Homeless But Not Hopeless: 14/12/2012 – Oslo to Israel. Day 82

Distance cycled: 92.8km from Izmir to
Average speed: 21.7 km/h
Moving time: 4h16m
Total distance: 6960km
Border X'ings: 22
Money spent: 30 liras, €12

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About 1300km in roughly 13 days is what I have to do to be able to have enough time to catch my flight in Cyprus to Israel. I woke very early this morning to figure out my options getting from Cyprus to Israel and seeing as there were no boats or ferries running between these ports I was left with paying for a flight. I know I'm suppose to cycle into Israel but because of political reasons I could not pass through Syria without having an issue with entering Israel. A boat or ferries would have been ideal as I wouldn't have to pack up my bicycle into a box but I was left with no choice. Now I get to celebrate New Years and my birthday with my buddy Nash and his missis Sarah who are there in Israel now.
My flight is on the 29th so I have to cycle these 1300km in 13 days to get the boat to Cyprus and then sort out my bike for the flight to Telaviv. I hate traveling with a time constraint especially on a bicycle because I miss out on seeing the places I want and and if I were to find a place I would want to chill for a day or two I simple cannot.
Having this time constraint lingering heavily on my mind I set off from Serdar's place in Izmir having had a great time with him where he helped me with this issue with getting to Israel.
Serdar also helped me out with a route that I would take mostly around the coast of turkey to reach the port town needed to catch a ferry over to Cyprus which I uploaded to my GPS.
Having cycled out of Izmir I encountered a little issue with the route, it was set for walking and as such I was directed onto some muddy roads that presumably were shortcuts but road conditions were too shitty for cycling so I had to backtrack; all this didn't help me on achieving my new goal within the time constraint that I have.
I still was able to cover some decent distance today but with the help of a friendly man who spoke to me when I stupidly took the mountain road to the coast apposed to the flat highway that avoided the mountains all together; the view was great but wasn't worth the sweaty effort to reach the top.
When I saw this same guy later on in the afternoon he drove me a with my bike in the back of his ute down the road about 10km down the coast. This was fantastic as I made up the time and distance from climbing up and over the mountain in almost the wrong direction.
Anyway I ended the day asking a guy at a closed for the season campground if I could camp for a price but him and his friend invited me into a small cabin and fed me a delicious dinner. Hüseyin and Turgay were friendly as anyone could be even letting me stay inside the warm cabin for the night. After the roasted chicken cooked in the wood fire oven and chai they went home and left me to sleep.
Honestly the Turks have been the most amazing people of this now almost 7000km journey and I highly recommend for people to travel here to experience the hospitality of these fantastic people.

Serdar and I, just before leaving his place in Izmir, Turkey

This was an accidental move, going through the mountains instead of the flat highway where the wind was helping me out considerably… well, look at the positive points, the view was lovely and the downhill run was epic.