for the rest of the day. At least he had these guys for company:

The Backyard of Our Hotel. Yes, Lambs.

Hanna cut Mike’s hair while we were visiting some friendly old bums on the Sunshine Coast a few weeks ago. We have scissors which we will lose when we don’t check our bags from Greece to Italy in a few weeks, so she wanted to give a little follow-up cut before his hair awkwardly starts growing in more:

The Hippest Salon in Pamukkale: Our Hotel Balcony.

Mike really doesn’t care what his hair looks like, but Hanna obviously is a total snob who refuses to be seen with a husband who doesn’t have perfect hair. Unfortunately for the both of us, Hanna‘s, uh, skills aren’t the greatest, so there are definitely some awkward snips in there.

We figured we couldn’t laze about the hotel all day long, so we headed out to explore the small town. The hot springs of Pamukkale are ensconced in travertine-laden hills (simple speak: a big, chalky-looking hillside with small thermal pools), and we were looking forward to taking a dip in the pools as all the tourist posters showed. Turkey tourism has led us on because you cannot swim in the natural pools overlooking the town; you can only swim in one bathhouse on top of the cliff. We decided not to spend US $30 each for this not-as-exciting experience and instead watched an amorous mallard have his way with a young, good-lucking duck in the lake at the bottom of the hillside.

The Calcium Carbonate-Covered Hillside Looks Like a Ski Slope.

Bonnie Tells Us That We Basically Have the Same Picture in Each Place. We Actually Aren’t Traveling the World; We’re Just in Front of a Green Screen.

Being out for a few hours was waaaaaaaaay too much for our lazy bums, so we headed back to the hotel when thunder crashed. It rained for a bit, but then the sun came out as it continued to thunder. Bizarre.

Yes, we’re in Turkey and should be out and about exploring, but sometimes it’s nice just to have a lazy day, especially when a friend visits. Back in New York, Bonnie comes over to our apartment to watch trashy reality TV all the time, so today was a good reminder of what we’re missing.

The Shortcut

Our destination after Aphrodisias was Pamukkale (more on the town later). The guy at reception at our hotel in Selcuk kindly gave us directions between the two towns and even told us of a shortcut that would cut out about 30 miles. We’re all for saving gas, so we decided to follow his advice. His last words of caution? “The road may be dirt for two or three kilometers, but that’s it. Don’t worry. It will save you time.”

Bonnie ceded her position of driver to Mike. A quick interjection: Turkey is the first country since Cambodia that drives on the right side of the road. Keep in mind that was almost six months ago. We are completely used to left-side road rules by now, and so it’s a bit confusing for us when walking across the street. Our natural instinct now is to look to the right first. Whoops. When Mike jumped into the driver’s seat, he had a moment of confusion: “Think right, Mike. Think right. Stay on the right side, Mike. RIGHT.” When he went to hit the turn signal on the right-hand side of the steering wheel, he was annoyed that the windshield wiper came on. It sounds pretty dumb, but it took extreme concentration to realize that the turn signals are on the left side of the wheel. Since we really don’t drive at home and have been used to the New Zealand cars, we’re all messed up.

We couldn’t quite find the shortcut at first, but we stopped and asked directions…three times. The route became clear, and the road turned to dirt. We knew we were going the right way. What the guy at reception had neglected to mention, however, was that the dirt road became a mountainous dirt road. It went on for much longer than two or three kilometers, so Bonnie is really glad Mike drove. Many more times than once, the ladies yelled at Mike to slow down, even though he was going like 0.2 miles per hour. The road winded its way up and down the mountainside, and we passed two cars on the ride. Two. The only signs of life we saw were dogs that insisted on chasing the car, donkeys that stared us down, and black goats on the side of the road.

Being the city kid that she is, Bonnie had a mini-panic attack because of the steep cliffs. Mike and Hanna, however, reassured her that this was nothing compared to parts of New Zealand. An hour later we finally finished the shortcut. Be assured it wasn’t a shortcut. Bonnie maintains it was a pretty drive though. (No pictures exist as our knuckles were too white.)

We finally arrived to our hotel in Pamukkale. Though this hotel is absolutely massive, we think we are the only ones staying here. Keys are in the doors of all of the other rooms indicating they are empty. Kinda feels a little Shining-esque… It’s a bit old and rundown, but it’s cheap with friendly staff. (Thanks, Bonnie.) This town is known for its hot springs, so it’s packed during the summer. Uh, it’s not summer here as it’s about 55 degrees. Many restaurants are empty or not even open, but we finally settled on one for dinner:

Kebabs Cooked on Stove Grills.

Since it was even colder at night, we curled up in our triple room to watch The Real Housewives of Orange County. Mike complained the whole time. Those women are obnoxious.

Aphrodisiacs

Upon planning this trip, Bonnie decided that we needed to rent a car in order to see more ruins in Turkey. Since we blindly follow, a car was delivered to our hotel in Selcuk at 9:30 yesterday morning. Bonnie was dead set on visiting Aphrodisias, an old Roman town in which the goddess Aphrodite had a cult following way back when. Since we are Team Turkish Ruins, we knew we had to go there. For the first leg of the trip, Bonnie was the driver, Mike was the navigator, and Hanna was the Dramamine-laden backseat driver (obviously). The drive took about two hours, and Bonnie didn’t kill us. We were happy.

Hanna Thinks This Is Mount Doom.

What we weren’t so happy about: the price of gas. We thought New Zealand had high gas prices; we now yearn for those relatively low prices. After all conversions are made, the price per gallon here is about US $10.09.  Yes, TEN DOLLARS PER GALLON. We’re glad we are not driving all that far and are splitting the cost with another person.

Hanna was feeling a bit Dramamined out, so she decided to curl up in the car to rest as Mike and Bonnie visited the ruins at Aphrodisias. After parking in an abnormally expensive parking lot, we were driven to the actual site via an enclosed wagon attached to a tractor:

Our Bizarre Ride.

The ruins at Aphrodisias were actually a lot more impressive than Ephesus. (The best part? Mike got in for free by using his student ID. Score.) Don’t get us wrong; we liked Ephesus. Ephesus kinda felt like random ruins placed throughout an area which was a town at some point, whereas Aphrodisias felt like a city. You could see and feel the layout. The town meeting hall, the theater, the baths, the temple… Most of the buildings were paid for by local prominent citizen Zoilus, so we were just waiting for him to pop out to say hello. We felt like we were ancient Aphrodisiacs.

Again it’s easier just to show some pictures rather than blather on about nothing:

The Gate Leading to the Temple of Aphrodite.

Temple of Aphrodite.

Town Meeting Hall.

Theater. Not as Big as Ephesus…

Bonnie Being Really Mature and Picking This Guy’s Nose.

The Massive Stadium. Speaking of Noses, Take a Look at Mike’s Gigantic-Looking Beak. Seriously. Look at It.

We wandered around for about two hours. Bonnie tried to adopt yet another cat. She now has rabies. There was a bigger-than-expected museum which we thought cost more money, yet somehow we walked right in. Since Aphrodisias is near a marble quarry, the ancient city had tons of statues which were excavated and are now displayed in the museum:

Little Friend Sittin’ on Big Friend’s Shoulder.

We passed on the tractor ride back to the parking lot as it was only a five-minute walk. Banging on the car window, we woke Hanna up and were on our way.