Despite all our good intentions, we've been so busy moving to Turkiye and settling in here, that we just haven't found the time to update this blog on a regular basis.  We are, however, putting frequent posts with updates, pictures, and reviews on our facebook page, so if you haven't already followed us there, please pop across and join the page so you don't miss any of our posts.  We'll still be putting things on here of course, just far less frequently and probably the stuff that's too long for a facebook post. We've also set up an Instagram page (@lets_talk_turkiye) and the plan is to get lots of pictures on there too.

So, if you were wondering what happened to us, we're still here and still loving our new adventure, just not able to produce as much content as we'd like right now. We promise we'll be posting more often as soon as we've finished settling in.

So, we finally flew back to Tϋrkiye from Gatwick this week, for the last time in (what we hope will be) a while after spending a week in the UK sorting out everything that was left to sort out in the house. We also got to meet our gorgeous new grandson, so it was well worth the journey. Everything has now been sold or given away, the paperwork is all signed, sealed, and ready to deliver, and we hope to complete within the next few weeks.

We went back with very little in the way of clothes and with our suitcases stacked inside each other like Russian dolls, so we could bring the last of our stuff back with us, and we still ended up having to book one more case than we planned! Everything we need immediately is here now though, and the rest is with the cargo company to be delivered as soon as we get our residency permits sorted.

It feels very strange to now be referring to Tϋrkiye as home and talking about going to the UK to visit friends and family, especially when someone here asks us where we live – I keep going to say England until Brian jumps in with ‘we live here’. We're looking forward to catching up with friends and family visiting from the UK over the next couple of weeks (we just can’t get away from them lol).

Whoever invented that little gem of advice was spot on in our case, as we definitely didn’t get the start we expected to our new adventure. 

After an incredibly stressful few weeks attempting to finalise everything with the house (box up everything we wanted to bring with us for collection by the cargo company, give away or sell everything else including all the furniture, sign the paperwork for the sale before we left so it could go ahead in our absence), we finally arrived at our apartment last Sunday with our six giant suitcases to discover that the roof had been leaking during an exceptionally rainy winter here, and everything in our bedroom was covered in mould.  So, we’re now in alternative accommodation while our place is being fixed. 

We’ve ended up in a 7-bedroom villa, which sounds like a win, but it’s huge and therefore really hard to keep warm (although daytimes are sunny, it’s still quite cold at night here) and also twice as far from the town as our own apartment, so we’re hoping we can move back soon.  We were also faced with having to wash and iron absolutely everything we left here clothes- and bedding-wise last year (about eight loads so far and still working through it), and the first load we did in the villa turned our clothes orange because there was a problem with the water supply.  As soon as that was fixed, the washing machine here died (but not before switching itself on and off and then flooding in the night, even after I’d unplugged it because of it switching itself on and off – at this point I’m pretty much convinced it’s possessed by a minor demon!) We’re still waiting for the engineer to come and fix it (rather him than me, I’m not going near it in case it tries to electrocute/possess me), so we’ve had to hire a car so that we can ferry laundry between the villa and the washing machine at the apartment (and also to move over things we need from the apartment to the villa). 

Yesterday was really the first chance we had to actually sit back and relax and find the energy and motivation to cook a meal instead of grabbing takeaway or eating out. We’re managing to stay positive - after all, this is Turkiye so things rarely go the way you expect lol – but we’re really hoping everything is ready for us to move back to the apartment soon and we can get back on track and settle into our new life (and start creating blog posts again of course, at which I have been woefully inadequate over recent months due to being so caught up in moving and other stuff).

Oh, and no, we didn’t actually manage to finalise everything back in the UK before we left, so we’ll be going back for just one week in May to finish off everything we couldn’t get done in time.

The only downside (if you can even really consider it that) to living with a talented amateur chef, is that it takes a lot of the enjoyment out of going to restaurants. There are lots of lovely places to eat here in Dalyan, but very few of them can provide anything we can’t create just as well at home.  In the last week or so, we’ve had a couple of lovely chicken and lamb casserole style dishes, a meatball dish, grilled lamb chops, and a variation on karniyarik.  If you’re interested in Turkish cooking, pop over to Brian’s Facebook page @Brians.Green.Corner to see some of his creations.  And don't forget to like @Lets.Talk.Turkiye on Facebook for more regular updates on our adventures.

These are a few of the tasty dishes that have graced or table over the last week or so:

Chicken Saute Dish

Meatball Dish

Paprika Roasted Potatos

Grilled Lamb Chops with salad and potato wedges 

So, we finally made it to Dalyan last Sunday (5^th) travelling via Istanbul. Although, until the moment the plane actually took off, we still weren’t 100% convinced it was going to happen. After closely watching the Pegasus flights from Stansted, we noticed that they had a tendency to switch the flights to Heathrow at short notice, and our flight on the Sunday was the last showing from Stansted until the middle of this week, so it was a little tense waiting to see what would happen with ours.

We decided that we wouldn’t risk using the postal PCR tests in case the results didn’t come back in time, so we went to a local travel clinic to have them done on the Friday morning (results back Saturday evening). While waiting for the results, I became absolutely convinced mine was going to come back positive (because I’d coughed twice one morning!) so I went to the library for some lateral flow tests and did one at home, which was thankfully negative.

The transfer at Istanbul (Sabiha Gokcen) was fairly straightforward, although it was a little strange having to go through passport control and then out of international arrivals and back into domestic departures and through security again (where they took away our unopened bottle of water we bought at Stansted – still miffed about that) before we could find our gate and relax.  We had a little over two hours between flights and ended up with an hour to spare, so we were able to get a (sadly non-alcoholic) drink while we waited.  We landed in Dalaman at around 10:15pm local time and after crossing over into international arrivals to collect our baggage (nice lady with a clipboard directing people where to go) and a quick stop in Duty Free, we finally got into our apartment around an hour later (16 months after we originally expected to move in). Then it was a stroll into Dalyan centre in search of food and our first Efes on Turkish soil. 

We’ve spent the last week de-stressing, buying new bits and pieces for the apartment and catching up with people here that we know. Pegasus somehow managed to damage Brian’s bike despite it being in a travelling bag and bubble wrapped around all the important bits! so a new stand is also on the shopping list when we get into Ortaca (and a bike for me). 

Dalyan is much quieter this year than it was even last year, and the businesses are really suffering from the ongoing lack of tourists. Quite a few places have not opened at all this year, and those that are open will undoubtedly close earlier than normal if things don’t pick up. There are a few German and Dutch holidaymakers here, and they had a fair amount of Turkish people visiting earlier in the year, but they do rely heavily on us Brits for a lot of their income. We are all hoping against hope that Turkey will be taken off the red list at the next review; there are certainly a lot of people who would love to still come for a holiday this year if that happens, but if not then it looks like we will see a very early end to the season this year.

I'll be putting lots of updates on the Facebook page while we're here, so don't forget to pop over and follow us there if you'd like to see some of the places we'll be visiting. 

Well, we’re getting there (I think). This week has been all about travel insurance. With flights booked for the first week of September, I have spent way too much time trying to find out what our existing policy with our bank will cover (and what it won’t). My online digging indicated that they would not cover us to visit Turkey, so after several aborted attempts to speak to someone on the phone (today I gave up after holding for 35 minutes!) I threw in the towel and decided to go for a completely new policy elsewhere.

Staysure have certainly not been any better when it comes to getting through on the phone, but I did manage to have a Facebook Messenger exchange with a very helpful lady who was able to answer some of my queries and point me in the right direction to get the correct policy for us. We are now the proud owners of an annual multi-trip policy with an extension to cover us while visiting a ‘red’ country, covid cover whilst there, and a length of trip extension to 100 days. 

One important thing I have discovered during all this though, is that in order for your policy to be valid, you have to have a return flight to the UK booked when you travel. This is something that has never cropped up before because prior to acquiring the apartment we always booked return flights and accommodation together. Apparently it is buried somewhere in the small print, and I only found out because it was mentioned on a travel page I joined, and I queried it when buying our policy.  What this means is that we have to book a flight back to the UK with an airline that will allow us to change or cancel without penalty if Turkey stays red and we decide to wait it out there (if that happens we’ll be applying for residency and buying Turkish health insurance, so it won’t be an issue). Annoying though, as it’s another expense to add the growing list before we can travel.

Next stop: PCR tests. 

I really struggled to come up with a title for this blog post, but there truly are no words to adequately describe the heart-breaking scenes that have been coming out of Turkey this week (and honestly, trying to do so with one of my usual catchy titles would feel downright disrespectful). 

The forest fires that have been raging across Mugla have been a huge blow to the Turkish people. As if the loss of tourism from the pandemic isn’t enough, they now have to contend with the loss of lives, homes and livestock caused by the fires too. We were watching the situation unfold via the various groups we belong to, and it was far worse than what little media coverage there was suggested. Thankfully, it seems that the majority of the fires are now dealt with or being brought under control (with news breaking in the last hour that 2 still remain unchecked). I have to say, though, that I was in absolute awe of the way the local population swiftly mobilised to raise funds and distribute water, food, and protective clothing where it was needed, helping to get people and animals to safety, and generally doing anything and everything they could to support the fire-fighting effort. It never fails to amaze me how such awful situations bring out the absolute best in the majority of people.

I really hope that things will settle down quickly now and the land and people can start to heal. I don’t normally do this, but I am going to share a link (below photo) to a Go Fund Me page in case anyone who loves Turkey would like to contribute to the ongoing fundraising to help the area recover. Your positive thoughts and prayers (if that's your thing) for this beautiful country and her people would also be much appreciated.

https://gofund.me/a93c66a5

The horror is real people.  It’s time to think about downsizing the Halloween collection.  Over the years we’ve amassed a vast array of lovely (or horrible depending on your perspective) Halloween decorations.  I’m not talking here about the cheap, tacky stuff you get in Poundland or the Factory Shop either, it’s all good quality things from stores like TK Maxx and Home Sense, or from the States, where they (very unfairly) have access to much better quality Halloween goodies than we can get our hands on over here. 

Originally the plan was to have one last big Halloween celebration before we leave, but with travel plans still up in the air (thanks Boris!) we don’t even know for sure if we’ll be in the UK in October. So rather than having a mad scramble to rehome everything after Halloween, we’ve decided the sensible thing to do is to let go of a lot of it now and have a downsized celebration if we’re around for it.  I know it’s the right way to go, but it still breaks my heart to think of it all going to a new home.  I will especially miss the life-sized animated Grim Reaper – I wonder if I could get him a seat on the plane? The extra luggage allowance would certainly come in handy.

Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it’s certainly starting to feel that way as we’ve made very little in the way of progress over the last few weeks.  Apparently there have been ‘talks’ between the British and Turkish governments about re-opening tourism between our two countries, but nothing concrete seems to have come out of it as yet.  There’s also a faint light at the end of the tunnel as we steam ahead with the vaccination programme, with the possibility of more countries being opened up to those who have had both doses, but no definite announcement is expected any time soon.  There are still flights going to Turkey of course, but the main barrier to travelling there currently is insurance, with most insurance companies refusing to insure anyone who travels against Foreign Office advice, and those who will charging £500+ for cover. It’s starting to look like we won’t be able to go until at least August, maybe even later. So, for now I’m consoling myself with my online “Villa Porn” and hoping to be able view some of them in person if they haven’t sold by the time we get out there.

I’ve also had to give in and buy some new shorts and tee shirts this week, as nearly everything summery I possess was left in Turkey (because I definitely wouldn’t be wearing it before we returned in April).

Oh well, at least we’ve got more time to get organised here.  I’m off to start slapping coloured stickers on things now, in the ongoing saga of What to Do with All of the Stuff (if only I could remember what the colours mean for the ones I’ve already stuck on things!!)

Seriously, I am on the verge of having nightmares about ‘stuff’. I mean, where did it all even come from? I don’t consider myself to be a hoarder, not by a long shot, and that was reinforced when my mum passed away a few years ago and I vowed never to leave my kids with that much ‘stuff’ to sort through when I shimmied off into the afterlife. I became the kind of person who buys something new and gets rid of the old one, rather than hanging onto it ‘just in case’. The kind of person who donates any clothes she hasn’t worn in the last year (although I’ve been a little more forgiving this last year because I haven’t been anywhere to wear anything!) So, the only possible conclusion to draw is that it’s been multiplying all by itself – especially when left to its own devices in the loft!!

It’s been all systems go in the Lane household for the last few weeks. Work has started on getting the house ready to go on the market after the valuations confirmed that we actually can afford to relocate. It seems the market is moving incredibly fast at the moment, and we’ve been assured we can be expected to sell almost as soon as the property hits the market. That brings a dilemma, as we weren’t planning to start the ball rolling until around September time, with a view to maybe selling before Christmas and moving in February/March, or possibly not finding a buyer until after Christmas and moving in late spring/early summer. Now we have to decide whether to take advantage of the current demand for houses outstripping supply and follow the agent’s advice to put it on the market sooner.

While we’re deciding what to do, we’ve repainted one of the bedrooms, had a new boiler fitted and have a new bathroom going in. I occasionally wonder if I’ll still want to leave when all this work is finished, but then I think about sunshine and swimming pools and cocktails and I wish I were already there.

But the problem of what to do with ‘all of the stuff’ is the one that’s really playing on my mind. Should I keep it until the house is sold and we have an actual moving date? Should I get rid of everything now and hope I don’t find I need it in a few months’ time? What if the pandemic delays things for another year and I start to wish I’d kept things I’ve sold or given away? If I keep trying to force Tupperware and glass dishes on the kids, they’re going to stop coming around before much longer. Jugs anyone????