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My Day to Recover

Richard, Portia and the kids had scheduled a foodie tour on the Asian side of Istanbul for Wednesday, October 22. This would be another marathon day of walking and eating that I felt was not in my wheelhouse. So Karen and I sent them on their merry way and we planned a lighter schedule so we could rest and recover from two previous ambitious days of touring. We would have slept in but our circadian rhythm is still off, so we are waking up earlier than usual. Breakfast upstair

Walking Constantinople

This is the former name of Istanbul from AD 330 (when it was given its name by Constantine the Great) until the early 20th century. During the early centuries of the Roman Empire, the western provinces were Latinized, but the eastern parts kept their Hellenistic culture. Constantine I (reign 324–337) legalized Christianity and moved the capital to Constantinople. Theodosius I (reign 379–395) made Christianity the state religion and Greek gradually replaced Latin for official

East meets West Journey Begins...

Our first meal was two hours into the flight. I enjoyed the Penne pasta and Karen had the butter chicken. The meal was remarkably good for airline food. We departed SFO at 7:30 PM on Saturday evening (October 18, 2025). the flight was about 70% full and Karen and I had seats on the aisles in the center section hoping to have an open seat in the middle but no luck. Karen eventually exchanged her seat with the gentleman in the middle and we sat together for the majority of the

Getting Ready to Leave...Again

This is our TURO ride from Will Xu. We picked it up at the SFO parking garage We rented his 2011 Honda Accord back in 2023 and decided to use his vehicle again. Gosh, we just got back to Smithville, TX and it's time to leave again. However, this time without the fifth wheel. International this time not domestic, well kind of. We've been packing and repacking since we got back to Smithville trying to re-train our old habits and limit our luggage to carry-on only. Our trip t