In 2017, Doug BarnardA university student at that time, he made a trip to India with his mother. The experience was so impressive that it eventually inspired him to become a full-time traveler-a road he did not know was possible for him.
“Going to India was a delightful experience for me. This was the first time that I was somewhere in my foreigner, a catalyst, and this was the diver’s feast that I needed to try more.”
“The most exciting part was to talk to people and see how things were working. Imam was what really made me.”
Barnard graduated in 2018 and moved to New York City to work in Walmart. At that time, he got about $ 60,000 annually in the e -commerce sector, and although he did not like his job, he was definitely not his passion.
“I think part of me was looking for more meaning in my work,” he says.
Since his departure from the United States, Barnard has traveled to places like Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Doug Barnard
While working in Walmart, the Barnard started YouTube channel dedicated to his trips. It was the first trip that he shown on his channel a visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2020.
“At that time, Saudi Arabia was a kind of this mysterious country from an American perspective, at least. It has been closed for decades and just opened tourism,” he says. “At that time, people thought I was crazy. My parents asked me not to go. My grandfather offered to pay me. But I went for it and was great.”
Later that year, Bernard was discharged from Ayoub because of the epidemic. While others may be tense to being unemployed, Barnard saw a chance to bet on himself.
“My dream was to go to travel completely, live abroad, indulge in these foreign places and earn YouTube.”
Barnard moved to Istanbul in 2023.
Berkay Tonali for CNBC Make it
From New York City to Istanbul, Türkiye
About three months after accelerating it, Bernard booked a ticket in one direction outside the United States. In January 2021, he arrived in Serbia and then traveled for two years before he decided to make Istanbul, Türkiye, the base of his home in 2023.
“I grew up in the state of Connecticut, I never imagined that I would finish living in a place like Istanbul or travel to all places that I was lucky enough to travel to,” says Barnard. “I found myself returning to Istanbul again and again. It is really the perfect place of what I do. It is largely the center of the world. I love language, love culture, love history.”
He inspired his time outside Bernard to start a boutique tourist company called Doug Bernard travel. They take small groups from 8 to 10 people in cultural indulgence rounds in places such as Iraq, Syria and Pakistan. Barnard offers special tours as well.
Bernard’s flights inspired him to start a tourist work as clients are guided in overwhelming tours.
Berkay Tonali for CNBC Make it
Group rounds start from $ 2700 per person and what is included in that comprehensive package can differ in a country to the country. Flights are not included.
“It is really authentic travel. I mean it is real as it is. Places like Egypt and India are amazing but they have group tourism industries and a place like Iraq is very new to tourism so that you get a really real experience,” says Barnard. “People are excited about your existence. Hospitality outside this world and everything you see is unparalleled.”
Barnard’s Youtube helped bring the customers of the first tourism company. Many of the destinations that appeared in early videos are the place where it offers its overwhelming rounds.
“Often, people will assume that we are in the field of business, and after we tell them that we are as tourists who feel overwhelmed,” says Barnard. “They are really proud to show their country. They are really happy to see foreigners who are interested in visiting their country and learning about it.”
Doug Barnard offers tours in Syria and other places such as Iraq.
Doug Barnard
In 2024, Doug Parnard achieved a total of five group rounds and received $ 100100 of revenue. The business of YouTube from Barnard brought an additional $ 64,029 in revenue, according to the documents reviewed by CNBC Make. In the same year, Bernard managed to pay a salary of $ 83,808.
In Istanbul, Bernard lives in a double apartment of bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms where he and his girlfriend, Elkay, He paid 55,000 Turkish pounds or 1,368.91 USD per month.
The average additional monthly expenses for the couple are about 2000 TL, or about 50 USD. This includes bills such as water, electricity, the Internet and gas. Barnard says Istanbul is the perfect site because many of its work in the Middle East. It is one of the main reasons for not seeing himself returning to the United States
He says: “The more I spend the time I spend living in Istanbul and more people I met, and the better in the language, the more you feel at home.”
Barnard and his girlfriend, Elkay, live together in the Duplex apartment in Istanbul.
Berkay Tonali for CNBC Make it
More than four years have passed since Bernard’s departure from the United States, he says that traveling around the world has taught him that there is a lot in life than being in America.
He says: “I think the Americans can tend to have this impression in their heads that the whole world hates us that this was not my experience.” “We are isolated geographically in the western hemisphere there, and there is a lot of the world to see it.”
References were made from the euro to the US dollar using the Turkish Liera conversion rate 1 0.02 US dollars on July 12, 2025. All amounts are brought to the earliest dollar.
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