House and Pet Sitting in Turkey

Mastery Path August 23, 2017 0

When the opportunity arose for me to house and pet sit with my friend Julie Bryant, I jumped at the chance to spend five weeks in Turkey. I’d never been to Turkey before and the thought of spending five weeks in the sun was too good an opportunity to turn down.

Flights are usually cheap but as we were travelling over a bank holiday weekend, they were inflated. Lesson for me – book flight as soon as I decide to go as it was half the price I paid!

I travelled down to London on National Express Coach and stayed at Pandora Spa as guest of Todd Acamesis and looked after by Ladrhyn Bexx in his absence. I had the good fortune of arriving in time for Ladrhyn’s Gong Bath which was a perfect way to start my travels. An unexpected bonus was lying next to Elara Evenstar (a previous Mastery Path speaker) who was just in London for 3 days and had decided to attend at the last minute. I just love synchronicities!

I met Julie Bryant at Gatwick and we boarded our plane, arriving at Dalaman airport early evening. We were picked up by our hosts, Linda and Tom O’Donnell, a lovely Scottish couple who’ve lived in Turkey for the last 14 years. They drove us to their lovely mountain home and introduced us to the 5 dogs who were pleased to see us. The 6 cats were less excited but still very affectionate, and the 20 chickens couldn’t care less who was looking after them – as long as they were fed! We enjoyed a meal out on our first night as we got to know each other.

Tom spent the following day showing us around Fethiye and Uzumlu and orientating us with our duties for looking after their house, garden, pool and animals whilst he and Linda returned to the UK for his daughter’s wedding. They were then going to travel to France and the Greek Islands before returning home five weeks later. We have a comprehensive house sitting questionnaire for home owners to complete before we do sits but it hadn’t all been completed on this occasion so we spent time making notes so that they could go away with peace of mind. We had emergency numbers of neighbours who could provide assistance if required and were introduced to Naci (pronounced Naji), our immediate neighbour who spoke perfect English (and had studied teaching in Bolton). We went with Naci and his wife to drop Linda and Tom at the bus station then went to see a live band at Eddie’s Bar in Uzumlu which was full of Brits. We were astounded to learn that around 60% of the population of Uzumlu are British ex pats who have opted to live inland rather than in nearby coastal towns.

Julie and I enjoyed chilling out for the first couple of weeks, spending time getting to know each other as we’d never spent time together before this sit. We spent a lot of time with the animals we were caring for and loved getting to know their individual personalities. We enjoyed cycling into the village down the mountain road and admiring the poppy fields and beautiful scenery en route. The village is charming and like stepping back in time. Locals live side by side with the ex pat community and are so friendly.

Home businesses include spinning wool and expertly weaving textiles on hand looms – a labour intensive occupation. I bought a one-off beautiful scarf for 40 lire (around £9) which took many hours to create and the lady who made it showed me different ways of wearing it. She then brought two small glasses of wine for us to try and a fruit which was like a cross between an unripened green plum with the crunch of an apple. It’s very rare that I buy things when I’m travelling – especially in the first few days of arriving – but I couldn’t resist the scarf. The orange flecks looked like feathers which gives it a shamanic feel and I fell in love with it. I also wanted to support the lady so also bought 2 litres of the bootleg homemade wine for 30 lire (stored in a coke bottle). It made a refreshing spritzer in the hot evenings.

Julie and I had a lot of fun whilst in Turkey. We went on some fabulous boat trips with Divers Delight Fethiye and loved diving and snorkelling in the clear turquoise sea, enjoying conversation with fellow passengers and eating delicious food. We helped our friend James celebrate his 60th birthday and provided the entertainment to liven things up. Julie performed a fantastic belly dance and I wore a blonde wig and sang ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ in Marilyn Munro style. We discovered hidden talents!

My doTerra essential oils came in very useful on the boat trips. One passenger felt relief from sea sickness when I gave him some peppermint essential oil and his girlfriend hadn’t been to the loo for 5 days which was spoiling her holiday. A drop of DigestZen Digestive Blend over her abdomen brought her pain level down from 7/10 to 4/10 within 30 minutes. 90 minutes later, after we’d eaten a delicious lunch, another drop eliminated her pain completely. When we left the boat, she disappeared and found me ten minutes later absolutely elated because she’d ‘been’. She was very grateful and gave me a big hug, and I felt blessed to have been of service. I carry my oils everywhere – they are needed so often.

Julie and I were well looked after by Aytekin and Ahmet and were blessed to be invited to join them on two sunset cruises which were stunning.

If you’re visiting Fethiye, contact Ahmet for private boat hire, fishing trips or sunset cruises – check out Tanem Boat Trip in Fethiye on Facebook. And Aytekin will look after you if you want to go diving.

A synchronicity occurred when I was talking to our neighbour Naci about essential oils. I’d offered him an iTovi bioresonance scan and let him sample doTerra’s essential oils which impressed him. Then he told me his friend owned an essential oil distillery – in the same tiny mountain village that we were living!!! We went to visit the following day and I told the owner about doTerra’s co-impact sourcing policy where they work with farmers and distillers to form co-operatives. I then contacted doTerra and samples are now on their way to the USA so that they can be tested to see if the quality is high enough. I love how the Universe conspires for these connections to happen.

Julie and I went through a Full Moon, Summer Solstice and New Moon together during our five weeks in Turkey. We used each other as reflections to notice our own patterns and to clear stuff which came up for us. We started the house sit as acquaintances and left as dear friends. One of the beautiful things about doing so much inner work is understanding that everything is about ourselves. When we use others as mirrors, we get so much opportunity for personal and spiritual growth. I am grateful to Julie for the opportunity to have done this house sit with her. We bared our souls; prepared and ate delicious food; shared work caring for the animals, house, garden and pool; gave each other tips on how we run our businesses utilising technology; made friends with locals; had fun on different trips; and ran our businesses in between! Turkey is a beautiful country and one which I’d definitely return to.

One of the things I love about travelling is that as a digital nomad who’s location independent, I’m able to run my business wherever I am in the world – as long as I have a good internet connection. I run my business online as well as offline and offer training and education to those who’d like it wherever I am.

If you want to learn about essential oils, contact me and I’ll send you a video of me teaching a class.

I love my doTerra essential oils, I love supporting my team and doing wellness consultations with everyone who opens a wholesale account with me. If you’d like to learn about natural solutions or interested in a business opportunity, contact me for an informal chat to see if this is a good fit for you.

Check out the video below that Julie and I recorded before we left Turkey. This was Julie’s idea as she was amazed at how often we’d used doTerra’s essential oils. Being in a remote location up a mountain and far from medical facilities, it was a good job I’d taken them as you’ll hear in our chat! We had no idea before going that there were dangerous caterpillars on site!!!