The fact is, modern day travellers don’t want to lie on a beach for two weeks, nor do they want to spend their whole trips following the well-trodden tourist trails of museums and historical delights. Don’t get me wrong; relaxation, cultural institutions and history are an important part of any foray abroad, but information about this is readily available to anyone who can use the internet or find their way to a tourist office.
When it comes to local knowledge and what to do if you want to travel and work, however, information is much less forthcoming. The idea of co-working spaces and starting up a company in the right location, regardless of where you originate from, is also booming at the moment. Even Hollywood stars like Ashton Kutcher make regular trips to start-up cities like Berlin to invest in the latest ideas and inventions. This is what sparked the idea of setting up Carl Goes and the flagship title, Carl Goes Berlin, which incorporates an extensive section about working in the city. It includes information such as how to find a co-working space in the city, which tend to be hives of activity in themselves, and present networking and business opportunities as a knock-on effect.
As well as where to work, the guide also includes information about how to start up a company in Berlin, where to look for funding and a calendar of key business events and conferences. We also interview a pair of brothers who are in the process of starting up their company in Berlin, and an established entrepreneur and company founder. They not only give readers a sense of what it’s like to set-up shop in the city, but they also give tips of the things they like to do best in Berlin, from the restaurants they eat in to the places they go to get away from it all.
This transcends into the idea that readers prefer to hear recommendations from local people they may be able to relate to. Carl Goes Berlin also includes interviews with a techno entrepreneur, a violin-maker, a food blogger and a pair of illustrators who run their atelier in the city. They tell readers how they live in the city in their own words.
There’s as much information for people visiting Berlin for a long weekend, as there is for those wanting to stay for a few months, or who are even considering staying indefinitely. Berlin itself is an irresistible city, steeped in history while being a haven for alternative cultures and new ideas. Whether visiting Mauerpark on Sundays for the flea market and open air karaoke, having afternoon tea in a Tajik tearoom or spending the night in a quirky caravan in an old vacuum cleaner factory, Berlin is a place of wonderment and revelations every day.
Carl Goes Berlin is available to buy now on www.carlgoes.com
