Life on the road

A common question I get asked is if I get homesick. My answer is always no. Sure I miss family and close friends. New Zealand is a beautiful country and I love it. I also miss New Zeland wine and some of my favourite foods. But I guess my position right now is I would rather they all came with me! I relate more to the German word 'fernweh' which means homesick for places you've never been. I can't get enough of being around different culture, people, language, landscape and food.

Following that question I get this one -don't you get tired of living out of a suitcase? My suitcase may be bursting at the seams and be a mission to repack and close shut every 2nd morning but in reality I had the same issues with my drawers. Give me a bigger wardrobe, drawer or suitcase, it will always be full. Just like no matter what time I need to be ready in the morning whether it be 6am or 11am I am always in a rush. Somehow I fill whatever is available to me whether that is space or time! 

Travelling is so tiring, especially non stop travelling while working hard and playing hard. Yet the love and passion I have for it and the inspiration I get from it energises me and outweighs the physical exhaustion. Lazing in the sun outside our guesthouse in the Austrian alps, showing passengers the quirky sites of beautiful Prague and having masquerades in Venice!

The first day of the trip we arrive in Paris and head on a driving tour of the city after dinner. This is one of the most rewarding parts of the trip for me. As we head around the sites and I yarn to the group it takes me back to my assignment before even beginning the training for this job. Looking up photos for the sites and following it up with information, taking sooooo much longer than I ever though it would. Planned to be done a few days before Christmas so I could relax with the family. You can imagine the frustration when I was only 2/3rds of the way through by 2am on Christmas Day. I wanted to throw the laptop against the wall and quit. I am SO pleased I kept going. 

I keep my group distracted out the right window hunting for topless waiters and waitresses in a restaurant (fake yarn) while the coach comes into perfect position with the Eiffel Tower, I tell them to look left. Try to time it perfectly when it sparkles on the hour. Though I have seen it numerous times myself now I don't think I will ever get sick of the sighs, the oooo's and camara clicks that happen in that moment. The first of many moments they will be wowed on the journey of the stunning continent of Europe - the trip of a lifetime that people work so hard for and hearing that realisation click into place that they have arrived is so satisfying.

So many highlights from this 28 day trip with a wonderful group of people. I love that one day I am running in a Valley in Switzerland, a couple of days later along the waterfront in the French Riviera and another day out in the Tuscan country in Italy. Such a privilege. My running stopped after this thanks to a bout of Bronchitis. Took myself to the doctor while on Pag Island Croatia. Not a lot of English was spoken so I was somewhat confused when I was injected in the butt and put on a drip through the arm for 45mins. Still no idea what that was all about. Anyway got on the old antibiotics and tried to catch up on some zzzzz's. My scissors got a work out on Pag Island with a whopping 10 haircuts.

Had this amazing meal in Florence  yum!

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Rome is incredible - all the ancient ruins and the history but now that I have been I have to be honest and when I arrive I can't wait to leave. I do however love wandering around Florence and Venice. We also make a day stop at a cute village sitting on top of a hill called Orvieto, it's so great going somewhere with more locals and less tourists. A couple of happy snaps I took on my Italian wanders -

I went for the most incredible bike ride I think I have ever done while staying in the Austrian Alps. Me and two of my girls did a 50km bike ride around a mountain called Kalkstein which took us through 6 completely different villages and we came across a random mini theme park in one of them! Villages where not a word of English was spoken. We went along roads, along paths, along rivers, through fields of dandelions, daisy's and buttercups, cold valleys with cliffs either side of us, snow almost close enough to touch, passed traditional Austrian houses, baroque churches, a lake, cows with bells grazing - so high on beautiful fresh mountain air and scenery soo stunning there are no words to describe it. New fond memories formed - singing sound of music with the girls as we biked along and also when we didn't have to peddle and the downward slope sent us flying through a gorgeous valley!

When we returned from this I went straight to the airport and followed 12 of my passengers with one of the best things you can do ever and skydived over the alps that I had just been biking around. The snowy alps went as far as the eye could see and being skydive #5 I was feeling more relaxed and could take it in enjoying the flight, fall and landing.

As I write this we are travelling from Berlin to Amsterdam. I had such a good time in Berlin. I broke my 8 day no alcohol fast with a nice glass of wine over dinner - such an achievement with this job, pretty sure I deserve a medal. A couple of us hired bikes and cruised through the various parks, past the east side galleries Berlin Wall and along the river and had lunch in a beer garden before returning the bikes. Dinner at the Hofbrauhaus Berlin beer hall where numerous people ordered pork knuckle, I got myself schnitzel and a 1L stein and we enjoyed the sound of an oompa band playing in the background. 

Sunday brunch is planned with two old school friends who now live in Amsterdam and then looking forward to a few days off to organise myself and catch up with friends in London. Maybe a sneaky trip to Majorca if time allows before I head out with another group :)

Ciao for now!

Turkish Delight

It felt appropriate flying to Turkey alongside an Australian, my friend and work mate Sarah, and meeting up with other Aussie and kiwi friends given we were headed to Gallipoli to pay our respects to the men who fought on behalf of the Australian New Zealand Army Corps in WW1 against the Turks.

We boarded our Turkish airlines flight and before we even took off, the flight attendants were handing out little Turkish delights! In the words of the cherry Englishman next to me "What a delight!" I immediately think how my Dad would appreciate this comment. This little morsel left us wanting more. More we would get once we reached Turkish land.

Istanbul airport was definitely not the most organised airport I have been too. The que was hideous and an hour later we made it through to the baggage carousel where we waited for the luggage we thought would have long been waiting for us to come past on the belt, it didn't come out. Our waiting was in vain and we realised this when Sarah went for a wander around the other side and saw our bags hanging out on the ground hence they weren't circulating on the belt. 

Water and bathroom break, a couple of hours after landing we were now on our way to the metro! Dumping our bags at our hotels could not come soon enough. We notice very few other blondes around and in fact not a lot of women alone in general. We also notice the men are unashamed to stare and mutter things in Turkish as you pass by. 

We part ways to check into our different hotels and make contact with the fellow Topdeck workmates in town and arrange to meet them at a bar in the old town of Istanbul. The sun went down quickly after I left my hotel and I suddenly had that feeling that maybe I should not be walking alone right now as the only other human spieces around was that of the male variety. I didn't see one other blonde and the only women I saw were with partners and mostly had head scarfs on. So naturally I tensed every muscle in my face to give my best effort at looking unapproachable, I quicken my pace and stare straight ahead avoiding eye contact - this proved embarrassing when I tripped twice along the way. 

Every 10 steps someone would be approaching me asking if I'd like to buy something, asking where I was from, if I needed help, was I lost or would I marry them. It was unavoidable though as it is not safe for a girl to jump in a cab straight off the steet in Istanbul - it must be called by a hotel or restaurant/bar for your best chances not to have a dodgy driver. However I was quite ok and the walk got better when I caught my first glimpse of the Blue mosque and Aya Sofia.

The next morning a group of us Trip leaders were briefed on how our 4 day trips were to go. I managed to squeeze in a traditional Turkish kebab for lunch with Sarah and also my two really good friends, Hayley and Logan from New Zealand who also happened to be in Istanbul. By 2pm I was all set up in my hotel lobby to meet passengers until 6pm. I met my Turkish guide, Onur, who I would be working alongside then we had a meeting with all the passengers to run through our plan for the next few days. Once the admin was out of the way it was time to head out to sit on cushions at low tables to get to know each other, enjoy some Turkish cuisine and smoke some shisha.

Making our way back to the hotel about midnight, I still had to pack a small bag for our journey to Gallipoli and wanted to run through my spiel on ANZAC and WW1 (see my last blog titled ANZAC). With a massive 45 minutes sleep once I woke at 4:30am I was unsure how I was going to cope with the next 72hours. Knowing tonight would spent under the stars in the open awaiting the ANZAC dawn service.

Hitting the road just after 6am we were on our way to ANZAC cove on the Gallipoli peninsula of Turkey. We made fantastic time getting ourselves in a good position in the que and due to this privilege we had the consequence of a lot of waiting! It was a stunning, hot day and we had a nice shady area near the beach to spend the afternoon. Hundreds of young  people gathered, playing hacky, lounging on hammocks and going for short walks would have been a visual contrast to the allied soldiers that 99 years earlier also occupied this beach front.

There was about a 3km walk between here and the entrance to ANZAC cove where the grand stands were set up for the service. This walk was beautiful. Before reaching the ANZAC cove entrance there were a couple of cemeteries that could be visited. One laying next to the beach. One was even right up high on a hill looking down over ANZAC cove. 

By 6pm they opened the security gates and we all filed through to find a good possy for the night. Between the grand stands were grassy areas for those sleeping over to camp out. Myself and fellow Topdeck crew laid out our sleeping bags on the front right facing the stage. I was wowed by the scenery I was surrounded by. Behind me was sheer cliffs and in front of me was the stage with the most beautiful ocean backdrop. This beauty was emphasised as the sun fell. Photos simply don't do the setting justice. What rang through my thoughts was how something so ugly could happen somewhere so beautiful. 

Having packed and prepared for the worst in terms of cold, wind and rain it became chilly but no worse. We had perfect conditions and a clear starry nice. Packed in like sardines there was a sea of sleeping bags. Quite funny to look around. Some down curled up fast asleep and some watching the countless documentaries being played on the big screens. As well as the documentaries, musical items were played through out the night. 

Topdeck crew all had 45 minute slots at certain points throughout the night on the info desk in case passengers needed assistance. Of course I got 2:45am through til 3:30am. I fell asleep about 1am, apparently missed the most amazing choir - although I swear I dreamt of angels singing. I woke at 2:30 feeling like I was floating away in some sort of crazy world and wasn't sure of where I was while an incredible symphony orchestra played pulled me out of sleep. Seeping into every part of me as I woke - the music that was playing was actually indescribable. I got up to get ready to take my turn at the post. Tip toeing over the sleeping bodies to make my way to clear ground and the info site. 

Once I was up at 2:30 I was up for the day. So over the two nights I had had 2hrs and 15minutes sleep. Somehow still coping. The dawn service was an incredible moving experience. Follow if the service, everyone departed on the walk to either Lone Pine (Australian memorial service) or Chunuk Bair (New Zealand's memorial service. It was a bit like a pilgrimage walk the path that our soldiers once walked in battle. Sitting upon where many of their bones lay to pay respect to their bravery. Gazing out towards the Dardenelles, the strip of water on the other side of the peninsula and think how it must have felt to be one of those kiwi soldiers to reach this high ground and see this. I was able to do this walk and NZ service with one of my very best friends and her husband (Hayley and Logan who I mentioned earlier). 

The rain held off till coach loading time, groups and groups of people huddled together as it poured and eagerly awaited their coach number to be called. We only waited about half an hour before we were on our way! Hurrah! Adrenalin pumping from such a busy and emotion filled time somehow I still did not nod off to sleep on the coach. I think knowing I had to push through for one more outing with the group before bed kept me going. 

We had a nice terrace area for our Turkish cuisine and shisha tonight. When I got back to my room I lay on my bed and checked my phone. The next thing I knew my hotel phone was ringing and it was the Turkish guide asking whether he meets me in reception of breakfast room - right now! Argggh! It's 8:30am and I still have yesterday's make up and clothes on, fell asleep before setting an alarm, have to leave on Istanbul walking tour by 9am and had said to passengers I'd be around at breakfast from 8! Oops. Not to mention I hadn't packed my bag ready for check out yet! Mad stressful panicked rush, somehow all gets sorted and off we go - I just feel out of sorts in my head. Seems my lack of sleep finally caught up.

Relaxed over my last Turkish meal at lunch with other Topdeck crew after we farewelled our passengers before heading back to my hotel to repack for my flight. Couldn't help but go via the famous grand bazaar to pick up some more Turkish delight and a beautiful Turkish scarf!

Thanks to a very late taxi we had a stressful ride crawling in rush hour traffic to the airport getting their only 1 hour before our flight. Begging airport staff to help us get through quickly we make it in time to still board our flight and next thing we know we are sitting on that plane winging our way back to London Town. Even scored the exit isle giving us HEAPS of leg room - amazing. 

All in all it was a whirlwind but an amazing experience that I was so honoured to have. I can't wait to get back to experience more Turkish delights!