Istanbul or bust: an update.

Turkey Update:

With tickets looking to be in the 2,000$ range, a May trip to Turkey may be out of reach…and Golden Week would only allow me 5-7 days to cram everything in…I may have to pass, even though it will mean missing the chance to travel a bit with Nourah and meet fellow LJ’er Sophie.

Today is my first day of the new work year and the first day I can start asking for time off between now and the end of September. My bosses have changed (I think for the better, the new boss was vice-boss last year and is a sympathetic man who has already taken it upon himself to figure out that I had NO clue about commuter passes that would lessen my daily transport fees. If my attempt to buy two different types fail today, he will meet me at the train station in the morning and help me buy some…and he’s a big fan of Haruki Murakami), the Milkman’s Sister is gone, I have seven returning support staff and five new team members (good-bye Phonics Obsessed!), and I have the general schedule for next year. I’ve been going over it and underlining anything that looks like it might require me in the summer (key kanji are “foreign language” and “English” as I scan) and asking questions of clarification.

I’ve written my travel agent to start looking at prices in late July to August and early September. I want to get a ticket as soon as possible so I have that part paid for, asked for, and blocked out. And can start getting places to stay and such. I need this trip to happen. Neither the Tayyar tour nor one featuring Ahmet Ogren fall within my windows of travel, but Ahmet I can book. This may mean no trip to Seattle/Portland this summer for me (a shame, because I do miss my peeps there and I was looking forward to the chance to meet Artemisia)...July and August are supposed to be inhumanly hot in Turkey but I can’t imagine it is much worse than Tokyo summers. It would also mean lower fees on the Turkey side of things and more time to save more money…and if there is any space left, the ability to spend part of Golden Week in workshops with Aziza.

…who knows, maybe missing my summer trip to American would mean I finally return to the Midwest for winter break.

Istanbul or bust: an update.

Turkey Update:

With tickets looking to be in the 2,000$ range, a May trip to Turkey may be out of reach…and Golden Week would only allow me 5-7 days to cram everything in…I may have to pass, even though it will mean missing the chance to travel a bit with Nourah and meet fellow LJ’er Sophie.

Today is my first day of the new work year and the first day I can start asking for time off between now and the end of September. My bosses have changed (I think for the better, the new boss was vice-boss last year and is a sympathetic man who has already taken it upon himself to figure out that I had NO clue about commuter passes that would lessen my daily transport fees. If my attempt to buy two different types fail today, he will meet me at the train station in the morning and help me buy some…and he’s a big fan of Haruki Murakami), the Milkman’s Sister is gone, I have seven returning support staff and five new team members (good-bye Phonics Obsessed!), and I have the general schedule for next year. I’ve been going over it and underlining anything that looks like it might require me in the summer (key kanji are “foreign language” and “English” as I scan) and asking questions of clarification.

I’ve written my travel agent to start looking at prices in late July to August and early September. I want to get a ticket as soon as possible so I have that part paid for, asked for, and blocked out. And can start getting places to stay and such. I need this trip to happen. Neither the Tayyar tour nor one featuring Ahmet Ogren fall within my windows of travel, but Ahmet I can book. This may mean no trip to Seattle/Portland this summer for me (a shame, because I do miss my peeps there and I was looking forward to the chance to meet Artemisia)...July and August are supposed to be inhumanly hot in Turkey but I can’t imagine it is much worse than Tokyo summers. It would also mean lower fees on the Turkey side of things and more time to save more money…and if there is any space left, the ability to spend part of Golden Week in workshops with Aziza.

…who knows, maybe missing my summer trip to American would mean I finally return to the Midwest for winter break.