Accomodations

Ankara hotel

For the first nine days of this trip, we were housed in a 'family' hotel room in either Istanbul or Ankara. This was a new experience for our family, to be sure. In one small room, we had a double bed for us, a twin for Brewer and a space for a pack-n-play for Ruby, all within toy-chucking range of each other. The Ankara hotel was nicer; the six-day Istanbul hotel was fine (it had goldfish in the hotel lobby the kids could visit everyday) but was even smaller and not as nicely adorned. Any remaining floor space was covered with our four-month luggage pile, thus the need to eat snacks and to create art wherever possible as seen in the other two pictures. This also meant that we all had to go to bed at the same time because Ruby was not sleeping if she could see others awake (although occasionally we could check emails in the bathroom). Generally we compromised at a 10pm bedtime. All things considered, the sleeping worked out fairly well because we were exhausted anyway, but it did make it very difficult for Kelly to entertain the kids in that small of a space during the day while I was with the class - thus the need for infrequent but valuable green space.

Our second-floor apartment in Alanya is vastly superior. It has two separate bedrooms and a living room/kitchen area. So now we can have the more normal schedule of putting Ruby to bed first, then Brewer and then us in a separate room whenever we want. Our bedroom and the living room are air-conditioned, but the kids have not had problems sleeping so far. The kitchen is small, but it has a large refrigerator and a four-burner stove. The bathroom has a washer and we have a balcony for hanging the laundry to dry. The floors are all tile which makes cleaning a little easier. The greatest plus is that we are only two blocks from the Mediterranean Sea which has allowed us to go swimming every day so far (and we've heard the weather may cooperate for us through the end of October). The greatest negative is that our location also puts us in a heavy tourist district and directly above a restaurant that often turns to a disco pub after hours. So we may have to start going to bed early with the kids so that we have a better chance of falling asleep before the bass tunes start rattling the bedroom windows. Seriously, one night when the DJ kept cranking the tunes after midnight for some Scandinavian grandmothers doing the Macarena with the waiters, I had to get dressed and go downstairs for the 'talk' - not that it helped immensely. But heavy tourist season is supposed to last only another month, so we try not to complain too much with the easy beach access.

Alan