Turkey ft: Mikayla

Joined this week by Mikayla whom I met during our San Blas Islands tour. She came on to talk about her trip to Turkey including:

• The Uber fight
• Sailing the Mediterranean Sea
• Hot air balloons in Cappadocia
• Going for a "Turkish" bath
• Trying the local cuisine
• & much more!

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Try just 7 through the knee on lights from Tokyo to Rios.
Go riding high, the beat drops low.

(00:27):
Number one everywhere he goes. Late night with stories bold
gold plated entails untold microphone.
His mighty sword podcast world he can't ignore.
Welcome to the Up in the Clouds podcast featuring your host

(00:50):
Adrian Hustling. What's up, everybody?
I'm your host, Adrian, this is the Up in the Clouds podcast and
welcome back to another episode.I feel like it's been a couple
weeks since I talked to you all so.
Let's do a little little life update here.
Huh, it's been a crazy time. I've been in Peru for already 5

(01:11):
weeks which is crazy to think about and have another week left
here and I'm chilling in the beautiful little mountain town
of Horas doing some hikes, hopefully some mountain biking
and getting some work done too. It's nearing the end of my Latin
America part of the trip which is crazy to think about.
I can't believe it's already been seven months that have been

(01:33):
in Central South America and it's finally coming to an end.
The reason one time, but mostly two budget.
Unfortunately, I, as you know, blew a lot of the budget earlier
in my travels. I was excited, I was fired up.
I wanted to do everything I wanted to drink every night.
And so yeah, the money is running out.

(01:54):
So I need to make my way over toAustralia and start working
again. I, I can't even mentally process
that to have to go back to work.Oh my God, I'm not ready.
But either way, it's got to be done.
So I'm here in this little mountain town for another week,
and it's kind of the perfect place to just lay low, chill,
and get some work done before starting the next chapter of

(02:17):
these travels. So yeah, I'm applying to jobs
right now, hopefully have something lined up before I get
out there. I'll be going to Australia in
about a month. And the cool thing is I was
looking at flights and the cheapest options from Latin
America actually go through Hawaii and then down to
Australia. So I figure, well, if I'm
heading up that way, I might as well stop back at home, good old

(02:37):
Canada, Calgary, AB and go see some friends and hang out for a
couple weeks. So I've got about two more weeks
left here in South America and then I'm gonna be flying U to
Canada for a couple weeks and then down to Australia.
So if you're listening to this and you are in Australia, feel
free to reach out to me, let me know where you're at because I'd

(02:58):
love to come visit. Right now I don't have a plan.
I think I'll be flying into Sydney because it is again the
cheapest option. But if I do get a job somewhere
else, let's say Perth, then I'llbe flying into Perth because I
need to get to work ASAP. Peroni.
But other than that, things havestill been really good.
I mean, enjoying every single day of this trip.

(03:19):
And I got a hell of a view. Right now I'm on the rooftop
terrace of my hostel looking at about 9 different mountain
peaks. I'd say about six of them are
snow covered. It's it's quite the place to be,
quite the site. But yeah.
So that's kind of the latest update there for you all.
Yeah. It's sad it's coming to an end,
but it's only the end of Chapter1.

(03:40):
There's many more chapters to come.
So I'm excited to see what happens now in Australia.
But anyways, for today, we have a good episode for you.
I had my friend Michaela come onand she talked about her trip
over to Turkey, which she did last year.
And she's got a couple really good stories.
Some things I did not see comingfor sure.

(04:00):
Me and her actually met during these Sand Blades Island tour
from Panama to Colombia. And yeah, so it was nice to have
her on, nice to do a little Zoomcall, catch up a little bit and
get some insight into the beautiful country of Turkey,
which is definitely somewhere I want to travel eventually,
Hopefully I can make it over to Europe, uh, during this stint of
travels. But I mean, we'll see what

(04:22):
happens. That's still a couple years
away. So who knows?
But anyways, without further ado, let's head on over to the
interview. Alright, so welcoming on as our
next guest to the podcast. We first met during the famous
Sandlas Island tour and unfortunately for her, she was

(04:43):
stuck with me on a sailboat for five days.
We sang karaoke, although I waited until she left, explored
the islands together and ate countless good meals.
We both experienced A mainsail mass breaking off into the water
and 48 hours of misery while outon the open sea.
The conversation starting positive, thinking American, for
better or worse. Yay, what an honor.

(05:10):
That was awesome, I love that intro.
Was that a good one I put together in like 5 minutes?
That was perfect. That's all I could have asked
for and more. Perfect.
Yeah, I like doing the intro is just hype you up a little bit,
you know? Yeah, that was good.
Now I do something at the beginning of every interview

(05:30):
just to kind of warm U the vocalcords, loosen things up a little
bit. It's called speed round
questions. Are you familiar with this?
Um, no, but let's do it. OK, so she doesn't listen to the
pod folks. That's that's not good.
Alright, sorry but I I can assume what it is right?

(05:50):
Just answer questions that you give to me whatever wants.
Exactly. I'm gonna give you 2 options.
You're gonna pick the option youlike the best.
Are you ready? Yes.
All right, here we go. Happy to be home or wish you
were traveling? I wish I was traveling.

(06:11):
Window or aisle seat? I'll see.
Oh, really? OK.
Europe or Latin America? Latin America for sure.
OK, snorkel or chill on the beach.
Chill on the beach. I'm not a snorkeler.
For that island hopping or open seed.

(06:35):
Island hopping for sure. The open sea was awful.
Awful. Uh, popping pills are mermaid
leaven. Um, popping pills.
So I was popping those pills. Yeah, you were.
As soon as it started kicking in, you're like, yeah, I gotta
take another pill. Pasta or full fish?

(06:57):
Full first. The octopus pasta was good, but
it was kind of, it was just interesting.
I don't know, it was like a texture thing.
Definitely a big tax year thing.I'm actually impressed.
Just the fact that I tried it, but not my favorite.
I'd go with the Bolognese every day.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

(07:17):
Uh, Panama or Colombia? Uh, um, I liked Panama, but I
did like Colombia just a little bit more.
OK, OK, uh, would you do it again or take the speed boat?
Oh, that's a good question. Uh.

(07:38):
I love it when I stop people. I think I would do the speed
boat next time. Unfortunately, that was really,
really fun. But like the open sea, I don't
know if I can do that again. That was tough.
That was really tough, but it was fun.
It was an experience you only have to do really once I think.

(07:59):
Oh yeah, definitely. Just once if I was in this.
Yeah, if I'm doing it again, I'mdoing speed boat all day and I'm
spending more time on the islands.
Yeah, they don't. I don't need.
The Open, exactly. No thanks.
Perfect. Yeah.
Even on the last day there was like that one island that I wish
we did get to spend a little bitmore time at, Um, what have been
nice, I think. We're all a little surprised,

(08:21):
right? Because I think we expected a
full third day out on the islands and they said no 2:00,
we gotta set sail for the open scene.
We're like what? Yeah, yeah, that was insane.
And that was also, well, we celebrated my sister's birthday
that day too, which was fun. But yeah, insane to get prepared
for the open sea. Did you talk about that on the

(08:45):
podcast as well? Ohi, I did and you would know
that if your lesson. No, that's.
OK. Sorry, no, it's all good.
Yeah, I've, I've, I've talked about it a couple times.
I had both types and hot on. And so we talked about our
experiences who obviously had was with me or with us and then
Tyson was on the other boat. So we've already we've already

(09:06):
gone through that, that experience.
Yeah. But before we get to your
experience traveling and going to Turkey, I just want to ask
one, how are you? And two, where are you?
I'm good. I am at home in Chicago.
I just got done with my work day.
So just Zoom call to another Zoom call.

(09:28):
But it's good. I this is a more fun one for me.
This is great. So yeah, I'm excited.
OK, nice Zoom calls all day. So you're just working from
home? Yeah, I'm working from home
today. All that's that's a pretty good
deal that that's a pretty good deal.
So I understand now why you justhave it at your head and you
have the green screen in the background.

(09:49):
Yeah, now it makes sense. Yeah, yeah, I'm literally
sitting on my floor with my cat tree behind me and everything.
I'm like, this is I need to be somewhere other than my desk
right now. All guys just gonna ask why are
you on the floor? But no, that makes sense.
If you need to change up, that'sthat's fair.
If you're sitting there all day,Well, we brought you on to talk
about your recent travel. I think it's recent anyways.

(10:11):
I don't know how recent is, but to Turkey when when did you go?
Yeah. I went, um, last year in like
end of August, beginning of September, so just like a year
ago, yeah. OK.
End of August, beginning of September, I know nothing about
Turkey. Is that their summer season like

(10:32):
what's on the year? Is that for them?
Yeah, it was pretty hot there atthat time.
It was, yeah. It was tough, but I remember the
first couple days sweating and like once you land and like with
the jet lag and everything. That wasn't the best feeling
ever, but it was pretty fun overall.

(10:54):
I'm like, yeah, I think it was just really hot, but we did have
something to go. Good to look forward to for that
too. We like had a sale trip while we
were there for four days, so that helped break it up a little
bit. Especially when they're more
sailing in Turkey. I know that was my first sale

(11:14):
trip, yeah. OK, OK.
And you went back for more, so it must have been a good trip.
But before I get to the sailing part, I always ask everyone you
briefly just touched on it is what was your first impression
of Turkey when you got off that plane?
Oh, wow. Uh, it was definitely a culture
shock. It was a big culture shock

(11:35):
because I was in the airport andwe landed and I used to go to
the bathroom and basically the toilet was a hole in the ground.
So that was my first impression.Was the hole in the ground PNG?
Yeah. Yeah.
So, so how that goes? So like you're obviously
squatting, they give you like handholds or anything, or you're

(11:56):
just like freelancing it. Uh, you just squat?
Yeah, I, I mean, I kind of triedto avoid those ones.
Like I would wait until a regular one would open up, but
when you gotta go, you gotta go and you're going in a hole
basically. So it was definitely a bit of a
culture shock. I didn't know how to do it at

(12:18):
all. I was just like going to squat.
Never, never squatted a day in her life.
Well, I camped growing up so I kind of know, but it was
definitely an experience to do that in like a bathroom where
you have to pay like 10 lira for. 1010 yeah.

(12:40):
I I what's the what's the translation there Like how much
is 1 U.S. dollar per how many lira?
Oh, that's a good question that I don't remember the answer to.
We don't do research on this podcast, but for this one I'll
actually do some research because I feel like I probably
should. I also had to look up Turkey on
the map because I had no idea where it was.

(13:02):
OHP Yeah, fair. It's it's huge.
Yeah, it's on there. It's like Middle East, right
above the Mediterranean, that type of area.
Yeah, no, I didn't. OHK.
OK, so wait, is there not OHK Turkish, Turkish lira, right.
That's what I'm looking. For Lira, yeah.

(13:24):
OK. The Lira and what was gonna
mention on that note, so the bathroom situation, was that
like a common thing in Turkey orwere there more frequently
toilets? Because I know I had the same
experience on Inca Trail, which I'll share that story in a
second, but I'll let you answer that.
First. Oh really?
Yeah. Common thing.
I mean, yeah. Oh gosh, every bathroom had like

(13:46):
those holes on the ground. I guess.
I think a lot of the bathrooms were suited towards like Muslim
practices and stuff because I know that you have to like wash
yourself every so often. I don't know the specifics,
don't ask me specifics, but I know that they, I did see a lot
of people like washing their feet and washing their hands in

(14:11):
the bathrooms. And there was like there were
hoses and stuff on the side and things like that.
Yeah, you just have to experience it for yourself.
Are you talking about here? So you go to the location, you
squat and then you have a nice little like shower with the
garden hose. Yeah, exactly.
I mean, I didn't do that, but yeah, I could totally be messing

(14:35):
this up and I will be cancelled but.
Maybe the garden hose was a bad day, do you think?
No, I know that people were likewashing their feet.
I know that for sure. OK, OK.
But not their bottoms. No, I don't.
Well, I mean it is a common thing too.

(14:56):
And yeah, as of today. So I don't know.
I don't know what they were doing with the house, but it's
everywhere. OK, fair enough.
So for people listening, one U.S. dollar is 40 Turkish.
What were they called? Liras.
Lira. Yeah, Lira, yeah.

(15:16):
So that seems like a pretty gooddeal.
I really know nothing about the currency there.
But when you're traveling to Turkey, did you have to get a
visa? No.
So yeah, I no, we didn't actually, Yeah, no.
OK. OK.
Well, I'm wondering if it's maybe like for Canada, US
specifically to like might be one of those ones or if you're

(15:37):
in a country under 90 days, you're good to go.
We don't need a visa because that's like most countries I
feel like. Yeah, Yeah, that was, I feel
like that's how it is for a lot of Americans is we don't really
have to for a lot of places. But I know like in Colombia you
had to pay a fee because you're a Canadian, and I never

(15:58):
understood that. Like why did you have to pay
that fee? Can I ask?
Yeah, Well, yeah, of course you're welcome to ask.
Yeah, so. I'm like so.
Curious, I had to pay the $85 entrance fee.
It's for Canadians only. It's because we imposed a tax on
Colombians entering Canada. So they basically just did the
same thing to us. And the worst part was I had to

(16:20):
pay that fee twice because I decided to go down to Patagonia
around the time that hard enticewent to Majin.
And then when I was done in Patagonia, they were still in
Colombia and I wanted to go linkup with them.
So I actually had to re enter Colombia while there's a whole
other story to go with that. I don't know if you've heard it.
Um, I did mention it on the pod as well.

(16:41):
But the second time entering Colombia, I had no hostel
booked, I had no exit flight booked and my cards were not
working at the time, so I couldn't pay the entrance fee.
So they literally took me into aseparate room and said, you're
getting deported. We're sending you back to
Argentina. And I'm thinking, OK, well, one,
this is a crazy story 2 Oh shit.And three, there's worse places

(17:04):
to get deported. But for about 24 hours I was
stuck in the airport and I had to make some serious moves.
So basically what ended up happening is I was able to still
use my debit card in the ATM. So I was able to pull the pull
out cash and they said they'd accept cash because they
couldn't physically use the card, which is crazy.
And then I did book a hostel andhad a book a fake flight.

(17:28):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, that's insane.Well, I'm quite these days.
Yeah, that's nuts. Like you believe you went
through. I think I saw something about
that on your Instagram story. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
OK, Yeah, that's what it was. That's, that's, that's what
happened. That's what it was.

(17:48):
And that reminds me too. I was gonna mention a quick
story. We're supposed to be
interviewing you. You're supposed to be telling
stories. But anyways, rolling back to the
the the toilets and the and the floor, I was doing the Inca
trail and that's all they have for majority of the four days.
So, so without too much detail, I didn't go for a couple of

(18:09):
days. And so it was like the last day
and I was hurting. So I finally went through this
little like list porta potty looking thing.
And I saw porta potty. So I'm like, yeah, it's like a
toilet knoch, just a hole in theground.
And I'm like, yeah, I have no choice at this point.
So I squatted and I like literally grabbed like where the
hinges are of the door on each side just to like support myself

(18:29):
and. Oh my God.
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was an experience to say the
least. But anyone in Seattle?
Oh no, that was you were holdingon for dear life.
Ohi was yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because my worst fear is just
slipping and falling into that, yeah.

(18:52):
Yeah. Was that how it was?
Oh God, it's so. That was the Inca Trail.
Yeah, that was the Inca trail. Yeah.
Day one you had a couple toiletsand then after that it was just
hole in the ground. Yeah, so.
Ohio. That was fun, no?
No. No, no showers, obviously, but
they gave you like a bucket of water.

(19:12):
So like I remember the first dayI actually literally just poured
it over myself for a shower. And then days like three to
four, I just gave UI was like, Idon't care at this point.
I had my own tent. There's like an odd number in
our group and I managed to be the one that got my own tent.
So I was like, yeah, fuck it, noones gonna care anyway.
Yeah, nice. But anyways, backtracking to

(19:34):
Turkey. So now you're talking about
doing a sailing trip. Was that the main reason you
went there? Like why did you choose Turkey?
Um I guess my friend, well what happened was my friend, her
cousin couldn't go anymore and they were planning on doing the
sailing trip and she asked me like not last minute but like a
couple months before if I wantedto go with her because her

(19:58):
cousin got hurt. And yeah, I ended up being like,
yeah, why not? I'll go to Turkey.
I'm like, but yeah, we ended up doing.
They knew that they were going to do the sailing trip and I
thought it sounded like a reallycool experience.
OHS. I see the cat.

(20:19):
Oh my gosh, here it is. For everyone listening on a Zoom
call right now, she's got the cat in the background but the
background is all blurred out, but I could see the movement in
the background. Yeah, he's like trying to get a
pet right now. He's like I had budding me, but
ah, but yeah, it was really, really fun.

(20:39):
The sale trip. I think that was probably
definitely the highlight of my trip.
We had some crazy things happen while we were there though, so I
can kind of get into that too ifyou want.
Absolutely roll into it. So is that to do with the the
sailing though or is that separate?
Separate. Separado.

(21:00):
OK. So we're going to share some
stories on the Separado here momentarily.
I just had a couple of questionsover the sailing though.
Is was it kind of like Yacht Yacht week, that kind of style
or? So it's kind of like that I
would say like it was we did four days, but other people do
like a whole week. So we hopped on during like the

(21:22):
second-half of the trip and theyhad always already like known
each other. We hopped on and Marmaris and
then we sailed from Marmaris to Bodrum, Turkey.
So yeah, it was really, really fun.
Lots of Australians on the boat.Oh God, Kiwis.

(21:44):
I felt like I was going to pick up some sort of Australian
accent after that, but my friendand I kept saying no.
Are. Yeah.
But um, yeah, it was just like you basically stay on the boat

(22:05):
the whole time. You hop on, hop off.
Kind of like what we did in Panama, but in Panama we did a
lot more, like getting off and exploring the islands and
snorkeling and stuff. But in Turkey, we just kind of
hopped on, hopped off drink, we had a bar on our boat, which was

(22:27):
really fun. And then just listen to a lot of
music. So yeah, it was really, really
fun. I would totally recommend it.
We did it through Go Sail Turkeyand they have like Go sail
Croatia, Go Sail Greece, things like that and I like the best
I've ever. The food was amazing.

(22:48):
We had a chef on board and he was awesome.
And then just the crew was like,amazing.
Yeah, I feel like the last nightwas kind of like the time where
we got to like explore the town,but the other nights we were
kind of like waking up and sailing.

(23:10):
Uh, one of the things I'll neverforget is like falling asleep.
We all slept on the deck becauseit was too hot to sleep in the
cabins and they didn't turn on AC.
We didn't have fans until like acertain time, so we all slept up
on the deck and that was just like amazing.
I felt like because you could just look at the stars and then

(23:32):
wake up to just sailing and the sunrise and everything, it was
just like a dream. I've never felt more at peace in
my life, I think. OK, fair enough.
Well, that does sound very dreamy for sure.
Just sleeping up top, looking atthe stars.
I imagine it was quite a good view as well and obviously warm
enough to do so. But I don't want to know about

(23:53):
On this podcast, we don't do anyfree ads, so go sale, you have
to reach out to me. We'll talk about some kind of
sponsorship moving forward. Yeah.
But no, that's awesome. And yeah.
OK, so more time on the on the sailboat for sure.
And I know a lot of those sailing trips, especially in
Turkey, Croatia, they're more party based, right.
It is interesting that there's alot of Ozzies and yeah, I love

(24:15):
their accent. Like I just know because I'm
going down there in about a month, it's gonna be very hard
for me not to just adopt the accent because it's so fun.
And I don't want them to think I'm mocking them because I'm
not. It's just like so fun to talk
that way. It is or like to say may doesn't
want to say mate, you know, likeor they have some other really

(24:36):
fun slang, which is I like, I can't remember off the top of my
head, but it's just so fun and you pick it up really fast.
Well, so you're saying like you didn't explore a lot.
So like during the days it's just more time on the border and
the water, you're not really like going destination, the
destination. And then how long were you
sailing each day? Um, I guess it depended on the

(24:59):
day. Um, we did feel quite a bit, but
once we got to like our destination, we were there for a
long time and I think we mainly sailed like at night when we
were all sleeping. Yeah, I think we did just like

(25:24):
jump in the water. I'm like trying to think it was
just a lot of reading, a lot of talking, a lot of getting to
know each other. It was really, really fun.
Oh God, that sounds terrible. I don't know.
I feel like when we were sailingin Panama, we were all just
trying to like, not puke, but inTurkey it was a lot better.

(25:51):
The there weren't 11 1/2 foot waves.
Um, yeah, we were just having a really fun time, just chatting
and failing and relaxing in the sun and jumping in the water.
Some people did like do some Cliff diving which was cool or
just walking. We did have also like a dingy

(26:14):
which took us places or if we wanted to go to the other boat,
there was another boat travelingwith us.
But that's where we kind of likejust played a lot of games and
we played zoom, zoom in a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for, for
everyone listening to want to explain that real quick cause
they're going to go, what the heck is she talking about?

(26:34):
Yeah, it was like just this gamethat one of the girls from New
Zealand taught us while we were on the boat and everyone from
Australia like knew the game already, I guess.
But just like a you say to the beat and you say like numbers
and whatever and whoever loses or goes off beat has to do like

(26:59):
a true through dare. So one person, you know, swam to
the other boat naked or did likea lap around the crew naked.
It was just insane. But it was really fun.
Yes, um, it was different. Uh huh.

(27:25):
I didn't do anything crazy like that.
It was more so just like, I think you know the game, Marry,
kill. Ah, yeah, Yep.
Yeah, they were saying to do that with all the people on the
boat, so. With all the people you had to.
Pick out like. Out and you, by the way, you can

(27:47):
let it fly in the pot. You can swear if you want, but
yeah, OK, So you had to, OK. I didn't know.
I didn't know if you were. Yeah, fuck fairy tale.
So I had to pick one person out about that.
I wanted to talk one person I wanted to marry one person I
wanted to kill. OK, OK, OK.
Yeah. Who'd you kill?
Yeah, now that that seems harsh.That seems harsh.

(28:09):
Yeah, I don't remember. I don't really remember who I
chose for each one honestly. I feel like yeah.
One person did a shoey though, which was so fun to watch.
Um, yeah, I like. Don't remember how I answered
that question honestly but Aussies are crazy.

(28:31):
They they will hit you with the hard hitting things like the
questions, the dares. Like they know off the top of
their head without even thinking, they're like, yeah, do
a laugh naked go and they're they'll do it.
I'm like OK. Oh, that's, that's our four
table. That's why I'm excited for
Australia, because I feel like I'm gonna fit right in, like I'm

(28:52):
here for it. I'm ready.
Yeah, you'll, you'll fit in. It'll be fun.
I feel like that your adopt their ways.
I'll for sure, for sure and I'llteach them a couple Canadian.
Thanks to you. No, no doubt, no doubt.
But alright, moving on from the sale and then cause we've talked
about a lot of that in the pod. You said you had some other

(29:12):
stories though, from your trips and things that happened along
the way. Yeah, I mean, I guess this
happened. Um, well, there's two main
stories that I remember on that really stand out.
Uh, so like on our way to the boat, we were kind of, we were
in Cappadocia first and then we went to Antalya and from Italia

(29:37):
we had to get to Marmaris, whichwas where they were going to
pick us up the next day for the boat.
So we had a bus planned and scheduled for that day, and we
get to the bus station, nobody speaks English, it's all Turkish
people running around. And we see that our bus isn't
there and we're kind of like, OK, whatever, it's probably

(30:00):
late. Later on we find out that our
bus was cancelled. We had no idea we had gotten the
tickets beforehand. It's it was just a big mess.
And then we go and try to get like a new ticket because we
needed to get there that night in order to get on this boat

(30:21):
that we had already paid for thenext day.
So we had to the front desk and they get us Prophetia, which is
like halfway between Antalya, which was where we were, and
Marmaris, which was where we were going.
Um, so we get halfway, we end upgetting the fat deer.

(30:42):
We're at the bus station waitingand we needed to just figure out
how to get from Feta to Marmaris, which was another
couple hour drive. So we get there and we're like,
let's just try an Uber because Uber was a thing there and they
did have like taxis and stuff, but we also didn't want to like

(31:02):
get ripped off. So we ended up ordering an Uber.
It comes like right away. It was amazing.
We're just like perfect, amazing.
Let's get to Marmaris right now.So we're on the way and our
driver and this other driver start playing like rage road
rage tag. The driver pulls up in front of

(31:26):
us, slams on their brakes. We slam on our brakes.
It's like back and forth like that.
And our drivers like swearing and Turkish.
We're doing this for like it felt like 20 minutes and we
really thought we were going to get into a car accident.
At that point it was saying um, so we end up pulling off in

(31:49):
front of a police station. He mind you are police officer
speaks or not a police officer. Our driver speaks very minimal
English so we had no idea what was happening.
And he's just swearing in Turkish and where my friend and
I are looking at each other likewhat is happening?
We're so scared right now. So we asked the driver we're
like, are we OK? Like are we going to be OK?

(32:11):
And he goes, I don't know. Oh, perfect.
That's reassuring. Yeah.
Yeah, yes, so great. Yeah.
So we get we're like in the car,Our driver gets out, the other
driver gets out, they start fighting.
The other driver grabs our driver by the ear, screaming and
Turkish. The police officers come running
out of the station by friends. Start videotaping because that's

(32:34):
what we do in America. Ha ha ha.
So the police officer comes up to her window.
It's just like knocks on the window.
And it's like, no video. You can't videotape whatever.
We put the phone away and they get involved.
They're like looking in our car,looking at us.
We're like holding on to each other.

(32:54):
We're like, Oh my God, how are we going to get to Mars?
This, this is insane. Are we going to die here?
But yeah, we ended up just waiting for the other driver to
drive off. The police officers split it up
and we were good to go and we made it to Marous.

(33:15):
Um, yeah, it was like 3 in the morning when we finally made it,
but we did it. And we got to the.
Time, yeah. More important important thing
is he adds to the boat in time. I mean, they were fighting with
each other. At least it's not like they were
like after you, right? Like obviously you're in the car
so there's nice and that could be an issue.
But that sounds like a wild time.

(33:36):
I actually probably would have just like fired up some popcorn.
Be like, alright, boys need to sell the beef here.
Let's go one-on-one. Best man wins.
But uh yeah, that that is a crazy story.
I have a couple questions to go with it.
How much were you or was it likefairly priced or like a little
more expensive? I mean, for where we were going,
we were like, let's go, let's pay for it.

(33:58):
I think it, I really don't know how much it was, but I think it
was like 100 American dollars for like a couple hour drive.
So we were like between the two of us.
If we split that, that's fine. We're just trying to get to this
boat that we paid a lot of moneyfor and we were only traveling
for 10 days. So in the end we really doing

(34:20):
this for it. Yeah, See, that's the problem
though, is the Americans, they just, they just fly the money
around and then the rest of us pour backpackers.
We can't. We can't afford it.
OHP No, we really. Had.
No, we were just trying to get there.
That was it. Like, I think we didn't want to
waste time. We didn't want to waste money.

(34:41):
God no, I was literally it. Um, yeah.
Yeah, I don't know. Fair enough.
Fair enough. Sometimes you gotta do what you
gotta do. Like if you're in a situation
like that and you have a chance to do an Uber, especially like
you said, you never know a taxislike you're bound to get ripped
off, especially as soon as they see you're a foreigner.
Um, couple more questions. 1, you mentioned the driver,

(35:03):
obviously not a lot of English. Was that pretty much the, the
common situation in Turkey, likewas English not very big there?
And two, how was public transportation in general on the
roads there? Like obviously your bus got
cancelled, you didn't know, Was that a recurring theme or was it
fairly reliable outside of that?Yeah.

(35:23):
So first question, they didn't really know a lot of English.
The language barrier was insane.I think I only know 1 Turkish
word after that trip, which is Thank you to Shaklee, which we
were also told to say like tea, sugar, ice cream or something

(35:44):
like that. So we were telling people, tea,
sugar, ice cream, what? Which is not even close to it.
I don't. I don't know.
Yeah, we were like 2 Tea, sugar,ice cream.
But no, it was to share Kulek, Ithink.
But that's how you say thank you.
Um, it's just a very hard language.

(36:05):
I definitely would go into Turkey knowing a little bit more
like hi, how are you, whatever or just having it downloaded on
your phone. Turkish umm, yeah, I we did not
prepare for that. And then getting around.
Turkey is a huge country, Um, there's flights from place to

(36:30):
place. We flew most of the time and the
flights were pretty cheap, so wedidn't really take a lot of
buses. That was our only bus that we
had planned and it didn't even get us there.
So in the end, the buses, I don't know if I would recommend

(36:50):
just based off of that one experience.
Flights totally recommend Turkish Airlines sponsor you.
Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Ohhhhh Sickish Airlines was
awesome. Yeah.
Well, so when you see the flights were cheap, what it what
would be the price for a flight?Say if you're flying like an

(37:12):
hour and then do they include luggage or do you have to pay
extra? Because I know in Latin America,
the big thing is if you have that big backpack when you're
backpacking, you get charged that extra amount and usually
ends up like basically doubling the price of the flight because
the flights are cheap, but then the extra luggage is quite
expensive. No, we you, you could have two

(37:32):
checked bags. What?
So that's why it's OK. Yeah, yeah.
We ended up taking a box and packing it up at our last hostel
full of, like, souvenirs that wehad bought in Istanbul.
We're like, why not? We have two checked bags.
Let's get a box from the dumpster, get some tape from the

(37:53):
hospital, and we put our Turkishlamps in there.
We I bought a Turkish lamp. What the heck is a Turkish lamp?
Other than the obvious but. It's like a, it's just like this
light thing I would show you, but it's like on the opposite
side of my apartment right now. But I don't know how to explain

(38:15):
it. It's just a lamp.
I don't know. But it's like a beautiful like
mosaic and it's colourful. And they're really expensive
here in Turkey. I think I paid like 20 bucks for
it. U.S.
Dollars, Yeah, Good deal. Well, we're gonna take a quick
break here before you go to the next story, just because our

(38:36):
free Zoom calls gonna be coming to an end momentarily.
I was going to say I was going to, I was gonna ask if I could
get a screenshot with your cat there, but the cats disappeared
now. So well, we'll wait on that. 1.
No. I didn't know the thing too.
It would make for a funny, funnyimage there for the for the
podcast episode. But anyways, yeah, we'll we'll

(38:58):
take a quick break here and thenwe'll start her back up.
All right, so we're picking things back up here after our
little TV time out, you know, thanks to all our sponsors.
Well, yeah, we just shared the one story there, but you
mentioned there was another one that kind of popped up in your
head from Overkill. Yeah, Yeah, I guess, um, I'll

(39:20):
just get right into it. Basically, we ended our trip
with Istanbul. We did Istanbul in 24 hours and
we were like, we need to have a Turkish bath.
This is a very Turkish thing. So we asked our hostile guy.

(39:41):
He was like, yeah, I know just the place gave us a
recommendation, and this Turkishman picks us up and walks with
us to the Turkish bath. Do you know what a Turkish bath
is? I do not I I know it's a thing,
but I really don't know what it is.
OK, yeah, we didn't either. And we didn't care to look it up

(40:03):
before because we were like, it'll just be fun.
Um, so we should have looked it up before, but basically we did
in. I guess I can kind of explain
what the Turkish bath is like along the way while I explained
the story, but. Sounds good.
Yeah, but yeah, so our Turkish man leads us to the Turkish bath

(40:27):
place. We get into our towels and we're
put into a sauna area, just her and I, my friend and I, and we
lay on this like really hot stone type of thing in the
middle of a room. And it's echoing and a big thing
in Turkey also is like, obviously it's a very Muslim

(40:50):
country. So they had the prayers over the
loud speakers while we were in there.
And it's just glaring inside of the sauna area.
So yeah, they do their prayers at like with the sun, basically
when the sun rises, when it's atits peak, when it goes down.
And I don't remember what else, but they played over the loud

(41:13):
speakers all over. And we're laying there, the
prayers are going off. It's hot.
It's hot as fuck. We're dying.
I go to like, one of the sinks. I pour water down my face.
Like, it's insane. The guy like came in in the
beginning and like poured water over our feet.

(41:34):
Um and then a lady comes in, pulls my friend.
I'm inside of this dark, well not dark, this echoe room by
myself for a minute and then I walk into the other room where
my friend is and she's completely naked.

(41:55):
OHS and and I'm like, OK, whatever, we're getting massages
like that's fine. And I'm like, well actually,
should I run? Like should I?
I run. No, I I don't know.
I was like, in the back of my mind, I'm like, is this normal?

(42:15):
But yeah, it's, it's normal, whatever.
And we're laying on these like slabs.
My masseuse like, rips off my towel from me.
I'm laying next to my friend there.
I hope this is good for the party.
No, this is, this is good, this is good.
You're having a little couples massage right now.

(42:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they're waterboarding us,
like, basically putting like, dumping water over our faces,
dumping water all over our bodies, soap everywhere.
Our masseuses then proceed to get naked themselves.
It's OK, OK. And they're like older Turkish

(42:56):
ladies. So we were like, they're like
sagging a little bit or. Oh yeah, it was.
And it was in our faces and everything.
Like they're, they're getting inthere for us, you know, like
we're getting massages, uh. Why are they naked?
That's what, I don't know what the heck.

(43:16):
That's what we had to Like, we were on Reddit that entire night
being like, is this normal? You know, do the masseuses get
naked, too? And like, nobody else really had
that experience. I don't think they were, like,
looking on Google reviews, like,yeah, we had no idea why they
were also naked. Maybe they didn't want to get
all wet, whatever, but they're like messaging us and getting in

(43:42):
there. Jacket I like.
OK, so I'll just picturing this right now.
Yeah, OK. No, yeah, I hope I'm giving you
a really good image and the listeners, I'm really good image
of what's going on because this was insane and I had no idea
where to look like my friend. I look over at her.

(44:02):
She's closing her eyes. She doesn't want to see what's
going on. Meanwhile, you're just like
looking in the surroundings. Like OHK, OK, right.
Yeah. Literally exactly.
I'm like, do I look like, is that rude?
No, just, but like it was just weird.

(44:25):
And then like the our Turkish ladies were like talking to each
other Turkish and laughing and we're like, oh, fuck, are they
talking about us? Yeah.
So yeah, exactly. Because I'm like eyes wide open
like don't know where to look. Just stare at the ceiling like.
Yeah. I was a deer in headlights.

(44:47):
I didn't know what was going on and it was just like we were the
only ones there. Like it was us the 2 Turkish
ladies that were naked and the guy that walked us to the
Turkish bath and I'm like is he going to join?
Like does he do this? Uh oh.

(45:10):
Yeah. So yeah, we ended up finishing
up the massage. They finished it up by like
dumping water over our head likea million times.
I'm like trying to breathe. It's yeah, it was not relaxing.
I would say also a culture shockbut don't know if that's like

(45:30):
something that's normal. Like the mistress is also
getting naked. Like if they weren't naked I
think it would have been like a less crazy experience but I had
full boobs like in my face like.OHP man.
Yeah, I I'm. So what was this place called?
No, I'm just kidding. But like, how was the actual

(45:53):
massage itself like minus getting waterboarded and like
old naked ladies? Like did they at least get in
there? Like you felt good after.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I was pretty distracted
the whole time, so they. You had no chance to relax, no
chance to. No, I'm like, I feel like it was

(46:14):
fine, but we like took showers afterwards, you know, like we
were really, I don't know. But we get out of the room,
we're in our towels and our hairlike in towels too, and we're
sipping tea. Just staring at each other like
this is the most like Internet experience my friend have and I

(46:34):
have ever had. Ohhhhh yeah, that'll bring you
closer. And then, yeah, later that night
we got cheesecake together. It was just the most romantic
trip over. OK, alright.
Well, yeah, I, I was not expecting that.
That definitely took a turn, um.Yeah.

(46:57):
Yeah, I wonder if you went as like an actual couple, like guy,
girl or I guess whatever couple you are, guy, guy, girl, girl,
that'd be quite an experience too.
But it sounds like the naked part, like on the masseuses that
might have been just like, I don't know, maybe they just
thought you two were cute. And we're like, hey, we're
stripping off too here. Yeah, they're like, we're over
it. We're over changing our clothes
every 5 minutes. Let's just get naked.

(47:23):
The whole experience. So like you started in the
sauna, then they brought you into the other room, you got
your massage, Yeah. Then you have your shower and
then finito. That's the whole kind of Turkish
bath experience. Yeah, and you have tea.
Afterwards, you stare at your friend and have tea.
Yeah, that's nice. You're just in shock after that
traumatizing event. But they give you some tea,
which, you know, yeah, sues the soul.

(47:45):
Yeah. And then the guy was like, it
wasn't an amazing. How was it like I do this all
the time. We're like, oh, OK, you have the
naked Turkish ladies rub you too, Like, yeah, OK, yeah.
It was OK. Did he?

(48:05):
Did he confirm though? I mean, we didn't mention the
naked part. We were like, yeah, this was
amazing. We loved it.
So fun. So fun.
Oh my gosh. Fair enough.
Yeah, I can't say I've ever had an experience like that.
Um, I think the only funny one was when me and my buddy were in

(48:27):
Thailand together and decided togo for a Thai massage.
And they laid us down next to each other and opened the
curtain in between us so we could like look at each other.
And we're both like Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah Nah Nah Nah like
clothes looking. We, we don't need to do this.
And then like I, I was just wearing shorts, no underwear
because it's hot as balls in Thailand.
And. Trying to try to explain to the

(48:48):
girl when she was, you know, taking my shorts off.
And so they had, like, a girl oneach side, like holding the
towel, like, giggling as I, like, had to flip around, but
nothing, nothing. Yeah, yeah.
But nothing quite like. Here's the worst part is yeah,
the worst part is when they start laughing at you.
Like why are you laughing at? Me, yeah, Ohi.
I just took it as a compliment and I was like, yeah, you know,

(49:10):
they're just, they're just giggling because they're, you
know, what would you say? Like, not embarrassed, but yeah
anyways. Yeah, whatever they are.
Whatever they are, whatever theyare, whatever they are.
All right. So that's the OK Turkish bath
experience. So I guess for everyone
listening you would say you would recommend 10 out of 10?

(49:32):
Yeah, totally. I mean, especially that place.
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, we'll have to.
We'll have to find that later onthe Google Maps.
OK. Wow.
OK, so we gotta couple questionshere before I move in and move
on. I don't know if you had any more
stories, but just in general to do with Turkey, just for people
listening, just to get some information.

(49:53):
What was the overall feel when it came to the locals and
tourists? Like were they happy you were
there? Were they friendly and welcoming
or were they maybe a little likecolder towards you?
I mean, I feel like they were pretty friendly.
Um, nobody was being though us. It was just the language barrier
and that was it. Um, people were trying to help

(50:15):
us though, no matter what, like they were trying to use Google
Translate and whatever if we hadquestions.
So yeah, people were pretty kindto there, I would say.
And what were you doing for accommodation?
Were you staying in hostels? Hotels.
Um, we just, we mainly did hostels our first night in

(50:36):
Cappadocia. They had like 1 hostel but we
kind of decided to spend a little bit more money there
because it is such a neat experience.
It's where you look out during the sunrise and all the hot air
balloons are in the sky. Um, so it was just amazing and

(50:58):
we were like, let's just spend the money, have like a really
nice rooftop breakfast, all that.
So we did spend a little bit more money to be in an Airbnb
and that was our first night as well, so.
OK. And like 2 point question here
because I've got so many now, but how were the hostels?

(51:18):
And in terms of like affordability, like Turkey in
general, was it like a pretty cheap trip or was it a bit more
expensive? I would say it was really cheap.
I, I definitely think it was like on the cheaper side, it is
Europe. I You're gonna win some, you're
gonna lose some. Hostels were OK, decently

(51:44):
priced. Um, yeah, I feel like we didn't
spend a ton on most expensive part was definitely the sale
trip, which isn't obvious, uh, but we knew we were paying, not
going into it, so. Yeah.
So you planned ahead. The hot air balloons.
That's such a big thing in Turkey.

(52:05):
That's what Turkey is known for.You see all those really cool
videos of like, the sunset, the hot air balloons.
There's even one video of a guy mountain biking this epic
terrain with the hot air balloons, which is on my bucket
list now. You didn't do the hot air
balloon? Well, we stayed on the ground,
we decided. OK.

(52:27):
Yeah, we wanted to do the hotter.
Well, we talked about it. We were like, it's it would be
cool, but it's also kind of a really cool view from the
ground, I would say. And we did like do a small hike
up to this like peak and view all the hot air balloons as like
the sun was rising. So that was really nice.

(52:48):
I would definitely say if we weren't staying only one night
there to do the hot air balloons, at least one morning.
But yeah, we only stayed one night, so we had to pick between
doing a hot air balloon or watching it from the rooftop of
our Airbnb. Watching it from safety, I would

(53:09):
say the hot air balloon would besomething else I have to do
because I'm afraid of heights. But I like to challenge that.
Like I've been skydiving, bungeejumping.
So I feel like hot air balloon something I I need to do.
But at the same time I recently saw a video online of a hot air
balloon Brazil which caught fireand just went crash landing.
So now we're little terrified, uhhh.

(53:30):
No. Yeah, that's why the Internets,
not a great place, but yeah. And sorry, where was the one
that you were staying with? The hot air balloons are like.
Is there a specific location? Yeah, it's called Cappadocia.
OK Cappadocia. Wow.
OK, I would never be able to find out on the map, but.
I can send you the name. Uh, it's, it is are dispelled,

(53:54):
but it was really amazing there.I would definitely definitely
recommend and like, I think it'slike a bucket list place for a
lot of people as well. I would say so, for sure, yeah.
But when I do get to Turkey, I'll definitely have to go
there. So any more stories from your
time in Turkey or anything that comes to mind that you just want
to share with the audience? It could be even like tips or

(54:16):
recommendations if you're traveling to the country,
anything like that. Um, I guess and be hungry.
Obviously it's the food there isjust insane, like amazing.
I did get a little sick on the trip, so I didn't get to enjoy
the food as much. But yeah, definitely the food is

(54:40):
so amazing, especially in Istanbul.
I would have spent a little bit more time in Istanbul if we
could and if we didn't have onlyone day there.
But I would also definitely recommend the sailing.
Like the Mediterranean Sea is just amazing.
We had like bioluminescence one night which I'll never forget

(55:03):
and. Friends for people listening,
what is bioluminescence? Just in case they don't know.
Yeah. It's like when basically, I
mean, you've probably seen it inpictures, I guess, like when you
go into the water and like the area surrounding you is just
blue, like bright blue glowing. It's something with like the

(55:24):
plankton I think, or something. Do you know?
Oh, I have. No, no, I've I've seen the
pictures. I do not know the science.
I am the wrong guy? OK, yeah, it's something with
like the plankton. I don't know off the top of my
head. I don't want to get it wrong,
but yeah, it's just you glow pretty much.

(55:48):
Um, and they also have that in Panama, which I wanted to see,
but now we didn't really see anyof that.
I remember going night swimming,I think it was like on our first
or second night and no luck, butyeah.
I know there are bioluminescent holy say that five times fast

(56:10):
bioluminescent tours, but I haven't done having none of
those yet. Question on the food.
What what's the food like? What are you eating like?
What does a typical like Turkishdish?
Um, we have a lot of meat, lots of meat.
So like I had kebabs. There's a lot of things that I

(56:31):
don't know the name of because they served it to us.
Like on our boat. I didn't like order it, but I
remember the food was just insane.
Like, yeah, I'm trying to think.I know.
Kebabs. Definitely the meat.
There's a thing called barrique.It's like a yeah, some sort of
like pastry. I think that was really good,

(56:56):
Yeah. And it was just very fresh.
Like there was feta every morning and cucumbers, tomatoes
with every meal. Like very Mediterranean I would
say. Yeah, OK.
A lot of salads, a lot of Salah,their salads over there.
Yeah. Which I don't do very well then
because, you know, I don't, I don't eat vegetables or salads.

(57:18):
So. Yeah, but you eat fish and meat,
they have a lot of that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm a I'm a carnivore, Yeah. So that would that would be
nice. That'd be nice.
Yeah, yeah. Anything, anything else of note?
I mean, I don't really think so.I feel like I'm definitely
forgetting a bunch of things andI'm going to think back to it

(57:40):
and feel like, wow, I should have talked about that, but no,
not off the top of my head. Fair enough.
Fair enough. Yeah, but you would recommend
Turkey that for everyone listening go check it out, go do
some saline, maybe do some hot air balloon balloon and and eat
some good food. Yes, I feel like it was probably

(58:02):
one of the most amazing trips I've ever been on.
I don't. I mean, obviously I was sharing
a lot of my crazier stories fromthat trip, but on the other
hand, it was beautiful. I have never felt like more at
peace. Um, it was just absolutely

(58:24):
amazing. And then especially since like
I, I family in Israel, so it wasreally nice to go like explore
other places while the war was happening and I couldn't really
go to Israel because otherwise Iwould feel kind of guilty not
going to Israel and visiting my family because I was so close to

(58:45):
them at that point. Um, being in Turkey.
But yeah, I think it was just absolutely amazing and I would
totally recommend it. Lots of cats there roaming
around, lots of great food, lotsof great views.
The weather was amazing, Yeah. I feel like just overall a

(59:08):
beautiful trip. No, that's, that's great to
hear. That's great to hear.
Well, my last question then is what's next for you?
What's the next trip? Um, well, I just got back from
Israel, Georgia and Greece, so I'm gonna go back to Europe and

(59:30):
I'm going to do Croatia. I'm doing another sale trip.
I can't stop. Yeah, yeah.
So next end of next month I'm going to Croatia and.
Then. Yeah.
And then after that, Vietnam, and that's what I have planned.
Oh, and then Carnival, I'm goingto do Carnival next year.

(59:50):
That's everything I've planned so far.
Wow. OK, well, I'd say those are
pretty good plans then, cause Croatia seems amazing.
Vietnam offered only good thingsabout and of course real.
Yeah. So that's, that's exciting.
That's going to be a fun year for you.
Yeah, I'm really, really lookingforward to everything.
Now, Yeah, Hell yeah. Well, I just want to say thank

(01:00:10):
you so much for coming on the pod.
I really enjoyed listening to the stories.
And if you want, this is your platform now if you want to
share like your Instagram or anything like that where people
can kind of follow along your travels or anything like that.
Oh, sure. Um, yeah, it's so hard to spell,
but my first name Michaela MIKAYLA, my last name, Aliyah

(01:00:34):
ELIYHA. And that's just my username on
Instagram. So yeah, thank you.
Thanks for having me on. This was fun.
Well, of course I'm glad he cameon and I've said this in the
past, it's kind of nice for him,people on that I've met
travelling because it's a chancefor them to share stories, but
it's also a chance for me to catch up with them, right?
Like it's cool to see a familiarface again.

(01:00:56):
So I always enjoy when people come on.
For sure. That's it for today's episode.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, make sure to
leave a review and follow us on your preferred listening
platform as well. You can follow at U in the
Clouds under score on Instagram and at Up in the Clouds on

(01:01:18):
TikTok for my latest travel updates.
We'll see you next week for an all new episode.
Take care.