Schlagwort-Archive: digital nomad

Turkey

Digital Nomad Stop #12 – Turkey

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The next stop on my nomad journey was one that had been on my bucket list for a while: Turkey. Before settling in the little climbing village Geyikbayiri, I was going to tick off a couple of must sees that I had been wanting to visit for a very, very long time.

My first stop was Cappadocia. I arrived here late at night and didn’t get a whole lot of sleep before my alarm went off. It was time to get picked up for my hot air balloon flight! These flights take off just before sunrise so that you can experience the sunrise and morning light from the air. I had pretty high expectations as this is obviously a very well-known activity and I had seen many photos of it. However, the actual experience was even better. It was just such an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime thing to do! We arrived at the launch site in the dark and were able to watch the balloons getting filled with hot air. Once our balloon was full enough, we were asked to climb into the basket and received a short welcome and briefing.

Then, we were off, floating slowly into the cool morning air… Around us hundreds of other balloons. A magical feeling. The flight lasted 1.5h and at times we went really close to the ground and in between the fairy chimneys, at other times we were high up in the air, having a stunning view of the landscape.

When the sun came up more and more, we had to land and there was a little celebration ceremony with champagne and certificates. Overall, a highly recommended activity and one that I will certainly remember forever!

The rest of my time in Cappadocia was spent exploring the region as much as possible next to my work. I was glad to have almost 5 days in Cappadocia, as it allowed me to see everything that I had wanted to see. I went on many different hikes, exploring places like the Love Valley, the Pigeon Valley and many more.

I also visited Göreme Open Air Museum, Cavusin, Zelve Open Air Museum and Uchisar Castle of which I enjoyed Zelve and Cavusin the most and both actually positively surprised me as the other places are more commonly visited. The nice thing about having a bit more time in a place is that you don’t just get to tick off the recommended highlights, but that you also get to see other places – which might actually end up being more stunning. I also went on a sunset horse riding tour which was so, so beautiful! I always like horse riding and especially when it is in beautiful nature like Cappadocia.

In the mornings, I made sure not to miss any sunrise – now watching the balloons from the ground; either from the roof terrace of my hotel or from one of the balloon viewpoints around Göreme. Even with lots of people around, it was just so beautiful and magical every single time!

My next stop on my Turkey itinerary was Ephesus or rather the town of Selcuk, which lays close to the Roman ruins of Ephesus. I spent only 2 nights here but really enjoyed my time. The ruins were nice to see, but nothing spectacular and too overrun by tourists for what they were. Selcuk itself was a nice little town though and I enjoyed walking around there.

From Selcuk, I took a train to Denizli and a quick minibus to Pamukkale. Pamukkale is famous for its travertines – little terrace pools – and translates into „cotton castle“ which I find a very fitting name. The snow-white pools – some filled with water, some empty – look surreal in the landscape. What made it even more spectacular were the dark clouds hanging in the sky on the day when I visited Pamukkale. A photographer’s paradise!

With the same ticket, you also get to visit the ruins of Hierapolis which were really nice, but a bit spread out. I hadn’t expected to be doing quite as much walking as I ended up doing that day – distances were large. Had I known about these ruins in advance, I probably would have skipped Ephesus as Hierapolis was just as cool, with Pamukkale a couple of meters away. In any case, a very, very worthwhile stop on any Turkey itinerary!

From Pamukkale, I went back to Denizli from where I took a bus to Antalya, the biggest city close to the climbing village Geyikbayiri, and a taxi from here to the campground Josito. I had finally arrived at my home for the next 5 weeks and was finally at a place again where I would stay, work remotely and climb as much as possible in my free time! And what an awesome place it was. I had my own little hut and there was a spacious common area, kitchen and co-working space. I was lucky to meet some really amazing people and climbing partners that I had a lot of fun with in those 5 weeks.

The climbing was great and for the first time, I found myself a proper 7a(+) project (Euro 7). I worked on it for about a week, but unfortunately had to leave without sending it. However, I learned so much in the process of projecting this hard route and I got super strong! So overall only positive take-aways. I also tried some other hard routes with my hardest send being Rüzgarli Bahce 6c+, a pumpy route with good rests that is only my 2nd ever 6c+ send! Overall, I gained a lot more confidence, got (a little?) over my fear of falling, got really into climbing shape again and thoroughly enjoyed my time in Geyik.

Here you can find some more photos of my time in Turkey.

Italy

Digital Nomad Stop #11 – and a holiday: Venice & Arco, Italy

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After spending a couple of days at my parents‘ place in Austria and attending a friend’s wedding, I took a flight to Venice, a city that I’d been wanting to visit for a long time. It was early September, so still peak tourist season and the little alleys of Venice for buzzing with people. But…I didn’t mind. Venice was so beautiful that it didn’t matter.

For my first day, weather was forecasted rainy so I booked tickets for St Marcus Cathedral and the Dodge Palace. I walked from my cute canal guesthouse to St Marcus Square and immediately fell in love with the city. Just so crazy how they built it all on stilts!

St Marcus Square is of course stunning and I was happy that I had paid a little extra for the online ticket to see the cathedral as the line to buy tickets on the spot was long. The cathedral itself was pretty nice, but what I enjoyed most was the view from the terrace. Contrary to what the weather forecast had said, the sun was shining all day long which was great in that case.

I had left the right amount of time between my booking for the cathedral and the Dodge’s Palace afterwards. I didn’t anticipate being rather tired though as I’d had a very early wake-up in Vienna. So while the Palace was really, really beautiful, I was a bit too tired to read all the information. So I mostly just walked through the rooms in awe, telling myself I’d read up on the history later…

The ticket for the Dodge Palace (unfortunately) included a visit of Museo Correr. Unfortunately, because I wasn’t originally interested in visiting this museum and I was super tired already. However, my fomo didn’t let me skip it, so I hurried from the palace to the museum. I walked through it rather quickly, just having a glance at things but honestly being kind of brain dead by then.

Next day, after getting some work done, I set out to explore some more of Venice and hopped onto one of the public boats running on the canals. I bought a 72h ticket which probably wouldn’t have been worth it, but as I realized that, I made sure to get my money’s worth and really took lots of ferries over the next few days! It is anyway such a great way of seeing Venice, without having to pay for an expensive gondola ride.

After a few days in Venice, I took a train to Rovereto and then a bus onward to Arco. It was a long journey, but once I arrived in Arco, I immediately felt happy and stunned by the beauty of the region. Definitely the right decision!

I spent about 1.5 weeks in Arco – on holiday, so actually being able to switch off completely which was really good for me for once again. As a digital nomad, I might live in beautiful places and organise my work in a way to have more free time to enjoy the surroundings. However, often I feel that I’m always „on duty“ as I’ll still get notifications on my phone, see emails coming in etc. So it was nice to have this time off in such a beautiful place full of outdoor activities!

The main reason I came to Arco was to go rock climbing. I went out for 5 days, mainly to crags for single pitch sport and also climbed one multi-pitch in the end. Overall, I was a bit disappointed and shocked by how my climbing shape had gone down over the past couple of months. I was only able to climb super easy grades and had to bail on some routes that used to be well within my limits. I’ll definitely not make the mistake again to not go climbing frequently enough and let all my efforts from the past go to waste… Don’t get me wrong, I still had a great time in Arco. My favourite day was actually my last one when I first climbed a (very easy) multi-pitch with Hérnan from Argentina and we then got invited to join Piotrek for some cragging at Belvedere in the late afternoon. A perfect way to end my time in Arco!

The rest of the days were filled with many other outdoor activities: I did my first solo via ferrata (delle Amicizia) which involved a long hike before and after and consisted of several long ladders with big exposures. Something that I’m not usually that good at – but I managed to keep it together and was happy to have done it!

In my time in Arco, I did two other (mini) via ferratas, walked from Arco to Lake Garda, explored Riva del Garda and Arco – both cute towns and I also joined a windsurfing trial lesson and went canyoning in Rio Nero (my first time!). I enjoyed windsurfing much more than expected and can definitely imagine doing that again. As for canyoning, I’ll have to see. It was loads of fun, but I’m really not a fan of jumping into water from anywhere higher than 1m. On this tour, you weren’t required to jump, you’d just get lowered on most spots in any case and there were only 2 places where those who wanted to, could jump. Not sure if that’s a usual or not, hence I’ll have to see whether I’ll do it again once to opportunity comes up!

Overall, I totally fell in love with Arco and its surroundings. There is just sooo much to do. Climbing, hiking, via ferratas. All sorts of water sports. Mountain biking. Canyoning. And the towns themselves are cute and nice to walk around in as well! I’d love to come back here and explore the Southern part of the lake region as well. Without a car, it was sometimes a bit tricky to get around, so I sticked to the stuff close to Arco – which anyway was more than enough for the time I had. Arco (and surroundings) is one of the first places where I could imagine getting settled eventually. I left part of my heart in Arco and will definitely be back, one or the other way…

USA

Digital Nomad Stop #8: USA – Time for a holiday

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Even digital nomads need a holiday. My first one since becoming a nomad! After spending 2 weeks in San Francisco, Kesh took me on a 2 week surprise trip around the US to see some cool places. I didn’t know where we were going which was a first for me and kind of fun and exciting!

Our first stop ended up being Las Vegas, the unreal casino city in the middle of the desert. It was fascinating to see this fake world with an Eiffel Tower, a New York skyline, all those casinos with black jack and roulette happening everywhere. Just so different from anything I had ever seen before. Kesh surprised me with tickets to the „O-Show“, which is a well-known trapeze show that has been held in Vegas for many years. If you have followed my blog, you would have read in my article about my stay in Koh Tao that I recently got into flying trapeze and aerial silks. So I was super excited for the show and watched fascinated as the artists were performing their stunts. Definitely one of the coolest shows I have ever seen! We also went to my first ever comedy show which was fun too.

Another reason for stopping in Vegas was to go rock climbing in Red Rocks, a famous climbing area just outside the city. We relocated to a hotel with a beautiful view of the rocks and got 4 solid days of climbing in, including one really cool multi-pitch. I really liked the climbing in Red Rocks, the style suited me and it is just a beautiful place to be at. The multi-pitch Big Bad Wolf was definitely my highlight!

After Vegas, we boarded a plane to Chicago. From the desert into a city with skyscrapers and much cooler, windier climate – quite a change! In Chicago, Kesh showed me around the city and its famous sights, like „the Bean“, a really cool sculpture shaped like a bean (obviously) and I tried famous drinks and dishes, such as the deep dish pizza.

We also went to watch my first ever baseball game, to tick off another „America must do“ for me. It was interesting to see, but as there is not much action on the field, it gets a bit boring not knowing all the rules after a while. Chicago was a cool, unexpected stop which is probably not on every typical tourist agenda but definitely worth seeing!

Our third stop was… New Orleans! The city of jazz and beautiful colonial houses. What a contrast to Chicago again. Back to the heat, this time to a more humid version of it. And also, no skyscrapers, but small, colonial-style houses. I really enjoyed walking the streets of New Orleans, taking hundreds of photos!

In the evening, we were drawn into the bars and had the chance to listen to some amazing live music. I never knew I would like jazz that much! Really cool experience.

One day, we ventured out to the sculpture garden, which was nice to see. A definite highlight of New Orleans though were the beignets at Café du Monde which were always tricky to eat without creating a sugary mess all over yourself but super delicious and a great breakfast and in-between snack.

Our fourth and final stop of the trip ended up being – New York! On the days we spent there, we just walked around soooo much, through all of Manhattan, and across Brooklyn Bridge. It felt so cool to be in between all of these crazy high skyscrapers and to actually be walking down the Broadway.

We only had 2.5 days in New York, but it feels like we did so much! From exploring all the main sights to eating delicious food, grabbing drinks, to watching a comedy show and even a musical (Hamilton) on the Broadway, another real highlight! We definitely made the most out of our time in the Big Apple and I must say that New York is not over-hyped but an actual highlight and worth visiting at least once in your life.

And with that, our 2 week trip across the US came to an end – a trip filled with lots of adventures and fun and that I will keep remembering and looking back to! Here are some more photos of our trip.