{"id":188965,"date":"2023-11-19T20:32:40","date_gmt":"2023-11-19T20:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsneednews.com\/?p=188965"},"modified":"2023-11-19T20:32:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-19T20:32:40","slug":"i-left-america-to-move-to-the-worlds-most-livable-city-vienna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsneednews.com\/lifestyle\/i-left-america-to-move-to-the-worlds-most-livable-city-vienna\/","title":{"rendered":"I left America to move to &apos;the world&apos;s most livable city,&apos; Vienna"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Woman who left New York to move to &#8216;the world&#8217;s most livable city&#8217; of Vienna reveals the things that surprised her most about the European lifestyle<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sonja Matejko, 32, moved from New York City to Vienna in March 2022<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The yoga teacher and freelance writer loves her new life abroad<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span>She said business\u00a0being closed on Sundays and many being cash only as hard<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A woman who quit her life in New York City to move to &#8216;the world&#8217;s most livable city&#8217; has opened up about the most surprising things she found upon arriving in Vienna.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sonja Matejko, 32,\u00a0 fell in love with the Austrian capital after spending six weeks there in 2021, and moved full time in March 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The writer and yoga teacher listed low rent, caf\u00e9 culture and accessibility as just a few reasons why she loves her new home, which has been voted the world&#8217;s most livable city.<\/p>\n<p>Although Sonja has well and truly fallen in love with Vienna, she admits there have been some aspects of her European lifestyle she&#8217;s had to get used to.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/19\/17\/77898703-12759063-When_Sonja_Matejko_pictured_moved_from_the_New_York_City_in_2021-a-4_1700416585232.jpg\" height=\"537\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>When Sonja Matejko (pictured) moved from the New York City in 2021 to live in Europe, she was determined to find her home away from home &#8211; falling in love with Vienna<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/19\/17\/77898715-12759063-Although_the_32_year_old_has_well_and_truly_fallen_in_love_with_-a-3_1700416585127.jpg\" height=\"537\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Although the 32-year-old has well and truly fallen in love with Vienna, she admits there have been some aspects of her European lifestyle she&#8217;s had to get used to<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0In a first person piece for Insider, Sonja outlined what has surprised her about moving to Vienna.<\/p>\n<p>The first things the US-native noticed was that rent was considerably lower than the rental prices in New York, where she lived before moving.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The first time someone told me they pay about $533 monthly for rent with one roommate in Vienna,&#8217; she said. &#8216;I imagined some terrifying basement apartment with no windows. I was wrong.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Sonja added that most her of friends pay under $1,000 for their apartments, describing them as &#8216;spacious&#8217; and having amenities such as a lift.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;That same rent budget wouldn&#8217;t get you much in the heart of New York City,&#8217; she added.<\/p>\n<p>Sonja added the caf\u00e9 culture in Vienna is amazing, with over 2,000 cafes in gorgeous buildings &#8216;on every corner.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;[The cafes] will make you feel like you&#8217;ve been transported back in time with antique furniture, servers with silver platters, and marble tables,&#8217; she gushed.<\/p>\n<p>A pleasant surprise for Sonja was how accessible she finds Vienna -saying to European city boasts a transit system &#8216;e<span>ven better&#8217; then New York&#8217;s.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/18\/11\/77898705-12759063-Sonja_added_that_most_her_of_friends_pay_under_1_000_for_their_a-a-3_1700307699319.jpg\" height=\"757\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Sonja added that most her of friends pay under $1,000 for their apartments, describing them as &#8216;spacious&#8217; and having amenities such as a lift<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/19\/17\/77898699-12759063-Sonja_added_the_caf_culture_in_Vienna_is_amazing_with_over_2_000-a-5_1700416585235.jpg\" height=\"580\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Sonja added the caf\u00e9 culture in Vienna is amazing, with over 2,000 cafes in gorgeous buildings &#8216;on every corner&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/19\/17\/77898669-12759063-Sonja_loves_her_life_in_Vienna-a-2_1700416585123.jpg\" height=\"798\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Sonja loves her life in Vienna<\/p>\n<p><span>&#8216;With the metro, tram network, buses, and bike lanes, you can (mostly) get anywhere in the city in 30 minutes or less,&#8217; she marveled.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>She added it&#8217;s location also makes it easy to travel to other cities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8216;You could be in Prague or Budapest by bus or train in three hours,&#8217; she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Lastly, Sonja gushed over the cultural\u00a0events available, reminiscing over a free symphony she stumbled over a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n<p>She continued: &#8216;I saw a line forming outside the Museum Quarter for a free symphony. Moments later, I joined hundreds of people enjoying the classical music concert,&#8217; she recalled.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But what felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience turned out to be commonplace in Vienna.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Sonja was also surprised at how many green space there is in the city, listing the urban vineyards that are within a 30-minute train ride from the city<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I&#8217;ve also since learned that about 50% of Vienna is covered by green space,&#8217; she added. &#8216;Beyond the parks, you have the wine hills, hiking trails, and water activities. I took my first ski lessons in a decade just an hour outside Vienna.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the idyllic lifestyle, there are a few things that was a shock to Sonja when she first moved.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing she needed to adjust too was stores being closed on Sunday &#8211; which she says is partly for religious reasons and partly to &#8216;preserve quality of life.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;If you don&#8217;t grocery shop by Saturday late afternoon, you&#8217;re out of luck on Sunday,&#8217; Sonja advised.<\/p>\n<p>All is not lost though, with some caf\u00e9s, restaurants, and bakeries still open &#8211; although according to Sonja, you&#8217;d better make sure you always have cash on hand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It constantly surprises me how many restaurants, caf\u00e9s, and even some stores are cash-only in this city,&#8217; she said.<\/p>\n<p>However, the cutest surprise may be\u00a0 that even the furry Austrian residents get a passport.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;These passports are available for cats, dogs, and ferrets in the EU,&#8217; she shared. &#8216;Last December, the guy at TSA couldn&#8217;t help laughing when he saw my cat&#8217;s passport when we returned to the US for the holidays last year.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/femail\/article-12759063\/I-left-New-york-worlds-livable-city-Vienna.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Woman who left New York to move to &#8216;the world&#8217;s most livable city&#8217; of Vienna reveals the things that surprised<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>I left America to move to &amp;apos;the world&amp;apos;s most livable city,&amp;apos; Vienna - News Need News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newsneednews.com\/lifestyle\/i-left-america-to-move-to-the-worlds-most-livable-city-vienna\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I left America to move to &amp;apos;the world&amp;apos;s most livable city,&amp;apos; 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