![Grand adventure](<table style="width:194px;"><tr><td align="center" style="height:194px;background:url(https://www.gstatic.com/pwa/s/v/lighthousefe_20141019.00_p1/transparent_album_background.gif) no-repeat left"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/117262794551578669230/TheGrandAdventure?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-QFD-iUPqGjY/VB27twViKmE/AAAAAAAAGc0/p6UhZsdj3Dc/s160-c/TheGrandAdventure.jpg" width="160" height="160" style="margin:1px 0 0 4px;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/117262794551578669230/TheGrandAdventure?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite" style="color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;">The Grand Adventure</a></td></tr></table>)
Those who know me know that I've been bitten by the bug-I love to travel. And so I'm off to Turkey in a few days. A book I read recently talks about 6 different kinds of travelers (you can take the quiz at http://www.besttripchoices.com/). I seem to fall somewhere between a Venturer and a Mid-Venturer, although this trip may fall more in the Venturer category. Then again, Istanbul is a modern city of more than 12 million people, with a colorful and long history-it was founded in 660 BC. It has been called Byzantium, Nova Roma, Constantinople, Konstantiniye and now Istanbul. Turkey straddles Europe and Asia, and Istanbul does too. One of the things I plan to do is cross the Bosphorus and see both sides of the city.
It will be mid-August when I arrive, and Ramadan will have just begun-the ninth and holiest month in the Islam calendar. The faithful will abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk for about 30 days. This will probably have some impact on me as I travel, as some restaurants will close.
I'm traveling light again, as I did on the India trip. It's so freeing to be able to easily carry all my belongings and not have to pull a roller bag behind me. I won't have to check any luggage and I'm limiting my book supply to 2, other than my guidebook. Oh, I also have a small Turkish phrase book, which I should be studying right now. Oh, yeah and one small book to study for my classes, which start shortly after I get back. If only I didn't need to pack clothes.
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If you want to get notified when I post, sign up as a follower. And please please please comment! I like to read your comments and then I don't feel as though I'm in a vacuum. If you are not signed up as a follower, and you post a comment, it helps if you put your name in the comment, otherwise I can't tell who posted it. I have found I really enjoy traveling alone, but I also like the connection that this blog provides. Sometimes I stand in the middle of a mass of people in a foreign place and marvel that no one in the world knows where I am at that moment. Then in the next thought-no one will know where to find my body! So this blog is a nice way to feel connected, while still having my adventure.
In an effort to keep you from feeling like a hoover, I'm very excited to follow your trip, and I hope you're able to post photos along the way as well so we can better visualize your musings. It appears you'll be 10 hours ahead of us there so it will be like a time warp; what you report will be in our future. Can you work on stock movement so I can realize a tangible benefit from your travel!
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