29-year-old left NYC for Istanbul, pays $1,369/month for a duplex apartment—take a look inside

CNBC

2 days ago

In 2020, Doug Barnard was working in e-commerce at Walmart while trying to launch a YouTube channel dedicated to his travels.
As a college student, Barnard took a trip with his mom to India that was so impactful it eventually inspired him to become a full-time traveler — a path he didn't think was possible for him.
"Going to India was an eye-opening experience for me. It was the first time I'd been to some place so foreign, so stimulating and for me it was this epiphany that I needed to experience more," Barnard tells CNBC Make It.
"The most exciting part was talking to the people and seeing how things work. The immersion was what really got me."
Eventually, Barnard was laid off from his corporate job due to the covid-19 pandemic. He decided to take that time off to focus on growing his YouTube channel. In 2021, he left the United States and spent two years traveling the world before making Istanbul, Turkey, his home base in 2023.
"Growing up in Connecticut, I never would have imagined that I'd ever end up living in a place like Istanbul or traveling to all the places that I've been lucky enough to travel to," Barnard says. "I found myself coming back to Istanbul again and again. It really is the perfect place for what I'm doing. It is pretty much the center of the world. I love the language, I love the culture, I love the history."
When Barnard first moved to Istanbul, he lived alone in a one-bedroom apartment and payed approximately 16,000 Turkish Lira in rent, which at the time was equivalent to about $850 USD. Because of the fluctuating currency exchange rate, by the time he moved out, Barnard's rent had decreased to about $500 USD.
Barnard met his girlfriend, İlkay, and the couple moved into a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom duplex apartment in the Kadıköy neighborhood. They pay 55,000 Turkish Lira or $1,368.91 USD a month in rent.
The apartment came furnished and had a guaranteed parking spot but the couple has since gotten rid of their car.
"I always describe it to people as kind of like the Brooklyn of Istanbul. It has a lot of thrift shops, coffee shops, bars and that kind of hipster vibe," Barnard says. "It's one of the best neighborhoods in the city, especially for younger people."
Istanbul is split between two continents: Europe and Asia. For Barnard, it was important to live on the Asian side because it's less touristy.
"I chose specifically to be on the Asian side. All of the historical stuff is on the European side, so tourists almost all stay over there and people tend to speak a bit more English too," Barnard says. "I really wanted to focus on learning the language. This neighborhood is very well connected, and it's also one of the most secular neighborhoods in Istanbul, whereas other neighborhoods can be much more conservative."
The couple found the apartment using a website that Barnard describes as similar to Craigslist. They had been looking for a few weeks and then signed a one-year lease the same day they saw it in person for the first time.
"It's kind of like New York. The housing market is so insane here that for anything that's even remotely attractive, there is only like a day or two to jump on it," Barnard says.
The couple's additional monthly expenses average about 2,000 Turkish Lira, or approximately $50 USD. That includes bills like water, electricity, internet and gas. They also pay an additional building maintenance fee of about $45 USD.
While Barnard and his girlfriend don't yet know if they will stay in Turkey, the couple has decided that if they do, they'll likely sign another one-year lease for the duplex.
Barnard's time abroad inspired him to start a boutique tourism company called Doug Barnard Travel. They take small groups of 8 to 10 people on cultural immersion tours of places like Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan. Barnard offers private tours as well.
The group tours start at $2,700 per person and what's included in that all-inclusive package can vary country to country. Flights are not included.
"It is truly authentic travel. I mean it is as real as it gets. Places like Egypt and India are amazing but they have mass tourism industries and a place like Iraq is so new to tourism that you get a really authentic experience," Barnard says. "The people are excited to have you. The hospitality is out of this world and everything you're seeing is unparalleled."
Since he's been living in Istanbul for over two years now, Barnard says the Turkish city is the perfect location for him because so much of his business is in the Middle East. It's one of the main reasons why he doesn't see himself moving back to the U.S. right now.
"The more time I spend living in Istanbul and the more people I meet and the better I get at the language the more it feels like home," he says.
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