Sunday, April 22, 2007

An Update on Our Progress

While we all anxiously await for Amanda's historic summary, the three of us thought you might like to hear about our travel preparations.

Over a month ago, we filled out the paperwork needed by the Turkish government to grant us research visas, which it did. However, because the Turkish government strictly regulates foreign access to their nation, we will need to send our passports to the Turkish embassy in Washington DC in the weeks just before we leave. If for some reason there is a hitch in this process, we will need travel to Nicosia on Cyprus to obtain the visas. Although this could potentially become a headache for Dr. Killebrew, no complaints will appear on this blog.

Amanda, Jeff and I purchased our tickets from STA on the Penn State campus, which turned out to be our cheapest option. We will be flying out of New York on British Airways with a layover in London. From London we will fly to Istanbul on Turkish Air.

While the travel agent was getting Jeff and Amanda's tickets, the flight from New York to London sold out. Although I may get lonely, I will be on the British Airways flight on the same route leaving twenty minutes earlier.

Once in Istanbul, we will catch our final flight to Adana. Our plane touches down in Adana at 9:20 local time, which is seven hours earlier than Eastern Standard Time. By then we will have been travelling for 19 hours and 50 minutes.

From Adana, Dr. Killebrew will arrange some form of transportation to Iskenderun which is about two hours away.

Look forward to more travelling information after we submit our passports to the embassy.

Ben