Antalya & Dalyan – 14th October

I left Jamie praying to the porcelain Gods in our bathroom at the Kremlin Palace at just after 8.30am on Tuesday 14th October – a sentence I never would’ve thought I’d write!
I was the first out of us all for breakfast and decided to try the hot sausages, mushrooms, beans and chips. They were of European style and quite tasty but the croissants were good and the tea strong. Compared to the Selectum Luxury Resort hotel, the Kremlin Palace was much more of a free for all dining experience. Jamie and Amanda didn’t make it to breakfast so we arranged to meet up after packing. When I got back to the room, Jamie had packed but was in and out of the bathroom being unwell and I hoped it didn’t mean we had to stay another night! The Anex Fam trip and extra night had almost broken me and my broken foot! Today was my parents’ wedding anniversary and I needed to be back in Dalyan as I’d been invited to help them celebrate with a meal out that I didn’t want to miss.
After speaking to Jamie, we decided to say our goodbyes and leave. We made plans to meet in the UK and even have a reunion in Dalyan in 2026. By 11am we were on the road back to Dalyan, only stopping for a pee and some mints at a very nice petrol station.
Jamie dropped me off at home around 4pm and helped me carry everything as I still struggled with the stairs. I unpacked, put some washing on, and got ready to meet my parents as we had a lift booked for 6.30pm.

My parents were early but I was ready for our evening meal out. Ma had booked us in to Yalıcapkını (Kingfisher) Restaurant and she had arranged for the boat to pick us up at 6.30pm. We were about 15 minutes early so when we got on the boat, we decided to all have a wine. It wasn’t great and Mom’s glass of white was off and had to be replaced. It also wasn’t cheap at 300 lira (£5.56) for a glass – and we decided we wouldn’t bother with one on the way back. The boat trip was just for the 3 of us and we sailed over to the Kaunos Tombs for sunset. It was really beautiful and it took us less than half an hour to arrive at the restaurant’s jetty. I struggled to get off but was helped and it was still light as we walked through the gardens. One of the big differences I noticed from being in Antalya was that I’d not had to worry for the last 5 days about uneven floor surfaces, unless I had ventured on to the beach. Here in Dalyan, it’s a struggle to find an even floor surface anywhere.

Once inside, our waiter showed us to a nice table and brought the menus. I’d heard mixed reviews from recent visitors so my expectations weren’t too high. A friend had told me that her and her husband wouldn’t go again after a terrible meal, whereas Jamie had enjoyed his steak there recently. For starters, I ordered a burrata salad, Dad chose a beetroot and cheese dish while Mom had the crab. Harris, our waiter, even broke the crab up for Mom which was good. The bottles of wine were fairly pricey but we decided on a bottle of red. It was much more superior to the wine we’d had on the boat and we did wonder if we should suggest they supply the captain with decent wine in future. For mains, we all played it safe and I ordered the steak which Jamie had recommended while my parents both had a pepper steak. In our opinion the food was excellent and we all really enjoyed it.
As my parents paid for the meal I thought it rude to make a list of the prices at the dinner table. However, for blog purposes, we did discuss the total for complimentary bread and dips, 3 starters, 3 mains, and a bottle of decent red wine. I thought it still good value at 6,760 lira (£124), so about £41 each – a treat for Dalyan but cheap compared to the UK where we might have ordinarily enjoyed a fancy meal out. I was very impressed and I would definitely eat there again.
The walk back to the boat was more precarious, especially as we now had been given bags of fruit to take home. We each had a mixture of oranges, satsumas and pomegranates which I thought was rather kind. With hindsight, a taxi back may have been a better idea for the less mobile of us but we managed it and the staff were super helpful and had torches. We took 2 other diners back with us who were unaccustomed to the route so it was like a mini adventure on the way home.
As my parents had so generously paid for the evening and I had only paid for the tip, we rounded off the evening at mine for some more drinks. It had been a lovely night and I was so glad to be back home. The only thing I wasn’t looking forward to, was tomorrow’s weigh in at Fat Club!

Gratitude List
1. Getting back to Dalyan after a wonderful Anex Fam trip
2. Having a lovely anniversary meal with my parents
3. Surviving the boat ride to the restaurant and back, without incident.

Dalyan to Cappadocia – 31st August

I went downstairs in the early hours of Sunday 31st August to find Captain Caveman fully dressed and asleep on the sofa. I had barely slept upstairs while full of cold and my alarm went off at 2am. Sonuç was insistent on taking us to the airport early, as he thought there may be queues even for the domestic flights. He arrived at just after 2.30am, the fare was £30 and we were at the airport before 3.15am. Captain Caveman was a bit mardy when we only took 5 minutes, maximum, to get through to the gate and, of course, it was too early for us to know which gate for our flight at 5.10am. Captain Caveman had booked us on a cheap flight to Ankara for less than £25 each and we would arrive at 6.25am. We landed a bit early and made our way to the Havaş shuttle bus which took us from Ankara airport to the main bus station. I forgot the price as we paid cash but it was cheap. Captain Caveman had booked us a Flixbus from Ankara bus station at 9am to take us to Göreme in Cappadocia which was less than £15 each and took about 4 hours. The bus station at Ankara is huge and we sat and ate our Ela’s Kitchen sandwiches there. There were toilets which had squat and western ones but you did have to pay to use them. I bought a water, a coke and some travel sweets in the bus station for 100 lira (£1.85).

The Flixbus was good, it had a toilet on but we also stopped for a loo break. We arrived in Göreme, Cappadocia, a little early after a couple of tours round the bus station. There was a bit of a walk up the hills to our cave hotel and it was hot and sunny. This was Captain Caveman’s first time in Cappadocia and he already looked impressed as he sped off up the hills. I had to shout him to wait to take my heavy bag at one point. We were early for check-in by an hour at Mithra Cave hotel, but the room was ready. Our room had a round bed and was inside a cave suite, I thought we had booked a room with a view and that the hotel had a pool but their Website was a little misleading and neither were available.

After unpacking and drinking all the water in the minibar we went off to find a tour company to book our Red & Green tours with. Originally, I’d asked a lovely guide called Ozzy but he was booked up already. It cost us €220 (£191) for each of those for both of us with Cappadocia Visitor. We also got a free bag from the guy in the office, which I was happy about. We went in to an off licence where we didn’t find any screw top wine so we just bought a big water for 25 lira (46p) and a big bag of crisps for 75 lira (£1.39), before making our way back to the hotel.

It was so good to be in Cappadocia with Captain Caveman. We had a stop off at a cafe for soft drinks, here’s the prices in lira;

1 small water 80
1 Lemonade 120
1 Double Espresso 170
Total spent 370 lira (£6.85)

It was definitely more expensive than being in Dalyan and I drew out more cash at the ATM. I had to check the budget later but I had a feeling August had been an expensive month. Captain Caveman and I were still on holiday in Turkey for another week too, so September was also likely to be extravagant in the first half.
We walked back up to the Mithra Cave Hotel and had a rest in our cave suite before I attempted a bath. It leaked and the water went everywhere so I didn’t try the jacuzzi part. The toiletries were also screwed to the wall and not near the bath.

For sunset we walked around the hotel then sat on the hotel terrace with a glass of wine each and took the obligatory Cappadocia skyline photos. I went to pay the bill and was quite surprised to find it was 880 lira (£16.30) for 2 glasses of red – luckily we just had the one!

Captain Caveman had chosen a rooftop eatery for dinner, close to the hotel. At Zukra we had a glass of wine each, a bottle of soda water and 2 tubs of very tasty mantı (Turkish ravioli) for 1,800 lira (£33.33). Not the cheapest meal but we enjoyed it, despite the paper container and wooden fork to eat it with. The staff were lovely and they also had a beautiful dog which we petted.
I was begging for mercy by 10.30pm having still got cold and being dosed up on Theraflu. I checked the budget spreadsheet and found that despite a £1000 budget for August, we had gone over that. I’d put in £844 and Captain Caveman had contributed £900 but we still had £310 left to go in to next month. I was happy to have spent less than £1500, given that I had been in the UK for 11 days and Captain Caveman had been in Turkey for 9 days already – we spend more when we are together. I was tired so it was an early night, ready for our full day tour tomorrow.

Gratitude List
1. An easy (& cheap) journey from Dalaman to Göreme, Cappadocia
2. A holiday in Cappadocia, staying in a cave hotel with a round bed
3. Being able to afford a short trip to Cappadocia!

Photo Credit – some photos by Captain Caveman

Dalyan & Köyceğiz – 25th August

While friends in the UK had a bank holiday on Monday 25th August, Captain Caveman and I were off on another adventure from Dalyan. I’d arranged to join a friend’s boat trips to the Köyceğiz market and then I had booked a night in the Kaunos Hotel.
It did mean we had almost a full day on Adıl boat with Captain Fuat and all the lovely guests. We were meant to set off at 9.30am so I was on at Captain Caveman to be on time, he seemed to have increased the amount of times he leaves thing to the very last minute. This means he can rush there but then it always looks like I’m the late one as I can’t keep up. He wasn’t ready, so I decided to take the bin out and said I would wait for him by the bins. It was hot, I waited ages, he never arrived. I called him but he didn’t answer his phone. I walked back to the apartment and he wasn’t there so I decided to walk to the boat – he was already on it, sat playing Bridge on his phone and we had our first fall out!
Captain Caveman was annoyed that I lost my temper at being stood by the bins in the hot sun while he had gone to the boat a different way, not even passing the bin! He then retaliated by going quiet and going on his phone rather than speaking to anyone. We set off late so Captain Caveman was annoyed at me nagging him to not be late so the trip didn’t get off to a good start. I soon forgot about it when Captain Fuat got out the cake for breakfast. We sailed to Prison Island where some had a swim around it but I was conserving my energy for a swim in the hotel pool later; so we just had a shorter swim.
The lunch was a feast of many delicious dishes and Captain Caveman and I had a beverage or two! When we got to Köyceğiz, we paid our 2000 lira (£37) bar bill, in addition to the £30 each for the boat trip and said farewell. Our friends on the boat had an hour in Köyceğiz while we were going to check in to the hotel and return tomorrow.

Captain Caveman and I checked in to the Kaunos hotel, which was right on the Köyceğiz lake path and had a gorgeous pool. Debbie at Fat Club had been before and had recommended it. I’d chosen the most expensive room type to ensure we had a lake view with a balcony to sit on for sunset and sunrise. My plan was to go to the market and off licence to stock up on cheese, olives, fruit and wine so we could enjoy a romantic evening after our swim in the fabulous pool. Of course, that didn’t quite go according to plan.
I knew Captain Caveman wasn’t feeling 100% but thought it was because he’d been necking beer in the sun and was dehydrated. He wasn’t his usual speedy self as we walked to the market and he didn’t even taste all of the cheeses and olives (it’s not like him to turn down free nibbles). At the market, here’s what we bought with prices in lira;

Market
Cheese 500
Olives 80
Tomatoes & figs 50
Grapes 25
Total spent 655 lira (£12.13)

Bakery
2 Açma 40 lira (74p)

In the Carrefour supermarket Captain Caveman wasn’t in a rush to get out and was browsing slowly for snacks, while I got the last 2 bottles of Prosecco. When Captain Caveman put orange juice in the basket I assumed it was to have bucks fizz the next morning. We spent 940 lira (£17.41) on snacks and fizz which was rather extravagant for me.

We got back to the hotel around 5.15pm and went to get our swimmers on. Again, Captain Caveman wasn’t as speedy as usual and by the time we got down to the pool it was almost 6pm. Unfortunately, the pool was closed for cleaning so we were unable to use it and I was so disappointed – it was the main reason for choosing this hotel. I couldn’t believe it was almost the end of August and I’d still to swim in a swimming pool! The pool man could see my frustration and came over to show me the signs and explain that the hotel pool is always closed from 5.45pm until 10.15am for chemical treatment.
In just my swimwear I went off to the reception to check what time we had to check out. I was flabbergasted to find we had to be out by 10am, 15 minutes before the pool opened! I said to Captain Caveman that we would check out tomorrow but then come to the pool until midday and he agreed. I also insisted we sit on a lounger by the pool for half an hour now, just to get some photos of the pool and hotel grounds.

Back in the room we opened the Prosecco and I got some of the nibbles out. Captain Caveman had to be coaxed out on to the balcony and we had orange juice in our fizz. Captain Caveman was not bothered about sitting out as ‘he’d seen a sunset before’! He had also started blowing his nose and sneezing a lot and remained laying on the bed for the rest of the night, on his phone.
I sat out on the balcony drinking Prosecco, eating cheese and olives and admiring the romantic view, by myself. It wasn’t quite the day off I’d imagined for the money we had spent!

Gratitude List
1. A lovely boat trip on Adıl boat
2. A hotel stay in Köyceğiz with lovely views
3. Prosecco.

Photo credit – some photos by Captain Caveman

Dalyan – 16th August

I had another busy day on Saturday 16th August and I had planned time in my diary to write more of my next handy travel tips book. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to do that as I was busy with doing Resort Experts quotes. I also spent some time researching the train routes and times in Turkey. At 1pm I met a friend who Jamie had introduced me to for ideas and help with planning a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in 2026.
I met another friend at Kaunos tea gardens at 4pm for a cup of tea and a catch up before our evening event. Here’s what we had and the prices in lira;

2 small waters 30.00
4 Turkish teas 80.00
Total spent 110.00 lira (£2.02)

Some Dalyan Dwellers complain about the prices in the tea gardens but you can still get a cheap tea and I think it’s the cheapest water in town.
One of my friends had arranged a moonlight boat trip from 6pm so I paid just £30 to go on an amazing boat trip. It was with Captain Fuat who makes the best courgette fritters and the Adıl boat is big and comfy. This time we had a mixed male and female group rather than keeping it to a ladies only night, some people came from Dalaman. It was a really lovely trip.

We ate, we drank and we swam quite a bit. The wine was 180 lira (£3.30) per glass and I stuck to my limit of 3. My plan to keep on the healthy Slimming World plan had already been thwarted by the delicious cake to start the evening. Towards the end of the night, out on the lake, we lay on the comfy cushions on the top deck and gazed at the star filled sky. It was just 4 days after the peak of the Perseid Meteor shower and we were very lucky to see 7 shooting stars.
We had a wonderful, relaxing time and we discussed future boat trip plans that I might be able to attend too.
It was gone midnight when I got home, feeling very relaxed and ready for a busy day of work tomorrow.

Gratitude List
1. Getting more holiday enquiries
2. The moonlight boat trip
3. Seeing 7 shooting stars in one night.

Sevenoaks & Pett – 23rd July

In the morning of Wednesday 23rd July I didn’t get weighed despite it being weigh day, my 2nd one since being in the UK. I did take my measurements though and was surprised they weren’t worse;
Bust -1cm and under target, Waist -2cm and on target, Hips -1cm and also on target!
Claire and I worked from her home, with me doing some enquiries which included the Con Dao Islands and Gia Lai, both in Vietnam. I also saw an interesting Facebook post on ways to stay organised. My 3rd session with Ade on Substack was at 10am and also clashed with day 3 of Matt Hall’s Audience Growth training. I played catch up on that session but it’s not the same as doing it live. I did more work on my travel planner which involved key words and categories for marketing purposes. I had another zoom call about book publishing at 3pm and that went really well.
By 5.30pm Claire, her daughter, Mark and I were in the car on our way to the seaside. Mark had something to attend to at their holiday cottage in Pett and Claire thought it would be a great opportunity for us to join him. The initial plan was for us to have fish and chips there too but when we arrived in Pett (not too far from Hastings), the fish and chip shop was closed on Wednesdays. What a shame, so we went for Plan B and went to Peking Takeaway for a Chinese takeaway instead. We must’ve been hungry as we ended up getting £50 worth of food for the 4 of us, including half a crispy duck with pancakes. The holiday cottage was lovely and it was great to be there, the Chinese food was fantastic and must have been my first in such a long time. There was loads left so we bagged it up to take back with us.

After stuffing our faces and Mark doing all his jobs, we drove to the beach. It was still light at 8.45pm and the beach had a glow about it. We had a laugh trying to copy Mark skimming stones in to the sea and I got a few photos of us on Pett beach. The drive back felt long as we were all a bit tired and there were road closures but it had been totally worth the trip out. Tomorrow would be my last full day and night with Claire and her family as I was heading up to Sheffield next – the time had gone so fast!

Gratitude List
1. My measurements still being good after 12 days in the UK
2. Chinese food for dinner
3. A fantastic impromptu visit to Pett.

Dalyan – 24th & 25th June

Tuesday 24th June was day 3 of not leaving the house or spending any money. It felt strangely therapeutic. I saw an ex Turkish Class member and Facebook friend had posted on Facebook needing someone in London. She needed passports picking up which were going to cost £400 to have couriered so I messaged to say I could help if she could wait until I went there in a couple of weeks time. I also looked at flights to come back in time for Nanny Kay’s 80th birthday celebrations and they were now getting a bit pricier. I ate beans on toast for breakfast around 11.30am after sorting out my social media posts for the day and dealing with a couple of enquiries.
I’d ate cauliflower and cashew nut soup for lunch with wholemeal bread and then got back on with all my tasks. I stopped at 6pm to warm up some sausage casserole, not realising I didn’t have any potatoes in the house. By 8.30pm I was in bed with a facemask on and feeling really tired. I did a Facebook quiz to find out which country suited me to live in and wasn’t surprised to find it was Japan. I reposted the quiz so that others could have a go but it seemed a few people couldn’t get it to work. It was a shame as I wondered if any of the Dalyan Dwellers would have got somewhere other than Turkey as their answer. Tomorrow it would be weigh day and time to face Carol’s scales after indulging too much while Captain Caveman was here.

Gratitude List
1. Lovely home made food
2. Another zero spend, and zero alcohol day
3. Getting stuff done.

Of course the scales weren’t going to show a loss on Wednesday 25th June, after all the eating and drinking I’d done while Captain Caveman was here. It wasn’t surprising that my home scales said I had put on 0.5kg (1.1lb) this week. My measurements, though, showed no changes at all, which was good. While working in the morning I tried to help a friend out by sharing her post about a raffle to raise money for a local charity and unfortunately I didn’t really look at it too closely. I later noticed I was posting something that is illegal in Turkey, promoting alcohol, so I had to mess about taking it down but join the local charity page to share a version of it. I didn’t have time to eat lunch and headed to Fat Club via the bank a bit late. To my surprise, I was only showing a gain of 0.2kg (0.4lb) on Carol’s scales but I think I had been lucky really. I was now a whopping 2.7kg (6lb) over target and I only had 2 more Fat Club weigh-ins before I went back to the UK.
After Fat Club I popped to buy 2 more AC remotes but they hadn’t got them in yet and said to come back on Tuesday. I called at the shop and bought the following, prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket
1 plastic bag 0.50
Haribo jellies 22.45
Cheese spread 29.90
Biscuits 31.95
Bin bags 44.95
Batteries 74.95
Mushrooms 79.95
Toilet roll 108.95
Wholemeal wraps 110.00
4 Quark 116.00
Mouthwash 124.95
Total spent 744.55 lira (£14.05)

I went back home and did a couple of work related tasks before doing a few reviews on Facebook for places Captain Caveman and I had enjoyed on his visit. It followed with comments of people complaining about the price of things, yet again, on and off-topic point! Dalyan really is not that expensive in comparison to lots of other places and it got on my nerves that I was only trying to put nice reviews on not argue with people on the internet! I’m all for saving money, obviously, but arguing about the prices on a nice review is, in my opinion, not good form.
I noticed that the Dalyan Şarküteri had some offers on until the end of the month so I popped out around sunset to grab some imported products. I bought the following, prices in lira;

Dalyan Şarküteri
1 tin Heinz baked beans 65.00
1 tin Coconut milk 75.00
250g Lurpak butter 220.00
Total spent 360 lira (£6.79)

I spoke to Captain Caveman who was very busy working hard in London so didn’t have time to ask how I was, but I’d got used to that now. I lit my citronella candle put loads of Maizie Moo repellent on and treated myself to a White Russian (the cocktail) on the balcony. A couple of jays came to visit and I didn’t end up eating dinner of sausage casserole with potatoes and white cabbage until 10.30pm. Tomorrow I had another busy day as I had agreed to view a house for sale for a friend.

Gratitude List
1. Weigh day being better than expected
2. Being able to afford some shopping
3. White Russians on the balcony.

Dalyan – 13th June

At 1am on Friday 13th June, I got a message from Jamie to say that he wanted to tell me in person, but couldn’t speak right now because he was absolutely heartbroken.
Edna, his youngest dog, had passed away!
I called Jamie straight back, both of us trying to stop the tears, and he let me know what had happened; he had been at the vets with her when he rang me but the signal had been rubbish. He’d had to drive to the Köyceğiz vet as the local one was closed, they had given Edna medicine for her existing heart murmur but, unfortunately, she died in his arms shortly afterwards. Luckily It had been quick, very sudden in fact, but pain free – I was also in bits. Captain Caveman came back down from bed to console me, he was also upset. I messaged Drew, who had flown back to the UK that morning, and of course he was heartbroken too. Edna was such a great dog and we all loved her, in fact I know a lot of people who read my blog will be upset too. We went to bed, knowing that we would all miss Edna, a lot, but with the comfort that she would now be reunited with Graeme, her Big Daddy.

After not much sleep, I had to get up and go on a Birthday boat trip, which I was no longer in the mood for, if I’m honest. We were about to have a full-on day aboard Captain Fuat’s Adıl boat at £30 (or 1,560 lira) for the trip. We set sail and were off out to sea so I had taken a travel sickness tablet, Avimone, which makes me really drowsy but works.

While Captain Caveman worked from home for the day, it meant that I was without a working phone, as I’d left home the hot spot. Vanessa had invited Captain Caveman on the Friday Bar crawl and she was going to message him with where they were so he could join them at 7pm (5pm UK time), when he finished work.
The first stop of the boat trip was to the caves on the way to Ekincik where you can swim through the cave, around and back to the boat. It’s quite challenging for a general swimmer and is very often on the choppy side. I’ve swam it a couple of times but I’ve also seen people get in to difficulties there. Today, was particularly choppy and the few other boats that were there, had already gone by the time some of our group had got in. Only the brave had swam through the caves and the others had gone out in to the open sea. I stayed on the boat which was swaying a lot and I had to stare at the horizon to not be sick. Some people did find it rather arduous swimming back to the boat against the current. Captain Fuat had to help get some people back in and I was glad I’d decided to not go in. Our next stop was decided with a slight change to the route – back towards hole island where it was calmer. I had a little swim but I was still feeling a bit seasick – one of the ladies onboard gave a couple of us a ginger sweet, which worked.
We had a lovely BBQ lunch in a secluded bay and another swim stop later, where people didn’t really get off for a swim. I had a pomegranate juice which was so lovely. Mark & Kate got dropped off at the jetty to their house saying they weren’t going back out, and I went back in to town to walk home so I could get WiFi again.

When I got in, Captain Caveman was still working but he had not heard from Vanessa or any other bar crawl participants yet. We decided to meet back up with my friend to celebrate it being her birthday. Captain Caveman and I walked to Caria Hotel for 7.30pm. It’s the new place which has replaced the Tezcan hotel, where they have a lovely riverside bar. We ordered a bottle of Turkish rosé wine for 900 lira (£17). Turgay our waiter, brought us a cheese and fruit plate over, which was really lovely, great views and the menu had a good choice. I paid the bill and then we got a message from Vanessa saying they were in Ozzy’s. Our friend went home and Captain Caveman and I went to join the bar crawl, or who was left of it. When we got there, Vanessa and Matt (who had been out since 2pm but had forgot to message until now) were on their last drink and were leaving as we arrived. Kate had already left Mark who was there with Tracey and Vinnie so we joined them for a drink. We only stayed out for a couple as Mark, Vinnie and Tracey were being sensible and going home before they got too drunk. We had a group photo with Ozzy and one of the bar men before walking home to get our dinner.

Gratitude List
1. An entertaining birthday boat trip with Captain Fuat on Adıl Boat
2. Drinks at the new Caria Hotel
3. Joining the tail end of the bar crawl with Captain Caveman.

Dalyan – 12th June

I had a busy day planned on Thursday 12th June; I had agreed to an impromptu doggy day care for a cute little puppy. I’d met Sassy before but I’d not looked after her. I left Captain Caveman working from home, in possession of our hot spot phone and walked over to Mel’s, not really knowing which was her house.
After walking round the house a few times and waiting outside, I ventured up some stairs and found the right place. Sassy was very cute and a little bit cheeky. Mel had the AC on and fans so the house was nice and cool. She made me a cup of tea and we ran through the requirements for the doggy day care.
My first meeting of the day was a free mini course on Visibility with Lisa Johnson (a first of 3 parts for just 30 minutes). It was really interesting and I got a lot out of it. I was meant to have lunch at 12 noon, but I was too busy trying to make sure the puppy was not getting in to any bother. After giving attention to Sassy for a while I got back on to the laptop and dialled in to our Resort Experts Team Meeting.
The meeting went well, and we followed it with another meeting of just me, Dagne (Majorca) and Helen (Italy) to talk about more work related plans and to help each other. I finally ate the salad I brought at about 3.45pm and little Sassy was keen to get a piece of chicken out of me, which of course she did.
I finished work around 5pm and took the dog for a walk. She was hilarious and wanted to be petted by everyone she saw. We also got as far as the Little Migros roundabout when she decided she had walked far enough and sat down. I walked her back home and then she was done for – even snoring a little.
I checked the house for wees to clean up. Mel had informed me she would go on the puppy pads. The only guaranteed dry bits were the puppy pads and she had done a big poo in Mel’s office. Sassy watched as I picked it up and put it down the toilet, then cleaned the floor. Around 8pm, I left her, as Mel was due back – she had been a bit cheeky but so cute and she loved playing fetch with Mel’s slippers.

I walked back along the river as the sun was setting and went home to see if Captain Caveman had finished his working day.
We decided to go for a drink at Retro Bar, where Captain Caveman had an Efes Malt and I had a red wine. It was 90 lira (£1.70) per drink and I paid 200 lira (£3.77) with a tip – a bargain!

We decided to eat out, as I’d not had time today to prepare anything. As Captain Caveman is rarely in Dalyan in the summer, it was his choice of where to go. He’d never been to Firat’s before and wanted to try it, as lots of us rate it as one of our favourites.
We decided to have a bottle of Angora red wine, a large water, courgette fritters, beetroot, green beans in tomato sauce, garlic yoghurt, a chicken shish with rice, salad and chips plus complimentary lavaş (balloon bread). We shared it all, it was delicious and we both really enjoyed it. The bill came to 2,140 lira (£40.38) of which 800 lira (£15) was for the wine. We also left a 200 lira (£3.77) tip which they were very happy with. Captain Caveman was thrilled at how we were both stuffed and had shared a bottle of wine for less than £45 for the 2 of us – he would struggle to find that back home. Firat’s was also now on his favourite restaurants, in Dalyan, list. We were getting ready to leave when I got a call from Jamie. I answered it but there was no one there. I assumed he had called me by mistake as it was quite late and almost 11pm. I tried to call back but couldn’t get through. I sent a message but no reply, so we walked over to Ozzy’s bar for a night cap.

Captain Caveman went on to beer and I had red wine, we chatted to Ozzy and admired his new beer mats. Our drinks with tip came to 300 lira (£5.66) which was still reasonable. It was midnight by the time we got home, having had a lovely evening. I was still worried about Jamie, though, and was not prepared for what I would hear when I did get to speak to him.

Gratitude List
1. Looking after a puppy who was super cute
2. Great Resort Experts colleagues and meetings
3. Having a wonderful evening out with Captain Caveman.

Dalyan – 3rd to 5th May

On Saturday 3rd May the sun was back so there was lots of outside activity. I walked the dogs a couple of times, I washed and hung out wet towels and throws, I moved the sunbeds cushions to dry those off and also worked quite a bit. I didn’t have time to go to the weekly market today.
I spoke to Captain Caveman who was working this bank holiday weekend on site and seemed to be enjoying it. I had leftovers for my meals and decided to try again to go shopping in the evening. It rained again and I only got as far as the corner shop!

Gratitude List
1. Dog walks
2. Having meetings with the dogs
3. Knowing Captain Caveman was doing well in the UK.

Sunday 4th May was the last full day of my doggy day care for Norman, Edna, Coco and Bebe and the sun was shining. They were so pleased to be able to go in and out as they pleased, they had 2 walks and Norman slept in all the available beds but his own.
I did some work which included promoting a 10 night twin centre holiday to Bali in November. We hadn’t arranged a Sunday walk this week with me being in charge of the dogs but I did walk 6km by myself plus another walk to the shops and back. Here’s what I bought on my first trip with prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket
Cucumber 3.09
Tomatoes 15.58
Lettuce 29.95
Dubai chocolate 35.00
Lays plain crisps 42.00
Red cabbage 46.76
Carrots 70.15
Walnuts 98.50
620g Chicken breast 123.97
Total spent 465.00 lira (£9.08)

I’d arranged to meet Nanny Kay for lunch and I prepared us a very simple chicken salad which was very nice. Nanny Kay brought chocolate digestives which was a real treat, especially when they had melted stuck so we had to eat them as a triple biscuit! The dogs loved seeing Nanny Kay too and they all got some fuss. We had an unexpected phone call from Vanessa on her husband’s phone. I answered it because I knew they were meant to be in İzmir today, however, they had arrived in to Dalyan early and didn’t have their keys. I had a set at Fire Opal but we were at the other side of town. Luckily, Nanny Kay saved the day by driving us over to mine, where Vanessa could pick up her keys and on the way back we called in to Nanny Kay’s house. It had been a lovely day and when I got back I took the dogs out again then went to the shop. I needed something to go with a mystery meal I’d got out so I bought bulgar wheat and Haribo jellies at the little Migros for 66.90 lira (£1.31). I had a glass of red wine on the terrace, enjoying the sun. My curry with bulgar wheat and chickpeas turned out to be a winner. I finished the evening off with 4 happy, snoring dogs on the sofa while we watched something on Netflix – a perfect Sunday.

Gratitude List
1. Sunshine
2. Lunch with Nanny Kay
3. Dog snuggles.

Monday 5th May consisted of working, book related stuff, free training courses, cleaning and laundry. I popped to Migros and bought more bulgur wheat and some chocolate brownies for 98.90 lira (£1.93).
Coco called another meeting and wanted me to know she still hadn’t had the required number of cuddles.
I said goodbye to Norman, Edna, Coco and Bebe after feeding them their dinner. Back home that night, I had a quiet one and finished off some work until late.

Gratitude List
1. All the dogs being happy
2. Having a productive day
3. Getting all my jobs done before bed.

Çeşme to Kuşadası – 27th April

After a lovely breakfast on Sunday 27th April, at the Kerman hotel in Çeşme, it was time to check out and restart the 2 car convoy. The plan for today was for the 6 of us to drive to Kuşadası with a stop or two on the way. I took a last photo of the small beach beside the hotel and I got in the car with Captain Caveman while Sezgin took the others in his car.
Captain Caveman had got his phone on Google Maps and had programmed our hotel address in, for if we got lost. That turned out to be a good move as we lost the other car when we stopped for petrol. I paid 691.92 lira (£13.51) for petrol for Captain Caveman’s hire car and 15 lira (29p) for a small bottle of water before we decided what to do. There was no sign of Sezgin and we thought he may even have been taking the toll road. Captain Caveman wasn’t sure how the toll road worked for a tourist in a hire car and wanted to avoid it so we chose to head directly to Kuşadası. We arrived around 1.30pm and couldn’t work out where the car park was, I went to the hotel reception and asked and it was in the main public car park behind the hotel – and free. At the Sunday Beach hotel reception we had a bit of confusion as they weren’t sure the rooms were ready to check in. After explaining there was just 2 of us and 4 would arrive later, we were given a key. I paid 2600 lira (£50.78) for 1 night in a double room with sea view and breakfast. and the room was really lovely with a great view, it even had tea and coffee making facilities so I had myself a cup of tea. Captain Caveman was tired so he had a bit of a rest while I had a shower, unpacked, repacked and did a bit of work. Although Captain Caveman had taken Friday and Monday off, I hadn’t so I was a bit behind on my posts for this week – ironically, while in a great holiday resort in Turkey!

In the afternoon, while our friends were still making their way to Kuşadası, Captain Caveman and I had a stroll along Ladies Beach, all the way to the end then back. I noticed there were waiters at most places trying to encourage you in to their establishments, some trying to insult us to make us laugh which had the opposite effect.

Captain Caveman and I decided to have a late lunch at Blu Notte as the others were still off exploring the area and hadn’t arrived yet. I had a glass of red wine, and Captain Caveman ordered an Efes Malt while we perused the very promising menu. We decided to share a vegetarian pizza and admire the sea view on such a lovely sunny day. There were quite a few people in the sea which I was surprised about – I hadn’t brought my swimmers. Captain Caveman is always prepared for any eventuality so had packed his. We had another round of drinks before paying the bill, prices in lira;

Blu Notte
1 veggie pizza 310
2 Efes Malt 280
2 glasses of Red wine 400
Total spent 990 lira (£19.34)

It was funny that I would ordinarily have found that expensive for Turkish prices but we had being pay that for just 2 drinks in a London pub so Captain Caveman found it cheap.

After a short walk, we decided to find another bar and let the others know where we were, we were at Ladies Beach Hotel and Restaurant which you couldn’t miss. We had another round of drinks, which were a bit more pricey. An Efes Malt was 150 lira (£2.93) and a red wine was 240 lira (£4.69). By 6pm it was getting a bit chilly so Captain Caveman nipped back to the hotel to get jumpers while I sat admiring the sea view.

By 7pm we were back in the room, watching the sunset from the balcony. We had some wine left from last night, which Mike had given us to bring back. We didn’t drink it as we were saving it for the others, who unbeknown to me had arrived but I didn’t realise it at the time and thought we were waiting for them.

I took my time getting changed in the room and put on my recently purchased New Look size 12 dress. When we went downstairs, our friends were sat in the hotel bar having a drink. Sezgin looked tired from all the driving. Debbie filled us in on what a great day they had seeing the sights today. It was a shame we had missed it however, it had been nice to relax a bit with Captain Caveman. We ordered a beer and a red wine but I was already quite merry by this time. All of us agreed that we had really enjoyed our weekend roadtrip and we would have to plan another one later in the year, it had been too short. We got chatting and we had not realised that the others weren’t going to be going out for dinner so we had another round and our 4 drinks came to 800 lira (£15.63) – half the price of a similar round in Barnes, London. When we realised Sezgin, Nur, Debbie and Mike had already eaten, it was 9.15pm so Captain Caveman had a look of urgency in his eyes – he’d only had half a pizza 6 hours ago!
We decided to go get some food and, as it was our last night together, we splashed out a bit, at the only decent place still serving food. It was cleverly called Somewhere Else and was rather busy inside. We threw caution to the wind, as we were tiddly, and Captain Caveman ordered a bottle of Angora red wine with our meal of 2 starters and 2 main courses. Here’s what we had, with prices in lira;

Somewhere Else
Garlic Mushrooms 198.50
Onion rings 207.50
Smash Burger 487.50
Sweet & Sour chicken 699.50
1 bottle of Angora red wine 990.00
Total spent 2,583.00 lira (£50.45)

Our day and hotel stay in Kuşadası had cost approximately £160 in total but I’d really enjoyed myself and at least Captain Caveman had got the chance to unwind. I wasn’t looking forward to saying goodbye to him tomorrow. When we got back to the room it was late, Captain Caveman checked the times and feasibility of buses from Kuşadası to Dalyan so that we might perhaps have another day together tomorrow, before Captain Caveman’s late flight back to the UK. It was doable but with changes that could go wrong and I didn’t think I should risk it. It had started to rain and there were storm warnings so I preferred to get back safely with our friends.

Gratitude List
1. Time spent with Captain Caveman
2. Sunday Beach hotel and the stunning Ladies Beach, Kuşadası
3. Having more than my fair share of wine to celebrate our last night together.

Photo Credit – some photos by Captain Caveman

Çeşme, Ildır, Balıklıova & Alaçatı – 26th April

Captain Caveman arrived at the Kerman hotel on Saturday 26th April almost 5 hours after he had landed in Izmir. Both Sezgin and I spotted him at the same time as he walked in to the entrance and was absolutely fine. Unfortunately, on arrival at the airport there had been an issue with picking up the hire car. The company had gone bust just a day before and so there was a delay in the provider finding an alternative. Captain Caveman had no working phone so was unable to call me to let me know he would be late. Once he got on the road he could see no reason to stop to call us and didn’t think we would worry.
In the morning, all 6 of us met for breakfast at the Kerman hotel, which was really lovely. Of course, I have to be careful with Turkish breakfasts when travelling so I just had a bit of cheese, some olives and a piece of bread.
Today we would drive back towards İzmir and check out some small towns. Sezgin, Nur, Debbie and Mike would now be in the first car and I would join Captain Caveman in the hire car. There was no itinerary given to Captain Caveman, other than for him to follow Sezgin’s white car and try to keep up. Sezgin had the plan and was about to take us on quite a tour of the area. Our first stop was just a few metres up the hill from the hotel so that we could admire the beautiful view of Çeşme.
On our morning’s adventure we stopped to admire and have a short walk in Ilacı and Ildır. We met a fat street dog on the way, in a park, and it was hotting up so I took it on a little walk to the shady area. It was artichoke season so the others bought 2 lots of it but I wasn’t skilled enough in the kitchen to cook it and wasn’t overly keen on it. Captain Caveman and I stopped for petrol and I paid the man 461.30 lira (£9).

We had a lovely sightseeing morning before driving to Balıklıova for lunch. Sezgin and Nur had decided to take us to their favourite fish restaurant to enjoy fresh fish. Ozal’ın Yeri Lokantası was set right on the water’s edge and the owner was very pleased to see our Turkish friends. It was a beautiful setting and we had got there before anyone else. Debbie and Captain Caveman were in their element as they love fish, Mike and I don’t eat fish so we ordered a pide, haydari, fava bean paste and olives. The others really enjoyed their fish and I could see how proud Sezgin and Nur were of this local restaurant. The pide, mezes and salad were very good and I enjoyed my lunch, although I worried for my onward travel as we needed to keep up in the car convoy and I may need a loo. When the bill came, Sezgin did his usual trick of asking for discount and quite a bit of bartering went on. Us Brits weren’t used to that and it was a bit uncomfortable but the Turks seemed to be fine with it and we ended up with a discount which I was glad about. I paid our share of the bill which came to 1,900 lira (£37.11) which wan’t bad considering the fresh fish and the location.

In the afternoon, still keeping up with being a 2 car convoy, we visited the amazing market in Alaçatı. The market there was pretty big and very cheap, but we were all conscious of the boot space in the car. Captain Caveman bought a pair of crocs for 100 lira (£1.95). I was tempted to get some but they didn’t have my size in the colour I wanted. As we got to the food market stalls, my stomach started to react to my lunch and I needed the loo quite desperately. I hastily found a cafe/bar and Captain Caveman sat down to order a drink while I found the toilet. In my panic I had not realised that Mahalle Alaçatı was on the pricey side, but by then the others had joined us and ordered drinks without seeing the menu. Here’s what we paid for our soft drinks, prices in lira;

Mahalle Alaçatı
1 small water 70
1 Coca Cola 125
3 Soda Waters 330
Total spent 525 lira (£10.25)

In the place’s defense, it was very nice and the food coming out to customers looked really good. We had a really lovely walk around the town of Alaçatı which looked like a wonderful place to live if you had money. There were some lovely buildings and it felt very European. Captain Caveman was messing with his ears which I had kept saying he needed to see a doctor about but he wouldn’t listen (no pun intended). He had made them sore from scratching so we popped off to get some Aloe Vera cream from the Watson’s pharmacy. We paid just 35.95 lira (70p) and he insisted on putting it on in the street. By this time, we had lost the others so Captain Caveman got me to stand next to a mussel cart while he went off to look for them. I was feeling queasy just looking at the mussels, when Sezgin appeared from the opposite direction. We all gathered back together and walked back to the cars, having had quite enough excitement for the day – or had we!?

It was getting on by the time we got back from an epic day out, calling at another view point and a quick trip to another Dalyan on the way back. It was great hearing Sezgin’s stories of where they had lived and we saw far more than we would’ve if we’d gone alone. The roadtrip had been a good excuse for a wine and cheese trip but I’d yet to have or see either, so maybe tomorrow as we would be moving to another destination. We parked back up at the Kerman hotel and there was talk of a book shop or seeing some history. I was quite happy with a book shop and taking it easy but before I realised what was going on, Sezgin and Nur sent the rest of us off to see Çeşme Castle/Museum. It was priced at just 6 Euros each, I paid in Turkish so cost 522.72 lira (£10.10) for the 2 of us and I thought it was worth it. We spent an hour exploring and I found it really interesting, the views were fantastic, especially at sunset. If you aren’t good with steps or particularly mobile then I wouldn’t recommend it as it is a bit steep in parts.

By 8pm we were back at our new favourite Çeşme restaurant, Friendly Corner. I decided to order a red wine and when it came it was a massive glass of Rituel for 100 lira (£1.93) – an absolute bargain! We had lots of laughs as we shared experiences from both cars at how well Sezgin and Captain Caveman kept up with each other. I could see even more why they made such great Bridge partners now, as there was a hint of telepathy going on, I’m sure.
For dinner, I decided to order boldly, having had the large wine and ordered another. I chose a casserole which I hoped wouldn’t be too greasy for my stomach. It came with chips and rice and was absolutely delicious. I was quite merry by the time we got the bill and, of course, Sezgin once again flexed his haggling skills with the owner, our new best friend. I paid just 1300 lira (£25.15) for the 2 of us and that included quite a bit of wine. The day had been fantastic and made even better by getting to spend more time with Captain Caveman. He was very tired from the driving so we went back to the hotel, intending to get some rest, ready for a rather full-on day again tomorrow. We decided to have a night cap, this time in Debbie and Mike’s room, they even went to the shop to get some more wine!

Gratitude List
1. Great places to see, especially Alaçatı market and town
2. Çeşme Castle and museum
3. Another wonderful evening with friends at Friendly Corner.

Photo credit – some photos by Captain Caveman, Debbie, Mike, Sezgin and Nur

Dalyan to Çeşme – 25th April

I was up and out by 7.30am on Friday 25th April, having had a Yorkshire tea, a slice of buttered toast and a travel sickness tablet.
I was the first to arrive at Sezgin and Nur’s house, ready to meet Debbie and Mike for a weekend road trip. We had arranged for the 5 of us, driven by Sezgin, to have a trip around the İzmir area of Turkey. Captain Caveman would meet us in Çeşme, at the Kerman hotel after picking up a hire car from İzmir airport upon landing, later tonight.
We left around 8am with me sitting in the middle of the back seat to start with. After a couple of hours on the road, we stopped next to a reservoir/picnic stop so that Sezgin and Nur to eat whatever breakfast we had brought. I avoided any gluten or stodge by having a banana for my snack while the others shared their food. Sezgin pointed out places of interest along the way and we stopped for comfort breaks, our next one being in a lovely fishing village called Urla. Sezgin and Nur had previously lived in İzmir so it was good to get first-hand local knowledge about the surrounding areas and see where they had lived before Dalyan. Sezgin told us a funny story about him, his friend and a famous singer in the Dokuz Pub, as we walked past it. There were all types of fish available, which could be browsed in the stalls outside.

I took a turn in the front passenger seat in the afternoon as I’d been fighting the affects of the travel sickness pill which I realised was one of the stronger drowsy ones. We visited a beach and I ate quite a few sweets, trying to stay awake. We stopped at the Altın Yunus (Golden Dolphin) hotel, where everyone had took the mickey out of me for not realising a joke about the wind turbines being there to cool us down when it got too warm. Debbie and I had a Turkish tea while enjoying the lovely sunshine and views of the marina below us.

The last leg of the journey took us on a detour to a very unusual house which had live fish and octopi, plus a random eel, in the walls of the garden. It didn’t look like the creatures had a great existence, although I was assured the owner loved and cared for them! It was definitely one of the weirdest houses I had ever seen. From that point we could see our hotel across the bay.

It was just 3.20pm, when we checked in to our sea view rooms at the Kerman Hotel in Çeşme. Sezgin had negotiated some discount so we paid 3,500 lira (£68.36) for a 2 night stay in a double room, for 2 of us including breakfast. We had originally looked at staying at the The Ilıca hotel which was a bit more swish but to keep the costs down I think everyone was happy to choose the cheaper alternative. I was happy with the Kerman as the rooms were clean, comfortable and basic with a small balcony and an amazing sea view which was definitely worth paying the extra for that room type.
Captain Caveman’s flight wasn’t due to land until 8.10pm so we took a walk around the town of Çeşme. I really liked it and had a chuckle to myself on how the Cheap Chasers in Dalyan would react to the prices of alcoholic beverages at some of the bars. We didn’t even drink in our own hotel because they kept changing their minds about the cost of beers in the bar downstairs. It was empty, yet they raised the price to almost 300 lira (£5.86) for an Efes stating that it was to pay for the live music which was on later. The cheapest I saw advertised on a board, was 175 lira (£3.42) for an Efes. The town was a mix of old and new and it felt very calm, I didn’t notice any English people and most of the bars along the water front were empty.

We came across an eatery which had the perfect name; Friendly Corner Steak House. It was ran by a friendly Turkish guy who had lived in the UK for a while and the restaurant was located on a sunny corner. They also sold steak but we had beers first then some delicious hot chips. I’m always a bit boring and go for the steady option to placate my iffy stomach and to ensure the restaurant is unlikely to serve me a rubbish meal. I plumped for a chicken shish which was served with rice, chips and a fair amount of salad. Sezgin ordered the chicken schnitzel and Nur the chicken strips – I tried the schnitzel and it was very good. Debbie took me by surprise a little by ordering sardines which Sezgin checked if they were fresh with the staff, they were frozen but Debbie was fine with that. There was about 8 sardines and some salad. Mike ordered a pizza which wasn’t great but he managed about half of it. To give an idea of costs, I paid 1,000 lira (£19.53) for my share of the meal and drinks (including discount and tip). I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner and was actually thinking I should have been a bit more adventurous with my choice.

We had a post dinner stroll while watching a lovely sunset over the harbour. We got as far as a mermaid sculpture when Captain Caveman’s plane landed. I didn’t expect he would call or text me so we had been tracking the flight, which landed just 10 minutes late. Captain Caveman had booked a hire car from İzmir airport and we worked out he would be due to the hotel by 10pm. Our hotel now had a rather loud, and not that great, live band on so we didn’t fancy the hotel bar. Many of the bars were telling us they didn’t sell Efes in the area, which we knew they did so we avoided them. We called at the shop where we bought some beer (Efes) and wine and took it to my room to wait for Captain Caveman’s arrival. He didn’t have a Turkish phone and his English phone probably wouldn’t work so I just had to hope he arrived. By 11pm we had all retired to bed having got no answer when I called any of his numbers. Sezgin went outside to walk about and keep a look out for him and I was a bit concerned he was this late. By midnight, Captain Caveman was still not in Çeşme and we had no word from him. I reassured myself that he’s extremely well travelled and would be fine. I would go to bed and hope he arrived or contacted one of us soon.

Gratitude List
1. A lovely drive to Çeşme, taking in some fantastic sights
2. Kerman Hotel sea view
3. A wonderful evening with friends at Friendly Corner.

Photo credit – some photos taken by my fellow travellers.

Dalyan to Barnes – 1st April

Where was the time going!? I was finding it hard to believe that it was already Tuesday 1st April and I had so much to do. All with a hangover, too!!!!
I still needed to calculate my budget v actual spending at the end of March, I was behind on my blog posts and I hadn’t even checked how many books I had sold in my first full month of trading! All this and we were off to the prison restaurant for a hello/farewell lunch with Jamie and then to the airport for our 2.30pm flight to Gatwick! I’d had a wonderful message from my friend and colleague, Dagne, yesterday but had not had chance to post it on social media. She had finally got her copy of ‘You Can’t Shit Yourself on a Bicycle’ and was on the beach in Majorca, reading my book. The photo was perfect! I wondered if the British humour would still translate well enough. I needn’t have worried as she was already enjoying it and said she felt like she was getting friendly travel advice from a friend over a glass of wine! Amazing, and that is all I could have wished for! Dagne was also the first person to send me a photo where it was the new version of the book! It was also the first one to be bought in Spain! I think this was the 5th country to have someone reading my book in, and that felt good!
When I checked how many books I had sold it wasn’t as many as I had hoped for but it averaged at over 1 per day. Apparently, that is good for a self published one with zero marketing budget/adverts. Still, it meant I had earned less than £150 for the month, which I would not get until the end of May. I needed to sell more and I needed a smarter way to do that. I was grateful for everyone who had bought it already and I needed a way to get it out to more people, particularly who would benefit from the travel advice. I think using Amazon puts some people off, and I’m not a massive fan of it either, but it’s the biggest seller of books in the world. If I couldn’t cut it using Amazon as a free platform, then it wasn’t wise to pay for a different platform. I was also surprised at how few ebook/kindle versions I had sold as I thought that was a popular way to read books these days. I would persevere and hope more people would buy it in the coming weeks and months. I’d already started a list of chapter titles for the next one.
My next task was to check the money situation; unsurprisingly I had gone over my £300 budget. In March I had spent a grand total of £370 including bills (but not rent or council tax). I was a bit disappointed at going over by 23% but I had splashed out on my hair this month plus some extra treats.
April was going to be tough to set a budget for as I was off to the UK for at least a week and we had a holiday in the İzmir area planned. Captain Caveman was also planning to move out of Sheffield as his 3 months renting in a shared place was up and he had decided to rent a house to himself in a more convenient location for work.
I didn’t eat any breakfast on account of feeling sickly from too much booze last night. I’d had a whole bottle of red wine and one whisky and I really felt it!!! I was doing all I could to not be sick by the time Jamie picked us up. Unfortunately, the storm last night had blown the adjacent new build’s roof off, some of it was on our balcony and some in the garden. We drove to the prison and we ordered food, I just copied what Captain Caveman had, köfte, hoping he’d eat some of mine anyway. As Jamie was kind enough to drive us to the airport I bought the lunch which only came to 985 lira (£20) for 3 meals and 3 soft drinks – impressive.

We drove to the airport and said our farewells to Jamie, it felt weird that I was going back to the UK after almost 9 months and I wasn’t sure when I would be back exactly. At the airport they let us go through to the lounge with our water and Captain Caveman went off to do a reccy in the Duty Free. It works out cheaper to get the small wines or spirit miniatures at the Duty Free shop, than buying in the bar but I had no plans on drinking or eating anything. On the easyJet plane, I had a whole row to myself, Captain Caveman was sat in front of me with just 2 of them in a row of 3. We took off on time and then Captain Caveman came and sat in my row, taking the window seat and I had the aisle. Luckily, I had brought chocolate Dido bars for a snack but we didn’t bother buying any food or drink on the entire journey. We were due to land about 5pm and Captain Caveman managed to get quite a bit of sleep.

We landed in to Gatwick airport on time on and got the train to Barnes. Captain Caveman and I were staying at his parents while they were away. We were walking in to the house just before 6pm, having cost £15.60 using my Wise card to get from Gatwick. I was really excited as I had a package, it was 3 copies of my book. It was the first time I’d touched or seen a copy of it and I was actually quite happy with it. It was small enough to fit in to a handbag which was a good selling point. I took a couple of photos and then we unpacked.

Captain Caveman suggested we have a walk around Barnes, get some dinner and do some shoping ready for us both being back to work tomorrow. Barnes was really beautiful and it wasn’t as cold as I thought it was going to be. Captain Caveman treated us to dinner at Base Face Pizza which was just amazing. I wasn’t going to be drinking but I ended up with a red wine and a pizza with ham and pineapple on. Captain Caveman had beer and a spicy pizza. He paid the bill so I wasn’t sure of the exact total but it came to about £50 for the 2 of us, including a drink each. Tap water was free and I just couldn’t get enough of it – it’s one of the things I miss when I’m not in England. Our food was so delicious, the waitress was really good and I took half of my pizza home as I was trying to be good. We saw the sunset over the river Thames and it was so nice to be in London together.
Our next stop off was at Sainsbury’s where I was gobsmacked at how much chocolate they had. Cadbury’s Cream Eggs were in abundance at 85p each or 5 for £3 but I resisted the urge to buy any chocolate. Here’s what was in our shopping basket (prices in pounds) and doing the self scan, which Captain Caveman was really good at;

Sainsbury’s Supermarket
2 tins Baked Beans 0.80
1 wholemeal loaf 1.39
6 eggs 1.75
Pork sausages 1.79
Fresh tomatoes 2.00
Total spent £7.73

I was shocked at the price of tomatoes and bread but pleased with the baked beans and sausages. We didn’t even watch any TV as we were both tired so we had an early night.

Gratitude List
1. Jamie taking us to the airport
2. Being able to go back to the UK with Captain Caveman
3. A night out with pizza in Barnes.

Dalyan – 6th & 7th February

I woke up to exciting news on Thursday 6th February; my book ‘You Can’t Shit Yourself on a Bicycle….….and other handy travel tips’ was published on Kobo 2 days earlier than expected. I was an author! People could now buy my eBook on Kobo and read 12 chapters of what not to do in various situations while abroad. It was an informative short book aimed at helping people like me who had never travelled to Vietnam or South East Asia before. I hoped my reader could get an idea how to experience better travel and have a few laughs at the situations they may find themselves in. My target audience was me, 15 years ago! I was a bit taken aback as I wasn’t expecting it to be published so fast but when I logged in to see it, the Kobo website told me I couldn’t buy my own book, as I was in Turkey. I sent the link to a Turkish friend to see if he could help in any way, but he couldn’t view it either. I also now had to figure out how to check it and get it marketed so that people would buy it. I’d had so many people say they would, while I was writing it, so I hoped so – I wanted to make a series of amusing handy travel tip books so that I could eventually get them published in book shops at airports. I would only make about £3-£4 per book so I couldn’t afford to set the price any lower than I had. I decided to see how it went, after all I do a blog for free so those readers might possibly support me as well as Facebook friends. I worked out that if I wanted the books to sell enough to support my residency in Turkey, I would need to sell at least 8 per day on each and every day of the year. I shared the link with The Aussies as Kobo can be used in Australia but they said they preferred to wait for the physical copy to be available. Kobo was eBook only.
Jamie popped round to bring me 2 light fittings that he didn’t want, but Captain Caveman did, and we had a hot beverage and a chat. I told him about me becoming an author of a handy travel tips book and he too said he would like the physical copy, not an eBook. I messaged my Mom and she was also in favour of a physical copy of the book so it looked like I needed to work out how to get that sorted out.

I had more of Captain Caveman’s veggie soup with pasta for lunch and it was really tasty.
Our team meeting with Resort Experts was at 2pm where Jamie did an update about Turkey which was really good. After that, I cracked back on with more work and then decided to pop to the shops as I had run out of Fabric Softener. I made the mistake of going before eating dinner and bought some treats plus a whole chicken which was on offer. Here’s what I bought with the prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket (6.30pm)
1 Bounty chocolate bar 34.90
1 pack Marshmallows 34.95
1l Pink Grapefruit 39.90
Lentils 39.95
Fabric Softener 95.95
A 2.3kg chicken 182.57
Total spent 428.22 lira (£9.73)

It was a sign I had upped the budget this month as I seemed to be doing Frivolous February, instead of Frugal February.
I warmed up some of the leftover vegetable curry for dinner with steamed rice and decided to finish off the rest of the wine I had opened yesterday. At 9pm I had a video call with Vanessa who is back in Sheffield and was asking how we were both doing in our new jobs. She was hoping to catch up with Captain Caveman since they were both in the same city. We were on the phone for about 2 hours talking about anything and everything and it was nice to speak to a Dalyan friend who knows me well. When I told her about my newly published book she was up for buying it once it was available on Amazon for her Kindle!

Gratitude List
1. Having my book published on Kobo
2. Free light fittings from Jamie
3. Catching up with Vanessa.

When I woke up on Friday 7th February, it was so cold at only 3°C, with a feels like -1°C because of the wind. I stayed in my office with the AC on until the sun came out enough to warm the room up a bit more. I had wholemeal toast with cheese spread for breakfast and then had a hot chocolate with marshmallows mid-morning to keep warm. I worked all morning and signed up from some ad-hoc free trainings and webinars to increase my earning potential and freshen up my sales skills. After more soup at lunch, I finished off all my follow ups and then decided I was going to tackle Amazon KDP once again. Captain Caveman had suggested I set up a new email and reregister just for the purpose of the book(s), so I did, and faffed about for ages trying to load my manuscript on to their bespoke system in the right format. I worked on it for so long that I forgot to have any dinner and later had cheese and wine before bed. I also got a message from Vanessa to say she had sorted out a suitcase for Captain Caveman to use to bring over to Dalyan at the end of March – this was so good of her!

Gratitude List
1. Finally getting somewhere with Amazon KDP
2. Managing to stay warm in my spare room/office
3. Helpful friends in Sheffield.

Dalyan – 9th November

On Saturday 9th November, things got a little bit unpredictable; Captain Caveman did not get up before me, nor did he make me a cup of tea in bed. We had said last night that we would get up early to go to the market but it looked like Captain Caveman had changed his mind.
I made my own tea and had some buttered toast and a banana for breakfast, while I waited for Captain Caveman to get up, as he said he would do shortly. I chopped all the veg to make a large amount of leek and potato soup and put it all in the slow cooker with some vegetable stock. It would be ready around 1pm, in time for lunch and with some leftover to batch up for the freezer. I got impatient waiting for Captain Caveman to come downstairs and went to check on him. He still hadn’t got out of bed and was on his phone, scrolling at a load of what I would describe as ‘crap’. I needed to go to the bank and I was also meeting a lady as I had some clothes for sale, which she was interested in buying an item from me. I was now down to a size 12 so I had lots of clothes that were far too big for me and were taking up space in the wardrobes and cupboards. Captain Caveman said he would be up and ready for the market after I had been to my parents, the bank and met with the potential clothes buyer.
The lady bought the item and we had a lovely chat. My parents were well and were also off to the market and I could have gone with them but I hadn’t brought the shopping bags or list and I was waiting for Captain Caveman so that he could help carry all the items I had on the list. I didn’t want to be too long as I still needed to do some work and some writing and the weekends are the busiest times for enquiries so I wanted to make sure I was available. I also needed to be back to turn off the slow cooker with the soup in.
Having been in and out of the house twice already, it was 11.30am as I walked back in glorious sunshine to get Captain Caveman, who had assured me he would be ready to go to the market. He wasn’t, he was still laying on the bed scrolling through his phone. I got told he didn’t fancy going to the market today as he was going to have a lazy day. I was fuming, as I could have already been and done the market shopping ages ago. I would also have loved a lazy day myself but I didn’t have that choice of such a luxury. It really felt like I was trying to fight a losing battle and that Captain Caveman, who was ordinarily more of an action person, was becoming even more of an argumentative, lazy, phone addicted teenager. I wouldn’t have minded as much if he had said hours ago that he had no intention of doing what he had suggested yesterday. I was at a loss as to how to handle the situation as Captain Caveman is not someone who will do anything he doesn’t want to. I decided that all I could do is do things as if he wasn’t going to join in or be of help and then quickly adapt when he decided he would be. I asked the internet for answers but that was a lot more worrying than real life.
Finally, at gone 12.30pm, I hurried to the market and here is what I bought at each stall, prices in lira;

Stall 1
A massive white cabbage & leeks 100

Stall 2
Plums 30

Stall 3
Bazlama bread, spring onions, lettuce 140

Stall 4
Potatoes 40

Stall 5
Pumpkin & garlic 90

Total spent 400 lira (£9)

With hindsight, I should not have bothered going and maybe managed without going to the market this week. Even my favourite stall holder tried to rip me off but she had picked the wrong time and I was having none of it, right now. She’s an old lady and it could’ve been an honest mistake but I asked (in Turkish) how much the pumpkin and garlic came to, she replied 90 lira and I gave her the only note I could, a 200 lira. She then gave me 10 lira back and was about to go on with her day. I asked her where my 100 lira was and she told me I gave her 100 lira, the 200 note was still in her hand with the open bumbag and her friend was listening to me to see what I was going to do next. I again, speaking in Turkish, told her I gave her 200, that she had a 200 right there and that I had 10 lira but wanted another 100. She was about to weigh the pumpkin and garlic again but I stood firm and then got my 100 lira – we all had a laugh and I made out like she made a mistake but I was unsure if she hadn’t done it on purpose. My bag was so heavy that I had to not bother getting any more fruit or peppers as I really struggled to carry the bag.
When I put it all away at home, we had some of my homemade leek and potato soup with some of the nice bread from the market for lunch. It was gone 2.30pm when I managed to start any work and I had to be finished by 4.30pm to go to meet a friend, who was over from England but leaving to go home tomorrow. I mentioned to Captain Caveman that his laziness and lack of communication this morning had meant I was behind by a lot and he suggested we cancel going for a tea at the tea gardens with my friend. Obviously, this was because he had been playing Bridge and didn’t want to stop. I said he had to come and I had invited my parents as well. At the tea gardens we both drank fresh sage and lemon tea, which is amazing and one of my favourite teas there. My parents had a beer and we watched the sunset after my friend had arrived from her boat trip.
By 6.30pm, Captain Caveman was feeling the cold, my friend was still in her shorts so we decided to walk back home. At home, Captain Caveman tried to redeem himself by making a pasta with peppers, olives and sucuk for our dinner. I decided I had too much to catch up on tomorrow that I wouldn’t go on the Sunday Walk, despite probably needing the exercise and it being the last one my parents would be going on this year.