Day 2: relaxing Istanbul, Türkiye

I decided today was a day of relaxing!  So I stopped by the concierge to ask for some help.  Of course he referred me to the in hotel spa but told him I wanted a more authentic experience outside the hotel.  I wanted to visit a Turkish Bathhouse also know as a hamam.  He told me he knew of one that was close and they offered free transportation . . . after my taxi situation yesterday this was music to my ears!  I booked my experience at Zeyrek Çinili Hamam.

What is a hamam?

A hamam, or Turkish bath, is a public steam bath that originated from a fusion of Roman and Byzantine public baths and the Islamic world's focus on water for cleansing and purification. It is a social and ritualistic experience that involves a series of steps, including relaxing in a warm steam room, getting a vigorous scrub with an exfoliating glove, and then being lathered in soap bubbles before being rinsed off. The experience often concludes with a period of relaxation with tea to allow the body to cool down. 

Let me just say I am a pretty modest person but when you visit a place like this you just have to let it all go.  I have visited the spas in Baden-Baden so I knew a little about what to expect.  Thankfully, they were separated by gender and only women.  All I can say is WOW it was an amazing experience.  As soon as the doors opened I knew this was going to be amazing!

 

I was met at the entrance by a sweet lady that gave me a run down of what would happen and given a rose sherbet to drink; it was tasty and refreshing. 

Not going to lie but when I read sherbet, I was expecting something frozen.  I was then led upstairs to change into paper bikini bottoms and top.  It was funny!  I was led into the area where the magic happened . . . no photos allowed . . . and it was beautiful!  Here are some photos from the website.

There were four other women having the same experience but we were each in our own little area; it was semi-private.  My lady, Aysun, said no top so off it went.  I was fine but Europeans are so laid back about being naked compared to Americans.  It was all part of the experience.  I laid on a warm marble pentagon table and was rubbed and scrubbed and then my bikini bottom became a thong.  I was dying laughing inside because my lady just yanked it.  At that point I would have been better off with nothing on.  She had this gauzy fabric that was placed in a copper pot.  She swirled it around, whipped the gauzy fabric, and it created the most velvety soft bubbles.  I never knew bubbles could feel so soft.  I swear it was amazing!  Then I was led to a side area where I was slathered with a clay mask.  Once it dried, I was drenched with warm water being thrown on me.  She literally took a copper pot of warm water and threw it on me until all the clay mask was gone.  Aysun then washed my hair and made sure I was clean from head to toe and every crack between.  The whole experience was about 90 minutes and then I was led back to the start and given a cup of Turkish tea and allowed to just relax for as long as I wanted. 

Once I was changed back to my street clothes, I visited the cistern and museum on site.  It was interesting and loved the displays of the history.  I was in no hurry to leave so just wandered around exploring.

 

I found the rooftop the most interesting.  The lighting of the hot and warm rooms is provided by openings on the dome and vaults.  The glass roundels which cover these star shaped holes when viewed from the inside are called elephant’s eyes.

When I was ready, the driver took me back to the hotel where I continued to relax the afternoon away!  I think having some sort of relaxing treatment really helped perk me up!  All that relaxing made me hungry so I headed to the lounge for my nightly drinks and snacks!

Day 1: historical Istanbul, Türkiye

I finally got in bed around 3am and was wide awake.  I had no firm plans while in Istanbul so since I was wide awake, I checked the weather.  The weather looks rainy every day but today.  So I booked a walking tour for 1pm.  That is less than 10 hours and I'm running on empty.  I have had Istanbul on my travel list for decades so I am excited but also cautious since it is a very different culture than I am used to.  The tour I picked stopped at the main places I wanted to visit . . . which was good because it was crowded and we skipped the line to enter!

Basilica Cistern

Blue Mosque . . . my first ever visit to a mosque.  It was packed with tourist.  It was free to enter.

Hagia Sophia . . . massive and not as crowded probably because had to pay to enter.

I was very tired but it was so nice to be outside and really helped with my jetlag!  The tour was just okay. It got me inside the three places I wanted to visit but other than that wasn’t great.  They give you an earpiece to hear guide talking and it was awful; didn't fit and kept falling off and couldn't hear guide. The guide just sort of took off and had to keep up.  Our group started small with only 6 people and then he picked up about 20 more so it was not ideal.  It was getting dark and my comfort level was not high so I headed back to the hotel.  As I walked around I noticed cats were everywhere!

And this is where my day sort of hit a rough spot.  I walked up to a taxi driver to get a ride back to my hotel.  I noticed there was no meter so I asked about the price.  First mistake was getting in before I noticed no meter.  He said oh traffic is so heavy it will be 102€, and I said absolutely not.  At this point, I knew I had made a huge mistake.  I was tracking our movements on my phone and knew if we went one way the traffic was not bad; I was not nice and a bit rude but knew I had to speak up!  I started taking photos of his taxi number with threats of reporting him . . . not that he cared.  I knew I just needed to get out of this situation so it was settled on 45€, which was still a ridiculous amount of money.  I was starting to get a bad vibe and feel uncomfortable.  As we were about a block from the hotel he asked for my card to pay.  I said no at hotel.  He pulled over across the street from my hotel and would not drop me off in my hotel driveway.  I was really starting to feel uncomfortable and that maybe my safety was at risk.  My life is worth more than 45€ so, I  handed over my card to pay.  He was a total ass and ended up charging me $60!  So I checked the block of being scammed by a taxi in Istanbul on my first full day.    

The moral of the story is if you ever visit Istanbul do not ever walk up and get a cab.  Do NOT do it . . . book your cab on Uber.  I was talking to the bellboy at the hotel and telling him about my experience when he told me you can book a taxi on Uber . . . in fact when you book on Uber you can only get a taxi.  They give you a price range of the trip and the driver can not charge more than what the app says.  So lesson learned . . . but on my first day and I have a feeling this will haunt me for days!  

As with any higher end hotel, the food is expensive so I headed to the club lounge for free drinks and snacks!

Day 0: Texas to Türkiye

The LONG journey begins.  30 hours. 32 minutes to be exact . . . that is if all goes as planned and no delays.  If I was paying cash for my flights, it would be much faster but since I am flying on miles/points I don’t get the best connections.  It is perfectly fine since it only cost me the tax which was $81 so I’m not complaining.  I did have access to airline lounges which are always comfortable and an added treat.  I have learned sometimes it is the small things that make the hassle of travel worth it.  I flew out of my local regional airport that has three flights a day to DFW.  I love the mammoth rope art on that dark blue wall!

Side Note:  If you are ever in my town, the Waco Mammoth National Monument is a really good place to visit.  A herd of Columbian mammoth bones were discovered in the late 70s by two guys looking for fossils along the Bosque River.

As soon as I landed in DFW I headed to my favorite place for a snack!

I love Shake Shack.  I know it is over priced and small for the price but a yummy treat for me.  And then left the airport terminal and headed to the Grand Hyatt DFW to hang out for the next 11 hours!  Yes, my layover is super long.  I used some points so I would at least have a place to hang out and relax; it was a great decision.  My flight to London leaves at 11pm so I headed back a couple hours before take off to enjoy the American Airlines Flagship Lounge for a little snack.

Those little cheesecake bites were so good!  And then it was finally time to board for the long flight to London!  Of course the lie flat business seat is not bad either especially since I only paid $81 and 57,500 miles/points!

Took me no time to get settled and have my little slippers on!  I was not hungry but no way was I passing up a meal service . . . I had preordered the fruit and cheese plate.

Which was still a lot of food but the star of AA business class is always the sundae! 

The flight was quick; I slept; I watched some TV, and we were in London.  I had another long layover so headed to the British Airlines Concorde Room for you guessed it; more food!

Then I hit a wall. So tired. I drank so many peppermint teas and a lot of terminal walking to try and pass the time but at this point I am over the travel and just want to be at my final destination.  I swear I walked every inch of LHR Terminal 5 and sat in every seating area.  There was a lot of excitement in the terminal and people were giddy.  I finally asked someone who these guys were and was told it was THE Bokke.  I was like oh okay and headed right to google to find out it is a South African rugby team who are one of the most successful rugby teams and apparently pretty famous.  I know nothing about rugby!  So, I just watched fans approach them and chat . . . the guys were all so nice and took photos.  It got me to thinking about US athletes and somehow, I don’t think they would be so gracious to fans in the airport.  Time was passing ever so slowly and it felt like déjà vu from last year’s trip where I sat around all day, but at least I wasn’t denied boarding this time. I just wanted to shower and crawl into a bed with clean sheets.  The last flight was a short flight.  The business class area has blocked off the middle seat so no one is sitting right next to me.  However, the guy in my row seemed to think he owned the area of both seats and took over every inch.  I found it fun that British Airways gives you a printed menu card with a full meal service for a flight less than 4 hours.

The food was fine . . . nothing spectacular but the service was very good. 

It was so late, and I am about over traveling and food at this point!  The last flight of the day was painful!  It was just under 4 hours, and well I am exhausted. It was 1230am Monday morning when we arrived at Istanbul. I left Texas Saturday at 10am.  I had not heard a word from my prearranged transportation so I was concerned.  I turned my phone on and noticed a text with meeting location which was nice.  I was carry-on bag only so I got there as quickly as I could.  The ride from the airport to hotel was about an hour.  When I arrived at the hotel, I was shocked to see an x-ray machine bag check point to enter the hotel lobby.  Hmmmm, I have never seen this before but put my bags on the belt and went to check-in.  It was about 2am and noticed the bag guy and check in guy chatting.  The check in guy leans over to me and says, “I am told you have a knife in your bag.”  Of course, I did not have a knife or any sharp object in my bag.  I told him he was wrong and he said “well, I have to ask since that is what the machine says”.  I grabbed my bag and went to my room!  My room is huge because I used a suite upgrade award at the Grand Hyatt Istanbul.

 

Cancun, Mexico

We moved the party over to Cancun which the kids are more excited about since we are staying at the all-inclusive Planet Hollywood Cancun. 

I read a ton, and I mean a lot of negative reviews about this resort so we were a bit concerned.  The price was very cheap for an all inclusive and rest assured it was absolutely fine.  Not a five star but very good!  As I wandered around the property and checked in our room, I thought I had to be at a different resort because I saw none of what I read.  I will say the dining reservations was a disaster but we did not go hungry . . . we just couldn't eat at all the restaurants we thought we wanted to try.  No big deal!  I will say the beach was gross with sargassum but that is not the hotel's fault; it is just that time of year in Mexico!

The kids are so thrilled!  We turned them out to the wild and reminded them to leave no one alone!  They take care of each other like siblings!  Colin is excited to have a boy . . . first time including a significant other to one of the girls!  We all hung out most of the days, had dinner together, and tried to hang until the ungodly hours of the night at the club.  You know how thrilled that made me!

And our course they were connected to us when we booked a private cabana with plunge pool . . . these kids are pretty smart!

Isla Mujeres, Mexico

We are meeting our friends for a few days in Mexico!  The adults . . . I guess I should say moms because all the kids are now adults . . . wanted to visit Isla Mujeres and the kids humored us by going along because it is a free trip for them.  After many flight delays, we all finally were under the same roof and ready to get the show moving.  First up was a water transfer from Cancun to Isla Mujeres.

Quick stop at the hotel to drop our bags . . .  nice view!

Grabbed a quick bite . . . the best fish tacos at Los Tacos de Humo!  Maragraitas weren't bad either.

Then out exploring on the golf cart around the island at some of the "must sees."

If you go to Isla Mujeres, you must rent a golf cart to explore the island; it was so fun!  The hotel, Hotel Playa La Media Luna, was really nice on a great isolated beach, empty pool, and easy walk to the main part of town.  The beach did have a bit of sargassum but nothing to ruin our day.

We let the rain pass and headed out for some food and drinks and free entertainment by the kids.

Day 3: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Today we are changing hotels.  I had read so many rave reviews of our new hotel and have to give it a try.  I had planned to just sort of have a relaxing day by the pool but it was so cold to us!  The hotel is an easy 10 minute walk from the city center and has a resident dog that lives there.  I wanted to do a couple more things on my list before we moved so we explored the Museo La Esquina del Juguete Popular Mexicano (Toy Museum).  We enjoyed looking at all the toys and exhibits.  I loved all the brightly colored toys! 

  

Our next stop was Parque Benito Juárez.  I had read it is the local version of Central Park and honestly it was pretty but was expecting more when compared to the Central Park. 

 

Our hotel for the night was across the street so off we went to Numu.  It was beautiful and was so happy to see Pancho. 

Pancho was less than thrilled to see us!  Pancho?  Pancho is the resident dog at Numu.  He is a beautiful dog and so well behaved.  We just chilled at new hotel on the rooftop at the restaurant/bar/pool area.  The views of the city were amazing! 

One of the draws to this hotel, other than using points to stay for free, was to have dinner on the rooftop at NOIA but change of plans and the venue is closed due to a scheduled event.  As I checked in, I confirmed our dinner reservations and was told we were good to go.  Not one person mentioned when I confirmed the reservation when we arrived.  You can’t make me believe that an event just ‘popped’ up that would close an entire restaurant.  As you can imagine I was a bit annoyed and mad and they sort of just blew me off.  At this point what was I to do so we went to the new location and no one was there!  NO ONE!  I asked two different people and no one followed up with me.  It really did annoy me that a high-end hotel did not seem to want to help.  I saved a nice dinner for the last night due to the restaurant’s terrace view and now we are on the ground floor with four concrete walls.   About 40 minutes after our reservation, someone showed up to serve us.  I felt as if we were an after-thought and the meal was nothing special like I was expecting. 

We I was feeling a bit bummed at our dinner situation so we hiked back to town for one last churro.  

We took one last walk around the center before heading back to our hotel.  

It all worked out but still disappointing how it was handled.  I am an understanding person and would have been okay if they would have been honest and upfront about the situation when we checked in but to send me an email 30 minutes before our dinner reservation was unacceptable!  Enough about that . . . at least Pancho was there for us when we arrived back!