“This place should be a World Wonder… definitely over Petra.”
Alyssa took the words right out of my mouth. We’d both been booked as speakers for the World Tourism Forum in Turkey and leveraged it to explore Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Izmir, Istanbul and Ephesus.
“Can whole countries be world wonders?!”
Wow. One of the best weeks of my life. But we almost didn’t come to Turkey.
We agreed to disagree with our initial thoughts — we regret our hesitation to visit Turkey. We’d asked ourselves and our American friends, is it safe to travel in Turkey now? Is it safe to travel to Turkey as Americans?
Both Alyssa Ramos and I are solo female travelers. While we intended on meeting up, per usual, we asked ourselves about travel warnings of traveling to Turkey as women.
The answer is that Istanbul is a major city as safe as NYC, Barcelona and Rome. Quite frankly, there is more political unrest and crime against women in the USA than there is most parts of the world that we brand with “dangerous.”
That being said, Turkey and Turkish culture is as delightful as Turkish desserts. We spent over a week exploring Turkey and had the most incredible time!