Walking in Cappadocia (Photo courtesy of Ben Hanna)

Well, despite my mother’s worst fears, I made it to Istanbul alive and well. My friend Susy picked me up at the airport after 24 hours of traveling and said, “take a shower, eat dinner and get packed because we are leaving at 4AM to fly to Cappadocia.”

When I arrived at our apartment I did just that and grabbed five hours of sleep before heading out on the next adventure.

We flew into Kayseri on Friday morning and had a minibus waiting for us to take us to Goreme where we had reservations at a hostel that was carved into a cave. Most of us were exhausted and lay down to nap for a couple hours until lunchtime. After lunch we walked to the open-air museum where we toured different ancient cathedrals cut into the rock. It’s pretty amazing to think that these caves were intricately decorated with carvings and frescos at one point.

Trail in Swords Valley

After an hour at the open-air museum we decided to hike through the open valleys of Goreme. It was quite an adventure to hike along trails and find small openings that led into cavernous rooms or tunnels that popped out on the other side of mountains.

I did a pretty good job of resisting jet lag, but by 9PM I was exhausted and passed out in bed only to wake up the next morning at 4AM. It was still dark out and nobody else was awake so I lay there until it began to get light outside and the call to prayer resonated from the mosque. I spent a couple hours on Saturday morning walking around and watched the sun rise over the hills of Goreme. It was great to have time along with my thoughts and take in the breathtaking scenery.

On Saturday a group of us rented scooters and toured the countryside of Cappadocia. We must have looked ridiculous to people who saw us coming down the road: five scooters and a dirt bike full of tourists dressed in random pieces of warm clothing. We traveled to various areas of fairy chimneys and climbed up on a rock that looked like a camel. We hiked through Rose Valley where there are a lot of ancient churches carved into the rock. At one point we hiked to the top of a plateau where there was a beautiful apricot tree blooming in the middle of the harsh terrain. We spent an hour just climbing the tree and basking in it beautiful blossoms.

Ben, Casey and Lucas at the Camel Rock

We ended the day by parking our bikes on a cliff and climbing up to sit on rocks that hanged over a 100 ft drop to watch the sunset.

For dinner that night we went to a restaurant recommended by a local CouchSurfer called Goreme Restaurant. It was a wonderful place. When you walk in you have to take off your shoes and step up to the sitting area, which is a pile of pillows on the floor. The food was good and the spiced wine was delicious! After a long day of riding around and hiking in the mountains laying down on comfortable pillows was the perfect end!

Sunday was just as adventurous as the previous days.

My friend, Meredith, and I woke up at sunrise and walked about a kilometer to where the hot air balloons were taking off. Cappadocia is famous for its morning hot air balloon rides. We were surprised to find dozens of balloons being filled with hot air and packed with about 20 tourists in the baskets. It was really fun to watch them hovering across the horizon.

Filling the hot air balloons at sunrise

For the rest of the day we rented a van to drive us around to al l the sites that were further away from Goreme. We explored the underground city, Derinkuyu, which is where the local people would go and hide while armies marched through the region in the 12th century. The underground city is over 100 ft down into the ground and has several airshafts that go as deep as the river that runs below it. It is a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms and it was fun to get lost down there. Although, the people back then were a lot shorter than we are today and it got annoying having to stoop the entire time we were in the city.

Jumping in Cappadocia

We had lunch outside of the valley of Ihlara and hiked through the park for a couple hours afterwards. It was really nice to get to spend time next to a river and enjoy the sunshine.

Mandy at Ihlara Valley river

We ended Sunday by going to a huge monastery carved into the side of a mountain called Selime Monastery. The price of admission is included in the ticket to Ihlara Valley. At one point a small group of us decided to climb all the way to the top of narrow steep stairs that were carved into tunnels. Parts of the tunnel have eroded and as we were climbing up we would pop out into an area that had no wall or handrail and was a couple hundred-foot drop onto rocks below. My fear of heights definitely kicked in and it was hard to get to the top. The terror was totally worth it though, because once we got to the top, the view was spectacular and the adrenaline rush only made it better.

We had a little drama getting back to Istanbul on Monday. We were supposed to fly from Kayseri to Istanbul in the morning, but it began raining and the airport doesn’t have IFR so they couldn’t land any planes and all the flights were cancelled. None of us speak Turkish very well, so it was quite the adventure figuring out how to get 10 people back to Istanbul. 15 hours and 4 bus rides later, we made it home without too much incident.

Meredith under the magic tree in Rose Valley

In one week I will be loading up my car with all my worldly possessions and driving up from San Francisco to Seattle where I will store it with my Aunt Sue.

On March 10, I am out of here! Hopping on a plane to Istanbul, Turkey with a one-way ticket and no plans on returning to the U.S. anytime soon.

The idea of being a vagabond for the next several months is both alluring and frightening at the same time. I think of all the adventures that I am going to have. Rock climbing in Thailand, touring mosques in Istanbul, smelling spring flowers in Paris. The world is my oyster.

Of course, with all adventures come challenges. I suffer from mild chronic fatigue syndrom, a gift from the mono I contracted in high school, that went undiagnosed for four months. It’s not that big of a deal except that I tend to get worn down and sick more easily than most people my age. It also means that I don’t have as much energy to pull all-nighters on trains between destinations or hiking for three days straight. It will be interesting to see how I make sure that I get enough sleep and proper nutrition while on the road.

The unique aspect of this trip is that I will be working remotely the whole time for an international non-profit. It’s exciting to think that I will actually have enough money to do all these adventures without having to live on a shoestring budget. Of course, I will be limited to traveling to locations with good Internet connections so that I can actually make that money.

I will try to keep you updated on my status as things progress. Today I am cleaning my room. Sorting items to take with me, put in storage and throw away. So far the throw away pile has gotten pretty big. And, of course, I will be posting more videos! Yay!

All good things must come to an end. And hopefully, that makes room for even better things!

I have been planning on going to Istanbul, Turkey for a few months now, but it is all finally starting to hit home that I will probably not be back in San Francisco for a long time.

It’s funny how we take things for granted. There are so many things that I have been wanting to do here, but I keep putting them off thinking that I have time to do them later. Perhaps this is an analogy for life as a whole. We think that we have all the time in the world and never manage to get to the things that we really want.

I have approximately one month left in San Francisco. I am taking the LSATs on Saturday, February 6 (wish me luck) and then I am compiling a list of everything that I want to accomplish before I leave the city.

I am also working on flexing my blog muscles. After months of not traveling or writing, they have become quite rusty and I need to get them back in shape if I want to keep track of all my crazy traveling adventures.

So check back soon. I am going to be uploading fun videos and photos of my adventures around this fair city. It should be fun!

Wow! It has been a while since my last post. Life has been extremely busy, as usual.

Jim and I came up to Alaska for Christmas and have pretty much been in a vegetative state since our arrival. My first week wasn’t very fun because I came down with the flu almost immediately after getting here and it was a doozy! I can’t remember the last time that I have been so sick that I had to sleep on the floor of the bathroom for three days.

This last week has been a lot of laziness. The lack of sunlight is really throwing us off. I was shopping with Matt today and he said that we are up to 4 hours and 45 minutes of sunlight a day. Not a lot!

Christmas, at least, was a lot of fun. My brother, Dean, came out from Anchorage and we spent a lot of time playing games as a family. Dean got my parents a Wii for Christmas and we have been enjoying learning the new games. The whole point of having a Wii is to have a game that makes you get up and move, but the guys have pretty much figured out how to play all the games from the couch, so it’s not as effective.

Jim and I are driving down to Homer tomorrow for a couple days to see our friends. I am hoping that it is a lot sunnier down there than it is up here. The last couple of weeks have been so overcast that it is still dark even during the daylight hours.

Jim and I have been going non-stop the last few months. We got back from Central America just in time to pack up for a week of intense camping at Burning Man. Jim was there for 12 days, I was there for 8. We had a great time, but I was ready to come home after a week of extreme dustiness.

We were home less than a week when we packed up again to fly to Seattle for a week. Jim’s favorite band is Pearl Jam and they are playing here tomorrow night. We flew up a few days earlier so that we could spend time with my Aunt Sue.

Having the ability to work from the road is a godsend. I have traveled more in the last 12 months than I have in my entire life. We are constantly flying somewhere or road tripping around the west coast.

Living in San Francisco with 30 roommates is chaotic and frustrating at times. I get burned out on not having any personal space. This last week in Seattle has been a serene oasis from our hectic lives.

My Aunt Sue has a beautiful house in Federal Way where we have been staying and working. It is amazing to have so much room to ourselves! Plus it is insanely clean compared to our place in SF. Jim works from the office upstairs and I work in the living room. I have gotten more done this week than I ever have in SF. It’s amazing what one can accomplish without constant interruptions and distractions.

My aunt is a really amazing woman, too. She always makes me feel so at home and even gets all the special food I like. The first night we were here she made us tri-tip steak that Jim has been munching on all week. Unfortunately she had to fly back to Wyoming for a couple weeks, but she was nice enough to let us stay in her house and drive her car while we are here. She even booked us a hotel room right down the street from the Pearl Jam concert on Monday night so that we don’t have to drive.

I forget how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family, sometimes, but, when I am reminded, I am so thankful! Jim and I have been having a great time bombing around Seattle in here jeep. We have been busy visiting friends and catching up. Last night we had dinner with my friend Peter who is a financial advisor down here. We used to be roommates in Alaska and it’s funny to see how much life can change in one year.

We spent today with some of my old college friends. They live on Lake Washington and have a boat so we were able to go wake-boarding between football games. I think that Jim is still a little burned that the Cowboys lost tonight. He wasn’t in a very good mood on the way home.

Tomorrow (Monday) night we get to go to the Pearl Jam concert and then on Tuesday we are heading back to SF for a couple months before the holidays roll around. I am really excited to head to Istanbul in January. It is going to be such a different experience as far as culture. I need to start reading up on it!

Jim and I made it home in one piece from Central America. I only left little chunks of myself in half the bug population. Terrifying!

Coming back to CouchSurfing BaseCamp has been an interesting adjustment. We were only traveling for 6 weeks, but that’s long enough to forget how chaotic life can be around here. Living with 30 roommates is busy enough, but then when you throw in their friends and the unexpected guest it can often double the population here.

The best part about coming back to BaseCamp is our new kitchen manager, Shirley. She is an incredible cook and has run many restaurants in her life. My only fear is that I am going to blow up like a balloon. Last night we had BBQ pork ribs, baked beans, homemade potato salad and coleslaw. Shirley makes almost everything from scratch and it all tastes amazing. I guess I’ll actually have to start working out now.

Which brings me to some not so pleasant news that I came home to. One of my roommates took my bicycle while I was gone and didn’t lock it properly and it was stolen. I am super bummed because biking is a great way to get around our neighborhood and city. The bicycle was a gift that one of my friends gave me right when I moved to the bay area. It was a vintage Raleigh road bike that was in need of repair so I have been taking it to a bicycle coop called the Bike Kitchen where I have been working on it. When I first got it, it wasn’t even rideable, but I have put many hours into it to be able to use it.

Events like this are the most frustrating aspect of living in a communal environment. In this case my roommate thought it was a communal bike when she took it, but there have been many times when people will borrow my things without asking and return them in worse condition. Jim and I are part of a small minority who have cars in the city and when we all ride somewhere together I can’t remember the last time one of our roommates offered us gas money. I hate feeling bitter and jaded about things like this, but I am tired of being taken advantage of by people.

Luckily I don’t have time to dwell on some of the downers because I will be going to Burning Man in a couple days! Jim left yesterday to go help set up our camp, American Steal, and took all of my things with him. I am done packing and have nothing left to do to prepare and feel great! Well, actually, I need to clean my apartment because it looks like a faux fur monster was massacred. We have been crafting up to the last second to make things like fur cuffs, boot covers and the like.

This is my first year at Burning Man and I am not sure what to expect. I have been going to many of Burner city events like decompression and Pink Mammoth fundraisers throughout the year, but I’m sure the real thing is totally different.

This year the theme is Evolution which is interesting because for the first time ever, there will be a cell tower out there. There is a camp specifically designated to helping Burners install an iPhone app that allows them to see a map of the playa, all the camps, and all the different events that are happening. Since I have never been, I’m not sure how this will affect the whole vibe of the playa. In the past it has been a lot about community isolation, random experiences and down right survival. Will being able to use cell phones change the whole dynamic?

I’ll make sure to post lots of pictures when I get back!

A couple weeks ago our lovely neighbors were burning all sorts of horrible things in front of our house and the black acrid smoke came billowing in through the windows. I can only describe the stench as a cross between moldy leaves, plastic forks and carcinogenic chemicals. Jim immediately began hacking and by dinner time he was running a very high fever. Of course I decided this by touching his face because we don’t have a thermometer.

The next day Jim was week and sick and I was popping him full of Tylenol to keep the fever down. It was an odd cycle of sorts. Jim would be sweating with chills and a high fever and I would want to take him to the doctor, but he couldn’t walk into town so I would give him several Tylenol and in an hour his fever would be reduced and he would feel a lot better so we wouldn’t go to the doctor. Yeah, stupid, I know.

It didn’t help that we had a weekend excursion planned to a tiny town called Montezuma. We packed Jim in the back of the van and he slept all the way there. Once we arrived in town he slept almost the whole weekend. Once again I thought it was a good idea to go to the doctor, but there isn’t a doctor in Montezuma. So we stuck to Tylenol and lots of sleep.

By the end of the weekend Jim’s fever was gone and his cough wasn’t as bad as it had been, although it was still pretty bad. We came back to Samara and he seemed to be doing a lot better.

Well, yesterday Jim and I were supposed to leave on the 3PM bus to San Jose and then were going to catch the 9AM bus this morning to Panama. Around noon he had a horrible relapse and was incredibly sick with a cough and fever. It is stressful trying to make travel arrangements and then have a person get very ill. The most stressful part is that we have to be out of our house by Monday, so Jim can’t take the week to lay around and recover.

I knew he needed to go to the doctor immediately, but didn’t know where the office was or if they were even open. Our roommate, Cyril, who is from Costa Rica, was not being very helpful in acquiring information so I did a mental checklist of the resources at hand. I figured that any major hotel has an emergency number for a doctor in case one of their guests gets ill. I called the large resort that is in town and the woman at the front desk was very helpful. She gave me the doctor’s home number and cell number.

I called the doctor and was trying to speak Spanish over the phone, but I was flustered and worried about getting somebody to see Jim. Luckily the doctor speaks perfect English and I was able to convey what was going on. He opened his office for us and said that he was going to send a taxi to pick up Jim since he couldn’t walk and we don’t have a car. We waited for a half hour before an SUV finally pulled up outside our house. Jim and I climbed in the back and were sitting there for a bit before the man driving turned around and said, “I’m not a taxi. I am the doctor.” The doctor couldn’t get a taxi to come get us so he drove over himself!

Doctor Soto took us to his clinic where his wife is his assistant and immediately put Jim on an IV. Jim was extremely dehydrated and sucked up three pints of fluids within two hours. The doctor was so cool. He hung out with us and was watching HBO movies while Jim was on the IV. After Jim had a bag of IV fluid and some other intravenous drugs, the doctor ordered him a bowl of soup from the Italian restaurant next door. Jim had hardly eaten anything all day and it was promising to see that he had his appetite back.

Doctor Soto took me aside at one point to give me all the medication that Jim needs to take this week. It involves five different prescriptions, one being Zithromax, and they all have to be taken at different times in different doses. Once we got back to the house, Jacinta, one of our roommates, had to write it all down for me so I wouldn’t forget which ones at what time.

After we were at the doctor for a few hours Jim was feeling a lot better. His color was back and he was sweating again (before he was too dehydrated). We paid a whopping $214 for the checkup, transportation, medication and soup (anybody in the states knows that this would have been many thousands of dollars in a US emergency room) and we got to hang out with the really cool doctor for a bit. The doctor was sure to give us a receipt so that Jim can send it into his insurance company and drove us back to our house.

Jim has an appointment to see the doctor Monday morning so we are sure that the medication is working. Today Jim is feeling a lot better and we are being careful to feed him warm food and lots of water! Our trip to Panama has been postponed for a couple of days, but we are hoping to make it there Tuesday, instead.

When I was trying to find a place to have a Skype call with Rachel this morning, I found this frog stuck to one of the doors. The sound in the background are the howler monkeys in our backyard. Pretty cool!