Challenger Cities EP104: Just Doing Our Thing with @JamesinSerbia

Challenger Cities EP104: Just Doing Our Thing with @JamesinSerbia

James, the Brit behind the Instagram account jamesinserbia, thinks of the UK as a cul-de-sac. "You kind of don't really notice that there's anything going on at the end of the road." After five years in Italy, ski seasons across the Alps and one brutal winter in Andorra, he flew to Serbia with one suitcase, a ski bag and his laptop. Within eight days he had an apartment in Novi Sad, a lawyer and the internet installed.

We talk about what he found there: a country that doesn't pretend to be anywhere else. James explains inat, the Serbian word for "the more you tell me not to do something, the more I'm gonna do it", and why it might be the closest thing to a national Challenger mindset. We get into Serbia's marketing problem, Europe's borrowed identities, a map trick best done over rakija, and why so many Britons are sliding into his DMs asking whether Serbia really works.

And there's Koptr, a coffee shop built around a seventies Soviet troop helicopter in a Novi Sad warehouse. "If it was anywhere else in the world, it wouldn't be allowed." The same permissive culture that let it happen may now let it vanish for a property deal, which led James to the smallest possible thing he could do about it.

In this episode:

Why Britain can feel like a cul-de-sac once you've left itInat, and confidence in who you are, flaws includedPlaces cosplaying as western Europe, and one that won'tPermission, and why an owner's judgement should count for somethingBeing a guest, and joining in instead of trying to change thingsJames's advice if you're curious: "Go to Belgrade, join in for a few days, and just see if you like it because you'll know very quickly."Find James on Instagram at @jamesinserbia.