December 31

Our flight back to the United States was uneventful.  We had an amazing time in Turkey.  It was so much fun meeting new people, exploring new places, and trying new things.  I felt very welcomed by our wonderful hostess and tour guide and left Istanbul feeling extremely fulfilled.  I'm so glad that we decided to commit to the journey.  None of us had really created any semblance of an itinerary before departure, and yet it all came together in the most incredible way.  Most of that credit goes to Asli, of course, but there's also tons to be said about just being back with the boys again.  We had a blast, reminiscing and chatting about nothingness.  It's great that we were able to be on vacation together as grown-ups and not have to worry about sticking to a tiny budget.  If we wanted to go out for dinner, we would.  If we wanted to do something interesting, we didn't worry about the hole it would potentially put in our pockets.  We were on vacation.  It was a very refreshing concept.  And we were together again.  It was great.