Many tour guides think that they belong to a distinguished species, a separate clan of Homo Sapiens, who know everything, make no faults, and have a magic power that makes everyone to believe and follow them.

Yet, the facts are otherwise. My story is a long list of faults from which I benefited a lot. Now I call them my experiences. Following a 'Huckleberry Fin' childhood and boarding school years, I finally 'fetched' my maths degree. My friends say that now I have a more analytical approach to the life, the past and the future. Am I a perfectionist, yes, in some sense.

I like my job, and if not interfered with a maladjusted itinerary of a desktop tour operator, I work with gusto. I think I am a neo-classical Mediterranean who tries to obtain a synthesis of the East and the West. I live in Istanbul, sitting astride on both continents, the Asia and the Europe.

The world is like a big theatre. Half of my face smiles to the just-married couple sitting on the right, while the other half shares the headache of the mature lady on the left. It is a heart-work.

I like to travel, to explore, to discover and to share. I have always wanted to be a guide, and I got my license in 1997. Well, life is a school and the journey never ends. I like to be in this beautiful country and to live four seasons in one day. Come on, let's share them!

Umit Ozaydin
Your guide in Turkey