Sometime in the spring, Tim came to me with the magic words "I think I'm going to have a meeting in Istanbul this year... would you like to come along?"
Uh. Yes.
We'd had our eyes on Turkey for years, ever since our trip to Tunisia. It seemed that every other tourist we met was a jolly sunburned northern European who said "You've GOT to go to Turkey!!"
Beaches, ruins, spice markets, meat-on-a-stick-Turkey had all the earmarks of a serious Missy/Tim trip.
Planning the trip involved some serious pruning out of wonders. We won't see Pammukale, the "Cotton Castle" of travertine terraces topped with a hot spring and the sunken ruins of a temple. We won't see Ephesus, with the best-preserved ancient library in the world.
There will be beach. There will be ruins. There will be a mountain with mysterious, unquenchable flames jetting out from between rocks. There will be a hammam, mosques, silk, and carpets. There will be duck noodles. Lots of duck noodles.
The plan is for Tim to fly to Dubai for 4 days, head over to Istanbul and visit a couple of grease factories (he prefers to call then "lubricant plants"), then meet me at the airport for a quick flight down to the southern coast. We'll be staying in a little wooden cabin on this lovely beach in a tiny town called Cirali. Four days later, we fly back to Istanbul for Tim's second meeting-while he's working, I'll be playing.
Anyway, the trip was planned, the details executed-and then the chance to slip on over to Bangkok came up. Seems there was a convenient little neurology meeting that needed covering. Seems I need some geography lessons. Isn't Bangkok close to Istanbul? It's only like 3 inches away on the globe that sits in our bedroom. It seemed like such a great idea to piggyback it all together-for Tim to leave Istanbul and come home the morning of Oct. 24, for me to head out that evening for Bangkok.
We'll see.
Tonight is the calm before the storm.
Tomorrow-10 a.m., cover webinar on H1N1 flu. Write story. 1 p.m. phone meeting to discuss Bangkok agenda. Pack. Clean house. Write notes to Matt's teachers, Rachel, Mom and Dad, and Pat and Bob (who are all tag-teaming to take care of Matt). Pick up car from repair shop. Pay bills. And oh yeah-get another MRI at 7 p.m. Did I mention the MRI? Did I mention the headache I've had since Aug. 29? Did I mention that I'll need a separate carryon for all the pills for the headache, when I get on the plane on Friday morning?
No?
Well, like I said, we'll see how it all works out.
Our Cirali hotel-Bellerophon
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