Background

 My name is Uzma Siddiqui. I grew up as a sheltered homebody for much of my life, nervous even to go south of Dallas' I-635.  In my youth, "family vacations" meant traveling to Pakistan, the mother country, for a month or two at a time.  When we used to live in the northeast, we were finally able to take road trips to neighboring cities and states just because.  We frequented museums in New York, embraced tax-free shopping in the malls of Delaware, ooed and ahhed over the marine life in Maryland, and traipsed around the historic sites of Pennsylvania and Washington DC.  The most exotic place we traveled to was Singapore, a vacation combined with over-experiencing the country's penchant for merlions and the beginnings of my teenaged angst and frustration over hanging out with my family for what I deemed as unnecessary and uncool.  For a short while we lived in Saudi Arabia, and it was one of the best times of my life.  Nothing can replace the memories of eating a shawarma fresh off a spit, frequenting an Al Baik chain restaurant, seeking shelter during a sandstorm, hearing the adhan, or Muslim call to prayer, five times a day, visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medinah, and of course, the friends that I made there.

After I finished college, I began to make a point to travel places domestically, first visiting old friends from Saudi Arabia who had relocated to the U.S., and then simply hopping on a plane and experiencing a city just because. It's after this that I've realized how much I love traveling.  I like listening in awe to regional accents and jargon, shattering stereotypes and misconceptions, sampling local cuisine, and appreciating historical landmarks and cultural institutions.


Last year, two friends of mine from work decided that it was high time to make use of our long summer vacation (we're all teachers) and travel abroad.  Our hearts were set on Paris, France but after tracking airfare for weeks on end, we sadly let go of this ambition and set our eyes on Istanbul, Turkey.  Istanbul, a popular tourist spot this past year (seriously, I feel like everyone and their mom has gone to Istanbul this year...my Facebook News Feed is proof of this), has much to offer, and I was more than excited to book our trip.  I will finally get to the see firsthand the grand old Ottoman mosques and imperial palaces, Roman ruins, and the beautiful Bosporus Sea.  

So, this is where my blog comes in.  To capture my future travels!