4 month, 26 days of my 6 months sabbatical:

After spending a month in Europe, I got home and I was in a funk for a month. I was sad that my time overseas went by so quickly,  so I kept busy by working on my house and linking all my light switches to the wifi via Amazon Echo.

I was extremely fortunate to make it to Istanbul in June 2015. Trying not to sound like I’m bragging,  but I did the upper class on Virgin Atlantic to London.  I took the business class on Turkish Air to Istanbul. I guess I’m overcompensating for my white trash upbringing.

Speaking of white trash upbringing, I thought Istanbul was going to be like something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark movies. Mud buildings. Dusty. Wooden Wheels. Boy, was I wrong. It’s a modern city with an excellent train system. I think the best upper class lounge in the world is in Istanbul. Unfreaking-believable. Two giant levels of food and more food.

The city is simply magical. I was truly in another world. People are friendly and I felt safer there than in some neighborhoods in San Francisco. The men are simply gorgeous. I went to a couple of hamans (Turkish baths) and I wish I could go there everyday.

Beautiful traditional domes. Marbles everywhere… Like you traveled back in time 500 years. I got scrubbed down by this hot Turkish stud. I thought my skin was going to fall off and my nipples were sore for a couple of days.  Oh, there were a lot of actions going on there.  They love foreigners if you know what I mean. I spent a week there and loved every minute of it.