The Road Trip- A Recap

I'm just going to start by apologizing- my camera was packed in the back of the car for most of the trip, so there are basically no pictures from our trip, not that we had much time to take pictures.

Let me start by saying that the trip was FABULOUS!!! I truly loved every minute of it!

The scenery was amazing, between Turkey and Belgium there are so many different things, flat dry areas, forests, little villages, mountains, lakes, seas, cities, flat fields it was all amazing.

Also, the ferry completely surpassed my expectations. Our rooms were the perfect size. We were sure that the food on board would be expensive, but it wasn't. There was a children's' room for Alara to play in. It was truly a wonderful part of the trip.



From the drive, I know that I really would love to go back and see Switzerland a bit closer up, and preferable, not at night.

The one place though that sticks out in my mind as a place I would love to return was Lake Como, Italy. It is such a beautiful place, you are driving along through the mountains, you pass through a tunnel, and wow, there it is. A lake in between the mountains. A true beauty.

Having said that, there are a few things that I would change for the next time.

One, I will add at least one more day to the trip. I felt like we just didn't have time to get out of the car to relax and enjoy anything, we had planned to spend an afternoon in Milan, but because the ferry arrived three hours late, it was impossible to do that.

This wasn't a huge problem though (at it is the second thing I would change), I will not be travelling through Italy on a Sunday again. We really wanted to be able to eat something and shop in a market in Italy because we had heard (through Gluten free girl) that Italy was great for a gluten free person, and had lots of products available.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see any of these, or even eat in a restaurant there. The only things open in Italy were stops on the highway, that didn't exactly have much on offer. It's okay though, we had some great coffee and chips as we passed through.

I really loved the trip, it was a great experience for us as a family, and I know that we all had a wonderful time.

The Route

We are leaving in three more sleeps, but I am not sure whether or not I will have Internet much longer, so I really wanted to put up a link of the route we will be driving to Belgium.

On Thursday morning, we are leaving Ankara, Turkey and driving to the coast town Bodrum. It is about a ten hour drive, the longest we will be in the car the whole trip. We will spend the night there in a little hotel.

On Friday morning, we are boarding a ferry and going to the Greek island Kos. We are going to spend the day there. To be honest I have no idea what we are going to do there, I really haven't looked into the island at all...

Friday evening we board a ferry and spent the night there. Hopefully we will be able to get a good night's sleep!

Early Saturday morning we arrive in Pireas, Greece (near Athens) and drive to Patra. It is a three hour drive. We then get on another ferry that will take us to Ancona, Italy.

On Sunday we get to Italy and drive. We've decided to stop in Milan for lunch, espresso and gelato. We then continue on to Basel, Switzerland. Where we have a hotel waiting for us. The hotel has got a Mexican restaurant for dinner, and a gluten free breakfast for Seyfi in the morning.

Bright and early Monday morning we leave for our final destination Mons, Belgium. We will be driving through France, Germany and Luxembourg. The hotel is waiting, and then the fun of looking for a house and buying furniture begins!

Please wish us luck!

Our big news!

Last night, I wrote that I had big news that I was not able to tell, but today, permission has been granted, so here it is...

Yesterday we were looking for a car. Seyfi, Alara (with her friends Tigger and Bear)and I went car shopping, original the plan was just to look, then we found that the Turkish government was offering some sort of tax break (to help generate the economy (I guess). So, we bought a car, it will be ready next week. It's a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso. We've been looking at it for over a year.

You may be thinking, but aren't you moving to Belgium in six weeks? and the answer is yes, and we are going to drive there!

This is going to be great for more reasons than you could know. First, we don't have to worry about the weight of the things we are bringing, so I can bring all my heavy things!!

Second, It is an automatic! Which means I can easily drive it. I originally learned how to drive a standard car, but here in Ankara it is way to difficult for me to use a manual, so this will be a welcome change.

Third, we are DRIVING across EUROPE!!! I2m just to excited about that- It looks like we will drive from Turkey to Greece, get on a ferry to Italy, drive from Italy to Switzerland to Austria to France to Luxembourg and then Belgium (this is what the GPS on my phone is showing me!!)



I'm so excited about this trip! I realize that we are not going to have time to really 'tour' around, but it will still be nice to drive across Europe. Now, I really don't know how I am going to be able to last through these last six weeks!



I realize that it is time for Friday Favourites, but I was so excited about this news that I have decided to postpone FF for one week.