Barefoot and Barefaced!

A Turkish gulet cruise looks and sounds luxurious and exotic but the reality and practicalities don't occur to you until you get on board.  Then it becomes a bit like camping.  The main thing is that you need to go with someone you know really well and feel very relaxed with, especially if you are sharing a cabin. Luckily I was with my good friend of over 20 years; Sheila. We went through having babies together then and so there isn't much that has fazed us since.

The cabins, like those on most boats, are tiny and in our case the bathroom door didn't shut properly but we soon learnt to take it in turns to be below deck when feasible and to be as discreet as possible for the rest of the time.

My next issue was with going barefoot.  I've never liked it, and even at home, on a beach or by a pool, I wear flip-flops.  They were banned though on the gulet, along with all shoes, which had to be placed in a chest by the gangplank on embarking.  I presume it was to save the old wooden deck from wear and tear. Yet I was surprised at how quickly I got used to being shoeless and how much stronger my feet became, even in a week.

Then there was make-up.  The cabin was rocking and so dark (these boats are 200 years old remember) that it would have been hit and miss to apply but the fierce Turkish sun would have just melted it down our faces anyway.  So after day one our make-up bags stayed firmly zipped.  We only had tiny mirrors and couldn't see what we really looked like anyway.

At first we ventured on deck shyly in swimming costumes and wraps because we are not the spring chickens we once were, but nobody cared.  All ages from 30 to 80 were relaxing and swimming, sunbathing and walking around the boat in skimpy swimwear and it didn't matter a bit.

It was all incredibly liberating this not bothering what we looked like.  We'd wake up and jump in the warm, salty sea and stay like that all day.  Even at night after a shower there was no hair-dryer or straighteners and insect repellent was our perfume of choice so make-up seemed superfluous.  The freedom from thinking what we looked like was akin to being children again and all we had to do was swim and play and read and sleep....oh and eat the delicious food served up three times a day.  We reconnected not only with our inner-child but our outer one too.

Warning:   Its a good job it was only a week!   When I got back and looked in the mirror I was extremely ravished and spotty looking and I had to set to work pronto with conditioners and creams for immediate repair work.

But I still don't like putting my shoes on and I do have a lovely tan.