Current location: Playa del Carmen, Mexico |
Hello,
After two lovely days at the beach over the weekend, I've been in full work mode. It's also too hot to do anything else during the day. Even my long evening walks turn me into a sweaty mess. Such is life in Playa at this time of year. It's been interesting to spend more time with other remote workers/digital nomads (aka 'nomads') over the past seven months. What I've learned is that, for most nomads, life seems to be all about the community. They choose their destinations based on places where it will be easy to find and hang out with other nomads. The actual location doesn't seem too important (apart from avoiding brutal winters) as long as there are others there to have fun with. It's the nomadic attempt to have a normal group of friends that you can see relatively often despite the nature of the traveling lifestyle. And it's the reason why the entire world really only has a handful of remote worker hubs - places such as Lisbon, Bali, Medellin and Playa del Carmen - that nomads flock to by the masses. But what if you want to go somewhere different and still have a community? I guess you need to bring the community to that location. This week I was talking with a friend about the possibility of returning to Valencia, Spain to use as my base. After all, it has everything that a remote worker could need - it's a beautiful city, walkable, with great food options, friendly people, culture, music, events, it's super safe, has a nice beach with boardwalk, it's easy to get to and is very affordable. However, the nomad community in Valencia, while super nice and welcoming, is quite small. This is the reason why more nomads don't flock there. It's a catch-22 as there is no community without an existing community. My friend told me I should go back to Valencia and convince my other nomad friends to join me, and grow the community. Perhaps I'll try, even if the current nomad community there wants to keep this hidden gem to themselves! I do find it hard to believe that nomads will continue going to the same few places over and over again. There will need to be new 'hubs' around the world and once travel is fully possible again, I think it will happen quickly. I'm very curious to see what destinations become popular...and I'm quite certain Valencia will be one of them. [Short thoughts about being a cat dad to Matcha, my kitten that we rescued in Bali last year] Matcha has a new method of drinking water. No more licking it out of the cup (yes, she drinks out of a cup)... she now dips her paw into the cup and then licks the water off her paw. It's a lot slower but it seems to work. Is this normal? It's time to use your travel knowledge and research skills! Last week
The guesses were quite varied - Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Belarus, Ukraine, Dar es Salaam, Santiago, Chile and more. Several people said "Africa" and while that is the correct continent, it's not very specific!
Congratulations to Ben who guessed NAIROBI, KENYA as the location in the photo below. And congratulations to Michael who specifically guessed "the skyline of Nairobi from the top of the Kenyatta International Convention Centre." That's exactly where the photo was taken. Two of the places that stood out the most during my visit to Nairobi: Both are well worth visiting! This week's photo The Rules
1. Try to figure out where the below photo was taken. 2. Reply to this email with your guess.
3. The more specific the guess, the better!
4. The location will be revealed in next week's newsletter.
So, here we go :) Where in the world is this? Travel-related (usually) tidbits that appeared in my inboxesMostar Bridge JumpingWhen I saw this video of people jumping off the historic bridge in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, I was instantly transported back to my visit there, when I watched the same thing. And oddly enough, someone sent me this video two hours after I was having a conversation about Mostar with another friend.Hitachi Seaside ParkI don't know how I never heard of this park before. Located only 2 hours north of Tokyo, the Hitachi Seaside Park has different flowers depending on the season. And at certain times of the year, it looks straight out of Alice in Wonderland.Unique RoadsAfter talking about the windy Transfagarasan Highway in Romania, a friend let me know about the crazy-looking Panlong Road, located in the Western region of Xinjiang, China. It has 600 turns. |
Concerts in Mosul
It took four years after being liberated from the Islamic State, but volunteers finally got the Al-Rabea Theater in Mosul, Iraq ready for performances once again. The Water Youth Orchestra's debut performance took place last week to a full crowd.
Capture the Extreme
The results of a photo contest about the extreme locations on Earth will leave you in awe about, well, the extreme locations that exist on Earth! You can also see more of the entries here.
Malta Will Pay You to Visit
With plans to open up to vaccinated travelers on June 1st, the island nation of Malta is giving visitors up to 200 Euros if they book their accommodation directly with hotels. You can earn even more if you visit the nearby island of Gozo as well.
Touch Two Continents
If you're heading to Iceland and don't mind scuba diving in frigid waters, you can actually touch two continents at the same time. The location is in the Silfra fissure, where the Eurasian and North American continents are only an arm's length apart.
St. Lucia for 6 Weeks?
I personally don't think the 'long-stay visas for remote workers' that are popping up around the Caribbean will be too popular, but St. Lucia is trying it as well. The "Live It" program is only for 6 weeks though, allowing visitors to work remotely while exploring the nature and life on the island.
I'm a Sucker for Beaches
Yes, I found another list of beautiful beaches around the world and this one is quite thorough. If you like beaches and tropical destinations, this collection of gorgeous beaches will give you some new travel ideas! Thanks for reading!
Regards,
Derek (my middle name is Earl) |
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