Well, 26 hours after we left our home, we arrived in Istanbul. The trip was effortless, smooth and on time. It’s just a long, long way from Jacksonville!

The trip had some built-in delays (kinda) in that we had a 3½ hour layover in New York and a 5½ hour layover in Amsterdam. We made the best of it at JFK by sitting out on the sky deck and duplicated the venue in Amsterdam.

The flight from JFK to Amsterdam was right at 7 hours so not much time to sleep. But I did take a photo of the dessert I’ve been having on Delta for at least 35 years. In the “old days” they used to come down the aisle with a sundae cart. I’d always ask for just the ice cream and add one of those tiny bottles of Baileys Irish Cream. The flight attendants would always exclaim, “that’s brilliant.” The dessert; not me. They didn’t have any Baileys on this flight, so I substituted with Bourbon Cream. Winner!

After the “nap time” (see photo) at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam we hopped on a 3½ hour flight to Istanbul.

The city was bustling upon arrival. The weather is perfect. The Airbnb condo (5-bedroom/4-bath penthouse condo) is crazy. And the view from the European side of Istanbul to the Asian side is stunning.

Mae found a crazy good restaurant not far from the condo. We didn't realize that it was about a gazillion steps up the hills to get there. But boy was it worth it. The view of the Bosphorus, the ambience of the room, the wine, and the food made it a perfect evening.

Tomorrow, 4 of our friends arrive and we'll be off and running!