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Copyright Mark Manson, 2012

All Rights Reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Requests for permission for or further information on usage of this document should be addressed
to: mark@postmasculine.com

Legal Notice
The Purchaser or Reader of this publication assumes responsibility for the use of these materials
and information. Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, federal, state, and local, or any
other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the Purchaser or Reader.
The Author and Publisher assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any
Purchaser or Reader of these materials.
Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.

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Introduction: How I Travel the World For Less
Than You Pay to Stay at Home

Welcome to Escape Plan. This is a guide to extended world travel.

Long-term, perpetual travel is the dream of many. But surprisingly, for such a popular desire, few
people realize how accessible it is.
When asked what people are working all of their life for, a common answer they give is, To retire
and go live on a beach somewhere, lay in the sun, and do what I love every day. This is both
admirable and sad.
Its admirable because they have a genuine desire to enjoy their life to the fullest.
Its sad because they dont have to work their entire lives to do it. In fact, I lived on one of the most
beautiful beaches in the world last year (Nai Harn, Thailand) and I was only 27 years old. And I had
only had a steady-paying job for three or four years. Friends of mine have lived on Borocay
(Philippines), Caborete (Dominican Republic) and Bali (Indonesia).
None of them are retired either.
On my Facebook profile, I have photo albums of dozens of countries: Ecuador, China, Indonesia,
Australia, Russia, all back-to-back-to-back. I get messages and emails all the time from old friends,
college classmates, acquaintances and people who read my website asking the same thing:
How do you afford to live like this?
Its as if they think I discovered a pot of gold somewhere or won the lottery. They dont realize that
1) I work just as hard as anyone else for my money and 2) those places can be enjoyed for a fraction
of what they suspect.
You know how much living on that beach in Thailand cost?
Hold on a second; let me help you out here with some more info. It was a beach thats often rated in
top 10 lists for most beautiful beach in the world. The weather is perfect year-round. I had my own
studio apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, balcony, fully furnished with satellite TV and wireless
internet. I had a housekeeper who came every day, lived down the street from half a dozen local
Thai restaurants, and would rent a motorbike 2-3 times a week to go on joy rides around the island.
Want to take a stab at how much that cost?

OK, make sure youre sitting down for this:

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About $1,000 per month.

Why would you work your ass off your entire life, buying and selling expensive crap over and over
again, when you could likely go and live on that beach right now the way I did? Right this minute.
And even if you dont have the money now, scrounging together a few thousand isnt the hardest
thing to do in the world especially after youve read this book.
Have a full-time job? If you work for a major multi-national corporation, getting re-assigned all
over the world is often not much harder than asking. Or you could switch professions to something
that allows you to travel more.
You could get a job abroad. You could start a business. You could volunteer for an organization.
A good friend of mine who is a consultant, after seeing how easily I lived abroad, decided to take a
stab at finding clients in foreign countries. He now spends 10 months a year outside of the US,
enjoying a much higher quality of life than he did within the US for less money.
If this all sounds a bit ridiculous or pie-in-the-sky, then this book should show you how straightforward it can actually be. You just need to be willing to work hard and stomach a little bit of risk.
My Story
In November of 2007, I started an online business on a whim. I did it primarily because I enjoyed it
and it was a way to make some money on the side. I was still convinced that I was going to follow a
typical career track in finance.
In June of 2008, I quit my day job to focus on my internet business full-time. In September of 2009,
I gave up my apartment and most of my possessions and began living in various parts of the world,
working and living off my internet business.
Ive been to 45 countries and lived in nine of them for more than a month. I speak four languages
and Ive seen some of the most spectacular locations in the world and met hundreds of fascinating
people.
In the beginning, I actually made little money. In fact, to travel through Europe in 2009 I had to
scrounge up clients as I went. And I also crashed for a few weeks at a friends house and then
another couple months at my mothers.
In fact, my lifestyle back in Boston before I began traveling around the world was actually more
costly than my new nomadic one.
My cost of living in Boston hovered around $40,000 per year before I took the plunge and pursued
my internet income. And in a city as expensive as Boston, I was not exactly living well: my

apartment was small, I rode a bike everywhere, I ate at crappy restaurants and didnt have iDoc.co
much
money to go out and see friends.
The main premise of this book is that you can live a higher quality of life by spending less money
and fulfilling your travel dreams at the same time.
Im about to prove that point.
Take a look at the list below. Its a list of everything I did in 2011. As you read through it, keep in
the back of your mind how much it likely cost. Yes, that includes ALL expenses (visas, airfare,
insurance, lodging, etc.)
Spent three weeks studying Spanish four hours per day in Guatemala with a private tutor.
Took salsa lessons. Hiked volcanoes. Had a two-floor apartment with a spiral staircase.
Learned to surf on the beaches of Costa Rica, spent 10 days with my own room on the beach.
Spent three weeks in England (London and Bristol).
Three weeks in Prague, Czech Republic in the center of the Old Town. Went out and partied
almost every night.
Lived for a month in St. Petersburg, just off Nevsky-Prospekt (their version of Broadway) and
studied Russian with a private tutor every day while I was there.
Met up with a friend to travel and party through Budapest (Hungary), Odessa (Ukraine), Berlin
(Germany) and Ibiza (Spain), all for a week apiece, going out partying and eating out almost
every night for more than a month straight.
Visited Barcelona, Amsterdam and Dublin on my way back to the US.
Met with a client in Miami and stayed on South Beach, visited friends in Chicago and Boston,
and then visited my brother briefly in Seattle.
Lived in an apartment on a tropical beach in Thailand for three months with multiple visits to
Singapore and Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
Spent three weeks traveling around India: New Delhi, Agra, Gaya, Goa, Bangalore, etc.
Spent two weeks in Beijing, China. Saw the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Maos Mausoleum.
Short stopover in LA to meet with a business contact and see friends. Partied in Hollywood.
Flew to my mothers in time for Christmas.
To put it in more statistical terms:
17 countries
32 cities
Lived on two world-class beaches, visited three others.
Rented furnished apartments in the best part of town everywhere I went.
Studied Spanish, Russian, salsa and surfing with private teachers.
Ate out most nights.
Partied my ass off.
Saw some of the most famous tourist sites in the world: Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China,
Hermitage, Berlin Wall, Sagrada Familia, Westminister Abbey, etc.

So if you were to add up everything, my entire year, how much do you think I spent? All of
those
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crazy experiences, all of those flights, all of those lessons and apartments, how much do you think it
ran me?
The answer?

Less than $33,000.

Thats a full 20% LESS than it cost me to live in a dingy apartment in Boston with no car.
Chances are that is less than it currently costs you to live in your home country too. That is a VERY
modest middle-class income back home. That cost of living will get you a small condo in a shitty
suburb of most US cities.
You may be saying, Well Mark, you dont have car payments and youre not saving for
retirement.
Youre right. Ive eliminated all unnecessary expenses and items from my life in order to afford my
experiences.
I also see no point in saving for retirement when Im still young, single and healthy. Why would I
tuck money away to do all this stuff when Im in my 60s or 70s when I can just do it now?
If Im doing what I love, why would I ever want to retire?
I realize this is not a common life decision, but its mine, and I ask you to consider it.
I lived like a king. I saw some of the most amazing sites in the world and ingratiated myself in a
myriad of foreign cultures. I tried new food, spoke new languages, laid on beaches and climbed up
mountains. I made new friends, learned new skills, partied my ass off, ate amazing food. And I did it
for the same amount of money most people spend eating Hamburger Helper and watching CSI
reruns every week after work.
This book will show you how.
Whether youre a student who wants to take some time abroad, an activist who wants to explore and
volunteer in uncharted parts of the world, an internet entrepreneur who wants to find cheap,
amazing locations to set up shop, or someone who just wants out and needs some time off, whatever
I will show you how to cut corners and maximize every dollar (or pound or euro) when it comes
to experiencing the pleasures of living abroad.
In the beginning, well cover the fundamentals: how to minimize and simplify your lifestyle and
expenses, how to find cheap airfare and affordable places to stay.
From there, well jump into each of the worlds regions not in depth, but well look at the

important aspects of deciding whether to go there or not: cost of living, quality of life, culture,
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safety, etc.
Well then talk about your options to get abroad (working remotely, volunteering, studying, etc.).
Plenty of resources will be provided.
From there, well dig a little deeper and get into what experiences to expect once you actually
arrive in a new country. Well talk about culture, making friends, planning activities and learning
languages.
Finally, the book will wrap up with some discussion on the major benefits of international travel on
a personal and emotional level and how you can expect a lot of your experiences to influence you
in the long-term.

Chapter 1: Priorities

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As with any major life decision, before you set out its important to establish what your goals are.
And not only your goals, but your constraints as well.
Some of you reading this will be aspiring internet entrepreneurs who want to earn passive income
while living remotely around the world.
Some of you will have a bunch of savings and want to take a year off and make the most of it.
Some of you have a certain budget and perhaps a month of vacation each year that you want to take
advantage of as much as possible.
Others of you may be completely broke and have no clue what to do, but you know you want to
travel and get the hell out of wherever you are.
All of these are fine and very viable situations. Its just important to know which category you fall
into before we start out, because its going to determine your options and priorities quite a lot.
Which region of the world and which countries you want to focus on are largely a product of your
goals and constraints. If you want to have as much fun as possible and dont mind being broke, that
changes things versus an alternative such as, say, if you want to see the 7 Wonders of the World and
enjoy some luxury cruises and spas.
So before we move on to the nuts and bolts of global travel and living abroad, sit down for a
moment and answer some questions for yourself:
(You can write down your answers to these questions if you feel it helps.)
1. What is your timeframe?
Are you looking to travel for a month, six months, a year, three years, indefinitely?
The longer your timeframe, the more youre going to need to rely on passive income and/or
working at each of your destinations.
The shorter your timeframe, the more youll be able to rely on savings and budgeting.
Speaking of which

2. What is your current budget (if any)?

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You may have a large amount of money saved up for a big trip. You may have no money saved up,
but a job or source of income. You may have no money at all. You may even have no income at all.
Any of these are fine, we just need to know what were working with.
When I picked up and went to Europe in the Fall of 2009, I had a little more than $1,000 left in my
bank account after I bought all of my plane/train tickets. At the time, I was earning perhaps $400 a
week in passive income. By the time I came back six weeks later, I had about $700 in my bank
account.
Not bad for a six week trip through Europe. Granted, I did it on a shoe-string budget, but I made it
work.
Obviously, the more money youve already got in the bank, the more flexibility youre going to
have, and the more youll be able to plan in advance.
If youre relying on passive income or counting on finding some odd jobs once youre there, then
youre going to be a lot more inflexible in terms of what you can do and where you can go. Thats
fine, its just something to be aware of.
For instance, if youre making a passive income of $250 per week, and you dont have a lot of
money in your bank account. Then youre going to have to stop and plan your destinations very
carefully as you go. If youre only able to find jobs that pay a small wage, the same issue applies.
3. What kind of experiences are you looking for?
Are you a history nerd who wants to visit all of the most famous tourist sites around the world? Do
you love museums? Or are you a beach bum and party animal? Maybe youre a foodie. Maybe you
want to learn a language and live somewhere long-term.
What youre primarily interested in will be the primary factor in deciding where you go and what
you focus on.
For example, if you enjoy nature and want to see amazing natural landmarks, then eastern Peru and
Bolivia will be a very worthwhile trip. If youre more interested in having an active social life and
partying, then youre going to be bored to tears there.
Paris is one experience if you have a lot of savings and love gourmet food. Its a completely
different one if youre broke and dont care about tourist sites.
Think about what you want, what your goals are.
If youre mostly interested in living in another culture and integrating yourself as much as possible

into it, then take time to consider which culture appeals to you and why. A lot of cultures that
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fascinating on paper can be a real pain in the ass to deal with day-in, day-out. What are you willing
to put up with and what are you looking for? Some people love the politeness and subdued cultures
of Asia. Others love the passion and affection of Latin America. Every place has its pros and cons,
so know what youre getting into before you commit to spending months or years in a region.
*****
Like I said, the answers to these questions are going to determine your priorities and decisions
going through the rest of this book. If you have $4,000 saved up and want to stretch it for three
months, then gondola rides through Venice in between Italian operas is probably not an option.
Certain regions of the world are going to naturally stick out to you based on your budget and
interests. I personally love big cities with a lot of things happening and have some slightly
expensive hobbies. I prefer living in developed cities and/or countries.
But some people love living in undeveloped countries, they love the countryside, they love a quiet
and quaint travel experience. Tastes differ.
To me, a four-month trip through major European cities enmeshing me in the culture, eating good
food and partying all night sounds like heaven. To others it sounds pretentious and like a waste of
money.
To some, spending a few months hiking through the Incan Trails of Peru or up the mountains of
Chile, camping as you go, sounds absolutely divine. For me? No thanks.
Budgets and options are going to differ a lot between these two dream trips.
So hopefully you have a vague idea of which parts of the world youre interested in what your
financial options are going forward.
Considering What You Own
Planning a long trip abroad is always a good opportunity to evaluate your possessions and get rid of
some excess crap back home. This not only helps you travel lighter (which you should always do)
but it can also raise some good money for your upcoming trip.
Ill spare you the soapbox speech about happiness and possessions versus experiences. Ill just say
one thing: in the three-plus years Ive been traveling and living a nomadic lifestyle, every year Ive
unloaded more crap and sold more stuff, and never do I miss any of it. Every time I do it, within a
few months Im amazed that I used to think I needed this stuff. But not only did I not need it, but the
idea of going back and buying it again sounds like a waste of money.
How extreme you want to go is up to you. If youre young, plan to be abroad for a long time, and
need every extra dollar you can scrounge together, then fuck it, sell it all. Seriously.

If you have a house, are married and/or have a family to consider, then you can get by justiDoc.co
selling
some excess stuff around the house or giving away some extra clothes.
If youre single, rent, and have a bunch of useless stuff lying around, well, then go nuts.
When I took off in 2009, I got rid of as much as I could stomach. Some of it was painful. I sold my
trusty bike that I rode everywhere in Boston. I sold my exercise weights, all of my CDs, many of my
books, a very fancy poker chip set I won in a tournament (pride made it hard to let go, but I dont
miss it), all of my video games (surprisingly dont miss them), an old laptop, a bunch of clothes, etc.,
etc.
What I couldnt bring with me I shipped to my moms house and had her pack them into the back of
a closet somewhere. Everything else, my necessities, I took with me.
And within a month it was clear I packed about twice as much crap as I needed.
Theres a school of thought called minimalism which is particularly popular among world
travelers. Its the belief that you should only own what is absolutely necessary for a baseline level
of happiness, nothing else.
Some people take minimalism to an extreme. Blogger Tynan wrote in his book Life Nomadic
about how not only did he give away ALL of his possessions (minus backpack, two changes of
clothes, and his laptop), but he sold his car, sold his furniture, even sold his house, before
embarking on his multi-year, around-the-world trip.
Im not that extreme. I enjoy a few extra changes of clothes, but thats really only because I like
going to nice restaurants and nightclubs.
I dont own a house or a car either. It would honestly hold me back more than anything at the
moment.
So I invite you to reconsider what your priorities are. Again, it will depend on your trip. If youre
just doing a big one-month vacation, before coming back and returning to work, then you wont
want to offload a whole lot.
But if youre going for broke (no pun intended) and want to live the nomadic lifestyle, bouncing
from country-to-country, surviving on some combination of internet income, odd jobs and savings,
for extended periods of time, then I highly recommend selling everything you can stand to sell
And then sell a little bit more. Youll thank me later.
The Golden Rule
Ill wrap up this chapter with the golden rule of travel:
Whatever you think you need to pack, bring half. Whatever money you think youll need, bring

double.

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I dont know of anyone whos ever arrived somewhere and wished they had packed MORE. The
complaints I always hear are of how much crap people are lugging around and how much of it they
dont need.
If youre going somewhere for a while, consider the following: you can use towels, soap and
shampoo in most hotels and hostels; you can buy a swimsuit and towel at the beach for a fraction of
the amount; specialty gear or clothes are often provided by tour companies and/or easily available
once you get there; if youre bouncing around locations a lot, no one is going to notice that you
wore the same thing twice; there are cheap laundry services in almost every country.
Theres a staggering amount of stuff that can be purchased, found or borrowed wherever you go
once you get there, and often for a much cheaper price than wherever you came from.
And as for the spending, well, anyone whos ever traveled knows its true. Unforeseen adventures
crop up all the time, whimsical decisions to splurge on expensive dinners, extra-long nights out, and
of course, the rationalization of, Well, Im on vacation, drain your wallet faster than anticipated.
Just as an example, this is a list of everything I own and carry with me as I travel.
Please note that 1) Ive been traveling and living nomadically for over three years now and 2) this is
much less than what I started with, although probably far more than I actually need.
Regular Ralph Lauren backpack:
Laptop: MacBook Pro
iPad
iPhone 4S (unlocked)
Sony HD video camera (for recording videos for my websites)
Portable Philips pocket audio recorder (same)
Two passports (old one has visas still)
Power cables and peripherals
Pens
Basic medicine: painkillers, stomach antacids, melatonin (sleep aid)
Eiffel medium sized suitcase:
Six T-Shirts
Four dress shirts
Four gym shorts
Seven pairs of underwear
Six pairs of socks
Gym shoes

Dress shoes
Flip flops
Sportscoat
Two pairs of jeans
Scarf
Peacoat
Wool sweater
Hoodie
Belt
Swimsuit
Toothbrush and toothpaste
Deodorant
Hair/skin care
Backup Hard Drive
Language books and notebooks
Sunscreen
Shaver

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Notable omissions:
Towel (Almost every hostel/hotel/furnished apartment comes with them)
Soap/Shampoo (Same as above; buy little travel bottles where I go or borrow from other
people)
Laundry Detergent (Laundry services all over the world for cheap)
Any extra clothing whatsoever (go for quality of clothes, not quantity)
Books (HUGE drag on a suitcase, buy an e-reader).
Iron (most hotels have one, or use a laundry service)
Photos/pictures/frames (Theres this thing called Facebook)

Guide to Travel Preparation:

http://www.travelindependent.info/

Other Resources On Minimalistic Living:

Guide to Wealth: http://postmasculine.com/wealth
Minimalism: http://postmasculine.com/minimalism
Life Nomadic: http://tynan.com/lifenomadic

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Chapter 2: Nuts and Bolts of World TraveliDoc.co

Making the decision and mental commitment to spend a large amount of time abroad can feel
overwhelming. There are a lot of things to prepare, and a lot of questions to have answered.
How are you going to keep in touch with people back home? What should you take with you and
what kind of bag should you take? How do cell phones work abroad and what should you do about
them? What about international bank accounts and credit cards? Visas? Passports? Insurance? The
list goes on and on.
This chapter will rundown of the most fundamental items and services you need to consider if
youre going to spend a lot of time abroad.
Passports and Visas
Obvious, I know, but there are a few minor things worth mentioning:
If your passport is within six months of expiring, many countries will not grant you entry. If
your trip is going to continue into that final six-month period, then you should renew it before
you go.
If your passport is beat up, torn, been through the washing machine, border patrols will give
you hell (especially in the English-speaking countries). They REALLY dont like this.
The last 3 pages of your passport are used for special notes and annotations, not for stamps. It
may appear that you have three empty pages left, but you do not. Some countries will still put
stamps there anyway, but theyre not supposed to.
When you renew your passport, if you have visas in the old one, which are still valid (Brazil,
Argentina, etc.), tell them to send it back. If you dont, they will destroy your old passport and
the visas with it. Youll have to get those visas again which is a huge pain in the ass, not to
mention another few hundred dollars.
For US citizens, if you fill your passport up, any US embassy will add more pages for you. Be
sure to schedule online in advance though.
For US citizens (again), you can have duplicate passports under special conditions. You must
send in an application and letter explaining why you need two passports. Supposedly proving
you travel a lot or are a writer/journalist of some sort is sufficient, but I havent tried it. Forms
and application can be found here: https://pptform.state.gov/

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For a perpetual world-traveler, your passport is the most important item you own. Guard it with
your life. Pick a safe and secure spot and always keep it there. I have seen a lot of people lose their
passports for DUMB reasons they left it laying out, it fell out of their shorts pocket, they put it in
shopping bags or grocery bags.
Dont be one of those people. Take care of it.
Visas are more complicated. Visas can be a bureaucratic pain. Visa policies also tend to vary widely
based on which nationality you are.
Europeans tend to be the best off with visa situations. Americans, Australians, Japanese, and a few
other developed nations have it well off too, although a lot of us have reciprocity policies that cost
us a lot of money. Also, we can only stay in the EU for 90 days at a time (whereas if you have an EU
passport, you can stay in any EU country as long as youd like).
With that said, heres a quick breakdown on most visa situations. As always, consult government
websites to know for sure.
Tourist visas to any country almost always come in 30-, 60-, and 90-day varieties. Know which
one youre getting when you arrive.
Most countries will have visa on arrival which means youre given a tourist visa on arrival
for free or a small fee. Usually it comes with the stamp on your passport, but occasionally (like
in many Asian countries) they will plaster a big visa taking up a whole page. The stamp/visa
will tell you how many days youre allowed to stay in the country before needing an extension
or renewal.
You can almost always pay for visa extensions in the country once youre there, but the cost
varies quite a bit depending on where you are. Sometimes youre better off just leaving the
country and coming back (i.e., Thailand).
If you want to stay in a country for an extended period of time longer than the tourist visa
period (30, 60 or 90 days), you can border hop to automatically renew a visa. This simply
means that you leave the country on a jet plane, and then go back again. Border hopping is nice
in regions where airfare is cheap and there are cool places nearby to check out. When I lived
in Thailand, I loved hitting Singapore for a few days each month.
Be warned though that some countries (South American ones I know for sure) have a limit on
how many total days you can spend in the country in any given 365 day period. For instance,
you can go to Brazil, use your 90-day tourist visa, border hop, come back for another 90 days.
But once that 180 days are up, you have to wait until next year.
Many/most countries will not let you spend more than 180 days (six months) per year in their

country without some sort of residency permit or extended student or business visa.iDoc.co
Some of
these are very difficult to obtain (i.e., Brazil). Others require little more than some fees and/or
bribes (i.e., Colombia).
You can apply and get visas in countries other than your home country. For instance, if youre
American, you can get your Brazilian visa at the Brazilian embassy in Argentina, you can get
your visa to India at the Indian embassy in Bangkok or Singapore, and so on. So you dont have
to always plan everything ahead.
Heads up: Australia requires you to register your visa over the internet before you arrive.
If youre traveling to Europe and youre NOT an EU citizen, you must understand what the
Schengen Area is. Basically, all of the countries within the EU treat themselves a single entity
to foreigners. The benefit of this is if you arrive in Spain and get stamped, and then fly to Italy,
you dont get another stamp and you dont have to go through immigration again.
The downside (and its a huge downside) is that if you use up your 90-day tourist visa in Spain,
then you CANNOT hop over to Italy and start over. In fact, you have to leave the entire
Schengen Area (more or less the entire EU) for 90 days before you can come back for another
90 days.
The Schengen Area is the all of the EU countries, MINUS England and Ireland, but PLUS
Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.
So you CAN hypothetically do 90 days in France, then 90 days in England, then 90 days back in
France without ever getting more than a tourist visa. But you CANNOT do 90 days in France,
then go to Norway or Iceland, even though theyre not part of the EU.
As a permanent nomad and someone who loves Europe, the Schengen Area sucks.
More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area
AND FINALLY, do not overstay your visa. Ive never done it before, but Ive heard some
horror stories red tape, bribes, fines, deportation. Be smart.

Lists of Visa requirements for various nationals:

United States: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_United_States_citizens
Canada: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Canadian_citizens
United Kingdom: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_British_nationals
Australia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Australian_citizens

New Zealand: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_New_Zealand_citizensiDoc.co

France: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_French_citizens
Germany: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_German_citizens
Insurance
Do not assume your health insurance will cover you while youre abroad. Many policies will cover
trips of short periods (vacations) under specific circumstances.
If youre planning a short stint abroad of less than a month, youll likely be fine, depending on your
policy.
If you plan on backpacking, hopping around for a long time, have no idea where youre going to
end up, or are going to travel perpetually and indefinitely, then you need to drop your domestic
insurance and get international insurance.
Surprisingly (or not), international health insurance is often cheaper than it is back home
(especially if youre American). I spend about $500 a year TOTAL on health insurance and Im
covered in every non-US country. Back when I lived in the US, my health insurance ran me over
$200 per month for similar coverage.
I use and recommend World Nomads: http://www.worldnomads.com/
I havent had to use them for anything major (knock on wood), but I have been happy with them.
Other international health insurance providers:
IMG Global Medical Insurance:
http://www.imglobal.com/img-insurance/international-health-insurance/global-medicalinsurance.aspx
Integra Global:
http://www.integraglobal.com/
Lonely Planet Travel Insurance:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-insurance/
General Information and Reviews:
http://www.internationalhealthinsurers.com/
Sidenote: Most health insurance does not cover scuba diving accidents. If youre a scuba diver and
want to be covered in foreign countries, check out DAN: http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/
Also keep in mind, if youre going to a developing country, often doctor visits and minor trips to

the ER can be so affordable that its not even worth reporting it to your insurance company.
A
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friend of mine recently sprained his wrist in Colombia, and the trip to the ER, x-rays, cast,
antibiotics, the whole deal, ran him about $80US.
My last doctors check up in Thailand cost me less than $15.
As long as youre considered a tourist in every country you go to (and since youre going to be
under tourist visas 99% of the time, you will be considered a tourist), then theres not sense in
worrying about getting insurance in a country locally.
Another Sidenote: Never, ever take the insurance airlines offer you on flights. Quite frankly, its a
scam. Even if you somehow miss your flight or change your plans, there are so many rules and
minor regulations that youre very unlikely to cash it in.
Airlines cash in on people anxious about spending a lot of money on big trips. Dont bother. Its
never worth it.
Cell Phones
First and foremost: do not ever, under any circumstances, use your cell phone providers
international calling services. They are a massive rip-off. PLEASE dont do it.
(I once got lost looking for a friends place in Sydney, Australia, and in a moment of desperation
pulled up Google Maps to figure out how far away I was. I figured it was Australia and I was only
using a little bit of data. That simple location check cost me over $65.)
When it comes to cell phones abroad, you have two choices: you can get an unlocked phone and buy
SIM cards as you go, or buy a throwaway phone for each country you go to.
Throwaway phones: Cheap and easy. Pretty much every country youd ever want to go to has a
cheap, basic cell phone. These phones are like the ones we had back in 2001 alphanumerical
texting, smiley face icons, cheesy ringers but hey, they get the job done.
You can usually buy a throwaway anywhere from $10 to $25 depending on the country. A SIM card
is usually another $10 or so and then you buy minutes and pay as you go. Minutes are usually in the
vicinity of ten cents per minute in most countries, sometimes less. Text messages are treated as a
single minute.
So for as little as $30, you can be set up with a phone number and 100 minutes.
(Its important to note that minutes are only counted against you when you call or text, not when
you receive calls or texts.)
Buying throwaways everywhere you go is often the best option and its what I happily did for years.
You show up the first day, drop about $30-40 the first day and you have a functioning phone until
you leave (and also if you come back).

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Unlocked Phones: When you go to a cell phone store and buy a normal phone, that phone is
locked and only usable with that particular cell phone companys service in that specific country.

So if you buy a Verizon phone in the US, you can only use it with Verizon and in the US. If you buy
an Orange phone in the UK, its only usable with Orange and in the UK.
An unlocked phone is a phone that works for any service and in any country, thus making it a fully
international phone (there are nuances to this which Ill get to in a minute).
Some cell phones can be hacked using software you download online. The old iPhone 3s were
famous for being unlocked fairly easily, although the new ones cant be.
But unless youre the techie type, you just buy an unlocked phone. Either the cell phone store has a
technician who unlocks them or the manufacturer themselves unlocked them and you buy them
directly.
Once a phone is unlocked, you buy SIM cards (small computer chips), which tell the phone which
service to use in every country you go to. So instead of having a Colombia phone, a Spain phone, a
Germany phone, you have one single unlocked phone and a Spain SIM card, a Germany SIM card, a
Colombia SIM card, etc. From the SIM card, you purchase minutes and again, pay as you go.
For smartphones, you can also get monthly data plans, often for far cheaper.
In fact, just to go on a little rant about the US cell phone industry, most cell phones in the US are
incredibly cheap. What are actually $400-$800 phones can be purchased for as little as $50 or $100
IF you sign on for a one-year or two-year contract.
Basically, you save maybe 75% on the phone up front, but get locked into a horrible contract,
paying $90 per month for the next two years, whether you actually use the phone or not. You save
$350 or so upfront, but end up paying $2,300 over the next two years.
Whereas if you shelled out the extra cash for an unlocked phone up front, and paid for monthly data
plans (often as low as $30 per month), then you end up paying maybe $1,200 total over the next two
years.
You spend half as much in the long run. You just had to be willing to pay extra up front to forgo the
contract.
The other shitty part about the US cell phone industry is that they lock you into their contracts and
it costs money to break them. So if you have nine months left on your US contract, but you want to
go live in Tahiti for a year, then it still costs you up to 50% of those nine months to break your
contract.
Its kind of insane to pay a company to STOP using their service.
Anyway, thats enough of my rant. Ive been bent over and told to grab my ankles by both the US

cell phone and insurance industries enough the past few years that Im a little bitter, and that
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undoubtedly come out in this book. Hopefully reading this guide you wont make the same
mistakes I did.
Unlocked phones are the way to go if you have the extra money lying around and plan to hit enough
countries.
More and more manufacturers are selling them directly now. Apple now sells the iPhone 4S
unlocked. It comes with a whopping $800 price tag, but honestly its one of the best purchases Ive
made in a long time. I can practically run my entire business from my iPhone, and it doesnt matter
if Im in the mountains of Colombia, the streets of So Paulo, the beaches of Jamaica or the subway
in New York City.
The final note about unlocked cell phones. There are two standards of cellular service: GSM and
CDMA. The difference between the two is technical and has to do with how they turn sound into
radio waves to transmit them. GSM is what is predominantly used by European carriers, CDMA is
predominantly used by US carriers.
The point is, is that if you buy an unlocked phone that only works on GSM networks, then you will
not be able to use it in countries that only have CDMA networks.
Luckily, most of the world is slowly converting over to the standard of GSM so this is going to
become less and less of an issue.
BUT, there are plenty of unlocked phones that can use both, and I recommend buying those.
GSM networks also come in four different frequencies: 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz. Instead of
worrying which network has which frequency and which phone can handle which frequency, be sure
to buy a quad band phone. That means the phone can function on every frequency.
In fact, most quad band phones will work on CDMA networks as well. The unlocked iPhone 4S
works on everything as do the new Blackberrys.
If an unlocked phone works on everything it will say something like, GSM/CDMA Quad-Band in
its description and specs. Thats what you want to look for. Anything else means that you may
possibly be limited in certain countries or by certain carriers.
You can buy unlocked cell phones online here: http://www.cell2get.com/
Bank Accounts and Currencies
Most banks offer poor international services. Not only do they have large ATM fees, but they hit
you with exchange rate fees AND sometimes lousy exchange rates.
I learned this the hard way. My domestic bank account is Bank of America (absolutely horrible, by
the way, do NOT use them if possible).

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I went to Israel in 2009. I didnt have a ton of money, so I was on a budget of about $500 as
spending money for the entire two-week trip while I was there.

When I came home, I had spent almost twice that. I couldnt believe it. Then I reviewed my bank
statements and this is what I found.
$5 ATM fee for every withdrawal
An exchange rate fee of about 5% for every dollar withdrawn.
A crappy exchange rate where I was losing another 5% of every dollar I spent.
All in all, I deduced that out of the $900 I spent, Bank of America fees counted for over $100 of
them. Obviously, I still went over my budget, BUT A HUNDRED DOLLARS IN FEES IN TWO
WEEKS?!?!
A few months later, I planned a six-week trip to Europe, mostly France and Germany. This time,
having learned my lesson from Israel, I decided to take a big wad of cash with me and exchange it
once I got there.
Once again, big mistake.
Unless youre exchanging multiple thousands of dollars, any currency exchange booth is going to
hose you, and sometimes violently.
Once again, despite looking at half a dozen exchange places in Paris, I could not find one that wasnt
skimming at least 4% of the market rate off the top. AND, of course, most of them had exchange
fees of their own. So for every $100 I exchanged, I was still losing anywhere from $8 to $12,
sometimes more.
Still better than Bank of America, but not much.
Once again, on a trip where I had budgeted around $1,000 for spending money, I ended up
unnecessarily paying over $100 more in fees.
The Solution: I keep two bank accounts, a domestic one which is tied to my business. And then an
international one which I use while I travel.
If you are going to stay abroad any more than a month at a time, then I highly, highly, highly
recommend the following bank account.
Charles Schwab Brokerage Checking Account.
Go to: http://www.schwab.com/
Open a brokerage account with Charles Schwab. Last time I checked, you could do it online. When
you open a brokerage account with them, they set you up with a checking account as well. The

benefits are amazing and are practically designed for the globetrotting entrepreneur:

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No ATM fees, anywhere in the world, ever.

No currency exchange fees.
Market rate conversions.
Paid interest on any money in the checking account.
Fraud protection (important).
The customer service is uncharacteristically fantastic as well. And if youre into trading or want to
keep your account in foreign currencies instead of the US dollar, you can. If you want to keep 75%
of your account in gold and the rest in US dollars, you can.
Its free to set up and there are no barriers to entry, BUT, unfortunately its only for US permanent
residents.
Ive read that Metrobank of London has similar services for UK citizens, but youre going to have
to do research on the banks in your own country to find the best fit for you.
https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/
When you look at accounts, look for the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.

No ATM fees, or 100% ATM reimbursement

No currency exchange fees.
Market rate currency exchange rates
All of the usual preferences such as minimum account fees or higher interest rates are
desirable as well.

From what I understand, there are few banks in the world that offer the services of the Schwab
account. Fortunately, there ARE more credit cards that offer these perks. In the US, Capital One
offers credit cards with absolutely no international or exchange fees. Outside the US, youre going
to have to do your own research.
If youre staying in a country for a long period of time, then you may consider opening a bank
account there. Unfortunately, you have to be a permanent resident in most countries in order to
open a bank account there.
Ill discuss credit cards in more detail when we get to the chapter about hacking airline miles.
International Calls and Mail
These were a far bigger deal back in 2008 when I first read about living a nomadic lifestyle abroad.
How do you make and receive phone calls? How do you send and receive mail?

In 2012, not only are there easy solutions, but these are much smaller problems.

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For starters, I have not received snail mail in two years now, and the worst thing that happened to
me is I got hit with a $50 state tax fine for not submitting a form.
My permanent residence is my fathers house and Im fortunate that hes kind enough to sift
through (read: throw away) whats sent to me. But I would say I get at most three emails from him a
year asking me if something I received was important.
The only hitch I ever run into is when I order new credit cards or bank cards.
Theres paperless banking now, and there are services such as http://www.earthclassmail.com/
which scan your mail and email photocopies to you. You can then tell them to trash it, or forward it
to you wherever you are in the world.
This service is $20 per month.
As for making calls, theres Google Voice and Skype.
Google Voice gives you your own phone number and free calls within the United States as long as
you have internet connection. It also lets you make international calls for cheap.
With Skype, you can video call any other Skype user in the world for free. Recently, my exgirlfriend Skyped my phone from her room in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, while I was in the airport in
Quito, Ecuador. We had a nice 30-minute conversation for free.
Skype can call and text regular phones internationally for obscenely low rates as well. My calls to
my familys cell phones back home run me about 9 cents per minute whether Im in China, Italy or
Mexico.
You can also purchase your own domestic number from Skype and receive calls on your Skype
account anywhere in the world. The service is $20 per month.
Finally, if youre rocking a smartphone, I recommend downloading the app called WhatsApp. There
are versions for Android, Blackberry and iPhone. WhatsApp users can text each other anywhere in
the world for free. I recently had a text conversation with my brother in Seattle from Colombia,
while he was texting his girlfriend in South Africa and I was texting my girlfriend in Brazil.
Its a small world after all.
Electricity/Adapters
Unfortunately, not all electrical outlets around the world are made the same. In fact, there are four
primary types of outlets which your electronics can plug in to.
American: Small two-pronged plugs, one slightly larger than the other, and sometimes a third,

circular, grounding plug. Used in just about all of the Western Hemisphere, with Argentina
and
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parts of the Caribbean being the primary exceptions.
English: Fat three prongs spaced out into a disjointed T shape. Used in England and a lot of former
English colonies (parts of SE Asia, the Caribbean and Africa).
European: Two circular prongs spaced wide apart. Sometimes a third prong is present in the middle
(Italy). Probably the most common outlet type in the world: used all over Europe, parts of South
America (Brazil and Costa Ricas outlets accept both American and European plugs), parts of Asia
and Africa as well.
Australian: Goofy diagonally slanted two-prong outlets. Used in Australia, Argentina and a few
other random countries around the world. The most rare kind of outlet.
Aside from needing a physical adapter for your plugs, different countries have different voltages
for their electricity. The good news is that most electronics these days have voltage converters
built into them (for instance, pretty much ever laptop made in the last five years should
automatically convert whatever voltage its plugged into).
But just in case, you can buy a voltage converter along with the appropriate adapters.
I recommend finding an all-in-one adapter for your plugs. Theyre more expensive ($40-50 range),
but its better than lugging around four (or more) adapters and possibly converters wherever you
go. With an all-in-one adapter you can plug anything in to anywhere at any time without having to
worry about it.
Also, surprisingly in many countries, adapters can be a real pain to find, especially if you dont
speak a language. Nothing like ruining an afternoon walking around trying to figure out where an
electronics store is. So save yourself the trouble and buy the all-in-one solution before you leave
home. Youll be glad you did.
For a list of every country and which outlet/voltage it uses, go here:
http://www.travel-images.com/electric-plugs.html
I recommend the Skross World Travel Adapter. It accepts any input and plug into any outlet in the
world. You can also get it with a USB port: http://www.amazon.com/Skross-World-Travel-Adaptor3/dp/B002UDA3IY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_1
Prescriptions, Vaccinations and Medications
For those of you with medical conditions, its an important question whether you can get your
necessary medications in each country or not.
The answer is a tentative yes.
It will vary a lot from country to country. Generally, you should be able to, BUT you should be
prepared in case you cant.

The important points to consider:

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1. Refill your prescriptions before you leave. If possible, get extra or however much you need to
last you. If you need to, notify your doctor and/or pharmacist before you go to get the extra
quantity.
2. Foreign prescriptions are not honored by doctors in MOST countries, especially the developed
ones. So if you have a prescription in the US and go to a pharmacy in Germany, they are not
allowed to fill it. You have to set up an appointment with a doctor in Germany and tell them of
your condition and get a German prescription. This is not hard to do, but its certainly a hassle.
3. You can also have your pharmacy in your home country ship your medication to a pharmacy in
the country which youre staying, and then pick it up from the pharmacy there. This method
will vary depending on the country, but should be reliable in most developed nations. You will
have to pay for shipping.
4. In undeveloped nations, things get a lot more informal. In many countries (Thailand,
Philippines, Colombia, etc.) you can walk into a pharmacy and buy almost anything over the
counter without a prescription. And if that doesnt work, getting a prescription from doctors
isnt a stretch in the least. Again just tell them about your prescription back home.
5. Make sure you have health insurance that covers trips abroad (important!) See above.
Unfortunately, there is no definitive source on prescriptions and medications for travelers. Do your
own research online and ask pharmacists/doctors in countries you go to.
Another common question I get is about vaccines.
Im a bit cavalier about this stuff, but I know some people take it seriously. Consult your doctor if
youre worried about it.
Highly detailed info here: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/vaccinations.htm
Whats written below is entirely my opinion and experience. Im not a professional or an expert.
Unless youre going to Sub-Saharan Africa or near the Amazon, you dont need most vaccinations.
There are other tropical areas where youll want to take malarial medicine (Caribbean, etc.), but for
the most part the insistence on vaccinations in the US before you go abroad is overblown. If you do
the research youll find that there are few regions where its a significant concern.
With that said, the big ones to be concerned about are Malaria and Yellow Fever.
Yellow Fever: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_fever

Malaria: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malaria_world_map_-_DALY_-_WHO2004.svgiDoc.co
Yellow Fever vaccines are cheap and easy. If youre going to a region with a high occurrence of
Malaria, you can take some pills before you go to reduce the likelihood of getting it. But be
warned, these pills have some unpleasant side effects.
When Things Go Wrong
Unfortunately, no matter how well you plan, there is always a risk of things going wrong while
youre abroad and its important to know what your contingencies are.
1. Missing Your Flight: If for some reason you miss your flight, the first rule is to continue on
anyway. Sometimes you get lucky and the flight is delayed. Some airlines will even hold the
doors for 5-10 minutes if theyre missing someone, especially if your connection came in late.
If youre late, RUN. Sounds obvious, but seriously, start running. Looking like an idiot and
being out-of-breath is worth saving hundreds of dollars on possibly having to buy a new plane
ticket. If youre late, dont be afraid to skip ahead in security.
If youve egregiously overslept your flight or youre just not even close, go to the airport
anyway. Again, you never know, the could be massively delayed.
It will depend on the airline, the person behind the desk, and the route, but the airline will often
just put you on the next flight without any fuss. This is especially true if you have a lot of miles
with them or are gold status or platinum status or whatever.
2. Getting Robbed: Fact of the developing world is that petty crime is much higher than it is in
the developed world. In a later chapter, I will give you advice on how to make sure you DONT
get robbed, but if/when it does happen, the first move is to report it to the local police.
Chances are they wont do anything or be of any help, but you may as well tell them.
From there, if you have travel insurance, then report it to them to hopefully get reimbursed.
Insurance companies will often require that you send them a police report.
3. Legal trouble: If for whatever reason you find yourself in legal trouble in a foreign country,
whether its a minor car accident, drug possession or violence, the first move is to always,
always, always call your countrys embassy. Always.
In the developed world, things will be pretty cut-and-dry. If you are arrested for public
intoxication in Germany, chances are the procedures are going to be fair and efficient.
In poorer countries, thats just not the case. In fact, there are horror stories of foreigners
having some pretty messed up accusations and problems leveled against them. These are
countries that often dont exactly have fair legal systems (or legal systems at all), and often
dont care if you did it or not.

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In many cases, depending on the country and the charges, your embassy can do nothing. There
are a few famous cases in Indonesia, where drug possession is punishable by death, where
some cavalier Australian kids were caught, sure enough, trafficking drugs. They were put to
death and the Australian government could not do anything to prevent it.

In many of these corrupt countries it may simply come down to bribery. I know in the
Dominican Republic, the drug dealers have a racket going on with the local police. The dealers
sell drugs to local tourists and then turn around and go tell the police who they sold it to. The
police come and arrest the tourists, who then have to spend hundreds, if not thousands of
dollars, bribing their way out of jail. Its a win/win for the dealers and cops, and a lose/lose for
you.
Which brings me to another point
4. Dont Buy Drugs Off the Street: Look, Im not going to judge. Ive had my fair share of good
times. But dont buy drugs from people off the street. If you really want to do something, find
a local connection, ask around, make some local friends (as described in Chapter 8). When you
buy drugs off the street, not only do you have no idea whats in them, but you set yourself up
for scams like the one above or even worse.
5. Food Poisoning: If you plan on traveling through developing countries, get used to this. Ive
been traveling like this for three years. Like clockwork, I come down with major stomach
viruses every six months or so. And the countries in which they happened is no coincidence:
India, Brazil, Ecuador, Ukraine, Guatemala.
The tap water thing is surprisingly not as big of a deal as people make it. You can drink the tap
water in many countries you wouldnt expect. And when you cant, trust me, you can taste it.
Brushing your teeth and showering in it are fine as well.
I believe the problem is more the food. Our produce and food in the west is treated by a
variety of chemicals, pesticides, strenuous cooking, kitchens with health codes, etc. This is
simply not the case in the third world.
If you get food poisoning, dont panic. Just stay close to a bathroom. It may feel like death, but
its not. Sadly, its actually quite normal. Theres a reason its referred to as Delhi Belly or
Montezumas Revenge or some other nickname depending where you are. Because it happens
all the time.
6. Medical Emergencies: Not rocket science: go to the hospital. Most countries, even poor,
developing countries, have surprisingly good hospital care. Get it taken care of and then
contact your insurance company.
If its an extreme medical emergency, contact your embassy as soon as possible.

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Chapter 3: How to Fly For Cheap (Or For Free)

The steep cost of airfare or even the thought of steep airfare stops a lot of people dead in their
tracks when they want to travel. They hear Carnaval in Rio and immediately think its going to
cost an arm and a leg.
Airfare can actually be one of the cheapest and most straightforward parts of your trip. You just
have to know the tricks of the trade.
This is a big topic, but its also possibly the most important topic. Finding cheap airfare and good
deals can make or break your entire budget sometimes.
What youll learn in this chapter is that airfare prices dont make sense. None. They can change
day-to-day, hour-to-hour, and the prices can change drastically depending on where you stopover
and what hours or days you leave.
For instance, I once flew to London from Austin, Texas for $297 with a single stop in NYC, whereas
a ticket from Boston to London (with a stop in Dublin) ran over $500.
I recently booked a trip from Colombia to Turkey. When I looked at a simple round-trip ticket
from Medellin to Istanbul, it came out to over $1,700. But when I added Italy to the itinerary and
searched for Medellin -> Rome -> Istanbul -> Medellin (with layovers in Madrid and Milan
respectively), the entire trip came out to $1,100 a total steal.
Does this make sense? Not at all.
The first part of this chapter will talk about how to search for airfare. There are some tricks that
most people dont know. Since airfare prices fluctuate so much, a knowledgeable person can try
combinations and variations of a route to find cheaper tickets.
You dont always find one in fact, Id say you only find a ridiculously cheap fare of the time or
so. But usually you can at least shave a few hundred dollars off the price you get on the first try.
The next section of the chapter will cover miles and points and how you can hack your way
around the world by earning free flights.
Then, Ill go over Round The World (RTW) tickets and the advantages of those for those of you
who plan massive itineraries in advance.
And then well round out the chapter by talking about buses and trains. Not the ideal modes of
transportation, but a godsend in certain regions (Latin America) and for people on a strict budget
(Ecuador to Peru for $10? Yes, please.)

Gaming the System

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Like I mentioned earlier, airfare is calculated in often strange and unpredictable ways. Sometimes
these glitches in the way airlines calculate their fares benefit us, other times they hurt us.
I have two theories on why more complicated or less obvious airfare routes can often be cheaper:
1. When booking a trip that involves flights from multiple airlines, the algorithms are imperfect
and sometimes spit out bizarre prices that benefit you. For instance, my trip to Istanbul and
Italy from Colombia involves Avianca (Colombian), Alitalia (Italian), and Iberian (Spanish).
Not only are these disparate airlines, but theyre also in different airline alliances (which Ill
explain in a minute).
2. Airlines are constantly price-testing tickets. What that means is that they may show 20% of
people a higher price and 20% of people a lower price to see which one sells quicker and ends
up more profitable, especially if its a particular popular or unpopular route. This is why you
can often search on Kayak or Expedia and get a price and a few hours later get a completely
different price for the same flight. And then a few hours later, the original price comes back.
The trick is to know what to look for and spend a few hours looking around to find the best
possible fairs. Below is a rundown of the process I go through when I look for airfare.
1. There are two website which you are going to need to use in conjunction with one another:

http://www.kayak.com and http://www.skyscanner.com

Kayak aggregates all of the airfares from every travel agency into one search result. So when
you search for Los Angeles to Houston, you get the results from all of the airlines, Expedia,
Vayama, Cheaptickets, etc., all in one place.
Skyscanner allows you to do blanket searches from a certain airport to an entire country, or
from one country to the next. So instead of checking all of the individual flights between the
hubs between the east coast of the United States and Spain manually (i.e., checking NYC to
Madrid, NYC to Barcelona, Washington to Madrid, Washington to Barcelona, etc.), you can just
type in: United States and Spain and Skyscanner will tell you the cheapest connection
available at that time.
2. Know your hub airports like the back of your hand. Hub airports are the largest airports in any
given region and theyre determined by how much air traffic goes through them. They are
chosen both based on population as well as geography. The closer to the center of a region or
continent they are, the more air traffic they will get.
For instance, one would assume Philadelphia Airport is a major hub airport, right?
Actually, no. JFK Airport is, as is Newark, New Jersey, two airports within less than an hour

flying from Philadelphia. Whereas you never would suspect that Atlanta or Dallas/Fort
Worth
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are massive hubs, but they are due to their central location on the continent.
Its important to know your hub airports because direct flights between hub airports are most
likely to be your cheapest fares. For instance, NYC to London Heathrow is going to be cheaper
than Pittsburgh to London Luton.
Hubs are your starting point for finding the cheapest routes.
Heres a run down of the major hubs in each region (minus Africa). This is by no means
conclusive. Its just based on my observations and experiences.
North America:
Boston Logan
JFK
Newark
Charlotte (US Airways hub to Europe)
Miami (biggest jump-off point to Latin America)
Atlanta (Deltas main hub)
Chicago OHare (Hub for mostly N. American destinations)
Dallas/Fort Worth
Toronto
LAX (Always has best fares to Australia, Fiji and New Zealand)
Seattle/Tacoma (Best fares to S. Korea, Japan and China
Europe:
London Heathrow (discount airlines are based out of Gatwick and Luton)
Madrid (The primary hub between Europe and South America)
Frankfurt (Mostly a hub throughout Europe)
Berlin Brandenburg
Rome
Amsterdam
Moscow (best connection between Europe and Asia)
Middle East:
Istanbul
Dubai (biggest hub between Asia, Europe and Africa)
Latin America:
Mexico City (Surprisingly not that great of a hub)

Panama City
Bogota
Lima
So Paulo Guarulhos
Buenos Aires
Santiago

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Asia:
Beijing
Tokyo
Seoul
Hong Kong
Bangkok (regional hub)
Kuala Lumpur (Air Asias home base)
Im sure Im missing some. And there are a myriad of smaller regional hubs that Im leaving
out (i.e., Singapore, Denver), but those are the major ones that come to mind.
3. The reason hub airports are important is because the cheapest airfares go from one hub to
another. The first thing you always want to look at is to see if daisy-chaining flights together
manually saves you any money.
For instance, if you live in Memphis, Tennessee and want to go to Valencia, Spain (two nonhub airports), you can use Skyscanner to find that the cheapest round-trip tickets from the US
to Spain during your dates are from JFK in New York and Miami, both to Madrid. From there
you can check the cost between the domestic locations and add them up.
So for instance (and Im just making this up), lets say searching for Memphis to Valencia
alone brings back a cheapest fare of $1,050 round-trip (RT).
You may find a fare from Miami to Madrid for $620 RT, a $200 RT fare between Memphis and
Miami, and then find a domestic discount airline in Spain (such as Vueling) that will take you to
Valencia and back for $75. Suddenly, that $1,050 fare is $895, a 15% savings.
There are two problems youll run into with daisy chaining flights. The first is that often you
get ugly times and layovers. You find that the only $200 flight that gets you to Miami in time
arrives five hours before the flight to Madrid and leaves at 7 oclock in the morning.
These days, Ive started opting out of some of these ugly itineraries because I value my sleep
and dont mind paying an extra $150 to not feel like shit the entire way over. But when I was
younger and more broke, I did a lot of trips like this.
(Ah, memories of sleeping in Charles De Gaulle Airport as well as trying to catch a couple of
hours on the cold floor of Lima, Peru before heading to my 6AM connection to Brazil.

Total sidenote: For some maddening reason many South American airports are open-air,
and
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believe it or not, it gets pretty fucking cold in the Andes. Its not all tropical bikinis all the time
like you think.)
The other problem with daisy chaining is that you have to collect your luggage and check-in
again each time. Also, if one flight is delayed and you miss the next, since youre on two
separate itineraries, the airline may not help you out or give you another ticket for missing it.
So its almost better to allow yourself extra-long layovers in between legs of your trip.
Daisy chaining seems to work better in the developing world than North America and Europe.
I think its because the airlines in the West are better networked with one another and are able
to keep track of whos flying where and adjust their prices accordingly. Places like Latin
America and Asia dont do this, so you can often find some crazy deals and itineraries if you
hunt around enough.
Daisy chaining works fairly often. Unfortunately, it rarely saves you more than 20-25% of the
cost on airfare. So youre unlikely to ever find ridiculous savings by daisy chaining.
4. Make a habit of checking alternative airports if youre not getting a great fare at first. For
instance, most major international cities have 2-3 airports, or often theres a city extremely
close with an airport as well and you can get a better fare. For instance, Frankfurt and
Dusseldorf are very close to one another and are both large international airports. New York
City has three airports (JFK, La Guardia, and Newark in New Jersey) within an hour. Honestly,
it usually doesnt make much of a difference, but its still worth checking.
Services like Kayak have a add nearby airports button for their searches that will do this
automatically for you.
5. The next hack to check out is multi-city flights. When you look for a two-city fare, often
theyll pin you with layovers. For instance, you search for flights from Houston to Rio de
Janeiro and it takes you through Panama City or Lima, Peru.
Strangely, if you look for a three-city fare and put in Houston, Lima and Rio de Janeiro,
occasionally youll save money, and sometimes youll save big.
I already mentioned above how I saved over $500 on a RT ticket from Colombia to Turkey by
ADDING a stop in Italy (which, by the way, I plan on taking full advantage of and staying there
for a week).
I got a steal flying home from Asia last year by adding a stop in Beijing between Bangkok and
Seattle, and then daisy chaining from Seattle to Austin (where my family is).
The initial fare from Bangkok to Austin was pushing $1,400 for a one-way trip. When I daisy
chained through Seattle it brought it down to around $1,100. When I added the stop in Beijing,
it came down to slightly less than $900 total. Not bad.
Another example of this when I bought a ticket from Colombia to Brazil and found that adding

Lima to the itinerary and staying there for a few days actually reduced the overall ticket
price
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from $840 to $770. So I stayed in Lima. And bought a discount airline ticket to Cuzco to see
Machu Picchu. Which brings me to
6. Discount airlines. Get familiar with them. Most of them actually DONT pop up on the travel
agency websites and aggregators. You need to google X discount airline, where X is the
country.
Also check WikiTravel and LonelyPlanet for local discount airlines.
Just to give you a recent example. That same trip to Turkey, every flight within the country
from Istanbul to other major cities ran at least a few hundred dollars. The only airlines
popping up was Turkish Airlines and an occasional Pegasus Airlines which wasnt much better.
But a quick Google search uncovered that there are two local discount Turkish airlines: Atlas
Air and Anadolu Jet.
You can often get absolutely absurd deals with discount airlines. Ive scored a Bangkok to
Kuala Lumpur flight for $40 and a Amsterdam to Barcelona flight for $35 in the past.
Here are some discount airlines to look out for and the regions they serve:
Spirit Air (North America)
TACA (South America)
Ryan Air (Europe)
EasyJet (Europe)
Wizz Air (Eastern Europe)
Vueling (Spain)
Berlin Air (Germany)
Jetstar (Australia)
Air Asia (SE Asia)
Tiger Airways (SE Asia/Australia)
Nature Air (Costa Rica/Central America)
There are a few aggregator websites for discount airlines and only discount airlines. Check
out:
http://www.wegolo.com
http://www.aireuropa.com
7. The time and day you choose to go will affect your fare significantly as well. Late at night or
very early in the morning are always cheapest. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest
days and Fridays and Saturdays are the most expensive.
Also, always be aware of holiday rushes Christmas is obvious, but also Carnaval (South
America yes, other countries have Carnavals too), Victory Day (Eastern Europe), Ramadan or
a royal wedding (oops).

8. Airlines and travel agencies are always testing price points, so youll often see airfare
change
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prices not only over the course of days but also hours.
If youre looking at a fare and suddenly you go to buy it and it says the price is higher, come
back a day or two later. Often times the price will drop back down later.
9. Once youve found a route you like, check foreign travel sites of the countries involved. They
will sometimes offer the same flight for less (or more).
For instance, if youre flying from the US to Brazil, check the flight both from the US sites and
the Brazilian sites. Youll be surprised how much they vary.
But to be able to do this step, you MUST have a good bank account with currency conversions.
If you have a bank that hoses you on currency conversions (as in, they charge a 5% conversion
fee), then you will eliminate any of the savings you may otherwise get.
How do you find foreign travel sites, you say? Well, thats what Im here for. I would list some
major ones here, but that would take forever. Heres what you do:
1. Open up two web browsers. Take one to Google Translate: http://translate.google.com
2. In the other, do a Google search for Google [country] where the country is wherever
youd like to look at flights from. For instance, if we want to check the Brazilian prices on
flights from the US to Brazil, then wed type in Google Brazil
3. The first result will be Googles version for that country. In this case, its
http://www.google.com.br. Google has a site for every country. So for Turkey its
http://www.google.com.tr, for Argentina its http://www.google.com.ar, etc.
4. In Google Translate, type in Flights to New York or wherever you plan on flying from.
Then translate it into the language of the country you want to fly to. In this case, the
phrase in Portuguese is Voos para Nova Iorque.
5. Copy and paste that translated phrase into the Google version of the foreign country.
6. The search results will return all of the online travel agencies and flight aggregators of
that country. In this case, the first result for our US-Brazil flight IN Brazil is
http://www.voosbaratos.com (the translation is literally cheapflights.com)
7. Most foreign travel agency sites and aggregators will have translators on the page
themselves. But if they dont on the Google results, click Translate this page.
8. Search for the same flight or itinerary, but this time search for it from the other country.
9. Currency conversions can always be found at www.xe.com.
10. Generally speaking, the further from the flight date you are, the cheaper its going to be. I
think in years past this was a more surefire way of getting cheaper fares, but Ive found
the last year or two that prices are pretty stable whether Im buying them four months in
advance or only a couple weeks.
Ive heard that if you wait until the day before a flight to purchase it, you can get it at a
ridiculously discounted rate. My experience with this has actually been the opposite. If
you wait until the day before or the day of to buy a ticket, chances are you are going to be
paying a lot of money, even if its a brief trip.

Racking Up Points

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Anyone who wants to travel for extended periods of time needs to be at least aware of the points
and rewards systems out there that airlines run.
Believe it or not, I actually dont focus a whole lot on racking up points. But thats because it
doesnt reflect my lifestyle well. I use a lot of discount airlines, and regularly have no idea where
Im going to go until a few weeks or a month beforehand. On top of that, I spend almost no time
inside the United States, which is by far the best place to rack up your points.
That said, if youre reading this and youre of the I have a day job but just want to take awesome
vacations once or twice a year variety, then I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend paying attention here
because if you know what youre doing then you wont have to pay anything on a significant amount
of your trips.
I know people who live and die by their miles and rack up some amazing free trips with them.
My mother, for one (a travel agent of 20+ years), gets multiple free trips to Caribbean Islands each
year for doing little more than using her credit card wisely.
My girlfriend (from Brazil) has used her points to earn free airfare to the United States and Europe
multiple times over the past few years.
I think miles are better suited for people who want to do one or two large vacations each year, plan
on staying in hotels and/or resorts and are comfortable planning months and months in advance. If
youre like me, and fly by the seat of your pants (no pun intended) and buy tickets from obscure
Russian airlines and show up to airports forgetting which airline you bought your ticket from, then
points wont be as important to you.
1. Lesson number one for understanding frequent flyer miles are the alliances. There are three
alliances: Star Alliance, Sky Team, and One World.
Each of these alliances is a group of 10-25 airlines who share frequent flyer miles with one
another, and most of them have at least one airline represented on each continent (although not
always). As an international globetrotter, its therefore important to pick an alliance and make
an effort to stick to those airlines wherever you go.
Some major airlines in each alliance:
Star Alliance: United Airlines, US Airways, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, TACA, TAM
Airlines, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Air China.
Sky Team: Delta Airlines, Air France, KLM, Korean Air, Alitalia, Aeromexico.
One World: American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, LAN, Qantas.
Full lists can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_alliance

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A frequent flyer number from one airline within an alliance can be applied toward earning
more miles or rewards with another alliance member. For instance, racking up points with Air
France means you can theoretically earn a free ticket from Delta and vice-versa.

2. Airlines regularly offer bonuses for flying during certain periods or buying from their sky
mall stores (yes, those catalogs in the back of the seat in front of you are actually used for
something other than blowing your nose).
The big bonuses come when an airline wants people to sign up for a credit card through them.
The US airlines have been particularly apt to do this the last few years. They often offer
25,000 miles or more for little more than merely buying some tickets with it and then paying
the credit card off on time.
Sometimes theyll offer one bonus for signing up, and then double the bonus if you spend a
certain amount of money with the card or continue to spend and use it for a certain length of
time.
But aside from the bonuses, each dollar you spend with the card will give you one mile with
that airline. Or in some rare cases, even two or three miles per dollar spent.
3. There are non-affiliated credit cards that give you awesome deals as well. The big one in the
United States is American Expresss business cards. Depending on the type of card you get,
you can earn up to 2x or even 3x miles per dollar you spend with the card.
https://amexforbusiness.ca/en/compare-american-express-cards.aspx?
inav=ca_menu_cards_sb_view
The Holy Grail seems to be the Starwood American Express card. This card is one of the only
cards that can be applied to ANY airline the world-over. And any time you transfer more than
20,000 points from the card to an airline, you get a 25% bonus. So if you transfer 40,000
miles, you get 10,000 miles free, meaning 50,000 miles total.
The
Starwood
Amex
about/Starwood-Preferred

card:

http://www304.americanexpress.com/getthecard/learn-

Citibank also offers credit cards that apply to your American Airlines mileage account (One
World Alliance). You sign up and spend $1,000 to receive a 30,000 point bonus. The good
news is that they have both Visa and Mastercards, so you can sign up for both of them and
receive both bonuses.
https://creditcards.citi.com/credit-cards/aadvantage-credit-cards
As you can see, most of your miles are earned on the ground. Sign up for some cards with
good bonuses and start buying with them. Pay them off every month and collect the miles.
Combine that with your regular traveling, and you can easily land a couple international tickets
per year for free if you play your cards right (yuk, yuk, yuk).

A few side notes:

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Typically, 25k miles = free domestic flight; 50k miles = free international flight.
Hitting certain benchmarks can give you silver, gold, or platinum status with particular
airlines. Perks include free upgrades to business class, access to lounges, skipping lines, no
baggage fees, and having your ass kissed by everyone at the ticket counter.
Most miles expire after a certain amount of time. Usually a year. So plan ahead and use them.
Many flights with large discounts dont apply toward your miles balance. I found a great $650
flight from Seattle to Seoul, and it turns out it didnt apply to my points balance because I got it
at a special price.
For busy or popular flight routes, airlines often wont accept points if they believe its likely
theyll sell the flight out. Generally speaking, you need to use your points way in advance (at
least a few months in advance).
Points can be applied toward many hotels. I have not done this, but from what Ive read, its
generally a rip off. Airfare will always give you the best bang for you mile.

Round The World (RTW) Tickets

Round The World (RTW) tickets are like buying in bulk. In one sitting, you can line up a series of
one-way tickets traversing their way around the planet, and the airline (actually the alliance, more
accurately) comes back to you with a single, discount price.
I put discount in quotation marks because honestly, if you looked hard enough, you could
manually find one-way tickets around the world for less, sometimes as much as 20% less (if you use
discount airlines).
RTW fares range anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000 depending on your destinations, the amount of
miles and whatnot.
Star Alliance and One World each have their own online RTW applications (FYI: theyre a lot of
fun to play with):
Star Alliance: http://www.staralliance.com/en/fares/round-the-world-fare/
One World: http://www.oneworld.com/flights/round-the-world-fares/
Each alliance handles it a bit differently. In Star Alliance, what youre charged is largely determined
by miles. The tiers are 26,000, 29,000, 34,000 and 39,000 miles per trip. Theres a limit of 16
segments and stopovers and you have to start and finish in the same country. Available destinations
include anywhere a Star Alliance flight goes (which is more or less everywhere you can imagine).
One World is based on segments and continents. One World also forces you to finish in the same

city in which you began, but they allow surface segments where you can travel from oneiDoc.co
segment
to another over land.
One World doesnt have as many options and far more restrictions.
Ill admit, I have never done a RTW fare. The reasons are the same as before: I dont plan far in
advance. And up until about a year ago I didnt have a whole lot of money. I was working online
everywhere I went, so dropping $6,300 for a years worth of traveling wasnt exactly viable for me.
So what are the advantages to RTW tickets versus daisy chaining your own one-way fares across
the world? There are a few:
RTW tickets rack up BIG miles. After a solid RTW trip, youll have enough miles for at least
one free ticket on your alliance of choice.
Flexibility. You can pick 12 cities and then spend as much time as youd like in each one. If
youd like to change a segment, you just call up the airline and they take care of it. Not a huge
deal.
There are some hard to reach places in the world, that are simply not cheap no matter what
you do isolated islands, small, obscure countries, tourist sites out in the middle of nowhere,
etc. RTW tickets can get you to these hard to reach areas without the surcharges since youre
being charged in bulk.
(This seems to me to be the biggest advantage of RTW trips. A trip to Easter Island or some
obscure island off the coast of Africa can cost a lot of money by itself. With RTW, its just
another segment.)
Similar concept applies if youre taking multiple long, trans-continental flights. A RTW
becomes worth the value if you are actually, for real, going round the world.
For instance, if you want to go from US to Brazil to South Africa to Italy to Dubai to India to
Thailand to Australia and back to the US, then chances are youll get an equal or better deal on
the RTW ticket.
Whereas if youre doing shorter or more informal trips i.e., US to Bangkok, then to Laos,
Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, back to the US youre wasting your money. That can
be done easily through discount airlines and deals for a little amount of money
Buses and Trains
Overland transportation is either a nightmare or a godsend, depending what continent youre on and
how much money you have.
The first thing Ill say is, generally speaking, the romanticizing of seeing the real [enter country

here] by taking a train or bus across it, is highly overrated, at least in my opinion.

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Seeing the real Argentina by taking a bus across it sounded amazing. 11 hours later, I decided I
had seen about nine hours more of the real Argentina than I would have liked.
So if your goal with ground transportation is anything other than saving a lot of money or visiting
some small towns on the way somewhere, then I highly recommend against it.
Whether you should bus or train varies highly depending on where you are. The train systems in
the Americas are almost non-existent. Buses in Latin America are insanely cheap (Ecuador to Peru
for $10?).
Europe, its the opposite. The train system is excellent, affordable and highly inter-connected. But
with European discount airlines getting so insanely cheap recently, its probably only worth it if you
want to visit smaller cities and arent going far.
And just an FYI: EuroRail passes are a RIP OFF. They are a scam sold to unsuspecting American
tourists. Theyre meant for business travelers who travel to multiple cities every week for months
on end. Dont bother with them. Youd have to take a five-hour train ride every day to make them
worth it.
In Asia, youre kind of forced to pick your poison. Buses are horribly unreliable and the roads are
bad. Also, traffic in Southeast Asia is near-death experience after near-death experience.
(Seriously, I know you think wherever youve been the driving was bad, but until you see India or
Cambodia, you have never seen crazy driving before. Trust me.)
The trains, unfortunately, dont get much better. In India and China, theyre so crowded that you
may find yourself standing up the entire trip or even worse, sitting in someones lap or someone
sitting in yours (not kidding).
In the more developed countries of Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, the train was fine. In Japan,
obviously the trains are amazing a tourist attraction in and of themselves.
Like I said, its going to vary a lot.
In both cases, buses and trains can be bought at the station when you get there. With the exception
of holidays, you should never have a problem getting a ticket, even if you show up the hour before
a bus/train leaves.
Also, in really cheap countries (India, Ecuador, Guatemala), hiring out a taxi driver for the day is
usually more than affordable. A taxi from Guayaquil to the beach of Montaita (about a 90 minute
drive each way) in Ecuador ran us $30US. In India, a full day trip to Agra from New Delhi cost us
$40US.
Buses and trains are good tools to be aware of and consider at your disposal, but you should not
make the newbie mistake of relying on them too much when you travel to a region.

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Use them as a tool for flexibility, something that you decide on once you get there, because unless
youre seriously pinching pennies, organizing your trip around them is not worth it.
Beating Jetlag

Jetlag is the necessary evil of any major overseas trip and a true pain in the ass. Luckily, with a few
strategies, one can overcome it quickly and relatively painlessly.
Interestingly, not all jetlag is created equal: flying west is easier than flying east. There are two
reasons for this:
1. Our natural circadian rhythm (or the so-called biological clock) is actually closer to 25hours long. This is why its so much easier to stay up late at night than it is to get up early in
the morning.
Flying west six hours means you are six hours behind the time back home. This means you
merely have to stay up an extra six hours each night to adjust. For most people, this is much
easier than waking up six hours earlier each morning.
2. The way flight schedules work out, flying east over oceans usually means overnight flights.
For instance, a flight from Miami to Rome may leave at 6PM on Friday and land at 9AM on
Saturday. Chances are you will sleep a few hours at most on the nine-hour flight over (since
almost no one goes to bed before 10PM). Therefore you land in Rome not only having only
slept three or four hours the night before, but you now have to stay up a full 12-hours to begin
normalizing.
Whereas if you fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo, you may leave LA at 8AM, land in Tokyo at
1PM but it will feel like it is 8PM to your body. To normalize, all you have to is stay up for
eight more hours, or the equivalent of staying up until 4AM on a normal night. Thats a couple
movies and no problem.
The other thing about flying west is that it causes your body to naturally wake up early, like 5AM
and feel spry and ready to go. For many (myself included), this is a very welcome change. I actually
often become MORE productive when I fly west. But when you go east, you will find yourself
regularly crashing and becoming exhausted around noon or 2PM, fighting to stay awake and then
suddenly finding yourself wide awake and unable to sleep at night when its time to go to sleep.
The rule of thumb is that for every hour of time zone difference, you need one day to adjust.
So if you are from New York City, and you fly to Germany (six hours, depending on Day Light
Savings) then you will need six days to adjust completely. If you are from Los Angeles and you go
to Thailand (10-hour difference), then you will need 10 days on average.

I personally find that flying west takes me fewer days than the rule of thumb and occasionally
going
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east takes me more.
The golden rule of jetlag is to never nap until youre adjusted. Just dont do it. Youll want to so
bad, but dont. What often happens is that nap is actually when your body is used to falling into a
deep eight-hour sleep, so you end up waking up from your nap five hours later and its dark
outside and your body is ready to go as if its a new day.
And even if you do manage to get yourself out of bed after an hour or two, the nap makes you feel
worse than you felt before you laid down.
So just dont do it. Use caffeine, walk around the new city, take a tour or two, and just dont lie
down.
At night, if you cant fall asleep or wake up and cant fall asleep, use some sleep aids or melatonin.
As for jetlag cures, a number have been touted lately. An article recently claimed that if you fast
before, during and after your flight, and then only eat right before wanting to fall asleep (and eating
a lot of carbs), you would not experience any jetlag.
The theory goes that our body determines when its time to sleep partly by our eating schedule.
Fasting resets that eating schedule and then breaking the fast makes us incredibly drowsy.
I will say that I have noticed that eating on a normal schedule when jetlagged is highly
advantageous. For example, if Im in London and Im on central US time, then I will get hungry at
lunch, dinner and then in the middle of the night, but NOT at breakfast. If I just eat when Im hungry,
Im keeping my body on its previous eating/sleeping schedule, whereas if I force myself to eat a
normal breakfast, lunch and dinner, then I will adjust more quickly.
Another cure: lab tests have found that Viagra (yes, that Viagra) reduces jetlag by as much as
50%. Dont ask me how they tested that. And unfortunately I have no personal experience to vouch
for this one.
And finally, there are some new pills showing up on the market that you take while flying that,
supposedly, prevent jetlag. No idea if they work. A friend of mine has taken them with good results
though.
Here are some:
http://www.nojetlag.com/
http://www.jetease.com

Chapter 4: Accommodations

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There are a variety of ways to house yourself while traveling. What you go with will depend on the
nature of your trip and as well as how long youre going to be in one place.
You have four options when staying in a foreign country:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Get an apartment.
Stay in a hotel.
Crash in a hostel.
Stay with somebody who lives there.

Heres a breakdown of each type of accommodation and what you can expect from them.
Finding an Apartment
If I travel anywhere for more than a week, I usually get an apartment. This may sound excessive, but
youd be surprised how cheap it is to rent a nice furnished place for a week or two. In most parts of
the world, its about as much as youd pay for a hotel room, but you get more privacy and often a
much better location. In many places, apartments can even be cheaper than hotels, particularly
Europe, where hotels are insanely overpriced.
If I stay anywhere more than two weeks, I always get an apartment.
The trick with apartments is location, location, location. Hotels are usually located around sightseeing areas and the touristy bars and restaurants. Apartments, you can get one where the locals
hang out, often in the nicest part of town.
When I get an apartment, it usually means Im dedicating a little more time to a city/country than
usual. Since Im spending more time in one place, sightseeing and tourist areas are a much lower
priority, and finding a way to socially establish myself and make friends is a much higher priority.
For that reason, I can actually often save money because Im not looking to stay in the most
expensive part of town.
Apartments can be grabbed in a variety of places in fact, theyre getting easier and easier to rent
as the years go on.
Hostel sites such as http://www.hostelworld.com and hotel booking sites such as
http://www.booking.com now list furnished, short-term apartments on their sites.
The best place to start, though, is http://www.airbnb.com/. The site is nothing but apartments, room
shares and houses. Many of the people on there are locals who will rent you their spare room. This
can be a great way to meet people first upon arrival.

In fact, moving in with a local roommate instead of getting my own place has always lead iDoc.co
to some
of my most enjoyable experiences in a country. When you first arrive somewhere, it can be lonely
(especially if you dont speak the language). Having a roommate or two to show you around and
introduce you to people is a great way to start things off.
Other sites to find apartments:
http://www.craigslist.org (United States)
http://www.easyquarto.com.br (Brazil)
http://www.gumtree.co.uk (United Kingdom)
http://www.gumtree.co.au (Australia)
http://www.trademe.co.nz (New Zealand)
It should be noted that it is somewhere between difficult and impossible to land a lease in a country
in which youre not a resident or do not at least have a bank account. If youre staying somewhere
for a long period of time, its best you negotiate some form of housing through your employer or
institution. Usually businesses or schools will take care of leases for you. Otherwise, you are
limited to sublets and month-to-month agreements.
Hotels
Hotels can be an excellent option but are almost always the most expensive option.
If Im only going somewhere for a few days up to a week, Ill usually book a hotel. The benefits of
a hotel are that you usually have all of the amenities you need. You have your own bed, your own
bathroom, clean towels and sheets, TV, internet, a decent location and nice room, etc.
The downside of hotels is that youre pretty isolated and its harder to meet people when staying in
them. I usually only pick hotels over hostels (next section) in two specific instances: 1) Im only
visiting somewhere for a couple days and am not really interested in going out or meeting anybody
or 2) I already know someone who lives where Im visiting and am meeting up with them.
Where I am now as I write this is a perfect example of the first situation: Dublin.
Ive been here before. I did the hostel thing the first time. Nice city, but as someone whos passing
through for two days and has been here before, theres honestly little to do or little that interests
me.
Im here right now because taking a two-day layover saved me almost $500 on airfare back to the
US. So Im basically just killing time. Another example is when I was in Kuala Lumpur last year. I
was there for 2 days, just to stop through between two other countries. Wasnt too interested in
doing a whole lot or meeting a ton of people so I stayed in my room and worked.
The second situation is when Ive got a friend or client who lives in the city Im visiting. Ill take
the hotel because really the only advantage hostels have over hotels is the ability to meet people
easily. If I dont need to meet people, then Ill do a hotel. Having my own room and clean bathroom
is more than worth the extra cost to me.
Where to book hotels: There are as many online hotel sites as there are travel sites. There are also a
lot of deals to be had.
Here are some of the more notable sites for hotels:

http://www.booking.com - This is the most popular European hotel booking site and what iDoc.co
I often
end up using. I simply find that it gives me the best rates more often than not.
http://www.priceline.com - Interesting site where you book hotels anonymously. You search for
hotels by price and dont know exactly where youre staying until after you book. Guarantees the
best prices but are usually similar to other sites. Every once in a while you find a killer deal here
though, so its worth checking, especially for large cities.
http://www.agoda.com - From what I hear, offers excellent rewards for people who book through
them. I dont use them often, but I know people who swear by them and land free rooms every now
and again.
http://www.cheaptickets.com - One of my most preferred airfare sites, but Im including here
because they often offer crossover deals i.e., if you buy a certain amount of airfare from them,
then they will give you 20% off a hotel room or whatever.
Hostels
Ive developed a love/hate relationship with hostels and the backpacker lifestyle. These days I
prefer to avoid hostels in many cases, but theyre still great for what they are.
I would say if you want to travel on a budget and/or youre under 25 years old, you should
absolutely do the backpacker/hostel thing at least for a while. Its a great experience and Im glad I
did it.
The benefits of a hostel are that its extremely easy to meet people. Hostels are like dormitories in
college, except that everyone is a traveler and from a different country. Youll often share a room
of tiny beds with anywhere from 4 to 16 people in one room. You almost never have your own
bathroom. Theyre dingy, tiny places. But theyre cheap, and usually full of young people who like
adventure and are excited to meet other travelers.
It varies from hostel to hostel, but backpackers tend to be English-speakers and Europeans, aged
18-25, and are usually inexperienced at traveling. If you are passing through a city for a few days
and want to meet people to hang out and have a drink with, see some tourist sites with, or just hang
out with and talk, hostels are great.
But hostels have drawbacks as well. The accommodations are usually small, cramped and not very
nice. A bunch of drunk 19-year-old British guys seem like fun at first, but when you are woken up
to them vomiting at 4AM all over the room, and oh, you have to get up in three hours to catch the
bus to the airport, the charm quickly evaporates.
I may just be getting old and elitist, backpackers are usually nice enough, but you can practically
interchange them all for each other. Theyre all young, all adventurous, all excited to see the world,
all in between jobs or careers or schools back home. Then you get drunk with them and three days
later never see them again. Then you meet another batch and go through the same half dozen
conversations all over again.
I have made some lasting friendships with people I met in hostels, but theyre the exception, not the
rule.
I guess the point is that the quality of your hostel experiences will vary widely based on a lot of
factors. Youre always taking a gamble when you check into one. Some of my best travel

experiences happened in hostels. Some of my worst travel experiences also happened in hostels.
I
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just recommend that if you have the money to book a private room, do it.
Like I said, the hostel experience is something every traveler should do. But do it and then move on
to apartments and really enmeshing yourself in the culture and people wherever you travel. In many
hostels, its almost like the kids never left home. They drink the same beer, go to the same bars and
hang out with the same people they do back home. They just do it in another country.
Churchill famously said, If youre not a liberal at 20, then you have no heart. If youre not a
conservative at 40, then you have no brain. I think I could say something similar for hostels: If
you dont enjoy backpacking at 20 then you have no sense of adventure. If you dont dislike
backpacking by 30, then youre immature. Or youre still broke. Or youre a pot-head. Or you like
creeping on college girls who dont shower enough. Either way.
I always book hostels through http://www.hostelworld.com
The Guide to Couchsurfing
Couchsurfing is a social network for travelers. The idea is that you sign up and let travelers sleep
on your couch when/if they pass through your city. Then when you travel, other Couchsurfers
return the favor. It may sound a bit creepy, but its developed a massive worldwide community and
has been a raging success.
My Couchsurfing experiences themselves have been pretty tame and lacking. I would only
recommend actually staying at someones place if youre absolutely broke and desperate to meet
some cool locals. Typically, its more hassle than its worth, as people live in random parts of town,
have day jobs, arent around, or could turn out to be weirdos.
To Couchsurf at someones place you have to message them and request a couch and then they are
free to receive you or deny you. The same goes for people when they visit your country.
Surprisingly, many, many Couchsurfers are willing hosts. You would expect people to be far
pickier about who stays with them, but a lot of my couch requests were returned and the people
were hospitable.
Some tips on landing a host:
1.Request someone of the same gender. Unfortunately, a lot of the men on Couchsurfing have
developed reputations for just using it to pick up.
2.Be flexible with your dates and times.
3.Spend time making your profile cool. Show travel photos. Get people to vouch for you on the site
who youve met before. Leave feedback for others and ask for it in return.
4.Offer something in return, perhaps a talent, help with a language, or even house chores.
As with most social networking sites, the shotgun approach is best: shoot out 5-10 messages before
you arrive somewhere. By the time youre in transit you should have heard back from 1/3 to 1/2 of
them. Make plans accordingly

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I personally prefer to use Couchsurfing to make friends. Its a quick and easy way to link up with
like-minded people of different countries.
In major cities around the world, there are large meet ups every week or month with dozens of
local people. This is often a great way to make some connections and find something cool and
authentic to do with a local.

If there are no meetings, then just check out the local people and message whoever looks cool to
meet for coffee or a drink.
Sign up at: http://www.couchsurfing.org/

Chapter 5: Your Escape Plan

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Sonia was a 34-year-old lawyer from Canada. She had spent the last ten years busting her ass for
her firm, often worked 80-hour weeks. In that time, she worked her way up and made herself
indispensible to her firm. One day, she approached her boss and told him that she was taking a year
off. He could either hire her back when she came back or shed go find work somewhere else. Her
boss agreed.
She spent the next year living throughout Europe, in Italy, France, Holland and London, before
returning back to her job.
Jeff was a 26-year-old from the US. In 2007, he joined a volunteer organization through his
university and spent the summer working in Kenya. He fell in love with it. Upon graduation he
returned to Africa and took his hand at running a small organization himself. It was tiring but it paid
off, as it got him into a prestigious graduate program in London. Between semesters he backpacked
around Europe on the cheap.
Upon graduation, before returning to Africa to head up his own organization, which he founded,
based on his graduate thesis, he spent two months in India.
Matt took advantage of a study abroad program to Shanghai in 2006. During that time he
networked and was able to line up an excellent job offer in Seoul when he graduated. But after
working there for a year, he decided the work culture of Korea was too much for him. He found
another job in Beijing making good money and living a good life. He traveled around China on his
off-weeks, learned some Mandarin, but still, he was making more money than he needed to live
well in Beijing.
After a couple years, he decided to quit his job, move to Bangkok, and start his own online business
living off his savings.
The most common travel-related email I receive is the following: How do you manage to live
abroad for so long, and how can I do it too? Yes, very vague and general, because there are a
million correct answers here.
This chapter will cover viable escape plans ways for you to get your ass abroad for extended
periods of time without going broke and without screwing your life up irreparably.
The first big question is what kind of traveler do you want to be? You can divide travelers into a
handful of informal groups: tourists, backpackers, volunteers/foreign-workers, nomads and expats.
The tourists are your stereotypical people on vacation. They crammed Rome, Paris and Venice into
six days and get up early every morning so they can bury their nose into their guidebook and catch

every last site and landmark. These are also the people who stay in expensive resorts, check
out
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fancy restaurants, and get spa packages.
(Theres nothing wrong in being a tourist, by the way. I periodically drop into tourist mode when
Im only stopping in a country for a few days and theres a site or two I really want to see.)
Backpackers tend to be younger, theyre on a tight budget, they want to see and do as much as
possible with as little money as possible, and they have a tendency to party a lot. Backpackers are
all about the adventure and spontaneity. That may mean seeing the Eiffel Tower one day, and then
getting lost in a small French village and making friends with a local baker the next.
Backpackers tend to stay in hostels, clump together into ad hoc good-times committees, and retain
questionable hygiene.
Volunteers, aid workers, activists, teachers, all tend to get set up with their own housing since
theyre going to be there long-term. Same with study abroad students. The perk of this situation is
that you get to ingratiate yourself into the culture over an extended period of time while having
your expenses, visas, logistics covered for you. The downside is that you have less flexibility in
where you go and when.
Nomads are like me. They may swing through a place for two days or two months. They may crash
in a hostel and party for a weekend, or rent an apartment and spend three months programming a
new web project.
Expats are expats; they are permanent residents in the foreign country.
So what should you pursue? Most of the answer to this question is going to depend on your work
situation and how satisfied you are with it.
I would break it down like this:
If you have a job you like or you dont want to quit, then focus on taking periodical vacations
or extended sabbaticals as a tourist and/or backpacker.
If you have some sort of independent income, a bunch of money in the bank, a gap year to kill,
or you just want to vagabond it and see what happens, then youll be traveling in more of a
backpacker/nomad style over a long period of time.
If you have a lot of passive income, then you can live large wherever you go, whenever you
want.
If youre broke, have no job, have no income, but still want to get the hell out of town, then
youre mostly limited to finding volunteer and teaching opportunities (or starting a new career
abroad).
Well start with the simplest escape plans (extended vacations, gap years, sabbaticals) and work our

way out to the more complicated ones (working or volunteering abroad) and finally finishiDoc.co
with the
most difficult one (creating passive income to live where youd like).
Throughout this chapter and throughout your planning, it will be very important to be able to
estimate the expected cost of living of any location. There are a couple websites which are good
for this:
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living
http://www.expatistan.com/
Vacations, Gap Years, Sabbaticals
These are the most simple to plan and are your classic travel situations. Pick a region youd like to
visit (refer to the next chapter for ideas/help), budget, pick the dates and then go.
Availability of vacation and sabbaticals is going to vary from country-to-country and occupation-tooccupation. So Im not going to venture to guess what your situation may be like. Whether youve
got a month or a year to kill, figure out where you want to go, budget it out, and then do it.
If you have money saved up and want to take time off work but you have no idea how to go about it,
check out: http://www.i-resign.com/
Its a website about quitting your job gracefully, taking a leave of absence, or going on long-term
sabbaticals.
The principle here is that youre either choosing to take a break from your life (gap year,
sabbatical) or to enter into a transition of your life (career change, quit job, go back to school, etc.)
and you want to insert some extended travel into that transition.
Sabbaticals are provided in some countries, but in many they are not at least not officially.
I opened this chapter with an example of a woman I met who received a year-long sabbatical for no
other reason than she asked for it and was indispensable to her law firm.
Are you indispensable? If so, then you could easily swing it. My girlfriend, as I write this, is
planning on submitting a sabbatical ultimatum with her advertising agency. Shes confident that
even if her boss doesnt take her back, shed have no trouble getting hired elsewhere.
Other people get a bit more clever and parlay their traveling into career opportunity. Asia is
particularly useful for this. There are a dizzying amount of career opportunities sprouting up in
Asia, especially for people with western educations.
Its actually possible to schedule job interviews and get offers WHILE backpacking through Asia.
One can even network ahead of time using LinkedIn and the internet.
Some more info here: http://postmasculine.com/how-to-be-an-international-career-hacker

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Study Abroad
If youre a college student, I highly, highly, highly recommend getting set up with a study abroad
program of some sort if possible. I know it sounds daunting four to six months in a foreign
country, none of your friends with you but do it. Everyone I know who did it in school reported
that it was one of the best experiences of their lives, myself included.
Finances are the biggest hurdle for most students. That or their school doesnt offer any programs.
Despite this, most college students ARE eligible for study abroad scholarships. You will need to
have good grades though to qualify.
You can find information about study abroad scholarships at the resources below:
http://www.studyabroad.com/scholarships.aspx
http://allabroad.us/funding1.php
http://www.aifsabroad.com/scholarships.asp
There is also the famous Erasmus program, which allows foreigners to study at European
universities for one year: http://www.erasmusprogramme.com/
For those of you who have full-time jobs or careers, things get a bit more complicated and
inflexible.
Opportunities to live and work abroad are going to vary drastically between industries and
companies. If you work for a massive multi-national retailer or in finance or in advertising, youll
probably have some options if not with your company, with another one within the industry.
But if youre in software development or manufacturing or the service industries, then chances are
you wont.
There are some professions, such as doctors, nurses, and hospitality, where you can volunteer your
time abroad for a short period of time.
One such program:
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
Also, keep in mind that, as of this writing, the emerging economies in some regions, particularly
Asia, offer a LOT of professional opportunities for college-educated westerners. So moving your
career overseas, even if only for a few years, could be more feasible than you think. More on this in
a minute.
Volunteering and Teaching
There are countless organizations out there that are always looking for young, educated, western
people to either volunteer or take basic teaching jobs in developing countries. And typically, the

more developing the country, the easier it is to get set up. So if youre into the whole rustic,
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outdoorsy, dont-shower-for-a-week, travel experience, it sounds like you may have found your
calling.
The first and most popular organization to volunteer for (assuming youre from the US) is the
Peace Corps: http://www.peacecorps.gov/
The Peace Corps was created in the 60s and sends college-educated Americans abroad to
volunteer for two years at a time. All expenses are taken care of during that time and volunteers
are provided a local place to live wherever they work.
The problem is that you have little to no control over where you get sent. So you may be all excited
to get your hands dirty in Latin America, but they send you to Ghana instead.
But aside from the Peace Corps, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of organizations
looking for volunteers abroad.
I recommend using http://www.goabroad.com/ to search through non-profits you can work for. You
can browse based on country youd like to go to, the type of work youd like to do, and how long
youd like to stay.
The limitations of volunteering are that youre mostly going to be limited to developing countries.
And like I said earlier, the rougher the country, the more theyre likely going to need volunteers.
I know some people who have volunteered in Africa (Morocco and Tanzania, respectively) and both
ended up spending some months alone, stuck in their one-room, dirt-floor homestays with nowhere
to go and nothing to do for large periods of time.
Not exactly exciting.
The other problem with volunteering is your mobility and income will be limited. So if you get
stuck in the middle of nowhere in Bolivia with no income, you may have trouble getting far.
On the other hand, I know a girl who volunteered in Cambodia and loved it so much her family
literally had to fly out to drag her home. Another friend of mine taught English in the Philippines
and was in no hurry to get home either.
These types of volunteer jobs tend to work best for people who love the outdoors and dont mind
getting a bit dirty, and for people who specifically love a certain culture or region.
(Not to say that there arent some posh volunteering jobs in nice places. There are. They just tend
to be more competitive and require more qualifications.)
Then there is teaching English. Believe it or not, to teach English in most countries, you dont need
credentials beyond a college education. A TEFL certification to teach English is helpful and will
probably land you the nicer jobs in nicer countries with more pay, but its not required.

I actually applied for a teaching job in Japan my senior year of college and got accepted toiDoc.co
go there
and teach for a year. But upon further research I found that the hours were long and the pay was
crap.
People who teach English abroad are often hit in the face pretty hard with reality: teaching kids is
not easy in any language, much less one which you dont know; teaching a subject youve never
taught before is hard as well; and it is especially hard when you dont know anyone and arent
making a lot of money. Honestly, I hope you love kids.
Again, there are people who love teaching English abroad, but almost everyone I talked to said
there was a steep learning curve and it wasnt exactly enjoyable, particularly in the beginning.
For these reasons I ended up not taking the Japan job. That and I wanted to be based in Tokyo or
Osaka but the company couldnt promise me any specific location. There was a good chance that Id
get stuck out in the countryside for a solid year or more. Im not a countryside guy, so I said no
thanks.
But if you do find a program that youre interested in, teaching jobs are notoriously easy to land.
These companies have such obscenely high turnover (for the reasons listed above) that its a
sellers market.
Some good places to start in finding teaching jobs abroad:
http://www.eslemployment.com/
http://www.worldteach.org/
http://www.languagecorps.com/
http://www.teachaway.com/
http://www.footprintsrecruiting.com/
http://www.goabroad.com/teach-abroad
Those are just to get you started. If theres a particular country youd like to teach in, just google
Teach English in X where X is that country.
Teaching and volunteering can also be useful to get visas handled or deal with otherwise unsavory
paperwork.
Also, if you land in a big country with a lot of culture, then you can take the money you make to
explore the rest of it, or explore some surrounding countries. I talked to a guy who taught English
in Chile for a while, and then used that money to travel up through Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.
You can teaching English in this way to fund further travel and to eliminate a lot of red-tape hassles
of typical tourist travel.
For example, lets say you want to go to China, but the visa and paperwork is a huge hassle. You
could set yourself up to teach English there for a few months, earn some basic pay, get used to the
culture, and then when youre done, take off and visit the rest of the country and some of the
surrounding countries on the money you saved up.

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Some teaching gigs do offer lenient vacation time as well, which you can take advantage of. And
the more teaching experience you get in one country, the more teaching jobs in other countries will
open up to you.
Work Abroad
What about finding a legitimate career-like job in another country and working there for an
extended amount of time?
There are two ways to go about this, and neither is simple. The first is to work for a US company
(or wherever youre from) that has branches or divisions all over the world and then request to be
transferred to them. In some companies this is an easy process with a lot of flexibility. In others, it
is not.
The other option is to apply for jobs with companies directly in another country. This can be easy
or difficult depending on the countrys work permits and the countrys economy/demand for
westerners.
For instance, the UK is incredibly uptight about work permits. I already have a job, but every time I
go there, border patrol still bothers me about whether Im going to get a job there or not.
On the other hand, China and other growing Asian countries practically cant hire educated
westerners fast enough.
Theres a perception in the west particularly in the United States that working in a foreign
country, especially a developing country, means living worse off.
In fact, the opposite is often true.
Places such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Bangalore yeah, they hire you for a fraction
of what you would make in New York City or London. But the cost of living and the perks are
through the roof.
A friend of mine visited a hotel owner in Kuala Lumpur who was looking for western educated
managers. He said that he would take anybody with a degree from a western university, make them
manager immediately, give them (yes, give them) their own penthouse in downtown Kuala Lumpur,
and pay them the equivalent of making six-figures back home (comparable to cost-of-living in
Malaysia).
Now, you may be thinking, OK, thats nice, but who would want to live in Malaysia?
Actually, youd be surprised at how developed and nice Kuala Lumpur is. It has the third tallest
building in the world (Petronas Towers, taller than the Empire State Building), one of the largest
indoor malls in the world (with an indoor rollercoaster), plenty of five-star hotels and restaurants, a
vibrant nightlife, an efficient metro, tropical weather year-round, and all of the luxuries and

amenities you would expect in a world-class city.

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Not to mention its the hub for AirAsia, meaning you have quick, cheap flights to anywhere in
Southeast Asia at your fingertips.
The beauty of transferring your typical, run-of-the-mill banking or accounting or medical job
overseas, depending on the country, is that you immediately become an high-roller.
When I lived in So Paulo, I met a lot of guys my age working down there in finance. Back home, in
Chicago or New York or Boston, they had been lowly grunts, number-crunching monkeys. But in
So Paulo, they were all-stars. And they were set up with amazing lives in the biggest city in South
America, in one of the coolest countries in the world!
Cant complain about that.
The best way to start plotting your career abroad is to hop online and start researching it yourself. I
have no idea what your needs or goals are, so Ill let you feel those out yourself.
http://www.overseasjobs.com
http://www.overseasdigest.com
http://www.emergingmarketcareers.com (specializes in Asia)

Working Remotely and Passive Income

The Holy Grail: being able to earn money from anywhere in the world. The best is what is called
passive income, basically income you make without ever lifting a finger.
Some popular professions that allow you to live remotely around the world:
Stock/options trader
Freelance writer/blogger
Internet Marketing/Copywriting
Poker Player
Search Engine Optimization
Web/Graphic Designer
Programmer/Software Engineer
Consultant
To develop passive income, you need to build some sort of asset. This could be as simple as a small
web project that generates some advertising money each month, or owning an entire business. It
could be the interest and dividends you collect on your investments.
The unfortunate aspect of all of these professions is that they all have a steep learning curve and

require suffering through a few years making little to no money before you start having aiDoc.co
sustainable income.
I started as a blogger who did internet marketing projects on the side as well as took on consulting
clients for their dating lives. For the first two years in 2008 and 2009, I basically subsisted and that
was it.
By the end of 2009, I had enough online products and projects bringing in passive income, and I was
able to charge my clients a lot more money because I had spent two years building a reputation for
myself. At the end of 2009, I was able to take off and start living and working abroad.
But even then, I was very limited in where I could go and how much I could spend on my cost of
living. And that was after working two years full-time on my internet business.
If theres anything people dont seem to get, its that its a long, hard road to develop locationindependent income. Its a road measured in years, not months.
But its worth it.
Whichever of the above skills you gravitate to is going to depend on your skill-set, your interests
and how much money youre starting out with.
Blogging requires no money to get started, but you have to get comfortable writing A LOT. I.e.,
3,000 words per week. And it needs to be high quality. And you need to do it for at least a year or
two before you start getting some regular readers. And even then, theres no guarantee that youll
be able to monetize.
Blogging is often the first thing new web entrepreneurs gravitate to, but it may be one of the most
difficult things to make money off of quickly.
Programming on the other hand requires a lot of prior knowledge or experience, but if you know
what youre doing, hopping right in and developing some clients is quick and easy. The same goes
with marketing, although marketing is a much more subjective field and requires a lot of
networking.
If youre looking to get into the freelancing biz, then you have to start somewhere. And
unfortunately, that starting place means taking a lot of low-paying, crappy gigs. The goal here is to
build three things: 1) experience, 2) a client base, 3) a network.
This takes time. This means hopping on www.elance.com or www.odesk.com and taking some
crappy jobs for $10 per hour for a few months and being aggressive about netting return clients and
networking to find more opportunities.
Once youve built up a solid reputation for yourself and have some regular clients, then you can up
your rates and continue to expand.
The goal is to eventually only take on a small amount of highly qualified, big ticket clients

whether it be copywriting, design or programming.

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It often takes a few years to get to this level.

In fact, even if youre already the best in the world at any of the skills above (which youre not), its
going to take you a couple years to really build a solid business for yourself where youre making a
respectable income regularly.
I dont mean to dishearten you. In fact, quite the opposite: what Im telling you is to start NOW.
And the thing is, you dont have to wait until you have your business built up completely before you
go, you can build it as you travel.
For instance, when I went to Europe in 2009, I was only making about $1,000 per month in passive
income. That is not even close to enough to live off of in Europe in fact, it was about half of what
I needed to survive.
But, I had been living with my girlfriend at the time and so I had a few thousand dollars saved in the
bank.
I also knew that I had a lot of business connections in Germany, so I made a point to try to grab
some clients while I was over there. I did. I got three new clients while there, which almost paid for
the entire trip by itself.
So, even though I had half of the passive income I needed to survive in Europe, I knew I could
probably grab a couple clients there, and even if that didnt work out, I had a small safety net in the
bank, just in case.
People over-estimate how much income is required to live in some amazing parts of the world. As I
said in the introduction of this book, its usually cheaper than you think.
Below is a best bang for your buck list. These are some of my favorite places and places where I
believe you can get the highest quality of life for the lowest cost of living at the moment.
The numbers are assuming you have your own furnished apartment in a good location with your
own bedroom, internet, are eating normally and have a social life. Obviously, if you want to give up
any of the above amenities, you will save money.
Amount per month required to live comfortably in each location (all numbers are estimates):
Buenos Aires, Argentina -- $1,500 per month
Medellin, Colombia -- $1,250 per month
Chiang Mai, Thailand -- $850 per month
Bali, Indonesia -- $1,000 per month
Berlin, Germany -- $2,000 per month
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico -- $1350 per month
Kiev, Ukraine -- $1,350 per month

Prague, Czech Republic -- $1,500 per month

Cebu, Philippines -- $750 per month
Bangkok, Thailand -- $1,250 per month
Beijing, China -- $1,500 per month

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Just for reference:

Boston, USA -- $3,000 per month
London, UK -- $3,500 per month
Austin, USA -- $2,750 per month
As you can see, you can easily get a higher quality of life outside of the US for a fraction of the
price of what it costs to live and remain inside the US. And tack onto this cheaper health care costs,
no car payments or parking, etc.
Some resources to help you get started:
Apply for Freelance Work:
http://www.elance.com
http://www.odesk.com
http://www.rentacoder.com (for programming)
Other places to find online work:
http://www.locationindependent.com
http://www.locationrebel.com
Internet Marketing:
http://www.warriorforum.com/
http://forums.digitalpoint.com
Search Engine Optimization:
http://www.seomoz.org
http://www.seobook.com
Poker:
http://www.twoplustwo.com
http://www.cardrunners.com
Programming/Software:
http://code.google.com/edu/
http://www.codecademy.com
Web Design:
http://www.w3schools.com
http://www.htmldog.com
Trading:
http://www.tradingacademy.com

General Resources:
http://noexcuselist.com/

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A quick note about taxes: When you work or earn income abroad, this income is not taxable by your
home country. This is FANTASTIC news for people who want to live or work abroad.
The glaring exception is if youre from the United States. Yes, the United States is the only major
country in the world that still taxes its citizens, even if they never step foot or make a dollar inside
US borders.
There is a sizeable tax exemption though for US expats. If you spend more than 330 days outside of
the US in any given year, you are allowed to write off the first $91,500 you earn that year. For most
people, this is more than youll ever have to write off to owe nothing.
But despite that, Uncle Sam DOES require every citizen, no matter how long theyve been living
abroad, to submit a tax return yes, even if you owe nothing.
How Much Money Do I Need?
This, more than anything, is the critical question. Unfortunately its impossible to answer with a
single blanket answer.
As I mentioned earlier, the more money you have saved up, the less income you need. The more
income you have, the fewer savings you need.
There are three costs to consider when living abroad for extended periods of time: living costs,
transportation costs, and tourism costs.
Living Costs: This one is perhaps the easiest. Heres a breakdown of where you can live in the
world for various monthly prices.
$500 per month or less: Rural Africa, rural India and SE Asia, rural parts of Central America.
$500 to $1,000 per month: India, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, rural China, rural South
America, most of Africa, parts of Central America (i.e., Guatemala, Nicaragua) and the Caribbean
countries.
$1,000 to $1,500 per month: Thailand, Malaysia, Bali, mid-sized cities in China, Peru, Ecuador,
Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, Ukraine, Moldova, and Central Asia.
$1,500 to $2,000 per month: Rural United States/Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Northeast and
Amazon Brazil, Cities in China (minus Shanghai and Hong Kong), South Africa, Most of Eastern
Europe and Russia (minus St. Petersburg and Moscow), Spain, Italy, Greece, Israel.
$2,000 to $3,000 per month: Most cities in United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe
and Brazil.

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$3,000 to $4,000 per month: Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, Rio De Janeiro, So Paulo, Shanghai,
Toronto, Stockholm.
$4,000+ per month: New York City, London, Moscow, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney,
Oslo, Zurich, Dubai.

(Note: The list above is by no means complete or 100% accurate in all locations at all times. These
are just estimates circa 2011-2012. For more accurate estimates, refer to the cost-of-living
websites referenced previously in the book.)
Transportation Costs: Also varies depending on region and means of travel. If you plan on hopping
around a lot, obviously the expenses add up. If you plan on living in the middle of a city with good
public transport for months on end, then your transportation expenses will remain low.
With the exception of Europe and Asia, most one-way airline tickets are $150-250. In Europe and
Asia, the discount airlines can often take you for $100 or less.
Trains and/or buses are almost always cheap. The high end is around $50-100 per ticket in the
United States and parts of Europe. The low end is just a few dollars in places in South America or
Southeast Asia.
Tourism Costs: One of the big reasons that I recommend NOT traveling like a tourist is because you
save so much money by not being one. Prices are hiked anywhere tourists are: airports, bus
stations, famous tourist sites, tour companies, major tourist cities, etc.
The same pizza in Venice, Italy will cost three times as much as it does in a small town nearby.
Sodas can be as much as $5 at major tourist sites. And, of course, dont forget all of the souvenirs,
trinkets, guidebooks, pre-paid photographs, and the actual tours themselves.
Another example is that transportation, lodging and guide for Machu Picchu cost me over $350. It
took over 48 hours and the tour of the ruins lasted all of two hours.
For $350, a person could live well for 10 days in Cuzco, Peru.
Including tourist sites into your itinerary will bump up prices considerably not just for the tours
themselves, but getting to the site, eating at the site, and getting back from the site. Be warned.
And finally, a note on developing countries: the general perception in the west about non-Western
countries is that theyre festering shitholes.
OK, thats not totally accurate, but people tend to believe that they dont have the same amenities
that we do. Or that the quality of life isnt as good.
This is just flat out false. Yes, in developing countries, much of the population lives far worse than
we do. But one can achieve the same or even better quality of life in a place like Thailand, China or
Colombia for a fraction of the price back home.

Theres a great TED talk about this here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

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Basically, the gap between the rich countries and the poor countries has narrowed significantly, in
some places almost to the point that its not even noticeable.
People often ask me if certain countries felt dangerous. Or sometimes they ask me really ignorant
questions like how I went to the bathroom or what I ate.
They dont understand that Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is closer to Dallas than it is The Heart of
Darkness, or that Beijing and Moscow have beautiful metros that put ours to shame.
I can say that Ive been consistently surprised, again and again, with most of the countries I go to
and how much nicer they are. And you will be too.

Chapter 6: Regional Guides

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So youre all pumped to pick up and go, but youve never traveled abroad much and have no idea
what to expect in different parts of the world.
This chapter is designed to give you a very basic cultural understanding of each region in the
world.
Note: Simplifying entire regions of the planet into a few pages of pithy observations is going to
result in a lot of stereotypes and generalizations. I get it. Dont take this chapter as gospel, just as
some general guidance if youve never been to a certain part of the world before and want to get a
feel for what it will be like.
Another note: These observations are colored by my personal experiences and biases. I will try to
be impartial as I can, but nobody is perfect. So please dont start flooding my inbox unless I make a
factual error or am just plainly misguided.
OK, glad we got that out of the way.
Ill also note that, at the time of this writing, I have not been to EVERYWHERE that I write about
below. But Ive met hundreds of world travelers over the years, read hundreds of threads on travel
forums, read travel sites for years and researched some of these areas quite a bit.
So although not EVERYTHING here is from first-hand information, most of its from trusted
sources.
But, just warning you ahead of time, dont take this stuff as gospel. Like I said, Im painting a few
generalizations here to help you get an idea of where you may want to visit. Thats all.
North America
Since most readers of this book are going to be natives of North America, and because everyone
else is overly-familiar with our culture through movies and television, Im going to keep this brief.
Two things make North American culture stand out globally more than anything else: consumerism
and pop culture.
The United States, primarily Hollywood and New York, is the epicenter of the worlds popular
culture. Even though most major countries and regions have their own sub-set of popular culture,
almost all of them mimic and at least keep tabs on what comes out of the US.
North Americans are also quite materialistic in comparison to their European counterparts. Big
cars. Big houses. Big TVs. Big couches. Big clothes. Big meals. Big everything. And more of it

too.

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The rampant American consumerism has its benefits as well as its problems. The problems are
well-documented (obesity, environmental issues, entitlement attitudes, etc.). But the benefits, unless
youve lived outside of the US for a period of time, are easily overlooked.
And that is namely service. You will not get better service anywhere in the world than in the US.
The service is so good, it often borders on annoying (How is everything?)
The other big benefit is that you can buy anything, at any time, anywhere, any day of the week, and
likely get it delivered. 24 hour stores make so much sense I still have no idea why the rest of the
world hasnt caught on yet. In places like Barcelona and Buenos Aires they party all night, but every
restaurant, store, and public transportation is closed.
But in the US, if you need to buy a suitcase at 4AM, or you feel like going out for ice cream at
midnight, its no problem.
Americans, in general, tend to be a little bit ignorant of the rest of the world. This is a widely
known stereotype that is unfortunately true. Our education system is not the best, and although you
will meet plenty who are extremely knowledgeable, the majority are not.
Americans can be incredibly friendly though. In fact, its almost an extension of the service we
provide. Were friendly but we can also be pushy and aggressive. What passes as normal American
social behavior violates a lot of more cultured European mannerisms and can come across as rude
or crass. But typically we mean well.
When visiting the US/Canada, aside from the handful of world-class cities, your biggest and most
impressive destinations are going to be nature. The North American continent has a wide array of
geography and as a result, weve been blessed with some incredible sites: The Rocky Mountains,
Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Niagara Falls, Petrified Forest, Redwood Forest, etc.
The historical sites are of some interest in Washington D.C., but unless you have some specific
interest in American history then theres not a whole lot to see history-wise.
Warning: I have met a lot of foreigners through the years who share a common dream of one day
driving all the way across the United States.
The Great American Road Trip has been idolized and idealized in various movies and classic books
such as On the Road.
But please, dont do it. Ive driven across most of the US. Ive been to about 40 of the 50 states. Ive
driven from Texas to Wisconsin, and Philadelphia to Chicago. For the majority of the country there
is nothing to see. It sounds romantic and interesting, but the truth is that the West Coast is cool, the
mountains are cool, and then you have about 3,000 km of absolutely nothing but cornfields, cows
and strip malls. Its mind numbing. If you want to do a road trip in the US, keep it in the western
states. Dont say I didnt warn you.

The cost of day-to-day living (food, transportation, etc.) in the United States and Canada isiDoc.co
surprisingly lower than pretty much all of the other developed countries. Again, its because of our
rampant consumerism we have a lot of competition driving prices down and a lot of large
retailers. Also, our food is subsidized, allowing us to keep it cheap (and keep us fat).
The biggest problem with spending large amounts of time in the US or Canada is the transportation
situation. North America was built for automobiles, not for wagons or walking like most of the Old
World. Unless youre in New York City, Boston or Chicago, the public transportation is going to
suck. If youre also not in Washington DC, Seattle or San Francisco, then public transportation is
more or less non-existent. You will have to rent a car to get around almost everywhere or spend a
small fortune on taxis.
As with all of the English-speaking countries, the US and Canada arent exactly super friendly
bureaucratically. Both border patrols are stingy and there are a lot of visa requirements and hoops
to jump through. Throw on the terrorism paranoia and the god-awful (and completely useless) TSA
machines, and traveling to/from the US is a headache at the moment.
Western Europe
Western Europe is home to the largest concentration of important historical sites in the world. In
cities such as Paris or Rome, you can spend weeks on end sightseeing and still not see everything.
Visiting and/or living in Western Europe definitely has its advantages over the rest of the world.
For one, the transportation is fantastic in almost every city, and traveling by train between any two
major cities is easy, quick and cheap. Europe is overflowing with discount airlines now, making
traveling within the EU incredibly affordable as well.
The drawback of Europe is its cost-of-living. Its easily the most expensive continent in the world,
with almost all of the countries in Western Europe being more expensive than the US, some
significantly so (Norway, Sweden, England). The good news is that there are some hacks to get
around the high prices.
For one, Europe is covered in hostels. Also, in many European cities, renting rooms in apartments
is often much cheaper than hotels and easy to get ahold of.
European cities also have fantastic public transportation and are very walkable. Many of them are
so beautiful, you find yourself wanting to take the 30 minute walk to get to your destination (Paris,
Amsterdam, Prague, Madrid).
Unfortunately, food is expensive and portion sizes are small (especially by American standards).
Even in supermarkets, produce is more expensive, and meat is much more expensive than in other
parts of the world. Good news if you want to lose weight! Theres a reason pretty much every
American who goes on vacation to Europe comes back skinnier than when they left.
Europeans dress very well and are generally more polite than their American/Aussie counterparts.
They come from a long history of social class and one can detect some residue of this kind of

social hierarchy in their society.

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Generally, theyre extremely helpful and friendly to foreigners (exceptions: Paris, Rome, lesser
extent London). The countries and cultures are so intermingled that theyre probably some of the
most tolerant countries on earth, which is good news if youre a minority.
And despite the rumors, they do not hate Americans and you do not have to put a Canadian flag on
your backpack to travel through there. Yes, you may get an occasional, Youre not a Republican,
are you? But you can easily just decline the conversation if youd like. Honestly, most people just
dont really seem to care and the political differences are really blown out of proportion.
Europe is highly seasonal. During the summer months, getting around the tourist sites in the big
cities can be a complete nightmare. I hear Rome and Venice are particularly hellish during the
summer.
Again, its hard to generalize an entire continent with dozens of countries each with hundreds (or
thousands) of years of history. But here are some very general and basic differences between the
different sub-regions:
Scandinavia (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark): people are a bit more reserved and shy.
Very blond. Prosperous, socialist countries with very little crime or income inequality. Pretty
girls. Heavy drinking culture. Horrible winters. White nights during the summer. Also
extremely expensive. Everyone speaks English.
England/Ireland: Funny accents, heavy drinking, shitty weather and dry, sardonic humor. Fairly
expensive. Nice countryside. More boisterous, outgoing, drunk and promiscuous than most
mainland Europeans.
Central Europe (Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria): The people are very tall,
rational and well-spoken, but also a little bit stand-offish. The best beer in the world.
Relatively expensive, but not as bad as other parts of Europe. Berlin, in particular, is relatively
cheap. A significant amount of people speak English well, but not everyone.
Romance Countries (France, Spain, Portugal, Italy): The people are more passionate and
expressive. The language barrier also gets quite a bit higher in these countries. Fun nightlife
(especially in Spain). Beautiful women and more aggressive men. Warmer weather. Siestas.
Much more family-oriented culture, where families will stay out until 11PM at night having
dinner together. Nice beaches.
My personal favorites are Spain and Germany.
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the former Warsaw Pact (communist) countries of Europe. Once you hit Prague
and Budapest, continuing east, youll notice clear differences in culture, architecture, attitude, food,

and everything else.

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Ill start with the exceptions, and then well move on to the main cultural indicators of this region.
Prague and Budapest: two global cities that have a confluence of both Eastern and Western
European indicators. Both cities are historical cities and absolutely beautiful (like, staggeringly
beautiful if you catch the right view at the right hour).
Unlike the dregs of the former Soviet bloc, many of the old architecture is still intact in these two
cities and so you are treated to some beautiful vistas and not just cold communist concrete.
The people also seem to be a bit more open and friendly than the people farther east. The food is
better as well.
But once you get east of western Poland and Prague, Eastern Europe is not an easy place to travel.
Almost nobody speaks English. The architecture is ugly and not everything functions efficiently.
People are crass and often rude. The service is terrible and the food is worse. The weather is a
nightmare (Stalin famously claimed his three best generals were December, January and
February).
And although the cost of living is significantly lower than Western Europe, in many places its not
exactly cheap (St. Petersburg and Moscow are both very expensive).
With that said, I love Eastern Europe. It grows on you in a bizarre way if you let it. It shows you that
things you once considered necessities are merely conveniences. The people strip away all of the
empty pleasantries and youre left with some of the most open and genuine conversations youll
come across, for better or worse.
And although not courteous or friendly to strangers, Eastern Europeans can be some of the warmest
and most passionate people in the world once you get to know them well.
Also, if youre a history buff, youre in for a real treat. Not only has Eastern Europe (primarily
Russia) had possibly the most tumultuous 200 years in the civilized world, but also its amazing to
see that their stories dont always line up clearly with what we learn in school in the West.
When I lived in St. Petersburg, my Russian teacher and I had many interesting conversations
discussing Cold War history (something I studied a lot of in college) uncovering all of the
mismatches and misinformation that didnt line up between what we had both learned.
The longer your trip to Eastern Europe is, the better. Except for a few notable locations (St.
Petersburg, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw), its not a glamorous place to be and its difficult to just
drop in for a few days and get your moneys worth.
But if you stick around, adapt to the way of life a little bit, meet some locals, pick up some words in
Russian or Polish, youll eventually be exposed to a completely different way of relating, and if
youre like me, youll get a bit hooked on it.

Oh, and the women are gorgeous (most beautiful in the world, in my opinion) and everyone
parties
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their asses off, if thats your thing.
Unfortunately, I cant say the same for the men. Theyre a bit brutish, drunk too often, and not
respectful. If youre female, you may want to proceed with caution.
Finally, Eastern Europe is very seasonal. Although not the biggest tourist destinations in the world,
you definitely do not want to get caught in Moscow or Estonia in the dead of winter. St. Petersburg
experiences the famous White Nights in June and July (truly remarkable, I only slept a few hours
a night and felt great). And the beaches of Croatia on the Adriatic Sea get hopping in the summer
time as well.
Prague gets overrun with tourists and backpackers and many of the locals leave the city in the
summer. So its the one exception that is better to visit in the fall or spring.
Oh, and a word of warning, the more Slavic countries (Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine) have a
reputation for being a bit racist, particularly against Middle Easterners, but also black people. Im
white, so I didnt experience this, and Ive heard the racism concerns are blown out of proportion,
but there were very, very few minorities in Russia when I was there. Just something to keep in
mind.
Latin America
Ive spent most of my time in Latin America since living abroad. Of its 22 major countries (not
counting small countries in the Caribbean), I have been to 14 of them with long-term stints in
Argentina, Brazil and Colombia and multiple visits to Guatemala, Mexico and Costa Rica.
Culturally speaking, its my favorite region on earth, particularly South America. The people are
extremely passionate. Everyone wears their hearts on their sleeves, both men and women. The food
is (usually) great. And you have every kind of climate and geography you could ask for.
Latin America is also one of the more dangerous regions in the world. Of countries with the
highest murder rates in the world, Latin America occupies 5 of the top 10 spots, and 10 of the top
25 (almost every other spot belongs to African countries). These countries are also rife with petty
crime: pickpockets, mugging, ATM rip offs, etc.
But as long as you stick to the nicer areas of Latin America (which you will be), youll be fine. Ive
found that the statistics can say whatever they want, but by and large, the majority of the population
of the world are good people and wont hurt you. In all of my time in these countries, Ive never
been robbed and have only met a handful of people who have bad stories to tell.
If you are a woman, its worth knowing that the men in this region can be incredibly aggressive,
jealous and clingy. Although I dont think Ive ever seen outright violence or blatant disrespect
towards women here, the men are not shy and theyre definitely not as relaxed as Western men are
back home. Some women like and prefer this. But you may as well know up front.

If youre blond in particular, get ready to make some new friends.

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While there are more English speakers in Latin America than in Eastern Europe or Asia, there still
are not many. And generally the further away you get from tourist sites; the less youll run into.
Spanish is spoken everywhere with the exception of Brazil, which speaks Portuguese. Luckily for
us, Spanish and Portuguese are probably two of the easiest languages for English-speakers to learn.
Since this is such a large region, and since I know it in a bit more detail, Im going to go through it
chunk by chunk.
Lets start with the Caribbean. The Caribbean countries have a lot of beautiful beaches and shady
people. Unfortunately, theres a lot of prostitution and drug-dealing that goes on in places like the
Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and, from what Ive heard, Cuba.
The Caribbean countries are quite poor and have a large African influence. In Haiti, the poorest of
the countries, they speak French. Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago speak English
(although theyre not of Latin heritage). Suriname they speak Dutch. The rest of the countries
speak Spanish.
If youre a US citizen, the US government prevents you from visiting Cuba. Well, they dont
prevent you, but its a $10,000 fine if they find out you went.
You can still go though, you just have to fly there from either Canada or Mexico. When you arrive,
be sure to have them NOT stamp your passport and instead stamp a printed out sheet. Also, do not
take or use American dollars.
Theres quite a bit of American vacationing going on in the resorts of Mexico: from Cabo to Puerta
Vallarta to Cozumel, and of course, Cancun.
The southern part of Mexico, along with Guatemala, and to a lesser extent Honduras and Nicaragua,
are currently being torn apart by violence from the drug trades. In Mexico, the amount of violence
has escalated to the point of civil war and Honduras leads the world in homicide rate for 2011, with
Guatemala not too far behind.
Ive been to these places and never felt that unsafe, but I did hear stories, some of which were a
little too close for comfort. So keep your wits about you.
These countries/areas are known mostly for their Aztec/Mayan ruins, their fantastic food, and thats
about it. The cost of living is amazing and the people are quite hospitable. But I wouldnt
recommend staying in this region longer than necessary unless youre there volunteering or
working.
Moving down to Costa Rica and Panama, you get the two most Americanized and possibly safest
Latin countries to visit. Whenever people tell me they want to experience Latin America, but
theyve never been abroad before and want to know where to start, I usually point them to Costa
Rica and Panama.

Both have nice beaches, friendly locals, large tourist industries, decent English-usage and iDoc.co
are still
relatively cheap compared to the US. Panama is quite developed and Panama City could pass for a
US city if you didnt know better.
Entering northern South America, Colombia and Venezuela are more culturally alike to one
another, while Ecuador and Peru are more alike. Colombia is not nearly as dangerous as it used to
be and is actually quite developed these days. Its where I live as I write this guide. The people are
very outgoing and fun and the women are stunning. Its also the so-called salsa dancing capital of
the world.
Both Colombia and Venezuela are undergoing a lot of civil strife at the moment and its NOT
recommended that you stray too far from the big cities for extended periods of time.
Ecuador and Peru are both mountainous and a bit more commercial. Theyre also poorer. They
each get more tourists and they also suffer from more petty theft than most other South American
countries.
Chile and Argentina are more culturally similar while Paraguay and Bolivia are probably the
poorest and most un-exciting countries on the continent. Bolivia has the salt flats, but thats about it.
Argentina is famous for its wine and beef. Buenos Aires is a massive cosmopolitan city with a lot of
culture and great nightlife. Be warned that Chileans and Argentineans speak the most
indecipherable Spanish in the world. Their accents are thick and strange. Patagonia in the southern
tip of the continent offers plenty of amazing nature, glaciers, mountains and can consume weeks of
your life if you let it.
And finally, theres Brazil an incredibly diverse country. Expensive, beautiful, and with one of the
most vibrant and fun cultures in the world, Brazil is often listed as one of the favorites of many
world travelers (its one of my favorite countries in the world).
Its almost impossible to not make friends and have fun when youre in Brazil. The language barrier
can be tough and everything is overpriced, but its often worth it.
Despite this, even Brazil still has a lot of petty crime and corruption going on. Also, be warned that
Brazil requires a visa before you go there. Its expensive and onerous to obtain. Argentina has a visa
as well, but you can purchase it on arrival (for a paltry $120).
Argentina gets all of the hype for its food, but I honestly think the food in Brazil is better and
probably the best on the continent.
Colombia possibly gives you the best bang for your buck in terms of quality of life for cost of
living.
Machu Picchu is absolutely worth seeing if you can make it but requires a bit of investment to get
up there.
Bolivia is the cheapest country. Uruguay has some beautiful beaches with great party scenes (where

rich Argentineans go in the summer to live it up). Most of the countries offer Amazon forest
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to some extent or another, but the logistics are complicated depending on where you are. I
recommend doing them either from Peru or Brazil.
For whatever reason, airfare throughout Latin America is uncharacteristically expensive. For the
distances crossed, prices in South America are often twice as expensive as they would be in Europe
or Asia. Im not positive, but I believe this is because the corrupt governments levy major taxes on
air travel.
The consolation is that Latin America has a cheap and reliable bus system. Many of the buses are
quite comfortable as well, with televisions, electrical outlets and seats that recline all the way. So
even though you may be riding 12 hours between Peru and Bolivia, you are at least doing it in some
sense of comfort.
There is a solid backpacker scene in Latin America, primarily in Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and
Costa Rica. Brazil tends to be on the expensive side for many backpackers, and places like
Venezuela or Nicaragua are deemed too dangerous, so many of this skip over them.
Asia
It goes without saying how diverse Asia is. There are distinct and different cultures, often times a
mere few dozen miles apart from one another. Ill throw out some over-arching generalities about
the continent. And then like with the Latin America section, Ill move through the region countryby-country and give some of my observations and experiences.
But first, lets make some general statements about Asia:
By and large, the cultures are more subdued and passive. Asian cultures also place a lot more
emphasis on professional and intellectual success. The stereotype of smart Asian kids in the
US is not a coincidence, they take their education very seriously in many Asian countries
(primarily Japan, S. Korea and China).
Because of the emphasis on education and professional success, white people are generally
highly regarded. There is a pro-Caucasian racism throughout a lot of Asia. If youre white, and
have light features and blond hair, dont be surprised if people take photos of you in rural/nontourist parts of many of the countries.
Asian cultures seem to be more comfortable with objectifying their interactions more. You
will get hassled to buy crap, ripped off and solicited by prostitutes more in Asia than any other
region.
Prostitution is not only far more widespread in Asia, but its much more socially acceptable. In
many Asian cultures, theres a belief that if a man is not going to commit to a woman (i.e., hes
not interested in marriage), then she needs to be compensated for the time she sacrifices to be
with him. Whether she likes him or not is often besides the point. Theres a large spectrum of

gray-areas, but casual relationships in Asia can often be transactional one way oriDoc.co
another,
whether overt or not.
Asia has some of the highest quality-of-life/cost-of-living ratios of anywhere in the world. I
saw a forum post today by a programmer who is living in Saigon, Vietnam with his wife. They
have a fully furnished apartment and housekeeper, they live in the center of the city, eat out for
every meal and spend a lot of time in the local cafes. He reported that they were only spending
$300 on rent per month and were living there for less than $1,000 easily.
The food in Asia is varied and great. Cheap as well. And while, yes, in some areas they eat
strange things like scorpions or dogs, its by no means common. Most places you go, its
chicken on the menu.
Speaking of food. It is SPICY. Do not fuck around with this. Most places they know that youre
a westerner and to tone down the spices, but if they ask you if you want it spicy and you say
yes, dont say nobody warned you.
A lot of people are cavalier about this. I grew up in Texas and grew up eating spicy Tex Mex
and Barbeque my entire life. The first time I asked for spicy food in Thailand, my eyes
teared up and my entire mouth went numb. I couldnt finish my plate.
Asia is CROWDED. The population densities are quite a bit more than youre used to. Rooms
and apartments are often going to be smaller than youre used to. In Hong Kong, my room had
a bathroom that was basically a toilet inside a shower and that was it.
OK, lets blast through some of these countries and regions.
Japan is the third richest country in the world and the most expensive country in the world to live in
at the moment. Tokyo is also the biggest city in the world as of this writing.
Japan is crowded and clean and their culture values respect and courtesy almost to a fault. In fact, if
you can learn a few phrases of Japanese before you go, this will win you a lot of brownie points
with the locals because it demonstrates a lot of respect for their culture.
Most Japanese people have studied a lot of English and can speak some, but they are shy about
using it and often wont unless you stumble through some hackneyed Japanese first.
Japanese is also home to the best transportation in the world, both their metro systems and their
high-speed rail are something to behold. Taxis are ubiquitous but incredibly expensive.
South Koreas culture is most analogous to Japanese, although it seems to be a bit more
conservative and insular. South Korea is also always on alert that the nutcase to their north is going
to drop a nuclear bomb at any moment, so the culture seems a bit more wound up in general.
Military service there is compulsory (similar to Israel) so that affects the culture quite a bit.
Seoul is the third largest city in the world (the second is Mumbai, India) but unlike Tokyo, its far

more spread out.

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A couple quirks in these cultures as well: In Japan, theres a deep affection for karaoke (to a lesser
extent in Korea as well), while in South Korea, people watch video game competitions the same
way we watch ESPN.
China is the most populated country in the world and the cities are quite polluted. Depending what
time of year you arrive, there may be an orange haze leering over Beijing. This is not fog. Its
pollution.
And although their cities are very impressive and modern, the quality of life for the average citizen
is not that great (overworked, under-nourished). I have not been to interior China, but Ive heard
there are some horribly polluted rural areas with people who are extremely poor.
Hong Kong has a large expat scene, since its both a major trade port and financial center. In fact, if
you stay on the island, you can forget youre in China at times because there are so many
westerners. Hong Kong is amazing, extremely cosmopolitan and a lot of fun. Its also quite
expensive by Asian standards.
I also dont recommend taking a train through China if you can afford it or there are flights
available. Youre likely to end up standing up for 12 hours crammed between a dozen Chinese
people six inches shorter than you. (This goes for India as well.)
Unfortunately, both of these countries (China and India) are so large and still lack some
infrastructure in the rural areas, that if you want to get to some of the more remote parts of the
country, you will not have a choice.
Southeast Asia is the favorite haven of many internet entrepreneurs and permanent nomads. Its
harder to find a better quality-of-life to cost-of-living ratio than in Thailand, Vietnam or the
Philippines. You get some of the best beaches in the world, fantastic food, great service, friendly
people, tropical weather, all for maybe of what you would pay back home.
There are more and more business opportunities springing up in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur as
well.
And then theres Singapore, one of the most expensive countries in the world, but absolutely
pristine and 100% safe. Its a favorite destination of mine.
Theres also Bali in Indonesia another internet entrepreneur hang out, as well as one of the most
overrated party scenes in the world. Bali is world famous for its surfing and its drunk Aussie kids.
Know what youre getting into before you go (I didnt).
And finally, there are the Philippines. As a US colony, the Philippines are largely influenced by US
culture and many of them speak English well. Aside from having some of the most beautiful
beaches in the world and being incredibly cheap, many parts of the Philippines are dirty and
impoverished. Avoid Manila.

Air Asia is a discount airline that serves all of Southeast Asia and I recommend it if you want
to get
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around (that or Tiger Airways). You can often get flights between Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur or
Singapore and Jakarta for as little as $100 and often less.
And lastly, theres India. India is a polarizing country that some people love and some people hate. I
hated it. Although I recognize there are amazing parts of the country and it has some amazing
people, the degree and magnitude of the poverty was simply too much for me. You can read my
(harsh) take on it here:
http://postmasculine.com/a-dust-over-india
It should be noted that a lot of Asian countries require visas before you arrive (China, Vietnam,
India, etc.) and a few others require you to pay for one upon arrival (Indonesia, Cambodia). So if
you plan on hopping around quite a bit, make sure you have room in your passport. I ran out of free
pages for a visa in Indonesia and I almost got turned away at the airport.
As far as languages go, Asian languages are some of the hardest in the world for English speakers.
In my opinion, its not worth the time unless you plan on spending a lot of time there (a year
minimum). Most people speak some pidgin English, and anybody who works in tourist areas or in
high-end service industries is going to be able to communicate with you a bit.
Australia and New Zealand
Both countries cultures are fairly analogous to other English-speaking cultures. Both countries are
also naturally beautiful, clean, developed, safe, and often listed near the top of Best places to live
in the world lists.
Australia has its beaches and a little bit more going on in its major cities. New Zealand has some of
the most beautiful nature youll see anywhere in the world and great mountains on the south island.
Most of the action in Australia happens on its east coast, from Cairns all the way down to
Melbourne. Cairns is typically considered the best jump-off point to dive on the Great Barrier Reef.
Further south, just north of Brisbane, you have the Whitsunday Islands which are reputed to have
some of the most beautiful beaches in the world (I was underwhelmed, but hey). Then of course you
have Sydney, the financial and business center of the region, and then Melbourne, a city thats often
referred to as the best city to live in in the world by all sorts of sociological metrics (crime,
climate, health care, community, etc.).
Even though much of Lord of the Rings was recorded on New Zealands north island, the south island
is where the nature gets ridiculous. Queenstown looks like its right out of, well, right out of a
movie. And some of the fjords, glaciers and mountains down there have to be seen to be believed.
The north island has the major cities. New Zealand is fairly unpopulated, with hardly four million
people in the entire country. So even its bustling metropolises of Auckland and Wellington are
fairly tame and quaint by international standards.

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New Zealand is considered the adventure capital of the world. Its where bungee jumping was
invented. And they have this thing called zorbing. It consists of putting you in a gigantic plastic,
see-through ball, spraying water inside, and then throwing it down a giant hill, with you in it of
course.

Dont ask. It was fun as hell though.

On top of the bizarre adventures and the sheep, theres lots of great hiking, rafting, skydiving,
spelunking, rock climbing one of the few countries where you could visit a beach and a mountain
in the same day.

Middle East and Africa

I cant say too much about these regions because other than Israel and Turkey, Ive never been. But
here are some (very) broad generalizations to keep in mind.
For women, you will run into more misogyny and disrespect here than anywhere else in the world.
Not that it makes the traveling experience unenjoyable, but just dont be surprised when it happens.
Traveling with a male companion, whether friend or boyfriend is advisable in many places.
Also note that youll be expected to keep yourself covered in Muslim countries. Women who wear
shorts or sleeveless shirts are seen as disrespectful in many Muslim countries, and yes, I know, its
110 degrees (43 Celsius) every day over there, but they do still expect you in a long dress and long
sleeves.
Not that its mandatory, but you can expect a lot of unwanted attention if you dont comply.
My ex-girlfriend is a director of a non-profit in Tanzania. And she related stories to me that men
often wouldnt even speak to her at meetings, despite the fact she was the director of the
organization giving them money. These same men would then solicit her sexually after the meeting.
Africa is corrupt and the most violent continent in the world. I probably did not have to tell you
that. It also has some of the most beautiful nature and wildlife in the world. Probably didnt have to
tell you that either.
Northern Africa is similar to Arab culture while sub-Saharan Africa remains quite tribal in many
ways.
The Muslim countries, although also misogynistic and strict, the people can be very hospitable.
Some of the countries are next to impossible to travel to due to insane visa restrictions by both our
governments and theirs (Iran, Saudia Arabia, Yemen). Despite all of the violence going on over
there, Ive heard from travellers that day-to-day travel is fairly safe, as it is in most parts of the
world.
Dubai is a large exception in the Arab world. Its a strange mixture of Las Vegas and Manhattan, in

that its the financial capital of the region (and has some of the most impressive modern iDoc.co
architecture in the world), but its also where the Arabic population (read: men) go to blow off
steam and get away with doing things that they cant do back in their home countries you know,
like drink alcohol and bang prostitutes.
Do note that if you visit any Arab countries, you cannot go to Israel. And if you get an Israeli stamp
on your passport, you cannot enter some Muslim countries. Lame, I know. But just a heads up, youll
need a second passport if you want to hit more countries than just Israel.
Africa is the easiest place to get volunteer and aid jobs. I would just suggest doing some research
on the country and not to romanticize the poverty and natural lifestyles over there. Said exgirlfriend, before working in Tanzania received an offer from an organization in Malawi. Upon
further investigation, she would have more or less been camping for six months without any
modern amenities whatsoever.
Not that rural Tanzania was much better, but at least she had access to a large, somewhat
modernized city in Dar Es Salaam and the beautiful beaches of Zanzibar nearby.

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Chapter 7: How to Learn Languages Quickly

If youre going to spend any significant amount of time in a foreign country, then youre going to
want to be able to communicate at least the bare essentials to people.
My personal rule is that no matter what country I go to, I learn how to say Hello and Thank you
in their language. No exceptions. It takes 5 minutes to learn them and its amazing how much those
simple words will accomplish on their own. As if by magic, people immediately lighten up and
become friendlier.
You can learn these two words in any language within minute online by using:
http://translate.google.com/
If the translation is in another alphabet (Cyrillic, Mandarin, etc.), theres a button in the bottom right
that pronounces the word out loud for you, so you can practice for a couple minutes until you get
the hang of it.
When I started traveling in 2009, I knew no other languages. I knew a little bit of Spanish from
studying it in school, but just enough to order food in a restaurant or ask where the bathroom was.
I hated language classes in school. I was terrible at them. I always assumed I was someone who was
just bad at languages.
In 2012, as of this writing, I am highly conversational (quasi-fluent) in Spanish, conversational in
Portuguese and low conversational in Russian. Thats all in less three years.
What I discovered is that what I believed about languages and my ability was bullshit. Most of it
comes down to motivation and immersion two things almost none of us get when were growing
up.
But with the right attitude and a consistency of study, anybody can become conversational in any
language in anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Im convinced of that.
How Hard? How Useful?
(Note: this following section is partly based on email conversations with a friend of mine who speaks
13 languages and is fluent in nine of them. He agreed to let me use some of his advice for languages
that Im not familiar with.)
Which language is most useful to learn first? Obviously, this is going to depend on your travel
goals. If you plan on living and working in Shanghai for the next five years, then you should
probably start studying Mandarin, and fast. If you love the beaches of South America, then Spanish

is going to be on the menu, although you may not need to be fluent.

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But first, it may be worth taking a moment to make a point about English.
English is the global language. I love languages, have spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours
studying them, but it's way too p.c. to ignore the fact that you already speak the language that is by
far the most useful in the world now. It is the de facto and often, de jure 2 language in all travel
situations (airports, hotels, etc.) in essentially any country you'll ever visit.
nd

And as far as deeper, social interactions, there's the reality that many if not the majority of the
people you'll meet and want to know will speak English, and their level of knowledge will range
from decent to fluent.
BUT, this is not an excuse to not learn another language Im merely mentioning that you should
be able to at least get by almost anywhere in the world purely on English. It may be a struggle at
times, it may get awkward, but you can always get by.
So why go through the pain of learning another language?
The answer is that it opens up far greater social opportunities, social opportunities that will lead
you to experiences that you otherwise never would have had because you wouldnt have been able
to communicate.
I can tell you from experience that there are few things as exciting or memorable as making friends
or having adventures with new people in an entirely new language that you never would have been
able to have had you not spent all of that time studying.
As someone who speaks Spanish, I can tell you that the differences between my social opportunities
in Colombia and in China (where no one speaks English and I dont speak Mandarin) is night and
day. It was practically impossible to meet people in China to hang out with. In Colombia, I hardly
even have to try. Locals hear my Spanish and immediately become intrigued and welcoming.
So learning languages is a legitimate social concern wherever you go it absolutely amplifies your
experiences and travel opportunities.
And honestly, when youre using a language daily with new people and having fun with them, it
makes it a hell of a lot more fun to study grammar and vocabulary.
That being said... which languages? The usefulness of a language really depends. Obviously, the
longer you'll spend in one place, the more useful that language is.
But there's more to it. In some countries, most of the people speak English so well that it's
ridiculous to learn their language, unless you plan to spend many years there (and even then, it's
debatable).
I'd put into that category all the Scandinavian countries and Holland, and possibly the Baltic
countries and Israel if you limit it to city-dwellers.

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And then there are the multi-lingual countries where English is the main language of government,
business, and of communication among local people who don't speak each others' language: India,
South Africa, most African countries, Singapore, Malaysia.
That right there is about 20 languages we can cross off the list. No Swedish, no Estonian or
Icelandic, no Malay, no Dutch or Afrikaans.
So what are we left with? Heres my take on the major languages and their usefulness.
Spanish
Usefulness: Very useful. Even educated Central/South Americans generally don't speak great
English. The elites and those with close ties to the U.S. will speak better, but even that's not a given.
The level of English knowledge in Spain is a bit better, but not much. Even among young people,
the knowledge isn't great.
The best part about Spanish is that its a gateway into the other romance languages. Not only is it
possibly the easiest romance language, but its also the most structured. So jumping from
Portuguese, Italian, or even French, after learning Spanish will be MUCH easier.
This is true of the other romance languages as well, but Spanish seems to have the most in common
with all of them.
Ease to Learn: Very easy. From grammar to vocabulary to speaking and comprehension, it's the
easiest foreign language for a native-English speaker. Three months of intense study should have
you fairly conversational.
Portuguese:
Usefulness: Essential... but only if you're planning on spending any time in Brazil. Brazilians speak
even less English than the rest of Central/South Americans. They usually can figure out what you're
saying if you speak slowly in Spanish, but the problem is that you won't understand a word they're
saying back to you. Brazil is one of my favorite countries in the world and many other long-term
travelers say the same thing. In my opinion, its worth it. Oh, and it will help you get by in Portugal
and Angola as well.
Ease to Learn: The nice thing is that if you already know Spanish, it's not too much work to learn
enough Portuguese to get by. It took me a few hours a day for about a month to get to the level
where I could have conversations with people (messy, error-filled conversations, but still).
Starting from scratch, the difficulty to learn is probably a tad higher than Spanish. Basically the
same grammar and vocabulary, but much harder pronunciation and a lot more idiomatic
expressions.
French:
Not necessary in France, but highly useful. I would say if you plan on spending more than a few

weeks in France, then taking the time to get the basics down is worth the trouble.

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It is true French people speak a decent amount of English, but its also true about how unhappy they
are to speak English.
French is also still used in many random parts of the world due to their former imperial ways. So
not only will you stumble across it in places like French Canada and Algeria, but random spots like
Cambodia and Laos as well.
Ease to Learn: Hardest of the romance languages (minus Romanian), but still not that hard.
Pronunciation and spelling is a bitch at first, but you get used to it. Lot of cognates and shared
words with English. 3-6 months of solid study should get you there. Less if you speak another
romance language.
Italian:
Can be useful if you'll be spending time there. English knowledge is pretty low, even in many
young, urban circles. Similar difficulty as Portuguese. Fluent Spanish will help a lot in learning
Italian and youll be able to already understand chunks of it without studying it at all. 1-2 months
and you'd be able to get by quite decently, 3-6 months and you'd be licensed to kill.
German:
Usefulness: Debatable depending on your purposes. On the one hand, most young, educated
German-speakers will speak English anywhere from decently to really well. On the other hand, if
you spend any amount of time there and get to know groups of locals, you will always be at a
communicative disadvantage.
Its an investment, but if you intend to spend a significant amount of time in the region, then its
probably worth it. It will also create an in-road to Dutch, or Danish if youre interested in those.
Ease to Learn: German is hard, but not impossible. Its spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and
is the second-language of choice in a lot of Eastern Europe.
It still retains enough in common with English and its sounds arent completely unreasonable (such
as Russian cramming four consonants together) that English-speakers can still pick it up with
enough study.
On the other hand, the grammar is a significant step up from the more western languages with three
genders and the introduction of cases.
Polish, Czech, Hungarian:
Usefulness: With a few exceptions, the level of English throughout Eastern Europe is very, very
low. In any non-touristy store, no one will speak English, not a word. Even in some hotels it can be
rough going. On the other hand, if you're hanging out with educated, young urban people in Poland,
Czech, or Hungary, at least some will speak very good English (the others will speak so-so but
probably be pretty embarrassed to speak it unless they're drunk).

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Ease to learn: Czech and Polish very hard, Hungarian ridiculously hard. All things considered, it
actually is worth learning a little if you plan on spending more than a few months in one of those
countries, but otherwise there are enough English-speakers to hold you over if you just plan on
staying for a couple weeks or less.

Russian:
Usefulness: Mandatory if you plan on spending any time at all in Russia and/or Eastern Europe. In
Russia itself, as well as Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova, Kazakhstan, Georgia, over 90% of the
population will speak nothing else. In places like Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and even Poland,
another significant portion of the population will speak it. Russian is also closely related to Czech
and Polish, so its a good starting point if you want to learn those languages.
Ease to learn: Russian is pretty hard, definitely the hardest of the major languages in Europe,
although it is an Indo-European language, so the grammar won't be totally foreign, there are lots of
cognates, and the writing is pretty easy (compared to Chinese, say).
Still, 3-6 months of hard study before you can realistically understand simple conversations on the
street, 1-1.5 years before you can sit down with a stranger and have a full conversation of an hour
or more.
Mandarin/Cantonese:
Usefulness: Mandarin is very, very useful in Northern China, Cantonese is very useful in South
(Canton). Very few normal people speak a word of English. The English level of the elites in cities
ranges, but even many of them don't know enough for a basic conversation.
It's one country where English is not the de facto lingua franca (Mandarin takes that role outside
Northern China). In the mega cities, making local friends isnt too hard because they make
themselves known and will often be hanging out with other English-speaking foreigners. Outside
of mega cities, meeting locals without knowing the language is really, really tough.
Ease to learn: It's hard. Really hard. Really, really hard and it'll take huge amounts of time.
Grammar isn't so bad, but the writing is a nightmare, tones can be hard, and there are no cognates to
help in memorizing vocab.
Japanese:
Usefulness: Debatable. Level of English is weird: everyone has studied 10 years or more of
English, so they all can read and write surprisingly well, but lots of people have problems speaking
and understanding.
You definitely can get by with English in daily life, although you will likely be limited when it
comes to longer conversations or making friends.
Ease to learn: The writing is an absolute mess and incredibly frustrating, but the language itself is
surprisingly not so bad. And pronunciation is a breeze. Definitely easier than Chinese after you get

past the initial shock of the writing.

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Plus, it's a cultural thing, but Japanese people will give you huge credit if you can even say a few
basic words, so you can get a big chunk of the praise without doing much work at all.
Korean:
Usefulness: English knowledge in South Korea isn't as good as in Japan, but elites speak well.
People are a bit colder and harder to know, so probably more important to know if you plan on
spending time there than Japanese.
Tagalog (Philippines):
Usefulness: English knowledge is very high in cities, and completely fluent among elites. And you
can get by with English even outside those circles. English-only doesn't limit you too much in terms
of meeting people, and Filipinos arent shy, especially when it comes to meeting foreigners.
Ease to Learn: Tagalog is relatively easy, but I dont know why you would bother.
Thailand:
Usefulness: There are so many tourists that you can forget it's a real country. Even uneducated
older people often speak a little basic pidgin English. Millions of foreigners pass through,
thousands are living there, and very, very few can speak a single word of the language... so you
don't need to worry about it much.
On the other hand, surprisingly few people outside the tourist industry and the elite speak enough
English to have an in-depth conversation. So if you really want to integrate yourself, then you may
want to take it on. I lived in Thailand for over three months and had trouble making long-lasting
friendships with locals, Im sad to report.
Ease to Learn: I don't know enough to really say, but I'd put it in the same league as Mandarin,
although the big advantage is that the writing is phonetic.
The following link is the Foreign Services Institutes (a branch of the US State Department)
estimate of how much time it takes to become fluent in any particular language:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Language_Learning_Difficulty_for_English_Speakers
Tips on Language Learning
1. Conversation, Conversation, Conversation. If theres a secret or hack to learning a new
language, its this: hours and hours of awkward and strenuous conversation with people better than
you in that language. An hour of conversation (with corrections and a dictionary for reference) is as
good as five hours in a classroom and 10 hours with a language course by yourself.
There are a few reasons for this. The first is motivation. I dont care how cool your study guide is,
youre going to be far more invested and motivated to communicate with a live person in front of

you than a book or audio program on your computer.

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The second reason is that language is something that needs to be processed, not memorized. Im no
expert on language learning, but in my experience staring and memorizing a word in a book or with
flashcards 100 times does not stick the same way being forced to use a word in conversation a mere
two or three times does.
I believe the reason is that our minds place more priority on memories which involve actual human
and social experiences, memories which have emotions tied to them. So, for instance, if I look up
the verb for to complain and use it in a sentence with a new friend, chances are Im always going
to associate that word with that specific interaction and conversation I was having with her.
Whereas I can blow by that same word 20 times with flashcards, and even though I may get it right, I
havent actually practiced implementing it. It means nothing to me, so it is less likely to stick with
me.
2. Intensity of study trumps length of study. What I mean by this is that studying a language four
hours a day for two weeks will be more beneficial for you than studying one hour a day for two
months. This is a reason why so many people take language classes in school and never remember
anything. Its because they only study 3-4 hours per week and often the classes are separated by
multiple days.
Language requires a lot of repetition, a lot of reference experiences, and a consistent commitment
and investment. Its better to allot a particular period of your life, even if its only 1-2 weeks, and
really go at it 100%, then to half ass it over the course of months or even years.
3. Classes suck and are an inefficient use of time and money. All things considered, you get a really
poor return for your time and effort in group classes. There are two problems. The first is that the
class moves at the pace of its slowest student. The second is that language learning is a fairly
personal process everyone naturally learns some words or topics easier than others, therefore a
class is not going to be able to address each students personal needs as well or in a timely fashion.
For instance, when I took Russian classes I found verb conjugations to be simple because I had
already learned Spanish. But an English classmate struggled quite a bit with them. As a result, I
spent a lot of my class time waiting around for him to catch up. I also had a German classmate who
had already been exposed to cases, whereas I had no clue what they were. Im sure he ended up
waiting around for me to figure it out as well. The larger the classroom, the less efficient its going
to be. Anyone who had to take a foreign language in school and retained absolutely none of it can
tell you this.
4. Start with the 100 most common words. Not all vocabulary is made the same. Some gives you a
better return on investment than others. For instance, when I lived in Buenos Aires, I met a guy who
had been studying with Rosetta Stone for months (not recommended). I had been working on and
off with a tutor for a few weeks, but I was surprised by how he could not follow even the most basic
of conversations despite months of study and living there.
It turns out, much of the vocabulary he had been studying was for kitchen utensils, family members,
clothing and rooms in a house. But if he wanted to ask someone which part of town they lived in, he

had no idea what to say.

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Start with the 100 most common words and then make sentences with them over and over again.
Learn just enough grammar to be able to do this and do it until you feel pretty comfortable with all
of them.
5. Carry a pocket dictionary. This made a much bigger difference than I expected. I carry an
English-Spanish dictionary app on my phone and I used it all the time when I live in Spanishspeaking countries. My first two weeks in Brazil, I was lazy and kept forgetting to download an
English-Portuguese application. I struggled in my conversations A LOT during those two weeks,
despite knowing basic Portuguese.
Once I downloaded the dictionary, there was an immediate difference. Having it on your phone is
great, because it takes two seconds to look something up in the middle of conversation. And
because youre using it in conversation, youre that much more likely to recall it later. Even
something that simple affected my conversations and ability to interact with locals a great deal.
6. Keep practicing in your head. The other use for your dictionary is that you can practice while
going about your day and not talking to anyone. Challenge yourself to think in the new language.
We all have monologues running in our head, and typically they run in our native tongue. You can
continue to practice and construct sentences and fake conversations in your head in a new language.
In fact, this sort of visualization leads to much easier conversations when you actually have them.
For instance, you can envision and practice a conversation about a topic youre likely to have
before you actually have it. You can begin to think about how you would describe your job and
explain why youre in the foreign country in the new language. Inevitably, those questions will
come up and youll be ready to answer them.
This may be the first time since you were five years old where having an imaginary friend is an
advantage. If you have no tutor or anyone to practice with, you can construct conversations with
your new words and grammar in your head. You can do it while youre eating lunch, sitting on a
bus, shopping for groceries, wherever.
7. Youre going to say a lot of stupid things. Accept it. When I was first learning Spanish, I once told a
group of people that Americans put a lot of condoms in their food. Later, I told a girl that basketball
makes me horny. Um, yeah Its going to happen. Trust me.
8. Figure out pronunciation patterns. All Latin-based languages will have similar pronunciation
patterns based on Latin words. For instance, any word that ends in -tion in English will almost
always end in -cin in Spanish and -o in Portuguese. English-speakers are notorious for
simply adding -o -e or -a to the end of English words to say Spanish words they dont know.
But stereotypes aside, its surprising how often its correct. Destiny is destino, motive is
motivo, part is parte and so on. In Russian, case endings always rhyme with one another, so if
you are talking about a feminine noun (such as Zhen-shee-na), then you know that the adjectives
and adverbs will usually rhyme with its ending (krasee-vaya as opposed to krasee-vee).
9. Use audio and online courses for the first 100 words and basic grammar. After that they should
only be used for reference and nothing more. There are a lot of study materials: Pimsleur, Rosetta

Stone, Berlitz, DuoLingo, etc. These courses are great for getting you from absolutely noiDoc.co
ability in
a language to being able to speak basic sentences and phrases within a few days time. Theyre also
good for teaching the most fundamental vocabulary (words such as: the, I, you, eat, want, thanks,
etc.).
But the weakness of study materials is that they dont allow for much useful practice. The greatest
return on investment in language learning is forcing yourself to speak and communicate with
others, and when youre sitting in your bedroom with a book or a software program, youre not
being forced to formulate meaning and significance in the new language on the spot. Instead, youre
encouraged to parrot and copy concepts and patterns youve observed elsewhere in the materials.
As mentioned before, I feel that these are two different types of learning and one is far more useful
than the other.
10. After the first 100 words, focus on becoming conversational. Studies have shown that the most
common 100 words in any language account for 50% of all spoken communication. The most
common 1,000 words account for 80% of all spoken communication. The most common 3,000
words account for 99% of communication. In other words, there are some serious diminishing
returns from learning more vocabulary. I probably only know about 1,000 words in Spanish and in
most conversations I never have to stop and look a word up in my phone.
The basic grammar should get you speaking fundamental sentences within a matter of days.
Where is the restaurant?
I want to meet your friend.
How old is your sister?
Did you like the movie?
The first few hundred words will get you pretty far. Use them to get as comfortable as possible
with grammar, idioms, slang and constructing thoughts, jokes and ideas in the new language on the
fly. Once youre able to joke consistently in the new language, thats a pretty good sign that its
time to expand your vocabulary out.
A lot of people attempt to expand their vocabulary too quickly and too soon. Its a waste of time
and effort because theyre still not comfortable with basic conversations about where theyre from,
yet theyre studying vocabulary about economics or medicine. It makes no sense.
11. Aim for the brain melt. You know how when you do a lot of intellectually-intensive work for
hours and hours on end, at some point your brain just feels like a lump of gravy? Shoot for that
moment when learning languages. Until youve reached brain-gravy stage, you probably arent
maximizing your time or effort. In the beginning, youll hit mind-melt within an hour or two. Later
on, it may take an entire night of hanging out with locals before it happens. But when it happens, its
a very good thing.
12. How do you say X? is the most important sentence you can possibly learn. Learn it early and
use it often.
13. One on one tutoring is the best and most efficient use of time. Its also usually the most expensive
use of time, depending on the language and country. But if you have the money, grabbing a solid

tutor and sitting with him or her for a few hours every day is the fastest way to learn a newiDoc.co
language Ive ever found. A mere two hours a day for a few weeks with a tutor in Brazil got me to
at least a respectable conversational level i.e., I could go on a date with a girl who spoke no
English and maintain conversation throughout the night without making too much of a fool of
myself.
Speaking of which
14. Date a someone who speaks the target language and not your native language. Talk about
investment and motivation. Youll be fluent in a month. And best of all, if you make him/her mad or
do something wrong, you can claim lost in translation.
15. If you cant find a cute guy/girl to put up with you, find a language buddy online. There are a
number of websites of foreigners who want to learn English who would be willing to trade practice
time in their native language for practice in yours. Live Mocha (http://www.livemocha.com) is a
great resource of this (Im not a huge fan of their lessons, but the ability to video chat with other
members is priceless).
16. Facebook chat + Google Translate = Winning.
17. When you learn a new word, try to use it a few times right away. When you stop and look up a
new word in conversation, make a point to use it in the next two or three sentences you say.
Language learning studies show that you need to hit a certain amount of repetitions of saying a
word within one minute of learning it, one hour of learning it, one day, etc. Try to use it
immediately a few times and then use it again later in the day. Chances are itll stick.
18. TV shows, movies, newspapers and magazines are a good supplementation. But they should not be
mistaken or replacements for legitimate practice. When I was getting good at Spanish, I made a
point to watch a couple movies each week and read an article on El Pais (http://www.elpais.com)
each day. It was helpful for keeping me fresh, but I dont believe it was as good as use of my time as
conversations.
19. Most people are helpful, let them help. If youre in a foreign country and making a complete ass
out of yourself trying to buy something at the grocery store, ask random people for help. Point to
something and ask how to say it. Ask them questions. Most people are friendly and willing to help
you out. Learning a language is not for shy people.
20. There will be a lot of ambiguity and miscommunication. Fact of the matter is that for many, many
words, the translations are not direct. Gustar may roughly mean to like in Spanish, but in usage,
its more nuanced than that. Its used for particular situations and contexts, whereas in English we
use like as a blanket verb covering anything we enjoy or care about.
These subtle differences can add up, particularly in serious or emotional conversations. Intentions
can be easily misconstrued. Nuanced conversations over important matters will likely require
double the effort to nail down the exact meaning for each person than it would between two native
speakers. No matter how good you are in your new language, youre not likely to have a complete
grasp over the slight intuitive differences between each word, phrase or idiom that a native speaker
does without living in the country for years.

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21. These are the phases you go through: First, youre able to speak a little and understand nothing.
Then youre able to understand far more than you speak. Then you become conversational, but it
requires quite a bit of mental effort. After that, youre able to speak and understand without
conscious mental effort (i.e., you dont have to translate words into your native tongue in your
mind). Once youre able to speak and listen without thinking about it, youll begin to
actually think in the foreign language itself without effort. Once this happens, youre really hitting a
high level.
And the final level? Believe it or not, being able to follow a conversation between a large group of
native speakers is the last piece of the puzzle to fall into place. Or at least it was for me. Once that
happens, and youre able to interject, come in and out of the conversation at will, youre pretty set.
After that, theres not really anywhere else to go without living in the country for at least a year or
two and reaching complete fluency.

22. Finally, find a way to make it fun. As with anything, if youre going to stick to it, you have to find
a way to make it fun. Find people you enjoy talking to. Go to events where you can practice while
doing something fun. Dont just sit in a classroom in front of a book, or youre likely to burn out
fairly quickly. Talk about personal topics which you care about. Find out about the person youre
talking to. Make it a personal, life experience, or else youre going to be in for a long, unenjoyable
process which will likely end up in you forgetting everything you learned.
Additional Resources
There are a lot of free resources online to help you with your language learning. Below are some
recommended ones.
Foreign Service Institute (FSI) language courses (Free online language courses that the US State
Department gives its employees): http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php
Memrise.com (For vocabulary): http://www.memrise.com/welcome/
BBC Languages (Free courses and vocabulary): http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/
Visualizing Japanese Grammar: http://www.gwu.edu/~eall/vjg/vjghomepage/vjghome.htm
Pitch Perfect Pinyin (Mandarin Pronunciation): http://www.laits.utexas.edu/ppp/learning.php?unit=0
Busuu (Online language lessons and exchange): http://www.busuu.com/enc/
LiveMocha (Online language lessons and exchange): http://livemocha.com/
Open Culture: http://www.openculture.com/freelanguagelessons
Duolingo (Online language lessons): http://duolingo.com/

Go Vocab (Online language lessons): http://govocab.com/

Lang-8 (Online language exchange): http://www.lang-8.com/
Fluent in 3 Months (My favorite language blog): http://www.fluentin3months.com/

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Chapter 8: Making Friends and Avoiding Enemies

Moving to any new city is difficult when you dont know anybody. The inevitable loneliness,
frustration, disorientation it takes weeks or sometimes even months of struggle to finally feel
like you landed on your feet and have some cool people to hang out with and lean on.
Now imagine dealing with those same challenges, except doing it while fighting through language
barriers, cultural barriers, and foreign institutions.
Not going to lie, long-term travel has its moments of profound loneliness. It can be frustrating and
tiring, especially if youre not used to it.
The first place I moved to live was Buenos Aires, Argentina. I lived down there with an American
friend of mine, and, being a bit nave, I basically treated my social life the same way I did back in
Boston: I went out to bars and drank and danced a lot.
Unfortunately, whereas in Boston I had a wide social network and knew a ton of people, in
Argentina I knew exactly one person. So this didnt exactly work. In fact, Im embarrassed how long
it took me to discover how ineffective bars and parties were for making actual, lasting friendships.
In fact, during that three-month period, the only friendships I built were with other travelers who
came and went within a couple weeks. By the time I left, I had become fairly lonely and
disappointed.
It was a disappointment that inspired me to reevaluate how I approached my social life in new
countries I go to and to begin putting conscious effort into making friends.
I take making social connections very seriously wherever I decide to stay and live for a while. In
fact, I often make it my absolute top priority the first two weeks Im in a place, because I found it
enriches the entire experience while Im there.
For instance, if you go to a country for two months and spend the first couple weeks doing touristy
things, getting some work done, finding a tutor, or hanging out with backpackers and tourists, then
youll suddenly find yourself not making friends until its finally time to go.
But if you gather your efforts and make those friends in the beginning, putting off the touristy stuff
and the partying, then those new friends will enrich the entire two months you are there.
People I meet are often surprised to hear that I dont visit tourist sites until right before I leave a
location. The reason is because the tourist site is always going to be there, making friends has a
time limit attached to it. Not to mention, visiting a lot of sites is often far more interesting when
you have a local to show you around or advise about which places are worth it and which ones

arent.

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This chapter will hopefully give you some tools and ideas to navigate a new country and culture and
find yourself in good company before you know it.
What is Friendship?
This may seem like a trivial question and its one that I never had to seriously evaluate until I began
moving to a new city every 3-4 months and starting over each time.
Its interesting to look at which relationships last and which ones fizzle out.
Often its unpredictable. The people you feel closest to in the moment, you often look back later
and realize you had little binding you together other than superficialities. Whereas some people
you just naturally stay in touch and seem to genuinely connect on a deeper level no matter where
you are in the world.
Some random observations Ive made about friendships the world over:
1. Shared interests bring you together. Sharing interests with someone is the gateway to
establishing a friendship with him or her. The more unique and specific the interest, the more
likely you are to establish that bond. The shared interest could be playing football together,
obscure French literature or something as simple as going out to the same bar and drinking
every weekend. Being single is often an immediate shared interest between men and one of
the easiest ways to bond quickly.
Shared interests are what create the opportunities and the potential, but they dont solidify the
friendship by themselves. They merely open the door. To determine the longevity and
significance of a friendship, you have to go a bit deeper and get into values.
2. Shared values keep you together. Beneath the shared interests and hobbies, to make a friend
you really click with you need to find common ground in your values and worldview. Usually
passions play into this. Maybe theyre an artist and youre a musician. Maybe theyre a political
activist in their country and youre volunteering for an international non-profit in their
country.
Whatever it is, there needs to be something deeper and a bit more profound aligning you
together. This can actually be a hard bridge to cross between two disparate cultures, as your
values are often likely to be so different.
3. Shared experiences give the friendship more longevity. You can have similar interests, similar
values, but chances are if you only hang out once doing some run-of-the-mill activities, then
neither of you are going to be invested enough to go through the trouble of keeping in
contact.

If youre like most people, you probably have one or two life-long friends from iDoc.co
when you
were a teenager or a kid. And chances are those people and yourself have changed a lot since
then and you may not necessarily have a whole lot in common anymore. In fact, you may not
even share the same values anymore.
But those friends feel like a brother or sister to you. They are deeper and more meaningful
than almost any other relationship you have in your life. Thats because you shared so many
pivotal experiences with them through your life. It adds up.
Shared experience seems to be cumulative, i.e., hanging out with a friend for 10 days typically
generates a closer friendship than hanging out for 3 days.
The other factor is the significance of an experience. Studies show that emotionally powerful
experiences bring people together and make them feel closer to one another. Going cavediving with a friend is likely to be more significant and create a stronger bond than merely
going out for coffee.
4. Women. This may just be me, but Ive found that its more likely that I remain close and in
contact with women than men, whether I become intimately involved with them or not.
I believe women are more open to generating a friendship and connection with someone than
most men are. I also think theyre generally more willing to put in the effort to keep that
contact going.
This may be nothing more than some half-baked idea, but I know in primatology, theyve found
that in tribes of apes, women switch tribes freely and welcome newcomers, whereas men stick
with their own tribe.
Unfortunately, Ive felt this effect numerous times the world over. Whereas the women freely
associate with me and are often excited to learn about me, the men are cold and disinterested
in foreigners.
Again, this may be because Im a (read: strikingly handsome) man and I naturally (read: am
witty and brilliant) relate to women better than men, and always have all of my (read:
fascinating) life.
Did I mention Im humble as well?
Mileage may vary for female travelers, but many of the female travelers I know end up
keeping in touch with many women as well.
So with these principles in mind, lets map out a bit of a strategy to make friends quickly and
effectively once you touch down in a new country.
How to Make Friends

So going on the assumptions above, the most logical place to find new friends is by narrowing
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down your search in a way that focuses on people that are likely to have similar interests and
experiences as you.
This is why making friends (even if short-term) with backpackers or tourists is so easy you
immediately have the shared interest of travel, of the country youre in, and shared experiences as
well.
So if you like dancing, seek out dance classes or events wherever you go. Most major cities around
the world have salsa nights somewhere each week.
If youre into martial arts or exercise, seek out a gym and train with local people. I actually became
a bit of a minor celebrity in my gym in Bangkok. It was a small, grimy place underneath a giant
freeway overpass. I was the only non-Thai person there, and I was also about six inches taller than
everybody else.
If you like to surf, go where the surfing is. If you want to do language exchange, business
networking, bike riding, yoga, mountain climbing, then do it, do it, do it, do it. Youll have
something in common with the locals doing it and it will be far easier to make a connection.
Also, as mentioned before, Couchsurfing is a fantastic resource to meet locals with similar
interests. You can either go to a meet up or message them on the site to grab coffee or a drink.
Couchsurfing people are great because almost all of them have traveled widely, almost all of them
speak multiple languages, and almost all of them are excited to meet foreigners and new cultures.
That right there is a solid foundation to work with.
Once youre at an event or meeting or class, the next step is to just talk to somebody.
Dont overthink this. Dont try to impress people or blow them away somehow. Just say Hi, Im X,
and tell them where youre from. Some people wont be that receptive. Other people will be very
friendly and curious about you.
The beautiful thing about being a foreigner is that you stand out so much that you will naturally
screen for the people who are interested in meeting a foreigner.
So lets say you go surfing with a group of guys in Costa Rica. While youre at the beach you
casually chat with them. The ones who dont really care where youre from or who you are will be
less interested, but the ones who are curious about you and want to learn about your culture will be
far more receptive and may even approach you first.
Once youve met someone and have been chatting with them for a while, the go-to question is,
What do you recommend I do while Im here?
Youll get a wide range of answers. Some people wont know. Some people will start enumerating
tourist destinations. Some will start telling you about their favorite restaurant or bar. And
occasionally someone will invite to show you somewhere.

If they dont, thats fine. Just ask for their number or Facebook and to keep in touch (you did
buy a
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phone and SIM card, right?)
Also, if youre getting along well with someone dont be shy about inviting yourself along. Ive
ended up playing football (soccer) with Brazilians, getting carted off to some obscure local festival
in Colombia, joining people for college parties in Germany, and joining spontaneous trips whale
watching in Guatemala all because I just said, Can I come?
Most people in the world are friendly. Most will say yes.
And if they dont, thats OK. Dont let your ego get hurt. Not everybody is for you.
Once youre hanging out with some people, if youre going to make the connections last then you
have to dig a bit deeper and relate to them on a more personal level. Find out about their families,
their histories, their dreams, their jobs, etc.
What youll find is that culture gets in the way of this process with a lot of people. Its not that
theyre bad or that its impossible, its just that cultural lenses skew our ability to connect with many
others on a deep level. Thats why its fairly easy for me to connect with Europeans (in some ways I
feel more connected with European values than I do American values), and its very hard to connect
with Chinese people.
Ive found that the people I connect with the most and maintain relationships with the most are
people who have transcended their culture in a similar way I have.
Im American, but I dont feel limited to being American. I feel like I can understand and empathize
with many non-American values. Its people who have also done this with their home cultures
whether theyre Japanese, Brazilian, French or whatever that I find the easiest to connect with.
Chances are theyve traveled a lot and lived abroad as well.
The other big barrier I often find is education. Again, not saying that its impossible, but I have
found that the less educated a person is, the harder time I have relating to them on a deeper level,
regardless of nationality or ethnicity. This becomes an issue in undeveloped countries where only a
small percentage of the population has been to university.
And of course, wherever you go, there are expats and foreigners often organize themselves into
groups and hold regular meet ups. Some suggestions on websites you can use to meet other expats
or foreigners living in the country youre in:
http://www.internations.com/ (social network for expats with regular meet ups in major cities)
http://www.expats.com/
http://www.couchsurfing.org/
http://www.meetup.com/
Safety Concerns

A lot of travelers have major concerns about safety, especially when traveling to the developing
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world. This is understandable, although a little overstated, if I may say so.
I dont mean to downplay travel safety, it is an important issue, but the assumptions and statements
made by people before going to a new place boggle my mind sometimes. You can only hear so
many jokes from your ignorant friends about losing your kidneys or being kidnapped in the jungle
before you shake your head at how much they dont know or understand.
Back home people only catch wind of extreme news that is, extremely bad news. So the guy
losing his kidneys in Brazil, the Canadian man unlawfully thrown into Cambodian prison, drug
traffickers decapitating people in Mexico -- its all scary and disconcerting and its all you hear
about.
But lets look at it statistically. Take a look at the list of countries by homicide rate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
At the time of writing this, I live in Colombia, a country that widely has a reputation for being
incredibly dangerous and violent.
But lets do the math. 33.2 people per 100,000 are murdered here each year. Assuming those
murders are distributed across the population equally (theyre not), then I have a 0.00091% chance
of getting murdered on any given day, or a 1 in 1,989,000 chance each day.
Seems pretty unlikely. Or at least a hell of a lot less likely than your friends and family make it out
to be.
I just say this so that you know, petty crime happens, but its by no means a guarantee or an
albatross thats going to hang over your trip. In three years of non-stop traveling Ive never been
robbed. Ive had friends who have volunteered in the slums of Nicaragua, India and South Africa and
had no trouble and they were single white females.
I once talked to a Dutch guy who spent two years traveling the world and went to over 80 different
countries. The worst that happened to him was his camera was stolen in Brazil (coincidentally his
last stop before flying home).
Yes, Ive heard stories and met people that stuff happened to them, in a few cases, very bad things. It
does happen. But its by no means common.
But, pretty much anything in life carries a risk with it. Walking through Brooklyn late on a Saturday
night can be risky. Driving from California to Arizona can be risky. Surfing in a strong riptide can
be risky. Such is life.
Here are some guidelines to protect yourself:
1. If someone has a gun or knife, dont be a hero, this is not a game, hand it over. You and I come
from a world where killing someone over $80 and a cell phone is insanity. But people in a

number of these countries do not fuck around about this. Every story Ive ever heard
of a
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tourist/foreigner being murdered happened because someone was robbing him and he/she
tried to be tough and said no.
2. If its too good to be true, then it probably is. Perfect example: a guy goes to a bar, meets two
girls and after some drinking and talking they offer to go home with him to have a threesome
together. Excitedly he agrees. Once they arrive in his apartment one of the girls says she
needs to use the bathroom. She goes into the bathroom and calls her brother and gives him the
address. Ten minutes later, he shows up with five other guys with knives and guns. They clean
out the entire apartment.
3. Most people will be very friendly and honest, so be open-minded but dont be stupid. For
instance, in many countries Ive met people and within a few hours theyve invited me to a
party or to their house or something of that nature.
Generally the more specific they are, the more honest theyre being. Ive probably accepted
90% of these invitations and always had a great time. The only time I havent accepted these
invitations is when the person was obviously shady and/or fucked up on alcohol or drugs.
One time in Ukraine a man came over to a friend and I and offered to show us the town. He
had a weird vibe to him so I asked him where we would go. He said there was a cool park
nearby. Granted this was one in the morning on a Thursday and he wanted to take us to a park
without anyone around. We politely decline. He insisted and seemed to get a little annoyed
another tell-tale sign NOT to go. Genuine and honest people will not get mad at you for
declining invitations.
We had been talking to another Ukrainian man at the bar for a while and he kindly interjected
and had the creepy guy leave us alone. He told us to not hang out with guys like that. He then
offered to take us to a specific bar he knew of that had cute girls. We had been talking for an
hour or two by that point, he had told us about his family, his trips to America, etc., so we
agreed. We had a great night together.
4. Stick together, stay in crowded places. Almost every story Ive heard of someone getting
robbed happened when they were alone and in a deserted or empty area.
5. Stick with locals you trust. If youre hanging out with a group of locals you trust, your chances
of being robbed drop massively.
6. Dont flash your phone or your money around. In fact, I sometimes dont take my iPhone with
me if Im in a new city that is known for having a lot of crime or if Im unfamiliar with the
place Im going to. Also, stick your money and/or your debit card in your sock as well.
7. I have two bank accounts with two cards. I often leave one card at home, so that if something
happens I always have one to fall back on.
8. Be wary of ATMs that are outside and away from a bank. There are devises that can be planted
on them to rip your card number and PIN. They can then reproduce your card and start

emptying your account. This happened to me in Peru. Luckily my bank shut the cardiDoc.co
off and I
only lost $700 (the bank eventually reimbursed me). This scheme seems to be more popular in
Latin America.
9. Another common if its too good to be true scheme that happens in Eastern Europe: sexy girl
talks to you, asks you to buy her a drink, says she knows a great bar. She takes you there and
orders. You order. You have a great time, laugh, she seems way into you. You cant believe
this is happening. It comes time to pay the tab and it turns out the drinks were $100 apiece and
Vlad and Ivan at the door arent too keen to let you leave without paying. Youve been had.
10. Im not here to judge your lifestyle decisions, but be warned: if youre doing anything
involving drugs or prostitutes, youre putting yourself at a much greater risk. Just a fact.
11. Watch out for people drugging your drink. This goes for men and women. Women are
somewhat used to watching out for this already, but men, you can be drugged and then robbed
blind.
12. Women, it goes without saying, you need to be more conscientious and stick in numbers more
often. Also stick around other men. I know its not exactly the feminist thing to do, but in most
developing countries, the men have little to no respect for women but will defer to another
man.
13. Racism does exist and it is a factor in some parts of the world. Sexism absolutely exists in
many parts of the world. Sad but true.
14. Do not be cavalier about leaving your wallet or phone laying around. This is a classic newbie
mistake. A friend of mine had his iPhone stolen in Colombia recently. I asked him how it
happened. He said he was sitting outside in a park talking to someone and he put it down on the
ground next to where he was sitting. 15 minutes later he looked down and it was gone. I didnt
say anything to him because he was obviously upset about it, but I wanted to slap him. Thats
exactly what you DONT do in a country like Colombia.
15. Most pickpockets are small children. Theyre sneaky and fast as hell.
16. Dont keep anything in your back pockets, front pockets only.
17. Put safety locks on your bags. Keep everything zipped up at all times. The dingier a country,
the more skeptical you should be of baggage handlers on airlines and buses.
18. When on buses in a suspicious country, pay attention to who is sitting behind you. Keep your
bag under your feet. Dont fall asleep if you can.
Honestly, if you travel long enough, youre eventually going to have something happen. Ive been
fortunate enough that nothing has happened to me... yet. Ive had a couple of close calls, but its
bound to happen one of these days.
Take precautions. Minimize the damage as much as possible by preparing beforehand. Dont walk

around with too much cash. Leave at least one card in your room. Keep money in your sock
or your
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phone in your waistband.
When I get robbed (and I know I will), I will chalk it up as a travel tax. Theres nothing you can do
but get over it and move on.
But whatever you do, do NOT let paranoia or fear of this stuff prevent you from meeting and
hanging out with the locals. Like I said, 99% of the people Ive met everywhere in the world have
been good, honest people. Stay on your toes, but dont limit yourself because of fear of what could
happen.
Hagglers and Scammers
You may not get robbed, but you WILL get ripped off at some point, especially if youre traveling
in poorer countries. Its just a fact. Youre foreign, from a rich country, theyre going to assume
you have extra money and do something subtle (or not so subtle) to get a little extra out of you.
In Latin America, we lovingly refer to this as the Gringo Tax. Look for apartments in Peru and
you get quoted one set of prices. Find a local friend to go look at the same apartments for you, and
the prices have mysteriously dropped 20%.
Its a fact of life, get used to it.
Latin America actually isnt that bad. In fact, other than an occasional errant taxi driver, realtors or
waiters/bartenders skimming a little here or there, you run into very little scamming or haggling in
Latin America.
The big culprits are in Asia, Middle East and Africa.
First, some notes on scams, how to avoid them, and how to deal with them when they happen:
Always get a price quoted UP FRONT. Then plan on holding the person to the price they
quoted you in the beginning. Be stern about it.
Check your receipts. Count your change. Youd be surprised how many phantom charges or
missing bills come back.
For significant expenses, figure out the market value. Most taxis to and from airports have flat
rates. Know the flat rate because I guarantee you will get quoted prices far higher regularly.
The flat rate to the airport in Bangkok last time I was there was 270 Baht (about $9). The first
taxi driver I asked quoted me 400 Baht. I said no. He then offered 350 Baht. I said no and
began walking to find another taxi driver. The other taxi driver said 350 Baht. The first taxi
driver followed me down the street so I looked at both of them and told them whoever would
do it for 300 Baht, I would go with.

Dont make large tourist purchases from random people off the street. At the very least
ask to
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see a business card or have him take you to his office. In places like Bali, India or China, a lot
of people will stand on the street and offer you a tour or service, you pay them, they tell you
theyll meet you at XYZ location and then you never see them again.
Fake merchandise Louis Vuitton bags, Rolex watches youre going to get what you pay for.
When I was in Thailand, I hung out with a Canadian guy who as a joke would buy $10 Rolexes
every week because thats about as long as theyd last. Sometimes they wouldnt even last 24
hours before breaking.
If youre in a tourist area or right outside of a major tourist site, you can count on getting
ripped off. A friend of mine bought sunglasses off the street right in the center of the tourist
area of Quito, Ecuador for $20. My gut feeling was that was pretty expensive for where we
were (large meals were going for about $6 at nice restaurants). Sure enough, we got outside
of town and similar sunglasses were being sold for $5 a piece.
Be VERY careful in India. Be skeptical of everyone. Do not make any large purchases from
people you dont know or who have not been recommended to you by someone you trust.
There are entire travel agencies in India which are fake. People have lost thousands of dollars.
If you do get scammed, unfortunately the police are unlikely to be of any help. Chances are
they are getting paid off by the scammers. And even if theyre not, in many developing
countries, when it comes down to a locals word versus a tourists, they are going to side with
the local.
Haggling is customary in a lot of these same cultures. Haggling is something that tends to either
happen all the time in a culture or never. In the west, negotiating a price is considered somewhat
reasonable, depending on the purchase (a new car, something used, a service, etc.).
In some cultures, haggling is considered rude and will confuse people (i.e., Latin America).
But in other cultures again, India, Middle East, most of Asia its ubiquitous.
I find haggling annoying as hell, but spending six months in India and Asia I feel like I got a pretty
good hang of it.
Whatever price they quote you, start at about 1/3 of what they offer. As you work them down, youll
likely come to around 1/2 or 2/3 of what they initially offered.
If you get 1/2, youve done well and you should almost always take it. Usually youll get them down
to 2/3 or 3/4 of where they started and theyll get stubborn.
At this point, you start to walk away. Unless this is an item and service that only THEY provide
(which is highly, highly unlikely in an undeveloped country), then they need you a lot more than
you need them. Theyll usually stop you before you get more than about 10 feet away.
Usually the price they quote you after youve walked away is the lowest youre going to get them.
If not, then theyre not going to go much lower. Ive tried walking away a second time and

surprisingly a lot of vendors will just let you walk after that.

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Chapter 9: Personal Growth Through Travel

The cute Brazilian girl in the cell phone store looks up at me and sputters a series of syllables in
my general direction. Shes been fiddling with my phone for 15 minutes now, the phone I just
bought for twice as much as I would have paid in any other country. Now she cant get it to work.
Explanation is pending at least until I decipher the Portuguese syllable soup she continues to
vomit at me.
Im frustrated, if you didnt notice.
No entendo, I reply, for probably the twelfth time. It means I dont understand. One of the only
Portuguese phrases I know.
The coy smile she had given me the first few times I said it are now replaced with an aching
impatience. She frowns at me, then the phone, and then sighs. She pulls out a Post-It note, scrawls
some Portuguese on it, hands it to me along with my dysfunctional new phone and slowly instructs
me to go to another store in the mall and have them deal with it. She has to repeat these instructions
three times before I understand them. This is the fourth cell phone store I am being sent to.
Apparently there are a lot of bureaucratic procedures involved with buying a cell phone in Brazil,
the details of which are obviously sailing clear over my head. And since none of the store clerks
speak English, theyve all eventually reached a breaking point, lost patience and sent me down to
the next store to be somebody elses headache.
The entire process has taken close to three hours and its still not over. The mall cell phone
nightmare continues.
(Although, to be honest, it should have only been about an hour and a half, I fell asleep in the Claro
store waiting for a customer service rep to call my number. I awoke 45 minutes later to find they
had proceeded half a dozen customers beyond me. I strained to convince the rep to take me next
since I had been there an hour. But my Portuguese persuasion skills werent very effective OK,
since were being honest right now, they were non-existent. I couldnt say a thing, and therefore I
hardly raised a fuss. Thus I took a new number and sat my ass back down, this time forcing myself
to remain awake for the ensuing 30 minutes I would wait again.)
I never resolved my cell phone issue that day. I finally found an old man in the mall who spoke
English and was kind enough to come translate for me yes, I walked around a Brazilian mall
randomly approaching people to find someone to translate for me.
It turns out that Brazil requires an identification number to activate any cell phone bought within
the country, the equivalent of having a Social Security Number in the US to buy a cell phone.
Theres a whole formal process thats required and if youre a foreigner and dont work for a
Brazilian company, then youre screwed unless you can get a friend to come in and register your

phone under their name. As is probably obvious, I did not have any Brazilian friends with me.
So
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almost four hours after arriving, I left the mall, having paid too much for a phone I still couldnt
use.
And then got lost going home.
International travel is not always peachy. In fact, at times its downright difficult and lonely.
If youre reading this book, then you know about the amazing adventures, the exciting experiences,
the beautiful locales, the new cultures thats why youre here. Thats why were all here.
But I want to talk about a slightly subtler benefit of world travel.
Anyone who has done extensive traveling knows that it can affect you on a deep level. If you push
your personal boundaries as hard as you push national borders, you will find that you will likely
come home a different person than when you left.
In my life, extensive travel abroad has been one of the defining influences throughout my adult life
and has established a lot of my character traits. I strongly believe that travel can have major
positive effects on a person both emotionally and psychologically and can even be used as an
avenue for personal growth.
The Altitude Effect
The most pronounced difference one feels when they travel extensively is what a friend of mine
refers to as the altitude effect.
In sports, exerting oneself at higher and higher altitudes becomes more difficult. It takes the body
time to condition itself to the new altitude and make do with the thinner oxygen.
Then when returning to sea level, they find that what they used to believe was strenuous has
actually become much easier, without them being conscious of it.
The same effect happens with your confidence and self-assurance when you travel.
Living and traveling for extensive periods of time in other countries and cultures exposes you to
hundreds of tiny stressful situations. Not knowing anyone and having to make new friends again and
again, getting lost and finding your way back in a foreign city, being stripped of many of the
conveniences and products you take for granted back home, the awkward conversations through
language barriers, making a fool of yourself or accidentally offending someone because of cultural
differences, the self-sufficiency required, the attention you must pay to your safety I could go on
forever here.
Youd be surprised how confusing it can be just to buy a cell phone
The point is that exposing yourself to these endless series of minor discomforts, insecurities, and

moments of self-reliance, builds you up, trains you at a higher altitude, so that when you go
home,
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when you go back to sea level, everything feels a bit easier.
I remember feeling socially anxious at times back home when I went out with my friends, especially
if we went to a really nice club and there were beautiful people walking around.
Then I went and lived in Buenos Aires for three months and bounced around Europe for a while.
When I came back, the same social situations, the same venues, the same beautiful people they felt
like a joke. Not only was I comfortable in those situations, but I was almost bored by them.
The altitude effect applies to more than just social situations. It can increase your confidence and
your self-reliance. It can make events that once felt stressful feel simple and easy. Suddenly waiting
in line at the post office becomes much more tolerable when youve had to spend six hours bribing
your way across Cambodian border patrol with no one who speaks English.
Usually the altitude effect is not noticeable as one major life improvement, but rather it feels like
100 or 1,000 tiny, barely noticeable things all improved at the same time, and they add up to a
larger, more noticeable whole.
Homesickness and Relationships
That first moment where you walk out of the train station or walk out of the airport theres a
thrill to it. Those first few weeks in a new city or country are exhilarating, so many new places to
explore, interesting and intricate cultures to absorb.
Then as weeks turn into months, some of the pains and struggles of living alone or living in another
country begin to take form. You start to miss your friends back home, the food you used to eat, the
places you used to go. Calls home become more invigorating for you and you find yourself more
and more waking up with a lack of energy and excitement, a jadedness for those same new
experiences that once thrilled you.
Theres a honeymoon period with long-term travel, particularly for people who are not accustomed
to living abroad or living alone for long periods of time.
My experience the first year or so I was traveling was that my limit seemed to be about three
months until I would begin becoming homesick and lonely. This is back when I was hopping from
city to city every few weeks for months on end and was much worse at making connection and
making friends wherever I went. The loneliness caught up to me fast.
Other perpetual travelers Ive talked to seem to be able to last six or eight months before the
loneliness sets in. Others it doesnt seem to affect at all. Some people want to go home after just a
few weeks. It differs for everyone.
There are two factors going on that causes this inevitable loneliness in travelers.

1. The first is simply not making enough significant connections as they travel. The
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friendship quality of the backpacker lifestyle eventually begins to run dry. Language barriers
feel daunting or you spend so much time doing touristy stuff that you never settle down
enough to meet some locals.
As I wrote in a previous chapter, I began to focus on friendships first and foremost anytime I
landed in a new country. This went a long way to stymie the loneliness and keep me excited
and appreciative for longer stretches of time.
The other change that helped considerably was merely spending more time in each place.
Homesickness is mostly a starvation of connection a feeling that one has lost meaning in
ones relationships and day-to-day life.
Living in each place for 2-3 months (or more) rather than just a few weeks at a time helped me
establish much sturdier friendships and relationships with people. Since I switched to this more
long term style of travel, loneliness has all but disappeared.
2. The other factor of homesickness and loneliness is that there are many people, places and
things we rely on emotionally back home for support that we take for granted, and when we
move abroad and remove those sources of support, many of us feel the emotional
repercussions.
The beautiful and frightening thing about traveling is that it disconnects you from a lot of what
you use to cope, it severs a lot of dysfunctional but codependent relationships you may have in
your life. Whether its your regular drug hook up back home, or the best friend who you
actually have a symbiotically dysfunctional relationship with but you could never get away
from, or mom and dad always handing you extra money and using it as a tool to keep you
close, or your group of friends who largely decided what you would do with your free time.
Once these precipices are removed, it grants you a larger and more powerful personal
freedom, but it also forces you to confront your insecurities and self-esteem head-on.
This can be difficult and at the least, emotionally draining.
Like I said, the first year or so that I traveled, my trips rarely made it more than three or four
months without me returning home. In the beginning, it was because I missed and needed my
friends. I still miss my friends back home when Im away, but back then it felt like I NEEDED my
friends back home.
But when I went home, it became apparent that my friendships had changed quite a bit. Spending six
out of eight months out of the country will go a long way to show you whos really your friend and
who was merely a friend of convenience.
My relationships back home morphed. My time away had made some of my connections far
stronger while causing others to crumble. And after overcoming the disappointment of the latter, I
became a lot more comfortable in my relationships back home and the homesickness was far less

my next time abroad.

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Time abroad can also affect your family relationships and the way you see perceive your family
members. It can help you become independent for the first time or gain perspective on any
unhealthy codependencies that may be going on.
Theres nothing like removing you from your relationships to give you profound perspective on
what they really mean to you.
Perspective and Humility
Living abroad can also give you new perspectives on life and not just, Oh, these people cant
afford Dominos Pizza delivery, type of perspective, but deep, profound, perspectives.
For instance, I wrote a long piece on my website about how dating foreign women caused me to
question my concept of masculinity and how I was expressing mine.
Living in Eastern Europe made me question the definition of friendship and what it means in my
own culture. Living in South America has given me widely new perspectives on expression and the
value of emotional honesty.
You gain new political perspectives, not just by chatting politics with foreigners (whatever you do,
just dont mention George W. Bush), but by seeing how their society works and functions. Having
lived in Germany and visited places like France and Holland, it drives me crazy when American
politicians rag on European policies as if they were some backwards hellholes where everyone
was miserable and a failure. If people went and spent a month or two there theyd see quite the
opposite.
And then, of course, theres the poverty. Crippling, unimaginable poverty.
Sure, youve seen on TV, youve seen in movies, youve read about it in school, but when you stand
there and look at it and walk through it, its quite another experience entirely. One cant help but be
affected emotionally and start questioning ones priorities.
All of this hinges on maintaining an open-mind something, which if you bought a book about
long-term travel, Im going to assume you already have. But there are those who are exposed to
these completely different worldviews where nothing sinks in, and thats unfortunate.
Chasing After the Rush
For many people, going to a new place is a huge rush. And I mean that somewhat literally the
magnitude of the new experiences and stimuli create a surge of dopamine in our brains.
For some of us, that surge can become addictive. Ive seen it in myself. When I started living this
way, my interests werent too varied: I wanted to see Europe, Argentina and Brazil, Japan, the

highlights of Asia perhaps, and I guess Australia. That was about it. I was hardly aware of other,
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more obscure regions of the world, much less interested in them.
But what Ive found is that the more places I travel, the more places I want to travel. I clearly
remember telling my ex-girlfriend (who runs education programs in Africa) that Africa had no
appeal to me. Now, I could rattle off probably 12 African countries Id be curious to see.
A vague interest in Israel has turned into a larger interest in the Arab countries. A six-week stint
across Russia and Ukraine now has me wanting to become fluent in Russian and take the TransSiberian railroad across it, stopping in towns (and Mongolia) along the way.
Kazakhstan is no longer a funny name I saw on the movie Borat. Obscure and barren islands in the
middle of the Atlantic and Pacific suddenly sound very exciting.
As with anything, the line between passion and addiction is blurry. As is the line between
enthusiasm and escapism.
Setting off for long-term travel is a lifestyle decision, with repercussions that will reverberate
across your personal landscape for years. You will lose old friendships, become disconnected and
disillusioned from things you once loved, worry your family and perhaps even cause yourself some
financial turmoil.
You will become enigmatic, multi-cultural and at times, self-righteous.
But you will also see and discover and experience things you and few people back home ever knew
existed.
And that is a choice in priorities. A choice in passion.
Take that passion out into the world and savor each moment, each blindingly beautiful vista, each
2,000 year old monument, each flight delay and visa application. Enjoy the burning fire of life and
then bring it home with you, wherever home may end up being.

About the Author

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Mark Manson is a writer, entrepreneur and world traveler. This book was written in Medellin,
Colombia, edited in Rome, Italy and published from Istanbul, Turkey. Hes originally from Austin in
the United States.
Mark is also the author of Models: Attract Women Through Honesty and maintains a blog at
http://postmasculine.com.

Table of Contents
Introduction: How I Travel the World For Less Than You Pay to Stay at Home
Chapter 1: Priorities
Chapter 2: Nuts and Bolts of World Travel
Chapter 3: How to Fly For Cheap (Or For Free)
Chapter 4: Accommodations
Chapter 5: Your Escape Plan
Chapter 6: Regional Guides
Chapter 7: How to Learn Languages Quickly
Chapter 8: Making Friends and Avoiding Enemies
Chapter 9: Personal Growth Through Travel
About the Author

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