With Turkey’s rising fame as an ideal expat destination, many people want to know about living in Turkey permanently. I understand the lure, and while it is not all roses and sunlight, my lifestyle in Turkey is better than if I had stayed in the UK. For me, the move was easy. I didn’t own property in the UK and walked straight into a job in Turkey with a holiday company. Additionally, I moved to the country of Turkey when … Read More
People visiting Turkey usually want to know about the money first. After all, it makes the world go round and whether or not, you have a budget, knowing about the currency, exchange rates, fees, and charges, means you will spend wisely. So let’s get started by discussing the relevant facts about using money in Turkey first. What is the Currency of Turkey? The currency is Turkish Lira, and this is recognized by the symbol, although you may still see some … Read More
As part of the monthly posts about how to financially support yourself while travelling or moving to this country, one option that pops up, again and again, is to teach English in Turkey as a foreign language. Now this is something that I’ve never done, although many of my online friends have or are doing it because it is one of the most popular options for working legally in the country. At the same time, it presents an excellent opportunity … Read More
One question I am frequently asked is how I fund my life in Turkey. People enquiring are generally girls who have met someone while on holiday here, and they would like to stay in the country. Others are middle-aged couples who do not want to wait until pensionable age to experience the life in the sun that they dream of. To spend a summer in Turkey, they want to know what their viable financial choices are. Now, while some people … Read More
Every summer, many holidaymakers want to work in Turkey so they can stay here permanently. They develop a dream to live here, but they can only sustain that vision by finding a job in Turkey to support themselves financially. The article I previously wrote received much attention because working in Turkey was a minefield to be negotiated with a lot of planning and patience. Unfortunately, many horror stories had emerged. Pitching up at an airport in Turkey and finding a … Read More
The topic of expats in Turkey is a controversial discussion at the best of times. Scattered across the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts as well as in Istanbul and Ankara, we have firmly made our mark on the country. In certain areas like Didim, the British expat community has a notorious reputation with our insistence for Sunday roast dinners, English breakfasts and football leagues on the big screen in British bars. While further up north, the expat community in Istanbul includes … Read More
This list was originally my favourite top ten Turkey blogs, but since I published it in 2010, blogging has become bigger and more popular than ever before. So to drill down to only 10 blogs about Turkey, would be to ignore many other good writers and the useful advice they offer in terms of travel, culture, traditions, and living here in Turkey. All of the writers I follow that concentrate on the country of Turkey are diverse in their background, … Read More
I first read about the “expat syndrome” in 2014 but couldn’t find any reference of it by psychology communities. It seemed many writers have also put their own take on the “label” but it did originate with an expat author called Tony Crossley who was living in Thailand. He wrote… Expat Syndrome is a condition whereby many expatriates see mostly either the best of their own nationality & the worst of the locals, or see the opposite. He further went … Read More
Throughout my whole life, I had a burning question that could never be answered. I wanted to know what the point of my existence was. What was the meaning of life? Refusing to believe that I was just put on this earth to eat, sleep, shit, work, clean and then do it all again the next day, I never stopped searching for the answer. Note : At this point, if you think I am insane, in my defense, according to … Read More
I have written previously about expat life in Turkey. I mentioned that we tend to gather like packs of wolves into our own clans. Indeed, Turkey has become a multi-nationality expat community, and according to EuroStat, in 2013, a total of 272,842 foreigners were permanently residing in Turkey. That is not many considering the population of Turkey is 74.9 million people, but I like to think a majority of us, are happy with our lives here and make a concerted … Read More
Along with writing, I adore reading. I believe one of the most pleasant moments in life, is when we read a fact or fiction book that moves and motivates us to experience more and enjoy each day to the fullest. With that in mind, I am eager to share my list of books about the country of Turkey. I have read each one and update this list, when the last page of each book has been closed. All of them … Read More
A Turkish christmas is impossible right? Most of my friends and family who have never visited Turkey say this. “After all, Turkey is a Muslim country”. It might be a Muslim country but one thing the Turks have got down to a fine art, is that where there is money to be made, they will make it. Around 2004, Turkey started becoming popular among ex-pats, hence a new business opportunity for all those restaurants and bars. It is possible to … Read More
I like helping people when possible. I often receive questions about travel in Turkey via Facebook and email. A lot of the time though, people ask the questions on Google and the mighty search engine displays my site as a possible source for answers. All the search terms that bring people to my site are displayed in my Google analytics account that I review monthly. This morning while looking at them, I was seriously baffled by a few questions and … Read More
So I am doing my goal setting regarding The Turkish Travel Blog and I figure that to do this, I have to review past results. While doing so, I happened to stumble across some amusing but weird search terms that were used in Google to find my blog. Taking an idea from Michael at Go see Write, I have decided to list those search terms here. Some of them may bring a smile to your face but I do give … Read More
A search term on expats lead a reader to my blog this week and it has prompted me to write this post. The search term used to find my blog was “mental health of expats in Turkey”. I was intrigued as to why someone was asking this. Had they been traveling around Turkey and come across the totally crazy expats that occupy these shores? Were they thinking of moving here but were concerned about what expat life can do to … Read More
My absence from my blog for the last 12 days has not been intentional and I have certainly not decided to turn my back on the blogging world. On March 2, I returned home for a brief visit after living abroad for eight years. Friends had already warned me that I would see a difference but I paid no attention to those words. After all, I grew up in the UK so was not expecting that much of a change. It … Read More
The winter months in Turkey have been very kind to me. The fine dining, copious amounts of beer and my desk job have all combined to bless me with a spare tyre and a couple of extra chins. I don’t need people to tell me that I have put weight on. There are six pairs of trousers sitting in my wardrobe that I cannot pull over my hips. The English ex-pats have been diplomatic to me. They remember our culture … Read More
Expats here often compare crime in Turkey with that of the UK. I have heard the following comments more than once… “The Turkish police would not put up with that nonsense” “I can tell you now that the Turkish police would beat the s*** out of them” Now it would be a mistake to think that crime does not happen here in Turkey because it does. Occasionally, peaceful demonstrations in large cities get out of hand and there are many … Read More