10 cities in 3 weeks: e-⁠residents and digital nomads travel through europe to tallinn

On Sunday, the travel-loving e-⁠residents' and digital nomads’ European journey, Dancing Latitudes, will finish in Tallinn. The journey started in early May from Lisbon, passed through several major European cities, and reached Stockholm today.

The trip's destination is next week's startup conference Latitude59 in Tallinn, followed by the inaugural Nomad Fest in Tallinn on May 25 and 26. This entire endeavor is inspired by the digital nomad lifestyle, traveling around and gathering participants along the way.

Since May 1, the adventurous group of Dancing Latitudes has visited eight cities at a few-day intervals: Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Copenhagen. Today, the group, primarily traveling by trains, buses, and ferries, reaches Stockholm, where they will enjoy a sightseeing tour organized by Walks In Europe and informal "unconference" style meetings to discuss topics like entrepreneurship, future work models, work-life balance, share experiences, and pitch startup ideas.

On Sunday, more than 20 travelers are expected to arrive in Tallinn, including the event organizers and winners of the pitching competitions held in each city. 

The idea for this journey was conceived by Estonian entrepreneurs and e-residents Christoph Huebner, Ignacio Nieto, and Miguel Piñas, who met in Lisbon after last year’s Latitude59. "We wondered if there was a way to get to Tallinn without flying and asked ChatGPT, which provided us with a land-and-sea route plan. The idea quickly grew out of hand, as everyone wanted to join," Huebner jokingly recalls. The complex logistics were managed by project manager Dani Maletic, organizer of Ireland's digital nomad festival and community NomadÉire, who miraculously managed to plan the entire trip and events within just six weeks before the start. Despite all the meticulous planning, the group has faced their fair share of challenges and learned lessons along the way, which they'll surely keep in mind for future adventures. "Between Barcelona and Paris, we missed our train tickets and had to endure a 14-hour overnight bus ride," laughs Huebner. But other than that hiccup, the trip has been an absolute blast, filled with good company and non-stop fun 24/7.

One highlight of the trip so far has been in Barcelona, where a record number of people attended their events, ending with a lively tapas evening. However, they have found success in every city along the way, with an average of 20-30 digital nomads and startuppers joining them for both the unconference events and the pitching competitions, which were held as separate events, with the latter being the main touchpoint of the series with the partnering Latitude59 main event. "The playful format of the unconference helps people open up and connect, and warms them up for the pitching competitions," explained the organizer. For instance, in Hamburg, discussions ranged from how to come up with a good business idea if you can't think of anything, to how to focus on one idea when you have too many. According to Huebner, AI themes were prominent in the pitched startup ideas: "In Barcelona, an AI-based language learning tool idea won, while in Amsterdam, a deep tech platform inspired by the Ukrainian refugee crisis aimed at faster emergency response won.

An AI expert, e-⁠resident Seth Ward, is also part of the core team of Dancing Latitudes. He is responsible for marketing and automation, and his company GroBots specializes in developing bots. The best moments of the journey are shared on social media by Mary Grace Nguyen, and the visual identity for the travelers was created by Giang Lu Kim.

The core of the Dancing Latitudes travelers includes e-resident Pelé Philipp Alexander Weber, co-owner and organizer of the world’s largest digital nomad gathering, the Bansko festival in Bulgaria at the end of June. By partnering with Lift99, they decided to hold a northern precursor to the big festival in Tallinn, Nomad Fest Tallinn. "Since such an event has never been held in Tallinn before, we wanted to gauge the level of interest. If it goes well, we’ll do it again," said Huebner. Similar thoughts are on their minds for a new European trek, with even bigger and grander plans: next year, they aim to complete the entire journey with the same group from start to finish, with the goal that each participant turns an idea into a viable business plan by the end of the trip. 

The official afterparty of the Nomad Fest will be co-hosted by the e-⁠Residency team, as the two community events will merge into what will probably be the largest digital nomad and e-⁠resident get-together ever held on the post-Latitude59 weekend.