Hot air balloons of Kapadokya, Turkey

The previous post in this trip to Turkey and Italy is here..

After we finished the Hammam and lunch in Istanbul, we took a one our drive to Istanbul airport and after waiting there for a few hours flew into Nevshehir airport. We had arranged transport through the hotel (we were to pay per person and were told to pay in Turkish currency but the total was in Euro!). Had to have it ready when we we entered the van. The van guy waited till he could find some last minute unplanned passengers to fill and finally after 35 minutes started towards Kapadokya. A middle aged woman who was flirty decided to sit in the front set next to the driver. It was dark and windy roads with no lights and she kept showing him her phone and making conversation. The driver was obviously taken in with this and was not focusing on the road. The rest of us got very nervous after the driver swerved a few times. So as a collective we spoke up and asked her to stop talking to him or distracting him while driving. The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful. Finally after dropping off 80% of the folks we got our turn.

The staff at the cave hotels were nice. The manager gave us a crash course on what to expect and what to do in the morning. Will write a separate post on the cave hotels. The rooms are carved from the rocks. They are all on a hill. We were all tired but I decided to see the balloons rise at 5AM. Turns out they went up only closer to 6! It was beautiful to see. San joined me on the roof for some photos and decided to go dress up and come back for more photos!

Once the sunrise was done, we went back woke up the kids and had a nice breakfast wtih the view of the last few balloons coming down. Then it was time to go on our all day package tour of Kapadokya. There are a thousand odd photos of all the places we visited in the next 8 hours.. so will create mini blogs of each place over the next few days..

We were booked to go on the balloons the next morning and San, myself and Jr. did wake up really early and go to the balloon starting place. Heavy winds made them cancel the rides for the day. So balloon away while the sun shines , is the moral of the story. We were returned to our hotels after sitting in a van for an hour and our money refunded. If we want to be on the balloons, we have to make another trip! Decided that watching them with chai in hand was as good an experience.

A lot of those photos were taken before the balloons started.. (you will see it in the video). The night sky was so clear inspite of the lights from the cave hotels. Got to see so many constellations, planets with just the iPhone!

A video highlights reel including some time lapses, some slow motions…

Book every morning you are there… you never know which way the wind blows!

Coral Pink Sand Dunes state park in Utah

The previous post in this trip series is here..

We had just enough time after finishing lunch at Bryce lodge to make a 45 minute stop at Coral PInk Sand Dunes state park. We had planned this as part of the trip as it had rave reviews. It was an extra 1 hour detour and we were warned that return traffic when we cross the tunnel into Zion would be horrible later in the day. Still we had the 45 minutes and were glad we went.

The drive on local state routes from Bryce to Coral Pink dunes was beautiful with the trees showing fall colors. We got in, went straight to the observation deck, then down to the large dune to do a photo shoot and started driving back. The weather was cool and the sand was not hot. It was extremely windy and the fine sand did a facial for all of us. The standing bow I did with the wind in my face was one of the most difficult I have tried. My feet kept going into the stand even as I was still. It was more difficult than doing this on a beach with waves!

If you do start early enough from Zion to do Bryce, then definitely recommend this. Our return was slow because of the tunnel traffic. The sky put on quite a show on route 15. Still we made it to the airport with 10 minutes go give an earful to the Avis manager for giving us a smoke filled car. I pretty much slept through the return flight as my feet were shaking.

A video highlights reel of the dunes and the drives to dunes and back to Vegas..

Was very glad we went on the trip. Lot of nature, fun with friends, happy wife, bucket list item checked off.. felt happy and contented after this trip.

Wrapping up Istanbul- The Hammam experience

The previous post in this series is here..

We woke up on day 3 in Istanbul relaxed. Ate breakfast and the two of us left the kids in the hotel and ran to the grand bazaar in search of a fridge magnet that I wanted but did not buy on our first visit. Turns out I had imagined that magnet. No shop had one like that.. and this was a magnet for the Grand Bazaar. It is a missed marketing opportunity for those guys. Someone should make a magnet that says Grand Bazaar and sell it there!

Got to take more photos in Sultanahmet area in the morning

We literally watched it open. After a 15 minute search, gave up, came back to the hotel, picked up the kids and walked to the Victory hotel. It was a good 30 minute walk but we enjoyed it, did some shopping on the way and were ready for the Hammam experience here. We got to take turns sitting in the sauna as there were only two masseuses and four of us. Turns out the ladies doing the authentic Turkish Hammam experience are trained Nepalese. The massage was excellent. Then there was the soap foam bath. After the shower we all felt like there was relaxation but our energy was sapped. So we trudged off to find lunch.

Found a very nice busy place with some vegetarian options, ate fast and went back to the hotel to pack. There was the issue of wet clothes on our next flight but we could always deal with it at the next location..

Jr. and me ran off last minute for me to get some Turkish ice cream and we did find some good magnets for our collection.

A very short video..

Then we were off to the airport. We had an extra two hours before the flight and we walked up and down the shops at the airport and were finally off to Nevshehir for more magic!