Well, plans have changed. As some of you may know I found out that my understanding of the visa and stay situation in Turkey was incorrect. Apparently, you can only stay here for 90 days out of 180 days. Which was not my plan. Odd scheme they have. Haven’t run into that before. I had planned on a trip to Bulgaria to reset my visa clock, but it doesn’t work that way. My bad. And then, after awhile, I was going to continue to Thailand.

In any case, I’m applying for a Turkish Resident’s Permit so that I don’t have this issue again. Not hard to do I’m told, but we’ll see.

So, in light of the fact that going to Thailand seems to be more trouble than it is worth due to the idiotic way that the government is handling things, I have decided instead that I will fit in two small road trips; one to Izmir, a coastal city in Turkey, and another to Sofia, Bulgaria. I want to check Izmir because it is a much smaller city than Istanbul and it might be a better fit for me when I come back. Sofia I am going to simply because I’ve never been to Bulgaria and I would like to see what it’s like.

Then - after the road trips I will return to the U.S. briefly … maybe 6 weeks or so.

I am not studying Bulgarian. Not really. But I did at least get the alphabet memorized a few days ago. 30 characters, much easier than Thai. It is Cyrillic, but not the same as the Russian alphabet. Thanks to Brainscape it took about 2 hours 😊.

I am interested in places that have low cost of living. Bulgaria may rival Turkey in that regard from what I am reading. And right now the plan that I have is after a few weeks in the United States, I will probably head to Medellin, Colombia. There is supposed to be civil unrest there, but my friend I have there on the ground says it really isn’t that bad. I loved Medellín the first time I was there and I hope to find it relatively unchanged. And the cost of living there is also quite low.

I’m going back to the states for a number of reasons, but I am looking at it as a opportunity to do a couple of small medical things that I don’t seem to be able to get done here in Turkey (for some reason the Shingrix vaccine is unavailable (for shingles)), and I am going to re-vamp my packing list. Traveling with three bags is just too much. I really don’t like it. And this initial trip has definitely shown me what I can do without and where I can trim a lot of excess space. I absolutely have to get to just 2 bags. I need to walk the minimalism walk 😊. However – must say – Most of the extra space and weight is ‘Just in case emergency gear: Medical, climbing, survival. I’ve really to decide what I think is required and what isn’t.

I have an application called Flight Diary. I’m pretty sure that I have written about in the past. It is from the Flight Radar 24 website. It’s free. Kind of cool. I just looked at it and realized that I hadn’t actually updated since the time I got to Argentina in 2020. So I updated it and I have, just for grins, put here the image of the flights over the last four years. I only started with this in 2017. I did once think about trying to go back and put in my flights as far back as I could remember, but I very quickly realized that was going to be impossible. I may try that at some point in the future, at least indicative flights that show going from the US to the countries that I used to live in with my parents, and indicative flights of what I used to do when I work for the Japanese company. I’ll see.

Flew to Izmir yesterday. A city on the Aegean coast of Turkey. Haven’t been here for decades. Much smaller than Istanbul (~ 4 million people). I thought I would explore as a possible place to stay when in Turkey. I am finding Istanbul a little overwhelming. It was an hour long flight from a totally new airport in Istanbul. This is on the European side and absolutely huge. I lot of walking involved but a really nice airport I must say

I went out to a local Turkish restaurant last night. Lovely. Had my first glass of rakı (this is the Turkish dotless ‘i’  – sounds like ‘uh’ – rakuh) in years. This is the local Turkish alcoholic beverage. A very strong aniseed flavored liquor that you drink with water. It is clear on its own and when you add water it turns a milky color. You drink it with bread and Turkish meze. Meze is like appetizers. Really lovely 😊.

TCK Perspective: At one time I concentrated quite a bit on my TCK roots and perspective. I thought I’d give some thought to that again. As I wander the world again, I feel that sense of disconnection quite strongly. Without roots, it is hard to feel like you belong anywhere. And losing one of my closest friends did not help. I’m not whining about not belonging. Not at all. It is what it is. But I also (baring my soul here) understand I am looking for something, even if I don’t quite understand what. Companionship may be a part of that, but I have a very strong feeling that if I did meet someone, I’m really apprehensive about how I would handle it. I’ve been on my own for a very long time. Could I adjust?

And – with my background and experience all over the world, I find myself increasingly … I don’t want to say intolerant … maybe dismissive is a better word … of ALL cultures, mores, morals, and systems of government. My opinion, for what it’s worth is that the vast majority of people are incapable of looking outside a greatly constrained environment. That really doesn’t sound nice when I read it but it is true.

Ah well. In spite of all of that, as I sit here at the roof top restaurant of my hotel in Izmir, enjoying a beautiful morning and a glimpse of the Aegean, I have to laugh at myself for my angst. I’m incredibly fortunate to have relatively good health, incredible friends, and the ability to be here enjoying the life I do have.

And as a parting image. The cat that visits the balcony outside my bedroom in Istanbul. Fat, sleek, well satisfied with whichever human he has trained to look after him … grandly surveying his domain :-).