Hi Meredith, so sad your trip is almost over :(

That Ritz Carlton suggestion is a pretty good one and, frankly, I had not even thought of a Marriott Partner hotel. 150k points for 5 nights, but it looks pretty nice!

I am also considering just staying in the Sultanahmet area, the Empress Zoe was the hotel I was considering, but I am looking at others. It will be fun to narrow it down.

May 15 - the trip home
We had a 9 a.m. flight to Paris, so we needed to get to the airport pretty early. The hotel offers a free shuttle back to the airport, and if I remember correctly, it leaves every hour on the hour, starting at 6 a.m. We caught the first shuttle of the day and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately, Air France would not allow us to carry on our luggage, even though we had easily done it on the trip over.

The most interesting thing that happened at the airport was our encounter with a Cuban wrestling team. There was a large group of Cuban athletes (most of them in their late teens or early 20s) and coaches on our flight to Paris. As we were boarding the plane, one guy right in front of us was very proudly carrying the team's trophy. He was so excited about it that he got out his camera and gestured to Ryan to take a picture of him posing with the trophy at the top of the jetway. Ryan snapped the picture then tried to hand the camera back, but the guy had already started walking toward the plane. He stopped after about 20 feet and turned around to pose for another picture. Ryan laughed and took another picture, and then another picture 20 feet later, and another picture 20 feet later, and at least two pictures on the plane. This kid was so funny and obviously so proud of the team's trophy. My Spanish is not good enough to ask if they won the championship, so instead I pointed to the trophy and asked, "Numero uno?" He grinned and nodded. He was so cute!

Arriving at CDG, we had to take a crowded shuttle bus over to our terminal, where there were very long lines and lots of confusion at the security gate. There were several long lines, all marked for different U.S. destinations. There was an Atlanta line (with barely anyone in it), so we headed toward that line. An airport employee told us the line marked for Atlanta was actually closed, and that we should get in a very long line marked for Newark. OK... We stood in that line for about five minutes before we saw that employee allowing people into the Atlanta line. We went back over, told her we were on the Atlanta flight, and she let us in this time. I have no idea what made her change her mind about us, but she was still sending almost everyone to other lines. Had we stayed in the very long Newark line, I fear we might have missed our flight. Once through security, we made a beeline to a cart selling pastries. After all, we were in Paris, and we still had euros to burn! I got a yummy apple pastry, and Ryan had a to-die-for chocolate macaroon. YUM.

Our Air France plane to Atlanta was a 747, and we had rock star seats on the upper deck. Our seats were in the very first row, so we did not have foot rests like all the other seats upstairs. But lucky for me, my legs are short, so I could easily prop up my feet on the magazine rack in front of me or on the shelf underneath the window. (I've never seen this before - the upstairs is lined with storage cabinets underneath the windows, great for storing my purse, jacket, and books. When closed, the cabinets make a neat little table shelf.) The food on Air France was pretty good (as airplane food goes), and I love that they pass out extra bread to anyone who wants it. The flight was long, but decent, and we were exhausted by the time we got home to Atlanta. We walked in our door around 7 p.m. and were fast asleep within an hour.

Well, that's about all I have to say about our fabulous trip! Some final thoughts: I think we struck a perfect balance (for us) between cramming in a bunch of stuff and relaxing and enjoying being in a fascinating place. Sure, we could have crammed in more - and a small piece of me regrets missing out on the Archaeological Museum in Athens, the volcano in Santorini, Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, and a few more hikes in Cappadocia. But really, our pace was perfect. And hey, we can always go back, right??

So, thank you for allowing me to relive our trip. It was an amazing experience that we will never forget!

-- Meredith and Ryan (who has been reading along and reminding me when I forgot certain details or left something out) :)

Thank you for a most informative report.

Excellent trip report Meredith. I picked up some great tips for our trip in a couple of months. Thanks!

Meredith,
I am going to print and read your report, I am not so good reading long stories online :-)) but I am so glad to hear you were enjoying your time in Turkey and Greece. You are always welcome for more. Hiking in Cappadocia will not be finished with one or more trips so be prepared :-))
Thanks,
Murat

Thanks, everyone!

Looking back on this post, I see that I never answered Jacky2007's question about packing - which reminds me that I forgot to mention anything about laundry.

We packed very selectively (which was pretty challenging for both of us) and had a little over a week's worth of clothes with us. I also had four pairs of shoes - one pair of flip flops, a pair of comfy walking shoes, and two pairs of heeled sandals for going out to dinner. (I just couldn't pick a favorite between my gold sandals and my black sandals!) I bought a little box of travel-sized Woolite packs that came with a sink stopper from REI, so our plan was to wash as we go. Before we left Santorini (about six days into our trip), we washed out just about everything we had worn so far. Our hotel room came with a drying rack, and the warm Santorini air was perfect for drying clothes.

We also had some laundry done in Istanbul at a cleaners just a few steps away from our hotel. We paid 16YTL to have some stuff washed, ironed, and folded. They charge by the kilo - I think we had a little under 2 kilos worth of stuff washed. (We had planned on going to a place listed in Frommer's that was dirt cheap, but when we tried to call to find out where it was, we found out the phone number listed in the book was wrong - yet another Frommer's mistake.)

Meredith - I truly enjoy reading your trip report. I'm planning a trip to Athens, Mykonos, Santorini in Sept. After reading your trip report, I'm tempting to add Istanbul to our trip as well.

i was so very excited to find your series of posts about your trip, meredith! i am getting married at the end of march, and my fiancee and i have been trying to plan our honeymoon. he's never travelled anywhere, and i was supposed to visit turkey last july, but due to a travelling companion's illness, we cancelled our trip. we haven't found a "package" that covered everything we want to do, so i've been trying to block out a trip for us on my own. i got lots of fab suggestions from you, especially the place you stayed in santorini! it sounds amazing! and i'd already picked kelebek in goreme, as it was where i was supposed to have stayed in july! great to know the breakfasts are fabulous!

amy

Thanks, Scruffycat! I'm so glad that my trip report was helpful to you. I am sure you will have an amazing honeymoon in Greece and Turkey!

Meredith