turkey

Seems like every year around christmas and new years i'm out of the country or at least out of they city. i haven't spent a new years eve in new york city since 2002 -- i've even been in a different timezone new years.

this year is no different... the offices here are closed from the 22nd to jan 2nd so i would be foolish not to go away.

it took a good few days to find a something. the search started in peru to do the inca trail and some others. to tanzania to hike up kilaminjaro. across vietnam, to entice k-livealittle and maybe into angkor. across japan, ski a bit and enjoy a "western new years".

just as we decided on japan. i was clicking around, $825 r/t to rio leaving the 12/21 returning 1/6. my eyes almost popped out of my head. that was absofreaking unbelievable fare. so we booked it. sent s-thephotonottaken and email looking for info. even people at icp were willing to help me out to find guides and places to stay.

then the email showed up. system glitch. back from the start.

that lead to the scramble yesterday to "get me outta here!". again spanning the globe. thoughts of quito and la paz. across every major airport through central america -- even emailed t-enrichtheworld to see if he was still in honduras maybe i could drop by. still the flights were too expensive. looked back at japan and lima. i took a look through western europe as well even though i knew i couldn't afford it with the price of the euro. finally looked into instanbul that seemed the least unreasonable.

tried to stretch it from odessa, bucarest or sofia to istanbul but we got concerned about timing.

so it's going to be almost 2 weeks in turkey and a long long afternoon in amsterdam (xmas, the city will be super closed).