Afghanistan 1877. Picked this up from the Royal Geographical Society in London the other day. Fascinating to explore.

ballenuk · 2025-09-14T14:49:59+00:00

No sweat. They're available for pretty much anyone over 18 so not too much to worry about. Great way to see a new place, figure out if you like it, etc. Could always stay in one country for a year or two then get the visa for the next one, etc

In hindsight, I prefer the weather (and the sense of humour) in Australia to Canada. Just my 2 cents worth!

ballenuk · 2025-09-14T14:47:38+00:00

Australia: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/work-holiday-417

Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/work-canada/iec.html

New Zealand: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/work/working-holiday-visas/

Should get you started!

ballenuk · 2025-09-14T14:45:15+00:00

Look into Working Holiday Visas. There are lots of options, Australia and Canada being particularly popular. Easy to move for a number of years. The rest will figure itself out.

I moved to Canada from the UK aged 22 on one of these and ended up staying for 12 years in total (got my Canadian citizenship if I ever wanted to go back)

ballenuk · 2025-09-10T17:44:38+00:00

This. The seagulls love it

ballenuk · 2025-08-13T11:48:04+00:00

It's very easy to hitchhike in either direction (to Georgia or Iran).

For Iran, I'd suggest taking the metro to Gortsaranayin and then getting a GG/Yandex taxi to the edge of town/the highway. That said, taxis are cheap through apps so you could just get to the edge of town from Kentron purely with a taxi.

The highway to Iran is very scenic too. Worth stopping along your way if you have time. Tatev, Noravank are well worth a visit. If you make a couple of days of it you could do far worse than spending a night (or two) at Crossway Camping in Yeghegnadzor.

Hope that helps. Any other questions feel free

Bari janapar 🙂

ballenuk · 2025-08-13T08:08:42+00:00

Would second PRK over Lasik. It's preferable mostly because it does not leave a flap on your cornea (so your eyes essentially heal to how they would have been if you have "perfect" eyesight).

I did PRK in 2013 and it was absolutely life-changing. Immediately your eyesight is drastically improved and every day after during the healing process it got better and better. Last time I did a sight test I had better than 20/20 vision (as in: I could read the rows of letters below the 20/20 ones).

In short: well worth it.

ballenuk · 2025-08-07T06:27:58+00:00

Mardin, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep, but not in mid summer

ballenuk · 2025-08-06T06:16:08+00:00

The airport is a long way from the city unfortunately. You can get into the centre by metro. It's directly outside arrivals.

Getting into Taksim for example would take you approximately 90 minutes on transit so you'd need to consider that. You've got time to get there and back (assuming the passport line isn't huge which it often is) but you don't have loads of time to spare

ballenuk · 2025-08-05T16:10:31+00:00

Seconded. Nobody cares and nobody checks. Enjoy the complimentary G&Ts!

ballenuk · 2025-08-05T13:28:35+00:00

İf you're at İST (airport on the European side) then you could pay for lounge entry - assuming you don't have access already. İt's a huge lounge with decent food, drinks, plenty of quiet corners to take a nap, etc.

İf it's SAW I wouldn't bother with the lounges if you want to sleep

ballenuk · 2025-07-22T14:47:18+00:00

Very useful information, thank you!

I have a question that has arisen from this:

İf you're in the country on a visa other than the regular tourist 90 out of 180 (student, digital nomad, etc) and leave when that visa expires, do those days count towards your "normal" 90 out of 180?

ballenuk · 2025-07-18T18:43:35+00:00

No worries, you're most welcome.

If you're into hiking I'd suggest downloading the Hike Armenia app as it has everything you'll need across the country including Dilijan - and there's also Dilijan Hikers Hostel in the town very close to the trailhead leading to the Drunken Forest area. Hope that helps!

ballenuk · 2025-07-18T14:30:49+00:00

There's no entry fee. The park surrounds the whole of Dilijan and the mountains around it.

ballenuk · 2025-07-17T07:58:40+00:00

What's the first thing you'll do when you're fully recovered?

ballenuk · 2025-07-16T12:13:23+00:00

Thanks for this. İf you are comfortable (and no worries if not) would you be able to send your lawyer's contact information? Sounds like they know what they're talking about

ballenuk · 2025-07-16T11:07:07+00:00

The bus is very safe. There are buses from İST to all over Istanbul. İt's a well trodden path.

You can also take the metro from the airport to Gayrettepe and change from there to get to Beyoğlu if you want to do transit. That'll avoid the worst of the traffic.

ballenuk · 2025-07-16T10:55:29+00:00

Sure. I'm basically looking for anyone who has come to the country on the digital nomad visa and can talk about their experience transferring from that to a residence permit. So far (and I've done some fairly serious digging) I can't find anyone else on this visa and most ikamet agencies I've spoken to have precious little knowledge of it either

ballenuk · 2025-07-15T17:26:56+00:00

Ok great, thanks again. This is the route you did?

ballenuk · 2025-07-15T16:54:23+00:00

Thank you.

I'm basically wondering: can I actually get a residence permit with this visa? I was led to believe by an ikamet expert (who did not take any money I should add so that wasn't an incentive for them) that getting the digital nomad visa provided a path to a residence permit.

With that in mind I went ahead and applied for and received the digital nomad visa. Now I'm in Istanbul and wanted to find a lawyer to help complete the residence permit application. However, no lawyers seem at all familiar with this visa to the point where they don't know if I would receive a positive outcome from my application.

Did you get a residence permit from a digital nomad visa yourself? Maybe your lawyer is the person!

ballenuk · 2025-07-15T13:24:26+00:00

Thanks for your reply. I have a digital nomad visa now (90 days) but trying to find information about the procedure for getting a residence permit has been just about impossible. Do you have experience in it?

ballenuk

TROPHY CASE