Dalyan – 24th & 25th February

I had rather a busy day on Monday 24th February. It was also the last day before I would be looking after the dogs, Norman & Edna! After tea and buttered toast for breakfast, I went over to Jamie’s for some training on Marketing Hooks and a cup of tea. Edna was beside herself with giddiness as she understood – she had seen all the luggage! I was always so pleased that she looked forward to being looked after by Aunty Jo.
Back home, I had to chase up one of the Resort Experts suppliers I use as I needed a bespoke quote for a group booking. I had another enquiry that required me to research distances between various places in Vietnam and there was excitement out of the office window. A crane had been brought in to raise the roof of the new building next door and so it was quite noisy. I had to move to work in the kitchen as I was then on my first session of the Race to Recurring Revenue with Lisa Johnson. It was really good and I threw myself in to it. I just had fruit and a Dido chocolate bar for lunch. I worked for the rest of the day, until 7pm when I was on a free Mindset session. I had leftover chicken dinner that evening and was in bed by midnight.

Gratitude List
1. Training of all types, for free
2. Sunday dinner on a Monday
3. Enjoying being busy.

It was the first day with Norman and Edna on Tuesday 25th February. I had mistakenly thought Jamie and Drew were going to Thailand but I think that was because I knew so many people in Dalyan who were going there, lately. They were off to the Canaries for a bit of winter sun. I had Pho Ga (chicken noodle soup) for breakfast and stayed at home working in the morning. I had the second session of my Race to Recurring Revenue challenge at 1pm and Jamie left at 1.30pm.
The dogs were pleased to see me but, as they had been given haircuts recently, they were feeling the cold. Norman was shivering so I got both dogs an old towel and they cuddled up close to me for warmth. I banged the AC on as I was not taking any chances on Norman getting sick. I could tell the dogs had already started their list of complaints and they had only been with me for a few hours. I had a late lunch/early dinner of leek and potato soup followed by a pasta dish and some fresh fruit. I attended the second session of the Mindset training with Renée at 7pm. I joined a live Facebook session with Lisa Johnson at 10.30pm where she was checking how we were all getting on with day 2 of the challenge. As the temperature dropped, the evening was pretty cold and it took me a long time to get to sleep.

Gratitude List
1. Being able to warm up little Norman who was shivering
2. Being able to benefit from the 3 free sessions attached to the Race to Recurring Revenue today and get some Resort Experts work done
3. Norman and Edna – they are so cute.

Dalyan – 15th & 16th February

I decided I didn’t really need anything from the market that was important enough to brave the cold on Saturday 15th February. I’d had a bit of a lay in because I didn’t want to get out of bed on what looked to be a cloudy and grey day. I also had 3 ongoing holiday enquiries that I wanted to get sorted too. I had my tea and toast in the office with the AC on warm before getting on with things. At lunch time I had leftover veggie curry and rice with sweet corn. After completing a couple of bookings, one of which I was particularly pleased about as it was a second booking for a good friend, I decided to make some brownies. I used chocolate spread to make them but I got distracted by someone asking me about Sapa in Vietnam, and they were overdone. I spoke to Captain Caveman who was already making plans for his first pay day. It was midnight by the time I got to bed, having had red wine and brownies for dinner because I forgot what time it was. I set the alarm as I had promised to meet friends for a trip to Çandır tomorrow.

Gratitude List
1. A lay in
2. Being able to help a friend get another good deal on a hotel booking
3. Chatting to Captain Caveman about money.

I was awake before the sun on Sunday 16th February and was looking forward to meeting up with some friends for a little trip over the river to Çandır. As I walked through Dalyan to the Migros Supermarket nearest the Portakal ferry, the town looked like lots of work was being done during the winter months, in readiness for the holiday season.

The ferry cost was 15 lira (34p) each way and we had a lovely walk with the sun shining. Johnny the dog joined us and one of the walkers brought a flask of tea. At the end of a beautiful morning we stopped off at the Kaunos tea gardens to meet a couple of other friends, who hadn’t been able to join the walking part of our morning. I had a chicken sandwich and 2 large teas for 155 lira (£3.52) – a bargain even in Frugal February. I got a lift back to mine as Janet had kindly given me some clothes as I’d been complaining all my clothes were now massive on me. I’d gone from a size 16/18 down to a 12 and it showed now – I didn’t even have a belt small enough to keep my baggy jeans up.

When I got home I did a bit of work before a family video call and a call with Captain Caveman – separately. It was funny that Captain Caveman had been living in Sheffield now for over a month but he hadn’t had chance to see my family yet as they had not been available for a visit. Luckily, he was keeping busy and today he had collected a suitcase from Vanessa then had driven to a village near Hull to pick up his Irata log book, ready for his course tomorrow. He had eaten fish and chips with bread & butter and a cup of tea at the seaside for £16.50! I had leek & potato soup followed by several brownie/biscuits for dinner and wished it was fish and chips.

Gratitude List
1. A trip out with friends
2. Lunch at the tea gardens
3. Chatting to family and Captain Caveman.

Photo Credit – some photos by Debbie

Dalyan – 12th February

Unusually, on Wednesday 12th February, building work next door started at 9am and it looked like they were building a roof, despite markings showing a second floor plan. Even a couple of pigeons were observing as it meant they would have to adjust their flight path. I did my weight and measurements to find I had put 0.35kg (0.8lb) on and hoped Carol’s scales would be kinder. My bust and hips had remained the same but I was pleased to see that my waist had lost 2cm and was now under target.
My credit card was almost at its limit so I transferred enough to pay off half of it now and would get the rest paid off before it was due. I was determined to maintain the debt free status I had and without having to borrow any money. This month I aimed to be back on some semblance of normality due to me having been super stingy in January. I was almost halfway through February and I was nowhere near half of my budget so I was pleased with my progress. It was as if the strict habits of January were still there, I was being quite sensible and thinking about every lira I spent. I did have my residency renewal coming up soon, though, and didn’t yet know how much that would cost me! Debbie popped round to take half a cabbage off my hands as I was never going to get down all of it before it went off.
After Yorkshire tea with marmalade on toast for breakfast, I finished off my Turkish homework and then walked to the lesson in very cold, but sunny weather. We were at Ela’s Kitchen so I ordered a Yorkshire tea for 80 lira (£1.82).
I couldn’t hang about after the class as I was on dog duty again at Jamie’s, just for 2 days while him and his guests had a couple of days in Fethiye. When I arrived, the electric gate wouldn’t open. I had a big bag, needed a pee and tried it a couple of times before bothering Jamie. He said I would have to climb the wall – I was not going to do that! I tried one more time just as I was about to go back to mine for the loo, it worked.
Norman and Edna were glad to see me and we all had a much needed toilet break then a walk.

For lunch I had Slimming World style chicken fajita pasta with cheese and then checked my emails. My Amazon printable book had gone live, again earlier than expected, and my Mom had ordered the first paperback copy. Unfortunately, I noticed that the age range it was advertised for said 16-18 year old and I had no idea why, as I had not selected that. There was also another couple of errors that I noticed that I didn’t know how to rectify – at least it meant I wasn’t a robot and that my own blood, sweat and (mainly) tears had gone in to publishing this myself. I was a bit nervous, especially as my Mom was not really my ideal target market but I did know she had a keen critical eye and would give me the feedback I needed before I got it out there, or even contemplated getting in touch with WH Smith.
Fat Club was at 3pm and I treated myself to a small water for 25 lira (57p) as I had already had too much caffeine today. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Carol’s scales were showing I had lost 0.25kg (0.6lb) and I was under my target weight. Back at Jamie’s, I had to finish the Charlie Day Challenge I had been working on. It had taught me some valuable lessons, which I could apply to my Travel Advisor role and my book sales.
I took the dogs out for a walk, bought some bread at the bakery for 15 lira (34p) and chilled out with Norman and Edna. I had chicken and vegetable stir fry for dinner and, as it was Fat Club day, I had a few crisps and a Dido chocolate bar as a treat.

Gratitude List
1. Being able to share a cabbage
2. Losing weight to remain under target
3. Norman & Edna.

Dalyan – 3rd & 4th February

Jamie was due back at about midnight on Monday 3rd February and the dogs were looking forward to his return. I had my breakfast ‘cake’ with a cup of Yorkshire tea then got organised for my last day with Norman and Edna. I cracked on with some work before going to meet a friend who I’d not seen in ages. We met at the tea gardens for a cup of tea and a quick chat. I felt bad as my friend was up for going on outings but my schedule was not yet flexible enough that I wanted to be away from my laptop. My priority right now was building up my Resort Experts customer base and getting the handy travel tips book out there for people to buy. Luckily, she understood and I said, once I was in a better situation, I would let her know. I did mention her joining us for Sunday walks but she was busy then. Later, I walked the dogs and had soup for lunch. By which time, Captain Caveman was already on the train from South Yorkshire to Scotland for his first day in his new job. He would be near Glasgow for 2-3 days and had been put up in a hotel. I worked all afternoon and then took the dogs out again. I made a Slimming World veggie wrap pizza for dinner and had snuggles with the dogs until it was their bed time. I had a bit of an issue with my English phone number, in that it’s with GiffGaff and it doesn’t always get signal in Turkey – they advised me to reply to their text to keep my account but then it wouldn’t send! It was very frustrating so I put it on my To Do list to try to find another way to keep my number and change providers.
I spoke to Captain Caveman who had survived his first day at work and seemed content, which I was pleased about.

Gratitude List
1. Tea Gardens with a friend
2. Having a great team at Resort Experts
3. Norman and Edna.

I was super busy on Tuesday 4th February as I had work and my book project. I had decided that I needed to get the book published on Amazon KDP and Kobo so I had cracked on and loaded up both. The Kobo one was much easier to do but it then said, as I was in Turkey, that I couldn’t review what I had submitted and it would let me know in 3 working days when it was published. I had no idea about the lay out and if the cover looked ok, as it had auto formatted it, but I had submitted a book for publishing. The Amazon KDP submission was on hold as it was giving me issues. I forgot to have breakfast, had curry and rice for lunch and immersed myself in my To Do List while enjoying being back at my own desk today.
For dinner I just had cheese on toast but it was almost 11pm once I had finished work and I had another video call with Captain Caveman. He had a new work van so he was very happy and he filled me in on what he was up to in Scotland. There was news from Santorini that there were earthquakes and a scientist had said that it could be serious with a risk of a Tsunami so I got Captain Caveman’s advice on how that will affect the surrounding areas and if it would impact Turkey. I was meant to have had a video call with Vanessa too but I hadn’t had the time and had to move it to later in the week.

Gratitude List
1. Being back at my own desk
2. The sun coming in through the windows and doors of the apartment and warming up all of the house
3. Knowing Captain Caveman was happy with his new job.

Dalyan – 2nd February

I had an incredible day on Sunday 2nd February; Debbie and I were back to safety in numbers on a Sunday get together . Sezgin had invited Debbie, Mike and I for a trip to the beach. I had some work to do in the afternoon so it was perfect timing that I would go to the beach and be back before 5pm, which is 2pm UK time. I got a lift there with Debbie and Mike, who were still laughing at last Sunday’s debacle, so I was determined not to have another incident this week. We met Sezgin & Nur at Iztuzu Beach café where they introduced us to their son, Zen, for the first time. We all took a walk along the beach, it was beautiful and sunny – warm enough for a paddle too. It felt so nice to have the sand and sea between my toes and the breeze in my face.

We took a few photos, all chatted about a variety of subjects and I learned there was an alternative book publishing company to Amazon. Zen told me all about Kobo and how he used that to read books on his phone, without even the need to have a Kindle. All the young people he knew used this but I needed to look into it as I’d never heard of it.
We ate lunch at the beach and here’s the prices, in lira;

1 Water 15.00
1 Lemon Soda 30.00
1 Mixed Toastie 125.00
1 Tuna Salad 150.00
1 Chicken sandwich 150.00
Total spent 470.00 (£10.68)

We left the beach all happy to have made the effort to have a Sunday outing and I had a task for Sezgin back at Fire Opal.

Captain Caveman needed his Irata Log book which was in a cupboard above the stairs so, on the way home from the beach, Sezgin and Zen came to help get it down. Captain Caveman had told me where the key was which was to unlock a ladder, attached with a bicycle lock to the outdoor balcony. I was then to place the ladder half way up the stairs to be able to go up it to get one of the boxes out and pass it down to Sezgin. I didn’t want to try it alone in case I fell or hurt myself doing it, but by the time I had got the ladder unsecured, it was obvious that Sezgin was tall enough to not need it. Sezgin thought it hilarious that Captain Caveman thought he needed to secure a ladder to a balcony railing when we are on the second floor. The 2 men got both boxes down and all was good – no incidents, so I was very grateful. It did mean that I needed to take photos to send the contents of the book to Captain Caveman and then would have to take it to him if/when I went to visit. I was still hoping to go to England in a couple of weeks’ time.
I went back to Jamie’s and took the dogs out for a walk. In the evening I cracked on with work and was really pleased to be able to organise a family holiday for a good friend. For dinner I had a lentil and chickpea curry and then a cuddle on the sofa with the dogs who had been so well behaved today. Edna had not had as many snuggles as usual but she said she wasn’t going to complain if I could guarantee it was a one off. We had a video call with Captain Caveman who was preparing for his first day of work tomorrow. I was so proud of him and wished him luck, I admired how self-sufficient and confident he is and knew he would do well – his new employers were lucky to have him.

Gratitude List
1. An outing to the beach
2. The ladder fiasco which made us all laugh
3 Being able to help my friend with a surprise family holiday.

Photo Credit – some photos by Debbie & Nur

Dalyan – 1st February

On Saturday 1st February I had made plans for breakfast out and a trip to the weekly market. I felt like February was going to be a good month and better than January, however, I still had the stress of making sure I deposited the equivalent of about £760 per month for my residency. So now February was going to be Frugal February and I was taking no risks of not getting my renewal as this time I was allowed to apply for a 2 year one. I set my monthly budget to twice that of January but I hoped to come in under £400 for the 28 days. This would equate to less than 630 lira per day. After a trip to the bank, I went to meet friends at Ela’s Kitchen. There was a new Breakfast Club which I had been really wanting to go to and I decided I would treat myself – it had been so long since I’d eaten any pork products and I still do miss bacon and sausage. The last time I had it was in August so I was definitely up for a Full English Breakfast today, for brunch. When I arrived, I ordered the large set breakfast but without egg or tomatoes. Nicola, the co owner, made sure I got extra bacon to compensate, which is always good of her, and I had Yorkshire tea. It was so lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite knowing it was not likely to be good for my Fat Club results. I paid 560 lira (£12.73) which included the large breakfast, a tea and a tip, which I thought was good value.

At my trip to the market I bought the following;

Stall 1
Red & Green Peppers + Spinach 70 lira (£1.59)

Stall 2
Mushrooms 40 lira (91p)

Stall 3
10 eggs 60 lira (£1.36)

Total spent 170 lira (£3.86)

The market had changed now so that all the stalls were under newly constructed cover. The market looked more organised although it took me a while to find my usual stall holders and I got confused. I also hadn’t took my list with me so I had to guess what was on it.
In the afternoon I did a bit of work, followed up some quotes and then did a dog walk before dinner of curry and rice. I had a late night, finishing some work tasks, as I was taking tomorrow morning off for a trip out.

Gratitude List
1. Having a higher budget (£400 for February)
2. Breakfast Club at Ela’s Kitchen
3. A visit to the weekly market.

Dalyan – 31st January

I was up early on Friday 31st January and I was slightly relieved to see the end of the January sales for holidays. I had tea and toast for breakfast and worked on quotes in the morning. I popped to the bakery in the afternoon for some bread which was still 10 lira (23p) for a loaf but rumour had it, it would increase by 50% tomorrow. For lunch I had some of Captain Caveman’s veggie soup with bread and in the afternoon I was able to concentrate on finding a holiday for a close friend who was looking for a family holiday in the Canaries.
That evening I had a chicken and veg pasta with some wine and watched some rubbish on TV. I also decided to tot up my spending for January as I wanted to check if I could afford to treat myself this weekend. Amazingly, I had managed to survive January on just £104! I was so proud that I had spent just over half of my £200 budget that I almost cried. I had paid the bills and my credit card off too so I was really happy. Tomorrow, I would meet my friends for breakfast and be able to afford to splash out at the market.
Now that I had proved to myself I could survive on very little, I decided I needed to really build up my savings so that I could afford some of those luxuries that others would call essentials; I still hadn’t been to the hairdressers since the beginning of June and it showed! Next month looked to be easier and I was looking forward to quite a good month.

Gratitude List
1. Being under budget and debt free on the last day of January
2. Getting busier with Resort Experts
3. Looking forward to a busy February.

Link to my Resort Experts Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567498001133&mibextid=ZbWKwL

Dalyan – 29th & 30th January

On Wednesday 29th January I took my measurements to find that I had lost 1 cm off my bust and waist, plus 2cm from my hips – this was good news as I had consumed 269 syns this week (41 more than last week). I was sure I would have put weight on at Fat Club later so was a bit apprehensive. After tea and toast for breakfast, I left the pool man and a workman drilling away and I was off out and about. At Fire Opal, someone had put a hosepipe leading out from inside the pool to empty the water on to the street and it was pouring out towards the river. I called at the bank as it was nearing the end of the month and I needed to get the rest of my money, with the new increase from January, in to my Turkish account. Turkish class wasn’t on today as my teacher, Sioned, was in Egypt with Jamie so I went back to Jamie’s. Nanny Kay popped round for a cup of tea and a chat. I didn’t have time for lunch as I needed to crack on with day 3 of Charlie Day’s Challenge so I stuffed down a Dido chocolate bar. I was about to get ready to leave for Fat Club when I read a really brave and sad post on Facebook from a friend and ex work colleague who had bad news. His cancer had spread aggressively with no signs of slowing down and he said there was no further treatment available. Over the last few months I had followed the posts and hoped he would beat it and, even though I had not seen this guy in years, I was really upset for him and his family. He always writes so well and I found myself crying over his words as tears blurred my reading.
I walked to Fat Club having a bit of perspective that I really needed to get on with life and not be stressing about insignificant worries. At Fat Club I had stayed the same weight, which was a miracle. I went back to Jamie’s, walked the dogs and then made Yorkshire puddings. I ate one but had chicken and veg noodles for dinner and popped the rest in the fridge. I didn’t feel like drinking the wine I had brought over so, instead, I made a list of all the things I wanted to achieve this year and re set my goals and targets. The Team Meeting that evening got moved to tomorrow which freed my night up and I decided to learn a bit more about Amazon KDP, even though it seemed a bit too complicated to me.

Gratitude List
1. Not putting weight on this week
2. Being healthy
3. More free sales training with Charlie Day

On Thursday 30th January I was feeling the pressure I had put on myself during what is ordinarily one of the peak times for UK holiday makers to be booking holidays. I had just 2 days left in the month to sell holidays with departures in the next 6 weeks to be able to hit my ‘self invented’ February money target and it wasn’t looking likely. I had been dealing with a few ongoing enquiries and had sent out lots of quotes but for holidays later in the year rather than for a winter sun holiday in March. It did mean that things were definitely looking more promising for the second half of 2025. This didn’t help me in the short term but I was determined not to quit and knew it was going to take time to build up my customer base. I’d had a couple of people tell me it was pointless as people prefer to book direct these days, and then one proceeded to tell me about a monumental cockup on their last holiday which could have been avoided if they had booked through a Travel Agent, like me. I decided to not let it get me down and keep plodding on, building my customer base and looking at all options I could to earn some money. My budget for January was so small and I knew I couldn’t survive on the same again for next month so I really needed to get on it. Remarkably when I set myself a £200 limit for January, I didn’t actually think I would be able to stick to that but it was a goal and I needed to see how disciplined I could be. I had Pho Ga (chicken noodle soup) for breakfast, despite missing a few ingredients and had a quick pancake for lunch before our team meeting. Today our boss told us about a new company we were going to be working with to be able to provide great group bookings for Stag and Hen parties. This was great news as a few of the mainstream operators and hotels are not always happy to take groups like this. We had a really good meeting and there were the usual issues that we all faced which was good to discuss as a team.
That afternoon I was busy with work and was meant to meet a friend for a cup of tea but had to cancel. I’d had to cancel a lot of stuff like that lately as I needed to focus on me and work. I managed a dog walk but Norman had been unwell after snaffling some cat food when I wasn’t quick enough to stop him. For dinner I had roast chicken with Yorkshire puddings and it was lovely. That evening I joined a Charlie Day free Masterclass which was really great and focused on follow ups and tracking but it meant I was still up at midnight.

Gratitude List
1. Pho for breakfast
2. Pancakes
3. Having good people around me at work.

Dalyan – 27th & 28th January

On Monday 27th January I was looking after Norman and Edna while Jamie and Drew jetted off for some winter sun with friends. Jamie picked me up while it was practically still dark and the dogs were still a bit snoozy when I arrived. After a quick run through any changes to Norman and Edna’s requirements over a cup of tea, they were off. I had another cup of tea and some buttered toast for breakfast and felt a bit woolly headed as I got on with some work. At 12.30pm I joined a free sales mastermind with Charlie Day from The Sales Agency, which was interesting and gave me a few things to think about. Jamie had left me a cottage pie for dinner but I ate half of it for lunch, it was really tasty. The rest I put in the freezer for later in the week and hoped I wouldn’t forget about it. I worked some more and then took the dogs on a walk around Gulpinar.
For dinner I had a chicken dinner followed by a Dido chocolate bar, which I had forgot I had bought for Debbie and Mike yesterday, but had left them in the fridge. Thankfully, today was a relatively tame day compared to yesterday but I really did ache after my ordeal on Shits Creek.

Gratitude List
1. Norman and Edna – they always cheer me up
2. Having a desk and a chair to use
3. Cottage pie from Jamie

I woke up just before 8am on Tuesday 28th January and had tea and toast with cheese spread on for breakfast. I got on with work and found myself looking at some Japan itineraries which I fancied for myself. I did love Japan and would definitely visit again. I made some banana, oat, and peanut butter ‘cake’ for breakfasts/snacks before moving on to group tours in India in the afternoon. I had some of the ‘cake’ for lunch with oranges from a tree at Fire Opal and then got ready for my second day on the Charlie Day Challenge. In the afternoon I got a message from Ben, from Victory Road Villas in Phong Nha, my old boss and friend. One of the ladies from the Dalyan Ladies Night boat trips and the Sunday Walk was touring Vietnam with her husband, by bicycle, and was at Victory Road Villas enjoying a cold drink and some food. They were having an amazing trip, it was great to hear from them and get a couple of photos from Ben with the three of them on. I recommended that they call at Phong Nha Vegan and asked if they would be around there until the weekend to meet up with a couple of my friends who could show them around a bit, but they weren’t in town too long, just enough to rest those legs before cycling further south. I had a break from work to take Norman and Edna on a walk which they loved. Dinner was left over chicken dinner from yesterday and I did a bit more work before bed. It was that time of the month when lots of people were hoping they could book a holiday on pay day and get a good deal for later in the year. It was also hard to tell the difference between genuine customers and people who were bored at work and wanted to waste a bit of time looking for a holiday they only dreamed of going on. I got a message from a complete stranger in the afternoon who was interested in hearing more about me and my new book, after being on the Sales Course this week – that was nice. I spoke to Captain Caveman who was still doing well, he had been in the UK for 4 weeks now and was adjusting better than I would have been.

Gratitude List
1. Free Sales Training with Charlie Day, which was really good
2. An update from friends in Phong Nha
3. Seeing that Captain Caveman was happy in my home town, Sheffield.

Dalyan – 25th January

Saturday 25th January was my last day with Lady C as her owners were arriving back late tonight. I had planned to go to the market but the weather wasn’t looking too good. Luckily, I managed to get Lady C out for a walk with Chico and back in before it started lashing it down. I had the same again for breakfast and I was definitely finding it kept me fuller for a bit longer. I noticed when I opened my diary to check flight time that the internet was due to expire today. Unfortunately, it’s a pain that we can only pay per month, with proof of residency, now so I had to venture out in the rain. For 2025 the prices had, of course, increased so I was prepared to be parting with more cash.
When I got there I was soaking wet, despite the umbrella, and my tariff had gone from 400 lira (£9.09) to 550 lira (£12.50) per month. It was still much cheaper than the UK but a 38% increase here is a lot. My next job was to call at the shops as I was already out in the rain, anyway. Here’s the prices and also what I spent at the supermarket, in lira;

Pharmacy
2 boxes of Cerazette
Total spent 658.36 lira (£14.96)

Migros Supermarket (2pm)
Popcorn 29.95
Milk 31.25
Cheese pizza 99.95
Total spent 161.15 lira (£3.66)

I got ready for Lady C’s owners returning and gave her a brush to make sure she looked smart, then I had pizza and wine for dinner while I waited for their arrival. Lady C was excited to see them and her owners were so glad to be back. The rain was still heavy so I called Fikri, the taxi driver, and little Lady C tried to jump in to the taxi with me – another dog friend happy with my services! It was nearing midnight by the time I got to bed so I was really tired and looking forward to a bit of a lay in tomorrow.

Gratitude List
1. Lady C being off the lead but walking with me and following commands
2. Pizza and wine
3. A happy dog.

Video of the rain in Dalyan

Dalyan – 24th January

There was another breakthrough with Lady C on the morning of Friday 24th January, she actually came to the bin with me and walked the opposite direction to what she would usually want to go. The big cockerel wasn’t there so she wasn’t scared. I decided to attempt to list my book on Amazon again and reset my password but then it sent me a code again to a phone number I didn’t have. I decided I would look in to other options as I wasn’t an Amazon fan anyway. After my new breakfast option, which was just as good cold, I cracked on with work so that I could perhaps finish early. I was pleased for Captain Caveman that he was going to the cinema and London today, and I wished I was joining him. The last time I went to the cinema was probably to see the Barbie film in Fethiye ages ago.
At home, I noticed that the building next door, which had been demolished and rebuilt, had a concrete roof on but no metal reinforcement in. This either meant that they were not replacing the second floor or that the next floor they added would not be earthquake proof. It was apparent from speaking to some locals that the authorities were cracking down on illegal builds and structures that didn’t comply with the rules. For dinner I had made a lentil bolognese in the slow cooker which I had with some of my recently purchased Gamay wine after a nice dog walk.

Gratitude List
1. Lady C coming to the bin with me
2. Finishing work early on a Friday
3. Slow cookers and wine.

Dalyan – 23rd January

On Thursday 23rd January, after the morning dog walk, I decided to try out a new breakfast idea. I put 2 bananas in a bowl and mashed them up, added milk, oats and peanut butter before putting it in to a silicon baking tray and cooking it in the air fryer for about 30 minutes. It was very nice with my cup of tea and I had 2 pieces – the rest would go in the fridge and could be eaten cold. It made 8 pieces at probably a couple of syns each, so would be a filling breakfast. I worked all day and it was getting busier with enquiries as we got towards the January pay day. Lady C wouldn’t go on her bed at first, because it had been outside where the cats sleep so I turned it over and moved it in to the sun – she liked that and had a sunbathe. I had a very late lunch of the bulgur wheat burgers and onion dip from yesterday’s Taster Session party and they reheated well in the air fryer – I saved the recipe for future reference.
Captain Caveman was in Mexborough this morning, meeting his new manager so I was looking forward to talking to him later to find out when he would start the job and how things had gone.
In the afternoon I took a break from work to follow up on some actions from Monday’s networking session. On the second walk of the day, Lady C managed to walk a whole 4 blocks and even continued past her own house and gate to walk for one more block. I was so proud of her for finally learning that. In the evening Captain Caveman called with an update, all had gone well with his Mexborough meeting and he had a start date of 3rd February, his first few days would be in Scotland. I had curry and rice for dinner and continued watching some rubbish on the TV while searching for holidays for potential customers.

Gratitude List
1. A successful new breakfast dish
2. Lady C finally managing to do the walk I had wanted for her 2 weeks ago
3. Captain Caveman’s job updates.

Dalyan – 22nd January

Weigh day and Fat Club comes round so quickly and on Wednesday 22nd January I knew my actions from yesterday were going to have an impact. I didn’t bother getting weighed at home, I decided to leave it to Carol’s scales later and we had something a little different planned for today’s session. One of the ladies had agreed to hold a Taster Session party at her house and we all planned to take a dish and share it, along with some wine. I had tea and toast in the morning and took Lady C on a longer walk so that she would sleep all afternoon. It was remarkably sunny, despite the weather forecast saying it should’ve been bouncing down with rain, so I popped to the shops. Here’s what I bought with prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket
Biscuits 14.90
Jellies 14.95
Tomato puree 17.95
4 bananas 77.96
Peanut butter 79.95
Total spent 205.71 lira (£4.68)

I also worked all morning and up until just before 3pm so that I could take the rest of the day off, but I still had the team meeting tonight to get back for. I roasted some chickpeas in the air fryer and packed up some rice and my rice cooker to take to Debbie’s, who was hosting.

At the Taster Session we all got weighed first and I had, unsurprisingly, put on 0.3kg (0.7lb), meaning that I was just over my target weight now. We had so much syn free or low syn food with wine and we all had such a laugh. It was great to have this support group to keep us all on track or just be there when we fell off the plan, as was so easy to do while living in a holiday town like Dalyan. We had a really nice butternut squash soup from Sarah & Rob, which we all agreed was a firm favourite. The bulgur wheat & sweet potato burgers with an onion dip were fantastic. Debbie had even added some air fryer chips and roasted veggies. One of my favourites from a previous taster session were the cheese pasties which Carol had made and I couldn’t resist having a few of those. I loved Tina’s lentil curry which went well with my steamed rice and some couscous. My two helpings of the dahl went down so well that I forgot to get a photo of it but it always tastes better than it looks anyway. I drank red wine, Debbie also surprised us with a bottle of fizz to cheers the occasion and it was really lovely. But the most surprising dish of the afternoon came from Brigette who had turned fruit and mini meringues in to a masterpiece by stirring some Salted Caramel flavoured Options in to Quark to make the ultimate diet dessert! It was a game changer!
While we were busy enjoying ourselves, there was a storm and it rained heavily but by the time Debbie had packed me up with leftover veggie burgers and dip it had stopped.

Luckily, Lady C was now a master of sploshing and she was very happy to get ankle deep in all the puddles, I sploshed along with her as I had my wellies on!
That evening, I didn’t have or need any dinner and I was busy with our Resort Experts team meeting. The meeting went well but there was definitely something that I related to well. As is the nature of the business we were seeing quite a few time wasters from potential customers who were asking for quotes from multiple sources and then booking direct anyway. This was likely to happen but it was definitely increasing and we even had people asking 2 of the team for different countries but with the same names and dates. We were encouraged to share our business page with family and friends and ask them to like, follow and share, which I had been doing. I was finding I had more commitment from complete strangers and I wasn’t sure why. I was trying not to compare myself to others but I was still struggling to get family and friends to even like or follow my business page. Some of my team members had over 1,000 followers already and I was stuck at less than 250 and most of them were people I didn’t know. I had 1,700 friends on Facebook but not that many were following me. Naively I had thought at least 50% of my Facebook friends would be on board but it turned out to be less than 10%. So, if you are reading this and haven’t already, please can you like and follow my Jo Lo – Resort Experts Facebook page!? I’d be very grateful and I will most certainly have sent you an invite to it that you may have missed or ignored if you had more important things going on at the time. It really does help build up my business if I get more followers and it also allows access to other useful functions once I get over 500 followers. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567498001133

Thanks to all of you that have liked and followed already, or even popped a comment on – I really appreciate it and know I really can help more people find great holidays and accommodation. I’ve seen so many that I want to go to myself but I’m being sensible for now!
I spoke to Captain Caveman before bed and he had a meeting tomorrow with his new manager so I didn’t bother him with my ‘first world’ problems. He was doing well and had plans to go to the cinema in Sheffield this weekend and then was off back down to London for a few days to see his parents.

Gratitude List
1. The Fat Club Taster Session party
2. Having the support of the Fat Club ladies to keep me going
3. Speaking to Captain Caveman who was adapting to England very well.

Dalyan & Göcek – 21st January

Debbie and Mike had invited me to join them for a trip out on Tuesday 21st January. The plan was to drive over to Göcek to the wine shop so that we could all take advantage of the reasonably priced wine before it went up in price. I had just 1 slice of wholemeal toast with cheese spread and a cup of tea for breakfast before walking Lady C. The drive to Göcek was smooth and we were in the Levissi Wine House by 11.30am. I was impressed that I had remembered where it was as Debbie had parked on a main road where I hadn’t got my bearings. The lady at the shop recognised me and we chatted about coming all the way from Dalyan for the lovely wine. She said that we could still buy the stock she had left at the same price but it would be going up and stocks were running low. The stocks of Merlot had depleted quite fast but there were still stocks of the Makri brand as well as the Levissi Cabernet Sauvignon, the Gamay (a favourite of ours) and the Petit Verdot. There was still lots of rosé and white but the 3 of us only wanted to get red this time. I decided on 12 bottles of the Gamay which, at still only 150 lira (£3.41), was a great spend of 1,800 lira (£41) for a case of 12. I’m sure that a couple of nights out on the town drinking wine in the Dalyan bars would come to that so I was pleased. I was well versed with borrowing the trolley from nearby Carrefour supermarket, as instructed previously on our first visit with Ian and Janet. I was still very grateful for their recommendation of Levissi Wine House as it meant that we had saved a lot of money on our wine purchases in the last few months. Steering the trolley was funny and, while Debbie went to bring the car nearer, Mike and I tried our best to not injure anyone, or ourselves, with a wayward trolley.
As we were so quick stocking up on the wine, we decided to have a little wander in Göcek and we even did the tourist thing of standing on a bridge and getting photos for the Instagram. A couple of young ladies were there doing it and so we just had to join in! Göcek has a lovely port and the sun was shining so after a stroll we returned to a fancy café/restaurant on the harbour front for a beverage. West Café & Bistro was a popular place and the staff were very efficient when us ‘oldies’ didn’t want to use the QR code menus and brought actual ones for us. We weren’t eating but I did take a photo of the menu and noticed a soup was 210 lira (£4.77), pizzas started at 330 lira (£7.50) and a chicken kebab main was 570 lira (£12.95). The place was spotlessly clean and had good toilets so I thought the prices reflected the quality of the place. Debbie and Mike shared a cafetière of coffee and I really enjoyed my large Turkish tea. The tea was 75 lira (£1.70) which is very expensive for Turkish prices, however, it did come very well presented and with a biscuit. We all commented how lovely it was to sit there and enjoy our drinks in the sunshine on such a glorious day. I also thought it would be a great place to come with friends and family when they are over to visit. What we didn’t notice until we were leaving was that they had a cake counter so next time that might be one to try for a treat.

We decided, as we were on a budget, that we would stick to our plan and eat lunch at Dalaman prison café on the way back. As it was my weigh day tomorrow I was planning on eating healthily but ended up throwing caution to the wind by ordering the köfte which came with bread, chips and onion rings. It was absolutely delicious and our total bill for the 3 of us, with drinks too, came to just 730 lira (£16.60). Less than £6 each for a substantial lunch was more my kind of eatery and the service at the prison is also excellent.
As we left the café, it started to rain so it looked like we had timed our jaunt well, and I’m so glad I had decided to go. When we got back to Dalyan, I got the wine in to the cupboards so that I wouldn’t be tempted to drink any tonight, my 4th consecutive alcohol free evening. Lady C and I went out for a walk early as the heavy rain was coming and Chico had been waiting patiently to join us. We also bumped in to a friend who lives round the corner and said hello to her 2 dogs and then another stray joined us on the rest of the walk. There was sploshing aplenty for Lady C and she was soaked when we got back home. She slept while I cracked on with some work and then we had a bit of fun doing the biscuit trick again. We watched repeats of ‘Celebrity Coach Trip’ on TV, the one with Paul Danan on, from ages ago. By bed time I was very tired and really looking forward to a good sleep.

Gratitude List
1. Having some time off to go to Göcek
2. Enjoying a prison lunch
3. Lady C being really well behaved and meeting other dogs.

Photo credit – the photos of me in Göcek taken by Debbie

Dalyan – 20th January

I was up extra early on Monday 20th January so that I could get organised as today was a busy day. My Mom needed some help which involved popping to the bank so I had moved my work schedule around to accommodate her as it was urgent. I usually avoid banks on a Monday morning as they are busy and always a queue but we didn’t think there was a choice at that point. I had my tea and toast then took Lady C out for a walk. I scheduled posts to go live while I was away from my laptop and then walked to the bank. It was very busy and it turned out a lot of the expats were there for the same reason. A text had been sent out to a lot of bank account holders to say that they must come to the bank with their ID before the 1st February and it had then caused a bit of a concern. Some account holders were, obviously, out of the country and not due to return until later in the year so had been allowed to send an email of their passports over. The woman bank teller who I saw said this was not possible, I tried to give her my parents’ ID which I had on my phone but she insisted she would need their signature too and it would be fine to wait until after their return. It just meant that after February they wouldn’t be able to make any transfers from their Turkish bank accounts. It had been a complete waste of time and they could have put that on the message to save themselves all that bother but at least my parents needn’t be concerned. For some reason, I had changed my passport and renewed my residency recently but they didn’t want my ID! This obviously then lead to people posting about it on various Facebook groups with misinformation going around.
I rushed back to let out Lady C and had to eat my lunch of soup and a cheese sandwich while on a Networking video call with Enfys Malone. It was a very interesting experience and it was enlightening to see how many people were purely there to offload all their issues! There were some really interesting people on the call though and it was the first time I had been able to speak to like-minded business people and also other authors, which was great. I shared the title of my book and it was well received – it got a few laughs even.
For the rest of the afternoon I was playing catch up and had a few enquiries for holidays in Egypt and The Canaries.
For dinner I had curry with egg rice and even got to speak to Captain Caveman who was keeping busy and had secured a deal on a place to rent for the next 3 months in Sheffield, where he would be based. It felt like he had been away for longer than just 3 weeks but he was looking forward to starting his new job in 2 weeks’ time. He needed me to find his log book out of storage which we thought was in the over stairs cupboard. I would get some help to reach it with the ladder and take it with me when I visited the UK next month. The flights were really cheap if I could squeeze it in. I worked really late that night as I needed to get quotes out and I had already made a decision to take quite a few hours off tomorrow for an exciting trip out of Dalyan!

Gratitude List
1. Sorting Ma & Pa out with the bank thing, so they didn’t have to worry
2. Speaking to Captain Caveman who seemed to be doing well
3. Joining my first online networking event.