Home Again, Home Again
In one sense, the good news is that I didn't wake up to my 02:30 alarm. Instead I woke up a couple times throughout the night, checking my clock to make sure I hadn't somehow slept through my alarm. Finally, I woke up at 2am
Topic
istanbul-2026
A collection of 13 posts
Meetings and Mosques
I woke up this morning at precisely 6am (it's strange how that keeps happening). I got to work packing. It feels a bit premature, but I'll likely have no time to pack between this little bit of quiet time in the morning, until after our team
Tomorrow is the Final Day!
I woke up this morning right at 6am. I slept on the couch again. I used my Apple track jacket as a blanket. I can't say it's the most amazing sleep in the world, but at least I'm not sweating like when I try
Back to the Grind in Istanbul
I'm counting down the days until I "get" to spend twenty-six hours traveling door-to-door: just three more work days, including eating out for two team dinners. It feels very daunting.
Sleeping on the couch last night worked out okay. I actually got a bit chilly at
More Balloons and Back to Istanbul
The most exciting surprise for today is that our checkout time from our hotel is 10am, and our shuttle to the airport arrives around 4pm. Six hours of bright, cloudless, hot, summer weather to endure.
In hindsight, we should have rented one of the rooms for an extra day, and
Hot Air Balloons Everywhere
I pictured at most maybe a few hot air balloons. Cappadocia had hundreds. Ours alone held thirty people across nine compartments, and by mid morning the sky over a single field was so crowded with balloons it hardly looked real. Somehow the highlight of the day was a lady making a carpet.
Dryer Water Trap-What?
A dryer with a water trap you have to empty by hand, a coastline I kept hunting for in a town that has none, a hotel room carved out of solid rock, and a four a.m. wake up call. European appliances and landlocked Cappadocia both had lessons for me this weekend. You learn something new every day.
On a Moonlit Night
Up before five, alone in the quiet while a house full of coworkers slept, I went hunting for the waterfront and found a mall with a giant wall built to hide the sea. The workday was calm and nearly wordless. But at night this neighborhood erupts into crowds I have not seen anywhere in years.
Two Hours of Sleep and it is Time for Meetings!
How little sleep can a person actually function on? I managed two hours in the first forty, three in the first forty-eight, and a knock at the door every time I closed my eyes. When I skipped the Turkish bath to rest, I earned a lecture on powering through. Eight more days of this to go.
From Paris with Love
I immigration, customs, and (miraculously) was reunited with my checked bag. Then: a vanishing Uber driver, a cash-only taxi, a sketchy neighborhood, and riddle-like instructions to get into the rental house. It was less hassle getting from Tennessee to Istanbul than from the taxi to my bed.
