I remember once in an interview being
asked where was the favorite place that
I've lived and the answer I gave was
that, picking a favorite would be like
picking a favorite child. It's that sure, we
might have our preferences, we might
secretly have a favorite, but that
publicly, I'm not going to admit
something. Now, that's not entirely true
and I'll get into the favorite places
that I've lived before, and maybe this is
interesting too because they're just
like, "Hey, I want to know where Dan like
to live," but maybe it's a way for you to
get some insight into living abroad or
becoming a digital nomad, and thinking
about where you might want to live and
how it's enjoyable. A bit of my backstory
if you haven't heard it before, I don't
even know if actually in any of my
YouTube videos. So, I left Canada in 2012
and started living in different
countries. I started in Costa Rica and
stayed there for about four months and
then, from Costa Rica went to New York,
and from New York, I ended up following a
friend to Europe where he was going to
do a master's degree. So, I've lived in
Hamburg, Germany and then I went on to
Bologna, Italy to Barcelona, Spain back to
Hamburg, then to Berlin, and then to
Prague, and I actually settled into
Prague here about two years ago and have
had it as a home base ever since. So, I've
lived in a couple of different places to
say the least, and have some favorite and
some places I disliked. The first thing
when I think about where I've lived, that
comes to mind, is that there's good and
bad for everywhere, and everywhere to me
has good memories and experiences. So,
I've never been someone who's got to a
place and after a week just said, "Screw
this," and left. Italy would have been
probably the place where I could have
done that if I was that kind of person,
because it was cold, got there in January
but thought it would be warm, I don't
know why, thought Italy would be a hot
place. So, got there it's cold, it was a
little miserable, some issues with the
apartment and things like that right off
the bat, but I always like to stick
things out because that's, I don't know,
how you learn, how you get a good
experience. The other thing I've come to
realize is that your mood or
circumstances in life, in terms of, I guess your
big picture mood, the phase of life that
you are in, can have a big impact on how
you enjoy a place. And it can also have a
big impact on, or I should say, it should
have a big impact on where you want to
live and how that place can play into
your goals at the time. So, for example,
Prague, I love right now. It's arguably my
favorite city, and one of the things I
love about it is, it's a pretty easy city,
like in terms of getting groceries,
getting to places, you know, taking uber
or transit everywhere, everything you
need is here. Tons of cafes, I mean within
my apartment, within a 10-minute walk,
there's maybe six places I can go get
breakfast and get some work done, which
is pretty great. So, for where I'm at
right now with life, it's a really good
spot. I'm really enjoying work, like
making this video, I wouldn't even
call it work, but like making these
videos making content, writing, leading
the Free Freelancer Program, I'm enjoying
this and I love that Prague makes that
possible while still being a really
exciting and interesting city. On the
other hand, there's places like the more
tropical, living on the beach, those sorts
of areas where they are very appealing
if you're into water sports or, maybe if
I was taking some time off, where I just
wanted to work a couple hours a day,
relax, I'd probably more lean towards
those places. So, I mentioned Prague, one
of my favorite places, the other city
would be Barcelona. Barcelona is a place
where if I had to stay in one place for
the rest of my life, it would be
Barcelona, where there's everything you
need, there's a good, decent to good
entrepreneurial scene, there's culture,
it's a big enough city, it's exciting,
it's interesting, but it also has a beach
and I grew up on the ocean as well, so I
I do miss it when I'm not by the water.
So, it has a beach, it has warm weather,
and Spanish is a lot easier to learn
than, say Czech or German. So, I enjoy that
as well. So, my tie between my two
favorite places, I would say is Barcelona
and Prague, and that is okay because my
plan in general, how I set up my life is to have
my home base in Prague but spend a
couple months at least a year in Spain,
generally around the weather as well, and
have the best of both worlds there. I
will mention my runner-up which is New
York. New York, I love, it was my favorite
city before I went there and it stayed
my favorite city while I was there. I had
an amazing time but I'm conscious that
part of the great time I had was because
of friends who were there and a certain
set up, at a certain like time of my life.
And so, if I went back to New York, I
don't know if it would have that still,
or if I'd be trying to sort of recapture
something or that, so, you know. And that
happens. I think in life, we have phases
we go through, right? Certain times where
you're looking to more, like relax, have
fun, certain times, you're looking to work
really hard and also just certain phases
of life where you want different things.
So, New York was amazing to live there, I
still love going back to visit but I'm
conscious that it was probably the best
possible time I could have, was when I
lived there, and going back would never
be the same. So, maybe not even try. So, if
you are a Digital Nomad, a location
independent entrepreneur, or just someone
who's lived in a lot of places, let me
know in the comment, what is your
favorite place to live, whether or not
you still live there now, not relevant,
but what was or is your favorite place
to live, and why, what's important to you?
And if you want, we can make it a little
negative too. If you did have a really bad
experience somewhere, where you live
there and was like, "Never again, that was
not for me," do share that in the
comments as well, feel free. Cool, thanks
for watching, catch you in another video.