Whether we do it consciously or not, when we make decisions on certain things to determine if we “like them,” we go through a mental checklist and check off the boxes of what works and what doesn’t. The simple act of walking into a new restaurant would prove this out as you determine if it’s clean, quiet enough, smells good (or not), makes you feel welcome, etc… If an important box is unchecked, you may just check out yourself. When you dated (or still do), when you meet/ met someone, you did a mental box checking act to see if you liked them or not.

• Too tall or too short? Check
• Heavy, skinny? Check
• Right color hair, clothing, voice? Check, check, check.

As Kathleen and I explored 24 countries and countless cities over the past three years, we also went through a checklist to determine if we liked it, thought about returning—or even live there. We loved and still love Spain, Portugal, and especially Croatia and we have had countless discussions of whether we wanted to return or if we wanted to stay “long term.” For several years Croatia, and Split city in particular, were at the top of our “Yes, we could live there, conversation,” but now Antalya, Turkey has replaced it as number one. That is just one of the many reasons we have applied for residency here in Turkey, and that will allow us to stay for one to two years and not worry about visa issues.

What does our checklist look like?

• Weather: check. Very similar to Orange County, CA, where I lived for four decades, and one of the best climates in the US. Chilly (mostly 50 degrees range, lower at night) and a bit rainy in winter, and hot in summer. From what we heard this town gets TOO hot in summer, so we plan to go north or to higher elevation to be comfortable.
• Scenery: as nice as Orange County and California are, this place kicks its ass. The cliffs and Mediterranean Ocean here are breathtaking, and considering we can see walls and buildings that are 2000 years old, it can be humbling. Having the ocean just 10 minutes away by foot is also very convenient!
• Food: plenty of it and all good. Heavy in the fish and veggies and that fits since the Mediterranean diet is considered to be the healthiest in the world.
• People: so amazingly cordial and friendly in a very real way, and most speak English so there is no language barrier here at all. There is also a decent, but small expat community of English speakers from many countries (mostly UK), but not many Americans.
• Cost of living: one of the biggest draws since our lifestyle is about 25-35% of what California was and we can live and eat for a fraction of what we used to spend. For the next several months we are in an apartment/ hotel and on the roof is a full-on pano view of the ocean and marina, and our rent is not even double what my car payment used to be…
• Access to other areas (domestic): Turkey is about 8% of the size of the US, and 16% larger than Texas and there are 5000 miles of coastline split between four different oceans: Mediterranean; Aegean; Sea of Marmara, and the Black Sea to the north. That means lots to explore just inside this one country, plus they have a good domestic rail system as well as here in the city of Antalya.
• Access to other countries (international): on the compass dial we are situated to the east of Europe, but we can get there in just a few hours. We’re just north of the middle East and Africa and they are also accessible. If we choose to go further into Asia (Turkey IS considered Asia, which I did not know before) it’s easy, plus airline costs are much cheaper than in the US.

When we compared Turkey to any other place we’ve been (or thought to go), no place checks off that many boxes.

If you’re curious and would like to visit or want information, please let us know, we’d love to introduce you!