dreams Durukan Edirne followyourdreams Happiness Turkey

Posted by: Peter

When I bicycled through Edirne, Turkey (border town with Bulgaria) last November 2012, I met up with an old friend, Durukan, whom I and the first Fueled By Rice group met on the first bicycle expedition in 2008. The 50km before and after Edirne (along with in-city biking in Istanbul and Bangkok) was the only exact same road stretch that I repeated on this second trip from the first. Moreover, on the first Fueled By Rice tour we had an amazing week-long spontaneous homestay in Edirne with Volkan Kahya and family (a friend whom Durukan introduced us to after we played a set at bar) while waiting for a stubborn Bulgarian visa to come through for Nakia – read a great blog summary of that experience HERE). So, I naturally wanted to re-connect with Durukan and Volkan when we passed through. Volkan and his family had moved to southern Turkey, but I was able to meet up with Durukan.

It turns out, Durukan has gone ahead pursuing one of his dreams of being a musician and produced one of his first music videos last year. Not bad at all. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnh-KjXvfLQ –

See his other videos linked through his Youtube profile.

Keep on following your heart, Durukan! Thanks for the hospitality!

With Durukan and Lindsey in Edirne, Turkey Nov 29, 2012

Fethiye homestay Turkey

Posted by: Andrew

After we were towed up the hill by the kind truck driver (see previous post Hitching a Ride), Kallie and I felt confident that it was going to be a good day. And it was. We made it into Fethiye and met up with Adam, who took us back to his place and showed us our room–a large bedroom with a double bed and attached bathroom. Yes, the shower was hot. After some introductions and showers, we made our way into town to find the friendliest kebap store owner and the makings of a home coffee roasting operation.

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India Istanbul Tips Turkey visa

Posted by: Kallie

Our experience at the Indian consulate in Istanbul resulted in a lot of scrambling, anxiety and running to copy centers to print off extra information. We had a hard time finding application requirements for a tourist visa off the consulate website, so thought we would share what we were required to have (Dec 2012). As an American, here’s what you need:

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Fethiye hills trucks Turkey

Posted by: Andrew

On our way to visit our friend Adam in Fethiye, we stopped at a yacht town called Gocek. Our hotel owner told us the rest of the journey would be more or less flat. “It is thirty more kilometers, and mostly flat,” he said. Well, by now we should know not to trust drivers for elevation stats, but nonetheless we set our expectations to FLAT TERRAIN. The first long climb felt twice as hard as usual, and we convinced ourselves that that was it and it would be flat from here on out. As we approached the second large climb Kallie began moaning and I was trying my best to get our heads in the game. Hills are significant on a bicycle–especially a tandem with a loaded trailer, and our legs were tired. “Get your head in the game!” I said to Kallie, unhelpfully. (Biking teaches you some good and bad communication techniques for marriage).

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food hotel Mugla toilet Turkey

Posted by: Andrew

When I was a kid my brother and I would sometimes talk about inappropriate things at the dinner table. At least, my mom thought they were inappropriate, and she would say, “That’s not table talk, that’s toilet talk; if you want to talk like that you have to excuse yourselves and go to the bathroom.” Which we would, on occasion. All that to say, if you are currently at the table, you may wish to find your way to the bathroom, because Kallie and I were also finding our way to bathroom recently with some urgency, and that’s what I’m planning to talk about.

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Aydin hospitality kindness Selcuk tourism Turkey

Posted by: Andrew

So far, out of all the countries we’ve visited, the people in Greece have been the most friendly. It seems as we move eastward people have responded to us with greater and greater enthusiasm and hospitality. So naturally Kallie and I were curious how Turkey would be…

Yesterday we were humming along on the D550 toward Aydin, getting regular honks and thumbs-up’s from drivers and those seated by the road when a man stepped out from a gas station and waved us down. It was his insistency that first got me to think about stopping, but it was his police uniform that pushed me over the edge.

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Bulgaria Istanbul Turkey Visas

Posted by: Andrew

As US citizens, we are allowed 90 days in the Schengen Territories (most of what is considered Europe). Normally that is enough time to do what needs be done for travelers — but when on a bicycle, 90 days proves barely enough. Around Florence, Italy, Devin did some math and we had a meeting. We weren’t going to make it out in time at the rate we were traveling with the plans we had.

So, in the last few days FBR has split into its couples once again, this time Devin and Tori to Istanbul, Lindsey and Peter to Bulgaria, and Andrew and Kallie to the coast of Turkey by ferry. Perhaps we should assign letters of our acronym FBR to each couple… we’ll be couple “R”.

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