Tally-Ho!

One of the best things to happen during our stay is that in mid-January my parents' visas expire. What does this mean? Turkey requires visitors to leave the country every three months in order for their visas to be renewed upon their return. In other words...the Ho's are going on Ho-liday! Okay, sorry, I'll stop with the ho-rrible Ho-jokes.

So what does a Ho family vacation entail? Well, lots of eating for one thing. My father measures time in intervals of snacks and coffee breaks. This will give us ample opportunity to sample all of the deliciousness that Istanbul, London and Rome have to offer. Ho trips also require lots of walking. Endless hours of walking. Some of our friends who have accompanied us on past family trips have discovered this the hard way. We walk everywhere, rain or shine. Some may argue that this is because the best way to discover a city is on foot; I argue that my father is cheap. Only under certain conditions will we take public transport (free being the major factor) and under no circumstances will we ever take a taxi.

We will see if these traditions will continue to be upheld for the next few weeks as we traipse through select cities in Europe and technically Asia (Istanbul is half Europe, half in Asia).

Tally-Ho!

Mutlu Yillar

Translation: Happy New Year (in Turkish)!

For the past few months the family has been scattered across the globe; with me studying in Brisbane, Australia, Hazel in the south of France, Victoria at Ottawa U and, finally, my parents in Turkey. It hasn't always been easy communicating in four different time zones, but somehow we managed to get ourselves organized for a long-awaited family reunion over the Christmas holidays aboard our floating home for the next few weeks, the Three Rivers.

My sisters and I wearing the matching shirts that our parents gave us. Apparently buying your kids matching outfits never gets old.

I must admit, the thought of cramming all five of us together in fairly confined conditions for several weeks had me a bit, shall we say...concerned. We would literally be in each others' faces all day, every day for the duration of our stay. Add that to the fact that its been half a decade since we've all lived under one roof and it sounds like we've got a recipe for disaster (my specialty). Well as it turns out worries were unfounded, and it wasn't long before we settled into some kind of family routine again.

So what it is like living with three sisters and their parents on a 43 foot sailboat? It means that when one person gets up in the morning, everyone has to get up. I used to wake up to the sounds of my father making coffee and talking to our cat Smokey. Now I wake up to the sounds of my father loudly hosing down the boat, directly overhead of my cabin. It means that, instead of having the smallest room in the house, I now have the smallest cabin in the boat (think the length and width of a coffin, except with a height of 6 feet). It means that from 3pm to 4pm, we all have to be very, very quiet, because that is prime napping time for my father. At any given time, you know exactly where every member of your household is, and what they are doing. It also means that the only alone time you will get during the course of a day is when you visit the bathroom, and when you're asleep.

Ho family at Christmas dinner (we're not really orange, its just my sub-par camera)

All joking aside, the town of Kemer has a lot to offer and I can see why my parents love it here. The Mediterranean coastline is breathtaking, especially against the backdrop of the recently snow-capped Taurus mountains. The biggest draw is the marina itself, where there's a great liveaboard (people living off their boats at the marina) community who are spending the winter sailing season in Kemer. Because the average age of the liveaboards is about 60, you can't help but draw comparisons of Kemer marina to that of a retirement community. A very active and structured retirement community, at that. Monday nights mean board games, followed by Tuesday choir practise, Wednesday movie nights, Thursdays line dancing lessons and Friday nights out at the symphony. It may not be the most exhilarating place I've traveled to, but I can't think of another place I'd rather be than here with the Hos.

Another beautiful day at the Kemer Marina

Intense outdoor ping-pong tournament

Freshly squeezed pomegranate juice at the market