A cornocopia of items of interest:
First, and of the utmost importance to all readers, my birthday will be taking place again this year. It happens to fall on the same day as last year, July 11th. I expect all of you to call me with glad tidings at 773-764-4069. If you don't have something nice to say, say something dirty.
Second: zomg, I'm going to Turkey in 18 days! I'm excited and terrified. One cool thing: I have calculated in US dollars how much I'll be spending on hotels for the 13 nights I'll be there (4 different hotels, as we'll be moving around a bit), and the whole shebang, with tax, comes out to . . . $589.48. Wow. That's an average of $45.34/night. Pretty good! Want to see where I'm staying?
Here: http://www.barinhotel.com/
And here: http://www.kiwipension.com/
Then here: http://www.helenhotel.com/
And finally here: http://www.nezihotel.com/english/
Any advice for a first time world traveler? How to stay entertained on an airplane for +10 hours? Must-have items for traveling? A recommendation for a decent camera for an amatuer without delusions of grandeur to take?
Thirdly, I made a fool out of myself today, attempting to parallel park. As a sidenote, everytime I spell "parallel" properly, unaided by any sort of spellcheck, I feel a little thrill. Parallel. Parallel. Pararararllellelelllelelelelellllel! It's a fine word, the sort of word you'd want to take home to meet your parents. In regard to parking, however, it sucks ass. Arizona may be a stinking cesspool of racism these days, but one thing you can say for the place, by gum, is that it doesn't mess around with any of this parallel parking, no sir. Straight in, straight out, you're done. We call that urban planning, bitches. Look into it.
Fourthly, Papa Bear is in Lebanon this week, having wacky adventures, no doubt. The cat and I miss him. We'll just have to take comfort in each others arms in his absence.
Fifthly, Lake Shore Drive is the only road I know where I can drive 15 miles over the speed limit and still be left in the dust by everyone. And there's a whole lot of everyone to be left in the dust by! I don't know who they're kidding with their little speed limit signs on that road. It's not even that people look on them as a suggestion; no, they see them as an insult.
That's all for now.
7 comments:
Oh great! Now the stalkers have your phone number and can track you down in Turkey. I guess you don't understand how well financed stalkers are.
I gave the stalkers my numbers in last year's birthday post, too. I'm still waiting to be stalked. Doesn't anybody love me?
A trip to Turkey sounds fabulous. I'm so jealous! :) --Brasidas
How exciting! I look forward to hearing all about it!
If you are interested in games, I'd suggest taking a Nintendo DS onto the flight, in addition to some reading material. (The DS has the bonus of taking up less space than the number of books needed to keep one occupied for 10 hours.) Let me know if you'd like to borrow mine & any games I have & I can mail it to you next week.
I'm not well traveled myself so this may not apply to Turkey, but I suggest having the address(es) of the places where you will be staying accessible for when you go through customs. I was surprised to be asked to provide the address where I'd be staying when I went to Bermuda. I didn't have it, as friends were meeting me, so I ended up looking up an address in the guide book I brought.
A guide book! Passes the time on the plane and potentially useful when you are there.
I don't have a specific camera recommendation but one well-traveled friend of mine suggests taking a (digital) camera that uses actual batteries. This way, should your batteries run out while you are out for the day, you don't miss taking pictures the rest of the day. Of course, if you have a digital camera, you'd also need to consider something to download your pictures to, or large enough storage to last the entire trip.
I'm not sure about Turkey, but many parts of Asia have what amounts to a hole in the ground for a toilet. Basically, instead of being at regular toilet level, the porcelain bowl is at ground level and below. I think it is also referred to as a squat toilet. It's only intimidating in that no one actually describes how to successfully use it without peeing on oneself. If you wear shorts or pants or underwear of any sort, don't lower them past the knee - go right to knee level where the knee bends. This way when you squat, (all the way down, no hovering here folks) having them at knee level will keep them above and in front of the action. You can also push them forward for added "distance" if you think they might still be in the way. Tourist places sometimes have both types of toilets, so if you see a step under one area but not the other (the view of the floor from outside the stall looks normal), try those first to see if you luck out and get western toilets.
In addition to the different toilet, be sure to bring a package of kleenex in the travel size EVERYWHERE you go - at least one. A small bottle of purelle sanitizer should be carried with you at all times as well. I found that lots of places in China just had the porcelain hole and nothing else. So kleenex = toilet paper and hand sanitizer = next best after soap.
I also found that no one could drink the water in Chine - even those that grew up there, if the setting was in a big city. There are signs everywhere about boiling water. For that reason, I had to keep a bottle of water on me at all times and found I was drinking a lot more soda than normal since it was safe to drink, especially when I went to restaurants. Find out the water situation if you can before you go. Hotels in China gave water to you for free in the hotel room and if you needed more, you could call and get more for free. Check before you do this to avoid any fees.
The long flights I was on had movies and tv shows available for free for the flight. The headsets were also free since it was an international flight, but you may want to find out if that's the case for you as well. I had an extremely hard time sleeping on the flight though since I had no where soft on which to lean. The plastic arm rests hurt after a while, and the tv screen was in the back of the seat in front of each person. I considered buying the U pillows I've seen, but didn't. If you have one, consider bringing it.
I find airline seats shaped incorrectly for me and painfully uncomfortable since they have a 'C' type shape, which pushes my head forward and doesn't support my neck. Again the U pillow might have helped for the long flights.
We had one good meal (pasta) and a bunch of yucky ones (greasy sauce covered chicken or ditto with beef and limpy veggies and dried out brownie/cake square), so bring snacks like small packs of nuts or something. Right after we got our first meal, the flight attendants disappeared for a few hours, so no drinks were available for hours on end. I saw some people get their own from the galley, but it's just easier if you get a bottle or two of water before boarding.
I watched two movies and 3 tv episodes for the flight I just took today and my flight was 11 hours. I did doze for a little bit, and found I was too tired to read. I always get on a flight planning to read, but then never do because I'm tired. I blame the lower pressurization :)
Finally, get some currency and don't rely on just your debit/credit card. Lots of places ended up not taking anything but cash, so go there with some on you. Don't get it at the airport - they rip you off. Try to get it at a bank that has no fees (Wells Fargo) or added charges. Start with your own bank and try others if yours charges you. AAA does charge you - don't use them if you can help it. Try not to get too much money, but just enough. Get the money before you go. Go to whichever bank you will use (or call them) at least 2 weeks before you need the money since they may not have enough and will have to order more. Ask them what real versus fake Turkish currency looks and feels like. China had lots of counterfeit money, which they try to pass off to you when you get change, so if I had brought any back to re-exchange, I could have been royally screwed. One person in our group did just that and ended up losing a chunk of money to it being counterfeit.
Don't be afraid to haggle, though check the culture before you do. If it's like China, the price they quote you will be exorbitantly high since you're white and most likely american. Some chopsticks were being sold to me for 300 RMB, but I got them down to 10. Yeah, insane "markup".
Try to learn a few key phrases like "where is the toilet?" and "thank you". That seemed to be appreciated by people I tried it on. A little bit went a long way.I do recommend keeping your passport on you. Our hotels had safes, but there is a master code to open it known by most of the staff, since so many people accidentally lock their documents inside and can't remember their code to get them out. If you do use the safe, have copies of your passport on you at least. Keep your purse in the front, not slung over the back. Assume you can be a target/victim and be a little paranoid by checking for your valuables from time to time while out. 3 guys in our group had cameras or phones stolen right out of their pockets at a club. I personally think they weren't as careful as the women since normally males aren't targets in the US. Also, in that instance the club had a bag check option, which each of those 3 declined. All of the girls checked their purses and none of them had anything stolen.
Counter intuitive, but I think since the locals were checking their bags rather than keeping them on them, it was viewed as normal and the safer option.
notify your bank which debit/credit cards you MAY use while over there. If you don't they tend to decline the cards, thinking the charges fraudulent. If given the option, use your credit card rather than you debit card, but have both approved for use by the bank just in case.
Find out what the tipping situation is in Turkey. Find out how insane driving or getting a taxi is. I know you've gone vegetarian, so make sure that you can communicate that. If you have to eat meat, find out what parts your eating. In China, they'd label something as chicken, but it may be chicken feet or chicken knuckles.
Bring pepto bismal chewables and a laxative with you. If you have problems (diarrhea) use the pepto and maybe have a banana and try not to use ammodium stuff unless absolutely necessary (i.e. you've been having problems all week). Ammodium tends to cause the exact opposite problem...
Call me if you have any q's :)
I did call and leave a message for you birthday, since you didn't answer the phone. Does that count as "stalking"? It would be easier to stalk you if I had a clue what you looked like and if you lived anywhere near me.
In order to facilitate my stalking- Send me any pictures of yourself you want to. The less clothing the better! Hurry! Before you think about it too long!
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