What I learnt from my last job

Poker! Thanks to all those lunch time and friday night poker tournaments I was able to clean up on our cruise and take home the money :) It wasn't too much but it paid for our drinks over the 4 days. I feel like hitting a casino now but I know that's going to end badly so I'll stay away and wait for the next amateur night.

A room with a well!

That's right, not a room with a view but a room with a 16th century well which pumps water and everything. Anna if you are reading this I know what you are thinking and no I didn't cheap out on the room again.... it's a feature! ;)

Turkish Hospitality

The night ends with Maria and I running though Istanbul airport to catch a plane leaving for Fethiye on the Mediterranean coast in 10 minutes. I was half cut and airport security is snickering at me because my one hand not struggling with 60 pounds of baggage is carefully carrying a bottle of red for the trip over. As I sit down in the terminal with 2 minutes to spare I hear from the seat behind me "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!", naturally I have to turnaround and respond with "Oi, Oi, Oi!". He was a merchant in the Grand Bazaar and sold Turkish Delight, Maria thought he was scoping us out and didn't believe a word of it but I think he just wanted a bit of a chat.

The day began with a late start. It was Canada day and we thought we would hit the embassy and see what was happening. On the way there we stopped at a travel agency to see what this Blue Cruise was all about. Thirty minutes later after much wheeling and dealing we stepped out with flights and boats booked leaving that night and invitations later that evening to the owners hostel for drinks and a ride to the airport.

We killed the rest of the day sight seeing and after packing our bags headed over to Bullan's hostel to pay for the remainder of the cruise and get our ride to the airport. As we enter the hostel I handed Maria a wad of cash that was the money for our cruise and suddenly all the lights went out leaving the room pitch black. I could feel Maria go tense next to me and when I finally got the money back it was in a tightly crumpled sweaty ball that she had been hanging onto for dear life expecting the worst.

Bullan and his wife talked us into a drink and once served he promptly picked up his cell phone and started abusing the power company because the lights were still out. Good thing for the guy on the other end of the phone that the lights came back on because I thought the phone was going to shatter in his hand with how intense the call was.

We headed up to the terrace and Bullan kicked some of his patrons out of their prime seats who were waiting to watch the soccer so we could sit down, they didn't look very amused as nobody knew he was the owner, Maria was very apologetic. After another drink and lots of advice about marriage, which with the same breath he would turn to his wife and tell her to say the word and she could divorce him right now, he looked at his watch, swore a few times, and called his driver to come get us this instant or he will be in a lot of trouble. Within 5 minutes his driver was out the front and his cell phone was ringing. Bullan was ignoring it and his driver was so worried he started yelling from the street so the whole terrace knew it was time for us to leave. As we were going Bullan yells to another patron of his and told her to bring a bottle of wine from the bar which he handed over to us. We have invitations to go back in Sept and spend time with him and his wife on their boat ;)