Today is my birthday, and I'm celebrating in airports! We leave at noon for JFK, and fly to Istanbul around dinner time. We've been preparing for this trip for several months, and we're as ready as we could possibly be. I've read some great books, and realize that five days in Istanbul is not nearly enough time to see everything I'd love to see. By the time we reach Santorini, I'm quite sure we'll be ready for a few restful days hiking and staring out at the Mediterranean.
Nearly a month ago I made a travel journal for the trip. I started with a small Five Star notebook and with just one Flair button, a label maker and some Washi tape transformed it into a travel journal.
I have a pre-trip section where I've taken notes from my reading, pasted in some pages from some travel books, and stored some maps in the pockets inside the front cover. It's nice and small and easily fits into my carry-on bag, but it has lots of pages for keeping track of what we see and do. I edged each section with a piece of Washi Tape. I got that idea while blog hopping, but I can't remember where.
It will be easy to carry this with us as we explore, and I'll have lots of information right at hand.
Because I'll be away for my birthday, I've been celebrating with some friends ahead of time. I thought I'd share some fun photos. My friend, Karen, and I team-taught for four years. (The best four years of my teaching career.) We got a reputation for being incredibly alike, often coming to school dressed nearly identically, ie. a khaki skirt and a black tee-shirt. One day, a fifth-grader raised her hand and asked if we called one another at night to plan our outfits! Our three initials are the same, our anniversaries are both the the 28th of the month, and we both have son-in-laws named Adam. So we were amused when we opened gifts at dinner last week. Check out the color combination on Karen's gift to me, and my card for her.
Her card, opened AFTER we ordered our wine.
Our gifts:
Before I sign off, I thought I'd also share my crafty friend, Mary's, gift and card to me. Couldn't be more coordinated.
I've given a lot of thought about blogging on this trip. I've loved Alexa's tutorials about scrapping on the road, but I'm just not confident enough in my skills to do that in a time-efficient way. So I've decided to let go of the internet while we're gone, and concentrate on the experience which I'm sure is a once-in-a-lifetime trip. I'll be checking email so I'm not overwhelmed by a stuffed inbox when I return, but beyond that I'll be checking in with all of you on my return. Here's hoping for sunny skies and amazing sights!
