Journey to myself

I woke up in the hostel in Kadiköy in Istanbul. After cooking porridge I talked to my dear friend Emily on the phone, we were discussing, whether I should stay for my birthday in Istanbul. After we hung up the phone, my decision was made. I would leave Istanbul behind and continue cycling.

I checked the ferry time table and started quickly packing my bags. My farewell felt rushed, but I needed to hurry to the ferry wharf. My companions at the hostel, asked me to stick around for my birthday, I however felt the pressure to leave. I felt, I was loosing focus, losing focus of what this journey is about. Forgetting the way I am travelling and getting too comfortable in Istanbul. Istanbul conveyed the feeling of wanting to spend months there, wanting to live there. But this was not what my journey was about. So I left Istanbul behind.

I was crossing the Marmara sea on a two hour ferry ride. When I arrived in Bursa, the weather was miserable, it was raining, cold and dark. I looked back at the ferry, wondering if I should just turn back – go back, go back to Istanbul. ‚You don’t go backwards‘, I thought though and cycled up the hill to find accommodation, in a place, called ögretmenevi, teachers house, which offers cheap accomodation, similar to a hostel. Unfortunately the teacher’s house was fully booked, however the guy referred me to a another cheap hotel. Arriving in the hotel – my room smelling like cigarettes, I set on the bed, wondering why I left, wondering, if I am punishing myself with solitude.

So long – güle güle from Mudanya!