Tom and Amy were featured in the Current in Carmel newspaper in Amy's home town of Carmel, Indiana. Nice cover shot! That is going to make people jealous!
The paper is a Acrobat PDF file. You can click here to open it.
Ron
Med Moored at Ece Marina
Fethiye
Lycian Coast
Turkey
Mediterranean
36'37.4N/29'06.1E
We are back on Sandpiper from our whirlwind tour of America. Firstly, we want to give a HUGE thanks to our good friend Sam who lives in Utah and hooked us up with his Delta Buddy Passes. Sam works for Delta as a first rate jet mechanic fixing all the broken things that get broken on airplanes. Without these passes we would have not been able to come home. Thanks Sam. We owe you BIG TIME!!
Secondly, a thanks to everyone back home for all that you did for us by putting us up in your homes and feeding us tons of food. Especially Mom Pat. You are the best. It was truly wonderful to have everyone come and visit us in Indiana!
Lastly, a big thanks to brother Ron, the ‘blogmaster’ who hooked us up with this very sweet laptop I am typing on. Thanks Ron!
Welcome aboard ‘Current in Carmel’ readers in Carmel, Indiana where ‘Team Sandpiper’ is on the cover of the 19 Aug edition. If you are not living in Carmel, Indiana then you can check it out online for just this week only! I jumped the gun a bit on my last entry about being featured in Latitudes and Attitudes magazine hoping for our red carpet fame. But Sandpiper will be featured in the October edition that you can check out on line for free. We may not be featured this month but I do have a short article entitled ‘Storm Madness’ published.
After overstaying our visit by two weeks at Pat’s house, enjoying a home filled with cold air and all the ice we could use, we packed up our overloaded luggage full of boat parts and headed out to Indianapolis Airport to get 2 standby seats to JFK Airport. With the help from the travel gods and the ‘power of the secret’ we made it to JFK no problem. Delta has only one flight a day to Istanbul from JFK, so we were sweating it a bit hoping that there were 2 seats open as we really did not want to spend 24hrs in JFK airport. Lucky for us 2 were open in business class!! Once again we got to lounge fully reclined sipping champagne as we took off heading back to Turkey.
It was another 11 hours of wine drinking, shrimp cocktails, ice cream sundaes, and as many movies as we would fit in. I think we lived a little too large as just before we landed Amy and I looked at each other and said “I don’t feel so well.” Shortly after that that airsick bags were broken out and the vomiting began in earnest. I think we probably should have not been eating shrimp at 30,000 feet.
We are not sure what we ate, but we were both feeling deathly ill by the time we landed in Istanbul. This is hard to describe unless you have experienced this, but to have to wait in line with hundreds of people in an un air-conditioned part of the airport where everyone is waiting to clear through customs while you want to vomit is a less than positive experience. Amy and I took turns pushing our bags forward in line while we took turns running to the bathroom to puke. I was sweating profusely and I was sure that I would get strip searched as I looked very guilty of something being so sweat covered by the time I got to the customs officer. Amy had just returned from the bathroom in time to join me and we figured we had just enough time to get our passports stamped and make it to the next bathroom before we puked.
But when we stood before the customs officer he said there was a problem with our passports. I think he got confused when he saw that we had flown out of turkey and returned, and everyone else in line was a tourist being in Turkey for the first time. We were close to vomiting on the guy which I think may have been bad as we might have been held in quarantine forever or until they figured out what was wrong with us. He had a moment of indecision and looked at the line behind us and said “Whatever” while waving us through.
From there it was a run to the nearest bathroom for more vomiting and to claim our bags. We felt so bad that we decided there was no rush to leave the airport so just laid on the floor next to our bags for about an hour trying to figure our next move. We had planned on taking a bus to Fethiye. But since we were so sick we decided that we were going to stay in Istanbul for the night and leave the next day. Once we felt we could maybe sit in a car without puking we grabbed our bags and jumped into a cab for a ride to Hotel Mola where we had stayed on our trip out to the U.S.
If you ever find yourself in Istanbul and need a cheap hotel near everything, then Hotel Mola is a great place to stay with very friendly helpful staff. After checking in we ran to our room and threw ourselves on our beds hoping to feel better. We felt a little better by sunset and was able to make it out for dinner. But even that was a bit much and we came right back to our room to watch really bad Turkish TV for the rest of the night.
The next morning feeling better I ran into our neighbor across the hall that I had met the day before, when we had checked in. He asked what we were planning on doing. I told him that we needed to make bus reservations to get back to Fethiye and was not quite sure how to do this. "No problem." he says. "I will take care of everything." He is from Iran, but ran away when he was 14 to Turkey. He then immigrated to Canada where he went to school getting a job as an interpreter with the U.N working all over the world. He even did a stint in Iraq helping people that needed to leave the country. He called the bus line and took my credit card making the reservation. At the time I was thinking "How safe is it that I just met him and now he is on the phone speaking Turkish giving out my credit card number?" Turns out he was a great guy and totally hooked us up with reservations for an overnight bus ride to Fethiye. This would have been very difficult to make without speaking Turkish and not knowing what bus line to call as there are 100’s of them here in Turkey.
We then decided that since our bus was leaving at 10pm to check out of our hotel while they kept our bags and we toured around Istanbul. We went back to the Grand Bazaar that we had been to before on our trip out. But this time we were not going to get lost. The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest covered markets in the world with more than 58 streets and 6,000 shops. It is well known for its jewelry, pottery, spice, and carpet shops. Many of the stalls in the bazaar are grouped by type of goods, with special areas for leather coats, gold jewelry and the like. The bazaar contains two bedestens (domed masonry structures built for storage and safe keeping), the first of which was constructed between 1455 and 1461 by the order of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror.
The last time we were in Istanbul we got hopelessly lost walking around all the shops. This time we had a map and wandered around for hours till it was time to head back to Hotel Mola to get our bags. From the hotel we jumped on a shuttle van that took us to our bus. Turkey’s bus lines have the Dirty Dog (Greyhound) beat! Actually we have not been to a county in the last 3 years that have buses worse than greyhoun. We scored a first class bus that showed movies (in Turkish) and had an attendant that delivered snacks and drinks all along the way.
Twelve hours later we arrived in Fethie to a very dirty Sandpiper moored in Ecce Marina. The temperature upon our arrival was 105 degrees and 98 down below Sandpiper.
The last couple of days have been spent moping around in the heat while we try to get the 'Piper ready to head out on the 22nd. There are many projects to complete as we have brought back loads of boat parts with us. Here’s a short list:
Carmel
Indianapolis
U.S.A.
America... the land of plenty. After 3 years of never being able to find what we need, we had forgotten just how easy it is to buy whatever one needs being back in America. We are in awe of the grocery stores and how much food is available, 24 hours a day, and how cheap everything is compared to where we have been. One example: Once we left Mexico, we have not seen plain corn chips, except for a $9 dollar bag in Egypt. Here in America there are whole rows of corn chips in massively sized bags. There are so different brands of beer to choose from, and more brands of wine one could possible want. Need to order something? Just get on the internet and it will be on your doorstep in days! Want something to eat? Just hop in a car and in minutes you can be eating any kind of food you can possibly want.
Just a short list of where Team Sandpiper has been in Corporate America since returning: Taco Bell, Cracker Barrel, Fry’s Electronics (my favorite), Target (Amy’s favorite), Bed Bath & Beyond, Old Navy (x 3), Kroger Groceries, Marsh Groceries, Whole Foods Grocery, Gap, Banana Republic, Pottery Barn, Best Buy, HH Greg Electronics, Steak & Shake, Sam’s Club.
The electronics that have come out in the last 3 years are quite impressive. Amy and I spent a day at the local mall checking out all the new gadgets. We planted ourselves in large Lazy Boy chairs at the Sony store and watched, memorized, at the new 52 inch high definition TV’s with Blu Ray technology. They are quite impressive compared to our 7 inch DVD player on Sandpiper.
Also, a couple of other really cool gadgets that I think will be great for boaters are Sony’s Mylo, and Apple's iTouch handheld computers that have WiFi and Skype. This is something that is easy to transport ashore and all one has to do is find a wifi hotspot and now this gadget is a phone via Skype to anywhere in the world. They are both a bit costly. So for now will be on our Christmas wish list. Santa.... are you reading this?
This is only the Third time I have been to Indiana and this is Amy’s hometown. Being in a house (Pat’s) after 3 years certainly has it’s attractions. Hot showers whenever we want. A large refrigerator that holds a lot of food that is easy to get out without unloading the whole fridge. A freezer that always has a full ice bucket full (whenever I hear the automatic ice maker dump its load into the freezer it makes me smile). A large sink that we can run the water as long as we want. Garbage disposal, electric toaster, blender, dishwasher, a washer and dryer where we can wash our clothes as many times as we want. TV with hundreds of channels of great American TV to watch. Air conditioning. And more than 35 feet of space (right now Amy is upstairs and I am downstairs).
When there is a lightning storm I do not care how strong the winds are, or worry that we are going to be zapped by lighting. There is internet 24 hours a day. A guy comes once a week and takes all our garbage away. There is electricity to turn on as many different appliances on without having to worry about recharging batteries. An electric coffee maker. A bed where Amy and I can get in and out from our own sides. A yard. A car to drive wherever we want to go. Etc., etc.
The last 10 days have been very busy with friends and family. Amy’s mom (Pat) put up her house for visitors. Mom Larson flew in from Arizona. Amy’s dad, Bob, flew in from California. Amy’s grandma, June, flew in from Florida for her 80th birthday. Amy’s Aunt Doreen & Cousin Marilyn drove down from New York. And now all have all returned home.
Also, we have been visiting friends locally and enjoying seeing them again as we have not been home in 3 years. We have been getting out fill of Mexican food and margaritas as much as we can. And went with the moms to see the new Batman movie at an Imax screen. If you have not seen this movie, it is a must to see this way. I have never seen a movie on an Imax screen before and have to say I am a big fan!
We also got lucky to be here when one of our favorite groups of musicians ‘The Micky Hart Band’ breezed through town playing at The Vogue in Broad Ripple. If you are an old Deadhead you know who this is. But if not, Mickey Hart is the drummer from the Grateful Dead. The keyboard player, Kyle Hollingsworth, is one of our favorites from the band 'String Cheese Incident'. And the guitar player was Steve Kimock along with a few other musicians that totally rocked. We were so close to the stage our left ears were 1 foot from the speakers so the next morning we could not hear very well. After the show we stopped at a bar nearby where another band was playing where we met a guy that supplies salsa all over the U.S. and has the contract to supply Jimmy Buffet’s restaurant chain ‘Margaritaville’ with all it’s salsa needs. We dubbed him ‘Salsa King’.
Sandpiper is getting a bit of fame back here in America as well. Carmel Indiana’s local paper, 'Current in Carmel’, is going to put us on the front page of their newspaper. And the sailing magazine Latitudes & Attitudes is going to put Sandpiper in their October publication as their featured boat. You can also read Sandpiper’s latest update in the Presidio Yacht Club's latest newsletter [PDF].
Team Sandpiper's current plans are to keep enjoying being back in America for at least the next week till we can figure out when the best time is for us to get a standby flight back to Sandpiper in Turkey.
One last note. Big birthday wishes go out to Mom Larson and the master of this blog Brother Ron!!
More when we figure out what we are doing.
Tom and Amy
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Carmel
Indianapolis
U.S.A.
We Made It!! Our trip back to America from Turkey went something like this… We left Sandpiper in her slip at Ece Marina in Fethiye at 1am and grabbed a cab to the city bus station. At 2 am we hopped a one hour bus ride to Dalaman Airport where we caught a 5am Turkish Air flight to Istanbul. From Istanbul International Airport we checked in at the Delta gate with our baggage and was checked in for our stand-by tickets to JFK/New York. Then we checked out of Turkey through customs and then had about 3 hours to kill before our flight was scheduled to take off. So we wondered around the Istanbul Airport.
Istanbul Airport is quite large with flights going and arriving from all over the world. So lots of different people to check out. We decided to cruise the food court to kill some time and was happy to see a Burger King, a place we have not seen in years. Then we saw the prices…$18.00 for a meal deal! Then over to another corporate American icon, Starbucks, where the cheapest cup of coffee was $10.00! And all the other restaurants were just as expensive.
Then there’s the ‘Duty Free’ shops where things are supposed to be cheap because no taxes. But the prices are higher then if you were at home paying the taxes. We did cruise by the perfume and lotion section where Amy doused herself with $300.00 perfume displays and I lubed up with $200.00 lotion for free.
At 11am our gate opened and we went through another security screening to the boarding area where we had our fingers crossed hoping they had 2 empty seats for us. Just our luck, the lady said "I have one business class seat and one economy seat for you." We were pretty stoked, until she came back saying that some new paying customers had arrived and now we both had seats in economy. No problem, as long as we got on the flight. Right before the flight was to depart she came back and said “Sorry! But your seats have been taken.” We then watched our plane depart without us and we were told to return the next day.
Then we were walked through the airport, through customs, and had our passport stamps canceled, then taken back to baggage claim where we got our luggage. We then held a quick ‘Team Sandpiper’ meeting and decided that there was no way we were going to stay in the airport for 24 hours. So we hopped a train that runs under the airport to downtown Istanbul.
The trains are really easy to catch and super cheap. We made one transfer and were soon downtown where we found a really cheap hotel to stay for the night. As soon as we got our bags in the room, we took off and jumped back on the train to the ‘Grand Bazaar”. The Grand Bazaar is full of thousands of shops and stalls, and it was not soon before we were completely lost trying to figure out how to get back to the train.
Day 2 had us back at the airport with an exact repeat of the day before. This time we were given boarding passes and told to board the plane and seat row 6. To our surprise this found this in Business Class where we were handed champagne as soon as we were seated and Amy was putting on her complementary socks and blindfold. I was a bit skeptical thinking that at any minute we were going to be asked to leave our seats as a paying customer had arrived. But our luck held and the airplanes doors shut.
I have not been in first class or business class in years, and have to give Delta credit as having super pimped out seats. The seats are fully electrical and lay flat. There is so much leg room that you cannot reach your magazine in the seat in front you without standing up. And each seat has its own flat screen TV where we watched movies, cable TV series, and played video games while we were being served fine wines and eating fine cuisine. There was so much going on that we did not sleep for the whole 12 hours. After we told our stewardess that we had not been home in 3 years she kept bringing on the wine.
Much too soon we landed at JFK, New York to find our flight to Indianapolis had been canceled and that there would not be another flight for 24 hours. We found the closest flight that would get us to Indianapolis was going to Columbus, Ohio. We soon had the last 2 seats on that flight. We were a bit late leaving as when we boarded the plane it was completely dark and the pilot was next to the ladder exlpaining that the guy who was supposed to plug the plane into power had never shown up. So there was no power to the plane.
After we found our seats in the darkness the pilot came by saying that the guy who had the machine that helps to start the engine had never arrived so he had no idea when he would be able to start the engines. An hour later, with the engines running, we were on our way to Columbus, Ohio.
We landed at ten, we grabbed our bags and hopped into the first taxi we saw. That took us to the Greyhound Station. If you have never rode Greyhound before, I have to say it’s a far cry from being in the Business Class in Delta. Welcome to America! Most of the people at the Greyhound station at midnight are an "interesting" group. We were quickly approached by a woman who claimed not to be a prostitute and needed $25.00. Entering the station you encounter all kinds of interesting people with all kinds of problems whom have no problem walking up to you and telling you what they are upset with.
Two hours later our bus for for Indianapolis showed up. We got on board, along with our with our diverse crowd. 45 minutes later the driver came aboard and asked if anyone knew how to get to Indianapolis.
Three hours later, at 4 am, we arrived to the bus station in Indianapolis where Pat and Shannon (Amy’s Mom and Sister) were waiting for us. They took us to Pat’s house where we are presently living for the next 3 weeks till we figure out how we are getting home to Sandpiper.
‘Team Sandpiper’ will be in Carmel Indianapolis for the next 3 weeks visiting friends and family. Stay tuned for more…
Tom and Amy
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We just spent the weekend anchored at Pac Bell stadium for the Dave Matthews concert. Our friends Jen and George came along as well, the sound is pretty good here as you can get in really close to the stadium.
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