1. In 2004, Magic Life Group and the group‘s Gulet Touropa Touristik were sold to TUI, one of the world‘s largest tour operators.

2. He and his wife had gone down to the Mediterranean coast and between cruises on a gulet, the traditional Turkish boat used for the famed «blue voyage,» they drove inland to find an archeological site in the hills. «We got terribly lost and came across this village, just a few houses, really, where we saw a construction crew working,» said Soper. «The men gave directions, not once, but twice, and on the third try, with work finished and night coming on, one of the workmen climbed into Soper‘s car and directed them to their destination, where they waited for the slower construction truck to catch up. «Boss, Cengiz, asked me for my cell phone number, and I thought, well, I guess sometime I‘ll be getting a call from a cousin who needs a job in Istanbul, so I gave him the number,» said Soper. «That night my phone rang, a man speaking good English, who said he was Cengiz‘ nephew, that his uncle just wanted to see that we‘d got back to our hotel safe and sound.