@inekto

One of the best cities in Europe. Though location makes a big difference in Istanbul. Besikatas, Nişantaşı, and Karakoy are parts that I enjoyed. They are safe and have nice vibe and energy. Big city, but not too hectic. I've met a lot of friendly Turkish people there and had good conversations. The food is good and relatively cheap. Outside of the good areas you will find lots of scams, people will try you everyday. Though its not violent, you can always just walk away.

It is something important to mention that if you rent a villa longer term, say 1-2 years, the maintenance will be at your expense. By that I mean if you have mold, it's on you to fix it, if your kitchen cabinets fall apart, it's on you, if termites damage the structure of your house, it's on you, if it floods and submerges your living room, it's on you. You either fix it and pay yourself or you move and do not get your rent back. The landlords will never ever pay for any renovations, any repair

I spent only one week here, so I can’t give super well-rounded opinion. Unfortunately BKK wasn’t for me, and I figured that out very quickly. I prefer working in cafes on USA stock market hours. I found nearly every decent cafe in Bangkok closed at 6pm or 8pm at the latest. Yes, there are some coworking places, but most don’t allow you to stay after 6pm on a drop-in basis. Traffic was hectic and stressful. Traffic jams on random streets in the middle of the day were common, so doing city t

Helsinki, FInland, for one week in late July 2023. Short story: I would go there again in a heartbeat. Its safe, fun, trendy. It has great public transit in the core and to the airport, and is REALLY pedestrian friendly. English is readily spoken in the downtown core. Food from local and worldwide tastes is available and I did not have a single bad meal there. Check the opening/closing times for restaurants and bars- they vary wildly (Google maps is good for this, but not infallible). Internet w

Antalya has been growing so much as a DN destination... There are events and meetups every day of the week. Most of them centered around Coworking Antalya. They solved the problem of inspiring workspace with their facilities right in the center of town with an extraordinary sea view. The great thing about Antalya as a destination is that you get it all: amenities of a big city (without the chaos of Istanbul), nature, culture, beaches, history, nightlife etc. Despite the heavy inflation, it's st

The ugliest city I've ever set foot in. It is very polluted. Developers are obsessed with "European" style building because it looks "rich". There are an endless amount of shopping malls with new ones coming, which get old quickly. "Parks" here are more of an afterthought, not a legitimate park. Gated communities are the fabric of the city so you must drive or walk through the main roads that are jam-packed with traffic. In other words, the city is made up of exclusive pockets of housing areas t

So… amazing food. Great public transportation. Very clean. But very conformist. Self expression limited. The irony of seeing an exhibit on graffiti, yet no actual graffiti in the streets. And the causal racism especially if you’re brown. You could be British born but still expect to be sat far away from everyone else at cocktail bars, experience comments and have weird assumptions made.

Very nice city, but as everyone says, a bit boring after awhile. It's comfortable and feels like the suburbs, with conveniences that you don't always find in SE Asian countries. Luxury shopping malls, excellent hospitals, and infrastructure, are all things that are not as common in other SE Asian countries, (although Bangkok, TH, has good malls and hospitals). KLCC is safe, from a solo female traveler, if you're careful. I stayed in the KLCC area and was advised by other KL nomads, to stay ins