[travel] Connecting with alternative communities overseas

[mattbell]

A friend pointed out that I should see if I can meet people in various alternative communities during my travels.  This sounds brilliant -- I'd like to get as deep an impression of the places I visit as possible given my limited time, and while it's awesome to look at ruins and other historical goodies or get the pulse of a city by walking its streets, I'd love to connect with locals who have similar interests.

There are a lot of different subcultures out there, but I'd essentially be looking for ones that fit in well with my own passions... so therefore makers, futurists, technology geeks, tech entrepreneurs, burningman-types, people who practice open relationships, artists (especially artists who like to make use of interactivity and electronic media), and other intellectuals of various sorts would all be interesting to find.

I imagine that these groups are most likely present in larger, modern culturally diverse cities that are well-connected to the rest of the world (eg Singapore, Bangkok, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Dubai, most major European cities) but chances are there are enclaves in smaller cities too.

I have a potential tour of CERN lined up, and I already know a bit about some avant-garde artists and robotics researchers in Vienna. 

However, I'd love more info, so if you all have contacts or know of any communities in cities I'm visiting (or will be near), let me know. 

Here's a list of places I'm going.  It's slightly out of date (I've dropped Bali and rearranged some things) but mostly still relevant.

Comments

[agentsteel53.livejournal.com]

wow, your approach to travel is the complete opposite of mine. I was happiest in rural Norway or Iceland when I hadn't seen another car in 45 minutes.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm an extrovert. It's a problem. I have this difficult-to-break genetic dependence on interaction with other people to be happy. :-)