Quote: (07-08-2016 08:15 AM)Comte De St. Germain Wrote:  

Quote: (07-08-2016 07:24 AM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  

" But it emphasised to me the importance of having a project or two to keep you working on in the meantime to keep you feeling productive and have a purpose. "

There's a bigger question here about whether man's "need" to feel productive is natural or a vestige of social conditioning.

Anyone who's been out of work for long time feels this. Anecdotally, some of the idle rich feel this as well.

WIA

I don't think it's persay productiveness, but a need to be active and dynamic. That's just how work is. I think humans have predisposition to improve themselves or make progress in some form.

The human form is not one to let itself stagnate. It's why something like video games or weed that helps it along to do just that. Video games making someone feel progress while pot just numbs the feeling so much for a lot of people all they can do is sit on their ass.

I've experienced this. If you don't keep moving forward in life your personal growth will regress, it's hard to stay at the same level.

I think men are hard wired to feel this more than women, as women traditionally would stay at home and raise kids whereas men would be out there overcoming challenges to provide and achieve.

The longer any hiatus goes on the stronger the effects will become, hence why some people who are out of work a long time become unemployable.

If a plant isn't growing it's dying, likewise long periods of inactivity/non productivity are not good for the male psyche.

Everyone is different and some will adapt to the Vegabound lifestyle, others not. I was one who did not although I loved the idea of always wanting to travel like many others in this thread.

What I learned from constantly traveling was one of the closest things to me was having a core group of people around me who I loved (friends and family). I love going to a bar and just shooting the shit for hours with them, that is my favorite hobby, I'm British so that kind of banter is part of life.

When doing the Vegabound lifestyle that becomes very hard, as many who are traveling are lonely (like I was without knowing it) so just be fake or too nice because they don't want to spend the nights alone either. I've got a good bull shit radar, but always trying to read people was a chore and annoying.

When I was constantly traveling after a while I felt fatigued, and it became an effort to always meet new people. I honestly didn't want to make a new set of part-time friends while I stayed in [insert country]. As others, I always kept thinking "what am I doing" as my savings were going lower and lower.

Now I spend 9-12 months in Thailand followed by a 1-3 months back home to see friends and family. I work online and spend daylight ours working, then during the night I'll go gym, football, badminton or meetup with friends for drinks. I've found my balance, but I know others would hate what I'm doing. This routine I love, I never had one before and my work/life/social goals were all over the place.

I would say this though, the internet has changed the game. When I go Jakarta, Vietnam, Japan for a short holiday because I'm on a few forums I've always had people to chill with who I know from online and that helped me a lot. Hopefully this increases in the future.

Final note:I have some friends who work 2-3 months at home then travel for 12 months /repeat. As they are always meeting new people overtime I've noticed their mental state 'deteriorate' and they just talk so much shit it's unreal. I don't know why this is but I think a part of it is not having strong social connections and bonding. For example, if I meet someone at my hotel and they are chatting shit, I don't call them out I'll pretend to listen like it's true.

However, if my friend said something stupid I would call him out and keep him honest, he'd do the same to me. The lack of real social interactions may affect the psyche.

I have a good set of friends in Thailand (know for 2-4 years) but I feel like I must go home to balance myself out meeting friends I've known for 15+ years, hope that makes sense.

I'm one of those guys with no real home, I wander around often staying in nice hotels or serviced apartments for just weeks or months at a time. There are also times where I've got contracts on apartments/houses and stayed for 3 months or so. I thought that lifestyle of travel was my dream and I worked hard to make it happen by building an online business.

Ironically though what motivates me way more these days is building my business rather than travelling, perhaps I've got boring but I'm getting a bigger dopamine hit from seeing how far my business can go than travelling to yet another random place. Maybe I'm getting older too but I'm also not interested in wasting time with average girls just to get laid. The kind of girls you can't wait for them to leave after doing the business, If I'm going to spend my valuable time with a girl then I have to genuinely enjoy her company.

Also the biggest problem with this lifestyle is building a routine. Somebody else touched in it above but fitness and diet are important to me and that stuff just goes out of the window when travelling. If you move around too often then by the time you've established a good routine you will be heading off into the unknown again. That kind of shit is really unsettling for guys that need routine to be productive.

For the above reasons I'm now looking to pick a proper home base, preferably one that has good flight routes so that I can take holidays for a few days to do travelling stuff when I have that need to get away. My business is at the point where I'm going to be hitting baller status, I'm not sure I could live with myself if I let that opportunity slip away to sip coconuts on a new beach or chase some 6s.

I've done the wandering artist vagabond/hobo thing for nearly six years now. It can get rather fatigating at times but damn it was worth it if only for the stories I might get to tell to my descendance.
Still, after so many years of living off my rucksack I wouldn't mind a vehicle or a vessel (my current objective)

My only advice for a fellow nomad is that if there is no solution then it isn't a problem.

God I have so much to say on this topic, I'd like to tell my story see if it helps anybody out in their journey.

Firstly +1 to Coco Boy this guy took the words out of my mouth

I've been traveling for 6 years nonstop, once a hardcore backpacker now more of a slow travel 1-3 months a time. I have visited over 50 countries, spent many months in Argentina, go to Brazil many times for 6-8 months a time, Mexico, Spain, Thailand, Serbia.


For those that think quitting their corporate jobs and making money online I would say it is really as amazing as those cheesy landing pages with those guys trying to "sell you the lifestyle" say it is, but it can be quite the faustian bargain as once you take off for a year and pull out all your roots, thats it, you won't have that back to go back to .. you are a lone nomad now.

My nomadic lifestyle started after college when I was backpacker,but then I started a 100% online business on the road and what I thought was going to be 6 months turned into 6 years (boom!)

Last 2 year mostly airbnb for 1-4 month depending on the stay but getting tired of the lifestyle. I haven't signed a lease since 2010.

At first it was absolutely incredible, I thought I was the smartest person on the planet scrounging together $1-2k a month on the nets while traveling the world and doing all this fun stuff, but obviously it got tiring.

If you're a shy person just coming out of school, I think a good trip around the world and a bit of the lifestyle can open you up and teach you so much about yourself, and seeing all the other cultures on this earth, as chessy as that is, really does turn you into a more well rounded individual. You deserve the travel the world and I highly recommend to do it on your own.

However, it gets to the point of diminshing returns, especially once you start getting a little older. The lack of social network, the lack of stability, the lack of ROUTINE.

Lets be honest you can only see so many mountains, cathedrals, museums whatever the fuck until you stop caring. What do you really want in life? Everytime you go to a new city you reset your entire dating and social life pretty much back to zero.

Now i'm to the point where our business is really close to hitting the 7 figure mark this year and just traveling around isn't possible anymore.

I recentely turned 30 and realized I have a once in an opportunity to turn this lifestyle business into something really big and to fuck it up would be a mistake.

I had a heart to heart talk with my biz partner in CR about the future and realized if you want to be successful you can't just be moving around all the time fucking around, and frankly, meaningless ONS type pussy should be on the back burner of priorities though of course the chase if always fun.

I've also been more disciplined then ever losing tons of body fat on a keto diet while maintaining all the muscle I built. All these things need a routine, stability.

Also, the routine ... the routine .... for those of you who don't travel you don't understand. It takes a while to get into a routine. Even once you signed up for your gym, your coworking space, your airbnb etc, it still takes a while to settle in, and the worst part about this lifestyle is just when your settled and starting to build a social circle is right when you get yanked out .... why?

The truth is to be the best man you can be you need to stay put when you have serious larger than life goals. Chasing sunshine, surf and pussy is fun for a while but for some (at least for me), eventually you want more from life.

I think the best place to be where you can work abroad is to find one place, sign a lease and settle there. Just because you're tired of moving around doesn't mean you have to move back to your home country or city.

For me that place is almost definitely going to be Mexico City. Its a place where I have extremely high SMV possibly the highest of any city i've ever been to which means solving the girl situation is always easy, allowing me to focus more on money, muscles, self improvement and hobbies.

It depends on what you want

TLDR of this would be what CoCoBoy said. Living in airBNB and moving around may not be all its cracked up to be after a while, its not sustainable lifestyle if you're trying to build something big beyond a lifestyle business.

Quote: (07-09-2016 04:01 AM)CocoBoy Wrote:  

I'm one of those guys with no real home, I wander around often staying in nice hotels or serviced apartments for just weeks or months at a time. There are also times where I've got contracts on apartments/houses and stayed for 3 months or so. I thought that lifestyle of travel was my dream and I worked hard to make it happen by building an online business.

Ironically though what motivates me way more these days is building my business rather than travelling, perhaps I've got boring but I'm getting a bigger dopamine hit from seeing how far my business can go than travelling to yet another random place. Maybe I'm getting older too but I'm also not interested in wasting time with average girls just to get laid. The kind of girls you can't wait for them to leave after doing the business, If I'm going to spend my valuable time with a girl then I have to genuinely enjoy her company.

Also the biggest problem with this lifestyle is building a routine. Somebody else touched in it above but fitness and diet are important to me and that stuff just goes out of the window when travelling. If you move around too often then by the time you've established a good routine you will be heading off into the unknown again. That kind of shit is really unsettling for guys that need routine to be productive.

For the above reasons I'm now looking to pick a proper home base, preferably one that has good flight routes so that I can take holidays for a few days to do travelling stuff when I have that need to get away. My business is at the point where I'm going to be hitting baller status, I'm not sure I could live with myself if I let that opportunity slip away to sip coconuts on a new beach or chase some 6s.

^ I hate routine.

[quote] (07-10-2016 11:05 PM)frankiecred Wrote:  

God I have so much to say on this topic, I'd like to tell my story see if it helps anybody out in their journey.




However, it gets to the point of diminshing returns, especially once you start getting a little older. The lack of social network, the lack of stability, the lack of ROUTINE.

Lets be honest you can only see so many mountains, cathedrals, museums whatever the fuck until you stop caring. What do you really want in life? Everytime you go to a new city you reset your entire dating and social life pretty much back to zero.

Now i'm to the point where our business is really close to hitting the 7 figure mark this year and just traveling around isn't possible anymore.

I recentely turned 30 and realized I have a once in an opportunity to turn this lifestyle business into something really big and to fuck it up would be a mistake.

I had a heart to heart talk with my biz partner in CR about the future and realized if you want to be successful you can't just be moving around all the time fucking around, and frankly, meaningless ONS type pussy should be on the back burner of priorities though of course the chase if always fun.

I've also been more disciplined then ever losing tons of body fat on a keto diet while maintaining all the muscle I built. All these things need a routine, stability.

Also, the routine ... the routine .... for those of you who don't travel you don't understand. It takes a while to get into a routine. Even once you signed up for your gym, your coworking space, your airbnb etc, it still takes a while to settle in, and the worst part about this lifestyle is just when your settled and starting to build a social circle is right when you get yanked out .... why?

The truth is to be the best man you can be you need to stay put when you have serious larger than life goals. Chasing sunshine, surf and pussy is fun for a while but for some (at least for me), eventually you want more from life.

I think the best place to be where you can work abroad is to find one place, sign a lease and settle there. Just because you're tired of moving around doesn't mean you have to move back to your home country or city.

For me that place is almost definitely going to be Mexico City. Its a place where I have extremely high SMV possibly the highest of any city i've ever been to which means solving the girl situation is always easy, allowing me to focus more on money, muscles, self improvement and hobbies.

It depends on what you want

TLDR of this would be what CoCoBoy said. Living in airBNB and moving around may not be all its cracked up to be after a while, its not sustainable lifestyle if you're trying to build something big beyond a lifestyle business.

[quote='CocoBoy' pid='1343368' dateline='1468054894']
I'm one of those guys with no real home, I wander around often staying in nice hotels or serviced apartments for just weeks or months at a time. There are also times where I've got contracts on apartments/houses and stayed for 3 months or so. I thought that lifestyle of travel was my dream and I worked hard to make it happen by building an online business.

Ironically though what motivates me way more these days is building my business rather than travelling, perhaps I've got boring but I'm getting a bigger dopamine hit from seeing how far my business can go than travelling to yet another random place. Maybe I'm getting older too but I'm also not interested in wasting time with average girls just to get laid. The kind of girls you can't wait for them to leave after doing the business, If I'm going to spend my valuable time with a girl then I have to genuinely enjoy her company.

Also the biggest problem with this lifestyle is building a routine. Somebody else touched in it above but fitness and diet are important to me and that stuff just goes out of the window when travelling. If you move around too often then by the time you've established a good routine you will be heading off into the unknown again. That kind of shit is really unsettling for guys that need routine to be productive.

For the above reasons I'm now looking to pick a proper home base, preferably one that has good flight routes so that I can take holidays for a few days to do travelling stuff when I have that need to get away. My business is at the point where I'm going to be hitting baller status, I'm not sure I could live with myself if I let that opportunity slip away to sip coconuts on a new beach or chase some 6s.[/quote]

A few things:

[quote]Quote:

Diminishing returns due to lack of social network, the lack of stability, the lack of routine[/quote]


that is exactly why I'm doing this. I don't need routine or stability. I want freedom from that. Routine makes people comfortable. Routine is also the quickest way to waste your life. I spent my 20's stuck in a routine and I wasted a lot of time chasing some job title, matching my 401k, and trying to grow my savings. Why? So I can finally live when I'm 65? No thanks.

Also, you sound like the most important thing to you is growing your business. That's great bro, build a legacy and do something worthwhile to you, but I have no desire to be successful. If I'm going to be successful, success is going to have to find me because I'm always moving.

On the meaningless ONS type pussy, I haven't done that for a very long time. I'm more focused on making memories and meeting beautiful women, than I am seeing how many women I can fuck.

[quote]Quote:

You can only see so many mountains, cathedrals, museums whatever the fuck until you stop caring.[/quote]

I could care less about those things. I'm not a sight-seeing and I have never been. I'll drop in to see a art painting every now and again but I spend most of time floating around in the pool, or sitting in a hot tub, smoking a cigar, with a few naked women. That will never get old to me.


[quote]Quote:

Every time you go to a new city you reset your entire dating and social life pretty much back to zero. [/quote]

That's exactly what I want. I've been to over 30 countries. I have no problems meeting women wherever I go, and I don't see myself ever being alone in this lifetime, especially as I age and everyone around me goes downhill and I'm going uphill.

As far as male friends go, this forum is so big, and my social circle over the past year has expanded so much, I always have guys to meet no matter what country I go to. I never worry about a lack of male friends. And I can always make new friends in the gym, no matter where I go.


I think your thread is really good and it will resonate with a lot of guys on here, especially those who want to be successful and start a family. But the thing that you're running toward is what I'm running away from.

Quote: (07-11-2016 01:32 PM)LINUX Wrote:  

...

Quote:Quote:

that is exactly why I'm doing this. I don't need routine or stability. I want freedom from that. Routine makes people comfortable. Routine is also the quickest way to waste your life. I spent my 20's stuck in a routine and I wasted a lot of time chasing some job title, matching my 401k, and trying to grow my savings. Why? So I can finally live when I'm 65? No thanks.

I think he meant just not having to rebuild his lifestyle from square one every time he moved to a new city (finding a new apartment, gym, etc) - aka logistical shit that will impede you from being able to do basic shit in your life - vs. being a 9-5 office worker

Quote:Quote:

Also, you sound like the most important thing to you is growing your business. That's great bro, build a legacy and do something worthwhile to you, but I have no desire to be successful. If I'm going to be successful, success is going to have to find me because I'm always moving.

To each his own. I'm not motivated by business/money but everyone has different desires (as well as different personalities/work or lifestyle preferences - e.g. "routine" vs. "spontaneity)

Quote:Quote:

As far as male friends go, this forum is so big, and my social circle over the past year has expanded so much, I always have guys to meet no matter what country I go to. I never worry about a lack of male friends. And I can always make new friends in the gym, no matter where I go.

I'm not as well traveled as others on here but relative to the average person probably decently traveled (~12 countries, lived in a few, etc.) but living abroad for an extended period of time right now is making me realizing that homies are homies - very rarely I might meet someone I like but regardless, true/deep friendships take time to grow (at least for me) and replacing friends who I've been close to for years upon years is not something I necessarily want to invest in right now nor do I want to let those close friendships fizzle just for the thrill of going to 3rd world country XYZ, partying with some dudes I might not ever talk to again, banging some random sloots, etc but I've always been more of a "few close friends" type of guy vs. "big circle" kind of guy

---

Interesting perspectives and I'm glad we are getting both sides of the story here (PUAsphere seems to be more skewed towards location-independent player life)

I read here somewhere (maybe in this thread) that author Albert Camus (never read his stuff) said life is inherently meaningless, which it is if you think about it. Who's to say how you should live your life - it is not written in the sky or anything. Though he said also that killing yourself (since life is meaningless) would be a cop out. The way I see it, there is still a lot of cool and enjoyable shit you can do in life and most people on this forum are in a situation to do those things (first world country citizens with food, shelter, etc aka leverage to do things other than basic survival). So you might as well make the most of it

It's not necessarily my desire to start a family (though I probably want to one day)

It's not my desire to "be rich"

But it's not my desire either to sit in a hot tub surrounded by random girls who I don't plan on talking to more than one night

We all have to decide what life is right for us. It took me a while but I think figuring out what that is for you is ultimately worth it

A comment from one of Roosh's articles:

"I want to share a quote I found on Quora the other day. I think Roosh (at the age 36) have discovered something a little similar.

At 15, I wanted to live a life of fun.

At 25, I wanted to live a life of passion.

At 35, I realized my top priority was to live a life of purpose.

And in living a life of purpose, I also live with passion and fun.

Fun alone is ephemeral. Lasting a heartbeat at times.

Passion alone is temperamental. Lasting a season at times. A mood, a feeling, a dream can change your passions.

But a life built on purpose has a foundation that is more than just yourself. Purpose takes time to reveal itself. It may take maturity and growth to begin to know it. It unfolds with your experiences.

Living with purpose sustains you through tough times."

Made $2100 today by returning some things to Costco. an old desk, recliner, computer chair, ironing board, blender, dog bed etc, etc. Everything in my apartment is from Costco. I knew that lifetime satisfaction policy would pay-off in the long run. I plan on keeping my Costco luggage, because I can always exchange it for a new suit case when the wheels or zippers break, which seem to be a quite often.

Plan is in the works.

Quote: (07-11-2016 04:36 PM)LINUX Wrote:  

Made $2100 today by returning some things to Costco. an old desk, recliner, computer chair, ironing board, blender, dog bed etc, etc. Everything in my apartment is from Costco. I knew that lifetime satisfaction policy would pay-off in the long run. I plan on keeping my Costco luggage, because I can always exchange it for a new suit case when the wheels or zippers break, which seem to be a quite often.

Plan is in the works.

Too bad marriage don't have the same policy.

This has been one of the more interesting threads on here. I'm enjoying reading the different perspectives from both sides of the fence.

I traveled for years in my early twenties and I definitely understand what some have said here with regards to craving routine, structure and social balance again. I also understand the incredible desire for freedom that fuels the initial leap into this lifestyle and for some, sustains it indefinitely. I'm not sure where I stand personally, towards the end of two years abroad I started wanting routine and community again; but after been back for just over two years I'm absolutely sick of it.

There's a balance somewhere in-between that I've yet to strike I suppose.

I'm back to been unemployed as of two weeks ago but with a significant amount of savings to my name and I'm now considering my options.. the barrier for me is sustaining myself financially abroad without slowly bleeding through what I have. If/when I can solve that I think I would jump back into it immediately until I want something more or experience shapes my future decisions. At 27 I still have a lot to learn.

Quote: (07-12-2016 12:10 AM)malakaix Wrote:  

This has been one of the more interesting threads on here. I'm enjoying reading the different perspectives from both sides of the fence.

Agreed... and I find myself "comparing notes" with how others see value, and what
works for them. This makes me gravitate toward certain posters. Good stuff.

Quote: (07-12-2016 12:10 AM)malakaix Wrote:  

At 27 I still have a lot to learn.

So do I.... at 51.

Quote: (07-12-2016 12:10 AM)malakaix Wrote:  

There's a balance somewhere in-between that I've yet to strike I suppose.

That's a great thing. It's all about searching, you know. There is a balance for everyone.

When it come to truth, people often believe their viewpoint of the world is the objective truth. But human experience is colored by the personal lenses through which we view it and because it is our perception that shapes our experience in day to day realities, we are essentially building our own realities: so, truth can only be believed if you discover it yourself...

At the end of the day, we are a bunch of alpha males on the internet trying to get along without stepping on anyone's toes. but we all see the world differently. With many topics we write about on here, there is no right or wrong. It's just the way we see the world. Like Carl Jung said: the person who looks outside dreams, the person who looks inside awakes. Sadly guys are looking around on the outside for other men to tell them what to do with their own lives instead of sitting down and asking themselves, "What exactly is it that I want and what is holding me back from having it?"

One of my favorite poems (by Don Blanding aka the vagabond poet) and often what I tell my friends and family that know I just dont subscribe to many of the same societal norms....I figure this poem fits very well in this thread....trust me its very hard to live the DOUBLE LIFE...."the restless fella always wins!" All the best in your new adventures Linux!

Double Life
by Don Blanding

How very simple life would be
If only there were two of me
A Restless Me to drift and roam
A Quiet Me to stay at home.
A Searching One to find his fill
Of varied skies and newfound thrill
While sane and homely things are done
By the domestic Other One.

And that's just where the trouble lies;
There is a Restless Me that cries
For chancy risks and changing scene,
For arctic blue and tropic green,
For deserts with their mystic spell,
For lusty fun and raising Hell,

But shackled to that Restless Me
My Other Self rebelliously
Resists the frantic urge to move.
It seeks the old familiar groove
That habits make. It finds content
With hearth and home — dear prisonment,
With candlelight and well-loved books
And treasured loot in dusty nooks,

With puttering and garden things
And dreaming while a cricket sings
And all the while the Restless One
Insists on more exciting fun,
It wants to go with every tide,
No matter where…just for the ride.
Like yowling cats the two selves brawl
Until I have no peace at all.

One eye turns to the forward track,
The other eye looks sadly back.
I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain,
(It's tough to have an idle brain)
But One says "Stay" and One says "Go"
And One says "Yes," and One says "No,"
And One Self wants a home and wife
And One Self craves the drifter's life.

The Restless Fellow always wins
I wish my folks had made me twins.

sorta

I put my shit in a storage unit in February 2014, it's been there and at another storage unit since. I haven't slept on my own bed since then. I was in the military, deployed to Italy that same time, came back, left the military, went back to Italy (met my now ex gf), came back to Vegas, stayed for about 7 months, left again to go start job training for my new job (I'm a civilian defense contractor), went to a warzone for another 7 months, came back to the states in April 2016, and left again lol.

Personal travel, went to Australia, Japan, Italy, stayed a week in Vienna and did a day trip to Bratislava before I got news my uncle passed, which forced me to return back to the states.

Basically here in Vegas until Saturday then back to another warzone for work

edit: I'm looking for a place to drop my bags at and call home, Vegas is great but I don't really wanna stay in America anymore, I've been learning Italian for some years, so I've been looking at Malta (I know they speak English, but I hear Italian is a language some people know out there)

Quote: (07-11-2016 04:36 PM)LINUX Wrote:  

Made $2100 today by returning some things to Costco. an old desk, recliner, computer chair, ironing board, blender, dog bed etc, etc. Everything in my apartment is from Costco. I knew that lifetime satisfaction policy would pay-off in the long run. I plan on keeping my Costco luggage, because I can always exchange it for a new suit case when the wheels or zippers break, which seem to be a quite often.

Plan is in the works.

Apart from the financial benefit, the minimization you just undertook must have felt liberating.

Next LINUX possessions to go? Some guesses: shoe polish (bacon grease does the job), cigar cutter (you can use your teeth), swim trunks (you don't use them anyways).

On that topic and jokes aside, I imagine you'll build relationships with receptionists & hotel managers around the world, and many will be very happy to let you store your things with them indefinitely. At one point I had about 15kg of non-essential possessions stored in hotels in 3 SE Asian cities, allowing me to hop around the region with just a 7kg carry-on and a computer bag (and no baggage fees). I'm now down to about 12kg total and couldn't be happier with the added mobility.

The world awaits you, my friend.

^Stashing full suitcases in multiple cities in one region or country is a smart strategy, I really should look into it while traveling in Colombia as I move around a lot there. I'd have different suitcases for Bogota, the coast and Medellin/Cali which all have very different climates.

Tim Ferris wrote about how he leaves trunks in different cities in this article, "How to Never Check Luggage Again."

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/08/08/carryon-luggage/

If you dont have any room in your bag for leftover whiskey, feel free to Mail that shit to philly...though I assume you dont just keep bottles at your place.

Something about this thread speaks to me as a young guy trying to figure his shit out.

It seems like half of the guys around here settle down early and then go rogue later in life, and the other half goes rogue right away and then feels the desire to settle down later in life.

I don't know how it will end up for me. Seems like the only way is to choose a path and start going down it.

Either way, it's comforting to think that you can fuck up and still change gears later in life.

Quote: (07-14-2016 09:06 PM)General Mayhem Wrote:  

Something about this thread speaks to me as a young guy trying to figure his shit out.

It seems like half of the guys around here settle down early and then go rogue later in life, and the other half goes rogue right away and then feels the desire to settle down later in life.

I don't know how it will end up for me. Seems like the only way is to choose a path and start going down it.

Either way, it's comforting to think that you can fuck up and still change gears later in life.

I think that's spot on, and I've met plenty of people that have given up marriages and materialistic lives for freedom and a carry on backpack. They tend to be a little older of course but perhaps only early 30s, plenty of life left in them.

I'm 28, and for the last 7 years of my life I've done 2 long backpacking trips + the last 3 years of location independent working. For me that's enough, it's been a blast and I've gathered more notches in those last few years than 99.9% of people would in a lifetime (including some mini relationships with quality girls). It's good to get that shit out of your system, I think most have that desire in them.

Perhaps some people even do that stuff young, get married and then do it all again. People always want what they don't have after all.

I received this story in an email earlier this week. It opens the eyes to the many possibilities that offshore living offers. I hope to become a PT (Perpetual Traveler) in the next year or so.

Quote:Quote:

Queenstown, New Zealand - 13 July 2016

I first wrote this post back in 2011. I've since lost touch with Dave, although I periodically reach out to see how he is doing. He was a mentor and a friend, and I credit him with teaching me what's really important in life.

Enjoy!
__________________

One of my earliest mentors is a gentlemen (he'd hate being called that) I will refer to as "Dave."

Dave is a serial entrepreneur and fellow expat with one of the healthiest attitudes and outlooks of anyone I know. He is now in his late sixties, but still manages to run every chance he gets, rain or shine, no matter where he is in the world. In fact, I'm pretty sure he travels with only his laptop, a pair of running shoes and some old shorts and t-shirts. My hero.

I have known Dave for almost 25 years. He's about that much older than I am, and infinitely wiser in my opinion. He lives his life very simply, with little in the way of material goods and "baggage." Those things would simply slow him down. In the last 45 or so years Dave has lived all over the world, but mostly in the Pacific, he loves warm weather.

I want to share a little bit about Dave in order to show you that there are alternatives to the "normal" lifestyle we've mostly been raised to believe in. Not only in occupation and location, but also in our thinking and adapting to the world we live in.

Dave grew up in the States. He seemed destined from a young age to attend a prestigious school, become a doctor or a lawyer, marry a "nice" girl and settle down. Dave had other plans. He did in fact attend a good school, where he obtained a degree in engineering, but never being one for the world of 9–5, he embarked on his first entrepreneurial venture shortly after graduation.

Full of "piss and vinegar", and armed with a small lump of cash he had saved, he moved out west with a partner and started a canoe rental and river guide business. Everything was going peachy until a "problem" with his business partner led to ruin. Basically the scumbag took off with all the cash in the middle of the night.

Never one to harbor a grudge or reminisce too long on deeds that can't be undone, Dave took off to the Pacific to pursue his fortune. He headed to Guam, that bastion of opportunity smack dab in the middle of nowhere, and home to nothing but a military base, brown snakes and the most humid conditions outside New Orleans.

The "Beginning"

Once he arrived, Dave assessed the opportunities for employment, which were limited. A capitalist at heart, he noticed that the Japanese were all over the place spending money like drunken sailors. He figured catering to that crowd could be lucrative, but what would he sell them?

Sitting in a local dive bar, sweating his ass off and drinking a beer, Dave had a crazy thought. He would create a wild west shooting gallery! It was brilliant.

Idea in hand, but no money in pocket, Dave headed over to the Small Business Administration office. To make a long story short, he pitched his plan and got a small loan. Soon enough his dreams of "Shooting up the Pacific" were in full swing.

Ridiculous — you may be saying to yourself. Not so fast. Dave had almost unbelievable timing and intuition.

The Japanese financial boom was in full swing at the time, and Japanese consumers, now the wealthiest on the planet, were traveling all over the Pacific. They came to Guam in droves, visiting and buying up everything they could get their hands on.

Dave cut some deals with the local tour operators, which provided a never-ending sea of big-spender patrons, and a business was born. What Dave intuitively knew, was that the Japanese had a fascination with the American wild west. Not only that, but they loved to shoot hand guns and the bigger the better! It seems the smaller the man, the bigger the gun. Every Japanese guy that walked in his door wanted to shoot the "Dirty Harry Gun." He happily obliged them.

The business went on to be a phenomenally profitable endeavour. In fact, he was so successful that the US Government sent agents to Guam to investigate. You see, Dave's business was importing so much ammunition that some pencil pusher was afraid a potential armed insurgency was being planned! When the "agents" knocked at his door, he promptly informed them that next time they should do a little research before they jump on a plane to Guam to investigate why a shooting gallery might need to buy ammunition. I think his exact words were, "f*&%'ing idiots." The oxymoron, "government intelligence" comes to mind.

Fast-forward six months and Dave had already paid back his loan to the Guam SBA, something that the loan officer said had never happened before. Apparently no one in Guam had ever repaid a loan from the SBA at that time! The Guamanians were either serial failures, or just didn't bother to repay. They didn't even know how to accept the payback!

Dave eventually sold a majority interest in the business, while keeping a small piece for posterity. Ten years later that small piece was still paying dividends. Happily, Dave has, to this day, never held a real job!

The takeaway I want to drill home is that choosing to live an extraordinary life should not be something that scares you. When I first met Dave I told him I wanted to travel and live in exotic places, meet interesting people and invest in "cool" businesses like shooting galleries! He encouraged me and told me that no matter what I thought, it would be better and more profitable than I could imagine.

This is why I created Seraph, an eclectic group of global mavericks… nomads, really. We have been drawn together because of the life we have designed for ourselves. We chose the path less traveled, as they say, and it really HAS made all the difference.

To paraphrase Goethe, once you make a decision and head solidly toward your goal, all kinds of opportunities and people will appear, seemingly out of nowhere to assist you. "Just go Mark, do it!" Dave used to say to me, "Please don't wait or you'll be too old to enjoy it."

Truer words were never spoken.

Thanks Dave!

For those of that are constantly on the move, what do you take with you? Just a carry on? A giant checked bag?

Quote: (07-17-2016 12:34 PM)renotime Wrote:  

For those of that are constantly on the move, what do you take with you? Just a carry on? A giant checked bag?

2 xboxes and a batman costume...

Quote: (07-17-2016 12:48 PM)Irish Wrote:  

Quote: (07-17-2016 12:34 PM)renotime Wrote:  

For those of that are constantly on the move, what do you take with you? Just a carry on? A giant checked bag?

2 xboxes and a batman costume...

You forgot his two hitachi's.