Day 5 - And... off we go!!!!

Crazy how I shrunk. Or should I rather say, how much the kids have grown in 2 years!!! Last time, I left with 4 kiddos. This time, it feels more like one kiddo and... 3 teens and pre-teens! One has already outgrown me by a long way, the second is on the verge of doing so (under heated family debate at the moment 🤣). I think this trip will be quite a different experience!!! 🤞

Thonon to Geneva airport, and off to Turkey for a pit-stop! Lots of transportation modes later for such a short first leg, and a few panicks already (you wouldn't think the four of us have already gone round the world and in 32 countries together before!), we make it to our airport hotel.

The hotel surroundings have nothing of the charm of the center of Istanbul, quite the opposite. We're in a giraffe looking hotel, in the middle of nowhere, waiting for more giraffes to grow next to her. Close to the new airport, there is nothing but a few of those hotels dropped out of nowhere, and a few restaurant-tourist-traps with shish kebabs more expensive than at the center of Geneva. We eventually find a small, poorly lit one which offers more reasonable prices with only one dish available, and no tourists, nut locals waiting for customers. They do offer us a pack of biscuits as we are leaving. Sheer kindness again, less of a tourist-trap mind? Very sweet anyways!

But the call to prayer, the koftas and a pit stop at the supermarket to shop for breakfast still reminds us of the flavours of our previous travel and our wonderful time with Grand Papa and Cololo!Read more