I've been thinking that this may be the best time in history to be an American with the travel bug.
Why it's better now than the past:
1. Commercial flights are relatively new and have only gotten cheaper and cheaper, making weekend warrior trips to Costa Rica (for example) affordable to almost everybody. In the past, most people were priced out by the cost of travel, but now a 3000 mile flight coast to coast costs less than most Americans earn in a single day.
2. Information is so readily available you don't have to try and figure things out from scratch anymore. If I were to travel to Colombia, I could spend a couple hours researching the free info on this forum and already know the best way to bang a hot non-pro Colombiana. 20 years ago this would not have been possible.
3. English is more widely spoken now, such that we can go almost anywhere in the world and get by without having to learn the local language.
Why it's better now than the future:
1. We're still exotic. Few things in life are better than being a celebrity without having to do anything, and with still only a quarter of Americans holding passports, a gringo can easily find a second-tier city and be the only American the locals have seen in months. This was my experience in Manaus Brazil. The exotic factor will go down with time as more and more of us leave our greasy fingerprints everywhere. Look at Parque Lleras in Medellin as a good example.
2. The world is still largely un-americanized. Americanization across the globe is happening at an increasing rate, and this is a very bad thing for us. The more McDonalds that open up, the women will get fatter. The more episodes of "Friends" that air, the women will get bitchier (oops, I mean "empowered") and more feminist. Plus, the more Americanized a foreign culture gets, the less reason there is to visit it. If I wanted America I would stay at home.
3. Geo-arbitrage. The more globalized the world economy becomes, the fewer opportunities will exist that allow one to live a superior lifestyle for less dough. For example, many US companies are outsourcing jobs to the UPI. The law of supply and demand dictates that therefore wages will go up in the UPI, which means I'll have to pay more there for my full time chef and masseuse. The less efficient the market, the more opportunities for arbitrage, period.
Why it's better now than the past:
1. Commercial flights are relatively new and have only gotten cheaper and cheaper, making weekend warrior trips to Costa Rica (for example) affordable to almost everybody. In the past, most people were priced out by the cost of travel, but now a 3000 mile flight coast to coast costs less than most Americans earn in a single day.
2. Information is so readily available you don't have to try and figure things out from scratch anymore. If I were to travel to Colombia, I could spend a couple hours researching the free info on this forum and already know the best way to bang a hot non-pro Colombiana. 20 years ago this would not have been possible.
3. English is more widely spoken now, such that we can go almost anywhere in the world and get by without having to learn the local language.
Why it's better now than the future:
1. We're still exotic. Few things in life are better than being a celebrity without having to do anything, and with still only a quarter of Americans holding passports, a gringo can easily find a second-tier city and be the only American the locals have seen in months. This was my experience in Manaus Brazil. The exotic factor will go down with time as more and more of us leave our greasy fingerprints everywhere. Look at Parque Lleras in Medellin as a good example.
2. The world is still largely un-americanized. Americanization across the globe is happening at an increasing rate, and this is a very bad thing for us. The more McDonalds that open up, the women will get fatter. The more episodes of "Friends" that air, the women will get bitchier (oops, I mean "empowered") and more feminist. Plus, the more Americanized a foreign culture gets, the less reason there is to visit it. If I wanted America I would stay at home.
3. Geo-arbitrage. The more globalized the world economy becomes, the fewer opportunities will exist that allow one to live a superior lifestyle for less dough. For example, many US companies are outsourcing jobs to the UPI. The law of supply and demand dictates that therefore wages will go up in the UPI, which means I'll have to pay more there for my full time chef and masseuse. The less efficient the market, the more opportunities for arbitrage, period.