WOAH! I’m still in Turkey. That definitely wasn’t the plan, but that’s alright. I spent December in a few Turkish cities finishing up in Istanbul for Christmas and New Years Eve.

Venues Visited

(the links takes you to the location on Google Maps)

• Adana, Turkey
• Mersin, Turkey
• Izmir, Turkey
• Selcuk, Turkey
• Cannakale, Turkey
• Istanbul, Turkey

>>>The Highlight Reel<<<

Running My First Marathon

4 HOURS 27 MINUTES 2 SECONDS.

That was the finishing time for my first ever marathon. It wasn’t the OMG experience that many people have because:

• there weren’t many people cheering
• as I finished the awards ceremony had already begun
• as had most pedestrian traffic, not the way I wanted to cross the finish line
• There was only 130 odd of us doing the full marathon

Anyway, so stoked to tick this off.

And the running has continued post-marathon (at a lower intensity). I wasn’t 100% sure that was gonna happen. Yay for life improvements!

RELATED POST: MY FIRST EVER MARATHON: A RECAP

New Years Eve Was Solid

New Years doesn’t excite me like it used to. I was even thinking to get a night bus on the 31st to avoid the shenanigans.

But I decided to stick it out here in Istanbul as a few friends were coming to town. We drunk some wine, had a cheap feast, then went to a pub/cafe in the Old Town. As midnight approached, we headed to the street and got amongst the dancing.

At midnight, fireworks went off with biggest one exploding right by us (like 2 metres away).

It was quite the scene with everyone running in different directions. But it was all good and no one got seriously hurt (and the police were good about it all). In bed by 3am, perfect.

Finally Seeing A Basketball Match

I mention in the lowlights about failing to see events, but I did manage to get to a sports event in Istanbul. The derby between Fenerbahce and Galatasaray is the biggest in Turkey. For the women’s basketball the derby was totally fine crowd wise (I’m not sure why there were no Fenerbahce fans). There was a solid group of 200 Galatasaray ultras cheering, whistling and singing for the whole game making for an awesome atmosphere.

Besides a moment where it looked like Galatasaray might make a 4th quarter comeback, Fenerbahce dominated. Winning 79-67.

The City Of Izmir & Awesome Vegan Food

After feeling lonely in Antalya, I knew Adana and Mersin (marathon location) was going to be even further deprived of backpackers. So I booked a ticket to Izmir a couple days after the race. Best idea ever.

Izmir was awesome! An awesome hostel crowd helped with that. And an awesome vegan restaurant. Despite the cold weather, I enjoyed a few adventures around the city. I even decided to stop off there again after visiting Selcuk.

Booking Flights To India

One week until India! That’s exciting. I was all set to go to Morocco, but some weird mind force said India needed to be the next location. So India it is.

There are so many airlines flying from Turkey to the Middle East and the Middle East to India you can get there cheap as. You can do it cheaper than I did, but 190 euro from Turkey to India, booking two weeks in advance isn’t too shabby (IMO).

>>>The Fumbles<<<

Embassy Woes In Istanbul

India isn’t a country you can explore in two weeks. Though that’s what I did for my first two trips in 2015 (few days in Chennai) and 2017 (two weeks in Kerala). Hyprocite as bro.

So when I committed to visiting India, I figured at least three months would be perfect in the country to:

• see lots of sports
• hang in Goa
• travel with a friend from home for a month or so.

When I visited India in 2015 the e-visa wasn’t available so I applied at the Istanbul Embassy (funny coincidence). The process was totally fine, I had no issues at all. This time, they wouldn’t even let me in the building to pick up the forms. The security guard didn’t speak great English and when he put me on the phone with the officials upstairs, they told me to email them for an appointment. I emailed them, then was told to fill out the forms to get an appointment (the e-visa is only valid for two months).

It’s been 10 days or so, and still have no idea where those forms are. So glad I didn’t book flights in advance for Boxing Day, that would have put all plans up shit creek. So, I have decided to spend 2.5 extra weeks in Istanbul and get the e-Visa, valid for 60 days. It’s not what I really wanted, but oh well.

Not Being Proactive & Booking Tickets In Advance

With the unexpected longer time in I had in Istanbul, I was stoked I’d get to watch some football and basketball. The two matches I was most excited for were Besiktas JK vs. Osmanlispor in the football and the Besiktas vs. Galatasaray in basketball. I didn’t get to see either.

When I was on the Besiktas Stadium Tour (review coming soon), a local said I could buy tickets on game day as the crowd wouldn’t be big at all. I arrived 90 minutes before kickoff, and tickets were sold out. Spewing!

A couple days later, I went to book tickets online for the basketball but couldn’t find my bank card. When I jumped online the day before the match, they’d sold out! I was not a happy camper.

I did head to the stadium on game day hoping to scalp some tickets. That wasn’t successful, though it was cool to get a taste of the pre-match atmosphere. A fellow ticket hunter wanted tickets so bad he nearly got in a fight.

Not Getting To Watch Any Camel Wrestling

This wasn’t something I was excited to watch as it’s not fair to tempt camels into doing something they do naturally. I did want to see what exactly was involved as there isn’t much info online (is it even a sport?) The blog posts I read barely touched the ethics of it all. You can read the Wiki page here about the camel wrestling.

I had figured out the schedule and made the trip from Selcuk to Didim on December 10th via three public buses. When we got about 10km from Didim I learned they had canceled the event for the day. Of course. Annoyingly there wasn’t any information online that I could see saying so. That was pretty much a waste of a day. Brightside, I got to walk around Didim for a few hours.

I then found another event (they tend to happen every Sunday from November to Feb) close by when I was in Cannakale. Unfortunately, it was raining all day so even though I started heading to the event it started pouring down so I decided to turn back as it was 99% likely to be canceled.

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What I Finished Reading In December 2017

I’ll start expanding more on books I’ve read in upcoming editions of The Monthly Rundown. I highlight lots of passages as I read, how to curate that information and my lessons. Hmm…

Bigger Than the Game: Restitching a Major League Life by Dirk Hayhurst – 10/10 I don’t care for baseball, but Dirk went through so many lows you don’t hear enough about in pro sport and was candid about it all. Combined with his epic writing skills, this is a book I couldn’t put down.

Best Seat In The House by Justin Roberts – 9/10 The former WWE ring announcer like Dirk above is another great writer. While Justin isn’t an athlete, he is in his own way as he spent so much time around athletes. Again, like Dirk, he was super vulnerable didn’t mind telling it the way he saw it (not everyone would call Triple H a bully).

Federer by Chris Bowers – 7/10. Pubslihed in 2013 this book could have summed up his playing career, but, Federer has continued to further his legacy into 2018. I learned a lot about Federer in this book (he had quite the temper growing up) but can’t wait for him to publish an autobiography. He will write one surely.

Suárez, Messi, Neymar: Inside Barcelona’s Unstoppable Strikeforce by Luca Caioli – 6/10 Felt a bit too much like a text book. Telling the stories of each throughout each phase of their careers. There were some interesting pieces as their careers are rather contrasting, but there wasn’t enough to keep me reading for long stints.

Blog Posts From November

• On 5 Wicked Cool Things I Accomplished In 2017
• On The 5 Sports Blogs You Should Read For Your 2018 Travel Inspiration
• What Are The Most Popular Sports In France?
• On The One Fitness Hack That Every Traveller Should Know

What’s Coming Up In January

I was so close to going to Bulgaria for a few days before India, but I’m not keen for the cold weather so am staying in Istanbul until I fly out on the 11th. I do have a day (yay for long layovers) to run around Kuwait and see all the cool shit. I land in Mumbai and will make my way towards Goa. Should be good!

Never got to do that three day fast I wanted to do in December. Possibly do this before leaving for India?

READ MORE: 5 WICKED COOL THINGS ACCOMPLISHED IN 2017