Baptism By Fire

The big move! A little bit more background regarding the logistical aspects of moving to Turkey, as well as some reflections in the past week as things have come to a close.

Onward and Upwards

I am flying economy class on Turkish Airlines. Their onboard service is excellent (even in economy) and although the non-stop ticket was a bit more expensive than other airlines offering layovers, Turkish Airlines had the most flexible cancellation or refund terms. Not that I was going to cancel the trip, but I needed to have proof of a return ticket for my visa. This way, if (when!) I find a job, I can push the return ticket to a later return date or cancel and at least receive a portion of the ticket refunded. The flexible ticket also came in handy when I needed to postpone my trip by a week.

With my ticket, I am allowed two checked bags at 50lbs each, one carry on at 15lbs and one personal item at 8lbs. Typically I am an extremely light traveller (17lbs for two weeks in Africa, as a carry on only and 30lbs for 1 month in South America) but since this is for an extended time, I wanted to ensure I had most of my important items and for a variety of seasons. Keep in mind that I do anticipate this to be a permanent move and shipping items is much more expensive than squeezing it into your luggage. Even so, packing 123lbs was a lot for me!

Due to my luggage, I will take a KiwiTaxi from the airport to the apartment upon arrival. This is a fixed price taxi booked in advance. I wish that I’d known about this service for my previous travels (Brazil! Argentina! - But hey, the link is here for you now 😊 ) While I intend to get a metro card (Istanbul Kart) upon arrival for daily transportation, I did not want to deal with the hassle of my luggage and figuring out the metro at the same time. Arriving at the airport and hoping to snag a taxi upon arrival is adventurous, because the pricing is often not fixed, you have to bargain with the driver without knowing the state of traffic, and the meters may or may not be visible. Uber and other ride sharing applications exist, but I do not know the streets well enough yet, to know if they are taking me in a circle 5 times.

My plans with the visa are similar to my first time in 2009. I am entering Turkey on a tourist visa, which you can obtain instantly online as a US passport holder. (If you want to come visit me, the visa link is here: Turkish e-Visa) My previous time in Turkey I was there for school, so I received my residency permit as a student soon after entering as a tourist. Depending which type of job I find, I will switch again to a residence permit (valid for one year) and then a work permit.

How I Choose My Apartment & Other Daily Activities

My apartment is in the center of the city, somewhat near to Taksim Square. Istanbul has a variety of neighborhoods, similar to how Chicago is set up (Chicago has West Loop, Gold Coast, Pilsen etc; Istanbul has Eminonu, Beyoglu, Karakoy, etc.). I choose the Besiktas (Besh-ik-tash) district, which offers nightlife, shops, grocery, cafes, restaurants, and easy metro connections. It is close to the Dolmabahce Palace and also near the Bosphorus ferry which crosses from the European continent to the Asian continent and the rest of Turkey. The apartment is on the European side. Turkey has two airports (IST or SAW) and I am about halfway between either of them.

I booked my apartment through AirBNB. I am a big advocate for AirBNB as both a host and a guest, and have used both private rooms (a single room with shared common areas in an home or apartment) as well as entire apartments (space alone to myself) in international destinations. For this trip, I really wanted to make friends and keep the cost of living manageable, so I chose a private room in a three bedroom apartment. The host has been wonderful to work with and I will be living with two other international students, who will likely rotate throughout the year. Do I know who they are in advance? - Nope. Do I care? - Also, nope. I’m just excited to meet new people, and the host seemed very thorough in ensuring we were a good match.

My experience in Turkey has been that you have to physically be there in order to get a job. You need to show up at your employer of interest, say “Hi, I’m here in Turkey. I’m a native English speaker. This is my work experience, this is my TEFL certificate (certifying me to teach English), please can I have a job?” So my plan is to arrive, get settled for 5-7 days and then hit the road with the copy of my TEFL certificate and resume. The best-case scenario would be to find a private institution with adult students, whose salary will allow me to cover my cost of living. I prefer adults because I find them much more motivated to learn if they are choosing the course (rather children who are mandated by the school to learn), and I can connect with them on more advanced topics of their interest. However, at this stage - I’ll take whatever I can get. Plus, private elementary schools pay more, although their work experience requirement is usually much more advanced. We’ll see what I can get.

Cash Money, Honey

Turkey is a very cash based economy. The currency is called a Turkish Lira (TL). My rent will be paid in cash, many local cafes or food kiosks only take cash and I plan to do most of my grocery shopping in cash as well. From my previous experience in Turkey - and one of the things I am most excited about! - is grocery shopping at the local markets. When I say local - I mean that all of the farmers from the surrounding area set up their wares (tomatoes, eggs, cheese, meat, produces) in an open parking lot or street on a particular day of the week. Similar to a farmers market here in this US, but much more utilized by the entire population and with more basic items than here. Whereas here in the US you can get organic honey, custom candles, and other items - in Turkey, this is where you do your basic grocery shopping for the most fresh items, for the lowest cost. In 2009, myself and my roommates used to play a game where we would save up all of our coins from the week and attempt to buy all of our produce and groceries from the local farmers market for the following week just by bargaining with the coins. Sometimes it was possible - sometimes not.

Although my bank card is setup for international travel, in order to qualify for a residency permit (and once I get a job!) I will need to get a bank account eventually. Until then, I am travelling with a calculated amount of cash - enough to get me through the first couple of weeks. Can I take cash out at the ATM once I arrive in Istanbul? - Sure. Have I had my card hacked in Turkey before? - Yep. Have I had my card eaten by an ATM in Turkey before? - Also, yes. So by travelling with this small amount, I know that regardless of what life throws at me, I’m prepared.

Plans X,Y & Z

So what if something goes wrong? Or not exactly as planned? What will you do then?

Just kidding, I have back-up plans, upon back-up plans.

I have my return ticket, which is a last-resort, but necessary for my entry. I really want to invest fully in this dream, and give it everything. If I need to leave the country for a few days and come back on another tourist visa, I will stay within the region. I have friends and family in Europe that I can stay with for a while also. If I cannot find a job teaching English (unlikely as a native speaker, with a TEFL certificate), then this will give me time to study for the US Department of State Foreign Service test, or look for professional work with an NGO. I have always been interested in both career paths.

But what if it does work out? Am I going to teach English for the rest of my life? No, not necessarily. It may turn into my side hustle, with private lessons or weekend courses only. The main goal of my move to Turkey is to bring myself closer to new areas of travel and to improve my Turkish and other foreign language abilities. Once I have improved my Turkish, I may then apply for more advanced positions in the hotel, tourism, or hospitality industry.

And what about your finances? How did you budget this? At this point, I am leaving the U.S. with my personal savings (nothing magical, don’t worry) and no debt, outside of my student loans, which have been deferred due to COVID. I’ve come to the conclusion that I can spend my life either paying my student loans or just accepting that they will be there for a long time anyways, and to just live my life. So deferment it is, until I can get myself back on my feet in Turkey.

The amount of my savings is personal, but what I will say is that in 2009 when I left for Germany and then moved to Turkey, I had more financially at risk then and less saved than what I do now.

If you think “Oh, she had help from her parents… that’s how she can do this” No, I absolutely did not.

No debt is due to only my own hard work. I just have never lived above my means and it was a personal goal of mine to keep myself financially independent and stable. Credit cards have always scared me, so I’ve only ever had one and it was never over a limit that I couldn’t pay off with one paycheck. I’ve also always worked a job since I was 16 years old. Part-time work, with full time school until I was 18, then full-time college and full-time work until graduation. Funny Story: I actually had my bartending uniform on under my college graduation gown, because I needed to work a banquet that same afternoon for another student graduating from my same university. The large majority of my post-university time I worked in a profession in my career path, and served in the evenings.

My rent is only $250 per month and food will not be more than $100, since I will be cooking at home mostly. There will be transportation costs, visa and documentation fees, and fun nights out of course, but this is all in the budget.

Why Not to Be An Asshole & Other Reflections

These past weeks have really shown me what NOT being an asshole can do for you. I sold my car to this really nice family, who was ecstatic. But I didn’t have the title right away. My car was my baby, and was truly a good car. I knew it was a good car and I would not have sold it if I wasn’t leaving. Convincing some of these people I was attempting to sell it to of those quality factors, a horror story.

But because I was understanding with this family (their daughter needed to translate and I was willing to compromise with them on the cost, if they could be patient with the title), they bought the car and ended up loving it! Without knowing it, they really saved me from my largest burden. Plus, it made me more happy that it went to a nice family, instead of one of these marketplace maniacs.

In my final weeks prior to departure, the amount of support that I received from colleagues, coworkers, mentors, friends, clients, and family was really truly very touching and really brought such confidence into something that I was truly nervous to do, for such a long time. Many people knew that this is what I had my heart set on for a long time (See my featured post: The First Move for more on this), but it really took me a lot to quit my dream job and pack up my life into a suitcase, duffel, and a backpack - with no job. I cannot express how grateful I am for the support they showed me, and the amount of times I was told “If it doesn’t work, come back.” (But I’m going to make this work guys! Ok?!)

At the very end of the day, my goal is to travel to all 194 (current as of September 2020) countries in the world. Visit my 5 Day Series if you would like some inspiration for long-weekend destinations to check more countries off your list! In moving to Turkey, it brings me so much closer to those that I have not seen, and will explore. I am not going to give this dream up easily, and I appreciate each and every one of you who have joined me for the ride.