House Sitter Chronicles #1: Missing in Transit

Housesitter Chronicles

Tony and Mahrukh are house-sitting a property in the northern coast of the Bodrum Peninsula between Gümüşlük and Yalıkavak. They’re an British and Australian couple, of no fixed abode. This is there first trip to Turkey, and over the next couple of weeks, we’ll follow their adventures, as they acclimatize to life is the slow lane.

Arrival In Turkey

Our first time here! We had a long flight, Sydney-Bangkok-Istanbul-Bodrum. Our bags were checked in through to Bodrum but decided that they would like to see a bit of Istanbul so stayed on there while we continued on to Bodrum!

We had a hire car waiting as we thought it would be easier with baggage…oh well, it was nice anyway not to have to go by bus after such a long journey.

We filled out a missing baggage report at the airport and were to told that they would contact us if and when the bags were found. Problem…I had no phone number as the Australian SIM did not have roaming on it.

Mad rush into Bodrum to buy a SIM with data.

Child Labour

Although we had a hire car for the day we had to stay home to receive the suitcases which were delivered to us that evening. Tony went outside the house only to see a very large rotund man struggling up the steep hill followed by a little boy no more than 7 or 8 years old, carrying our back pack and also dragging our heavy suitcase up the hill…shocking sight to see this young child struggling with the heavy bags!

We served them lemonade and coffee while they rested and then began our next drama of the damage to the suitcase. One of the zips was broken, the base of the bag had been badly scraped. Another report to be filed, photos submitted, and the next day we received a brand new suitcase….very surprised at how quickly it was sorted out.

We asked them when we should expect the case and the reply was “I can’t tell as there are a lot of new cases to be delivered”….so it appears to be a common thing with Turkish Airlines. Not only is it a common occurrence for suitcases to be delayed in Istanbul, but also for them to be damaged!

Getting About

We’re in a house overlooking the Aegean sea in Gumusluk which is about 40 minutes drive from Bodrum. The only way to get anywhere is by Dolmus (small bus) or by car. Although hiring a car isn’t overly expensive, the petrol price kills you so we are going to limit car hire to a few days here and there.

Fill ‘er up!

We planned to return the car after our first day here, once we had got in some supplies for the house. The car came with a nearly empty tank and we had to return it empty which sounds fine except…how empty is empty?

If you don’t have enough gas, you won’t make it back to Bodrum. So we stopped off at a gas station, Tony put up 6 fingers and said the word ‘lira’ ….the chap filled 60 lira worth !

Oh dear, now what! Rather than waste 60 lira ($45 worth of petrol) we decided to hire the car for another day and took the opportunity to drive to Ephesus the next day.

Bodrum Travel Guide Turkey

House Sitter Chronicles #1: Missing in Transit

Housesitter Chronicles