In 2017, Doug Barnard, a school scholar on the time, took a visit to India along with his mother. The expertise was so impactful that it will definitely impressed him to change into a full-time traveler—a path he did not know was potential for him.
“Going to India was an eye-opening expertise for me. It was the primary time I would been to some place so international, so stimulating and for me it was this epiphany that I wanted to expertise extra,” Barnard tells CNBC Make It.
“Essentially the most thrilling half was speaking to the individuals and seeing how issues work. The immersion was what actually acquired me.”
Barnard graduated in 2018 and moved to New York Metropolis to work for Walmart. On the time, he earned about $60,000 a yr working within the e-commerce sector, and although he did not dislike his job, it definitely wasn’t his ardour.
“I feel part of me was searching for extra that means in my work,” he says.
Since leaving the US, Barnard has traveled to locations like Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
Doug Barnard
Whereas working at Walmart, Barnard began a YouTube channel devoted to his travels. The primary journey he featured on his channel was a go to to Saudi Arabia in 2020.
“On the time, Saudi Arabia was type of this mysterious nation from an American perspective, not less than. It was closed off for many years and so they had simply opened for tourism,” he says. “Again then, individuals thought I used to be loopy. My mother and father requested me to not go. My grandfather provided to reimburse me. However I went for it and it was superior.”
Later that yr, Barnard was laid off from job due to the pandemic. Whereas others may need been nervous about being unemployed, Barnard noticed it as a chance to wager on himself.
“My dream was to go journey full time, dwell overseas, immerse myself in these international locations and make a dwelling from YouTube.”
Barnard moved to Istanbul in 2023.
Berkay Tunalı for CNBC Make It
From New York Metropolis to Istanbul, Turkey
About three months after being laid off, Barnard booked a one-way ticket out of the US. In January 2021, he arrived in Serbia after which traveled for 2 years earlier than deciding to make Istanbul, Turkey, his dwelling base in 2023.
“Rising up in Connecticut, I by no means would have imagined that I would ever find yourself dwelling in a spot like Istanbul or touring to all of the locations that I have been fortunate sufficient to journey to,” Barnard says. “I discovered myself coming again to Istanbul repeatedly. It truly is the proper place for what I am doing. It’s just about the middle of the world. I like the language, I like the tradition, I like the historical past.”
His time overseas impressed Barnard to begin a boutique tourism firm known as Doug Barnard Journey. They take small teams of 8 to 10 individuals on cultural immersion excursions of locations like Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan. Barnard presents personal excursions as effectively.
Barnard’s travels overseas impressed him to begin a tourism enterprise the place he guides shoppers on immersive excursions.
Berkay Tunalı for CNBC Make It
The group excursions begin at $2,700 per individual and what’s included in that all-inclusive bundle can range nation to nation. Flights should not included.
“It’s actually genuine journey. I imply it’s as actual because it will get. Locations like Egypt and India are superb however they’ve mass tourism industries and a spot like Iraq is so new to tourism that you just get a extremely genuine expertise,” Barnard says. “The persons are excited to have you ever. The hospitality is out of this world and every part you are seeing is unparalleled.”
Barnard’s YouTube channel helped herald his tourism firm’s first shoppers. Most of the locations featured in his early movies are the place he presents his immersive excursions.
“A variety of the time, individuals will assume we’re there on enterprise after which as soon as we inform them that we’re there as vacationers often persons are thrilled,” Barnard says. “They’re actually proud to point out off their nation. They’re actually completely happy to see that foreigners are eager about visiting their nation and studying about them.”
Doug Barnard Journey presents excursions in Syria and different locations like Iraq.
Doug Barnard
In 2024, Doug Barnard Journey ran a complete of 5 group excursions and introduced in $100,100 in income. Barnard’s YouTube channel enterprise introduced in a further $64,029 in income, in accordance with paperwork reviewed by CNBC Make It. That very same yr, Barnard was capable of pay himself a wage of $83,808.
In Istanbul, Barnard lives in a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half toilet duplex residence the place he and his girlfriend, İlkay, pay 55,000 Turkish Lira or $1,368.91 USD a month.
The couple’s extra month-to-month bills common about 2,000 Turkish Lira, or roughly $50 USD. That features payments like water, electrical energy, web and fuel. Barnard says Istanbul is the proper location for him as a result of a lot of his enterprise is within the Center East. It is one of many fundamental the explanation why he would not see himself shifting again to the U.S.
“The extra time I spend dwelling in Istanbul and the extra individuals I meet and the higher I get on the language the extra it appears like dwelling,” he says.
Barnard and his girlfriend, İlkay, dwell collectively in a duplex residence in Istanbul.
Berkay Tunalı for CNBC Make It
It has been over 4 years since Barnard left the U.S. He says that touring the world has taught him there’s a lot extra to life than being in America.
“I feel People can are inclined to have this impression of their heads that the entire world hates us that hasn’t been my expertise,” he says. “We’re remoted geographically within the western hemisphere over there, and there is a lot world to see.”
Conversions from euros to USD have been finished utilizing the OANDA conversion price of 1 Turkish Lira to 0.02 USD on July 12, 2025. All quantities are rounded to the closest greenback.
Need to be a profitable, assured communicator? Take CNBC’s on-line course Turn out to be an Efficient Communicator: Grasp Public Talking. We’ll educate you communicate clearly and confidently, calm your nerves, what to say and never say, and physique language methods to make an excellent first impression. Get began right this moment.
Plus, join CNBC Make It is e-newsletter to get ideas and tips for fulfillment at work, with cash and in life, and request to affix our unique neighborhood on LinkedIn to attach with specialists and friends.
Keep forward of the curve with NextBusiness 24. Discover extra tales, subscribe to our e-newsletter, and be part of our rising neighborhood at nextbusiness24.com
