It's coming together....

So today I tried for the 4th time to make a reservation using my mileage account on Alaska Airlines.  And I finally got it!  It has really been taking a lot of my time and worry, knowing I have booked a tour and applied for programs and didn't have a flight booked.  I couldn't believe the price of the tickets and discounted fares scare me a bit, as they have heavy penalties for any changes.  I need a bit of flexibility, so I kept waiting and trying different city combos and talking to people for ideas.  Today, I just decided to try again and it worked!

I will leave Juneau for London on August 19, have until August 31 when I fly from London to Istanbul.  I did not make the return reservation as I am thinking I will return next June, and those mileage seats aren't open for booking yet. I am thinking the layover in London won't actually be in London, rather it would be a great opportunity to see Ireland!  I have a decision to make about the reservation though.  I can't have both a layover and an open-jaw (fly into one city and out of another) on a mileage plan ticket.  So, I can either leave the ticket the way it is and when I am ready to leave Europe, I will have to leave from Istanbul, or, I will need to pay for my flight from London to Istanbul, which would allow me to make a reservation back out of Europe from any city within Europe.  The second option may win out, as I don't have full plans yet for the whole time, and I won't want to have to fly east to fly west to come home!
So this is how I am thinking my time will go:
August 19-31 Ireland
Sept 3-14 Rick Steves' 13 day Turkey Tour:
   http://tours.ricksteves.com/tours11/product.cfm/rurl/code/TUR11/231
Sept 15ish - for 4 weeks, Izmir area, Turkey, GeoVisions Conversation Corp - home-stay with a family in exchange for 15-20 hours of English
October 15ish - November 15ish  Istanbul Area, Turkey, Conversation Corp with different family

Although I have put down a deposit and applied, both of the Conversation Corp programs won't be totally confirmed until the Turkish Partner finds host families who want a tutor for those specific times.   They warn it may be close to the departure date, so I am not going to worry about it, and move on to lining up other travel from mid to late November on. Not sure what I am going to do, but I have several plans that I am working on, and hopefully one or more of them will pan out.

This last week I've spent a lot of time reading about Turkey.  I found a very good travel book from the library, which I am enjoying more than the Lonely Planet Turkey book.  It's a Cadagon Guides, Turkey.  I also got a DVD from Netflix on travel in Turkey which showed two regions which are not common tourist areas.  Not sure I will try to go there, but it was still interesting as there was quite a bit of focus on the different foods.