Our flight left dfw with no issues.

I was initially seated next to a super cool blind guy who was from Longview and fluent in English and Turkish. He works for the SSA and, anticipating the federal government shutdown booked a vacation to see extended family near Ankara. I gathered he was a "make lemonade out of lemons" kind of person. What a reminder that the blind sometimes see better than the rest of us. They ended up moving him to an empty row, so we ended up with an empty seat next to us, which is always nice.

For those of you traveling to Israel with us in 2025, most likely we’ll be flying Turkish Air, and they have pretty good food🙂.

In Istanbul waiting for our connection, we met a nice American Expat living in Izmir. She said, "you walked up behind me and I knew you were believers. There was something about you." Aww shucks. She is living proof that while Ephesus has indeed had its lamp stand removed, the church at Smyrna continues to this day.

Sunset leaving Istanbul

On Sunday (10/1), we had a free day while the rest of the group assembles. We spent the day walking around modern Izmir with a sweet couple from Colorado.

Turkish coffee in the morning then kebabs for lunch.

Tonight we have a dinner and then an orientation meeting. The first official day of the tour starts tomorrow with stops at Ephesus and ancient Smyrna.