One of the Cheapest Countries in the World

DRIGGS, IDAHO – Turkey’s currency, the Turkish lira, is at all-time lows… and it’s still crashing.

More below…

A 25-Cent Turkish Shoeshine

Greetings from our winter bolthole in rural Idaho…

Kate, the kids, and I recently traveled around the world as part of an epic homeschool field trip. We visited 30 countries over about two years.

We visited Turkey on this around-the-world trip. We traveled around the country by train and bus. We toured Ankara, Istanbul, and some places in Turkey’s interior.

This was about two years ago.

When we were there, the exchange rate was 7 lira to the dollar. Things were unbelievably cheap. I got my shoes shined for 25 cents, for example. And we could eat at restaurants for less than $5. Taxi rides were never more than 50 cents.

In retrospect, I’m pretty sure Turkey was the cheapest country we visited on our entire trip of 30 countries. It was even cheaper than India.

Cheapest Stop on Our 30-Country Trip

In Ankara, I bought a pair of designer jeans from a fancy boutique on a big shopping avenue. They were $6. When I realized what a good deal this was, I went back the next day and bought another pair!

Another day, we went to an amusement park called Luna Park, where there were bumper cars, roller coasters, and a Ferris wheel…

I don’t remember how much the rides cost exactly, but they were so cheap, we told the kids they could ride as many times as they wanted, and we didn’t think about the cost.

The food in Turkey was delicious. We ate lots of grilled meats, like kebabs and kofte. And we ate lots of hummus, taramasalata, baba ghanoush, and stuffed grape leaves.

We’d order the “meze,” which was a big plate with many dishes on it.

Turkish coffee was delicious, too. We drank it everywhere we went. (It always came with a cube of Turkish Delight on the side.)

A Construction Boom to Rival China’s

The other thing I remember about Turkey was the construction I saw as I looked out the train window.

They were putting up so many new apartment buildings, it looked like China.

(As longtime readers know, we spent a lot of time backpacking around China last year. I captured a lot of the cranes and empty apartment shells from my train window.)

And they were doing these massive public works projects, like building a new high-speed railway terminal in Istanbul. The traffic was horrible in the city because all the roads were being dug up.

It was obvious Turkey’s government had big ambitions… but reading about Turkey’s huge international debts and seeing the currency so cheap, it also seemed like Turkey had overextended itself…

Where Americans Can Live Like Kings

Today, the Turkish lira is more than 8 to the dollar (8.17 as I write). That means Turkey must be at least 17% cheaper today than when we were there.

If we were planning to expatriate to some cheap country and live like kings with our dollars, Turkey would be one of my top choices…

It’s modern. It has many beautiful landscapes – from white-sand Mediterranean beaches to deserts and mountains. And it has lots of great museums and historic sites for history buffs.

And right now, it’s one of the cheapest countries in the world…

– Tom Dyson

P.S. I’m watching Turkey closely because I think it could be the next country to experience hyperinflation, or at least a severe currency crisis. Inflation is over 11%, capital is fleeing, but the central bank refuses to raise interest rates…

I’m watching Brazil closely, too. It could soon find itself in the same dilemma…

P.P.S. Here’s Kate watching hot air balloons from our Airbnb in Cappadocia, Turkey…

Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [email protected].

In the mailbag today, praise for the Dyson family’s homeschooling… bitcoin’s practicality… and driving in snow…

Reader comment: What an amazing adventure your family is on! The life experiences you all are enjoying together as a family are invaluable! We homeschooled our two sons and they spent a lot of time outdoors in God’s laboratory!

The sibling relationship is strengthened by homeschooling! The parent-child relationship is strengthened by homeschooling! Our sons were blessed to live near both sets of grandparents who spent a lot of time with them, nurturing and teaching them about life from their perspective.

Our sons finished college and our oldest is homeschooling his four children. I don’t regret the investment in our children, our family. When advising young mothers considering homeschooling, I tell them every parent is a homeschool parent.

No one knows your child as well as you do, or loves your child as much as you do. These facts alone are reason enough to homeschool, if possible. May God bless you and your sweet family as you continue to explore our amazing world.

Reader comment: Overstock accepts bitcoin. While they do not have the extensive list of products that Amazon has, they do have several thousand SKUs in quite a few categories.

Reader comment: I’ve lived and driven in Utah for many years. I often drive a two-wheel drive pickup truck up hills in snow. Most of the time, it does pretty well. I’ve often passed four-wheel drive vehicles going uphill during snowstorms. If it gets too bad and too steep, I have sometimes had to turn around, but that’s rare.

The main thing to avoid is too much torque when accelerating/decelerating. Putting a vehicle into low gear gives you high torque, which will cause tires to spin on ice. Better to use a higher gear with lower torque. When going downhill, as long as your rear tires are turning, they can provide drag, which is good.

I taught all my girls to drive in snow by making them go to an empty parking lot on the first big snowfall. They practiced doughnuts and then correcting from them by steering into the skid. Doing this would give you a feel for how the car acts – and what to do about it – in a safe environment.

Tom’s note: Thanks to everyone who wrote in! By the way, we’re trying something new in these postcards…

Going forward, I’ll publish your questions – along with my answers – every Friday in a special mailbag edition. That way you’ll have all my answers in one easy-to-find spot each week.

As always, please keep your questions and comments coming at [email protected]. And let us know what you think about our new Friday mailbag editions…