every time i see a blog post or a message board thread titled "turkey," my initial thought is that it's about the country i just visited and not the holiday tomorrow. i am so un-american! ;)

'nough said.

i just had a 31 hour day of travel. to top it all off, i went to the istanbul airport straight from our favorite bar in istanbul. 31 hours after leaving istanbul, i am home. there were weather delays in amsterdam this morning. jetlag has kind of sunk in, therefore the photos are all up. all of them. including the orgasmic ones from the grand bazar that i put on the wrong memory card and had no access to in turkey.

all is well here. cats are on crack (and happy to see me). i am smashed (so tired) and not even thinking about unpacking until monday. indigo girls tickets for the bloomington, illinois (not indiana, high road) are purchased. things are same old same old. except that my body thinks that it's 8am.

thanks to jetlag, i'm sure i'll be up at 3am. feel free to call me... ;)

LOTS OF TURKEY PHOTOS!

including... a night at a bar in kusadasi!

i am currently in kusadasi, which is a major cruise ship port. that's fine. it's an adorable town on the coast of the aegean sea, and it's sunny out today! anyway, i just jacked some free wifi from a ship in port across the street (i am right on the water) and uploaded some photos fro troy, some ruins of an old mental hospital near bergama, and... photos from lesvos island in greece (lesbian island). i am about to upload some pics of kusadasi from my balcony as well. they're all in my flickr.

eventually i will write real travel blogs. for now, enjoy my photos!

today was a really amazing day. it was a lot of driving, but we saw some amazing scenery (and made plenty of stops). tonight we crossed (by ferry) from europe over to asia, and i have to say, it feels so good to be back on asian soil (it's been a few years). anyway, i will let the photos speak for themselves. anyway, this morning was rough. we partied (typical sta fashion) into the early hours of morning last night. but it was all worth it. i really like turkey because it reminds me of several places i have been (greece, thailand, vietnam - which makes sense because it spans europe and asia), yet it's like nowhere. mosques dot the countryside. you can hear the muslim call to prayer several times a day. yet turkey is a secular (and tolerant) country. it's not as cheap as it used to be though. the dollar is weak and the turkish lira is fairly strong. istanbul is an expensive city! but now we're out of istanbul and in this beautiful seaside town called canakkale.

later, y'all!

photo set with a lot of added photos!

here are a few photos from turkey!

to flickr you go!

i will upload more as i go!

i am not going to lie; i have not read one word on my friends list since late late thursday night. but here i am in istanbul (currently on the european side), turkey. the flight(s) was ridiculous! it wasn't so much the length of the flights themselves (i don't mind a long flight), it was all of the layovers: way too much time in minneapolis and not enough time (to really do anything) in amsterdam. when my flight touched down in istanbul, i was road weary, tired, grumpy, dirty, and relieved to be in turkey.

i don't want to be jet lagged the entire time, so i took a shower and went straight to the bazaar. it was... wow. the turks, unlike the chinese, thai, vietnamese, and several others, aren't super aggressive merchants. there were the usual cat calls, but no grabbing or following, which, after traveling all over southeast asia, i appreciated. i didn't buy anything, but i took some orgasmic photos. sadly, i used the wrong memory card and won't be able to upload them until i am home and have my cables. but i already swapped out the memory card, and for now on i should be able to upload the rest of my photos instantly.

it's 1130pm here now, and i was torn as to whether i should go out tonight or not. in the end, i chose not to. i need to get some sleep. though i did sleep on the plane(s), plane sleep is not real sleep. i have a busy day in istanbul ahead of me tomorrow, and i want to be awake. not counting plane sleep, i have been up since 445am on friday, california time. there will be plenty of other nights to go out - right now i need to sleep.

more tomorrow... after i get some good sleep!

i'm leaving for the airport to go to turkey in like three hours.

why i am not asleep is a mystery to me. oh wait, i had to pack...:/

i hope to blog and post photos from turkey. if not, you will get an earful once i am back in the US.

turkey here i come!

i need a vacation. badly. at least i am leaving for turkey really soon. i can't wait! i have never been to turkey, so i am pretty stoked. in the end, i decided not to cut my trip over there short to try to get to sydney for the final two indigo girls australian dates. wise decision, i think. for one, i have been to australia, and i have never been to turkey, so i want to get as much out of turkey as possible. secondly, the flights were ridiculous. i would have seriously had to cut my trip to turkey shoirt because it would have taken me nearly three days to get to australia. yup. istanbul to london, london to hong kong or singapore, hk or singapore to sydney. no thank you. i've seen the indigo girls nearly 30 times this year alone. no need to cut turkey short to hear "power of two" live for the whatever-th time.

so anyway, i am stoked for turkey. the spice markets, the history, the east meets west factor, the semi-exoticness (but not as exotic as other places i've visited), the shopping... hello! i can't fucking wait. and as an added bonus i get a side trip to amsterdam. of course i love amsterdam. of course.

and no, i am not going anywhere near the iraqi border. i will be fine. i promise.

with all the cat drama going on in my life, i think that i failed to mention that i got my tickets to turkey. 2-11 november, i'll be gone, bitches! oh, and it's via amsterdam and if that flight gets delayed, y'all know where to find me. ;)

(and if i failed to mention that i am even going to turkey, i am sorry...)

anyway, i am quite excited. i have not been abroad since febuary, and i have the travel bug. bad.