451–460 of 526 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah, I see - same question though, I'm curious which citizenship you eventually acquired without stepping foot in the country? BTW I spent the last 15 mins enjoying your blog, particularly the entries on Tanzania (I grew up there). Glad you enjoyed your time there :)
The wording of his comments strongly suggests he doesn't want to share that information.
IMHO, more young people should do this kind of thing (within reason of course). Now that I'm older I realize I didn't appreciate how opportunities to do stuff like this often diminish in later phases of life. Personally, I did have some adventures kind of like this, but in retrospect, I should have done a bit more as I look back very fondly on those times.
Would have done tons of things like this if I didn't have student loans hanging over my head.
Which is fine, we all have to obviously since you can't have everything. The point is just that whatever you didn't choose, you didn't choose.
There are countless things I wish I did, and although at various points I had no money or other potential excuses I could say, none of those actually prevented me from persuing whatever I did choose to persue instead. Many things I didn't do I know were purely from lack of imagination or bravery or effort. Other things I did do, I somehow did despite having no money or only junk versions of tools & resources etc.
I don't have to know your particular life details and hardships because it doesn't matter what they are. This applies to some greater or lesser degree to everyone who is merely lucky enough not to be born a literal owned property slave chained to a wall in a box.
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Two wrongs don't make a right. If a particular taxpayer-funded road was one cent per mile for the end user as opposed to other higher-priced roads, you wouldn't say, "wow, this road is reasonably priced!" Unless you're literally just doing a travel blog
Is it a wrong? There's a lot of externalities around transit that aren't directly priced into costs vs ticket revenue. If France decides "We want high speed national rail connectivity between cities", I'd look at it more of an entitlement / service than a profitable enterprise. Nobody expects national healthcare services to be profitable. (Also, both France and Germany's relatively recent experience with their nation…
Germany and France were on the verge of collapse or being conquered but government trains saved them? Do tell.
But also, they're maybe not very sovereign when a foreign body drafts, ratifies, and enforces their laws
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If nobody minds, then in what sense is it not okay? If the space is needed for luggage, I'm sure he will be asked to move.
> If nobody minds, then in what sense is it not okay? Nobody might mind a one-off antisocial behaviour, but if it becomes a pattern, or if everyone starts doing it, everyone might start minding it.
Reminds me of the ads on the city buses in Berlin > 60m^2, keine Küche, kein Bad - Für 60,66 EUR warm im Monat. EN: 60 square meters, no kitchen, no bathroom - for just 60.66 EUR per month, utilities included. https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/20182186004296102...
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Bulgaria's GDP per capita is €13,305/year (€1108.75/month), and the average net salary is €10,440/year (€870/month), so it's definitely possible if you're the kind of person who is willing to be arbitrarily ridiculous[0] with this kind of thing. [0] For one thing, сигурно ще трябва да научиш български, which doesn't sound like a great use of time.
Even in Bulgaria 10K euros per year isn't going to get one a whole house + utilities + living expenses(food etc).
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Depends on the willingness of the partner and the age of the kid. Tons of people travel "nomad style", and even have wild adventures around the globe for months on end with small kids.
I think your view of "tons of people" that travel "nomad style" might be skewed by social media and the rose tinted lenses that people often view others on social media through. I know one person that travels "nomad style" 100% of the time, and the only way they can do that is by not having a partner or kids. They've tried with the partner, and it didn't work out for them. I would much prefer my kids be well educated…
Did you miss the post of igetspam which started this thread? This is what they explicitly wished they could do, but think that they cannot because of partner+kids.
I was responding to that. I'm not sure what you were responding to. Did I reply to you or told you to do something against your will?
By the way, student dormitory cost around ~200-300 euros per month. And semester fee costs 300 euros per semester (6months). In total, it makes 3900 euros. So, the train is not the most cost efficient solution, if you are young.
Adventure is priceless
I don't think one or the other is a superior way to spend ones formative years, though doing the train thing might make more sense before going to school, as he may form relationships in school that he won't want to give up for riding a train.
There are so many possible perspectives for such story but in this day and age the focus is on how much this cost. So let's talk about cost: I don't know how often he sleeps in this way[0] but clearly at £8500/year no one is discussing the externalized cost of taking up (arguably empty) seats he didn't pay for and setting the stage for future "nomads" to do the same and turning first class night trains into a substan…
People overusing their subscriptions are compensated by people underusing them.
It's true that the train company does some probability math and figures out some balance point for the proper price for the ticket based on some estimated bell curve of usage, just like a diner selling a "bottomless" cup of coffee for $1.
But that doesn't make the right half of the curve "overusing" any more than it makes the left half of the curve "underusing". They are all merely using the thing that the supplier sold in accordance with the terms set by the supplier.
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People who exercise are overusing their share of air. People with more children are overusing their share of sunlight.
According to you, when does a child earn their own share of sunlight, so their parents are not "overusing" their share? Is it at a certain age, or is that only for children born latest at $YOUR_BIRTHYEAR?
They are pointing out that what the previous commenter said was ridiculous, by saying the same thing with merely other variables swapped in which more obviously illustrates how ridiculous the original statement was.