Meet Dubrovnik's Digital Nomads-in-Residence: Charlie Brown from UK in Zagreb

The DNiR programme, which has been designed by Saltwater Nomads, in partnership with Total Croatia News, the CIty of Dubrovnik and the Dubrovnik Tourist Board (and financed by the latter two), is an innovative direction for the Pearl of the Adriatic, as it looks to diversify its tourism strategy away from overtourism and in the wake of the pandemic.

My name is Charlie, I’m a freelance wine, travel, food, entrepreneurship and finance writer, after selling my British-based wine store and bar last year, as well as my house and pretty much everything I own for a permanent life on the road.

1. You are a DN-i-R winner. Congratulations! How do you feel?

Surprised, shocked and excited! It’s one of those things; If you told me a year ago, I’d be winning a competition to live in Dubrovnik for a month, working on all things around digital nomadism, I’d have told you that you’d imbibed too much of my product and you needed to go home.

2. How did you hear about the competition, and why did you decide to apply?

I saw it on a Facebook group. Since leaving the security of my old life, one of my aims was to say yes to as much as possible; I saw the competition and thought, that’s the kind of thing I could say yes to! Croatia is such a great country, after all. And as a Brit, since Brexit, I’ve been forced to think differently about how I travel. To me, digital nomad visas are an incredible idea, that will help to open up the world as we slowly emerge from the pandemic. I love how forward thinking they are, and I want to be a part of it.

3. Which particular skills and ideas will you be bringing to the party?

Anything wine-related, of course. For nearly 10 years I’ve hardly thought about anything else, so if you want a wine tasting (or indeed, wine drinking) session, I’m your woman. And entrepreneurship advice, particularly around setting up small, ethical, sustainable businesses. Then there’s writing, particularly in the travel, food and wine sphere.

I also have an encyclopedic knowledge about Eurovision of all things, and the competition is held during the month we’re in Dubrovnik, so if you want to know how many times Croatia has entered in the last 10 years or some other random fact, hit me up!

4. What are you most looking forward to about DNIR?

Meeting new people and learning from them is surely number one. I love learning about how other people live, what they do, gaining new perspectives on life. I also think Dubrovnik’s new focus toward sustainable tourism is very interesting and will open the city up to a whole new way of welcoming visitors, and I’m looking forward to being a small part of that. Finally, on a personal note, I’m super excited to learn about Dubrovnik and the surrounding areas. I’ve not visited in 13 years so it’s not a part of Croatia I know very well and I’m excited to change that.

5. Let’s get you involved in the Dubrovnik community. Who or what would you like to connect with?

I believe that the best way to get to know a community is through its food and its alcohol. So wineries would be number one, local craft breweries number two but also any restaurants and bars that have a focus on wine and regional cooking.

Here is Charlie’s application video: