Dalyan – 29th & 30th June

It was a rather busy day on Monday 29th June and I had to take some time away from my office desk to do some important things. My first job of the day was to meet a friend for a little walk before it got too hot. We walked along the river and then went to Kaunos tea gardens for brunch. We each had a bottle of water, a large Turkish tea and a cheese and onion toastie, with chips and olives for a total of 390 lira (£6.30).

I’d not checked my budget for this month as I expected I was way over and decided to do it all in a couple of days at month end. I had definitely underestimated how much money I would need for July, August and September being out of Turkey.
After a couple of customer calls, some admin and a chat with a friend it was time to venture on a hot and sweaty bus to Ortaca. I wanted to get my hair done before my next UK and Europe trip and today was the only day Emrah could fit me in at short notice.
I arrived early, and glad of the air con as Emrah and the girls worked their magic. I had to get the bus back and was meeting a friend for a farewell drink at 4pm so I asked for an updo. I paid 2,000 lira (£32.26) for the colour, cut and blow dry which I thought was very reasonable and is always so professional. I got the bus back and it was pretty packed and hot.

When I got back to Dalyan I made my way over to Ren Garden where I had arranged to meet my friend. Her and her husband were moving back to the UK and I wanted to wish them well and have a catch up before we both set off. We sat in the back room for a bit of privacy and decided to have a wine (or 2) to mark the occasion.
As is the Dalyan way, we did get interrupted when some of the Dalyan Dwellers, who’d been on the yellow boat, came back from their Monday Köyceğiz market trip. Two of them came in first, a bit tiddly, asking if I had seen my parents. I replied that I hadn’t and they were the ones who had gone on a boat trip with them. Apparently, they were all meeting back at Ren Garden after getting off the boat. My parents arrived a few minutes later, also merry, and asked if I’d seen their friends who were now sat in the front bar. This went on a while as more people turned up all looking for each other within a small vicinity. My friend’s husband had joined us and all privacy had gone out of the window so we said our goodbyes and I went to join my parents and the group of boat trippers. I had another couple of wines with them and we chatted to a nice bloke, Ricky, who was staying at Grandma’s Garden, the hotel at Ren Garden.
I paid a total of 1,030 lira (£16.61) for 6 wines, 2 soda waters, and 1 water, a very reasonable amount!
My next stop was to join my parents for dinner where we had pizza at Heybe and it was very tasty.

Gratitude List
1. Having my hair done
2. A farewell drink with a friend
3. An impromptu catch up with my parents.

Tuesday 30th June was the end of the month and I was astonished at how quickly the first half of this year had gone.
It had been both a tough year so far, in many ways, but it had also been pretty good in lots of other ways. In June alone I’d split my time across quite a few different countries.
Out of the 30 days this month, this is where I actually spent my time:

Dalyan 7 days
Sheffield 7 days
Cruising (Budapest, Bratislava, Tulln and Vienna) 5 days
Spain 4 days
Sevenoaks 3 days
Mallorca 2 days
Vienna 1.5 days
Istanbul (airport) 0.5 days

So I was on holiday for at least half of the month, despite still working most of the time. It was also time to face the music with the monthly finances too, which had certainly taken a hit! I had given myself a budget of £25 per day, so a total of £750 for June. My total spend ended up being £802 so I was £52 over! Captain Caveman had needed to help me out to ensure I got my required amount in to the Turkish bank too and I was about to start July in a deficit of £115 after paying off my credit card. I do that every month and it only has a very low limit.
For July I hadn’t set a budget as I knew I was likely to spend more than I had this month and would be relying on Captain Caveman a lot too. All I did today was work as it was the last day of the month and I wanted to maximise any earnings.
There was so much fun coming up from July onwards, all of which I was going to continue to do with a frugal mindset and while doing more holiday research for my potential customers.

Gratitude List
1. Being very lucky to be able to work from almost anywhere in the world
2. Having a busy day and tying up lots of loose ends
3. Looking forward to a great summer.