I was watching the Netflix series "Abstract" a couple nights ago. They had on Christoph Niemann, an illustrator who's done a number of covers for "The New Yorker." He said that the first city you go to, by yourself, as a tourist without anyone waiting for you there is your city. His city is New York, and he built his career there (but now lives in Berlin, go fig.) What would be your city, given those criteria?
Mine would be Florence; perhaps unsurprisingly. (Though my allonym was actually from Ferrara, he merely did his best work in Florence.)
Did he actually start out as Savronela?
I think my first would be Seattle, but that's so not my city.
Angers in the Loire Valley :hmm:
I suppose it is :P
I guess.... Brno?
.... Yeah.... I don't like this definition. I barely remember it. Or would Cesky Krumlov count? That was nice.
Venice, and it absolutely is.
Paris, but it's really not. Shanghai is really my kind of city.
I've travelled alone a lot for work, but as a tourist only to Cappadocia. And that was only because I was in the neighborhood.
I would be interested in seeing many places. Alas, I hate travelling. It's both stressing and terribly boring.
Perhaps Berlin comes the closest. I've frequently taken a slight detour to visit it, but technically my brother lives there. It is also my kind of city (though from a tourist's perspective I'd say it is not that interesting compared to so many other European cities with richer history).
I'm not 100% sure. But I think it's probably Rio because I started my gap year there.
I'm happy to have Rio as my city :lol:
Toulouse for me. It will always be a city I love. Is it "my" city? I don't know, for it has to compete with Chicago, the first foreign place I moved to, to live - rather than to do tourism or research.
I don't tourist.
I think that would be a small village in Cuba called Pilon.
If going to a all-inclusive resort doesn't count, then it's Edmonton.
I re-read the criteria & no travel I've done fits.
By that definition mine is Montreal, which I'm totally fine with.
When I was a kid I always travelled with my parents. After getting a job, I almost always travelled with my wife, who does most of the planning.
The one exception would be work related travels. I was sent to take a semester at Berkeley. So I went to San Francisco by myself. The problem with that is I didn't choose to go there voluntarily. More like, either go there or be fired.
I have no city. :(
Barcelona, and yes. :wub:
Strictly sticking to the question's criteria, I guess it would have to be only London. :(
But since I'm definitely not a city person, I'd go for a favourite landscape instead. :bowler:
New Orleans :)
I've rarely traveled somewhere alone or without meeting someone. The first time was actually Madeira in 2008. I could see myself enjoying life there. :)
Had to consult the archives for this one, mostly I travel with someone or meet up with someone. So there is a surprise winner.........Coimbra in Portugal :cool:
Oddly enough, considering what a recluse I can be, I cannot recall going to any city as a tourist on my own without at least meeting somebody there.
Definitely a Zürcher. I demand perfection from city government.
Sydney. I think I could live there.
While working this out I noticed a strong correlation between solo travel and being in long-term relationships :Embarrass:
Milan.
So-so. Loved the people, didn't love the city. Much more industrial that I'd thought.
Quote from: Maladict on August 02, 2020, 12:36:41 AM
While working this out I noticed a strong correlation between solo travel and being in long-term relationships :Embarrass:
It wasn't until I was single that I had this experience. I'm really, really glad that I was single and had this experience.
Cleveland, Ohio. I can certainly live with it. I love that city. :)
I don't think I have a city. I've always either traveled or visited others, or traveled for non-tourist reasons by myself.
Honestly, Whitehorse Yukon. :cool:
Or anywhere along the Alaska Highway. But definitely not Fairbanks.
Montreal by the criterion of the OP, where I lived for a year after university.
Yeah I am like frunk.
If it were entirely up to me, I'd probably pick Tokyo or London.
Quote from: Monoriu on August 02, 2020, 11:29:16 PM
If it were entirely up to me, I'd probably pick Tokyo or London.
Pretty opposites there.
But I think more realistically and applying the rules less strictly it'd be Amsterdam for me. It was great, and its the first place far from home where I spent a substantial amount of time myself.
Quote from: Syt on July 31, 2020, 11:45:45 PM
I've rarely traveled somewhere alone or without meeting someone. The first time was actually Madeira in 2008. I could see myself enjoying life there. :)
Yeah, I'm on the same boat. Most of the time I go to some place (outside of work) it's because I know somebody there or I'm traveling with somebody.
But, said that, my answer is Vienna, which I visited for the first time in 1999 while doing a postgrad in Prague. It's certainly a city I quite like, in the 2000s I was working in a documentary near Salzburg and took the chance of going and spend a few days there again.
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on August 01, 2020, 02:30:08 AM
Had to consult the archives for this one, mostly I travel with someone or meet up with someone. So there is a surprise winner.........Coimbra in Portugal :cool:
Best city in Portugal for an Erasmus student actually. :P Still cheaper than Lisbon and Porto, not far from both and plenty of night life.
As for me, tough one. Even when I went alone to some city, say for a football game I would end up with like-minded people or even encounter once people I had not seen in years (fellow Portuguese class students in Essen).
Quote from: Tyr on August 03, 2020, 03:59:25 AM
Quote from: Monoriu on August 02, 2020, 11:29:16 PM
If it were entirely up to me, I'd probably pick Tokyo or London.
Pretty opposites there.
:hmm:
For me I think it'd be Santiago de Compostela, when I moved there at 20, maybe? I had been there earlier, partying with friends from back home, so maybe that also counts. It was not tourism, but nobody was exactly waiting for me there.
Maybe Dublin would count, as I went there for summer English courses back when I was a teen, but I definitely had a host family and organization waiting for me. I also went to a couple of uni conferences before moving to Santiago, but I don't know if they'd be compliant with the "not having anyone waiting for you" rule, as the organizations behind the conferences were waiting for me, but it's not exactly a friend waiting for a visit kind of thing.
Quote from: The Larch on August 03, 2020, 06:49:18 AMFor me I think it'd be Santiago de Compostela, when I moved there at 20, maybe? I had been there earlier, partying with friends from back home
Pilgrimages have changed since the Middle Ages.
Quote from: Syt on August 03, 2020, 06:56:06 AM
Quote from: The Larch on August 03, 2020, 06:49:18 AMFor me I think it'd be Santiago de Compostela, when I moved there at 20, maybe? I had been there earlier, partying with friends from back home
Pilgrimages have changed since the Middle Ages.
Not that kind of pilgrimage. :P Those are still taking place, anyway.
Rome. Works for me. :cool:
Quote from: Tyr on July 31, 2020, 03:29:16 PM
I guess.... Brno?
.... Yeah.... I don't like this definition. I barely remember it. Or would Cesky Krumlov count? That was nice.
I thought it was an odd definition; but in order to have a "City" by this definition, at one point in your life you would have had to have been so interested
1. in a location that you broke through your fear of going some place new on your own. So I can see where he's coming form.
1.) Third conditional past perfect continuous; it's too bad Ide's not still here. That tense belongs in one of his movie reviews.
First major city that fits that description is London - but that was just because that is where I landed. The next major city I went to was Paris. I am quite happy to have that as my city. It was a great experience.
Hmmm...if it can be presumed that excluding criteria also include:
- not as part of a move/relocation to another residence, unless going substantially out of one's way for the only purpose of visiting that city as a tourist.
- not being within, say, commuting distance of one's existing residence.
Then it would have to be: Hyder, Alaska. (and that using the exception in the first criteria above)
If one would throw a population limit in as well (to make it a proper city), well, then: Nowhere yet. Like some of the others, the rest were with someone or with someone in the target city.