Super-Duper Wacky n' Tacky Euro Adventure

НДС - VAT
As in: Damn, the НДС on my new Blahniks was out of control!

Just so you konw, most European countries include the VAT (which is almost always hire than any "sales tax" in the US) in the price, so you never really know how much of it you're paying. Sneaky.

Well, what I thought would be a great relaxing vacation in Turkey turned out to give me just about as much sleep as I usually get here in Moscow, i.e. I'm about to collapse on my keyboard. But that's ok cause the vacay was soooo worth it. I can genuinely say I highly enjoyed my time there. There were many highlights. I'll try to remember a few:

-Soviet planes to and from Antalya airport. Thank God there was my massive sleep debt to distract me from the horrors of a communist-built 70's plane.
-Tartarstan Airlines?
-How come it takes us two hours from the airport to reach our hotel?
-After finally getting there, of course our room isn't ready. "Would you like to visit the bar?" Ok.
-Open Bar.
-Open buffet of ochen yummy food at every meal. Mmmmm...kefta meat and mint-yoghurt.
-Calling the front desk to notify them that the air conditioner is not working: "Of course it's not working! It only works from 2-6pm and 10pm-2am. Duh!"
-Boy it's hot in here. Let's go to the pool!
-"Say, have you heard a single word of English here?"
-"Что?"
-Olya said there aren't any mosquitos in Turkey. Boy oh boy was she wrong.
-Waking up at 8 on Sat? Man, this working life has way too much influence on the ol' sleep cycle.
-The "meeting" about available excursions was in Russian. Very, very fast Russian. We didn't go on any excursions.
-Cannon ball!
-Why am I tanning? I don't need to tan!
-Met a very cute couple from Orenburg on vacation as well. They were our Turkey best buddies for the rest of the trip.
-Into Alanya for clubbing. I like this no cover-charge deal.
-Why do I hear "My Hips Don't Lie?" freakin' everywhere!
-Would have loved to sleep in on Sun. No such luck without airconditioning.
-2pm, head to the room! We must nap when the air is on!
-Is it bad to order 2 drinks like you're getting one for someone else, and then have Fiona go up and do the exact same thing? Nah. It's cool.
-We got talked into going to 'Auditorium Club' from a guy who worked for the hotel and promised one of the best clubs in Turkey. $15 and a "cocktail" (I only tasted juice) later, we were stuck in a gigantic club with about 15 Russians from our hotel and 30 eerie Turkish men. By 1 we bounced to central Alanya to get back to the good stuff.
-More Shakira and other dance hits.
-Efes on the streets and inbetween club-hopping provides a great alternative to paying for those drink prices.
-Mmmm. Authentic Doner Kebap.
-Got back in time for a couple precious air conditioner hours.
-Back to Antaly for a bit of cheesy souvenir shopping.
-Got lured into a barber shop for a cheap shave and ended up getting the works done. Refer to future pics for all the fun.
-Damn those turks know how to deal with all kinds of facial hair.
-More kebap.
-Stuff ourselves silly on our last dinner buffet and hang out with our buddies one last time.
-4am alarm rings and our vacay is over waaay too soon.
-End up conveniently stopping at a Turkish Delight candy factory for forty five minutes on the way to the airport. Why did you get me up at 4am?
-Tartarstan airlines actually gets us back to Moscow safely and we rest at home before starting up at work the next morning.

Oh, the memories. Gotta remember to get those pics up soon. As is required in Moscow, Our weekend is already completely full with people to see and things to do. We get a new roommate(another one!?) on Saturday who promises to punish my kidneys for the month he is here. How mysterious.