"On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again..."

Etc.

That's a great song. It featured on the playlist that ushered in our first and only genuinely nomadic spell (it lasted just 20 months).

Anyway, this time we're off to see various members of our family again. But we won't reach any of them until Day 44 of the trip, as we're going the long way...

You may remember that we had been planning, when it was time to return to Malaysia after the 2020 British Isles trip, to go overland as far as Istanbul. Then covid struck, and nobody could travel anywhere, overland or not.

Well, as 2022 drew to a close, we still had vouchers outstanding from that aborted expedition. But they were due to expire, so the old cliche of "use them or lose them" really did apply.

The plan evolved to be like this: After flying to Istanbul (via Singapore), we would abandon wings for a while, and take to the railways. Travelling via Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, and France, we would eventually hit London, at which point we'd hire a car. Thus equipped, we'd head, via Somerset, for Newark Notts, our first family port of call, and thence to the Isle of Man, our second.

The continental bit of the journey follows a different itinerary from the one originally planned in 2020. When we were doing all the booking for this trip (back in November/December, because you need to book early to get the best prices), you still couldn't transit Serbia. I'm not sure what the situation is now, but we weren't going to hang around to find out.

Consequently, our route is a bit sinuous... But never mind. It'll be interesting. Also tiring, probably. Some of these train journeys are long, and many of our conveyances are going to be many levels removed from the Shinkansen... But definitely interesting.

Anyway, yesterday was Day 1! Day 1 of 100, in fact (although this was totally accidental):





First stop, then, Changi Airport, to change planes:






Then, in the wee small hours of Day 2 (today), we were boarding the flight to Istanbul. Everything went fine, and there's absolutely nothing to complain about, but even on good airlines, we find long-haul flights something to be suffered rather than savoured. (I know people who are different -- people who, even when flying economy, actually enjoy the experience. Not us, alas.) By the time we were getting off, after more than 12 hours of captivity in that cramped little tube, we were heartily glad that there wouldn't be any more flying until Day 94...

The arrival formalities at Istanbul went optimally smoothly. Zero queues at passport control. No hindrance at customs. Nothing about covid whatsoever. Such a different experience from the one at Fukuoka just a few weeks ago...

There's still plenty of the licensed banditry that seems to come with the territory of air hubs. Our salep latte -- we were both desperate for a hot drink -- was delicious, but ridiculously expensive. And some mysterious fee appeared on the ATM transaction that I'm sure we never encountered anywhere else last year.



We're staying in Kadikoy, a suburb on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. We made a brief visit last year, and thought it would repay further exploration. There's a handy bus from the airport (TRY 96 per person), which deposits you close to the ferry terminal we'd arrived at last time. From there it was a brief walk to the Mezzo Hotel.


At the airport, we'd seen several reminders of the recent earthquake. Various advertising boards were thanking donors; some outlets (including our purveyor of luxury salep) were offering free water, tea, and coffee to relief workers. And playing on the lobby TV screen as we checked in at the hotel were terrible scenes of devastation. Sobering, and perspective-inducing.

We, lucky for the moment, have a very pleasant room, bigger than we'd dared hope:




Not quite so great is that someone's building something incredibly noisy just down the street. But hey... Proportion... Om...

It's REALLY nice to be back in Istanbul. We fell in love with this city last year, when -- despite decidedly unpropitious circumstances -- it hosted us for a very memorable and rewarding month. We're enjoying hearing the seagulls again, and meeting those full-on cats ("What do you mean, 'You're beautiful'? Cut the cackle, and break out the Go-Cat like any normal Istanbulite"), and detecting the siren call from every food-shop window on every street ("You can't not eat me... You can't not eat me... Look! Smell! You can't not eat me...").

Here's a little Kadikoy gallery, just by way of a taster: