The life of a digital nomad is sexy. You travel the world, work when you find internet and come away with more stories than you could ever accumulate working a regular 9 to 5.
One of the great things about being a solo traveler on a “location independent” mission is when you find a vibrant city that fuels your creativity and productivity.
The travel bug is big and it’s easy to spot. You can feel it any time you come back from vacation, turn on the television or watch a good movie. Foreign places are seductive to an avid traveler. Curiosity of the unknown is addicting. Like a beautiful women, like food you’ve never tasted, like a new beach or bar.
You mix that with the idea of being able to work and travel abroad. The ability to exploring your every sinful desire whenever, wherever you want based on your budget and time available. This is the ultimate dream of becoming a full time digital nomad. Becoming location independent.
As I travel through South America as a modern-day “expat”, traveling deeper on a “long-term travel” type of mission I think about other cities I’d love to call him. Cities around the world that I think would be awesome for work and travel abroad. Perfect for the digital entrepreneur. Perfect for the curious and ambitious. Perfect for me.
Here are 6 places that have been seducing me for years. They continue to call and it’s only a matter of time before I answer.
Edinburgh, Scotland
The capital of Scotland has been seducing me for years now and I haven’t given into the temptation yet. The Scottish history and culture intrigues me and seems like the perfect city to become an expat in. It would be awesome to find one of the many cheap hotels in Edinburgh and explore the World Heritage Sites of the Medieval Old Town and the planned Georgian New Town. Or maybe go all out during the world famous Edinburgh festival at the George hotel Edinburgh. Either way, I have a strong feeling that Scotland will be calling my name again very soon and this time I’m definitely going to answer.
Barcelona, Spain
I’ve actually been to Barcelona once, but only for a long weekend. I fell in love with the food, culture and energy of the city. It’s like a big beach town with so much going on. This could be an incredible fit for my digital nomadic lifestyle and a great place to meet a future wife! Also, with my Spanish knowledge progressing this would an incredible place to continue practicing my second language.
Northern England
When most people think of England they think; London and the queen but there is so much more to the country than just it’s capital city. I’ve spent some time in northern England and the lush countryside and tranquil country side be a perfect place to get some serious work done while traveling. I would search for cottages in Yorkshire and setup an office. Then I would spend weekends traveling around Leeds, York and Manchester. Yorkshire and the surrounding rolling hills would also be an enchanting place to spend the holidays. My grandparents would love visiting Yorkshire.
Berlin, Germany
It wasn’t until the last few years when I really become drawn to Berlin to work and travel. However, the more I hear about the experiences travel friends have passing through this incredible German city, the more I want to check it out. As Lonely Planet puts it “Twenty years after its post-Wall rebirth, Berlin is a scene-stealing combo of glamour and grit, teeming with top museums and galleries, grand opera and guerrilla clubs,gourmet temples and ethnic snack shacks. Whether your tastes run to posh or punk, you can sate them in Berlin”. I think this would be an awesome place to search Berlin apartment for rent and find a stylish pad in mid-town and feed off all the new-age creativity.
Bruges, Belgium
I had the opportunity to visit Brugge and immediately was swept away in all its beauty. The quiet cobblestone streets, winding canals and pristine city squares seduces me to work and travel there soon. I can just picture finding an office overlooking the square and then taking brief, but all-to-often chocolate and waffle breaks. The “Venice of the North” is definitely high on my list for places to work and travel in 2012.
Prague, Czech Republic
This has been at the top of my work and travel list forever. In 2004 I studied in London and one of my roommates returned from the Czech Republic bursting with how great it was. He said Prague restaurants are delicious and not ridiculously expensive and that Prague hotels are both classy like old Europe and stylish like new Moscow. Seems like a place I could both relax and party with an great balance between work and travel.
For now, it’s one city at a time. I’m pretty sure my travel addiction won’t subside anytime soon.
