Jeremy

Jeremy founded Living the Dream in 2008 to chronicle his long-term trip around Asia. Since then he has been on two long-term trips, visited 69 countries, and is just getting started. He is now on a Lifestyle Design quest to build businesses to pursue a life of travel.

How We Got a Refund on a Non-Refundable Plane Ticket

For the first route change of our year-and-a-half long trip, we were hit with a big one.

Just a few weeks before heading to Egypt a new batch of protests began. These protests were not like the previous ones, and I had a horrible feeling that our plans were about to change.

Within days of the protests that began in July 2013, the US government released warnings to avoid travel to Egypt as well as a “global warning” that was mainly focused on travel to the Middle East.

After discussing it with a friend who was coming to visit us in Egypt, we decided to change our plans.

We had one problem: Angie and I had already booked $857 worth of non-refundable plane ticket from Expedia for an itinerary of Istanbul to Cairo (Egypt Air),  Cairo to Istanbul (Egypt Air), and Istanbul to Bucharest (Tarom).

Not resigning ourselves to lose that money, our quest to cancel our Expedia itinerary and get a refund began.

If you find yourself in a similar scenario, you may need to try one of the following methods to get a refund for your non-refundable plane ticket.

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Swimming in the Sulfur Pool and a Mud Bath in Dalyan

Covered in Mud at the Mud Baths in Dalyan, TurkeyThe city of Dalyan in Turkey is one of southwest Turkey's star cities.  The surrounding region includes just about every geographical feature and attraction a visitor would be looking to explore. 

From ancient Lycian rock tombs, the ruins of the city of Kaunos, lake Koycegiz, and a protected beach where the endangered loggerhead sea turtle makes its nesting ground, Dalyan has something for just about everyone.

In addition to all these sights, the city is home to an attraction that is unique to just a few places in the world – the famous mud baths and sulfur hot springs. 

On our recent visit to Dalyan we decided to try out these attractions to see if they are truly worth the fuss, and while their true benefit may be lost on us, we found them to be an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

But while the baths and hot springs are a great attraction in Dalyan, we quickly found out that getting to them is the trickiest part!

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4 Tips for Enjoying Saklikent Gorge in Fethiye, Turkey

In being one of southern Turkey's top attractions, Saklikent Gorge attracts visitors from all over the region.  

We were recommended the hike in the gorge from friends we met a few days prior and were very excited to go out and put our hiking skills to the test. 

But as soon as we got to the gorge we realized one very important thing: Saklikent Gorge is not for everyone.

Unless you are in relatively good shape and not adverse to difficult terrain, this gorge is not for you. If you are looking for an excitement like this, read on! Saklikent Gorge may be exactly what you are looking for!

But be careful to heed these 4 tips to make the most out of your experience.  Many visitors to the gorge do not and have a very difficult time because of it.

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Bougatsa is the One Greek Pastry You Absolutely Must Try

Bougatsa is one of those things that when you see pictures of it or read about it you instantly start drooling, even if you’ve never eaten it before.

Such was the case for us when we heard about it on Anthony Bourdain’s show “No Reservations,” and again from one of our friends who traveled to Greece.  (Okay, fine, so you have heard about it, but you probably have long since forgotten). 

So what is bougatsa? It’s a Greek pastry consisting of buttery, flaky phyllo dough wrapped around either a cheese filling or a sweet semolina custard filling.

Drooling yet? Yep, I thought so.

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