Coming Home

There is so much to tell about my trip to Turkey, but that will have to wait. I am currently readjusting to a tiring delay in London Heathrow and life back with my own toilet and living quarters. I actually miss sharing a room with 3-4 other women, although the personal bathroom is something of a blessing, considering how holes in the ground can be sanitary as easily as they can be filthy. I do miss the comraderie from our travels from Istanbul south to Konya, east to Cappadocia, and then coming full circle through Bursa and back to Istanbul. I need time to decompress and purge all the experiences and information from my trip. What I can say for now, is that Turkey is far from the political upheaval represented in the media. The Turkey I saw was about warmth and hospitality and some of the nicest people I've encountered in any travel experience. I hope anything I write can do them justice.

Back in Los Angeles, I have found it more and more difficult to readjust to normal life after each international travel. Coming back from France and Germany was difficult in September, and so too is this coming home. Times like these, I look to routines that comforted me in the past - gym and exercise classes, writing sessions and ruminations at the local cafe, walks with friends (who I'm having a hard time getting in touch with since my cell phone is held hostage in my lost luggage) and zoning out occasionally in front of re-runs. In some ways, I miss the routines of Turkey. Waking up to the call to prayer at 6AM, rushing for the bathroom with a throng of other women, speaking in 3 different languages with travellers from all over Europe and the U.S. Hopefully, I will experience more travelling routines in the new year and will learn to get used to the often unsatisfying comforts of home.

Happy new year to all my blog readers. I hope 2008 will be full of travels, and new routines in which you never thought you would find comfort. Keep in touch.