Turkey Pre Trip Blog

Hello everyone.  We are really excited to share our plans for our trips with our avid readers…both of you. 🙂

First, we thought we would explain why we chose Turkey (as unsexy as the reasons are).

• 10 hour direct flight from Boston to Istanbul (Last years flight to Africa felt very long)
• Lots of opportunities for hiking (We have had a really fun summer hiking)- that do NOT require camping
• Great food
• 1st world, developed nation (a change from last year)

Of course we are planning on being charmed by Turkey and loving it, but we really picked it for its convenience…

As usual, our journey will start on foot from our house tomorrow (October 9) night where we will walk to Peggy’s house for a goodbye dinner and then get on the train to Woburn.  Then, the Logan Express from there to the airport where we will fly direct overnight to Istanbul, landing Saturday evening (+ 7 hr time difference).  A quick layover and then a flight to Antalya on the south coast where we spend the night.  The next morning we will take a bus to the other end of the Lycian Way (described below) to really start our trip.

We are planning on spending three weeks in Turkey and have divided our trip into three main legs.

1st Leg – Lycian Way

The Lycian is a long distance foodpath around the coast in what was anciently called Lycia.  The whole trail is about 330 miles, but we will only be doing part of the trail. It is yet to be determined as to whether this will be an epic hike with many hours and miles of hiking each day and tired legs each night or a restful journal with a few sunny hours of hiking and afternoons spent relaxing….we will see…and you can predict 🙂

The blue box in the image below shows the location of the Lycian Way. For those concerned, note how FAR it is from the Syrian border.  For those who don’t know where the Syrian border is even with the map…chill out.  You are clearly not as up to date on the world as you think.

Although our schedule is somewhat flexible, we plan on spending about 10 days hiking here from hotel to hotel.

That is basically what we will look like.

2nd Leg – Cappadocia

Cappadocia is a region with a very unique geography with amazing rock formations.  There are lots of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors.  We plan on spending about 5 days in this area (Peggy will be joining us here) doing day hiking/ walking and thankfully not carrying our bags. Unfortunately the only way to connect from the coast to here is a very loooooooonng bus ride….details later.

3rd Leg – Istanbul

The remainder of our trip will be spent in the ancient city of Istanbul (formerly known as Constantinople), hopefully eating lots of food.

There is a lot to see and do here, including shopping the grand bazaar and seeing the noteworthy mosques.

Although the weather can be on the cool side (particularly in Istanbul) this time of year, in general the weather should be good and mostly dry.  The south coast (should) be warm (> 75 and sunny) so we’re hoping for beaching and swimming between our hiking.

We are packing SUPER light because we will be carrying all our stuff for the first ten days.  Our bags are about 15lbs each without water.  Carry-on only for us!  Don’t worry, we will be doing laundry every 5-6 days.

Packing list for those who are interested (and those who aren’t)!!

• 3-4 short sleeve hiking shirts, 1 long sleeve hiking shirt, 1-2 warmer shirts (fleeces)
• synthetic down jackets that are water resistant
• bathing suits, one towel
• 2-3 pairs hiking shorts, 1-2 pairs hiking pants (Sue fewer shorts and more pants, Janna opposite)
• tablet (which acts as a kindle) and another kindle and appropriate charge
• cell phone (which will not work as a phone but works for our hiking app/ GPS, Viber text messaging, email)
• 6  pairs underwear, 4-5 pairs of socks
• < 3 oz of all toiletries- sunblock is the fullest container!
• 1 pair light hiking gloves
• our lightweight running/ hiking bags for day trips with their bladders
• extra water bottle each, 6 Quest bars for emergencies
• first aid kit with lots of medicines and bandaids
• trail running shoes that we love + flipflops
• camera and charger
• Turkish money, passports, credit cards, visas
• Lonely Planet guidebook + Lycian Way guidebook
• Emergency rain ponchos- we are risking no rain coats…but may have peggy bring them to us.  She will also bring Rick Steves Istanbul
• headlamp
• 2 fork/spoons

We are not quite as prepared for this trip in terms of planning as we are for our previous trips…but I guess it will just be more of an adventure!