If there’s one thing Kiwi journalist Isobel Ewing has learnt from the past year living in Türkiye, it’s to always expect the unexpected. From her partner Cael Geier getting detained and deported thanks to ever-changing immigration rules, to adopting stray kittens born in the newsroom, life in Istanbul’s never boring.
The biggest surprise for the former Newshub presenter came when her beau Cael, 29, a Canadian environmental engineer, was unexpectedly “kicked out” of Türkiye due to a misunderstanding.
“We left the country to see a friend in London, but we didn’t realise you can’t leave while your residence permit process is underway, unless you’ve got a special document,” explains Isobel, 35, who’s an anchor on English-Turkish broadcaster TRT World.
“On returning to Istanbul, we were stopped at the border and Cael was held at the airport for 25 hours. We were told he’d overstayed his tourist visa and couldn’t be let in for two months. It was extremely stressful and traumatic.”
To give her partner the best chance of obtaining his residency, Isobel’s colleague Mesut gave her a tip. The biggest surprise for the former Newshub presenter came when her beau, Cael, 29, a Canadian environmental engineer, faced an unexpected setback. He was “kicked out” of Türkiye due to a misunderstanding.
Through translators, he insisted the couple must get married. Turkish authorities were cracking down on foreigners living in the country.
A surprising conversation
Isobel laughs, “We were like, ‘This is weird!’ I never thought we’d be having a conversation about getting married with the HR guy who doesn’t speak English.”
Little did she know Cael had already purchased an engagement ring and was secretly planning to propose in Norway, where they were about to run a marathon. The couple moved up their plans when a friend suggested Tbilisi in Georgia, after they discovered they couldn’t get married in Türkiye because foreigners must both hold residence permits.
The perfect spot in Georgia
“It’s the fastest place to get married in Europe and where we spent several weeks pedalling around the mountains last year,” tells Isobel, adding that the cobblestoned capital proved to be a welcome respite from the “nightmare” of Turkish bureaucracy.
“Everything was so easy and organised. We flew to Tbilisi, our witness Maria picked us up from our hotel and took us to register the marriage, then we went back in the afternoon to sign the official documents.”
A festival meet
The couple quips that they were “aggressively set up” by a mutual friend at Auckland’s Splore music festival in 2023. They didn’t want to spend too much money, so they bought flowers from a street vendor and skipped buying new clothes.
Isobel looked elegant in a chocolate-brown shift she bought from an op shop in Paris. She paired the dress with vintage Gucci loafers borrowed from a Turkish friend and a long lace veil she found at Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar for $50.
Capturing the moments
“We also hired a local photojournalist to shoot our wedding day memories,” she shares.
“She usually covers gnarly protests, but I really liked her work. She was getting us to kiss a lot, so there ended up being more red lipstick on Cael than on me!”
While their forced wedding was unexpected, the pair is clear they’re loving life there.
A career adventure abroad
“The job has been amazing,” Isobel enthuses.
“The stories I cover here would never happen in New Zealand and I feel so much more confident.”
Isobel spoke to Woman’s Day from their sunny Istanbul apartment. In the background of the video chat, their two rescue cats, Woodward and Bernstein, sauntered past.
“There’s a bunch of cats that live at TRT World,” she shares.
“When I was on night shift, a heavily pregnant one walked around the corner of my desk. I had some chicken, so I fed it to her and the next day, she gave birth to four kittens in our office. “I couldn’t let two of them fend for themselves, so I took them home and named them after the two journalists who covered the Watergate scandal!”
Work is keeping Isobel busy for now. She says the newlyweds plan to celebrate their nuptials with a party in Canada this year. They will follow it with another wedding in New Zealand in early 2027.
“The Turkish authorities did their best to derail us,” she smiles.
“But it led to the perfect, romantic wedding weekend in our favourite city, drinking Georgian wine with one very shaggy yet enthusiastic guest – a street dog!”
