The alarm went off at twelve and we both woke up rather reluctantly. We packed our things and tried our best to separate the clothes which stank of smoke from last night. After leaving our room we walked over to the main hostel and chatted to people whilst stealing all their music to put on our pda. We struggled to find an available hostel for Sofia. So many people have told us to stay at Hostel Mostel but they are closed for the upcoming future so we got the address of a place called Be My Guest Hostel which has an [View Full Entry]

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We were woken suddenly by the lights being turned on inside the bus. It was five thirty so an hour earlier than we were supposed to arrive in Plovdiv. We asked the steward if this was our stop and she nodded so we jumped off. We just got our bags and the coach drove off leaving us at a station without a name. My instructions from Hikers hostel said to get bus no. 7,20 from the right of the station which we did. We paid the driver and settled down to look out for our stop. It didn't come. After consulting [View Full Entry]

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We slept as long as we dared, leaving just enough time to pack and leave for half eleven. At about twenty five past eleven just as we were getting the last few things ready we got a phone call "reminding" us that checkout was in ten minutes. We were out in time however that phone call was the final contribution from a bad hostel which we made sure to write on their review. Once evicted from our room, we sat in the common room and had a mass postcard writing session. I managed to address all of mine no problem, but [View Full Entry]

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Another very cold day today and neither of us very well prepared. Rob bought a corn on the cob to keep him going till lunch. You could pay 0.50 extra for a grilled one which he did. This ended up being a terrible idea; not only was it more expensive but it was dry and tasteless despite the copious amount of salt on it. While eating we went back to the Blue shop where Steph had spotted a pashmina she liked the day before (not black, but purple). After a bit of haggling and a promise to promote the Blue shop [View Full Entry]

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Today was our things we couldn't quite fit in last time day. We got up and quite reluctantly left the relative warmth of the hostel to get to the Blue Mosque. (Sultanahmed Mosque) on the way Rob bought himself a corn on the cob, but opted for the more expensive grilled one rather than the boiled ones. It was horrid even with the copious amount of salt that the vendor put onto it. We got to the Blue Mosque and found that it was shut for prayer. I sat down and played with a cute but very wet cat whilst Rob [View Full Entry]

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The traffic in Istanbul first thing in the morning is atrocious and yet all the coaches arrive then. We were an hour and a half late because of the rush hour traffic. We got on the metro around nine but it wasn't that bad, neither was the tram. We found our hostel "Cordial House" very easily however we were told check in wasn't until twelve thirty. We dumped our bags in their luggage room and asked about tickets to football games. The guy there was utterly useless but we waited a while until the information office opened upstairs. After pestering them [View Full Entry]

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We slept as long as we could get away with and left a stupidly small amount of time to wake, pack and get downstairs for breakfast at ten. Breakfast was good again. It never ceases to amaze me how much food Rob can put away first thing in the morning, especially jam and bread. We got the bill and walked into town to post a first batch of postcards and to withdraw money for bills etc. We had been told that whilst the red spring was definitely worth seeing we wouldn't want more than twenty minutes there. Ordinarily we wouldn't waste [View Full Entry]

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Breakfast here in Pamukkale seems to be a big deal. We had a typical Turkish plate of cucumber, olives, Tomato, grape but all from the hostel garden. The grapes were picked from the vines right above our head. During breakfast we were joined by the owner who chatted to us whilst we ate. We found out that he had voluntarily joined the army and had served on the border with Iraq which is currently experiencing a lot of problems. You have to do military service here but you can choose to join as young as twelve (they don't fight, only join [View Full Entry]

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Rob went to breakfast whilst I laid in. When he got back we packed our bags which took a while because we were surprisingly spread out considering how few things we have. We stopped at a shop owned by a friend of Jimmy's. After we bought some postcards we chatted to her for a while about traveling. I told her how I'd love to go to Iran and she listed a load of other places to go instead, all of which we had already been. Once listing all these places to visit she told us we should just go home. We [View Full Entry]

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Well we woke this morning with the primary intent of phoning the Fenerbahce ticket line to try and book tickets. Jimmy did try but they told him we would have to buy tickets from a club shop somewhere. Jimmy suggested going to Izmir for the day and buying tickets from the club shop there. However, Rob was intent on experiencing Turkish beach and so after some recommendations by Jimmy, we made our way to Millie national park. It took two buses and a considerable amount of time to get there. We were both expecting it to be a lot nearer and [View Full Entry]

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