Despite the early hour, Kurdish villagers are laughing merrily in the tea rooms around the city’s cattle market. The morning is cool and scented with rain. As I lift our bags onto the train I see that a family of Yörük nomads has pitched its tent opposite the station. The women are out front picking through wool shorn from their small flock. They’ll use this to weave the carpets sold in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul…which is where we’re headed.
Among the sloping fields and rush-covered hills of Ireland’s “Drumlin Country” are thousands of lakes—big and small. In good weather, they glitter like jewels, and on wet days shine bog- black. You can see why the Celts thought of them as gateways to the underworld, although today you’re more likely to see a jet ski or fishing boat than a druid.
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As she shifts her tote bags, the woman across from me smiles. A well-dressed young guy puts his headphones on and gazes out the window. This could be any urban commute in the world, except for one thing—we’re hanging hundreds of feet above the city.
Paris is the destination of choice for most visitors to France looking for culture, good food and that special joie de vie (“joy of life”). But while there are good reasons it’s the most- visited city in the world, don’t be blinded by the City of Light.
“But what will I live on?” It’s a common refrain among folks who dream of life overseas but don’t have a ready source of income to fund it. (After all, even in the most affordable destinations, you can’t live for free.)
Madrid is where Spain comes to you. Cider from the Asturian Highlands, seafood from Galicia, flamenco music from the south.... The Spanish capital is like a cocktail shaker full of traditions, culture and delicious dishes.
What if you could collect your paychecks from the beach? Or from the terrace of a café in Rome? Or both? What if you could spend six months living la dolce vita and the rest of the year working on your tan…? Good news: It's not such a pipe dream.
Where will you find the world’s best quality of life? Going by numbers alone, the winner is clear: the United States. Statistics don’t tell the whole story, of course. But we’ll start by letting the numbers have their say.
They didn’t invent the cuckoo clock, just put it in a small chalet to hang on the wall, but pretty much everything else is true about the Swiss. It’s one of the cleanest countries in the world, trains and buses run on time, the chocolate’s fantastic, the views tremendous and the cheese to die for.