InApril 2008, going through a divorce. I just didn’t know it yet. And there I was, by myself in Istanbul.
I had just finished a week on a school trip in France and after saying goodbye to everyone at CDG in Paris, I boarded another flight and headed the other way three hours to the largest city in Turkey.
I like to remember it as a snap decision, but it was all arranged ahead of time and though I had done some traveling in the years leading up to this moment, this city was about as exotic as things had gotten for me at that point.
What wasn’t arranged ahead of time is that I would be there by myself. The events that caused that circumstance are for another article (that I’ll likely never write).