July has been travel month, as I took that long-awaited summer international trip during July 4th weekend (missed the epic USA v. Japan women's soccer match!) , then followed it up 2 weeks with a visit to Toronto. And still managed to go twice to separate L.A. Obon festivals (a Japanese summer festival honoring the dead). Here's what I learned!
1.) The airline that one flies definitely matters. I didn't think it did but now it matters, from the terminal that one gets on, to the waiting area one is subjected to at the airport, to the likelihood of arriving on-time, to the amenities online like FREE MOVIES and MEAL SERVICE (god I hate going hungry on an airplane). Air Canada had pretty good service to Greece and if anyone's studying France, it's got French and English versions of their announcements.
2.) Everyone needs to go to Istanbul at some point in their lives. Not only is it a cross-section of cultures having served as the capital for 3 different EMPIRES, it's just a beautiful city on the shores of the Black Sea and Bosphorous River with lots of culture. All the "touristy" stuff is on Sultanahamat with the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia and an underground cistern (very unique tourist area with a Medusa statute), but getting out of that area involves taking a scenic on ferries to different islands and transition from the European side to Asia side. ( where else can you bounce from continent to continent for a mere 5 Turkish lira a pop?)
3.) There's always a night view and a day view to a city. Istanbul is great during the day; poetic at night due to the lights emanating from the temples. Not that much nighttime during the summer (which makes it REALLY tough for Ramadan-observing Muslim fasters), but watching the sunset turn into night was one of the highlights of my life, not just of the trip.
4.) English is everywhere. All European countries, I feel like, speak a little English, and especially in the touristy areas that's the main industry for locals; it's one's lifeblood to learn English, so Americans shouldn't have much of a problem. English, it's soon to become a second language, and really fittingly. Japanese and Chinese both are too prohibitively hard, in my opinion, for foreigners to learn due to the Kanji (pictures). English has an alphabet; it's easier to remember.
5.) Did I say the sunset in Istanbul was awesome? Then the one on Santorini Island is simply breathtaking. The whole island is built upon a cliff, so the various angles accentuate the shadows as the sun falls below the horizon, from bright yellow to red to pink with various hues in between. It's a spectacle every night on Santorini Island and visitors do really appreciate it, as all action kind of halts in that half hour of the best views. The island itself has quite a few highlights with blue and white sandy houses, but that sunset highlights the romantic nature of the island. I felt like I needed a romantic partner to be on that island, given how many couples there were (especially on their honeymoon).
6.) Athens....is OK. It's very historical and is rich in folklore, but that can all be read in history books and is the stuff of legends. The city itself....has the Parthenon and Agora that one sees in all the brochures, but then.....that's about it. One day tops is all one needs for Athens, and it's true what they say that Greece's beauties reside outside the capital, possibly in the countryside, or more likely in the Greek islands.
7.) Actually, the Athens "Eleftherios Venizelos" airport is one of the best airports I've ever been to. Free Wifi, free internet stations, art gallery, clean facilities, air conditioning (very necessary in the Greek summer heat), I basically made it my nighttime layover location for 2 nights of a 7-night trip, except I was woken rudely (and rightly) by an airport employee for sleeping in the airport. (The audacity!)
8.) European hostels aren't bad...it's definitely not like the movie "Hostel." Literally everyone lived in a hostel in the touristy area I went to in Istanbul, and there was a nice rooftop view of the Bosphorous on top of the hostel. Cheap and affordable, I don't think I would ever go to a hotel unless I had a big family with me.
9.) You can never have enough shirts on a summer vacation, I realize now. Up until now my adult-life trips (where my parents don't pack for me and remind of things) have all been in the winter where heavier clothing is necessary but mass quantity of shirts isn't necessary, but summer....man, I can sweat through like 3 shirts a day. And they're not heavy neither......bring shirts.
10.) Never fly Ryanair in Greece. It's the Spirit Airlines of Greece. Oh you didn't print out your boarding pass? That'll be 34 euros please....
11.) I picked a good time to go to Greece as the metro system was completely free thanks (I think completely) to the Greek debt crisis and impending pullout of the euro and limit of Greek citizens to withdraw just 60 euros a day. A break for their citizens as well as for the budget tourist. Yay!
12.) Istanbul absolutely needs at least 3 days to explore. I was considering possibly heading over to the mystical lands of Cappadocia in Turkey as well, but did not have time after 3 days of Istanbul action. It's just a BIG city of 20 million people, and over the centuries different empires built different cool areas, like the Galata Tower (like a Tokyo Tower overlooking the whole Istanbul area) , Maiden Tower (lone tower in the middle of the Bosphorous river kind of like Alcatraz Island) and the Topaki Palace....a lot of rich people had a lot of resources on their hands and built very significant buildings.
13.) Maybe get in the habit of walking because I walked EVERYWHERE in Europe. My feet hurt like crazy the first day and kind of got used to it over the course of the trip, but it was pretty worth it to see everything quickly and cover large areas of ground. Sure there's public transportation, but I hate waiting and walking from one place to another gives the whole picture.
14.) The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is just an interesting array of a labyrinth with the biggest accumulation of different goods from around the world. I almost bought a carpet. There are a LOT of people with a lot of different walkways, it's possible to just get lost.
15.) Movie/ TV selections while on the airplanes and not sleeping to fight jet lag: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: probably not the kind of movie you'd think of from the title. It's like "Love Actually" for seniors (actually has some of the same actors). "Fresh Off the Boat" gave me hope for the survival of network comedies as it explored the childhood of a junior-high Chinese boy growing up in the 90's.....kind of like me! Really a show exactly made for people of my generation, and pretty funny regardless. Man how did we survive without Iphones and the internet back in those days? Crazy.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Toronto next time.
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