Greetings from Brooklyn, NY
We once again drove down to NYC from Ottawa with Ivy’s mom’s dog Kola in tow. Now that Kola’s a year older and more adventurous, we’re hopeful he’ll be better at making friends this time!
Along the way, we stopped for a week in Newport, RI to visit Ivy’s mentor Margaret and her family in their majestic estate. When we bumped into them in Istanbul, their youngest daughter Catherine mentioned that when her sister caught COVID earlier in the year, she quarantined in her own “wing”. You can imagine how large this place is.
We stayed in the guest wing, where there were 3 bedrooms and a gym, and tried our best to hide from their guard dog Astreia. We were told that Astreia can smell fear and takes that to mean you’ve got something to hide, and Owen sure had a lot of fear around her. She often snarled and nipped at him.
But over time Astreia warmed up to us. All dogs – even scary guard dogs – just want love and cuddles 🥺
Continuing where we left off, after San Francisco, we went back to Ottawa to prepare for and have our wedding… but we won’t cover that this time. We’re still waiting on the videos from our videographer, which we hope we’ll have by the next one.
After our wedding, we immediately spent a month apart
Ivy had a work conference to attend in Estonia and Owen had one in NYC, so Owen road-tripped back to North Carolina with his parents for a quick visit while Ivy flew off to Europe.
Owen’s time in New York
Owen’s work conference was the first time he and his coworkers had gathered in person, Odeko being a fully remote startup. As part of it, they got to experience end-to-end what the software they develop powers. They visited cafes to chat with owners, Odeko’s warehouse to get hands-on experience with picking and packing, and rode along with drivers to see deliveries in action. Owen lucked out with his delivery route and got the scenic tour of Grand Central Station, which had six cafes in it that they stock.
He learned that every stop comes with its unique challenges, like difficulty in finding parking nearby, homeless people sleeping at entrances preventing them from entering, needing to carry heavy loads up staircases or down into basements, stores providing wrong alarm codes leading to cops being unexpectedly called on them. Grand Central Station while scenic for Owen who just did it once is actually particularly bad for the driver who does it daily — it involves doing dozens of roundtrips, locking up the truck in between each to prevent theft. And the driver needs to work fast or else the rest of the milk in the truck will spoil since the cooling only runs while the truck is on.
Through the experience, Owen gained a lot of empathy for the operations team at Odeko as well as everywhere else that powers the world’s supply chains. Before, if a truck were double parked to unload stuff, he would road rage at them for not being more considerate of other drivers. Now he doesn’t mind them taking up the space — whatever makes their hard jobs a bit easier.
Meanwhile, Ivy attended her conference and then spent 10 days on a mother-daughters trip with her mom and sister in Paris
This trip was a designated shopping trip. Mama Chen had specific goals on what luxury purses and jewelry she wanted. Ivy started off only watching 小红书 (Chinese Pinterest/TikTok app) videos on luxury products to buy in Paris and accompanying her mom to LV, Hermes, Bvlgari, etc as a way to bond. But at every store they went to, Mama Chen encouraged Ivy to buy something for herself too.
Mama Chen never owned any luxury products before. Both she and Margaret (who we shopped with in Istanbul) said they felt like they don’t have many years left where they can wear beautiful things. They advised Ivy that while she still could, dress up however she pleases and flaunt her beauty in her most beautiful years.
And then shopping became fun.
Who knows when Ivy would shop with her mom in Paris when the USD is 1 to 1 with the Euro again - we’re practically saving money right?!
Ivy still feels some guilt about owning luxury products. It means she has to some extent bought into psychological marketing, societal ego-boosting, and wealth flashing — and she’s not sure yet if she wants to be associated with luxury brands as a form of self-expression.
Looking back at everything purchased, it’s the things that have additional meaning attached that makes her feel good when she looks at them again. Like a matching love bracelet with her mom and matching couples watches with Owen. They are well-made, serve as memorabilia, and are timeless keepsakes.
Outside of shopping, it was also amazing taking Jane to Europe for the first time. We got to see the world through her eyes as she wow’d at all the beautiful architecture and claimed “Life is worth living now”.
We reunited in Brussels for Tomorrowland
The family trip ended in Brussels because we had tickets to Tomorrowland with Jon and Connie! Something we bought together when we were back in Oaxaca, Mexico in February. Please friends, let’s keep making these kinds of future plans!
Tomorrowland was Ivy’s first music festival. Now she knows that music festivals are like adult Disneyworlds. Each stage is a different world to explore, dance, and play at.
Hit us up if you’re doing the music festival circuit. Ivy’s a bit late to the game.
In August, we spent a month in Istanbul
Turns out, a lot of friends had the same idea!
Istanbul is a very unique place. As a city that splits Asia and Europe, it has some of the vibes of populated Asian streets in the midst of European-influenced architecture. Once the center of the world as Constantinople, it also has deep historical roots.
As an example of the interplay between cultures, the tourism industry seemed very chaotic like we’d experienced in Asia yet was built upon trust unlike in Asia. Our car rental barely had any paperwork and told us we could drop off the car at the hotel to be picked up after we left. We added one additional day and they just trusted we’d leave cash for it / that we didn’t damage the car.
Salespeople called out to us as we passed their stores but they weren’t ever aggressive about it — they mostly smiled and pointed to their shop and said “Do you want to spend your money?”
Culture and Life
Istanbul is incredibly beautiful — the mosques, the Bosphorus river, and diverse neighborhoods. You can find markets, a labyrinth of old city streets, mansions on the hills and by the water, and massive modern shopping centers. There were also some of the most amazing sunsets.
In other Muslim countries like Malaysia, Jordan, Egypt, etc - we saw women in varying levels of modest fashion in how much hair or skin they were covering. But in those countries, when we saw women together, they were all similarly dressed. In Istanbul, we saw friend groups completely mixed with some of the most conservative hanging out with peers in tank tops and shorts.
Turkey has a mix of cultures with remnants of Roman Catholics, Christians, Ottoman Turks, and Mongols. Being at such a central geographical location for trading routes and immigration, there were people from everywhere. As a 99.8% Muslim country, Turkey feels much more accepting of Western influences and other cultures.
Another standout is the (too many) stray cats and dogs. They wander the streets and are fed and cared for by entire neighborhoods. Most parks allow anyone walking by to get cat and dog food from a coin machine and most parks have plastic cups full of water for these animals. The cats and dogs sleep in lobbies, stores, and subway stations and are treated as fellow citizens. Every time we saw one, we’d think about how good of a life Kola has and how he doesn’t even know it.
From a business perspective
Ivy met with a few American Turkish ex-pats who shared a bit more about what it’s like to do business in Turkey.
BBC just announced that inflation in Turkey has surged to 83% in 2022. Turkey is the one country that is decreasing interest rates to combat inflation (lower interest rates increase borrowing which leads to more demand for goods, therefore, increasing prices of goods due to set supply).
So operating a business in Turkey means needing to increase employee salary quarterly by up to 30% and changing the sale prices of goods monthly. Even in our time in Turkey, we saw prices being taped over and changed.
From a tech and startup perspective, it’s hard to raise funding and serve global customers. The valuation of a startup in the Turkish Lira can be cut in half just because of the devaluation of the lira against the dollar, even if the startup is performing well. An annual contract with monthly payments could mean the payment amount being worth less and less over time.
A quick tourist guide to our favorite places in Turkey
Istanbul
See:
Çukurcuma Hamamı - you have to do a Hamam (Turkish bath) while you’re here and this one was particularly pampering. You get a “bubble massage” where the masseuse pours soap foam bubbles on you - something we had never experienced before! Book in advance via Whatsapp.
Taste of Two Continents Food Tour - the best of the tour is already in our food guide, but we’d still recommend the activity overall to sightsee in a fun way. If you’ve only got a few days in Istanbul, this is a great way to see both the Europe and Asia side.
Walk along the waterfront - we did two different sections and highly enjoyed both. You can start in Bebek, a posh and wealthy neighborhood, and walk until Ortakoy, where the famous mosque on the water is. A shorter route is along the Galataport, an amazing hub of shops and restaurants. Any walk along the Bosphorus is amazing at sunset.
Dolmabahçe Palace - we sadly didn’t end up going but everyone we know that went said it was worth visiting, more than the other tourist sights. You need to line up early in the day to get a ticket
Do a Bosphorus boat cruise - We did it with an Airbnb experience with a group of friends (but didn’t love our guide). Do this at sunset.
Check out a mosque - Hagia Sophia is pretty incredible from the inside but it’s also super touristy so the lines will be long. We’ve heard the New Mosque (Yeni Cami Mosque) is also gorgeous and has way fewer visitors
Eat: Check out Ivy’s food guide. If you only have a few meals, we particularly recommend Aheste + Güllüoğlu (get the secret menu item).
Stay: Anywhere in Karakoy is great. We particularly liked our location near the Sishane metro for its convenience. Next time we would stay near Galataport for the view of the Bosphorus.
Cappadocia
See:
Hot air balloons - definitely ride one, it’s not overhyped! If the weather is bad this may be canceled, so it’s worth staying an extra day or two to ensure you get to do it. All hot air balloon companies are similar in price and service.
Derinkuyu Underground City - This is best toured with a guide so you can tell what you’re actually looking at. Neat history around many people escaping conquests by hiding underground.
Uchisar Castle - This is a great spot for sunset, really cool to see a castle built into the rocks. You don’t need to buy the tickets to get to the top of the castle, the view from the bottom trails are just as good
Kapadokya Seramik - intricate and beautiful handmade ceramics. Worth a visit if you like souvenirs. The really nice ones can be pricey though
Eat:
Millocal - great view + food + wine
Lil’a Restaurant by Museum Hotel - recommended by a friend, we didn’t get a chance to check it out ourselves
Stay:
Cappadocia is an entire region. Of all the little towns, we’d recommend Goreme. That’s the best for seeing the hot air balloons.
If cost allows, we specifically recommend Sultan Cave Suites. It’s one of the highest up so you’ll get the best views. The hotel’s restaurants are decent and the service is great – for example, you can rent a car from reception and the company will drive the car to the hotel for you to pick up.
Phew, we’ve caught up once again, that’s what we’ve been up to! For anyone that’s kept up in reading, we love you and appreciate you 🥰 If we haven’t talked recently, please reply with what’s been going on in your life and/or let’s take some time to talk OR even better, let’s plan a trip together for the near future!
Onwards,
Ivy and Owen