What is an odyssey?
According to google, it’s a long and eventful or adventurous journey or experience.
Well my trip and time in Kusadasi at present, is definitely an odyssey. How did this Australian woman find her way to such a beautiful Aegean town, where she is so far away from home and in the midst of a pandemic?
Love of course ! Love makes one do crazy things like defying your loved ones, who are pleading you to stay and then choosing to fight your government to gain a travel permit even when your country’s borders are closed because of Covid. Anyway, my love affair with Turkey really began over twenty years ago when I visited this amazing country from Greece after attending my friend’s wedding there.
Everything happens for a reason
Do you believe everything happening to us happens for a reason? I definitely do!
In June 2018, I was due to meet my Australian girlfriend, Bianca for nine days holiday in Turkey whilst my boyfriend at that time went on a business trip. Two days before we were both leaving for our trips,we broke up. As fortune would have it, Bianca had a month before she needed to return to Oz, so we decided to extend our trip till then.
The next event occurred when I departed from Germany to meet Bianca in Turkey. On my plane, I was seated next to a lovely Irish couple who I discovered, were travelling to Kusadasi. I had never heard of the place and this couple had never caught this plane from Ireland either. Fate had us both on the same plane, one thing led to another and by the time our plane landed in Turkey, Bianca and I would be travelling to Kusadasi to stay in this couple’s apartment at the Marina.
My first impressions of Kusadasi
Arriving here in July, the town was crazy hot and people were everywhere. I’m not great with touristy places and their presence did impact on my first impression. However I loved the clear turquoise waters and pretty much lived at the castle most days sunning myself and swimming.
Bianca had never visited Turkey so we visited Ephesus and some other nearby villages including Sirence which I love. And we both became regular visitors to Mado for their breakfasts.
The first visit to Kusadasi was very much as a tourist and it was not till I returned here last year that I began to see the real Kusadasi.
My second trip back to Kusadasi
I must admit the challenges I faced flying through the pandemic to return to Kusadasi, really took its toll. Twenty eight hours door to door, wearing a full face shield the entire time and not knowing would my plane get me here or would I be stranded in Doha was very stressful, not to mention what if I catch covid on the plane.
For the first few weeks, I had to recover and apply for my residence permit and I’m so grateful that The Foreigner Citizens Advice Centre made this a relatively easy process. I was also happy because arriving in August, there were no lockdowns at the time and the weather was still good, allowing me to enjoy some of the summer.
Even though I was not a total stranger to Kusadasi, I did find myself feeling a little that way as I tried to navigate this foreign town to me as a local. As a very strong connector, I had made several friends online in Kusadasi face groups whilst in Australia, which became a godsend to me especially during the low periods for me with lockdowns and curfews.
I am a very social person and I wanted to integrate into my community quite quickly but covid made meeting people in person difficult. There were many times during the blackouts where I was not myself, feeling isolated and miserable, longing to be home. Back in Oz, my friends and family were leading almost normal lives, everything was open, except their borders and the population were enjoying their freedom unlike most of the world including myself. All I could think of was getting home which was impossible.
Then something changed
Being away from all that I loved, all that was familiar to me, created a huge container of space for me to contemplate my life. Then one day after deciding I no longer wanted to focus on what was missing in my life, something clicked. I was living in a gorgeous part of Kusadasi, right on Ladies Beach where almost every day I see the most incredible sunsets.
At the moment its quiet and not over run with tourists, where I can live like a princess and afford a lifestyle I could not have back home in Sydney. I had planned to live in Turkey and just because my plan was not the plan I had thought, I realised I was indeed living my dream.
I reminded myself of the reasons I chose Turkey to live in way before my love story emerged. One of those reasons was the people here. I have never found so much kindness in any other country I have travelled in. One such story comes to mind immediately. The incident happened on my first visit here about 20 years ago. I was at a bus station carrying a rather large, heavy suitcase. I was struggling with my bag so I put it down beside my feet for a moment to rest and out of nowhere a man took my bag. I immediately assumed he was stealing my case. I was so wrong, instead he proceeded down the three flights of stairs I was getting ready to handle and left my case at the bottom of the stairs. This was the first of so many random acts of kindness I have experienced in Turkey.
During lockdown, I cooked, exercised daily, walked, upgraded my video skills, learned so many new skills and created several projects including my Turkish Odyssey.
My Turkish Odyssey is born
Part of my therapy to recovery was posting daily on social media. This helped me feel connected and that I was contributing to others lives through sharing mine, especially those other fellow travellers locked down. I discovered strangers were reaching out to me and thanking me for inspiration and allowing them to travel through my stories.
I also realised that I no longer needed to find a purpose. After years of being an entrepreneur, a recovering Type A over achiever and control freak I had been searching for my next venture. The pandemic has taught me that finding yourself and just being ourselves is indeed living our purpose.
Even during a pandemic, I was able to connect to community and with restrictions starting to lift here in Kusadasi, meeting more of my tribe is becoming easier. What I also love about the Turks is that they will go out of their way to help, regardless of the language barriers as I cant speak Turkish, not yet. Here, where I live, my housekeeper, Tulin, who is always apologising for her lack of English, now refers to me as a Turkish woman because I’m always in the kitchen cooking or on my sofa, knitting, crocheting or making things with my hands.
While integrating with the local Turks, there is a large expat community here in Kusadasi, that is mostly Irish and English. This group have made me feel very welcome and have been part of my lifeline.
One of my local Turkish friends has told me I now know more about where to shop than he does and once upon a time, I was always asking him for shop suggestions now its him asking me.
With 300 days a year of sunshine in Kusadasi, this temperate weather makes living here very comfortable on the body and soul. I am very much a water girl and you cannot find better waterways than in Turkey.
I’ve seen sunsets in more than 56 countries now and I believe Kusadasi has some of the best in the world.
Now that I have shifted my mindset and can again see what an incredible lifestyle I can have in Kusadasi and I’m settling in here, I wanted to have a place to share my experiences. This quote sums up my Turkish Odyssey : “Sometimes its the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.” Drake. Beginning soon will be my you tube channel where I will share Cuisine, culture, creativity, community, change and much more.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwmud_wEjDE22OXJftQH2dg
Like all journeys, its not about the destination, so Im just going with the flow here and lets just enjoy this next chapter of life. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
If you would like to reach out to contact me : kathyw@moeloco.com