Soon enough, the morning grind will begin again. The congested traffic, the crowded trains, the elevators and escalators whisking workers to their designated boxes. But that's not how the workday begins here in Ponta do Sol, an ancient village on the subtropical island of Madeira. It starts at sunrise with clifftop yoga.
Inhale, reach for the ocean, Lindsay Barrett, a nimble, sandy-blonde instructor tells a half-dozen millennials one crisp, clear morning last October. They're perched on a stone patio a few hundred feet above the Atlantic, which noisily crashes against the lava rocks below. Pink-orange light spreads across the vast blue horizon, far past the green terraced mountains and cascading waterfalls.
But these aren't trust-funders on vacation. They're professional-class international expats who've moved here during the pandemic to live and work. Thirty-one-year-old Barrett used to punch the clock at a giant New York accounting firm but booked a one-way ticket here in 2019 to reclaim herself. I want to work hard, she says, “but I also want to enjoy my life and not do the rat race.
She has company. All along the winding cobblestone streets nearby, outside cafés, inside parks, on laptops and iPads, this old town teems with about 200 guinea pigs in the wireless workforce of tomorrow. In the taxonomy of wanderlust, they're called digital nomads, early explorers of Generation Zoom, liberated by technology and changing norms to work anywhere there's Wi-Fi. As John Weedin, a longhaired 30-year-old freelance copywriter from Kansas City, Missouri, says as he rolls up his yoga mat, “I want to keep travelling, man. People are making it work.
Esta historia es de la edición May 2022 de GQ India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición May 2022 de GQ India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
The 30 Best Watches Of 2024
Rounding up the best shapes, materials, complications and sizes from this year's horological novelty treasure chest.
Wes Lang's Heroes of Love...
Last month, LA-based artist Wes Lang unveiled The Black Paintings, a monumental series of works that play like storyboards to a raucous midnight horror movieand a spiritual quest. Here, GQ collaborates with the artist on a fashion story that brings his stylish characters off the canvas.
The Miraculous Resurrection of Notre Dame
In 2019, a fire nearly destroyed the crown jewel of France-and the nation set a breakneck five-year deadline to bring it back from the ashes. This is the story of how an army of artisans turned back centuries to restore Notre-Dame by hand, and wound up reviving something even greater than the cathedral itself.
"IT'S NOT ABOUT BEING PERFECT. IT'S ABOUT BEING REVOLUTIONARY."
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter talks business, legacy, art, and family
The Wedding Singers
Madboy Mink's dynamic duo, Saba Azad and Imaad Shah, redefine festive style.
A Watch Is More Than Just a Pretty Face
As collectors look to make their grail watches stand out, they're turning to unique vintage bracelets and paying thousands on thousands for straps on the secondary market.
The Fluidity of Cartier
Why Gen Z stars are obsessed with this historic maison.
A Princess with Passion
From restoring monuments to reviving hereditary crafts, Bhavnagar's Brijeshwari Kumari Gohil has her sights on the future.
THE FUTURE SOUNDS LIKE AT EEZ
The Coachella-slaying, multi-language-singing, genre-obliterating members of Ateez are quickly becoming load-bearing stars of our global pop universe.
DEMNA UNMASKED
He's the most influential designer of the past decade. He's also the most controversial. Now the creative director of Balenciaga is exploring a surprising source of inspiration: happiness. GQ's Samuel Hine witnesses the dawn of Demna's new era, in Paris, New York, and Shanghai. Photographs by Jason Nocito.