[0:01]Have you ever wanted to pack up and move somewhere completely new? Not for a vacation, not for a few months, but to actually leave everything behind and start over. We've all seen those 1 euro houses in Italy, the abandoned homes in Japan, places trying to lure people back with a bargain. But what if they weren't just selling cheap houses? What if they were willing to pay you to move there? Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, according to the internet, it's not. We kept seeing posts all over social media saying the same thing. There is a tiny, beautiful town in the mountains of Switzerland that will pay you to move there. And so, in the hopes of debunking this Internet myth, we knew we had to check it out. However, to make this even more interesting, we decided to do something we've never done before by asking ourselves, why don't we bring a stranger from the comments section of one of these viral posts who might be interested in moving there? We found an interesting comment, reached out to the commenter. Hello, Mr. Wild and Free. Have you ever been in Europe? No. No, I haven't. And in a massive leap of faith, he said, yes. Let's go! to a flight ticket to Switzerland the very next day. So why is this town paying people to move there? And is it even a good idea? We're about to find out.
[1:27]A lot of uncertainties here. I don't even know if this town is even real. We only believe the internet, and we flew a guy from Atlanta to be with us, so You know one of the first things that my mom told me whenever I got on the internet is like, be careful of strangers on the internet. And now we're going to a town that we've just read some Instagram posts about, with a random dude who commented on that post. I've had zero part of picking this person. His Instagram name is MrWildenfree, his actual name is Sean. I wonder how he is feeling because, imagine not getting a DM, and then you're on a plane and now you're in Europe. Yeah, he must be terrified, or really excited, I don't know. Oh, I think I see him. He's just sitting on this bench with all these other people.
[2:13]Hey man, nice to meet you. Everything's good? From the comments section to, you know, to reality. I still only know what I've looked up about Albinen is like, 'We will see what by the happens.' We have no idea, we don't even know if this town exists. How do you feel about like doing this? Man, still very surreal. I'm like still reconciling the concept of like me being here right now, I'm in awe, you know what I'm saying? I'm I'm pretty excited though, you know? Like I'm I'm big on adventure, I'm big on saying yes to things. I default to trusting the good in other humans. And I think when you do that, you you get the good out of them, you know? 100%. That's exactly what we live by. So. Real talk. Real talk. I'm I'm still just trying to figure out, how close is the nearest grocery store? How are you all living here without a grocery store? After finally meeting Sean, we made our way to the hotel, flipping through his photos from Geneva. Nice, man. You've been living it. You know, I was out there. and wondering what tomorrow in Albinen might have in store for us.
[3:21]Good morning. How are you? Good, how's everything? Isn't that a little spot of here, right? This is. This is Quentin. What's up, man? Sean, my pleasure indeed. Indeed. Quentin has no idea that we brought you. Once again, I don't know what's happening. Oh, you guys were sitting across from each other? But we have a fun story for you. All right. So basically what happened was a couple of months ago, I randomly come across this post about a space in Switzerland called Albinen that's like paying people to move there. And so I comment, I'm like, okay, hey, one, how's the internet speeds over there? I work remote. I I got to have good internet. Two, where's the nearest grocery store? Because I got to have food. And third, lastly, how do they treat black people over there? And so I had to ask, I check my phone on Friday, and I see a DM from Stefan. And he's like, yeah, like, this is going to sound crazy, but you had commented on a post about Albinen, Switzerland, and uh, yeah, I just wanted to know, do you want to go? I'm like, what? We're going, the only thing is, it's like now. It's like now. It's totally safe. It was real, and here I am. And you all. Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. But out of 1 to 100%, what's the likelihood you're moving to this village before even going there? Before I even go there? Just give us a percent. 3%. 3%. 3% is still good. That's pretty good. It's better than nothing. It's better than nothing. Okay, the Avengers are assembled. To Albinen we go! I just keep on thinking that Sean actually said before that there is a 3% chance right now that he's moving there. 3% chance. Wow. Oh my God! This is like the most beautiful inhabited valley I've ever seen in my life. Oh my God!
[5:28]And we are rolling into the town, I think. Albinen. Is this the entry? Oh, this is what we came for. This is what brought us here. This freaking Instagram post about this town. They've set up a sign here saying Albinen, one of the most beautiful villages in Switzerland. Okay, okay. Wow. The scale of this place. Yeah. I'm surprised that a town like this would struggle attracting people because it's really beautiful. Yeah, I literally can't see a single human being here. We're here.
[6:16]First impressions, pretty cool. I mean, the dog isn't too happy about us being here, but Albinen looks very nice. What's the percentage right now? It was 3% before. It was 3% before, 6% now. 6%! Let's go! Let's go! I mean, I can't lie, it's a kind of a beautiful place. Let's go! Let's go! Hey, we all know what it's time for now. Yeah? Mission, go and talk to people. Yeah. I thought it was going to be more like run down, you know? Because the 1 euro houses, that was like bad, you know? But this is actually a beautiful town. It's just that it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. Right? Guys, guys, guys, it's a grocery store! Oh, it's open. Oh, it's closed. 3 to 6:30, so it's closed right now. Hello, Bonjour. Do you speak French? I speak French, just a little bit. This is your house? Have you lived here forever? 45 years. 45 years. So, I live in Neuchâtel. Ah yes, I'm from Switzerland. We are from Sweden, and our friend Sean is from the United States. We read that there's a program to bring people here to have people come live here, they pay. Yes, that's now. It still exists. Yes. It still exists, the payment thing. Is there anyone who came with this program who still lives here? Yes, yes. So a family is living here, but you don't know them. I didn't know them well. They come here to live for €25,000. Yeah, okay, interesting. Is there anyone in the village who speaks English well? It's the hotel owner.
[7:59]The woman who owns the restaurant, who married a Canadian husband. But he's not here, at the moment. We'll find a way. They come with their suitcases and everything? You're saying there's been like families that roll up here, like ready to move here, being like, how do I get the money? And they're like, it's not how it works. Like from Romania and stuff, they received the 10,000 liters from people from all over the world to apply to to come here. They go, they go straight, like they drive and they go straight to the to the office to apply and ask where can we get the money and the offer? She offered us coffee. She's very sweet. She was telling us no restaurants are open, they're all on vacation. And we were asking her if there's anywhere we can get a coffee. And she said, you want a coffee? And we were like, yes. And then she went and got us some coffee. Oh! The water from Albinen. Oh my grandma in Albinen. Oh, it's mint and honey. Oh my goodness. We were there. We believe that there is kindness everywhere in the world, and you are not a proof on that.
[9:10]Wow. I feel like I should be whispering in this town for some reason. Like, it's so quiet. Speaking out loud feels like disturbing the peace in this town.
[10:07]She did say that to move here, you have to spend $200,000.
[10:15]So where does that leave you? You spend 200,000 and you get paid like, I'm back at 4%. You end up at a net negative, though. Yeah, come to Thomas explaining something in voiceover about this. Yeah. Albinen started out as a medieval village more than 800 years ago. Many of the wooden chalets here date back to the 17th and 18th century, which is why the village is listed as part of Switzerland's inventory of heritage sites. For most of its history, Albinen was isolated. Until the 1960s, there was no road into the village, and in winter, it could be easily cut off by snow for weeks. Life revolved around agriculture, but as farming became less sustainable, residents began moving away. So, in 2017, to keep the town from running out of residents, Albinen's Town Council came up with a program that brought us here. A cash incentive for young people to come and make Albinen their home.
[11:25]The program was open to anyone under the age of 45, but it came with a few caveats. Applicants would have to buy or build a home in Albinen to the tune of at least 200,000 Swiss francs. and commit to staying for at least 10 years. If you could do that, then Albinen would pay 25,000 Swiss francs for adult, plus 10,000 for each child. Committing to a life in Albinen is committing to a pastoral lifestyle. There is no school, no bank, no post office. Just one shop, one pub, and a bus that comes by once an hour. The more we learned, the more we realized that this program was less about getting paid to live in paradise, and more about incentivizing new families to become part of a community that is keeping a historical way of life alive. But would we be willing to make that jump? Hello. How are you? You speak English? Yes. Oh, amazing. It's not open, right? No, it's not open. Just just came back so we have absolutely nothing. I see, I see. You live in Albinen? We live here. Oh, hello. How are you? I'm Thomas. How's it going? Nice to see you. We are from Sweden, the two of us, from Switzerland, from America. And yeah, we're very curious about Albinen, so. Yeah. Now, we didn't realize it at first, but this is the one couple in town that speaks English that the lady was just telling us about. After spending the last few weeks out of town, they just got back, and meeting them was about to turn our entire trip around. There's posts on the internet, on Instagram that are like talking about the program that you all have here to like encourage people to move here. We just saw that there was a general assembly where people voted to renew the program. Really? Yes. So they just just renewed it last week. Last week. Have you lived in the U.S.? Because you. I I I'm Canadian. Oh, born Canadian. Born Canadian. I went to McGill, so I lived in Canada for like McGill graduate as well. You are. We went to the same school. That's awesome. We would love to explore like we're basically here today and tomorrow. It turns out saying we would love to explore would set the stage for the next day, leading us towards a local legend and something hidden in the mountains that would test us in ways we didn't see coming. But first, a quick word from our sponsor. Well, as we travel to essentially a new country every single week, I have to admit that we end up logging on to a fair amount of suspicious looking Wi-Fi. But I have full confidence doing that thanks to the sponsor of today's video, Surfshark VPN. And if you are not using a VPN, I highly suggest that you hear me out. Using Surfshark has honestly changed so much of my online experience. I now can access any of my favorite shows from basically anywhere around the world. And I also make sure that I navigate the internet safely and with peace of mind. Which truly, these days, feels like a luxury with all the risks there are already on the Internet and people trying to snatch your information and compromise your privacy. Surfshark is such a reliable VPN, and they have 24/7 customer service if you have any sort of issues, and 30 days to try it completely for free. before getting a full refund if it isn't a perfect fit for you. But I doubt that you'll be canceling your subscription. And so, click the link in the description below or go to surfshark.com/yestheory. And now, back to the video. The next day began with us making our way back to Albinen. Our objective today to truly assess if moving here would ever be a possibility is to become true locals. Good morning. Good to see you again. Have a nice day. Thank you. Thank you. To see if despite so many leaving, there is still some magic to be found in this small village in the mountains. However, we did not imagine it would happen in the way it did. Hi, welcome. Nice to see you guys. My gosh. Oh, what a nice and cozy home you created in here. Really feels like home. So, one thing that a lot of people are interested in where when they come here is the ladders. The Albinen ladders. There was no road coming to Albinen until the early 60s. The only way you could come here is through a footpath from the bottom. This little village called Chingen. And then there was a train stop at the bottom here. And then they had to climb about 300 m elevation to get. The only thing is if you're afraid of height, then it's not recommended. Why zoom in on me? What would you say the conditions are last time you all went to the ladders? Well, there were a couple of broken. One a bit broken and few loose, but it's not like that. It doesn't sound very good.
[16:15]This is getting worse. There's snakes, some people have died, there's some loose screws. Grandma didn't say that.
[16:25]Nobody's died since 1947 that we know of.
[16:31]As we debated climbing these terrifying ladders, we first went looking for some of the town's rare locals. Hello. All is good? All is good. How long have you lived here? Always. Always. Too big a build. Yeah. Stefan. Peter. All is good, Peter? Tip Top! We were getting a lovely tour of the village here from our new friends. It is really charming, found out also that a lot of these old towns that were very remote, like Albinen in Switzerland, have burned down. My most people still heat their house with wood. So every house has these wood reserve and unfortunately, that is quite high risk. And a lot of these towns over the decades, centuries have burned down. They say that they consider Albinen still existing today and being this preserved, a little miracle. I love the charm of this place, like here, Steve talked about the history of it and just like the endurance of this place. It's very peaceful, it's very quiet. The people are very kind. It would definitely be hard to see myself living here. But coming as like you were saying, like a month, to like just wind down from life, little mini sabbatical. This is it. As we continued wandering around the village streets, trying to meet locals, we were lucky enough to stumble upon someone who Stephen and Vivian claimed to be a local legend. Hello. Moritz has lived here forever. Do you have any memories of using the ladders? Yeah, I did it yesterday. Yesterday morning, early morning.
[18:14]I came down in afternoon. He brought his car for repair, for service. He walked back up these ladders to Albinen. Excuse. We're going to have to do it, right? He's like down to go right now. That's amazing. I'm amazing. Moritz says it's better if you go with a guide. With a guide? Even regulars find this route challenging. How about all six of us go? That would be great. Yes. Let's go right now. He's like down to go right now. That's amazing.
[18:40]I'm totally surprised. He doesn't normally maybe do things like this. No. Before tackling the ladders, Moritz decided to show us his cellar.
[18:53]The cheese. Oh. It's like a 2 or 3 years old. 2 to 3 years old. You want to taste? Ah, we should be. Now that's real cheese! Yes. And as with every remote European village we visited, we weren't getting out of here without being offered some mid-afternoon wine.
