It was a chance encounter. We had met Petrit and Gloria only the morning prior, as we ate breakfast in Selcuk and prepared to go our separate ways. They told us about their trip, and we learned that theirs was remarkably similar in both scope and itinerary to our own. We had each been in Istanbul in the same week; but while we are headed for Thailand to teach, they are on an immigration to Australia, Petrit’s home country, after three and a half years in Gloria’s native Italy. We got along right away, and enjoyed 30 minutes of conversation over breakfast. But as our plans were sending us separate ways, we didn’t really expect to see each other again. I hastily told Petrit how we had scoped out what sounded like a great village near a coastal national park, and intended to go there to take a break from…Continue Reading