Hi all,
I left my old life, bought a one way ticket, and traveled around the world for a pretty good amount of time.
I'm currently writing a post about lessons learned and I've decided to post it Steemit as opposed other platforms! Hopefully I get it out in a week or two! Fingers crossed. I'll also try to write a post on travel tips and one on how I think the trip changed me. This was my first long term trip and I absolutely recommend it. Most the trip was pleasure as opposed to business but I did work a couple software contracts to keep my mind busy. I also built FreeTravelGuy to help others figure out how to travel free through credit card promotions.
Countries I visited during the trip:
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Vietnam
- Taiwan
- Netherlands
- Spain
- Portugal
- Hungary
- Croatia
- Serbia
- Bosnia
- Austria
- Czech Republic
- Germany
- Israel
- Jordan
- Egypt
- Kenya
- Tanzania
- South Africa
- Philippines
- Thailand
- Myanmar
- Nicaragua
Happy to answer questions about long term travel or just get to know people. To kick it off:
Q: What was the biggest lesson?
A: One of the biggest “lessons” or takeaways from this trip has just been a deep sense of gratitude for living and the life I was born into. I feel immensely lucky to have been born in this era, with my family, able bodied, and in the middle class of the United States. I didn’t have to do a single thing to earn any of this and yet compared to the rest of the world they are easily the most determinate factors in my ability and freedom to travel in the first place.
To use Warren Buffett’s gumball analogy, if your birth was 1 out of 7 billion gumballs, would you be willing to put your gumball back in to get another one? Probably not. If you like the country you were born in, are educated enough to read this, and are able bodied, then you are probably already in the top 5% of the world in terms of opportunities. You are already super lucky, even if you don’t feel that way relative to people around you.
Q: What was your favorite place you went?
A: It's really hard to choose one place! In terms of places I'd consider living for a while. I loved Barcelona, Berlin, and Cape Town. First class cities with friendly people and fun vibes. For hiking and scenery I really liked New Zealand. An average hike there is world class anywhere else. As an all around vacation spot, I enjoyed Bali. I know it's very hyped up, but it's for good reason. It has amazing diving spots, friendly people, and pockets of subcultures for expats visiting.
Q: What were the most magical moments?
A: Mmm... sitting on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro while the sun was rising felt pretty amazing. It was a 6 day trek and we were all completely beat. My friend that I went with got so delirious at the top that he wanted to sit down and sleep which could have had some obviously bad consequences with such low oxygen levels. Also sipping tea in the middle of our camp in the Wadi Rum desert. Everything just felt right.
Q: How much did you spend?
A: I don't want to go into exact numbers. But I would say knowing what I know now, it's very possible to do it for relatively cheap. For instance if you do work stays you can get food / stays for free while you work between 5-20 hours per week. Ex. WorkAway, HelpX. If you do couchsurfing you can get stays for free. Also you can housesit for people where you take care of their house / pets / etc and get stays for free. If you live in the US, there are lots of ways to hack points and get a chunk of your airfare for free. About half my flights were free.
Q: Ask me anything :D
Welcome from Thailand. Great photography! Looking to travel like you soon.
Thanks! Loved Thailand. Spent a lot of time in the north this time. Great pace of life and amazing food!
Welcome to steemit, great photographer and nice travel, look forward of your brilliant travel post
Thanks. Looking forward to getting to know the community.
Hey Guy, welcome to Steem! :-)
Thanks @demotruk! Excited about Steem / Steemit :)
Welcome to Steemit!
Thanks @daveks!
Welcome to Steemit @bitguy :)
Thanks @wartrapa :D
Wow that's an amazing experience! Will be following for more photos and insights from your travels!
Thanks @toru!
Beautiful shots here dude, immediate follow material. Welcome to steemit, hope you post a lot more about your adventures, you've been a lot of places I'd like to visit someday. Maybe someday I'll be bold enough to take off around the world like you did. Would love the follow back if you're so inclined.
Thanks for the kind words. Definitely recommend long term travel. You come back different for sure. Let me know when you head out!
Welcome aboard! Follow me at https://steemit.com/@bitgeek
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