Istanbul was Constantinople

By the time you read this, Brandon and I won't be on an airplane (if you read it early).  But we will be today, and it will be without any children (except for one in utero).  I haven't flown without children since December 2005, and I'm looking forward to eating my own meal, talking with Brandon and even perhaps taking a nap.

About eighteen months ago when our bank account was unexpectedly enhanced by Edwin's medevac, Brandon and I talked about what to do with the extra money.  We could save it or we could spend it.  I voted to spend it, and surprisingly Brandon agreed.  We decided to take a trip at the end of our tour, and Istanbul seemed like as good a choice as any, based on airfare prices.  Who knew that flying out of Cairo would be so expensive?

We decided to go for our sixth anniversary, and to leave the children in Cairo with Rere.  I know the limitations of my children, and I knew that a vacation with children is no vacation at all.  When Kathleen asked what was in Istanbul and found out that it was just a lot of old buildings and no pool at the hotel, she immediately declared 'boring!'

Brandon was able to get the time off, and I bought plane tickets.  On January 26th.  On the 31st we evacuated.  I wasn't worried about our trip, however, because we would definitely be back by the end of April.  That was a long way away, right?

By mid-April it was clear that I wasn't going to be back in time.  Brandon could have taken the trip, but he said it wouldn't be much fun without me.  We had purchased trip insurance, but when I called about making a claim, I was flatly told by several people that as evacuations were not specifically listed in the documentation, I had paid them fifty dollars to yell at them in frustration.

So with only a few days left before our plane tickets were to be used, Brandon talked to his supervisor, who let him have this coming weekend off.  I rescheduled the plane tickets, rescheduled the hotel reservations, and was relieved to see that Istanbul is much cooler than Cairo at the end of June.

And so we're off today, looking forward to the first vacation of more than 24 hours since before Sophia was born.  I'm not sure if I'm more looking forward to the sights (which I saw in 2002), not cooking dinner for five days, or sleeping in and staying up as much as I want.  The girls are looking forward to lots and lots of movies with Rere and all the Egyptian food they can take.  Hooray for vacations!