First, thank you to everyone who entered. We had lots of entries this year, and lots of different interpretations of the travel essay. Congratulations to the following writers. And a special thanks to this year’s judge, Robin Graham. First Place “Oh, Calcutta” by Paola Fornari Second Place “The Scarlet Mile” by Gillian Brown […]
Tag: Turkey
Walking Istanbul by Ana Astri-O’Reilly
“Good style in this piece. Lucid and cool.” — Robin Graham, travel writer and judge of the 2014 I Must Be Off Travel Essay Contest ________________________ I felt unexpectedly at home in Istanbul. Sometimes it was a flavour that evoked that sense of familiarity, like the sweet peanut paste called halva, which took me back […]
Bodrum, Turkey’s San Tropez by Jack Scott
“Very professional – a knowledgeable and informative introduction to a destination that digs beneath the surface, in an engaging style.” — Robin Graham, travel writer and judge of the 2014 I Must Be Off! Travel Essay Contest __________________ The town of Bodrum (ancient Halicarnassus) sprawls along the southern shore of a chiselled peninsula in the […]
Istanbul — A Turkish Delight
When Egbert the Enigma tells me we are going to spend a long weekend in Istanbul, I immediately go to I Must Be Off! to remind myself where my hands have already been in the Euro-Asian metropolis. Ah, yes. We had a grand taxi-driver experience, we lost ourselves in a Turkish bazaar once, we–or rather […]
Samos — Almost Turkey
Our boat from the hills above the Old Town of SamosJust to prove that I have other qualities besides adorableness, I’m going to gloat a bit now about my sense of geography. Or maybe my sense of intuition. You decide. I’ve just come back from the AIDA breakfast buffet with my usual quark and fruit […]
Travel Essay Contest — Entry 17
I Must Be Off! is having its first annual Travel Essay Contest. Each entry will appear at first without byline or bio. These will be added at the end of the contest. As you enjoy these travel essays from around the world, please feel free to comment; but if you offer criticism, remember to be […]
Expat Author Interview with Inka Piegsa-Quischotte
Inka Piegsa-Quischotte alias The Glamour Granny Inka Piegsa-Quischotte is what you might call a ‘dual’ expat. At present, she lives in Turkey and Miami, Florida. She was born in Germany but went to university in Switzerland, the UK and Spain. She’s been travelling her entire life – first with her parents, then on her own. […]
A Year in Wacky Signs
(Important! If this post is cut off at the bottom, reload the page. This usually solves the problem.) Do your friends walk 20 meters in front of you when you’re taking pictures of signs? Do they whisper under their breath, “Oh God, Chris is taking another picture of a sign.”?Do theymake gestures–signs of their own […]
All-Inclusive Turkish Riviera
Many tourists who swarm to the Turkish Riviera each year—around 25 million—end up holed up in an all-inclusive 5-star hotel. There are lots of reasons for this, the first being that very few foreign tourists speak Turkish, so they’re wary of heading off the beaten path where they can’t read the menu. And what’s wrong […]
The Turkish Riviera: A Geology Lesson
The Mediterranean Coastline (Important! If this post is cut off at the bottom, please reload the page. This usually solves the problem. I look forward to your comments.) _________________________________ Turkey is a geological mishmash created by a bunch of tectonic plates crashing into one another, and it’s all held together by pretty, yet quite crumbly […]