One of the things I like to do on my website is shine the spotlight on regular people like you and me who have chosen to do something a little unusual with their time and who have managed to live a unique cross-cultural experience.

So one of these special people is my friend Carol, a multi-talented highschool teacher, who, as I recently found out, is also an accomplished painter and pianist.

During the mid-nineties Carol decided to take a few years off and she went off to Turkey to teach English and Mathematics in a school in Istanbul. After all was said and done, Carol had lived for 7 years in Istanbul, thoroughly gotten to know Turkish culture and created a network of international and local friends that she still stays in touch with today. Turkey continues to be one of her favourite destinations and Carol tries to reconnect with her favourite country as often as she can.

In addition to that, Carol also has a special connection to a little town in Greece by the name of Parga and there is an interesting story behind this. We'll soon hear about Carol's international connections and her experiences and insights about Turkey and Greece.

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions (http://www.travelandtransitions.com). Travel and Transitions deals with unconventional travel and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences, interviews with travellers and travel experts, insights and reflections, cross-cultural issues, contests and many other features. You will also find stories about life and the transitions that we face as we go through our own personal life-long journeys.

Submit your own travel stories in our first travel story contest (http://www.travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm) and have a chance to win an amazing adventure cruise on the Amazon River.

"Life is a Journey