Istanbul or Bust

My family loves to travel.  My husband travels for work, so he's been all over the world, from Antarctica to Slovenia and a million countries in between.  He's been to 49 states (only Alaska is missing), and he's been to all 7 continents.  Because of this, we try to tag along whenever possible...  That's how traveled to Palm Springs, Florida Keys, Hawaii and Paris, tagging along his work trips.  But we've also planned vacations to some pretty cool places in Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and all over the US just for vacation....  It's part of our philosophy in life.  We believe we are citizens of the world and we want to instill a respect for other cultures in our daughter, so we travel as much as we can.  It's also part of our philosophy in marriage, too.  We believe that every couple needs to travel alone, without children, to reconnect, so we try to do that at least once a year, even if it's just a quick weekend. 

As a planner, I'm sure you will understand that when we travel, I plan EVERYTHING.  Down to the smallest detail.  When we went to Italy, I not only had our hotels and cars booked, but I downloaded our own walking tour of Pompeii to follow, I had the Vatican's schedule with us, I mapped out our route along the Amalfi coast, there was nothing left to chance.  I like to know what to expect at every turn and have a backup plan in place in case something doesn't work out.  I research every leg of a trip so that there are no surprises and by the time we get there, and I can practically give the tour myself.  My husband, on the other hand, never wants to know too much about where he's going so he can be surprised by the whole thing.  He goes in with no expectations and lets things unfold for him.  I've had to learn to schedule in some free time for him because he doesn't like to have me schedule us too much, he likes time to explore.  [Is that weird?  I schedule in time to be spontaneous?]

Which brings me to the topic of this post:  We booked our flights to Turkey this summer!  I went to Turkey some 25 years ago, on a family trip when I was a teenager.  My parents were born there, but have lived in the US since they were teenagers, so it was really special for us.  Now I'm going to take my teenage daughter there and I can't wait for July to come already.  We are planning a few days in...

Istanbul

Istanbul where we will shop, and take in the ancient city.  Then a few days in...

Cappadocia

Cappadocia where we will sleep in a cave and take a balloon ride through the unusual landscape.  Next we will...

Sail the Mediterranean

Sail the Mediterranean, taking in the beaches and the ancient ruins.  Then get up close and personal in....

Ephesus

Ephesus where we will really take in some world class ancient ruins.

Between client meetings, vendor meetings, building a business, caring for my family, etc. THIS is what's been on my mind.  I'm obsessing over the planning of our next family trip!