It's been long time coming, knew it! Finally I have developed a fear of flying! With each and every flying experience my scare is getting worse, cannot help it! I try every relaxing method out there, breathing technics, trying to think something else (all I think of my fear and anxiety!!), watching a movie (cannot even pay attention, in my last trip I watched four movies and cannot remember which movies I watched!!!), playing sudoku and freecell! (I always loose), reading a book (all of a sudden I became illiterate!).
My fear gets worse if I see other traveller's scared faces, they do not say anything but we have something in common, feeling is out there! And than, there are kids scream or cry, sometimes I wish I was one of them, at least I could take my stress out by screaming!
Turbulence, how can I forget it! Once I read planes never crash because of turbulence, but tell that to me! During the flight I find myself counting how many turbulence there are and just anxiously wait for captain's next announcement!
Worst thing is, I try so hard to hide this from my children. During our last trip, my daughter said 'don't worry mom, it will be over soon, just think about something else!' I guess I am not successful with hiding stuff from my kids! When I travel with my husband at least I have someone to lean on, well, he sleeps when plane takes off and wakes up when it lands! Ooh, such a support!
We all know the statistics, there are twice to three times more car accidents than plane accidents, but still this does not help when I am up on the air!
The funny thing is, the more my fear gets worse, the more I have to fly! Cannot wait for my next air trip!
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Back in town!
During our return flight from Istanbul to Nairobi, my daughter said 'you know what mom, Kenya is my first home, I love Kenya', I had a glimpse of her and noticed happiness in her face and in her voice. For an eight years old, who changed so many schools, homes, places and friends she is never be the one who complains. And each and every experience she feels home and safe.
After a smooth landing, 'Welcome back to Nairobi mom' my daughter said again when we arrived Jomo Kenyatta International Airport this past Saturday at 1am. When we were getting out of the plane, I saw Kenyans and their smiling warm faces, it really did feel like a home. So my view on 'home' has changed so much after all these experiences. I used to think, home is where I was born and grow up. (Probably that's where my confusion started! because I was born in US and spent half of my life in Turkey and half of it in US, now adding Kenya into equation!). Now home is where we make our living with all ups and downs as a family.
I must admit living an expat life is no easy. You gotta have a patience and flexibility to ever changing locations, climate, air travels, food and so much more. Before each holiday season you have to find a place to stay unless you have a house! After staying in rental houses last years, this year we decided to stay at my parents house. I actually thought if I planned everything ahead it would be much easier. But let me tell you something, it is never easy to stay even at parents' house after certain age and it becomes really complicated when you have a husband and two children! Before we went away, I made my plans and thought they were perfect! I planned sending my kids to summer schools. We would have one week between until my husband arrives and we would go on a holiday. During those two weeks we would stay at resort hotel. Than we would visit in-laws for five days, and go to Izmir to see my sister. Everything worked out well with few exceptions which is well expected. As a person who would never make big deal of packing and unpacking, or travelling long hours, this time I felt little bit overwhelmed. Because doing all these things only for yourself is one thing but packing/unpacking, making reservations for hotels, cancelling, renting cars, organising beds, adjusting children ever changing environment, picking out restaurants for four people is totally something!!!! By the end of our 2 months vacation, when I opened my eyes in my bed, I took a deep breath and I felt at ease. I was happy and relieved to be home.
After a smooth landing, 'Welcome back to Nairobi mom' my daughter said again when we arrived Jomo Kenyatta International Airport this past Saturday at 1am. When we were getting out of the plane, I saw Kenyans and their smiling warm faces, it really did feel like a home. So my view on 'home' has changed so much after all these experiences. I used to think, home is where I was born and grow up. (Probably that's where my confusion started! because I was born in US and spent half of my life in Turkey and half of it in US, now adding Kenya into equation!). Now home is where we make our living with all ups and downs as a family.
I must admit living an expat life is no easy. You gotta have a patience and flexibility to ever changing locations, climate, air travels, food and so much more. Before each holiday season you have to find a place to stay unless you have a house! After staying in rental houses last years, this year we decided to stay at my parents house. I actually thought if I planned everything ahead it would be much easier. But let me tell you something, it is never easy to stay even at parents' house after certain age and it becomes really complicated when you have a husband and two children! Before we went away, I made my plans and thought they were perfect! I planned sending my kids to summer schools. We would have one week between until my husband arrives and we would go on a holiday. During those two weeks we would stay at resort hotel. Than we would visit in-laws for five days, and go to Izmir to see my sister. Everything worked out well with few exceptions which is well expected. As a person who would never make big deal of packing and unpacking, or travelling long hours, this time I felt little bit overwhelmed. Because doing all these things only for yourself is one thing but packing/unpacking, making reservations for hotels, cancelling, renting cars, organising beds, adjusting children ever changing environment, picking out restaurants for four people is totally something!!!! By the end of our 2 months vacation, when I opened my eyes in my bed, I took a deep breath and I felt at ease. I was happy and relieved to be home.
Friday, 5 September 2014
Fabulous Voyage Belek Golf & Spa
We spent one whole week at Voyage Belek, and it was not enough! The only problem was there were way too many activities for us, and we were going through our list every day not to miss any!
Once we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by smiling faces with cold drinks and Turkish delight:) What a custom, right:). As long as you arrive around noon, rooms are always ready (it was the same case for all the hotels we stayed in so far). After a plane trip with two kids, all I want to have a quick check in and go to poolside right away!
Voyage is located in resort part of town Belek, where all the inclusive hotels are situated one after another. All these five start resorts share the same beach and they almost provide same type of service with few differences. Since I heard so much about Voyage hotels in the past through my best friend, Senem, this time we decided to spend our summer vacation at Voyage Belek. And it was one of the best stays ever so far.
To make our reservation and get an idea about the hotels, there are two websites I always use, one is local travel agency's www.etstur.com and other one is of course expedia. ETS travel agency is well organised, and their annual rates are listed on their website before the season starts, ETS works very professional, it provides pick-up from the airport for a reasonable fee or like us you can opt to use taxi (taxi fares are listed outside at the airport, so there are no surprises).
Once we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by smiling faces with cold drinks and Turkish delight:) What a custom, right:). As long as you arrive around noon, rooms are always ready (it was the same case for all the hotels we stayed in so far). After a plane trip with two kids, all I want to have a quick check in and go to poolside right away!
Voyage was spacious, but not too big, where you get tired to go from one point to another. Rooms and villas were situated in the middle, away from pool and attraction areas, so noise was never an issue. We were able to stay in regular size room with our two children, room size was good enough, it was not too big or too small. Customer service was almost perfect, all the workers greeted us in the morning and our room was cleaned every day without any exception. Mini bar was full with drinks, snacks and water. There were open buffet restaurant along with a la carte restaurants serving Italian,
Asian, Turkish, Greek Tavern, Seafood, Mexican and Japanese. Like other hotels, visitors had only one dining options at each whole stay, which is fair enough. All we needed to do is to call a number to make a reservation, lines were open at 9am, if you call at 9:30am there were no seats available!! You gotta hurry!!! Good news is, buffet dining changed its menu every day, so you never get bored of eating the same food. There were also snack bar, patisserie, ha,burger stand in the afternoon, also Turkish pide (pizza) baked everyday at the beach. Have I mentioned there were also ice cream stands every corner? Heaven for kids:) On the third day, I gave up on checking my children after I caught them almost glued themselves to ice cream stands!!!! It was such a scene, seriously! Setting up rules for ice cream on vacation was not a good idea I guess!
Asian, Turkish, Greek Tavern, Seafood, Mexican and Japanese. Like other hotels, visitors had only one dining options at each whole stay, which is fair enough. All we needed to do is to call a number to make a reservation, lines were open at 9am, if you call at 9:30am there were no seats available!! You gotta hurry!!! Good news is, buffet dining changed its menu every day, so you never get bored of eating the same food. There were also snack bar, patisserie, ha,burger stand in the afternoon, also Turkish pide (pizza) baked everyday at the beach. Have I mentioned there were also ice cream stands every corner? Heaven for kids:) On the third day, I gave up on checking my children after I caught them almost glued themselves to ice cream stands!!!! It was such a scene, seriously! Setting up rules for ice cream on vacation was not a good idea I guess!
One of the reason I chose Voyage was it offered so many activities for children. When planning a vacation, there is only one important rule! you gotta make your kids happy and keep them busy, otherwise whole vacation can become a nightmare!!! So, not only there were four different water slides, there were also open playground, kids club for different age groups, huge trampoline, jumping castle, and yes amusement park right on the beach.
Voyage was hidden behind trees, the building never got my attention, it felt like vacationing in the forest. Even cicadas were making a nice background sounds at night. It was one of the greenest and environmental friendly hotel, the grounds kept very green, clean and professional. We never felt to hot even though the temperature was showing 38 C degrees! The trees provided nice breeze at night, and wonderful shade during the day.
Voyage was hidden behind trees, the building never got my attention, it felt like vacationing in the forest. Even cicadas were making a nice background sounds at night. It was one of the greenest and environmental friendly hotel, the grounds kept very green, clean and professional. We never felt to hot even though the temperature was showing 38 C degrees! The trees provided nice breeze at night, and wonderful shade during the day.
Throughout the day, entertainment team kept the guests happy and active. From outside it seemed like people had fun, unfortunately I could not join much of the activities, I was busy keeping my kids entertained!
Pool was big enough, hotel was full but never felt too crowded. Beach area was also well kept, divided into two different sections, '+16' where children not allowed (I dreamed about being there, nice and quite :)) and other section for people with children like us! Little info: In Turkey, all beaches are public, so anyone can use them without paying any fee, and government controls all the areas for
safety.
It was a wonderful gateway at the end:)
Pool was big enough, hotel was full but never felt too crowded. Beach area was also well kept, divided into two different sections, '+16' where children not allowed (I dreamed about being there, nice and quite :)) and other section for people with children like us! Little info: In Turkey, all beaches are public, so anyone can use them without paying any fee, and government controls all the areas for
safety.
It was a wonderful gateway at the end:)
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