Turknoy Travel Blog!

WE ARE BLOGGING AGAIN! Hope periodically hereon.... To be honest, really challenging. We are off to another "exploring tomorrow. :) Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim family and friends.

For now, here is our latest travel blog article - the one that started it all:

DREAMING OF FRANCE NO MORE! 

Do let us know what you think or not seeing that this lame blog is to link to another blog.


Keep exploring!
 

35 is old?

I am going to be in my mid-30s in a few hours. 

35 years old. 

That's a totally different group age. Mid-30s. 

That sounds so old. Adults and kids around me would think that I know a lot and that I am absolutely sure what I'm doing with my life. Ha, they would be so wrong! I became the master of winging it! 

35 years old. 

That age has been on my mind for the past year that I think I overindulge myself and lived as if this is my last year on earth.

I got a very good office with a dedicated parking space. 

I went “To The Top”, the tallest building in the world. I did enjoy the high speed elevator going all the way up to 124th floor. Woman on top – literally.

I went to Ski Dubai. Snow world in the middle of the desert. What man can do given the resources amazes me.

I have visited a very good friend in a foreign country and talked for hours.

First time, I rode an elephant for almost thirty minutes going from land to swamp.

I have stayed with my mother for six beautiful months in one house and didn't experience any drama. Drama between two of us, at least.

I have witnessed the biggest bonfire in Doha for a Christmas event in sand dunes. It was a really magical moment – Aladdin style but Christmassy.

I have toured Europe with my family (three kids! Three kids! Three kids! ) explored France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. That’s eight countries in less than two months with family. Supreme bliss.

We have set a travel goal for the family. 100 countries to explore before our eldest turn 18.

I have traveled to my dream cities - Paris and Venice after years of imagination and lack of planning. I liked the engineering aspect of Eiffel Tower, yes it is amazing but the city, for me, is below my expectations. I found Venice romantic and unique but any body of water does not make me as happy as when I see mountain views, tall buildings or fancy hotels. Sometimes, we have to achieve our dreams to realize that our dreams are not what we were really looking for.

I experienced Disneyland. Enjoyed it, hated it, got tired of it and enjoyed it! Comes the realization that there are other places in the world way less commercialized than Disneyland. And way better for kids! 

I stayed in a five star cave hotel and explored Cappadocia with family. Majestic views of naughty rocks – nature and its kinky works!

I rode the hot air balloon for the first time.

I rode the hot air ballon for the first time with family!

I became a mom of seven-year old girl. That's something! I survived the first seven years of being a mom - YAY for me! 

My seven-year old girl and I went to a trip in Belgium together and enjoyed every minute of it - full of adventure and zero of drama!

I have started homeschooling my three adorable kids. No more overpriced tuition, no more school run, no more complaining to teachers about bullies. We could focus now on nurturing my kids’ gift in our own unique way.

With my husband’s commitment and dedication, we have started launching our family business. It is going to be lots of hard work – but a single step is the start of a journey.

I have experienced death in the family. It still hurts a lot – but I have come to terms of accepting that our life here on earth is way too short to indulge the feelings of pain and loss. Life is too short. I have learned all over that time with family members is way more important than petty quarrels.

I am proud of my beliefs without caring what society thinks. I have high opinion of religion, education and discrimination. It feels good to think for myself and not be “molded.”

I have loved to become a mother, poo and all. But I have also loved the fact that I’m done being hypocritical about it. Being a parent is not all good – there are times that I want to strap my kids to the wall and dose them with cough syrup or sleeping pills so I could rest. (So far, I haven’t done that!)

I enjoy being a witness of seeing my brothers and sisters grow up and contribute to society. My little sister got herself a new car, my little brother travelled to Southeast Asian countries and my littlest sister paid for a hotel buffet for all of us. I am a very proud big sister.

I am well respected in my field at work. I have received the biggest salary increase in my career life.. so far.

I am comfortable with my body. I have accepted that my breasts are not as firma s they used to be and that my bottom is not one of my strong asset.

My house is always messy. I do not need to pretend to my husband. If he can’t find a pair of socks, he looks for it (hell no, not me!) and if he can’t find it, he’s okay with wearing mismatched socks or torn shorts or un-ironed shirt.

And I am very glad that my mother-in-law can’t read this.

I have started not shouting anyone for whatever reasons. I have no grudge nor hang ups. I made peace with all the people around me. Well, except a number of ex-boyfriends who still can’t add me as their Facebook friends. (Can't blame them!)

I get on average 30-50 “Likes” to my Facebook posts because I always publish something positive. No drama. But most of the time, my cute kids photos and milestones – it’s an addiction. Who will not like that?

I am actively in contact with my real friends. I can count them in my ten fingers, but who needs loads of friends when I have the real ones?

I laughed out loud a lot until I pee it’s embarrassing.

I am 35 years old. I feel old, yes but simply because I  feel that I have a lot of wisdom to share. Not everything, but something. 

Happy birthday to me! and hoops, to my husband who's turning 37 and to my little sister who is turning 21 - legal age! 

Gotta love 23rd of August! A very special day indeed. 

Happy happy life! Thanks be to God!
 

The Year 2012 That Was!

HELLO, BLOG! Yes, it has been a while.


And Happy New Year! WOOO! Turknoys have been so busy and writing just can't keep up with us.

Life is way too beautiful and now we are sitting back for a while trying to re-collect things and appreciate all the events that had happened the past year.

The Year That Was 2010 brought back very good memories and reminded our family how we were - the things we thought were a big deal before may not be as big as we think of these things now. Funny thing is we realize how we grew up when we look up.

The Year That Was 2011 is a Turkey year as we visited the country four times, got pregnant with our dear bunso there! The great year ender is a big YAY (we look at this now) - as The Turk got let go at his job. What happened next are ALL ALL good!

So here are the details of what happened last 2012 and it's all about EGGS and POO!

With one of us unemployed and we are pregnant with our third, January is the month we learned that EGGS are fragile and we need to save lots of eggs in different baskets! We started investing and it has been a roller coaster ride - we didn't know what will happen, we get scared and we get elated. We got hooked and we love every minute of it.

February is fun, although we keep on insisting to find a job for the husband even though it was quite clear that we need to do something different.

March is great, too. More job hunting, more rejections but other investment is keeping us up to our toes.

April is GREAT! We welcomed Kayra Demirkol, a beautiful bouncing baby girl to our family. Grandmother got back to Doha to help us with our youngest Tita Minay to find job. She is the last one to graduate in my family so there goes the responsibility for the eldest. The day she graduated, the day I shout - Freedom! And I happily pass the buck to the them. Bow.

April is also the month we realized that real friends are important and that it made us realize that just because we "fit in" our existing environment, it doesn't mean that we have real friends. Well, it is difficult for us as both The Turk and I are anti-social and have few real friends growing up, not to mention we do not conform to some traditional thinking. I think this is the month we decided that we will let it be. We'll embrace US - the way we want US to be. (Yes, deep - but it played a very important part in how we live at the moment!)

Husband found another job May.  Right at the moment, we got hired, we knew that it will only be a temporary thing - we just wanted to feel "normal" at the moment. Another thing we were able to change  last year - we are now comfortable of being a non-conformity.

He was only employed up to February of this year. And he quit that time. Big applaud to him, please.


June is a start of another investment. We moved in from a two-bedroom flat to a 5-bedroom villa with a big garden and parking space. It's AWESOME. We finally started to work smart and not work too hard. Thanks be to God and we pray hard that we will be able to sustain this.

And Kylie got the top of the class award in Year 1 - unofficially. Not that it matters - we also have high opinion of how it is not important to be best in class - what you learn and what you apply in life is of outmost important.

July is adjustment month. Perhaps the biggest challenge for us this month is potty training our 2-year old. Oh the nappies we use with a baby and preschool still not yet potty trained. Sorry, Mother Earth for the daily garbage!

August we started traveling. A great way to celebrate our birthday and anniversary month. As a start, we visited Dubai and stayed in Atlantis. We toured Ski Dubai, Mall of Emirates and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world. We knew that we will travel more as family in the future. We are happy, we are letting things go.


September is another great milestone. We now have two kids in school. Kerim started school - big boy already! Kylie is in Year 2 and Kayra is growing up to be a very beautiful baby girl! Life is blissful.

We visited one of my greatest friend, spiritual adviser and mentor in Indonesia - another travel destination with lots of lessons learned and memories gained! We rode an elephant -  one item in bucket list checked!


October is huge change in lifestyle and attitude towards extended family. Our sisters moved out of our house as they have their own path to find. It's a mutual decision with almost no-drama. It's refreshing and it's a very good change. Time to focus on Turknoys. Grandmother also left to Philippines. We are again back on our own - with three kids this time. Not easy, but that's how family life should be.

November is more EGGS in different basket. Some eggs we dropped, some eggs flourished. And yes, our 3-year old now use the toilet to pee (to use toilet to POO) is a totally different story.

We are so psyched about traveling next year that we booked for Disneyland Paris and availed their promotion. And the planning for Europe Tour begins.

December  is a month long celebration of the Christmas season. We particularly love the Qatar National  Day as Qatar Airways has a one day promotion for plane tickets 40%! Boom, tickets to Paris was booked!

 Don't you think our 2012 is awesome! 

January 2013 came and more planning and investing happened. February is a milestone as husband started officially the business in Qatar and then off we went to France and Italy March 2013!

And here's the beautiful NOW moment! - we are planning our first tour to Turkey this May through Istanbul Dreams. 

Life is indeed good.

KEEP EXPLORING!