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My family and I took a trip to Turkey and Jordan during the second and third weeks of August. This trip was planned earlier in the spring; we were not sure at the time if we would ever be able to make it due to COVID-19.
There came a time that I was thinking of canceling the vacation and letting my family travel without me; however, my family would would rather cancel the whole trip than go alone. But this trip was planned well in advance and was way past due. For many years, I promised my wife I would take her to Turkey because she had heard from friends about the great tourist attractions. And it has been a long time since I last visited Amman, Jordan — where I grew up — to see family and friends.
Sadly, I had to cancel five trips to the Middle East since the pandemic hit in March of 2020. Four cancellations were for medical meetings in Amman and Alexandria. One was for a vacation, back home to Amman.
In addition to the extreme travel restrictions related to COVID-19, our endocrine division has experienced a significant shortage of staff. Our academic endocrine division at Michigan State University has been short-staffed for 2 years, since one of our colleagues relocated to California and another colleague retired. I have not been able to recruit a replacement.
As is well-known, there is a severe shortage of endocrinologists nationwide. This is another story for another day, but in brief, this stems from the ever-escalating prevalence of diabetes. This increasing demand is not being met by a parallel increase in the number of endocrine graduates overall — that is, there has not been a parallel increase in endocrinology fellowship programs to provide the needed supply of endocrinologists.
We have been working very hard in the endocrine division since the pandemic hit, almost non-stop from March 2020 to June 2021, except for few days here and there trying to use allocated vacation time. But no travel for business or pleasure. No medical meetings or fun travel.
After securing reasonable coverage in the division in my absence, it was mutually agreed with my department that I go ahead with the vacation. I appreciate that my department felt it would be so badly needed for me to take a break; admittedly, I was stressed and overwhelmed with clinical work plus administration and the many other things I do in the division/department.
We drove to Chicago, stayed overnight at an O’Hare area hotel and took a flight to Istanbul next morning. We had our first Covid-19 PCR test in Lansing, Michigan. My wife, son, daughter and I are all fully vaccinated. Our first week in Istanbul was one of the best vacations: The city is vibrant and lively. But sadly, people’s adherence to masks was not satisfactory to me. The language barrier prevented me from following the local news, but it appeared that the COVID-19 status was not bad at the time. The city attracts millions of tourists annually, and to me it looked like a very busy time.
We all had second PCR COVID-19 tests in Istanbul, about 48 hours before departing to Amman. Unfortunately, the test was not accepted at the airport because Jordan’s health authority mandated tests from certain labs in Istanbul. So we all had to take a third COVID-19 PCR test at Istanbul’s airport.
We arrived in Amman, and again, we spent great times with family and friends. Within 24 hours, we all had yet another PCR COVID-19 test in Amman.
My goodness, four COVID-19 tests within 2 weeks. I felt that my nose was drilled. The nasal swab goes so deep into the nasopharynx. It is very painful, but you have to do what you have to do.
In subsequent posts I will tell more stories from this wonderful trip. For now, I would like to share two photos.
The first (Figure 1) is a photo in a café in the neighborhood we stayed in. Istanbul has peculiar neighborhoods throughout the hilly areas extending from the shores on the Bosporus Strait. The inner streets are so narrow that they can hardly allow one car to pass; most are one-way streets. Most residential areas are in the form of apartment buildings. There are countless restaurants and cafes throughout these neighborhood streets, and they are all full of customers.
The second (Figure 2) depicts the famous monument on Taksim Square, a landmark in Istanbul. I took this selfie featuring my MSU hat and mask! Another spectacular tourist landmark is the Grand Bazar close to Aya Sophia. It houses more than 4,000 shops and has more than 60 covered streets and walkways. It attracts about half a million visitors daily. It is one of the largest tourist bazars in the world.
One day, we were touring the Grand Bazar, and I heard a tourist who passed by us shouting “Go Green.” My kids and I looked back at her and we raised our hands, through the huge crowd, and shouted back: “Go White!” MSU has been widely represented in Istanbul.
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