You sit down and slip smoothly into the water. It seems safe for the most part except that you are sitting on the waters. But then you push out towards the bend. As you turn slightly sideways the waves that were once gently pushing you up and down are now rocking you back and forth. Not an easy feeling in the stomach until you realize its gonna take a bit more than that to put you in the water. At that instant, when you are overcoming that small mental obstacle, you round that bend and suddenly you are staring out into the open waters of the Aegean Sea. The waves start to unsettle you again but you are prepared now and just pick up that paddle and push out. Its just you and that broad expanse of water staring back. An awesome feeling of adventure and at the same time you realize your singular miniscule existence in the greater picture of life as a whole. Out on the open waters there are not many distractions as your speed doesnt really allow for a great change in scenery, allowing you to ponder that question and what you will do with the limited time you are given. Or you can spend the time worrying about your wife, bravely travelling in her own sea kayak, but being woefully outpaced by all others travelling in the group. Despite the pace, however, she never gave up (assistance was given in the form of a tow rope from the handsome turkish assistant) and claimed this to be a truly unique experience. This sea kayak adventure was in lieu of her preffered boat ride and swimming experience around the islands near ... She gave that up for me and Im still not sure if her declaration was an attempt to curse me for taking her out there and making her row her own boat or a sincere appreciation of the experience. Admittedly it was a tiring experience for the arms, but so worth the mere 50 lira each paid for it. And we got so much more out of it... she got a nice massage after it and we both created a great memoery to cherish forever. A great experience!
On a separate note, a brief comment on transportation. In Turkey, we took the bus, plane, taxi, tram, and trolley. While tram and trolley services were less than pleasant and rather uniquely operated, bus and plane made even some of the amazing facilities in Korea pale in comparison. For longer rides, buses included built in tvs in the head rests (granted all the shows were in turkish) usb ports were been available (I think) and many buses had free wifi (sadly not ours). To top it all off they had their own steward who distributed free snacks occasionally and beverages and also lemon scented disinfectant. Granted maintenance was a bit lacking as we had an unscheduled 2 hour pit stop for bus repairs, but you cant have everything.
And the planes... particularly Pegasus Airlines! The plane itself was a bit old but good, stewardesses were kind but not outstanding, but the most memorable thing was the safety announcement before take off. The message was exactly the same as every other flight but all presented by young children. Demonstrations of what to do and not do were done by children. Speech... by children. Very effective way to get your attention to actually listen to the safety announcement. It would be nice to see other airlines make that same effort and creativity for safety awareness.
