Days 4 through 6

We left Urgup on Saturday morning -- caught a flight from Kayseri to Izmir via Istanbul (we flew Pegasus). Inside the terminal at Izmir, there was a row of car rental places, like Avis and Enterprise, and we had to leave the terminal and walk across the street and find a guy holding a sign for our rental company. They received good reviews online and they were half the cost of the major rental chains. This guy drove us to a place about 10 min. away and then walked behind the counter and was also the guy renting us the car. An older man walked in and out of the office, but his job wasn't so clear. Our driver/salesman could barely speak English and he tried to overcharge us for a KGS card (it's Turkish fastlane -- 20 lira on the side of the highway, 50 through him). That may have been his side business because the car rental place was legit and we haven't had any issues. After renting the car, we drove about 10 min. on the highway (we were told the speed limits were 50kmh in the cities, 90 on the highways, and 120 on the autobahn) and I ran a red light (not thinking that I would see a red light on a highway), right in front of a cop. The light on the highway was green, and then yellow, but I still didn't think it was about to turn red. Don't ask why. I was also speeding by quite a bit, but the ticket was only for the light, I think. The ticket was around $70.

Here's another fun fact: Turkey has the highest gas prices in the world. We had rented a tiny car, a Hyundai Getz, and we drove it away from the rental company with an empty tank. I looked it up online, and that car has a gas tank that holds less than 12 gallons. We *nearly* filled it for more than $70. I think we paid about 4.30 lira per liter for 95 octane. We could go higher, to 97, but those were our only unleaded options. There is a cheaper option, a blend of petrol and natural gas for engines that can handle it (taxis and commercial vehicles, I think), for half that price. That, coupled with our ticket, significantly bumped the cost of renting a car, but it was still a pretty reasonable option, if driving in a foreign country doesn't scare the bejesus out of you.

The signage in Turkey is confusing if you don't know which city you're driving toward, so we also took a wrong turn and got lost. We actually went in a big loop and 15 minutes later, drove by our rental company again and the same speed trap. We handled the red light better the second time around and we both just prayed that the cop on the shoulder didn't recognize our car. The rest of the driving was pretty uneventful. The roads in Turkey are very well-maintained and not so busy. It was actually nicer than driving in the northeast US. The only downside was that the highways weren't clearly marked and usually the signs for exits only had the cities you were pointed toward. We made it to Selcuk in an hour and a half after being lost, and found our hotel pretty quick. Selcuk was a bigger town than Urgup, but not more than maybe 30,000 people. Our second hotel (Nilya) was nice, but nearly as big as our first. I posted a picture earlier of D jumping on the bed there. The owner of the hotel brought us some refreshments to welcome us and then we went to the Efes Museum in town. Selcuk is a large town next to the ruins of Ephesus, a Greek colony and later, the second largest city in the Roman empire. There are beautifully preserved ruins there, but it's quite an attraction and there are mobs of tourists. We learned a little about the site from the museum and then went back to our hotel for dinner. We tried the mezzes (little dishes like tapas) and the food was wonderful, as everywhere. I took some pictures with our digital camera, but without a USB cord, they're trapped until next week. The next day was raining, the first of our trip, but we still pressed on to see Efes (Ephesus). I took some videos of D narrating the sites, and if she'll let me, I'll post those next week. The star of the site is the rebuilt facade of the library, the third largest of the ancient world (after Alexandria and somewhere else). We grabbed lunch after about 3 hours of wandering around, and then drove to Aphrodisias. Aphrodisias is another restored Roman city, but unlike Efes, it's barely visited. Both of us preferred Afrodisias to Efes, actually. I also have video that I'll post later. A Turk who studied at NYU was the driving force behind restoring the ruins there, and he died in the 1990s. I'm not sure how much work has been done since his passing. The museum attached to the site is more impressive and beautiflly displayed than the museum in Selcuk for Efes. We left Afrodisias for Pamukkale, where we had rented a room at the Melrose House Hotel. We had to drive through the night to get there, and we battled the worst fog I've ever seen along the way. People were blowing past us on the highway, and I couldn't see 5 feet in front of the car. It was one of the most nerve-wracking expereinces of the trip. On day 5, we went to the hot springs at Pamukkale and saw more ruins of Roman cities. D had started to get sick, and I think being out in the drizzle that day probably pushed her over the edge. We had a four hour drive from Pamukkale to Fethiye, on the Aegean coast. We arrived late on the fifth day and just checked in and got dinner. While we were eating at the hotel restaurant, an older Swedish couple joined us. Immediately, I was annoyed. I looked around the restaurant and saw one or two other tables that were still empty, and I couldn't figure out why they were joining us. I knew they were going to be chatty too, so I doubly annoyed. Well, let me say that A) I was right, and B) I feel like a real asshole for being annoyed by them. They were awesome people, and at the end of the night, Anders and Brigetta invited us back to their house boat for drinks. They had a number of different jobs and worked all over the world, including a period where Anders worked in the US for Proctor & Gamble. On our way to the boat, they bumped into an American couple they had met while sailing years ago, Bunny and Bob (from upstate New York, originally), and they agreed to join us. So we all had some wine and whisky and chatted about traveling, using the internet on a boat, sailing the world as a retirement option, and other stuff. It's a shame Daniela's dad wasn't there, because I think he would really have liked the conversation. We went to bed after 1am on Tuesday morning, Turkish time. We spent three nights in Fethiye, sailing around the Aegean coast of Turkey, swimming, and being in the sun. I'll update again later as someone else wants to use this laptop.

Breakfast

Breakfast at Esans -- we can see the Hagia Sophia from this rooftop terrace as well as Asia, across the Bosporus.

- Posted from my iPhone

Istanbul

Pictures of D at the Blue Mosque & the Hagia Sophia. She was IRATE that some women entered the Blue Mosque without covering their heads.

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Retirement Planning 101

We had dinner last night with a wonder Swedish couple, Anders and Brigitta, who invited us back to their house boat afterward. They saw another American couple that they knew, Bob and Bunny, who also came back with us. We had whiskey and wine while they told us all of these great stories about sailing all over the world in their retirement. It was a really nice night despite the terrible pictures below.

- Posted from my iPhone

Pamukkale

Hot springs at Pamukkale, with the ancient ruins of Hierapolis just above the pools. Gave a nice backdrop for a dip. Also, they put chunks of Roman columns into the water. Nice touch.

- Posted from my iPhone

The Sultan's Bedroom

Melrose House Hotel in Pamukkale has an AWESOME bed. Where's my velour pants?

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The whip

Off to Pamukkale!

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Hotel Nilya, Selcuk

This is our second hotel... and bunny is busy destroying it!

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Creepy Christians

We rented a car in Izmir and drove to Selcuk today. Sketchy rental office? Check. Shitty old Hyundai? Check. Ticket for running a red light 10 minutes after renting the car? Check. Running across 10 lanes of traffic on the Turkish Autobahn to buy Turkish fastlane? Check. Getting hopelessly lost on the highway? Check. We did pretty good, all things considered. We had just enough time left to visit the Ephesus Museum in Selcuk, where I took these eerie photos. These are images of statues of the Roman Emperor Augustus and his wife, Livia, after radical and dangerous proto-Christians toppled them and "Christianized" them by carving crucifixes into their foreheads. Dude, creepy. I mean, the torturing Jesus thing would have been in recent memory, but still...

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Days 1 through 3

Hello from Türikye! From my Twitter and Google Buzz feedback, I know at least Kevin and Louisa are checking this, so this is for them (and for D's mom after she sends her the link). After the wedding, Max & Emi were crashing with us in Boston, and their flight left later in the day on Tuesday. Our flight left Boston at 11am, so we gave them a key to lock up and told them to mail it back to us.

We changed flights in New York and took a Turkish Airlines flight overnight to Istanbul. D tried to get us a free upgrade to first class for our honeymoon, but Turkish Airlines was unmoved. Apparently they get asked that several times a day. Turkish Airlines is the highest-rated carrier in Europe, and aside from the upgrade thing, I can see why. Every seat has its own TV with over 200 movies on demand. The food was good, and most importantly: we didn't crash into the Atlantic. Always a plus. We arrived at TAV (Ataturk) around 9am and it looked just like Logan or JFK. We had to buy 90-day visas for $20 each, and then we collected our bags. While in line at Immigration, we noticed a few other Americans and some Europeans, but lots of tourists from nearer to Turkey. A few Arabs in white thawbs and gutras bought visas while we were waiting. A few Kazakhs were in line ahead of us, as were some Iranian businessmen. It was that moment that I noticed we had left the US.

Immigration was a nightmare. There was the typical winding line that you see at any airport, but there were two separate lines for non-Turks. Our line had only two windows open for hundreds of people and it took an hour to get through with our passports stamped. We then collected our bags and had to pass back through security to get to the domestic terminal. We had three hours to get through immigration and to our next flight, but everything took so long that we arrived 20 minutes before boarding. The flight was great, and we were fed a full meal even though it was only an hour to Kayseri. When we exited the terminal, we had a driver waiting (holding a white placard with our names). That was pretty pimp. It was 30 minutes to Urgup and we were able to check right in. This hotel is fucking spectacular. We're staying at Esbelli Evi and it's the nicest place I've ever stayed. It's larger than our apartment in Boston and it's carved out of the hillside. D and I took a video of our suite and I'll post that later. We've spent most of our time here, and when the video is up, you'll see why. We were even given our own laptop, on which I'm writing this post. The hotel has wireless, so I've had internet access with my iPhone as well. We ate at Ehlikeyf on the first night, which was a 10 minute walk down the hill from our hotel. I'll post pictures of the food later. The waiter told us that he loves Heroes, but NBC isn't broadcasting season six in Turkey yet. We told him that we don't watch Heroes, so he said he loves House, too. Apparently new episodes are broadcast in Turkey only 2 days after they're shown in the US. Dinner was $26 not including tip.

Thursday was our first day of sightseeing. We ate at our hotel and Arda, the hotel manager, gave us a ride to the Goreme Open Air Museum. Cappadocia is surrounded by three volcanic mountain ranges that filled this whole area 50 meters deep with lava over millions of years. The volcanoes became inactive 2 million years ago, and water has carved steep valleys and created interesting formations in the soft rock. The early inhabitants of this region built their homes into the hillsides, using simple tools to build multi-room homes. The Goreme Open Air Museum is a collection of preserved homes and early Christian churches to tour (including one church with an intricately painted ceiling [the Dark Church], that would look identical to the day it was decorated, were it not for later invaders having scratched all of the faces off). We took a walk through the Rose valley nearby and grabbed lunch in the town of Goreme. We got borek (a flaky bread filled with meat and cheese) and some other dishes at a place recommended by our Lonely Planet. Then we took a local bus to see the Uçhisar citadel nearby. It was a castle built into a mountain to protect all of the surrounding valleys from outsiders. It wasn't particularly effective, because there are extensive caves in Kaymakli that were used by the local Christians to hide out when the Romans, and later, Arabs, invaded. Dinner was at the Ziggy Cafe and Restaurant, and it's the highest rated restaurant in the whole area. It was incredible. Photos to follow.

Finally, that brings us to this morning. We got up at 5:30 to take our hot air balloon ride over the province. The ride was 800 TRY for the two of us, and it lasted about an hour and a half. Please see my earlier post for pictures. We finished our ride with a champagne toast in the middle of a sugar beet field, and then got a ride back to our hotel. We ate breakfast around 10am and then came back to our room to plan the day. Instead of doing that, we took a three hour nap and it was awesome. We had been given a bottle of local wine when we checked in, so we took a bath and drank our wine at 3 or 4. I worked on some stuff for grad school and then we got dinner at Dimrit (the worst of the three places we ate while in Cappadocia). However, we saw this cool method of cooking where food is prepared, stuffed into a clay pot, and placed in an oven -- then the clay pot is smashed open to serve the food. I realize this is a long post without most of the details a reader would want. We were most excited about the food when we were planning the trip, and I haven't included any of that here. Apologies. I'll try to post pictures and descriptions later. It's 10:15 here (3:15pm on the East Coast) and we have to get up early to fly to Izmir, in the southeast. If I can find a camera cord (we forgot ours) or a card reader, I'll mention the food before I get home.

Hot air ballooning

We took a hot air balloon ride this morning from Uçhisar to just outside of Avanos, Nevşehir province, Turkey. We flew with Butterfly Balloons and the ride lasted about an hour and a half. I took a few photos with my iPhone and more with my camera, which I'll post later...

- Posted from my iPhone

Fairy chimneys

The fairy chimneys of Goreme. Wikipedia it...

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Urgup Cave Castle

This is the sultan's wife (the only member of his harem) in her jammy jams. Our cave castle is bigger than our home in Davis...

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Bunnies on the move!

On my way to Terminal 1 at JFK -- with my new bride

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Yale Club in NYC

At Charlie and Sorina's wedding in NY

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Turkiye

It took some work, but we agreed on a destination for the honeymoon: Turkey. D originally wanted Croatia or Santorini (there were some other places mentioned, but I can't remember them now) and I wanted India, Japan, or central Asia. The deciding moment was when I went out to Brandeis to get a letter of recommendation from a former professor. He's Turkish, and while we were chatting, I mentioned that D and I were getting married. I brought D into his office and we all chatted about the honeymoon. I think at that point we were leaning toward Santorini (I wasn't thrilled about that, hoping to go somewhere a little bit more adventurous. In retrospect, as half of Greece is on fire and it's economy is exploding, Greece would have been pretty exciting after all). So my professor starts to pitch us Turkey and it turns out it has everything we wanted in a honeymoon. The more we looked into it, the more we loved the idea. So, I think the tourism board of Turkey owes Professor Erbil a finder's fee at the very least. I was in a mentoring program at Fidelity and my mentor was Greek. She also gave me honeymoon advice when we thought we were going to Santorini, but she just showed me the website of a hotel she liked (which was also way out of our price range). Professor Erbil recommended an itinerary and really got us excited. He talked about renting a boat with his college buddies for like $40 each (per day) and the boat had a captain and a cook who prepared all of their meals. They sailed around the coast and went fishing, drank, swam, and generally had an awesome time. I know it's just an anecdote, but Greece is currently bankrupt and destroying itself, while Turkey has set its sights on building a trillion dollar economy. I mean, thanks for democracy, Greece, but you sound like China. What awesome thing have you done lately?


We bought our tickets last week. We'll leave immediately after the wedding (when I was still at Fidelity and had less vacation time, we thought we'd have to wait until 2012 to honeymoon) and stay for 12 days. D knows the itinerary better than I do, but we're going to the coast, Cappadocia, and Istanbul for a few days. We'll rent a car at some point and drive across Turkey, north to south. We just got our applications in the mail for international permits. I'm really excited about that part of the trip. It'll be practice for when we dominate the Amazing Race. We just have to get our acts together and finally submit an application.

My awesome timing

I can't be faulted for my timing. My first job out of college was with IBT in Boston. Less than two years after I left for Japan, IBT was acquired by State Street and there were massive layoffs. I worked at NOVA in Japan until January 2007, right when management stopped getting regular paychecks. About a year later, the company was bankrupt and a bunch of Americans, Brits, Canadians, and Aussies were stranded in Japan without work. It was enough of a problem that Qantas Airlines agreed to reduce the cost of tickets home for stranded Australian nationals. My timing seems to have saved me once again. Three months after leaving Fidelity, I just found out that my group has been moved out of Boston to Smithfield, RI. A severance package is being offered to anyone who leaves, as well as a retention package to anyone who agrees to stay for at least 6 months, but it must be a hard decision for my friends who have been there a while. I think this is pretty common for Fidelity to do. It's been moving people from downtown Boston to Merrimack, NH and Smithfield, RI for a while now. The cost of staying in Boston is too high, and I think this is a way for Fidelity to shake out the older employees, who now make twice what the new hires do.

So, if you lived in the metro area like I do, here's how your life would have changed. I used to wake up at 6:30 to shower and eat breakfast. I'd leave the house by 7:30, take the Red Line to South Station, transfer to the Silver Line, get off at the WTC, and be at my desk before 8:20. We just bought a car, but that was because my new job pays more and I could afford to cover the car and the wedding. I would have needed a car to get to work, but I probably would have cruised used car lots instead of buying a brand new one. The drive from Davis to Fidelity's Smithfield office is 57 miles, most of which would be on the 95. I have no idea what outbound traffic looks like on the 95 at rush hour, but I think it's fair to say that my commute would have gotten longer. I feel like I really dodged a bullet here. I got in touch with old co-workers on Friday and they don't know what to do. A lot of them live on the North Shore and take public transit in. Man. My good luck is tempered by how badly I feel for everyone else.


Fidelity recently closed its Framingham office, and I think everyone there was either moved back to Boston (unlikely) or to one of the Boston satellite sites. That would have been an even harder move. I once heard a story from a co-worker that a group was moved out of Boston to North Carolina. Some employees, eager to keep their jobs, moved to North Carolina. A year or two later, those people who had moved were laid off. What a world.

Bunny mobile

Bought a Mazda 3s!

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103 to 97 to 92 to 66

We're not the best bowlers, but we make it look good.

- Posted from my robot fone

Happy birthday Andre

Bottom of the 9th at Kings and Dave's winning...

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Kings near Hynes

Girl, you be killin' 'em...

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4th of July

The USS Constitution passing by the WTC pier in Boston.

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Commuter rail fun

On our way to Salem for a witch retreat

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Twins at Red Sox

Two rain delays chased us out of Fenway. PBRs at the Boston Burger Company.

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New job

I've tried to keep my professional life out of this blog and away from its questionable content, so I'm not going to say where I'll be working or what I'll be doing, but I got a new job. I've already given my notice and my last day will be April 29th. I actually receive regular emails from my current employer outlining the company's policy on social media, but I never read them. If they want my attention, they'd better include colorful pictures and minimal text. These emails satisfy neither of those criteria. Plus, if I'm doing something online that's forbidden by the policy, I'd rather not know about it. Self-policing is.... for communists? I forget the saying.

Some friends from New York are coming up next weekend, and we're going to see Atmosphere at the House of Blues. We saw him at his very first and second shows in Boston back in college. Good performer. Although, I'm not really into the 'performance.' I want the lyrics. I'm sure Lady Gaga is a great performer, but I'd rather see Leonard Cohen in concert. I haven't listened to Atmosphere's new album yet, but I've already mentally checked out at work, so I can do that this week.

Wedding planning is coming along. D and I finished the registry this weekend and all of the vendors have been booked (although some haven't been finalized). It was sort of depressing to see how many couples were fighting in Crate & Barrel. "Guys, guys, guys: both of your cup choices are ugly. Relax."

I'm paying HOW MUCH!?

School is expensive, dude. I wanted to stay on top of my graduate school loans, so I figured out how much I'll actually be paying in interest each year and I got sticker shock. I still have $27,300 in principal outstanding from Brandeis, down from about $40,000. The loans are much more expensive this time around. The lowest interest rate that the government offers on graduate loans is 6.8%. Some of the loans that I have are subsidized Stafford loans, which means they won't accumulate interest while I'm in school. Some are unsubsidized, which do accumulate interest, but the rate is the same on both. I'll take the money that I get from work and pay off my unsubsidized loans first. All of my undergraduate loans have been automatically deferred, so I freed up $320 a month in cash flow. I sent an email to BC asking if it's possible to pay down the principal on my graduate loans now. I'm still waiting for a response. Even with the extra debt, according to my math, this degree has a positive NPV. Using US census data, I found that the average American in my age bracket (28-34) with a graduate degree, makes $10,000 more a year than someone with just a Bachelor's. So, I took the $20,000 cost (plus interest on the loan) and then discounted $10,000 a year back to the present (up until 2047, when I turn 65) using the 30-year Treasury yield. The present value of the degree would be $150,000 and this number includes my tax benefits (the federal government gives you 20% of your money back up to $2,000 under the lifetime learning credit). Anything with a positive NPV is a good investment, so I made the right decision.

The damage:

Phew?

I heard back from MIT on Monday and the news wasn't good. Well, actually, the news was good, but I didn't get in. D and I have been debating what we would do if I got in, and I think we're just relieved that all decisions have been made for us. I started a part-time MSF program at Boston College on January 18th. I've already bought my books, I'm four weeks into the program, I've met the professors, and I didn't want to leave and start over at MIT. Going to BC also allows me to keep working, which I prefer. Plus, the cost is a significant consideration. If I keep going to BC, my employer pays $10,000 a year toward the cost. At the end of two years, I'll have an extra $20,000 in debt, all of it in federal Stafford loans at 6.8%. I also keep making my salary and plod along on my vesting schedule (I've worked for two years, so I'm only at 40% -- 5 years gets you to 100%). If I went to MIT, the cost would be $100,000 for a year (all living expenses included) and I would have to quit working. I'm not sure that the difference in salary out of MIT over BC would compensate me for the extra cost of the program. At least, not if I don't want to work 100 hour weeks. Which I don't. I think for what I want to do with my career, the BC degree will be fine. But, naturally, going to MIT would have had its own perks. Primarily, that it's MIT. I would been able to get lunch every day with D, which would have been nice. There was definitely a lot of back on forth on our end, which is why we were both relieved when I didn't get in.