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
Around the World in Eighty Liters 