There are trips you take because you have been dreaming about them for years. There are those you take because the opportunity just happened to appear (like a weekend in the mountains invitation from a friend). And there are the impulse trips you just decide tot take one bright shiny morning. Which are the most often and how do you decide on where to go?

I for one believe that short trips require little planning. You can instinctively jump in your car one morning and disappear into a weekend getaway. Or just buy a three day trip to a nearby city to see your favorite band in action. But when it comes to a longer trip, a decision making process steals the thunder from whims and momentary urges.

First, there’s the budget! Yes, the fun time killer that most of us have to consider. You have a budget and you need to stick to it. Or at least have some means of enlarging it

Then comes the period you can afford to dedicate to your travel adventures. Unless we decide to just forget the world and go traveling around the world, we all have jobs, families and other responsibilities to come back to.

Next to check on the list – who you are traveling with. You then have to sync budgets and timetables to make sure it’s all good for everyone concerned.

Finally the fun part begins – checking out articles, friends’ recommendations, their holiday photos and fun stories they happily share. You then select a few options and start looking for offers that fit your budget, either from travel agencies, either by researching and booking everything on your own.

The road is full of both fun and annoying events. Such as finding out you were trying to book your hotel 4 months before the holiday and everything was already book 6 months in advance. What makes you deal with everything is your idea of a wonderful vacation waiting at the end of the line.

What’s the funnest part of this whole process for you? Which do you like the least? And which vacation was your big organizing success? And I am asking about both well planned, long trips taking you far away and the quick runs to nearby tourist attraction

When we travel, we often get sucked into this powerful vortex taking us at a wild place from one tourist attraction to another. We have a plan, we need to stick to it if we want to see everything that’s beautiful in a certain location. We are dedicated tourists with a plan in our mind, a map in our hands and determination in our hearts.

But an important part of experiencing any place is allowing it time to surround us, take us over and introduce us to its spirit. To do so, we need to slow down, put the map away and just go where our intuition takes us. Stop for a coffee on a terrace, talk to the people we meet, look around, observe and just get lost in all the marvelous details surrounding us. Colors, scents, the light, the way people act or walk, they all differ from one place to another.

Besides, you can always discover little treasures! A passionate kiss of two dark statues…

Amsterdam

….a secluded, small beach where the locals know more than yourself about the football players in your country…

Gemiler Beach, Oludeniz

…a nice little park with a miniature lake at a time when the clouds are impressive…

Park in Amsterdam

No one would ever want to miss out on such treasures, especially when they’re not even really hidden, just there, in plain sight, waiting for you to take the time and ask the right questions. So make sure you plan a day or two for strolling aimlessly at your preferred destination. It’s always rewarding!

May the new year bring you joy, prosperity, love, fulfilled dreams and many, many wonderful journeys! All the best in 2010!

Wherever your journey might take you, hope you’re having magical winter days, full of warmth, laughter and love! Try to relax a bit, ignore transportation annoyances and focus all your energy on having a wonderful time!

Happy Holidays!

A couple of photos taken during a boat ride in Istanbul, taking us from the European side to the Asian part of the city.

Istanbul, the city of two continents, the place where Europe and Asia are entwined. It’s grand, surprising, full of flavor and color.

It’s a must see destination for any serious traveler and it has anything and everything you’d want to see: old, new, art, trade masters, great food, amazing tea, jewelry that makes all women sigh and lights sparkles of desire in the corner of their eyes, parties, belly dancing, burial sites and holy places. Add two seas, great sunsets and quite a few towers to see the city from up top. It is mesmerizing and it crawls up your veins like a drug, turning into an addiction, making you always want to come back. Sure, the traffic is there to provide your everyday near-death experience, but that’s not a big thing, is it?

Photo credit.

As it happens, we rarely have enough time to explore a city. Sometimes we’ve planned a tour and we need to see the best of everything. And as Istanbul is a really accessible destination for a wide number of countries, many travelers may choose to dedicate a long weekend to it! As I have been to Istanbul three times already and it’s always been for a maximum of four days, I thought I’d share the tricks I learned with you. That is why I created a three day guide suggesting you how to mix tourist landmarks with places to eat so that you can see as much of Istanbul as possible.

This guide is not meant to tell you why you should see these marvels, as the Internet is full of such info and the local guide books that you can get, well, everywhere, will tell you the stories behind them! My goal is to help you turn into a happy and effective little tourist and experience as much of Istanbul as you can.

The first day is dedicated to the old city, with ancient palaces, mosques and tombs. The first thing you need to do is wake up early and never, ever skip breakfast! Turkish hotels are pretty good at arranging buffet. Make sure you try everything! The bread, cheese, meat, cookies, coffee and helva! They have really good honey as well. Now drag yourself out of the chair and the hotel, get a tourist map, they are cheap and will help you through the city, and head out to see the Topkapi Palace!

Topkapi is open almost everyday. Still, some queuing might be involved, so I recommend getting there a little before 9. Get your tickets for the palace, make sure you get tickets for the Harem section as well (you really don’t want to get to Istanbul and not see where the Sultans kept their armies of beautiful women!). You can get the walkie-talkie guides if you’d like, they are available in so many languages it makes your head spin, but having a Topkapi guide book is just as good and you get to take it home as a reminder of your trip!

Visiting the whole palace, Harem included, takes a long while. I suggest taking a break after the first couple of hours and have some cay (Turkish tea) in one of the museum’s cafes. Take your time, enjoy the sea view, then get on with your tour of the palace. You will be finished with everything just in time for lunch! And you definitely must try Kofte (a sort of grilled meatballs) with rice and salad!

But don’t be fooled by the many places selling kofte! Go to the most famous place, Sultanahmet Koftecisi, one of the most frequently copied restaurants in Istanbul. To get there, walk out of the Topkapi Palace through the main entrance, walk by the gift shops, turn right and walk toward the tram tracks, having Aya Sofya on your right and Sultanahmet (Blue Mosque) on your left. Once you get to the street with the tram track, turn left and walk along the tracks, on the right sidewalk. It’s less than 100 meters until the koftecisi and the photo I posted should help you. Don’t forget to get Ayran (a salty, yogurt based drink) too!

After lunch, (it should be a about 2 PM by now), it’s time for Hagia Sophia / Aya Sofya / St. Sophia (Yes, they all translate to Holly Wisdom or something like it). As it has stricter visiting hours, I advise you to visit it before the Blue Mosque.

Aya Sofya used to be a Christian church before being turned into a mosque and some traces of it’s Christian past are still preserved. Depending on when you visit, it might also hold religious-themed exhibitions and I advise you to check them out.

As the Blue Mosque is closed for a sermon until 5.15 pm, you might either be in luck and visit both mosques before 4.30 or have some time to spend in the park between them. If you do, look out for these guys:

They sell sherbet, a traditional drink. Even if you’re not tempted, they still make for a great photo subject! Then concentrate on Blue Mosque/ Sultanahmet!

As you can see, it can be rather crowded! Most mosques in Istanbul don’t charge you for visiting.  Blue Mosque is one of them. But they gladly take donations and I advise you to make one, as they do need the money to preserve them.

Go in, enjoy the beauty and the spirit of the mosque. There are some holy books in one of the corners. Unless you’re fluent in Arabic, you won’t understand a thing, but they are beautiful to look at, with artful covers and exquisite writing.

The next part of your day highly depends on when you see the Blue Mosque. If it’s after five, go to the Grand Bazaar first. If it’s before 4.30, save the Bazaar for last. Either way, don’t miss out on the Bazaar!

On your way from Blue Mosque to the Bazaar (a 15 minute walk), you will pass by some burial sites. Pashas and important personalities of Istanbul lay here. Take a moment to acknowledge their presence and to notice an interesting fact: there are a few coffee shops in between the graves.

Just before the Bazaar, you’ll be greeted by the Beyazit II Mosque and the Istanbul University. They are both grand, beautifully looking buildings, quite worth a little of your time and a few dozen photos

And now it’s time for some hard core negotiation, spotting beautiful items between thousands of competitors and just filling your lungs with the Turkish trading spirit. They are great salespersons! Even the best European and North American sales specialists admit it.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Besides, everything they sell looks beautiful, from tea sets, to shawls and leather jackets. Speaking of leather jackets, if you negotiate enough, you can get great prices for them (as a Turkish bartender once explained it to me, leather clothes factories are close to Istanbul and surrounding areas, that is why buying them there is smart, unlike going to shop for leather in Antalya or other south-eastern seaside resorts).  The Bazaar closes at 7 PM. And if you have saved the other landmarks for after, make sure you get out through the same gate (Beyazit).

Warning: The Bazaar is closed on Sundays and all holidays. So if you’re there in the New Year period, it will be tricky to actually visit it.

Dinnertime! Just head back to the Sultanahmet Square and pick whatever restaurant you’d like. Lamb or chicken shish kebab would work! It usually comes with rice and grilled veggies. Again, I recommend ayran, and a well-deserved after mean cup of cay!

Now it’s time to head back to the hotel and rest. Or go to a local club…Whatever you do, remember: the next day you will have to once more wake up early!

P.S. I mentioned quite a lot of visiting hours and closing time. All of them refer to the local time.

3 Amazing Days in Istanbul – Part II
3 Amazing Days in Istanbul – Part III

After reading a very interesting post on the differences between male and female travelers on the 501Places blog, and having too many comments on what was said about women and their concerns while traveling , I thought to keep the comment short and turn the rest into a post over here.

A few things about me, the Travel Wizard. First off, I live on the Internet. It’s where I talk to my clients and my friends (real-life and virtual alike), it’s where my blogs and business are located, it’s where I do business and where I fuel my passion for writing. I do go out a lot, but I have a smart phone with an internet connection, a laptop and a netbook. And a lot of my friends are like me. Oh, yeah, and I almost forgot to mention traveling is my drug of choice!

So here’s what’s important for this type of woman tourist!

Choosing a hotel

Wi-fi is the king of all that’s important when selecting a hotel. If times are tough and the hotels in the area present fewer options, we’ll go for wired internet as well. Worse case scenario? Written note from hotel managers that there’s a coffee show around the corner with good wi-fi.

We have blogs to check, business to take care of, tons of spam emails to delete, the works!

Location, location, location! The hotel should either be very close to the sights we’re interested in, or the business center we need to get to, or at least 2 minutes away from public transportation. Travel time is holly! It shall not be wasted on long drives or bus rides that take forever!

Of course, it should be clean! And my personal favorite – great breakfast! I tend to skip breakfast in my everyday life, so it kind of turns into a ritual when I’m traveling.

At the airport

We need to be there on time! 1-2 hours early. Cause missing a flight is out of the question! It never takes too long to have everything checked and approved, so there’d better be enough chairs to sit on to read a book/watch a movie on the computer etc. My personal thanks to all airports that allow me to plug in my laptop and have enough battery during the actual flight

I admit I am a sucker for duty free. And I buy two things: perfume and cosmetics. I have expensive tastes in both so why not save some money? Oh, yeah, and local sweets if I didn’t have time before the airport to have something to be able to give my friends a taste of where I’ve been.

On arrival

The fastest we’re out of there, the better. I always pray the luggage comes in fast, mine wasn’t lost and I can be out in the blink of an eye. Why? Remember what I’ve told you about travel time being sacred?

In the rental car/cab/shuttle

Way too excited about being there to worry about last night. There’s planning to do, places to see, people to get to know. Souvenirs to buy! Busy-bees all the way. Plus, if the airport is far enough, that gives us time for mental notes with sights to be added to the list.

This is, of course, a biased approach! So please read the original post and let us know what your take is on women, men, traveling and what makes us tick!

Now that winter is here, I’d so wish I were back there, in mid September, enjoying the sea, the breeze and the warmth.