The First Move

Samantha
Sep 4, 2020
8 min read

Updated: Sep 22, 2020

At the age of 30 I quit my job, sold my car, and moved to Turkey. In the middle of a pandemic.

My dad asked me to write this post. How did I come to this decision? Why?

He knows the reasons and has been fully supportive. As were many of my colleagues and friends. But it was a very calculated move, and something that people wanted to know more about. So this is the full story...

From the Beginning

In 2009, I studied abroad in Germany for six months. I was 19 at the time. While in Germany, I met a Turkish boy studying at the same university. We had a great time and became inseparable! At the end of the semester, he asked me to move to Turkey with him for the next year. So although I couldn't speak any Turkish and I barely knew where the country was... I did.

Izmit, Kocaeli is a small town approximately two hours outside of Istanbul. Not to be confused with Izmir. I lived in Izmit from 2009 to 2010 in an apartment, with three other guys. None of whom could speak English, except for myself and my boyfriend. All were very kind. One bought me a turtle for my birthday. The other could not understand a word of English, but could sing English songs with perfect pronunciation! I had fun recreating my familiar holidays for them, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. In turn, they taught me about holidays such as Ramadan and Kurban Bayram. Not many people could speak English in the city either, so I was forced to learn basic Turkish in order to function in daily life.

I enrolled in an exchange program at Kocaeli University studying International Relations, with a focus on Turkish - EU Relations. At the time, the relationship between Turkey and the European Union was strained and the topic was controversial, so there was ample material. The professors were also excited to welcome international students because they could finally teach in English and did not have to necessarily adhere to the curriculum put forth by the government for Turkish students.

A few months after arriving in Turkey, I needed to find a job. Prior to leaving the United States, I only budgeted enough to stay six months in Germany, and had now been overseas much longer. My Turkish language skills were not advanced enough for a regular job. Luckily, there was a private language institution in the city center who was looking for a native English speaker. They offered 800TL ($105 USD) a month, paid in cash, for evening classes. My rent was only 400TL ($50) at the time, so I was ecstatic! I taught mostly adults who were looking to advance professionally. Oftentimes after class I was invited into my student's homes for dinner or tea so that they could hear more about what it as like to live in the U.S. and what I thought about Turkey. To this day, I have never experienced something so genuine as Turkish hospitality!

Upon returning to the U.S., I stayed for Five Years...

I was required to return home to finish school. I now have a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and German language (I also have a minor in French, but don't quiz me). The Turkish boy initially came with me to the U.S. but then returned home to finish his own schooling and pursue a career.

Policy Research on Turkish - EU Relations

While finishing school, I worked in a restaurant as a bartender and was eventually promoted to management. Upon graduating, I moved to Illinois and began working in hotels and convention centers. Earning money continually motivated me to work hard and I excelled quickly in the hospitality industry. I never left the U.S. for 5 years during this time and something felt ... off. I also quickly became burnt out from the 24/7 365 demands of hotels and conventions.

My next trip abroad was to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico. The vacation renewed my desire for travel, but I didn't like the resort experience. It felt fake, like a rehearsed entertainment production. I wanted to explore more to other destinations further away and with more authentic experiences.

Detour: I got married.

Many of you probably didn't know this. My ex-husband was a genuinely good guy, but the relationship was short-lived. He is an important part of the story though, because he and his family truly helped to reignited my desire for travel and gave me tangible example of what my life could be like if continued on the path of what I was "supposed to do" <<< We'll come back to that idea.

At the time, my mother-in-law was already in the travel industry. She told me to apply at these five key companies if I wanted to change careers from hotels to travel. She said that after I applied myself in the travel industry for a few years at one of these companies then I could then apply at the best of the best, which was Company *X*

"Well," I thought to myself, "I don't have experience, but why not just apply to all of them and see what happens?" So I did. Including Company *X*.

Guess which was the only one to call me back?

Company *X* was my dream job. It is one of the largest international tour operators in the world and the position as a Travel Consultant was the perfect culmination of my education and hospitality skills. Plus, the company gave us enough time off for me to travel independently and even sent employees on trips! I traveled to Antarctica, Africa, the Middle East, South America, and even had time to explore more. I loved it! I finally had like-minded colleagues, reasonable hours, and collaborative management. I worked my butt off for three years selling and maintaining international reservations.

...Then 2020 Happened

The company was coming out of 2019 as the most profitable year, ever. Think Wolf of Wall Street or Oprah giving away cars, but instead substitute international trips.

It was amazingly insane and everyone was expecting 2020 to be the same way.

January came and there were rumblings of a virus China. The annual bush fires in Australia were already affecting business. February brought cause for concern as the virus spread, and March was outright havoc. When President Trump unexpectedly announced the U.S. travel ban on Europe in March, my heart dropped. I wished I was anywhere else in the world, except sitting on my couch in Chicago. Full out cancellations on worldwide travel ensued as the COVID-19 virus spread. Companies furloughed employees, countries shut down their borders. It was absolute chaos in the travel industry and nobody was safe.

When the "Stay-at-Home" lock down order was announced, many thought it wouldn't last over 2 weeks.

7 months later, 2020 travel was a complete wash.

The Real Reason

For the last 10 years, I had this overriding feeling that I did not belong in the United States. Every time my life would come to a crossroads, I would always exclaim, "I'm moving back to Turkey!" My family knows this well. I did return in 2017 for ten days and my desire to stay was renewed, but the timing was not right at that moment.

The COVID pandemic affected everyone in different ways. Being stuck inside with yourself and your thoughts for four months caused a lot of people to soul search, myself included. The idea of security was shattered for many people. Careers, finances, future plans all needed to be re-evaluated. I asked myself - if I was going to be forced to dip into my savings, would I spend it doing exactly what I was doing right now? Am I spending my time in the right place, with the right people, doing something that truly makes me happy?

The answer: No.

I was chasing the money. And striving to make others happy at my own expense, attempting to achieve this idea of what I was "supposed to do". You're "supposed" to hold on your career at all costs and gain tenure (especially during a pandemic with unprecedented unemployment levels). You're "supposed" to work hard when you're young, so you can retire comfortably and travel later in life. You're "supposed" to stay close to your family. At 30, you're "supposed" to be thinking about whether or not you want to have kids and build a family in the next few years.

Well fuck. that.

When I chose my major in college, I knew right away I wanted to be in International Relations. Because it would allow me to Travel. When I slid into the hotel and convention industry, I knew that was not the career track I wanted, so I moved to Travel. Looking back on the girl who made the decision to move to Turkey in the first place in 2009, even now I think "That was bold." But back then, I didn't even think twice. It was Travel. And now that I've traveled to 25 countries, 6 continents, my hunger to explore more grows. My urge to leave, grows. Deep down, I've always known what I truly wanted. To live abroad and continue to Travel. So now it's time to turn that dream into reality.

"Wait, so how are you actually going to do this?"

Step 1) Make a plan. Now you know I've lived in Turkey, I've studied in Turkey, I've worked in Turkey. My initial culture shock is gone and I have experience with the visas, the language, the work force. My actual first step was to check and see how much apartments were. When I saw that I could still get an apartment for $250 a month, it was game on.

Step 2) Buy a plane ticket. This proved to be a little harder during a global pandemic, since I had to weigh cheap ticket prices against quarantine regulations in transit countries. In the end, I realized the direct flight on Turkish airlines - although more expensive - was actually more valuable due to the amount of free luggage allowed and flexible ticket terms, if I wanted to extend or cancel my return date.

Step 3) Tie up my loose ends. I sold my car, my book collection, and a large portion of my wardrobe. I put together a spreadsheet of my finances, made an outline of my plan, and renewed my English teaching certificate. I broke up with my boyfriend and moved out (If you know, you know.)

Step 4) The hardest part was quitting my job and losing the last small sense of security I had left. It was truly my dream job and I loved my colleagues. Plus, once I did this I had no more source of income. No health insurance. No unemployment because I quit. I wasn't furloughed or laid off. For the girl who put so much value into financial security from a young age, this was hard.

I would be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous and I didn't have baby panic attacks along the way. I absolutely did. But I knew those feelings are natural and reflect growth from moving outside of my comfort zone. My excitement would always return once I gave myself a quick pep talk of "you got this" followed with the rational facts of my plan. The support from friends, colleagues and family also helped immensely as well. When my closest confidants would say, "This makes sense for you" or "You've always been a gypsy" it was truly one of the best feelings in the world. It helped to reassure me that perhaps I have re-routed myself on the right path.

... Or it could all fail and I'll write about that in approximately 90 days when my tourist visa expires. Ha! Either way, I won't know unless I try. Right?