Going to London and a few more UK cities

So, as ironic (or not?) as it is, I'm going to London (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen) in less than a month for a business trip. I am looking forward to changing my perspective, I think I'm finally ready for London. Will stay there for 4 extra days for myself, looking forward to it.

I don't want to go to London

**

One of the few places I never wanted to visit was London and I guess the UK in general. Both when I studied at school and at the university, there was this constant pressure to speak British English and to be involved in conversations about the Queen and the Royal Family, the Big Ben and the whole nine. Naturally, that made me want to stay away from Britain.

It's curious though that in the last year I've come to know many people who adore England and the UK, but me, still not there. Actually, my line of work now is directly involved with a lot of things English and British. England is our biggest product, so to speak. It still hasn't really grown on me, but I think eventually I might get off my ass and actually visit it. I'd be more curious about the countryside, I imagine. Although who knows. You hear all these good things about London, maybe it actually rocks. I've been surprised before, so one can't rule anything out.

I'm curious about Ireland.

I was surprised by Lisbon, it was different from what I thought it would be and I'll admit I didn't completely get it. Porto, I loved, it's somehow a wonderful mix of small town and urban atmosphere. But Lisbon I just didn't get. I was in a weird state when we were there, in fact I'd prefered to stay at home, so maybe that's the reason why I was not too impressed. So yeah, maybe I'll fall in love with London, England, UK.

**

I also thought of songs that remind me of certain places. When I was in the US, it was Posession by Sarah McLachlan.

That summer in Gettysburg, PA was hot and humid. Perhaps it is typical for that area, but I didn't stay long enough to find out. But mornings were sometimes brisk. In the morning, I would get on my fantastic fixed bike, turn on my iPod (there was a time I had one) and put my Most Played list on. I would light up my cigarette and start pedaling down a completely empty suburban road past American dream-like houses and Sarah McLachlan's refreshing voice would come on. I would pedal straight ahead, shoulders relaxed, until the end of the street, then throw my cigarette butt away, make a left turn and pick up a certain speed. I would enjoy the song for two-three minutes. It was a beautiful start of the day.

**

Another thought. I wonder what it would be like to go back and live in Berlin again. 2011 was a great year. I originally came to Berlin without knowing what an amazing place it was. I had quit my job and I had originally only planned to stay there for about 4 days. I then simply cancelled my return ticket (okay, I didn't cancel it and actually lost some dough, I just didn't use it) and decided to stay for almost 3 months. The city swept me off my feet right away. I was blown away. Met great people. Enjoyed myself. It was a good time.

My second uh, three-month term there was already different. I already had an established circle of friends and acquaintances. But I re-discovered the city by bike this time, so also a new perspective. Different, but good.

In 2012, I visited three times over the course of 5 months. I still love that place. It feels like home. You are who you are there more than anywhere else. And by you I mean me. But I guess living there would be different now. I wouldn't be happy just to be there and go out and hang out and freelance. A steady job (and a visa to support it) would change things, but yeah, they are close to non-existent. Maybe it's good for Berlin to stay in mind as a place where one rests and doesn't really work. A parental home of sorts to visit over holidays.

2012 in travel

Moscow in January.
Istanbul in January.
Rome, Athens in March.
Istanbul in March.
Sochi in May.
Berlin in June.
St. Petersburg in August.
Switzerland and Berlin in August-September.
Berlin in November.
Rome and Lisbon in December.

2012 turned out to be not my best year. For the first time I can say I'm a bit tired of travelling. Maybe because now it's not as laid back as it used to be or I plan wrong. Today I finish work, pack my bag in the evening and take off at night, spend a week or two elsewhere, arrive at night and go to work in the morning. It felt like I didn't really rest. Although this year was part fun, too.

I'm so glad to have stayed at home now, for the holidays. I'm so relieved not to have to pack and fly somewhere. Just to stay put and do nothing. I missed not doing anything. And while I'm looking forward to getting bored with it, I feel like I'm finally resting for real. There is a certain pleasure in waking up in an empty apartment, having your own routine, drinking whatever tea or coffee you please and constructing your day the way you want to. It's good not to depend on people or rather a person (okay, I'm not really there just yet).

In 2012 I sometimes lost grip with reality in terms of relationships and life and now would be a good time to pick myself up and elbow my way around. It feels like I learned a few things about myself, including discovering my weaknesses, my strengths I guess I was aware of.

I remember the time

I remember waking up and having nowhere to go except buy breakfast. Breakfast in our headquarters usually consisted of fresh Schrippen or maybe delicious toasts with some vegetarian spread and a slice of cucumber on top or possibly a leaf of salad. That's just for starters, of course. A peanut butter toast would follow, as well as a generous cup of fresh-brewed espresso.

None of that would be complete without a timely morning digest of the things that happened online and in the world in the last 8+ hours or so. An array of travel blogs and tweets, who went where and did what, a few news articles and columns to keep in touch with reality, maybe the latest episode of one of my shows for dessert.

Depending on the weather and further plans (or lack of those), I would slowly finish my Internet roamings and nice Berliner-ish breakfast and take up to an hour to get ready to go out. Take a shower, brush my teeth (always with the water turned off), dry my hair and put on some color-matching ensemble on.

Once outside, one could only dream of a wider choice of where to direct one's feet. Maybachufer with its goods market and a flock of artists and performers? Treptower Park and its tender atmosphere of no-stress? Wiener Strasse and my favorite Vietnamese diner? Or maybe a bike ride to Halensee and its FKK beach? You name it, it's all there.

Ah, life is good in Berlin.

Especially the morning and the evenings. The mornings for their breakfasts and brunches (am I food-dependant, or what?) and evenings for their companies: for old friends and new acquiantances. For beer at places like Silver Future or some other neighborhood bar. Ah, life is good in Berlin.

Amazon sale

My two travel guides are up on Amazon for sale. :) July 12-13 they are given away for free though.

 

3-Day Berlin Guide and 3-Day Istanbul Guide: Between the East and the West

CS Sehnsucht

Wow.

Just wanted to look up a number from an old cell phone and whoa, started reading text messages from over a year ago. So many memories.

Rinse, my favorite Stockholm CS host (produced in the Netherlands) and the quickest and fastest connection I've made with literally anyone. Oh, the fun that was had. Oh, the conversations that we shared. Those Nutella sandwiches...

Meeting Agata and having our weeks and fun of hanging out, going for walks, to parties, taking pictures, Berlinale, brunches and other variations of good time. Sojamilchkaffee. :) Kasza gryczana. :)

Christine, a fan of Russian language and literature who quit her job at Mercedes to study again and to spend a year in Irkutsk.

Ping Pong Battle in the snow with Yolanda. Vokue and Kollektivabendbrot with Mandy.

Rockstar CS host from Porto Renate!

Bernardo... So much in this word. :) Schwuz, Facebook, hang outs, meeting his mother... :) A great friend. I harbor hope to be best man at his wedding with Rainer.

CS host Emmannuel from Paris who gave me the keys to his apartment and left after talking to me for only 30 minutes. He later left me a fantastic reference where he said I left his apartment times cleaner than he left it to me - now some with some friends I go by "the girl who washes dishes after herself."

His friend Rafael who showed me around Paris and had a very thick French accent. An artist who lives 1 block away from Arc de Triomphe (in a "maid's room Parisienne") and survives on coffee and cigarettes. Charming.

Björn...

The gang in Istanbul and Laurence. Lu. :)

And of course Helene. Our conversations and hanging out in Istanbul and then in Berlin and hopefully somewhere else in the future. Best bicycle rider and someone I always have something to talk about with.


Man, so many people, so many stories. The unwavering smile on my face right now.

Does it sound like I need to take off and hit CS again?

More navel-gazing

Moscow in January. Istanbul in January. Rome and Athens in March. Istanbul in March. Sochi in May. All my trips this year so far. Hopefully Berlin in June, unless Pegasus refuses to fly into one of the two currently functioning airports.

Taking into account all events of the present year, I have to look back onto our New Year's Eve and where I was as the clock struck midnight, in a crowd of people most of whom were drunk and pushy, 200 meters off the Red Square. It was a dangerous location to find ourselves at the time, we can smile about it today, but 5 months ago it seemed like we wouldn't emerge as alive as we entered the crowd. 

Anyhow. The year's been turmulous. At times terrific, at times not at all. Funny how who you travel with and how things between the two of you are directly impacts your impression of the destination. The same way I seem to be done with Prague, at least for the foreseeable future, the same way I am done with Athens. I suppose it is a beautiful city (a cross between Rome and Istanbul, no less), but I wouldn't want to re-visit any time soon. Istanbul, on the other hand, seems to always be worth a visit. Rome wasn't bad either, first time I was there the food wasn't memorable, but this time it struck a chord with me.

I'm really curious about Berlin now. Will it forever be the place I like to return to or just a temporary "favorite place on Earth"? With its tree-lined Puschkinallee, hip and cozy cafes, punks, liberal atmosphere, brunches, lakes, bike lanes, expats, locals, U and S Bahn, Treptower Park, Rixdorf, nightlife, galleries, collective dinners... Well, it is the home of my soul for now and so be it. Will embrace this for now and enjoy the moment.

Oddity

It's an odd feeling. Odd, when unintentionally you say something unpleasant/wrong and then you fully accept that you are wrong, without denying anything, because yes, indeed you slipped and although your words were meant  to convey something else (also not extremely polite), you ended up expressing yourself in a bad way and  not all relaying what you thought you were relaying. Your words were stupid and bound to be misconstrued.

You fully admit you are wrong. And that you didn't think before speaking. No excuses, instead you say you are sorry. One time. Two times. Three times. And furthermore, you really mean it. From the inside. Sorry isn't a word you simply spit into thin air.

Your apology is not accepted. You revisit the story several hours later. You are truly and irreversibly sorry - you made someone else look bad, so admitting you were wrong and apologizing is the only way.

But again it's not enough. Somehow saying and feeling sorry isn't ever enough. When the other party does something of similar nature, just a few words and a smile from them is enough for you to melt. But no, when you're in the wrong, you are somehow expected to really sort of beg for forgiveness and spurt your soul out, then it's deemed a passable apology.

Just feels odd. When someone pushes you so hard to feel even more sorry than you already do, it just leaves a weird aftertaste. Like you just can't be you, you always have to prove something, to justify yourself, to feel guilty, to be deemed worthy. Odd.

Буду краток

I know someone and also someone else, these two people don't trust anyone.

I also know there are several people on the face of this planet who I can trust unconditionally. I will fully stand behind them should they need me and I know for a fact they will support me, no questions asked. This doesn't come from a blind lack of judgement, but from years of friendships. Maybe I'm just so lucky - lucky, lucky, lucky.

Airports that suck

Rome Fiumicino

1. Not enough direction signs.
2. Long queues at the passport control. Somehow they are moving relatively fast, but on a Saturday there are only three people working in passport control booths and each one constantly has a queue of at least one hundred people. It took us 40 minutes to go through security (which, by European standards, is too long).
3. After these 40+ minutes since arrival, our baggage still wasn’t there. This reminded me of another Italian airport, Milan Malpensa.
4. Overall, the airport is humungous and seems to be poorly designed – too much unnecessary walking required.

Athens International

1. Now, this is an airport that seems fantastic upon arrival. Relatively new (or recently refurbished, for the 2004 Olympics), it is clean and bright. But once you arrive for departure you realize it’s not that amazing.
2. It’s quite confusing – there is a distinct lack of direction signs inside and I am not one to be lost in airports often.
3. Unfriendly service from more than one or two airport employees. Plus unclear directions from the customs and tax refund employee.

But at the same time, there is one great thing about this airport as well. It is the hub of Aegean Airlines which just might be my new favorite airline of all:
1. Fast and efficient employees, friendly as well.
2. Great food, especially for a flight that didn’t last longer than 50-60 minutes. I was a bit skeptic when I requested vegetarian and diabetic meals for us during the booking process and yet the request was met. Above everything else, the food actually tasted great (I don’t like in-flight food normally and sometimes skip meals). Alcohol was also available.
3. Apart from that, take off and landing were superb. I know this is very circumstantial and situational, but nevertheless both were a nice bonus.

All in all, I was very happy with Aegean.

Airports worth mentioning (and they do NOT suck) are the two airports of Istanbul:  Atatürk and Sabiha Gökhen. I’m more fond of the latter for I have used it much more frequently compared to my one time in Atatürk. Sabiha is a spacious and yet compact facility where you both don’t suffocate and yet you don’t have to walk for miles before getting somewhere.  Always a non-stressful experience.

Instantes (Instants)

Instantes by Jorge Luis Borges is relevant as ever. Have to always keep in mind we just get to have one shot at things.

If I were able to live my life anew,
In the next I would try to commit more errors.
I would not try to be so perfect,
I would relax more.
I would be more foolish than I've been,
In fact, I would take few things seriously.
I would be less hygienic.
I would run more risks,
take more vacations,
contemplate more sunsets,
climb more mountains,
swim more rivers.
I would go to more places where I've never been,
I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans,
I would have more real problems and less imaginary ones.

I was one of those people that lived sensibly
and prolifically each minute of his life...
Of course, I had moments of happiness...
If I could go back
I would try to have only good moments.

Because, if you didn't know, of that is life made -
only of moments...

Don't lose the now!
I was one of those that never went anywhere
without a thermometer,
a hot-water bottle,
an umbrella,
and a parachute...

If I could live again,
I would travel lighter.
If I could live again,
I would begin to walk barefoot from the beginning of spring,
and I would continue barefoot until autumn ends.
I would take more cart rides,
contemplate more dawns,
and play with more children...
If I had another life ahead of me.

But, already you see,
I am 85,
and I know that I am dying...


Jorge Luis Borges

Modern Art in Moscow

Another day in Moscow, another set of museums and galleries. For it's too cold to hang out outside for too long a time...

This one is my favorite. Something about Russian people being supressed and Europe letting go.

A graveyard for Barbie dolls.

A set of sexy bras.

Go vegan/vegetarian!

A lovely Museum of Photography (that sadly happens to be a flame for hipster wannabe moths), a few nice exhibitions there, e.g. first years of photography by Stanley Kubrick.

Moscow vs Berlin?.. Nah

Well, this past day reminded me why I so prefer to hit the road by myself. When I'm by myself, I'm the one who fully, completely and irreversibly sets the tone for me: I walk as fast or as slow as I damn well please, I eat when I want to eat, spend or not spend as much money as I wish and in general, I have utmost control over the situation. But when someone else is around (especially someone who is so different from me), I have to adjust my likes and wishes with them. Of course we still end up doing what I want to do and going where I want to go (since my friend is lazy enough to even come up with a route or a plan :), but not after some slow walking, coffee drinking, getting cold, complaining, etc.

This is not to say I don't enjoy having my good friend around, it's just I'd do more stuff if I was by myself. 

Anyway. Nevertheless the day wasn't bad. We went to a couple of galleries of the local MOMA and most of the stuff they had was quite fascinating. Particularly the Beyond the Oil Route photo exhibition and the accompanying 17-minute docu. 

Moscow has surprisingly boring streets and pathways. I thought maybe I was wrong before, but now we both see it. Mostly Soviet-type buildings with narrow pavements, some expensive restaurants and yeah, nothing more to report. Oh, right, also it's a city of Subways. Subway and (questionable?) theaters are everywhere here. 

Obviously this city does not even deserve to be compared to Berlin, but I'm even surprised by the fact that Moscow doesn't give off a specific feeling or a vibe. I mean, ok, the subway is monumental and depressing, but that's underground, I don't feel anything from what's upstairs, so to speak. I could literally come up with a hundred epithets for Berlin (have to smile when I think of that place), but Moscow leaves me completely cold, in more than one sense.

I'm curious about modern art produced here, so I'll be checking out some more venues to see what kind of stuff Russian artists come up with these days. My friend would prefer something less contemporary, but since she can't be bothered to go anywhere by herself... modern art it is. :-)

The very distinct, fascinating and overwhelming vibe of Berlin:

Moscow 2012

Writing this at the start of my third day in Moscow, a city that never really spoke volumes to my heart or brain, but spending 10 days at home with family would be worse, so... Moscow it is.

My friend and I arrived pretty late on December 31, after she forgot her cell phone in the taxi, after the one-hour flight delay, after the airport express dragged on forever, after the hotel check-in lasted over half an hour.. But after leaving home at 1pm, around 9pm we were finally in the hotel.

After having a glass of champagne (or maybe it was two), we reckoned entering the year 2012 could be fun if we did it on the Red Square, at the heart of the Empire of Evil, so to speak. It ended up being one of my worst ideas, because we were cut off from entering the square as were hundreds of other people, people who may have had more glasses of something to drink and didn't understand the Red Square couldn't be stretched to fit all of us in, so they started to push through the barrier and... well, we just about shat our pants and frankly, I'm not even sure how that mess didn't lead to many people getting hurt. I don't fear for my life very often, but those 15 minutes until we were able to escape from that hell were pretty intense...

But... One more lesson learned and no more crowded celebrations for me. :)

On our second day we went through most of the major attractions that leave me pretty cold on a regular day. We also saw quite a decent film, Perfect Sense. It sort of fit well with our current state of mind and it was definitely time well spent. I like the choices that Ewan McGregor has been making: as I go back to Krasnodar, I plan to rewatch Beginners with my new film watching buddies, I first saw it in Berlin with a friend from Istanbul and we both found it to be a great production.

Today the tentative plan is to visit a couple of museums that happen to be free during the holidays.. Unless there are long queues of people everywhere of course, then we might settle for chilling in some bar or maybe finding another solid film to watch. Also on the agenda: a new falafel place and lots of walking.

P.S. Obviously Moscow has the worst subway system I've ever been to. I have yet to see access for handicapped people anywhere, plus it's just so soulless, slow and somehow even demotivating that maybe I will seize to be surprised by local traffic on a regular working day. Who would want to show up for work depressed and demotivated like that.

2011 was a good year

I recently started a new job in Krasnodar and it’s taking most of my time (as well as some other exciting events), so I did not really have time to ponder upon 2011, but a few days ago I did have a few minutes to myself and well, I realized something. 2011 was pretty much tremendous for me. I don’t like labeling something as “best”, but still I will say it was a fantastic year.

I traveled around so much. I lived twice in Berlin, three months each time. I lived in Istanbul for 2 months. I visited or re-visited (in chronological order)  Milan, Cologne, Munich, Karlsruhe, Stockholm, Oslo, Paris, Barcelona, Porto, Izmir, Cesme, Selcuk, Ephesus, Turin, Nice, now I am writing this from Moscow where I arrived on the last day of the year… Throughout my trips, I met several people that I can call friends now. I learned new things about lifestyles in different places of the world. I became a vegetarian and generally more conscious of the world around me and how what I do affects others. 2011 was eye-opening in my ways. I am incredibly glad I took this year off a “real job” and devoted it greatly to myself. I can’t say I really changed or forgot my old ways of doing things, but I did expand my horizons and became more accepting of many things than I’d ever been. To be frank, I am sort of proud of myself when it comes to this. But all of this is thanks to the people I’ve met and the multicultural and liberal city that specifically Berlin is.

And now, after all these travels, after all these experiences and things that happened and things that I saw, I am surprised to state I am definitely not unhappy to be back in Krasnodar. Things took an unexpected turn here of all places and well, at the moment I am happy to report that life is good. I feel good. About myself, about many things. I will travel less, but I will still find time to do so and well, one of the things that I finally learned is that life is what you make of it and how you look at it. I do like to entertain myself with the thought that I have grown and become more mature at handling some things. I still have a short temper, but sometimes, on occasion, I am able to sit back and just enjoy the ride. It’s a great pleasure to stop oneself from overthinking and overanalyzing things, I more or less live in the moment and enjoy and take things as they come. It’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling.

I do believe it’s rather trite to say that one is unbelievably happy, but I do feel content and good at the moment. I’m a little bit afraid to jinx it, it’s almost too good to be true… but yeah, it’s a nice situation to be in.

2012 has great potential to be fantastic, too.

Summer in Berlin: off the top of my head

As per meutererin’s recent recommendation, I just re-watched Everything Is Illuminated... I like holding onto memories and oftentimes am left aghast when I’m told it’s better to leg go of a memory and then it will come back to you when you least expect it. I don’t know, if I don’t write something down or take a picture of it or have something to remember the event by, there is a big chance I can forget it. Especially when my most treasured memories are connected to travel and since I’ve done so much of the figural tramping by myself lately, I don’t want to take any chances.

So I kept a list of a few memorable things I did throughout July-September, much like the one I had for my first stay in Berlin.

1. My July flatshare at Kreuzberg 10969. I had a huge room across the apartment to myself, and a fantastic balcony for brunches. A perfect place for entertaining old and new friends. In that same flatshare I learned that some Germans like salads that include raw mushrooms, now I like them myself.
2. Visited Bread and Butter with Bernardo. I am no fan of fashion, but it was quite special to be at a closed fashion fair located on the grounds of the former Tempelhof airport. All those free drinks didn’t hurt, either.
3. Went to a gay bear wedding celebration.
4. Explored some of Berlin’s lakes. Got introduced to FKK (free body culture) there and quite liked it. Who knew almost everyone in the GDR was a nudist!..
5. Bought a bike and had to replace both tubes and tires on it, but it was liberating and breathtaking, riding a bike through Berlin. Very cool. I loved discovering new routes.
6. Was left soaking wet 4 times in the 4 weeks of July after cycling in thunderstorm. Not cool.
7. For August and September I returned to my already familiar vegan flatshare at Neukölln 12055. It felt like home. With my bar table and an armchair that I dragged all the way up to the 4th floor by myself (pffftt). Being vegan is easy in Berlin. Loved shopping at Maybachufer every Tuesday or Friday.
8. Juls stopped by and we had a fantastic extended weekend that resulted in her almost leaving with my invalid/back-up foreign passport and me keeping hers.
9. Had a 1-meter pizza with my friends and couchsurfers in Rixdorf, twice. You need to be 7 or 8 to finish it off. 
10. Briefly visited the Berlin Bierfestival on Frankfurter Allee with Bernardo. Turns out, a beer festival is just a place with a lot of drunken people and even more beer. Boooring. And no need to ever bother with Oktoberfest.
11. Played ping pong with couchsurfers on different occasions. The area around the Wasserturm in Prenzlauer Berg is perfect for it.
12. Re-established the Wednesday party in Schwuz as well as Soul Explosion in Festsaal Kreuzberg  as my favorite Berlin parties. Danced on the stage in Schwuz and felt all vain and good when people had their pictures taken with me (with me and my T shirt, the one that says, a bad day fishing beats a good day working).
13. Helene visited Berlin and thus me, twice. Fun memories. A lot of conversations about my favorite topics, reminiscing on Istanbul, exploring a couple of exhibitions together, seeing good films, talking life.
14. Also went to see the final installment of Harry Potter with Helene and her friend. That cost us 12 Euro per person. And I thought 12 Euro for some of the Berlinale films earlier this year was expensive!
15. Had a nice experience watching the All-German Sunday night TV series, Tatort, in a bar with Helene.
16. Volksküche!
17. Went to Milan, Turin and Nice with my mother and had my worst nightmare come to life, we missed her return flight. Bought a last-minute ticket for her to Berlin with me and she stayed with us in our vegan flatshare… Showed her Berlin and introduced her to a couple of restaurants. She is now in love with Berliner Schrippen. As much as I am in love with Laugenbrezeln, still.
18. Was on the beach in Nice in the evening of August 15, France’s Assumption of Mary holiday. Great fireworks from 3 boats in the sea.
19. Had an accident on my bike and almost broke a finger on 9/11.
20. Reconnected with Mandy. Hung out with Lindsay and Brandy, who I’d previously met in Istanbul and again Berlin. Got to know Adam, of Travels of Adam. Got a massage from Andrew “Magic Hands”, a Canadian IT guy and couchsurfer. And… got to know a few other great people.
21. Checked out a few modern art exhibitions/establishments. Oberbaumbrückegallerie, Based in Berlin, some Dutch exhibition.
22. Fell in love with Asiagerichte. And finally got over my love for peanut butter.
23. Kollektivabendbrot with Mandy. A small project café in Friedrichshain hosts a dinner once a week where random people bring food to share and hang out together.
24. Established Puschkinallee as one of my favorite places to ride a bike.
25. Experienced verkaufsöffener Sonntag. Let’s call it delayed gratification after all those Sundays when every store in town is closed.
26. Found Ian through Twitter and interpreted for a Whistleblowers documentary interview with Alexandr Nikitin, the one man who won a case against the FSB/KGB on the grounds of espionage and treason. 
27. After the bad weather that we had in July and August, September was perfect with its warmth and generous sun. 
28. One of my last nights in Berlin spent with Bernardo, Rainer, a bottle of vodka, maracuya juice and a bag of ice on top of a hill in Berlin’s Victoriapark. Only followed by an amazing night of dancing in Schwuz.

Sigh.

Cost of a 2-month trip to Istanbul/Turkey

It has been a little over 4 months since my trip to Istanbul ended and finally I am doing a round-up on how much money I spent there.

All in all my time in Istanbul was not my best trip. Several factors contributed to this:

1) The weather sucked. I spent 59 days in Turkey (April and May) and most of this time it was rainy, windy or cloudy or a free combination of those. Only the last 10-14 finally reminded me it was spring.

2) I had bad luck connecting with people over couchsurfing. Again, until about the last 2 weeks when I became part of a delightful group of people, both Turks and foreigners. Alas, it was time to leave soon.

3) In order to save money, I chose the cheapest accommodation available and it was a mistake. I went after the cheapness of it, not after location or who I was going to live with. Granted, it was far from being the middle of nowhere, but there was no connection to the central European area of the city. Last combination of boat+bus was leaving at about 21.30, last direct bus from Taksim was at midnight.

I lived with a couple of newlyweds, in their shiny spotless new apartment. They went to work and watched TV. They were sweet. But I had a bed and a wardrobe in my room and that’s about it, I was literally forced to be either in the living room or the kitchen. Part of the deal was that I spoke English with them thus they had some language practice, so basically my 75EUR per month covered only gas, electricity and other utilities, so it was quite a deal for Istanbul. Except it was NOT worth it. My advice to anyone doing a similar trip would be to live in Europe, pay more and enjoy life more.

4) I also had a lot of unwanted male attention. That really unnerved me and brought me down for quite a while.

In other words, my expenses were quite low, but that came at its own price.

59 days in Turkey, including 53 days in Istanbul and 6 days on a trip to Izmir, Cesme, Ephesus and Selcuk amounted to the following sum (in TL, Turkish Lira):

Tickets ------------------------------->   225

Accommodation ---------------------->  333

Food --------------------------------->  436.22

Entertainment ------------------------->  138.25

Transport ----------------------------->  266.9

Clothes ------------------------------->  20

Travel (intercity bus/train)--------------> 165.5

Visa-----------------------------------> 30

Other (e.g. cell phone)---------------->  98.29

--------------------------------------> 1713.16 TL

At the time 1TL was 1.5USD or 2.22EUR, so the total in American dollars would be 1142USD, in Euro it would be 772EUR.  

Daily expenses: 29TL / 19USD / 13EUR 

(My 3 months in Europe last winter cost me 27.5EUR daily, a recent summer 3 months stay only about 19EUR per day, report coming up.)

As is obvious from the table above, I did not do a lot of partying. Please refer to points 2) and 3) in the beginning of the post for the reasons. I’m pretty happy with how my food costs turned out, but I did not eat out much. I mostly cooked and every once in a while had some food from a stall. Now, what I am not happy about is the transportation expenses. In Istanbul you have to pay for every change of transport and sometimes you have to change from bus to boat to bus to subway to get somewhere, so it all adds up and money disappears pretty fast. Cost of one trip ranges from 1.65TL to 3.3TL. If you have an Akbil, you can get discounts on every second trip, but it will not be a huge save nevertheless. I tried walking around. It’s virtually impossible to get anywhere by foot. Think long distance and think hills.

My trip outside of Istanbul cost me so little, because I only had to pay for several buses and a train, two nights in a cheap hostel and an entrance fee to Ephesus. The rest of the time I couchsurfed (with a great American guy in Izmir) and had two overnight buses.

...Next time I’m visiting Istanbul (and that will mark my third time), I plan for “entertainment” to surpass all other areas.

Goodbye my friend

The other day I sold my bike. Sigh. It wasn't the best and the brakes weren't good and I had to cash out several times to fix it, yet it somehow <cheesy line coming> found its way into my heart.

One more week to go now.

The Land of Hipsters and Second Hands

To produce a rough percentage of hipsters currently living in Berlin would be a bit too complicated, with all the posers, true hipsters and hipsters pretending to have quit the hipster world.

As many cultural things there is to do in Berlin, as much superficiality and "party monsters" there is.

In related news, I have established I am not a fan of flea markets. When I show up there, I just walk past all the stalls with junk meanwhile running into people and make a quick exit. Maybe I need to befriend someone who has a knack for digging out pearls from heaps of crap and I’ll get a taste of it from them.

However, yesterday I finally had luck with second hand shopping – and with Humana of all places! I will be going back for more. I was in Colours on Bergmannstraße twice already and both times remained massively unimpressed.  Humana, however, has a lot of clearly frumpy stuff, but some things are actually quite good. Among them jeans from Levi’s, Mustang and so on for 10-16EUR a piece, in excellent condition, too.

I have only recently realized there is life north of Frankfurter Allee (Northern Friedrichshain) and I quite enjoy it. Very DIY there from what I can tell, in a good way. Lots of punks, too. Lots of community-type of stuff. Not a place where I'd like to be based, but it makes for a good visit.

I quite enjoy the Maybachufer market every Tuesday and Friday. It’s more about food there than anything else and I quite enjoy shopping for fruit and vegetables. And always end up buying more than is comfortable to cycle with, of course. Another area I’ve grown very fond of is Treptower Park and Puschkinallee, a very beautiful tree-lined alley. I was there once in the winter and I thought it could easily win an award for the ugliest place ever (it was slippery, snowy and no leafage of course), but now consider me a fan.

One more thing I have to direct my attention at is second hand book stores. I’ve been to a couple smaller ones, but now I’m willing to try a couple stores around Neukölln and Kreuzberg, I’m not sure about the prices yet, but in other places I’ve seen books for as little as 1-3EUR. I realized I didn't read much (except for anything on the computer) at all throughout the last two months, so now I am on a book rampage.

Also, I still have Wedding to discover.

Missed trains and a plane

So as previously mentioned, I was travelling with my mother August 12-23. We were in Italy and then in Nice, France (which was her last minute decision because she likes that boring and extremely overpriced and overrated place, I actually had flights and a hotel booked for us in Bari).

We had flights out of Milan, hers back to Russia via Istanbul, mine back to Berlin, both within an hour of each other. To cut a long story relatively short, first and then second taxi failed to show up to drive us to the train station  in Nice (we were supposed to take 3 trains to get to Milan and then a bus to the airport there), people in the street refused to help us get there (for $, obviously), regular cars wouldn't stop, it was 04.30am, so no public transportation, policemen didn't give us a ride (in films they always do...), we missed the perfectly timed trains and my actual worst nightmare came to life.

I kept thinking that I will probably wake up soon.

If it had been me alone, it wouldn't have been so bad, or me with a friend. But with my mother it was the worst, because, first of all, the stress was enormous for her and secondly, she wouldn't like... run and do something crazy like I would do to make it for the train and so on.

We took later trains, with them we had a small chance of making it for my mother's flight, but the last train was 10 minutes late (I mean this is Italy we're talking about). This was already 8 hours after the day had started for us. From Milan central station we took a taxi to the Bergamo airport (which cost me 100EUR!.. last winter I paid the same amount for 6 or 7 flights with Ryanair) and even though I called the airline and asked them to please hold the check in because "my mother has been discharged from the hospital late", they didn't and we arrived 13 minutes after the check in was closed! Talk about devastation.

My mother had already lost it several times by then and was completely uncooperative when it came to coming up with something, just crying with her sunglasses on which added to the already insane situation. I had only 45 minutes left to check in for my flight and I had to do something. There were options for her to go to another airport and fly from there, but I had no Internet and couldn't be sure there'd be tickets and she'd actually make it, also I wasn't sure my sister was skilled enough to buy a ticket from home without my supervision and so on. Plus, on top of not being perfect with directions, my mother doesn't speak enough English to get by. And I couldn't leave her in a foreign country by herself! I couldn't stay because how else would I go back and we had a limited amount of money on us. Also, we couldn't rebook her tickets for anything earlier than like 5 days from Tuesday, for an enormous fine, and we didn't have enough money for this many nights in a hotel anymore.

This was all happening in an overcrowded airport, 40C/105F outside, etc. etc. Somehow it was extremely emotional and nerve-wracking, I'm afraid words don't relay that very well. Eventually I bought a last minute ticket for her for same Ryanair flight to Berlin (the most expensive one-way ticket I ever bought, 300EUR, I had enough money by accident... I normally prefer not to take a lot of money so that there is no temptation to spend it).

We flew in here, she spent these 1.5 days in our flatshare. And then, on August 25, her birthday, she flew home. We actually had a good time here and except for the lost money, it all turned out fine, but I don't think I've ever been so stressed in my life. I mean, lots of people have missed flights in their lifetimes and probably it's not the end of the world, but it felt like it was...