Finding Your Happy Place: The World is Your Oyster

There are so many wonderful cities and places to go to in the world. But it’s interesting which places you end up vibing with. 

So for example, as much as I enjoy London or Berlin or Barcelona or Amsterdam, these are not places I think I could ever live in or spend extended periods of time in. Do not get me wrong: these are amazing cities but for some reason I just don’t feel a deep attachment to them. 

I tend to prefer places either more off the normal travel itineraries like Belgrade in Serbia, Tbilisi in Georgia, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia or my beloved Kyiv. I do miss Kyiv greatly (and doubly curse Putin and Russia for their heinous invasion). 

Lisbon in Portugal or Waikiki in Hawaii are all popular cities in the world for many people to visit. Yet I have come to feel very much at home in these places. There is this feeling of comfort and attraction when I get there. A good vibe as they call it. 

Don’t get me started about Tokyo. This is a place I’ve loved since I first went there as a fifteen year old boy. A metropolis of 30+ million people but full of unique neighborhoods, shops, lovely parks and museums. And absolutely amazing food & a deep craftsperson culture. This is also the reason I deeply love Taipei and Taichung in Taiwan. I certainly would love to spend more time in places like Riga, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, Vienna, Mexico City and Belgrade as well. 

You pretty much have my list of favorite places outside of San Francisco and Vancouver in Canada. All of these cities are ones that I will be spending much more of my time in the future. My happy places. 

Btw: you don’t need to be wealthy to do this, as stated in Digital Nomad classic “The Four Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss. You can be doing a remote job, run your own business or even better run your own online business that earns in USD and Euros. Pick the right cities and your quality of life goes up. And more likely your cost of living goes down too. 

I think in this new multipolar world, it’s important to have multiple places you can feel comfortable and be at home in. With remote work becoming more prevalent, the increasing availability of Starlink internet connections anywhere and the added threat of overreaching governments everywhere, this is important for anyone who wants to thrive in the new emerging world order. You need a mindset of going where you are treated better. Of going where there are new interesting opportunities and emerging new communities of like-minded people. And of course, finding the cities and communities you vibe most with. 

We are entering a world where talent & creativity becomes even more important than ever and the very smart leadership of cities like Dubai, Singapore and Miami are leading the way here. Watch this space!