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Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years

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Re: Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years

#81

Post by mturmon »

seven wrote: post #10
lionhearted wrote: post #4

Careful, this is one is true until it's not, and then you're fucked: > 7) The rest of the world isn't full of germs. Many people travel with their own supply of water and an industrial vat of hand sanitizer. As a rule, yes, you'll be fine in other countries. But especially in third world countries, only eat food that is served in a sealed package from a trusted company or served hot - food that is served hot will be…

From my experience, you can not avoid getting ill. Sooner or later (probably sooner) it is going to hit you. Therefore my advice is, to jump right into it. Eat what the locals eat. Do what the locals do. By this you have at least a bit fun until you have to spend your time sitting and sh *ing. The human body is great in adapting to those situation. On my first visit to an development country I took more pictures from…

This is not a good strategy. Besides the other good comments, consider the following:

If you're traveling from place to place, you'll be exposed to a parade of regional bugs that locals, who have more stable habits, will not be. And your schedule (reservations, plans, etc.) may not be able to afford the downtime. Finally, you don't know the health care setup, so you won't always be able to sense if something is substandard.

I spent a day in a hospital in India with a very high fever (delirious) and dehydration due to a bit of uncooked chutney that none of the locals (whom I knew) had problems with. They had to give me an IV to rehydrate me. My main goal was to try to keep it together enough to ensure that the clinic was using a sterile needle for the IV.

This was not a high point of the trip.

Re: Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years

#82

Post by mkramlich »

blizkreeg wrote: post #31
rivo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got sick a few times from street-vendor food in 3rd world countries. It turned out that they often reuse oil for too long. I now avoid deep-fried food, dirty or tap water, and things like ice-cream. I've been fine on my travels since.

This is a mild suggestion. Could we stop using the term 3rd world to refer to relatively poor countries? I think in a modern, globalized, and rapidly developing world, '3rd world' is unnecessary and carries a derogatory connotation to it, IMO. I can't speak for others from a so-called third world country, but it offends me. Plus, the true meaning of third world is something quite different, concocted during the cold…

I think "developing world" is the new PC way of saying it. The fashionable term changes every decade it seems.

Re: Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years

#83

Post by gruseom »

mrtron wrote: post #75
gruseom wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An American is proud of what he is: an American. A Canadian is proud of what he is not: an American.

Ah, a load of shit. Canadians are proud to be Canadian. Traveling around has shown me that people often don't know much about Canada, but they recognize the people are nice. That alone is enough to be proud of. The whole 'Canada identity crisis' is because Canadians are too concerned with their international appearance and place. We need to just embrace the core identity we already have instead of looking for a new o…

it is only a few Canadians and Americans that see it as a US vs Canada issue

No Americans see "it" as a "US vs Canada issue" because "it" is an exclusively Canadian concern. What Americans think of Canada is (a) nothing and (b) (when pressed) that big cold-but-friendly blank space at the top of the map. That doesn't stop them from being warm and fuzzy when they find out you're Canadian.

Re: Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years

#84

Post by stoney »

michael_scheibe wrote: post #63
acabal wrote: post #5

I've been long-term traveling and running my startup at the same time for the past few years (in fact just today I set up an incomplete map of my travels for the past few months at my site, turkeysandwichindustries.com), and I can attest that everything in this article is true. What makes me sad sometimes is that traveling the world for a few months to a year doesn't even cross the minds of many of my fellow American…

Yes, the proportion of US residents traveling overseas is probably lower than other developed nations. UK residents for example made 47 million[1] air trips in 2009 vs. 39 million[2] for US citizens. However the argument that fear is the primary cause is misguided. Consider: 1. If you live in the UK and you want sunny weather or a ski trip, you'll need to go elsewhere in Europe. If you live in the US, you can probabl…

Your first point is a big one - the US has an incredible variety of places to visit. I'm from the UK, and while there are some amazing places to visit in the UK, there is a lot less variety than there is in the US. I spend 10 days driving from Denver to Vegas and saw far more scenery than I ever have in the UK. If I lived in the US I could easily imagine not leaving it for years (when I lived in the UK I'd go abroad at least twice a year).

Re: Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years

#85

Post by loewenskind »

blizkreeg wrote: post #31
rivo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got sick a few times from street-vendor food in 3rd world countries. It turned out that they often reuse oil for too long. I now avoid deep-fried food, dirty or tap water, and things like ice-cream. I've been fine on my travels since.

This is a mild suggestion. Could we stop using the term 3rd world to refer to relatively poor countries? I think in a modern, globalized, and rapidly developing world, '3rd world' is unnecessary and carries a derogatory connotation to it, IMO. I can't speak for others from a so-called third world country, but it offends me. Plus, the true meaning of third world is something quite different, concocted during the cold…

Are you even from a developing country?

Re: Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years

#87

Post by loewenskind »

acabal wrote: post #16
lotusleaf1987 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone can afford it, otherwise a lot more people would. Germans, Kiwis, the English, and Australians probably also generally have more secure employment and higher wages on average.

From what I understand, wages and jobs are about even, given that Germans, Kiwis, English, and Australian pay much more tax than we do. Kiwis and Aussies do get more time off, but only a few weeks more than us; many take a year off to travel anyway. Come to England or Germany and talk to the locals who feel that outsourcing and foreigners are taking their jobs away; I met a Swedish person just yesterday who was talki…

>given that Germans, Kiwis, English, and Australian pay much more tax than we do

They pay more taxes but get more for their taxes (free health care, education, more unemployment protection, etc.).

>who was talking about how it would take at least 2 months for him to secure a new job as a seasoned mechanical engineer, because since it's so hard to fire people there, it's super hard to get hired.

But being unemployed in Sweden for two months is a completely different world to being unemployed in the US. Further, if he's working then he'll have a 2 month notice period anyway, so he probably wont have any time off at all.

One thing is not fundamentally better than the other. They are just trade offs. Personally I find the Swedish one a hell of a lot less stressful in bad times.

Re: Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years

#88

Post by megablast »

maxawaytoolong wrote: post #80
george_george wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an Australian living in a town with a pretty high level of immigrants, including a lot of Americans and Canadians, and I can't tell the difference between an American and a Canadian at all. I'm not entirely convinced the difference between a Canadian and an American would be any bigger than the difference between Texans and Californians, for example.

The difference between a Canadian and an American is about the same as the difference between a Kiwi and an Aussie. Likewise, the difference between a Texan and a Californian is similar to the difference between someone from Geelong and someone from Sydney.

As an Australian, the difference between a Canadian, American, Australian, New Zealander and English person is very subtle.

Re: Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years

#90

Post by arethuza »

gruseom wrote: post #83
mrtron wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, a load of shit. Canadians are proud to be Canadian. Traveling around has shown me that people often don't know much about Canada, but they recognize the people are nice. That alone is enough to be proud of. The whole 'Canada identity crisis' is because Canadians are too concerned with their international appearance and place. We need to just embrace the core identity we already have instead of looking for a new o…

it is only a few Canadians and Americans that see it as a US vs Canada issue No Americans see "it" as a "US vs Canada issue" because "it" is an exclusively Canadian concern. What Americans think of Canada is (a) nothing and (b) (when pressed) that big cold-but-friendly blank space at the top of the map. That doesn't stop them from being warm and fuzzy when they find out you're Canadian.

Could be worse - you could be the "cold-but-unfriendly blank space at the top of the map" which I suspect is how English people see Scotland ;-)
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