60 Days From Today....

OK, here we go, I am beginning the 60 day countdown to my Turkey trip today. In just 2 months I will be heading off to the hustle and bustle of Istanbul and the otherworldly landscape of Cappodocia capped off with a "toe dunking" in the blue Aegean Sea.

I am ready to go now if truth be told. And like last year with my trip to Central Europe the pre-trip office coordination is going to drive me over the edge. I can already see that there are going to be work issues that arise just prior to my departure. However, I am going to try my best to have loose ends tied up so that I can leave with an easy feeling. It all worked out last year when I was gone for four weeks, so it should work just as smoothly this year when I will be out of the office for only 3 weeks...but I know myself well, and will be a big ball of stress right up until the last minute.

Luckily by tending to all the trip details, final confirmations and my suitcase packing rituals, I should be able to calm down. Interesting how the act of preparing for a trip has a calming effect on my work/office related anxiety!

Turkey here I come! :)

Hmmmm...Do I dare think I could be a travel writer???

Just yesterday in the local newspaper there was a little "blurb" on the travel section page. Yes, the local newspaper doesn't have an enormous travel section, but I will take the one page. Anyway, the "blurb" was asking readers to send in something about their favorite recent trip or helpful travel hint, or travel related do's and don'ts.

This got me thinking....hey, maybe I should forward my trip report from my Central Europe trip last year. It certainly was one of my favorite trips, even though I wouldn't call it fairly recent, at least it's less then a year old. Then I also got to thinking about the first time travel tips I put together for my cousin on her first trip to Europe and thought some of that information could be really useful to anyone traveling.

So, my game plan is to go through both documents, they are kind of lengthy, and edit them a bit and send an email to the newspaper contact to see if they are interested in putting any of my "travel notes" in the local paper...hey I could be a "budding" Rick Steves!

Happy Travels!

Ireland 2008 Postponed...

The stars just don't seem to be lining up for me to put this trip together. There was some interest, but not a whole lot.

Then there was the issue of renewing my passport. My passport expires in September 2008. With the new passport requirements for traveling to Canada, Mexico, and the Carribbean it is taking about 14 weeks to process passport renewal applications. Since I will be going to Rome in December I can't send in the renewal until after I get back in January, and I need to have at least between 3 - 6 months of validity on my passport to travel and if I wait until after May to renew, that shoots the travel time frame allowed. So if I plan to go to Ireland in May it could be cutting it close getting my new passport...so, I may move back the Ireland trip to later in 2008, or pick another destination for 2008.

Stay tuned...there is always some new destination I'm interested in...lately it's been Buenos Aires, Argentina and if I wait to travel towards the end of 2008, South America will be "in summer"! Hmmmmm...that option is starting to look better and better! :)

71 Days until My "Turkey Day" ;)

Yesiree...2 and half-ish months from now I will be bound for Istanbul and a 2 and a half week jaunt through Turkey!

I've read my Fodor's Turkey guidebook and the brand spanking new Rick Steves' Istanbul guidebook cover to cover. I've scoured the internet in search of restaurant recommendations and most all the trip details are in place and I am ready and roarin' to go!

Just the other day CL and decided that since our flight out of Savannah is at 7am we would book a hotel room for the night before the flight at the Savannah Airport. This way we can get "maximum sleep time"!

Since CL works at the Westin here in Hilton Head she can get a discounted rate of $50 at other hotels in the "Westin Family (Starwood Hotels). So we booked a room at the Four Points by Sheraton at the Savannah Airport.

Now we just have to figure out the logistics of getting over to the Savannah Airport hotel. There's the option of asking a friend to drive us over there and drop us off at the hotel and then someone would have to pick us up upon our return. I also thought about possibly driving there ourselves and leaving the car in the hotel parking lot, like the park and fly options some hotels have. But when I called the hotel to ask about this I was told they do not have a park and fly rate...hmmmm...I may have to make an appearance at their front desk and ask a "real person".

I also considered parking the car in the long-term parking lot at the airport. Yes, it would be for 3 weeks, but if we cancelled the hotel and just drove over the morning of the flight out, it would be 20 days of parking. The charge is $35 per week, so it would be about $105. If CL and I split that it would be just over $50 each. Yes, more then the cost of the hotel room for a night, but less expensive then the airport shuttle van, which is $60 per person round trip from my house.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

Then there is the hotel for one night in NYC on our return. I'm still working on that. We're trying to see if we can get CL's discount at one of the Starwood hotels in NYC (A Westin, Four Points or Sheraton)...NYC is such an expensive market, so we may not be able to get the discount but we keep trying! :) That is one thing I miss terribly about not working in the hotel business...employee discounts were one of the best benefits! It will all work out in the end!