It started off with decisions on the destination. There was everything from Australia to Cambodia, New Zealand to London, Vietnam to Egypt.
Asia? Too near- these are the kind of things you’d be able to do (one hopes) in the future on 3-4 day trips, long weekends and the like.
Egypt? Too expensive, too spread out.
Australia- somehow neither of us seemed to enamoured by the prospect- I wonder why. Consequently, it was researched the least, alongwith, possibly, NZ. This was a good prospect but it should be done with a fair bit of driving, and bus tours are not cheap.
London was a hot pick- in fact, we were almost sure about it. It had (has) a lot of things going for it- no accommodation costs because we have friends and family in London, Chester and Edinburgh. And then, it
is London.
Turkey came in as a random arbitrary thought, with little foundation and lesser follow-up. We kept thinking of London, with Istanbul just an aside thrown in to every conversation with no real meaning as such. There were (are) many things going for London- no expenses on accommodation, the chance to see Lord’s cricket ground and the appealing-sounding Northern Highlands, and it was
London after all.. But it was going to be cold and wet in November (which is when we thought we’d be going), and London remains frightfully expensive, and at some level it was
only London after all.
I am getting used to people asking us “Turkey?! Why
Turkey?”
Truth is, I don’t really know. I think I was the one who came up with it initially. The thought process as I remember it was purely geographical. We did not want to go anywhere in Asia. Europe seemed too far/too expensive. Somehow Turkey seemed right there in the middle- geographically, historically and culturally. And mentally, for me.
The initial thoughts the mind conjures up for ‘Turkey’- exotic, historic, intriguing, rich and unknown. Only later have I got the impression that it might also be really beautiful.
"But still, yaar, why
Turkey?"
travel / turkey
