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Life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

fluentin3months.com

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Re: Life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

#51

Post by rglover »

swores wrote: post #3

More money will NEVER solve your problems That just isn't true - the problem is that people realised that being rich isn't the same as being happy, and it was a good point. But then people took it too far, and it stops making sense. Sure, for some people, having more money wouldn't improve things, but for many people, it definitely could. And I'm not just talking about people who are starving or homeless. You don't n…

You make a good point and it comes down to the parallel between the people who have money and the people who don't. For those who already have money, they view it as a standard, something they're used to and believe that their happiness comes from something else. For those who don't, not being able to pay a bill, having a good car to get back and forth to work, or being able to treat your kids to a movie and ice cream can significantly impact your happiness. Everyone says that money has nothing to do with it, but you're right, it does. Perhaps from a cosmic "we are floating in space" point of view, but in a human, "we run on money" view, there's significant happiness found in having money.

That being said, I think the concept of money and having or not having it is a great topic for debate. It's one of those things that most would love to detest, but in reality, they realize they only way they're going to be able to detest it (short of being homeless) is to make money. It sucks, it's dehumanizing, and it shouldn't be that way, but it is.

Re: Life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

#52

Post by rglover »

swores wrote: post #3

More money will NEVER solve your problems That just isn't true - the problem is that people realised that being rich isn't the same as being happy, and it was a good point. But then people took it too far, and it stops making sense. Sure, for some people, having more money wouldn't improve things, but for many people, it definitely could. And I'm not just talking about people who are starving or homeless. You don't n…

You make a good point and it comes down to the parallel between the people who have money and the people who don't. For those who already have money, they view it as a standard, something they're used to and believe that their happiness comes from something else. For those who don't, not being able to pay a bill, having a good car to get back and forth to work, or being able to treat your kids to a movie and ice cream can significantly impact your happiness. Everyone says that money has nothing to do with it, but you're right, it does. Perhaps from a cosmic "we are floating in space" point of view it doesn't, but in a human, "we run on money" view, there's significant happiness found in actually having money.

That being said, I think the concept of money and having or not having it is a great topic for debate. It's one of those things that most would love to detest, but in reality, they realize they only way they're going to be able to detest it (short of being homeless) is to make money. It sucks, it's dehumanizing, and it shouldn't be that way, but it is.

Re: Life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

#53

Post by kd0amg »

lhnz wrote: post #26
revorad wrote: post #7

As I've been saying to others regarding startup advice and lessons, it's much more helpful and interesting to read stories. You may think you are extracting out wisdom from your experiences, but really, more often than not, these "life lessons" don't mean much without context. I certainly can't take them for a rule and apply them to my life. It may turn out to be the wrong advice for me and even if it doesn't, I'll a…

A life lesson with context wouldn't be a life lesson. The context is life, if the context is more specific and not fully applicable to life then it is no longer a life lesson.

A "life lesson" may still have a non-universal set of (common) situations to which it applies.

Re: Life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

#55

Post by nihilocrat »

44Aman wrote: post #2

Amazing blog, thanks for posting it. Been living in Paris for two weeks now and not really even tried to speak French, my aim by the end of my internship was to become conversationally fluent. Definitely starting this soon: http://www.fluentin3months.com/the-smartest-decision-you-wil...

Basically the biggest trouble I have had learning a spoken language is in getting over the awkwardness of never being able to understand the other person or come up with a quick reply. You probably need to get used to sounding like an idiot all the time and constantly misunderstanding what people are trying to say. Then, get used to people switching to English even though that's really not helping your situation. If you have no trouble with that, you're much better off than I am.

Another useful skill that I alluded to is the ability to quickly and accurately simplify your thoughts into words that you know in the language in question. You will learn that a lot of the time in English you are just adding layers and layers of nuance to what you are saying rather than more clearly saying what you are actually thinking.

Re: Life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

#56

Post by sanswork »

eyko wrote: post #45
sanswork wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure you can. Travel needs not be expensive. If you don't stay in expensive hotels and eat out all the time, don't go drinking/partying every night its not difficult to travel on very little money. Move to a new country with a work permit, get a short term job, maybe working in your hostel, or at a bar, or even as general labour and save up enough to make your next hop.

I think you'll find it's not that easy to move to a new country with a work permit, unless you have a lot of money in your bank account (which is one of the first checks the embassies do), or you're of the wrong nationality (try entering europe being african). Yeah, try telling a starving child labourer in Honduras or South Africa that money will not solve any of their problems. Maybe you can travel hitch-hiking and…

If you're young and from the right countries it's very simple. It's called a working holiday visa. Usually gives you around a year to work and live in the destination country.

Re: Life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

#57

Post by sanswork »

lhnz wrote: post #47
sanswork wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure you can. Travel needs not be expensive. If you don't stay in expensive hotels and eat out all the time, don't go drinking/partying every night its not difficult to travel on very little money. Move to a new country with a work permit, get a short term job, maybe working in your hostel, or at a bar, or even as general labour and save up enough to make your next hop.

I am being downvoted above but isn't travel expensive? It has to be simply because of the fuel costs involved. In my eyes, 8 years of constant travel would be expensive. Compare that to 8 years of working on the same spot.

Travel can be very expensive. It can also be very cheap. It might be nicer to fly from point A to B but odds are there is a cheaper bus ticket available. A 4 star hotel is very nice to stay at but a 0 star hostel will often cost you less than $15 a day. Working in a bar will easily cover that, your food(buying cheap from local sources and cooking for yourself), and allow you to save for your next bus/boat ticket or where absolutely needed a short haul flight.

Re: Life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

#58

Post by rapind »

swores wrote: post #3

More money will NEVER solve your problems That just isn't true - the problem is that people realised that being rich isn't the same as being happy, and it was a good point. But then people took it too far, and it stops making sense. Sure, for some people, having more money wouldn't improve things, but for many people, it definitely could. And I'm not just talking about people who are starving or homeless. You don't n…

In the end it's all relative to your expectations. For example let's take 2 different people; "A" and "B".

"A" has rich parents (few hundred million). "A" has rich friends. "A" enjoys expensive past-times. "A" currently lives off around $1,000,000 per year (mortgage, food, entertainment, etc.). Most of "A"'s associates have a similar lifestyle. If "A" loses all of his money and is forced to take a job at $150,000 a year then he'll be absolutely miserable. He'll feel poor because all his friends and associates have so much more, and because he's become accustomed to a way of life he can no longer afford.

Now person "B" has a blue collar job, no savings, and makes $50,000 per year. "B"'s parents are not rich, but were always able to put food on the table. "B"'s friends and associates all live fairly similar lifestyles. If "B" is suddenly handed a magical supervisor role that pays $150,000 a year he'll feel absolutely rich. He'll have more money than any of his current associates. He has more money than he even knows what to do with.

Both "A" and "B" now make the same amount of money, but "B" is happier than "A" and it has everything to do with expectations, and since they have the same amount of money, then money must not be a direct factor.

You can keep taking this further until you hit a point where there's not enough money to cover bare necessities. This means that every single $ you make above the bare minimum to live a healthy life is unnecessary if you manage your expectations. For many of us it's easier to make more money than manage our expectations though. If you're barely scraping by on a $100,000 salary, maybe it's time to step back and examine your expectations and priorities.

Re: Life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

#59

Post by ryusage »

lhnz wrote: post #47
sanswork wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure you can. Travel needs not be expensive. If you don't stay in expensive hotels and eat out all the time, don't go drinking/partying every night its not difficult to travel on very little money. Move to a new country with a work permit, get a short term job, maybe working in your hostel, or at a bar, or even as general labour and save up enough to make your next hop.

I am being downvoted above but isn't travel expensive? It has to be simply because of the fuel costs involved. In my eyes, 8 years of constant travel would be expensive. Compare that to 8 years of working on the same spot.

From what I've heard, travel costs are shockingly cheaper once you get out of the US.

Re: Life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

#60

Post by lhnz »

sanswork wrote: post #57
lhnz wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am being downvoted above but isn't travel expensive? It has to be simply because of the fuel costs involved. In my eyes, 8 years of constant travel would be expensive. Compare that to 8 years of working on the same spot.

Travel can be very expensive. It can also be very cheap. It might be nicer to fly from point A to B but odds are there is a cheaper bus ticket available. A 4 star hotel is very nice to stay at but a 0 star hostel will often cost you less than $15 a day. Working in a bar will easily cover that, your food(buying cheap from local sources and cooking for yourself), and allow you to save for your next bus/boat ticket or w…

You see, that's my point, as soon as you have to cut the costs of other parts of your life you've clearly started doing something which requires large amount of money...
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