Apologies before you start reading - We get very verbose (wordy) (not that we weren’t before) as this is the last kick at the can. Sorry. The Turkish bus network continued to do itself proud as we had an “airline-like” ride from Selcuk to Istanbul (leaving at 9:30pm and arriving in Istanbul at 8am). The massive bus station in Istanbul set us on the right course by getting us a free shuttle service to the area of our hotel (Sultanahmet which is the district that houses the Aya Sophia, Blue Mosque and Topkapi palace). We ran into our first an only [View Full Entry]

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The Travelblog site has been down the last week so not sure if this will ever see screen time. Important to us however is the recording of our adventures so we will continue. We did a whirlwind tour of Pamukkale. Getting off the overnight bus from Cappadocia at 7am, we considered it a victory just to have made it, given the current state of the troop’s intestinal tracts. Not being able to get into our rooms until 11am, we wandered in a fog and just vegged (sp?) in the Turkish lounge of the Venus Hotel. Sleeping our way through the early [View Full Entry]

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We left off last time in Cirali (pronounced Chiralee) at the Canada hotel where Carrie and her husband Saban were great to us. Our last evening was spent doing a 1 km steep climb up the backside of Chimaera to see their eternal flames (try googling that one). There is an area in some exposed rock that has natural gas (mostly methane) leaking from the ground creating these spontaneous and continuous flames (some of them around 4 ft in the air). We grabbed our flashlights and made the ½ hour trek (in 35 degree 100% humidity) and were truly enraptured by [View Full Entry]

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It is hard to put into words what we have just experienced in the last six days in Turkey. We took the fast ferry (supposed to be 45 minutes and turned into almost 2 hours) from Rhodes to Marmaris but that is Turkey time. Trevor has extremely fond memories of Turkey and from minute one, it lived up to its billing (after conferring with Marla, that should be reputation, not billing). Well, almost from minute one - that is after we re-mortgaged the house to actually enter the country. If one is coming to Turkey, be prepared to pay for the [View Full Entry]

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“It is only 41 degrees? The real heat won’t start for a few days.” No wonder we can only be up for 2 hours and then have to have a siesta. We had an amazing travel agent and she has planned things so that each of our experiences has been incredibly different and special - Thanks Marla (I know it’s a bit sucky but it is true). As we mentioned, our nice little 16 passenger plane bumped and bounced its way across the Mediterranean and deposited us in Rhodes. Each time we land in a new place, there is the [View Full Entry]

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Thank you again for all the messages. Although we are having a blast, we still long for all of our friends at home. Well, at least for a minute. Back to the adventure. Naxos was an enjoyable place to put up our feet but there was much anticipation of spectacular beauty as we headed to Santorini and we were not disappointed. There were many conversations about living on the edge of a volcano and how many people died. Once we got over the “volcano” talk, we were left to enjoy and marvel at the Greek ability to construct buildings where it [View Full Entry]

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The journey continued as we left the luxury of Paros for the unknown on Naxos. The ferry terminals and rides are certainly something that can only be described as controlled chaos. If we thought the situation in Athens was just because of the big city, we were wrong as each port has its own sense of pandemonium (a stampeding cattle herd is an apt analogy). The kids continue to be amazing as the little geese follow their mother (or father - whoever happens to be in front) throughout the maze of humanity. We haven’t lost anyone or anything …… yet! [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Paros everyone. We left behind the big city feeling of Athens (we enjoyed our time but we were ready to move on) for the “real Greek” feeling of the islands. “This is what I thought Greece was going to be like” (to quote more than one Connor child). Up at 5am, walking 5 blocks heavy laden with packs (one on front and one on the back - the kids received more than their share of smiles from bleary eyed Greek business commuters and yes Carol B we have to take lessons from you on packing lighter!!), we made [View Full Entry]

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This is a test of the emergency Blog System. Please check your response to receiving the email for this blog. IF there was a sense of annoyance or “oh, no”, press delete and get on with your day. Otherwise, welcome to our Adventure. The Connor clan left Vancouver with relatively little fanfare. The only glitch was the jackknife that had been left in on of the day packs. With the thought that we may be eco-terrorists looking to hijack a Lufthansa plane to Frankfurt (the plan was obviously not well thought out by Marla), we were required to recheck one [View Full Entry]

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Courtney and I are sitting here at the computer and the anticipation is growing. We all just finished school and we are making our last minute preparations. Are you packed Trev?? Are you kidding, we still have 6 days. It is not even the morning of our departure. We have gone and purchased our Euros, 4 of the 5 travellers have packed their bags and we have checked our flights and accommodations. We can't believe that it has come so fast. We welcome all of those that would like to join us on our journey. This recording of thoughts, ideas and [View Full Entry]

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