Long story short, I’m getting fucking scared of the political climate in the US and I’m thinking that now is a good time for me to finally do some international travel while I keep an eye on what’s going on here and decide when to come back.
I’ve never been overseas before, and this will also be my first time traveling on-foot.
What countries out there (including the UK, etc.) have thriving DIY punk scenes, (underground) traveler communities, anarchist communities/activism, street art, and trans/queer community? It would especially be nice to visit some places where I can dress very visibly trans and not worry about getting murdered (e.g. wearing dressed and fishnets with a large beard). If a country is particularly well-suited for on-foot travelers on a tight budget, this is super helpful!
I’m fluent in English and Spanish, and can half-understand some other romance languages because of this, but don’t know any other languages.
It would be great to be able to legally earn an income in some of the countries I visit. I might be able to get English citizenship, but I still need to look into that.
Any recommendations and guidance are super helpful! Thanks y’all!
Before i start: USE SQUAT RADAR! It's been one of the biggest reasons why my friend and j got a foot in the door at most places we stayed at and communities we hung out at in the first place. It's basically a leftie social networking site for posting events by local groups. Id say check it out if it hasn't already been recommended.
While my experience is not extensive, and my friend Ichor has a better grasp of it than I am, our current travels through Europe have shown us a pretty thriving underground scene as I've experienced so far. Even if it hasn't been for that long.
In Barcelona there is - at least allegedly - a thriving squat scene, albeit the scene there (and all other squat scenes, we have been told) have been driven deeper underground and are much tighter knit than they once we're due to police intervention and other such action. But my friend was easily able to find a squat my hanging out in the right bara and talking to the right people, which has been the main way we've found squats and places to rest at. There's a thriving leftist/street art/punk scene though, and while I didn't break into it long enough to get a firm grasp of it I feel like it wouldn't be hard to break into if you were fluent in Spanish and they understood where you were coming from.
In Paris there was no squats to speak of due to aforementioned police intervention, however there is an extremely thriving left wing in the city. Every other bar, café, or general social space has queers, punks, anarchists, DIYers, hobos, and generally interesting folks falling out the walls.
Been to lille, was told the leftist scene was slowly dying due to gentrification, however we didn't spend enough time there to grasp it in its entirety.
Brussels seems to have a good scene. We were able to stay a few days in Zoneklopper (a legal squat, long story) and the scene there was nice. Lots of artists lived in the building and passed through, they regularly hold events where our kind congregate (we participated in a Grand Bal they had a couple weeks ago), and if you're able to get in with them (my friend
may be able to set you up, no promises) you may be able to stay in there. We were told by the people there that ZK was the last squat of that size in the city, however the community is very strong and there's a variety of smaller ones around the city. I wasn't able to explore the city proper due to circumstances, but from what I've been told by the inhabitants the scene still breathes.
In Amsterdam the scene was very open and extremely chill. While a pricy place to live we were able to find ourselves a squat and a pretty thriving scene of all sorts of folks. We didn't stay terribly long so our grasp of the scene is minimal, but from what we hear from the locals its thriving. As a side note, hitchhiking in this area has been easy as pie, even if we know no dutch. Unsure if you'll experience the same stuff we had, but everyone and their mother gave us a ride and they were quite friendly. Even the drug dealers (one of whom we caught a ride with) was friendly.
This is all my friend and I know so far due to our currently ongoing exploration of Europe, and I wish we could say we had extensive enough experience to give thorough enough advice. However I feel like in the little time we have done this we've learned quite a bit.
If you want to know more shoot me or my friend Ichor a DM! We'd be glad to talk about it, especially since we're (or at least I'm) gonna be in Europe for about another month. Good luck on the travels bro!
