On my own

FREEDOM!!!!!
Hahahahaha, finally I have out-lasted the others and am on my own! Too bad they left me in a miserable state of being sick and totally worn out.
Actually the truth is I can't admit to missing them or not missing them. Things just are. I spent so much time walking ahead of them and not with them, or just planning things out on my own that it doesn't feel like I've lost all that much. Ouch, that was mean, but hopefully you can understand. The only thing I worry about now is food. How am I supposed to feed myself now?? And what women am I supposed to defend from sleazy looking dudes?
Well, at least it will be easy to find a place to stay for only 1 person now. On the night that Sandra and Bre left, I went to a hospitality club party and found a new host. Our old one is away on business. For a couple nights we had to stay in a hostel. Craziest story with that too. I woke up the first morning to go find breakfast and working in the hostel is a girl from Poland that was working in a hostel in Warsaw when we were there in July. What are the odds? There are so many hostels in both places and this one in Istanbul is new and out of the main hostel area. Anyway, it's that kind of thing that makes travelling so fun and random. Never had it happen with a non-traveller though.
Istanbul feels warm after being inland and so far the weather has been cloudy at worst. I've already written about it but I just want to add that there is definately a strong police presense in the city. They are everywhere and even when we went to arrivals to pick up Sandra we had to go through all the security checks. Just for kicks, yesterday I went "carpet shopping". Of course everyone knows about Turkish carpets and the infamously hassley carpet sellers. Well, I just had to go check it out and compare with India.
These guys are good, but maybe because it is the offseason it just didn't feel as bad. Not as many of them. I went in with one and let him do his thing and had my apple tea. The carpets really are pretty but in all honesty I only have one piece of advice. Never buy a carpet in Istanbul. You will get ripped off. You might as well shop at home. The asking prices on these things were insane. 1/2 square meter of carpet (2 feet by 2 1/2 feet) for $500. They are crazy. I look like a bum and they can still look me straight in the eye and say, "But you need a special souvenir from Turkey, your future wife will like it. This one is only $900." Are they nuts!?!?!?!
Actually, I had fun because I got to learn a little about different types of carpets and then test the guy by leading him in one direction and suddenly switching and watching his story change. They have an answer for every excuse but I am poor so it doesn't matter. Maybe someday I'll get one because they are beautiful. But go inland where they make them or better yet go to Persia or Central Asia to get one.
Too make my life more interesting, I am flying to Northern Cyprus tomorrow night. If you have to ask why then you haven't been paying attention to what we are doing. The answer is simply "because it's there". I am flying because it turns out that flying is much much cheaper than taking the ferry. Pretty soon flying in turkey will be cheaper than taking the bus, as it already is in much of europe.
The Last of the Watkinstravellers......