Moving to Turkey

Liv,

Great to hear you are debating a move to Istanbul.

I recently moved to Istanbul myself for work and my thoughts for you are as follows:

Safe- As the previous post (I have lived in London for 1.5 years for work), I feel safer here than in London due to threat of people. My biggest fear is safety in a taxi (not due to kidnapping ) but due to traffic & potholes! The traffic & pollution in a city of 14M people is huge.

Size: I thought London was a large city but it has nothing on Istanbul. It's a large city and very widespread so the location you would move to would depend on the distance to the office & traffic in between. My colleagues who live further away from Maslak (one of the many business districts in Ist) say in the morning their commute is 20 mins but in the evening 1 hour +.

Ammenities: In Istanbul you'll be able to find everything you need. There are many malls here and I would recommend living in walking distance of one of them because in the malls are also the large super markets. There are ofcoarse many local shops but they don't carry international foods.

Transportation: I commute to the office by taxi, which coming from London would be very pricy but here its actually the norm. I could walk to the nearest tube station (20 mins) and then take the tube but the lines aren't nearly as useful as in London so it doesn't get you where you want to go.

Lifestyle: Food, people, weather, culture & sight seeing are fantastic.

Perhaps this map would help you understand the different neighborhoods:
http://www.lameta.com.tr/citymap.htm

And this is Istanbul's transportation trip planning site:
http://harita.iett.gov.tr/en/

Goodluck!
J

hello,
i am an american living in istanbul, now for nearly a year, and i love it.  it does have its "side effects" like any large city.  aggressive and truly dis-passionate drivers of vehicles -scooters AND cars, alike. there is no respect for pedestrians in istanbul.  seldom will you see any.  you will experience problems trying to cross any street in any part of the city at ALL times.  if you will walk your pets as you indicated it will be a big issue.  unbelievable to me, but a fact you must accept.

the city and city life can be very rewarding.  quality restaurants abound.  housing can be a problem.  landlords can be dictators -their way only.  you woud be well to rent from someone who has a provable track record and a successful rental business.  private landlords are notorious for keeping deposits no matter what and the laws seem to support it, in spite of there being "rules" of proper landlording/tenancy.

friendly, friendly, friendly people.  and they love to laugh and share.  ask for directions and they likely will show you or take you.

stray dogs and cats abound.  my heart bleeds about this constantly.  but, i have an angel of a vet and there are many caring people regarding the animals.  i see flagrant abuse too.  in this city you see it all. 

be careful of people volunteering to help you because they see some sign you are a foreigner.  especially the taxi drivers will milk your fare more than they will not.  street hustlers can be annoying and some even dangerous.  learn about this.

istanbul is one of a kind city.  enjoy, be safe and love the energy that will feed you while you explore the vast choice of things to do.  and let's not forget the natural beauty of the people. incredible genetic material here for those who enjoy seeing it.   young and old, male and female.  must be that ottoman influence.

Hi Liv

I am from Istanbul and I live in Kuwait :-) If you would like to discuss further in detail I will be glad to answer your questions.

Jada

Thanks to everyone and the useful advice. From everything I've heard, Istanbul sounds like quite an interesting place to spend some time. I'm living in Kuwait at the moment, so I'm really looking forward to some nightlife, culture and nice architecture.
We're going to be making a quick visit in a few weeks to get a feel for the place, but so far I have a good feeling about it. Like you all said, it's a big city and like all big cities, there are some bad points, but it definitely sounds like the good outweighs the bad in this case.
Thank you to everyone again for sharing your thoughts and advice.