How It All Begun
“It would be shooting yourself in the head...”
That was the comment of the friends who they first told about their travels. The Trans-Siberian train.
“Alisa would bring the train down,” Paolo said. Alisa being their 3 year-old daughter. Three months younger than our daughter Lara.
“Ten years ago I had the same plan. I had made all the arrangements and bookings,” Paolo went on. “Then women friends said 'Why are you going there? Are you out of your mind?' I was a bachelor then. No child. I didn't go.”
Of course, his reason to not go was probably mainly about women. Still... Paolo insisted. “It's a waste of time.”
“It's only two weeks.”
“It's a waste of two weeks.”
Why should it be a waste of time? It would be a waste of time if you were doing something so much more valuable with your time. And what are these people who criticize you are doing with their time?
Next, Paolo came up with another argument. “You fly there and see it properly.”
"What's the experience in flying? I want to get stuck in a train with my baby. I want to see it for myself what happens," Gülin thought. She knew. If you listen to people, you don't get to do anything. Anything out of the ordinary that is.
“What about the cruise then? Would you join us there?” she asked. That was something more comfortable after all.
“Cruising is not for me. Maybe in ten years time...” commented Paolo this time.
After hanging up the phone, Gülin turned to her husband and asked. “Why should I want to go cruising in ten years time? I want to finish the world now.”
“That's an ambitious wish,” remarked Carlo.
“You know what I mean,” Gülin said. “To see the world and to have a general idea all over. Otherwise, I know it's impossible to finish the world. As I wrote it in my book, 'If you go to all the countries, there remains all the cities, if you go to all cities, there remains all the towns, if you to all towns, there remains all the villages.'”
“You wrote that?”
“I did. In my first book. I want to see the world. When I am sort of young. Then I want to sit down and write, and look after my grandchildren if God allows me to. Not to travel.”
The next day, Paolo wrote and asked. “Still, send us the page of the Trans-Siberian to see what they're offering.”
“See? Maybe he is interested after all. After thinking a bit, they might even be coming,” Gülin said. I was wrong. They came back with the comment:
“But a passage through the land of fire and a return through Alaska wouldn't it go well?”
“If I had listened and paid heed to people's comments and warnings, I wouldn't have set out and done two round-the-world tours but would have sat and stayed with an unbearable man all my life,” Gülin thought to herself. Then she said to her husband: “You can say 'Yes' to Paolo.”
That was the comment of the friends who they first told about their travels. The Trans-Siberian train.
“Alisa would bring the train down,” Paolo said. Alisa being their 3 year-old daughter. Three months younger than our daughter Lara.
“Ten years ago I had the same plan. I had made all the arrangements and bookings,” Paolo went on. “Then women friends said 'Why are you going there? Are you out of your mind?' I was a bachelor then. No child. I didn't go.”
Of course, his reason to not go was probably mainly about women. Still... Paolo insisted. “It's a waste of time.”
“It's only two weeks.”
“It's a waste of two weeks.”
Why should it be a waste of time? It would be a waste of time if you were doing something so much more valuable with your time. And what are these people who criticize you are doing with their time?
Next, Paolo came up with another argument. “You fly there and see it properly.”
"What's the experience in flying? I want to get stuck in a train with my baby. I want to see it for myself what happens," Gülin thought. She knew. If you listen to people, you don't get to do anything. Anything out of the ordinary that is.
“What about the cruise then? Would you join us there?” she asked. That was something more comfortable after all.
“Cruising is not for me. Maybe in ten years time...” commented Paolo this time.
After hanging up the phone, Gülin turned to her husband and asked. “Why should I want to go cruising in ten years time? I want to finish the world now.”
“That's an ambitious wish,” remarked Carlo.
“You know what I mean,” Gülin said. “To see the world and to have a general idea all over. Otherwise, I know it's impossible to finish the world. As I wrote it in my book, 'If you go to all the countries, there remains all the cities, if you go to all cities, there remains all the towns, if you to all towns, there remains all the villages.'”
“You wrote that?”
“I did. In my first book. I want to see the world. When I am sort of young. Then I want to sit down and write, and look after my grandchildren if God allows me to. Not to travel.”
The next day, Paolo wrote and asked. “Still, send us the page of the Trans-Siberian to see what they're offering.”
“See? Maybe he is interested after all. After thinking a bit, they might even be coming,” Gülin said. I was wrong. They came back with the comment:
“But a passage through the land of fire and a return through Alaska wouldn't it go well?”
“If I had listened and paid heed to people's comments and warnings, I wouldn't have set out and done two round-the-world tours but would have sat and stayed with an unbearable man all my life,” Gülin thought to herself. Then she said to her husband: “You can say 'Yes' to Paolo.”
From the moment Lara was about nine months old and I started having a bit of a confidence that she wouldn't die on me, I also started saying “Just you wait until she is 4-5, I'll grab her and travel the world.” Then, when she was two, I read the Trans-Siberian article of the Hürriyet Travel editor and I knew I had to do that one day too. And that I would continue on my way once I started.
When I researched a bit, I saw that the Trans-Siberian train was free for children under four years of age. We had gone to Mauritius before she turned two because after that we would have to pay full-price for her. Of course, this is just an excuse to do something, an incentive. As I said, it was to be seven years from my last round-the-world tour. It was a nice time. And it felt like, after three years-old it was sort of fine to travel with a child. Lara never used baby food, but now there was no need to carry around diapers or anything special. So, all coming together, this trip turned out a bit sooner.
The first plan was to do the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok, stopping at Irkutsk to see Lake Baikal, and going on to Ulan Bator to see Mongolia. Then to fly over to the US to cross the Panama Canal. We were then to do the Southern Caribbean and fly back. Thus not spending too much time away, my husband needed to get back to work. But then... Then things changed. Our Russian-Italian friends objected fiercely. “What are you going to do? You don't know the language. What if something happens to Lara? Trains are awful, you share a toilet with a whole wagon of people. It is boring, there is nothing to see. Only the steppe. Besides, it's not safe either.”
Well then, reading some more about it... We decided to skip the stops. We just get on a train, the Moscow-Bejing train is more luxurious, so they say, the first-class shares a toilet with only one other compartment. And there even is a shower. There is a lock too. It takes five days. “We can last five days,” I said. Man seat 61 (Mark who realized he always booked seat 61 on trains and had a website dedicated to trains all over the world) was saying you wouldn't know how time passed as there would be many travellers doing the same trip non-stop as you did. So that simplified things.
As for the Panama Canal... The one that I chose, a Royal Caribbean ship going to Puerto Rico where the ships to the Caribbean left from was fully booked. This was a year and a half in advance. I tried to protest and said “There must be availability, there must be people who give up or change plans.” But my husband was the one to do the talking with the company and he took “No” as an answer. He said “So what? We take a flight.” But I wasn't ready to take an extra flight. All other Panama Canal ships ended up in Miami. I didn't want to go all the way up to Miami on a ship and fly back to Puerto Rico to take another ship. What for? In the meantime, while searching for cruises, I came across a Holland America South Pacific Islands trip. 45 days. 4500 Euros. I stopped. Could we? Would we? There were only six cabins left on it. After some elaboration...
45 day Tahiti and Hawaii cruise.
Of course I considered “These things you do when you are old.” But I don't want to do such a thing when I'm old and cannot really enjoy the sights. We stay put somewhere when we are old. Besides, who knows in what condition the world will be in 10-20 years time? It's getting worse every day. With these controls and “security” mania. I'd rather go now while I can sort of stand it.
Okay, I know it's a lot of money. If everything doesn't go as life should go, that we die or have a serious sickness before old age, it's better we go now and live life while we can. If, on the other hand, everything goes as life should go, that God allows us to die of old age in order, then we will be having money from inheritance. What do we do with that money? We will have money from retirement to live by. Why should we be stacking money up now? Besides, it's not that we're spending all our money and going down to nill...
Would we really do this trip?
When I researched a bit, I saw that the Trans-Siberian train was free for children under four years of age. We had gone to Mauritius before she turned two because after that we would have to pay full-price for her. Of course, this is just an excuse to do something, an incentive. As I said, it was to be seven years from my last round-the-world tour. It was a nice time. And it felt like, after three years-old it was sort of fine to travel with a child. Lara never used baby food, but now there was no need to carry around diapers or anything special. So, all coming together, this trip turned out a bit sooner.
The first plan was to do the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok, stopping at Irkutsk to see Lake Baikal, and going on to Ulan Bator to see Mongolia. Then to fly over to the US to cross the Panama Canal. We were then to do the Southern Caribbean and fly back. Thus not spending too much time away, my husband needed to get back to work. But then... Then things changed. Our Russian-Italian friends objected fiercely. “What are you going to do? You don't know the language. What if something happens to Lara? Trains are awful, you share a toilet with a whole wagon of people. It is boring, there is nothing to see. Only the steppe. Besides, it's not safe either.”
Well then, reading some more about it... We decided to skip the stops. We just get on a train, the Moscow-Bejing train is more luxurious, so they say, the first-class shares a toilet with only one other compartment. And there even is a shower. There is a lock too. It takes five days. “We can last five days,” I said. Man seat 61 (Mark who realized he always booked seat 61 on trains and had a website dedicated to trains all over the world) was saying you wouldn't know how time passed as there would be many travellers doing the same trip non-stop as you did. So that simplified things.
As for the Panama Canal... The one that I chose, a Royal Caribbean ship going to Puerto Rico where the ships to the Caribbean left from was fully booked. This was a year and a half in advance. I tried to protest and said “There must be availability, there must be people who give up or change plans.” But my husband was the one to do the talking with the company and he took “No” as an answer. He said “So what? We take a flight.” But I wasn't ready to take an extra flight. All other Panama Canal ships ended up in Miami. I didn't want to go all the way up to Miami on a ship and fly back to Puerto Rico to take another ship. What for? In the meantime, while searching for cruises, I came across a Holland America South Pacific Islands trip. 45 days. 4500 Euros. I stopped. Could we? Would we? There were only six cabins left on it. After some elaboration...
45 day Tahiti and Hawaii cruise.
Of course I considered “These things you do when you are old.” But I don't want to do such a thing when I'm old and cannot really enjoy the sights. We stay put somewhere when we are old. Besides, who knows in what condition the world will be in 10-20 years time? It's getting worse every day. With these controls and “security” mania. I'd rather go now while I can sort of stand it.
Okay, I know it's a lot of money. If everything doesn't go as life should go, that we die or have a serious sickness before old age, it's better we go now and live life while we can. If, on the other hand, everything goes as life should go, that God allows us to die of old age in order, then we will be having money from inheritance. What do we do with that money? We will have money from retirement to live by. Why should we be stacking money up now? Besides, it's not that we're spending all our money and going down to nill...
Would we really do this trip?
Agreed, it is a lot of money. 30,000 Euros. That's what my husband makes in a year. Yeah, but it is travelling for four months for three people. So that makes a daily earning, a daily spending. Makes sense.
Thinking about it... My landlady's daughter bought herself a car for that same price. She got a mortgage to buy that car. What's more ridiculous to me is that, this wasn't something she really used. She went to work with the company shuttle. She didn't really go out on the weekends. Even if she did, she went with a bus as taking the car along is not practical in İstanbul due to traffic and parking problem. So what did she do with the car you may ask... She went to Tekirdağ, to their home city, taking her mother there. How often? Maybe 3-4 times a year. She probably used it ten times in the city. So she bought this car, spending that much money, so that the car could get old and rot there. But a car is a symbol of prestige. Not that it was a Mercedes or BMW either. But it was an upscale brand new car. Earns you respect. And it never crosses anybody's mind to criticize her for spending that much money. But when you want to travel, say you're travelling, doing this stuff, you
get all the unsolicited advice from your kith and kin. Basically of how you're being extravagant and that you should save for your child's future. Unless of course you are one of those ultra-rich who nobody says anything to.
We could have renewed our rundown, 97 model car; or could have bought a second car to use in case of an emergency, especially when we had our daughter as we live in the countryside where there are no buses or taxis. Or instead of choosing to live in the countryside, we could have bought a house in the big city, paying a mortgage for God knows how long, and sent our daughter to a private school. If we had done these, nobody would have seen it as extravagant. It would have been seen as necessities of normal life. But we spend our money on travelling the world which is an extra for others instead of the extra for us.
Not that I'm advocating everybody needs to travel, that's where people need to spend their money on for enriching their lives etc. No, I don't. Magazines try to promote the idea of travel as something cool and enriching. I believe it is true too. Yet, people who travel do not reach nirvana. Do not become sages all of a sudden just because they've set foot on a different place in the world. Doesn't work that way. There's nothing wrong with someone who wants to live in only one setting all his life. (Just as I don't think there's- at least not too much- wrong with me doing these trips.) I don't think there is a right way to live, or a right way to spend one's leisure time. (Even though I do not approve of the modern lives of today, the way life runs in big cities, that's only my conviction.) Everybody decides what they want to do with their lives according to their needs, means, personalities and desires. People can choose to spend money on things that I do not approve of. None of my business. (But it is my business where the government spends money on. As it is not their money they “earn” somehow that they are spending, but public money.)
I prefer to travel than own the latest model car or watch or phone or TV or whatever that is.
After all this elaboration,
... we decided yes.
Then we could take any other Panama Canal cruise ending up in Miami. Thus, spending Lara's birthday in Disneyland and return home afterwards. Talking about the trip to our friends, they suggested we go to the Bahamas together. I of course jumped on the idea. A 3-4 day trip from Miami could be fine. Bahamas needed to be seen too. To be crossed from the list. So we booked that as well. That was enough. Good enough to make a round-the-world tour.
Thinking about it... My landlady's daughter bought herself a car for that same price. She got a mortgage to buy that car. What's more ridiculous to me is that, this wasn't something she really used. She went to work with the company shuttle. She didn't really go out on the weekends. Even if she did, she went with a bus as taking the car along is not practical in İstanbul due to traffic and parking problem. So what did she do with the car you may ask... She went to Tekirdağ, to their home city, taking her mother there. How often? Maybe 3-4 times a year. She probably used it ten times in the city. So she bought this car, spending that much money, so that the car could get old and rot there. But a car is a symbol of prestige. Not that it was a Mercedes or BMW either. But it was an upscale brand new car. Earns you respect. And it never crosses anybody's mind to criticize her for spending that much money. But when you want to travel, say you're travelling, doing this stuff, you
get all the unsolicited advice from your kith and kin. Basically of how you're being extravagant and that you should save for your child's future. Unless of course you are one of those ultra-rich who nobody says anything to.
We could have renewed our rundown, 97 model car; or could have bought a second car to use in case of an emergency, especially when we had our daughter as we live in the countryside where there are no buses or taxis. Or instead of choosing to live in the countryside, we could have bought a house in the big city, paying a mortgage for God knows how long, and sent our daughter to a private school. If we had done these, nobody would have seen it as extravagant. It would have been seen as necessities of normal life. But we spend our money on travelling the world which is an extra for others instead of the extra for us.
Not that I'm advocating everybody needs to travel, that's where people need to spend their money on for enriching their lives etc. No, I don't. Magazines try to promote the idea of travel as something cool and enriching. I believe it is true too. Yet, people who travel do not reach nirvana. Do not become sages all of a sudden just because they've set foot on a different place in the world. Doesn't work that way. There's nothing wrong with someone who wants to live in only one setting all his life. (Just as I don't think there's- at least not too much- wrong with me doing these trips.) I don't think there is a right way to live, or a right way to spend one's leisure time. (Even though I do not approve of the modern lives of today, the way life runs in big cities, that's only my conviction.) Everybody decides what they want to do with their lives according to their needs, means, personalities and desires. People can choose to spend money on things that I do not approve of. None of my business. (But it is my business where the government spends money on. As it is not their money they “earn” somehow that they are spending, but public money.)
I prefer to travel than own the latest model car or watch or phone or TV or whatever that is.
After all this elaboration,
... we decided yes.
Then we could take any other Panama Canal cruise ending up in Miami. Thus, spending Lara's birthday in Disneyland and return home afterwards. Talking about the trip to our friends, they suggested we go to the Bahamas together. I of course jumped on the idea. A 3-4 day trip from Miami could be fine. Bahamas needed to be seen too. To be crossed from the list. So we booked that as well. That was enough. Good enough to make a round-the-world tour.
How different is this round-the-world tour! What I'm going to be doing is planned in advance, I'm not running away from anybody, my return is not “bleak.” I know what I'll be doing. I have my husband and my daughter with me, next to me. There are things I look forward to in the future.
The funny thing is... I feel like I already have done this trip. As it is all planned out. It's as if there is no need to do it. I know it all. But of course it's not so. I have no idea how I will feel, how it will be on the train, I have no idea whom I will meet on the trip, I have no idea how the South Pacific Islands will be, if I will, if we will wish we lived there, if we will dream of living in those places one day, I don't know how it will feel to be on the same ship for 45 days. How a comparably small ship will feel. I don't know if I will like Seoul or Taipei. I mean I have an idea about that, that they will be pretty similar to China and boring. Places just to have seen. That I will be waiting to pass the days to leave to my next destination. Time will seem not to pass, even if it is only two days. “Just to get out of this polluted and noisy city.” Will I really say that or will I be positively impressed? I don't want to think how much fun Lara would have at Disneyland. That is something to live. Anyway... I'm ready for the trip. Mentally ready to set out on another adventure. Of course I don't know what kind of stupidities I, we might encounter on the way with passports and visas. One never knows on the road. Even if you are travelling with double passports one of which is European.
And of course I forgot the most important. Or I don't think, prefer not to think about it. Will we be able to complete the trip without Lara getting sick. When I asked this to my husband, he said “You should be worried about me.” That's right too.
I know, there may be people who will snort their disapproval that I did a comfortable trip with cruises, they'll be condescending me after doing such round-the-world tours. I do not mind. I had a baby, I had a family, I could afford it now, so I travelled. This is a trip of a lifetime. Funny though, I've already done two trips of a lifetime. And hopefully now, it's going to be three. I had once made calculations, how many goals life scored against me. First there was my parents' brutal divorce when we (my brother and me) were adolescents, then my muscle and skin disease which made me unable to climb steps, inhibited my movements in general. Then I scored with the world tour. Then another one with the second. Then came Lavinia. I may count that as life scoring two goals, like scoring a gammon in backgammon. I was knocked-down. I could actually count that as five goals, or even ten, even a hundred or a thousand. The reason I don't is, I got a lot out of it. It made me question, think and realize.: What life is. How vulnerable we are.
Anyway... There is no need to keep score. Life is not a football game, it is a marathon of growing up, where you reach the finish line with your last breath.
Would I do it once more? We see in seven years time. If God allows me, allows us to, we travel in a different style after my husband retires, living in places for a longer period of time.
People also tell me that Lara will not be remembering. “She grows up a bit more, you go later,” they say. I was 31 years-old when I did my first round-the-world tour, what do you think I remember from that trip? I only know that I have done it, I know the stories because I have written them, but I don't remember the details. I have a glimpse of the sights in my mind. A faded memory of the events and feelings. The important thing is the story. And I will be writing the stories for Lara anyway. Even if she won't be remembering, these are the most important years that the mind of a child is formed. I want Lara to travel now. I want her consciousness to develop that way. I want her to see that the world is a big place and there are different people and different ways of life. I want her to tell all she has done to her classmates at school. I want her to know more than her teacher. I want her to have travelled and seen more. I want her to have the capacity to turn the roles of
teacher-student around at the age of four.
What nudges me? I don't really know. It's something inside... But if you want an answer of reason, it is the fact that there are places I haven't seen there, there are trips I haven't done.
You know how I decide to do something?... I think and ask myself the question if it would make a good story... That's how one should live life... If possible. Making it a good story.
The funny thing is... I feel like I already have done this trip. As it is all planned out. It's as if there is no need to do it. I know it all. But of course it's not so. I have no idea how I will feel, how it will be on the train, I have no idea whom I will meet on the trip, I have no idea how the South Pacific Islands will be, if I will, if we will wish we lived there, if we will dream of living in those places one day, I don't know how it will feel to be on the same ship for 45 days. How a comparably small ship will feel. I don't know if I will like Seoul or Taipei. I mean I have an idea about that, that they will be pretty similar to China and boring. Places just to have seen. That I will be waiting to pass the days to leave to my next destination. Time will seem not to pass, even if it is only two days. “Just to get out of this polluted and noisy city.” Will I really say that or will I be positively impressed? I don't want to think how much fun Lara would have at Disneyland. That is something to live. Anyway... I'm ready for the trip. Mentally ready to set out on another adventure. Of course I don't know what kind of stupidities I, we might encounter on the way with passports and visas. One never knows on the road. Even if you are travelling with double passports one of which is European.
And of course I forgot the most important. Or I don't think, prefer not to think about it. Will we be able to complete the trip without Lara getting sick. When I asked this to my husband, he said “You should be worried about me.” That's right too.
I know, there may be people who will snort their disapproval that I did a comfortable trip with cruises, they'll be condescending me after doing such round-the-world tours. I do not mind. I had a baby, I had a family, I could afford it now, so I travelled. This is a trip of a lifetime. Funny though, I've already done two trips of a lifetime. And hopefully now, it's going to be three. I had once made calculations, how many goals life scored against me. First there was my parents' brutal divorce when we (my brother and me) were adolescents, then my muscle and skin disease which made me unable to climb steps, inhibited my movements in general. Then I scored with the world tour. Then another one with the second. Then came Lavinia. I may count that as life scoring two goals, like scoring a gammon in backgammon. I was knocked-down. I could actually count that as five goals, or even ten, even a hundred or a thousand. The reason I don't is, I got a lot out of it. It made me question, think and realize.: What life is. How vulnerable we are.
Anyway... There is no need to keep score. Life is not a football game, it is a marathon of growing up, where you reach the finish line with your last breath.
Would I do it once more? We see in seven years time. If God allows me, allows us to, we travel in a different style after my husband retires, living in places for a longer period of time.
People also tell me that Lara will not be remembering. “She grows up a bit more, you go later,” they say. I was 31 years-old when I did my first round-the-world tour, what do you think I remember from that trip? I only know that I have done it, I know the stories because I have written them, but I don't remember the details. I have a glimpse of the sights in my mind. A faded memory of the events and feelings. The important thing is the story. And I will be writing the stories for Lara anyway. Even if she won't be remembering, these are the most important years that the mind of a child is formed. I want Lara to travel now. I want her consciousness to develop that way. I want her to see that the world is a big place and there are different people and different ways of life. I want her to tell all she has done to her classmates at school. I want her to know more than her teacher. I want her to have travelled and seen more. I want her to have the capacity to turn the roles of
teacher-student around at the age of four.
What nudges me? I don't really know. It's something inside... But if you want an answer of reason, it is the fact that there are places I haven't seen there, there are trips I haven't done.
You know how I decide to do something?... I think and ask myself the question if it would make a good story... That's how one should live life... If possible. Making it a good story.
In the meantime, I had thought about the name of the book. How many days around the world would it be? We couldn't make this in 80 days. More than a 100 would not be nice. It had to be a two-digit number. Of course, the most logical was 99 days. So I chose it and it was. Without even booking the trip. Just with a general idea.
Now that we booked the South Pacific cruise, we had to work our way backwards. How long would it take for the Trans-Siberian? The tickets could not be bought in advance. They were on sale only 60 days prior to leaving. And the site warned: As that was the most popular route, especially the first-class compartments could be sold-out. September seemed a bit off-season but it was still at the limit. We decided to err on the side of caution. As it was a peg that could upset a fine balance on a long domino if we couldn't get the right tickets. So we decided on September 8th for the train, in case we could not get those train tickets we still would have the one leaving on the 15th and make it in time for the cruise. We were excited when the day to buy the tickets came. The night before, I made a calculation. It would be 59 days to the train, I was scared and stressed that the woman from the agency we were to buy the tickets from made a mistake, that the tickets would be sold-out.
I somehow managed to sleep but woke up with a great expectation to hear the confirmation. When no word came until afternoon, we sent a message. Natalia, our agent said there was a long que. That was a long stressful couple of hours. But she managed to buy the tickets and sent us photos.
So now we could book the flights. Leaving on the 5th was a good idea. A couple of days before the train ride. And even though it was a Saturday, the flight to Moscow was cheap, quite reasonable. So that was booked. As for return... Checking the flights, the best option was a low-cost Norwegian flight. We chose two days after Lara's birthday, 14th of December. I filled in the forms, put in the details of the credit card and pressed the button “Purchase.” It redirected to a Visa password confirmation site. I called my mother. (As we use a Turkish credit card which provides a travel insurance when you buy the tickets with it and earns you lots of miles. And its password goes to my mother's cell.) But there was no password. I asked my mother to call the bank and find out about it. The answer was that, as she had changed the provider of her cell-phone, the system was blocked and it wouldn't be turned on until two days. Her phone number had not changed, what was this making things difficult for the sake of security? And why would it take two days? Of course I was upset. There still was a lot of time but what if the prices increased? For no reason, we needed to pay more? Anyway... there was nothing I could do. I went to sleep and thought about it. Perhaps turning on the 11th would make more sense. Yes, the idea of spending Lara's birthday on a plane was not nice at first, but then, thinking about it, as we are going to be going eastward, towards the sun, thus backwards in time, she'll have a birthday longer than 24 hours. What's more, we should be back by 21:15 on the 12th of December, that is about an hour before she was born on that same day. So she will have done, gone around the world before she turns four. Also, I thought there was no point in lingering ffor our days in Miami just for the sake of it when there was nothing more important to do, when we would have been done with the trip basically. Thus, the next day, I persuaded my husband and bought the ticket for the 11th of December. The ship returned from the Bahamas early in the morning, and the plane left around midnight. 12th was also a Saturday, so he would have time to rest and go back to work on Monday. It fit so well.
Of course, during all these arrangements, the priority was optimizing the tickets and timing, thinking about our comfort and what we wanted to do. I never considered if it would be 105 days or 97 days. “99 Days” was for the name of the book only. It didn't need to be actuality. But then, I of course sat down and counted how many days it actually would be. And guess what! Exactly 99 days! Magic! I felt it all fell into place. Once more, it was as if all was arranged by a divine hand.
Now that we booked the South Pacific cruise, we had to work our way backwards. How long would it take for the Trans-Siberian? The tickets could not be bought in advance. They were on sale only 60 days prior to leaving. And the site warned: As that was the most popular route, especially the first-class compartments could be sold-out. September seemed a bit off-season but it was still at the limit. We decided to err on the side of caution. As it was a peg that could upset a fine balance on a long domino if we couldn't get the right tickets. So we decided on September 8th for the train, in case we could not get those train tickets we still would have the one leaving on the 15th and make it in time for the cruise. We were excited when the day to buy the tickets came. The night before, I made a calculation. It would be 59 days to the train, I was scared and stressed that the woman from the agency we were to buy the tickets from made a mistake, that the tickets would be sold-out.
I somehow managed to sleep but woke up with a great expectation to hear the confirmation. When no word came until afternoon, we sent a message. Natalia, our agent said there was a long que. That was a long stressful couple of hours. But she managed to buy the tickets and sent us photos.
So now we could book the flights. Leaving on the 5th was a good idea. A couple of days before the train ride. And even though it was a Saturday, the flight to Moscow was cheap, quite reasonable. So that was booked. As for return... Checking the flights, the best option was a low-cost Norwegian flight. We chose two days after Lara's birthday, 14th of December. I filled in the forms, put in the details of the credit card and pressed the button “Purchase.” It redirected to a Visa password confirmation site. I called my mother. (As we use a Turkish credit card which provides a travel insurance when you buy the tickets with it and earns you lots of miles. And its password goes to my mother's cell.) But there was no password. I asked my mother to call the bank and find out about it. The answer was that, as she had changed the provider of her cell-phone, the system was blocked and it wouldn't be turned on until two days. Her phone number had not changed, what was this making things difficult for the sake of security? And why would it take two days? Of course I was upset. There still was a lot of time but what if the prices increased? For no reason, we needed to pay more? Anyway... there was nothing I could do. I went to sleep and thought about it. Perhaps turning on the 11th would make more sense. Yes, the idea of spending Lara's birthday on a plane was not nice at first, but then, thinking about it, as we are going to be going eastward, towards the sun, thus backwards in time, she'll have a birthday longer than 24 hours. What's more, we should be back by 21:15 on the 12th of December, that is about an hour before she was born on that same day. So she will have done, gone around the world before she turns four. Also, I thought there was no point in lingering ffor our days in Miami just for the sake of it when there was nothing more important to do, when we would have been done with the trip basically. Thus, the next day, I persuaded my husband and bought the ticket for the 11th of December. The ship returned from the Bahamas early in the morning, and the plane left around midnight. 12th was also a Saturday, so he would have time to rest and go back to work on Monday. It fit so well.
Of course, during all these arrangements, the priority was optimizing the tickets and timing, thinking about our comfort and what we wanted to do. I never considered if it would be 105 days or 97 days. “99 Days” was for the name of the book only. It didn't need to be actuality. But then, I of course sat down and counted how many days it actually would be. And guess what! Exactly 99 days! Magic! I felt it all fell into place. Once more, it was as if all was arranged by a divine hand.
