[Lumiere]

My tip #1 : Learn Spanish

* It's the official 1st language in 21 countries
* It's spoken as a first language by 329 million people
* Combine that with the people that speak it as a second language and it's 500 million people

That's a hell of big playground!

Where to start?

There are lots of audio books / software packages out there like Rosetta Stone and Michel Tomas etc. Way better than ALL of those are the radio lingua podcasts.

There are two of them. You can search for them in iTunes.

- Coffee Break Spanish. Will take you from beginner to intermediate.
- Showtime Spanish. Takes you from intermediate to advanced.

The lessons are all about 20 minutes each so they are easy digestible bite sized chunks and are designed so you can easily listen to them on your coffee break (hence the name of the first course).

Best of all? It's free! Totally free.

I have tried all the paid materials out there and this is way better than any of the paid stuff.

Enjoy.

Please post your tips here.

Perhaps someone who is an expert with online game can post some tips.

[Lumiere]

Most popular social networking sites broken down by country :





Source : http://valleywag.gawker.com/273201/the-w...l-networks

[Lumiere]

Ok. Travel deals.

You can't be an international playboy without racking up the air miles. In terms of airline alliances, one world is the best.

* An alliance of 11 airlines
* Almost 700 destinations worldwide
* Nearly 550 airport departure lounges
* Named best airline alliance 7 years running

The round the world trip I am on right now is from here.

http://www.oneworld.com/

Here's the deal. They give you 16 segments which you can use however you like as long as you start and finish in the same city and take all flights within 365 days.

Cost me about 2,500 pounds which is about 4,000 dollars. Works out about 250 dollars per flight which is pretty damn cheap when you bear in mind they are all international flights and a fair few of them are long haul (europe to south america, US to Australia, Australia to SE Asia)

They have an awesome online flash app that you can use to plan your route and calculate how to best use the 16 segments that they give you. You can play around with all the possibilities and even save various route plans before you decide the best one. App here :

http://oneworldrtw.innosked.com/Default.aspx

You will also need the network map to plan as that shows you, if you click on a city, all of the possible routes. Here it is :

http://www.innovata-llc.com/onw/default.asp?show=MAP

Tips to maximise your 16 segments. 16 segments should equal 16 flights if you plan it right. Tips :

* Do not waste a segment by taking any flights that are not direct. If you need to change flights, it will use up an extra segment. Direct flights only !

* Do not take any domestic flights AT ALL ! This will use up an extra segment if you have to depart from the domestic airport as opposed to the international airport that you landed in. So one short domestic flight can cost you 2 segments. It's a total waste. Also, a long haul flight from Europe to South America = 1 segment. A domestic flight from Buenos Aires to Cordoba = 1 segment. It's the same. How you use your segments does not alter the price of the ticket at all. Plus you can easily just buy a cheap domestic flight when you arrive in any country anyway so why waste a segment?

The coolest thing about these tickets it's that date changes are totally flexible and totally FREE.

My trip started in Sept and finishes Sept 2010. Right now I have all my remaining 8 flights stacked up and reserved for Aug and Sept 2010. That way I take my next flight whenever I feel like it. All I have to do is to contact them and tell them to bring my next flight forward to depart in the next couple of days or even tomorrow. If they have a seat free on a flight then you will get it.

If whilst travelling you decide you want to change your entire route. For example if, when I arrive in SE asia next summer, I change my mind and decide I don't want to follow my planned route to India and the Middle East and I want to go to South Africa and watch the world cup, I can do it.

Even if it involves making 6 or 8 changes to my planned route, as long as I submit all of the changes AT THE SAME TIME then it goes down as only 1 change and will be charged as such so I will only have to pay about 80 pounds.

By taking this deal and just buying domestic flights and / or travelling overland by bus you can see way more than the ticket allows. For example, I have only used 4 flights so far and I have already been to :

* Spain
* Ecuador
* Colombia
* Bolivia
* Peru
* Argentina
* Brazil
* Paraguay
* Chile
* Patagonia (ok I know Patagonia is not a country but it feels like another world. I just bought a cheap domestic flight when in Buenos Aires)

Tip : Don't buy the ticket via the website. Just plan your route and get the price. Then contact a local travel agent that offers one world and has a travel butler service and buy it through them. The price should be the same. A travel butler service means that you just email your date changes and enquires about flight availability to the travel agent and they will do it for you. Saves you having to contact the regional office of the airlines whilst on the trip and doing all that stuff yourself. Travel butler should help you out with any other queries you have too and it's free.

One final tip. Make the second to last flight on your itinerary a flight to a region of the world you really want to explore and spend some time in. As I said you have to start and end in the same city as a condition of the ticket. However, there is nothing stopping you from just not getting on the last flight. You can just chose to miss it.

Example. Although my last flight is back to London, my second to last flight is from India to Jordan in the Middle East. I have never been to the middle east and would love to spend a few months exploring places like Lebanon, Israel and places like Dubai, UAE etc.

Unless I have pressing business reasons to get back to London I am just going to miss the last flight. Then I can spend months exploring the middle east then travel overland to Turkey and pick up a cheap flight to eastern europe. From there I can check out all the cool (and cheap as hell) eastern european countries and make my way overland from there back to london. This has several benefits :

* Turns my one year trip into an 18-20 month trip
* Allows me to fly into Jordan a day or two before the 365 days are up thus freeing up more time for all of the previous segments
* This (along with the overland travel tip) allows me to turn my 16 segment, 16 country 1 year trip into an 18-20 month 30-35 country trip at no significant extra cost.

Let's say I hit 32 countries. Divide that by the cost of the round the world ticket = $125 per country.

Pretty sweet huh?

[Roosh]

Very solid info. I just wanted to add the Pimsleur program. Takes you from zero to intermediate, more or less.

[Lumiere]

(12-04-2009 11:15 AM)Roosh Wrote:  

Very solid info. I just wanted to add the Pimsleur program. Takes you from zero to intermediate, more or less.

i tried pimsleur too

the radio lingua stuff is better imo

[speakeasy]

I used Coffee Break Spanish too to prepare for my S. America trip. It really helped as a refresher for the Spanish I forgot from high school. I just wish they would get rid of that annoying opening song.

[kerouac]

To take it to that next level... the model banging level... make sure you develop a sophisticated accent.

[gringoed]

Lumiere:

Very solid info. I've been doing Pimlseur while driving which is good (way better than Rosetta Stone) but I've never heard of these podcasts. Will definitely give them a try as soon as I get my ipod.

Also, great tips on the round-the-world trip. $4000 for a years worth of int'l travel is fucking amazing.

[kerouac]

Also, I just found this good reference for words:
http://www.google.com/dictionary

[Lumiere]

(12-04-2009 02:46 PM)gringoed Wrote:  

Will definitely give them a try as soon as I get my ipod.

You dont need an ipod. Just download them to iTunes on your PC / Mac and listen from there.

[Lumiere]

The best free online dictionary is :

http://www.wordreference.com/

Whats great about this apart from the multi-language support is that, after the definition, there are a bunch of relevant links to forum threads discussing the word or phrase.

Super useful.

This is the best spanish verb conjugator :

http://www.conjugation.org/

[Kona]

Hey Lumiere,

Do you have an accounting in USD of your total expenses for this trip that you care to share?

I'm talking all of it, visas, hotels, bar tabs etc.?

Aloha!

[Shaman]

Pimsleur is the best if you're a beginner--Roosh nailed it: it'll take you from knowing absolutely nothing at all to intermediate (plus, it'll force you to develop excellent pronunciation and a very clean, neutral accent). After that, you want Platiquemos--it's expensive and not easy to find on torrent (I ended up paying for it before I found somewhere that had it--as I recall Bitme has it). Platiquemos is EXCELLENT (if you've already done Pimsleur), but you will REALLY have to put in some serious time with it, it'll likely take over 6 months if you really bust your ass and spend an hour or two a day on it, longer if you spend less.

[gringoed]

Hey Lumiere:

About social networking sites in Argentina, I looked at fotolog and it seems more like flikr than facebook. Is this what all the people use for networking there or is there something else worth subscribing to?

[Lumiere]

(12-05-2009 03:21 PM)gringoed Wrote:  

Hey Lumiere:

About social networking sites in Argentina, I looked at fotolog and it seems more like flikr than facebook. Is this what all the people use for networking there or is there something else worth subscribing to?

the amount of floggers (photo bloggers) in argentina is off the scale. Check that out and let us know what you find.

Apart from that facebook and twitter are the main sites in argentina.

[InternationPlayboy]

(12-05-2009 03:21 PM)gringoed Wrote:  

Hey Lumiere:

About social networking sites in Argentina, I looked at fotolog and it seems more like flikr than facebook. Is this what all the people use for networking there or is there something else worth subscribing to?

I know a lot of Argentines that use a site called badoo as well. I signed up, it's kinda lame.

[Lumiere]

(12-04-2009 10:30 PM)Kona Wrote:  

Hey Lumiere,

Do you have an accounting in USD of your total expenses for this trip that you care to share?

I'm talking all of it, visas, hotels, bar tabs etc.?

Aloha!

I am English so I don't need a visa to go anywhere (bar countries like russia and china).

I don't stay in hotels. I either couchsurf ($0 per day) or stay in hostels (about $10 per day). I am couchsurfing right now in Asunción and did so in Florianapolis too leading to a total accommodation cost of $0 for both places. I also couch surfed in Buenos Aires so Rio De Janiero is basically the only place in the past month where I paid any accommodation costs.

I don't keep close track but I am probably spending $1,000 per month on food / drink / buses / taxis.

[Lumiere]

(12-07-2009 11:11 AM)BaltimoreBachelor Wrote:  

This is gold. Thanks Lumiere, great idea.

Thanks.

Next tip : How to get a local cell phone number for free.

Lots of places where you travel you can, with a SIM unlocked multi-band phone just buy a local SIM card and pop it in.

Having a local phone number is pretty essential as girls are not likely to want to spend the dough to make an international phone call when you are in the same city.

If you go to the "official" shops that many of the mobile phone carriers have you will often run across needless bureaucracy. Signing contracts (even though its a pay as you go SIM card), having to take a copy of your passport. In Venezuela they even want to take a thumb print. Skip that shit.

Just go to a general mobile phone store that sells everything from the chips to the top up cards (on all networks) to the phones. The dodgier looking the better.

There, not only do you just hand them the cash and they just hand you the chip but often it will be free. By that I mean, if you buy the chip for 10,000 pesos it will come pre-loaded with 10,000 pesos in credit making it effectively free.

Sorted.

Anybody else have any tips?

[Kona]

(12-14-2009 04:39 PM)Lumiere Wrote:  

Anybody else have any tips?

If you are American, try not to associate yourself with the USA.

A whole lot of fat mainlanders make the USA look really bad overseas. I don't think its the government's foreign policies anymore, its the fat tourists.

I was sitting at a beach bar yesterday and had worked my way into a table with 2 British girls. It wasn't easy.

A guy with tits and his wife were sitting next to us. One of the girls asked where I was from and of course I said Hawaii. This fat man eavesdropping says "Hey we're from Evansville!", like I know where that is. Right after that guy interrupted one of the girls says to me "Oh, your an American."

Then the guy keeps talking and needs to ask everybody what they do for a living. I tell them about my fishing outfit. He says how much he loves the fish sandwich at Hardees. His wife agrees.

I tried to recover by explaining that I consider myself a member of the Independent Hawaiian Nation but the girls just weren't buying it.

In the eyes of these two British girls I was on the same level as this fat man. I could tell there was no way I was saving face with them, so I had to walk away.

Aloha!

[Jaif]

(12-14-2009 07:25 PM)Kona Wrote:  

(12-14-2009 04:39 PM)Lumiere Wrote:  

Anybody else have any tips?

If you are American, try not to associate yourself with the USA.

A whole lot of fat mainlanders make the USA look really bad overseas. I don't think its the government's foreign policies anymore, its the fat tourists.

I was sitting at a beach bar yesterday and had worked my way into a table with 2 British girls. It wasn't easy.

A guy with tits and his wife were sitting next to us. One of the girls asked where I was from and of course I said Hawaii. This fat man eavesdropping says "Hey we're from Evansville!", like I know where that is. Right after that guy interrupted one of the girls says to me "Oh, your an American."

Then the guy keeps talking and needs to ask everybody what they do for a living. I tell them about my fishing outfit. He says how much he loves the fish sandwich at Hardees. His wife agrees.

I tried to recover by explaining that I consider myself a member of the Independent Hawaiian Nation but the girls just weren't buying it.

In the eyes of these two British girls I was on the same level as this fat man. I could tell there was no way I was saving face with them, so I had to walk away.

Aloha!

You know, I've honestly never had any trouble with being American. If anything it's a plus, beacuse I don't hide being from the States. I'll say I'm from LA, they'll say, ooooh, you're American! I'll then talk about how awesome it was going to the Inauguration. I make it a positive, so they take it as a positive.

Most American guys apologize for being American. Don't fucking apologize! You're American! Don't dodge it and it won't be a problem. For that matter, I never had a problem when Bush was president either.

I think even guys into pickup have a blindspot when it comes to their nationality. You wouldn't apologize for your job, don't apologize for your country. If someone wants to talk shit about the US I'll shut it down in about a minute, then change the topic. It's usually the first time they've heard someone from US defend America.

[PartyTime]

(12-14-2009 04:39 PM)Lumiere Wrote:  

Having a local phone number is pretty essential

This is SO true

[Kona]

(12-04-2009 09:29 AM)Lumiere Wrote:  

You can't be an international playboy without racking up the air miles.

Lumiere,

I love the miles. I looked on the website you gave but have a question. Do you also get miles for the tickets purchased under the around the world deal?

Also, do you know your Hawaii dates yet?

Aloha!

[Lumiere]

(12-16-2009 03:22 AM)Kona Wrote:  

I love the miles. I looked on the website you gave but have a question. Do you also get miles for the tickets purchased under the around the world deal?

Yeah probably. I don't actually bother with air mile schemes personally. Maybe that's a mistake. Are they worth it?

I am sure I can retrospectively get the airmiles I have racked up on this trip applied if I ask.

(12-16-2009 03:22 AM)Kona Wrote:  

Also, do you know your Hawaii dates yet?

Am going to BA tomorrow for 3 days. Go to Santiago De Chile on the 20th Dec for Christmas and prob new year.

Then Mexico / Belize for a month.

Then Austin,Texas and LA. I guess about a week each.

Then I fly to Hawaii from LA.

So I am guessing end of Feb or beginning of March I will be there. Am planning on spending 3 weeks in Hawaii maybe 4 if it's really rocking or possibly less if I don't like it.

It will be my first time there and I don't really know anything about it or what to expect.

[metalhaze]

I agree with you that spanish is important, however here is a very popular article on which languages are most influential and french is, as the article claims, more important than spanish.

http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/web...-weber.htm


I speak French fluently and it is spoken as a second language in a more dispersed areas around the world (as a second or third official language).

Spanish seems to be restricted to Spain in Europe, Equatorial guinea in Africa (a very tiny country whose population also speak french),
Philippines (barely existent there where English is better spoken) and most of latin america except Brazil, belize, West indies, Guyana (Eng, Fr, Dutch).

So I believe that Spanish is indeed important for one who lives in North America though if you live in Canada I would recommend French.


anyways my question is given that Brazil is such an attraction in south America and portuguese being spoken in Africa (Angola, Mozambic, cape verde, principe) and Timor Leste in Asia. Is it more important than Spanish in your idea? should I start with Spanish (I already took beginner courses) or portuguese? I m of course more attracted to brazil and love the sound of Brazilian portuguese (music) though have never been there.

I know that Roosh is learning portuguese, what are his opinion on

Spanish vs Portuguese?

best!

[deadgabacho]

i gotta tell u guys something. im a fluent spanish speaker, 6 months or a year out from native fluency would be my ~guess, rosetta stone, michel tomas, every e-book, college courses.. whatever. as far as spanish speaking comes, READ ALOUD IN SPANISH.

my reccomendation: take three hours read harry potter 1 in english, step two: read spanish version aloud slowly over the next week next to wordreference.com.

granted u need a degree of fluency and solid grasp of all verb tenses and general spanish syntax.. but this is THE way to learn. other good books for this that have excellent translations: the alchemist, the four agreements, lord of the rings.

if you read all the books i just told u in the way i told you, you WILL be a fluent spanish speaker.. (still u need to watch lots of movies, listen to spanish music and live in a spanish environment in order to get your HEARING down.. hardest part in my humble opinion)

oh.. and rosetta stone, spanish e-books (great quick go to guides u can search for ur concept in acrobat), michel thomas, others... are all free.. learn to bittorrent.