My Mission: 16 Countries in 6 Months

Hello everyone,
So here is my first post. My weekend was definitely an adventure. I got stopped at the UK immigration and warned about my passport's tattered/mutilated state. They told me of the repercussions that could occur if I were to go to Turkey and deported. However, they also gave me hope that I had a 50/50 chance of making it past immigration at Turkey because of the US andUK allowing me to pass through. Professor Shields, being the risk taker she is, also advised me to keep on trekking.
A while later, I received a phone call from Professor Shields urging me to stay in London. She managed to get in contact with someone associated with Turkish immigration control and found out that the deportation involves a 24-hour minimum detention. Furthermore, these detention centers cannot be penetrated by US officials! After hearing this news I was devastated at having to stay in London. :)
We arranged housing and I scheduled an appointment with the US embassy on Monday (note that it was a Saturday when this occurred). After saying goodbyes to Kristina and Clayton, as they continued on their journey to Turkey, I left the airport only to be stopped by immigration a second time. How many times would I get laughed at for my mutilated passport? The officials told me that they had to deal with British Airways and fine them 'loads of money' for allowing me passage into the UK with my 'mutilated passport.' After waiting a while, I was finally released into London and caught the tube to my living quarters.
Finding the place was wicked hard. It was raining, the streets went around in circles, and the directions I had involved turning at unknown lights and finding similar trees to point out that I had reached my destination. At this point I did not think that matters could get any worse, until I tried making a call to Kevin, the housing hook-up. Surprise, surprise! My credit cards had been shut off due to unusual activity (which I have yet to resolve). So I finally found my housing after another hour or two of searching. Then I find out that my outlet converter did not work in the UK, the ONE country that it did not work for in Europe!!! I was stuck in a room with no electricity, no credit cards, unable to make a collect call to Turkey, no food, no contacts, and a phone that only made calls to 2 numbers: emergency and the housing department.
Well, Sunday was much better. I ended up finding piecing together all of the application parts for a passport, while I was touring London.
Monday was a lot of business transactions at the US Embassy and the airport. British Airways nearly left me at the Gate B43 due to a ticketing error! Luckily, with minutes to spare, I made it onto the plane. Off to Turkey! Now I'm sitting in my Turkish flat awaiting more adventure. That's all for now.
And here is an inexplicable picture I took while searching for passport photos: