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122 Reramble - Yes, you can! · bit of a Rambler

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello. My name is Kai, and I am a bit
0:03
Speaker 1: of a rambler, and here we are rambling on again. Wait,
0:07
Speaker 1: it's a re ramble. It's been a year, and I
0:13
Speaker 1: still want people to know that they can travel, and
0:16
Speaker 1: you probably can travel, because a lot more people can
0:21
Speaker 1: travel than they think they can. There are a lot
0:23
Speaker 1: of misconceptions about the practicalities, the expenses, and complications of
0:30
Speaker 1: travel that either simply don't exist or are much more
0:33
Speaker 1: straightforward than people think. So I wanted to re release
0:39
Speaker 1: this episode telling you that yes, you can. Thank you
0:45
Speaker 1: for listening and enjoy the episode. One of the most
0:50
Speaker 1: common responses I get after someone learns I'm a long
0:53
Speaker 1: term traveler is I wish I could do that. And
0:57
Speaker 1: my immediate answer is you can, because I'm sure there
1:03
Speaker 1: are reasons that some people cannot travel, but I've talked
1:08
Speaker 1: with hundreds of people about this and pointed out exactly
1:12
Speaker 1: how they could travel full time. And after we discuss
1:15
Speaker 1: their concerns and they find out that they can travel
1:18
Speaker 1: if they want to, they come to the conclusion while
1:22
Speaker 1: I don't want to, which is fine. You know, some
1:24
Speaker 1: people don't want to travel, but if you don't, then
1:28
Speaker 1: you don't, but can you yes? Can they Yes? In
1:33
Speaker 1: every case where somebody has asked me, that person has
1:36
Speaker 1: been able to travel, usually at a level of comfort
1:39
Speaker 1: and security higher than what they are experiencing in their
1:42
Speaker 1: home country. Am I too old? No? My friend group
1:46
Speaker 1: in Cambodia was mostly seventy and eighty year old full
1:50
Speaker 1: time travelers who got together every day and told their
1:54
Speaker 1: stories about the first concerts they ever saw. What do
1:57
Speaker 1: I do about my house? You can sell it or
1:59
Speaker 1: keep it, give it to a management company. What do
2:02
Speaker 1: I do about a job? If you have anything that
2:04
Speaker 1: pays you over five hundred a month, you're good. If
2:06
Speaker 1: you don't Enjore a native English speaker, you can teach English.
2:09
Speaker 1: There are programming jobs. There are so many jobs available
2:13
Speaker 1: abroad and digitally. Does blank country have blank? Yep? Yeah
2:19
Speaker 1: they do. And importantly, if they don't have enough of
2:22
Speaker 1: whatever you're looking for, you can go to one of
2:24
Speaker 1: the other two hundred countries at the drop of a hat.
2:28
Speaker 1: Most of the questions I get are questions I've gotten
2:31
Speaker 1: before hundreds of times, So I'd like to address a
2:33
Speaker 1: few of those concerns and a little more detail. Many
2:36
Speaker 1: of these concerns are valid, and once you are traveling,
2:41
Speaker 1: you have the answers instantly. But if you haven't traveled before,
2:46
Speaker 1: then of course you're going to have the same question
2:48
Speaker 1: that everybody else who hasn't traveled before has. While I
2:52
Speaker 1: am going through each of these common concerns, I do
2:55
Speaker 1: want to restate right at the top and ask you
2:58
Speaker 1: to bear in mind the short answer to all of
3:02
Speaker 1: these concerns is that, yes, you can travel. Yes you
3:06
Speaker 1: can travel. Even taking into consideration dot dot dot, let's
3:11
Speaker 1: start with healthcare. Medication and healthcare concerns come up a lot,
3:16
Speaker 1: and they should be the least of your worries. There
3:19
Speaker 1: are tons of extremely affordable insurance plans, like less than
3:23
Speaker 1: a couple hundred a year. Healthcare systems and infrastructure abroad
3:28
Speaker 1: overall are usually much easier to access and more affordable
3:32
Speaker 1: with identical quality and care. So if you have chronic pain,
3:36
Speaker 1: you can get an equivalent medication for far less without
3:40
Speaker 1: insurance wherever you're going. That's the same with any medication
3:45
Speaker 1: I've ever heard of, hormone supplements, chemotherapy, anti virals, anti parasites,
3:51
Speaker 1: anything you use. And I know tons of people who
3:56
Speaker 1: have been taking medication than once they began traveling. Went
4:02
Speaker 1: to a hospital, got the equivalent medication or the same medication,
4:05
Speaker 1: and continued that regimen. And it's always a matter of
4:09
Speaker 1: going to the doctor, which you can get an appointment
4:12
Speaker 1: the same day without insurance in most countries. It's only
4:15
Speaker 1: the US with such a crazy bureaucratic medical infrastructure. And
4:20
Speaker 1: then you'll get a prescription for the illness you have
4:24
Speaker 1: and they will give you it, and a lot of
4:27
Speaker 1: more common medications that may not be available in the
4:30
Speaker 1: States you can get over the counter in other countries.
4:33
Speaker 1: A lot of other countries seem much more dedicated to
4:39
Speaker 1: providing care for the patient, which is not exactly the
4:45
Speaker 1: mode of health provision in the United States. So if
4:51
Speaker 1: you're looking for healthcare or dental or vision, it's going
4:54
Speaker 1: to be a lot faster and a lot cheaper than
4:57
Speaker 1: what you're used to if you're from the States, while
5:00
Speaker 1: enjoying the same quality. My glasses are from Cambodia. They
5:04
Speaker 1: were thirty bucks, they've lasted ten years now they're amazing.
5:09
Speaker 1: They're literally the best glasses I've ever got. Shout out
5:13
Speaker 1: to that French optometrist who decided to set up shop
5:17
Speaker 1: in Cambodia. I've got like three root canals done in
5:21
Speaker 1: Thailand because I didn't know about electronic toothbrushes before I
5:24
Speaker 1: was twenty five, and apparently I'm bad at brushing my teeth.
5:28
Speaker 1: Luckily I was in Thailand where they can take all
5:31
Speaker 1: the measurements, do all the surgical procedures of a root canal,
5:36
Speaker 1: fabricate the crown in the lab done. They're all great
5:40
Speaker 1: gold crowns, less than half the price of the States
5:43
Speaker 1: without insurance, and it's literally the best dental clinic in
5:46
Speaker 1: the country. I don't have any chronic illnesses, but I
5:49
Speaker 1: know guys who had surgeries, knee surgeries and hip surgeries,
5:54
Speaker 1: and they had to get medication, and they walked in
5:56
Speaker 1: and walked out the same day with the medication they needed.
6:00
Speaker 1: In fact, in Morocco, vicodin is over the counter there
6:04
Speaker 1: found that out from the dentist. So medical access is
6:07
Speaker 1: freely available in most countries and instant same goes for medication.
6:14
Speaker 1: If a primary concern is that a medical condition is
6:17
Speaker 1: going to prohibit you from traveling, it very likely is not,
6:22
Speaker 1: and it is as easy as looking up the hospitals
6:25
Speaker 1: that treat your condition, because there are those hospitals almost
6:28
Speaker 1: wherever you go. And just discovering the fee schedule, you
6:32
Speaker 1: can find out how much it is before you go,
6:34
Speaker 1: and what the reputation of the hospital is. Some of them,
6:38
Speaker 1: like Taie hospitals, just have reviews like anything else, and
6:42
Speaker 1: you can hear from the patients themselves. Let's talk about
6:46
Speaker 1: solo traveling. A lot of women I know ask if
6:50
Speaker 1: it's safe for a female solo traveler, and since I
6:53
Speaker 1: am a guy, I don't want to say, ah, it's fine,
6:56
Speaker 1: which is definitely what I would tend to say to
6:58
Speaker 1: anybody who asked me from my personal experience. But the
7:02
Speaker 1: female solo travelers I know have all told me that
7:06
Speaker 1: they have had good solo travels by themselves. Now, I
7:09
Speaker 1: wouldn't walk down a dark alley when I saw two
7:14
Speaker 1: guys like smoking, you know, or a huddle of hooligans
7:19
Speaker 1: or whatever, and neither do female solo travelers. Male or
7:23
Speaker 1: female solo travelers use common sense. Male or female travelers
7:27
Speaker 1: shouldn't put themselves in any dangerous situation they can reasonably avoid.
7:31
Speaker 1: But the female solo travelers who have told me about
7:34
Speaker 1: their travels all have said that they feel safe on
7:38
Speaker 1: all of their travels, and they use common sense to
7:40
Speaker 1: stay out of dangerous situations, like any solo traveler should do.
7:44
Speaker 1: Always be aware of your surroundings the same way you
7:47
Speaker 1: should always be aware of your surroundings wherever you are.
7:50
Speaker 1: You don't have to backpack, you know, your first journey out.
7:54
Speaker 1: You can just hang out in your hostel, talk to
7:56
Speaker 1: people or don't talk to people. You can by the
8:00
Speaker 1: pool for a month and just chill out. You don't
8:03
Speaker 1: have to go on these crazy adventures that I might
8:05
Speaker 1: talk about on here or other people tell you about.
8:09
Speaker 1: That's not what traveling is for me anyway. I see
8:12
Speaker 1: traveling as a mode of living your life the way
8:17
Speaker 1: you want to. One time in Laos, I got tired
8:20
Speaker 1: and I just spent two weeks straight playing video games,
8:23
Speaker 1: going out and eating, going back to my nice little apartment,
8:27
Speaker 1: and playing more video games because I was just feeling
8:31
Speaker 1: kind of burnt out, like I was working too much
8:33
Speaker 1: on my own stuff, and I feel like I was
8:35
Speaker 1: putting too much pressure on myself. So I've loaded up
8:39
Speaker 1: What's that Horizon, one of the Horizon games that I
8:43
Speaker 1: had never played, and just was like, Okay, I'm just
8:45
Speaker 1: going to do this until I finish it. And I
8:48
Speaker 1: fought robot dinosaurs, and it was a good time and
8:51
Speaker 1: I felt recharged at the end of it. I felt
8:53
Speaker 1: like I wanted to get out of the house at
8:55
Speaker 1: the end of it, start working on my own stuff again,
8:58
Speaker 1: and start exploring again. Which are things I like to do.
9:02
Speaker 1: So can you travel? Yes? And you can travel the
9:06
Speaker 1: way you want to. Can I travel? Seems to carry
9:09
Speaker 1: this weight of expectation when people ask me can I travel?
9:15
Speaker 1: They're like, do you think I can backpack one thousand miles?
9:19
Speaker 1: Or can I climb volcanoes? And that kind of thing?
9:22
Speaker 1: And you don't have to worry about that. Yes, you
9:25
Speaker 1: can travel, and you can travel exactly how you want to.
9:29
Speaker 1: If you want to long distance backpack, totally can. If
9:33
Speaker 1: you want to visit Hot Springs every week, great. If
9:36
Speaker 1: you want to lie under the comforter for two weeks
9:38
Speaker 1: straight and just sleep twenty hours a day, do that.
9:42
Speaker 1: Those are all great traveling lifestyles that I have personally enjoyed.
9:46
Speaker 1: You're not obligated to do anything once you start traveling.
9:50
Speaker 1: There's no travel boss, just you. You're the travel boss.
9:55
Speaker 1: The travel boss was inside you all along. How about safety?
10:00
Speaker 1: This is subjective? I feel way safer in most other
10:05
Speaker 1: countries than I do in the States, because most citizens
10:08
Speaker 1: from other countries aren't afraid of the people around them
10:11
Speaker 1: like a lot of Americans are. And to be clear,
10:13
Speaker 1: it is usually the bigot who is afraid of the
10:17
Speaker 1: people around them, not the target of the prejudice. I
10:21
Speaker 1: was sitting in a bar and then someone shot someone
10:26
Speaker 1: else in the head in the parking lot in Denver
10:30
Speaker 1: because he was in his parking spot. And then they argued,
10:36
Speaker 1: so the guy who was in the parking spot drove
10:38
Speaker 1: away and like flipped him off, so that guy, rather
10:41
Speaker 1: than taking the parking spot, drove after him, and then
10:45
Speaker 1: at a red light, ran up and shot him in
10:48
Speaker 1: the head with a pistol. I have random people walking
10:52
Speaker 1: up to me talking about how we need to get
10:55
Speaker 1: rid of immigrants or whatever n desire that bigot doesn't like,
11:03
Speaker 1: and they feel dangerous when they tell me these things.
11:06
Speaker 1: The bigot accosting me always feels more dangerous and uncomfortable
11:11
Speaker 1: than the person they're afraid of and are attempting to alienate.
11:15
Speaker 1: I stopped in Philadelphia for a week, and the first
11:20
Speaker 1: day I landed back, I was stopped by a guy
11:25
Speaker 1: outside some convenience store. I can't remember he saw my backpack.
11:30
Speaker 1: He was in the military, and then he really wanted
11:33
Speaker 1: to talk to me. And then he started talking about
11:36
Speaker 1: how Jews have religion in their blood and that's why
11:40
Speaker 1: we should be wary of them, like instantly. And then
11:44
Speaker 1: when he found out I came from India, he started
11:46
Speaker 1: telling me about how he really hated Indians. And just
11:50
Speaker 1: for edification, this was not like an old, white, easy
11:55
Speaker 1: to spot maga guy. This was a twenty something younger
11:59
Speaker 1: than me for sure, black dude who felt like he
12:02
Speaker 1: needed to stop a guy to tell him about his prejudices.
12:08
Speaker 1: I just those conversations are flying around in public in
12:13
Speaker 1: the US feel dangerous and gross, like they're chiseling away
12:18
Speaker 1: at your humanity. I saw another guy that same day,
12:22
Speaker 1: a little earlier, screaming sexual not obscenities, but like rude
12:29
Speaker 1: sexual assault slurs at a woman walking down the opposite
12:34
Speaker 1: side of the street. And then that guy, who I
12:37
Speaker 1: was like, man, maybe he's strung out or he seems
12:40
Speaker 1: really undone in some way, something's wrong with him, answered
12:44
Speaker 1: his phone and started filling an order for some construction
12:47
Speaker 1: work he was doing for someone else, talking like a
12:49
Speaker 1: totally normal person, and five seconds before he had been
12:52
Speaker 1: sexually assaulting this woman who was in vague physical proximity. Shocking,
12:59
Speaker 1: and it doesn't feel safe there. I've been to a
13:02
Speaker 1: lot of countries, and Fez in Morocco is the only
13:08
Speaker 1: place that has felt as dangerous as pretty much any
13:12
Speaker 1: place in the USA. I've lived in a lot of
13:14
Speaker 1: neighborhoods that locals say are the dangerous part. But a
13:18
Speaker 1: lot of those countries don't even allow most citizens to
13:22
Speaker 1: have guns without very strict regulation licenses. So I think
13:27
Speaker 1: when you're walking around in other countries, once you realize
13:30
Speaker 1: that there aren't weapons everywhere, and there isn't this ideological war,
13:36
Speaker 1: especially now going on in twenty twenty five, people in
13:40
Speaker 1: the US are afraid and angry at their citizens. They're
13:46
Speaker 1: fellow citizens of the same country. You don't really have
13:50
Speaker 1: that thing in other countries. Other country citizens are not
13:54
Speaker 1: afraid of their neighbor citizens because they hold different views.
14:00
Speaker 1: The community you're going to be a part of or
14:02
Speaker 1: live in for a while abroad is just much more
14:05
Speaker 1: comfortable because you don't have that tension of oh, that
14:08
Speaker 1: guy disagrees with my opinions so strongly he might shoot me.
14:16
Speaker 1: That's not an issue in most countries, and you can
14:19
Speaker 1: feel it in the interactions between citizens. They aren't afraid
14:23
Speaker 1: of each other like Americans are. So it's a much
14:25
Speaker 1: more relaxing culture In pretty much every other culture outside
14:29
Speaker 1: of the US, it's just a lot more calming. Those
14:33
Speaker 1: nuts in your shoulders relax, at least they do in mind.
14:37
Speaker 1: So I just want to assure you that if you're
14:39
Speaker 1: worried about how safe it is outside of the US,
14:42
Speaker 1: it's more safe outside of the US from my direct experience.
14:47
Speaker 1: And while that is anecdotal evidence, you can talk to
14:50
Speaker 1: any traveler who's been out there for a while and
14:53
Speaker 1: asking that question, oh is it safe out there? They
14:57
Speaker 1: will tell you yes, Yeah, it's a world, Yeah there's people. Yeah,
15:03
Speaker 1: they're safe. They're as safe as where you are. It's
15:06
Speaker 1: very common to have a roundtable discussion of expats talking
15:09
Speaker 1: about how safe they feel outside of the US. So
15:13
Speaker 1: if you just have those concerns taken care of, Okay,
15:18
Speaker 1: it's safe enough. I can get medical care, I can
15:21
Speaker 1: still access my bank account. So what do I need
15:24
Speaker 1: to do to get out there? Because you're out there,
15:27
Speaker 1: how did you do it? What you need is a
15:29
Speaker 1: passport and then a airplane ticket. That's it for one
15:34
Speaker 1: hundred eighty countries. That's all you need. Americans enjoy visa
15:38
Speaker 1: free travel and visa on arrival travel in most countries
15:42
Speaker 1: in the world, So all you need is your passport
15:45
Speaker 1: and then you need to get an airline ticket. There
15:47
Speaker 1: are a few countries you have to apply for the
15:49
Speaker 1: passport first, but it's an online form. You fill it out,
15:53
Speaker 1: it maybe takes ten minutes, and then they email you
15:56
Speaker 1: your visa a couple days later. That is the visa
15:59
Speaker 1: process for most countries that do require a visa in
16:02
Speaker 1: the world. It is that simple. And then, like I said,
16:05
Speaker 1: a bunch of those you don't even need the visa
16:07
Speaker 1: or their visas on arrival. Most of them you don't
16:09
Speaker 1: need a visa or you can get visa on arrival.
16:11
Speaker 1: So you just need a passport and a ticket and
16:14
Speaker 1: then you can go. Now, the next question, of course,
16:17
Speaker 1: is well what about my income. Now this varies on whatever,
16:22
Speaker 1: but let's just say as a standard, you want your
16:25
Speaker 1: own private place with your own private bathroom in a
16:29
Speaker 1: safe neighborhood. How much do you need for that? You
16:33
Speaker 1: need about five hundred USD per month for that. The
16:37
Speaker 1: room is going to be about three hundred and then
16:39
Speaker 1: two hundred for food and getting around. Now, if you
16:43
Speaker 1: have more than five hundred USD your set, if you
16:46
Speaker 1: have a remote job that gets you more than that
16:48
Speaker 1: your set, how can you get income? Again, if you
16:52
Speaker 1: have a remote job, you're good. The easiest thing outside
16:56
Speaker 1: of that is to teach English, because you can teach
16:58
Speaker 1: English in most countries and you're going to get paid
17:02
Speaker 1: much more than the cost of living in that country.
17:05
Speaker 1: The lowest any English teacher I've ever heard of making
17:08
Speaker 1: is one thousand dollars per month, and that's in Cambodia,
17:13
Speaker 1: or the cost of living is three hundred dollars a
17:15
Speaker 1: month buying food from restaurants every day, So it would
17:18
Speaker 1: be very easy to save money even if you were
17:22
Speaker 1: only making the absolute minimum. And it's a lot more
17:25
Speaker 1: normal to make two thousand plus teaching English. But in
17:30
Speaker 1: China the cost of living is also way under five hundred,
17:33
Speaker 1: so you're saving fifteen hundred a month easy. That's teaching
17:37
Speaker 1: about twenty five hours a week, just basic, not even conversational.
17:42
Speaker 1: Half the time it's just primary colors and stuff because
17:44
Speaker 1: it's really young kids. But up to conversational English, you
17:47
Speaker 1: repeat it for forty five minutes they answer you. You
17:51
Speaker 1: get paid twenty five hundred at the end of the
17:53
Speaker 1: month for twenty hour weeks. If you join a school
17:56
Speaker 1: that's more set up, then they might even give you
17:59
Speaker 1: free how and it's very common to get signing bonuses
18:03
Speaker 1: if you stay on for an extra six months or
18:05
Speaker 1: an extra year, and that really is just free money
18:08
Speaker 1: to continue teaching at their school. Do you need the
18:11
Speaker 1: job before you go before you start traveling. You do not.
18:15
Speaker 1: If you have one, that's great, Like I said, if
18:18
Speaker 1: you have a remote job already, you're all set. But
18:20
Speaker 1: if you don't have a job and you just move
18:22
Speaker 1: to a country that is looking for English teachers, you'll
18:26
Speaker 1: get that job. And that is most countries. If you're
18:30
Speaker 1: in Central or South America, any of those countries, you
18:33
Speaker 1: can find an English teaching job. If you are anywhere
18:36
Speaker 1: in Asia, you can find an English teaching job. If
18:38
Speaker 1: you're anywhere in the Middle East or Africa, you can
18:43
Speaker 1: teach English. So this is a worldwide job opportunity that
18:47
Speaker 1: you don't even have to look into before you go.
18:51
Speaker 1: You certainly can. You can agree to get a job
18:53
Speaker 1: at a school before you go there, just so you
18:55
Speaker 1: feel good about it. But the jobs are everywhere out there.
18:58
Speaker 1: If you're a native speaker, you've got the job in
19:00
Speaker 1: whatever country you're traveling to outside of like England and Ireland,
19:04
Speaker 1: outside of majority English speaking countries obviously, so you don't
19:09
Speaker 1: need a job before you go ESL. English is a
19:11
Speaker 1: second language, Yeah, go teach it. There's a billion ESL jobs.
19:16
Speaker 1: It's crazy and the so I was giving the median
19:20
Speaker 1: job income levels, but if you teach in Saudi Arabia
19:24
Speaker 1: you can get six thousand USD a month in some
19:28
Speaker 1: of the listings I saw. Anyway, I believe the listing
19:31
Speaker 1: I saw for six thousand in Saudi Arabia was for
19:34
Speaker 1: forty hours a week instead of twenty. But is your
19:38
Speaker 1: job forty hours a week now? Are you making six
19:40
Speaker 1: thousand a month? You could speaking basic English to school children.
19:45
Speaker 1: I actually had a friend from China who gave me
19:47
Speaker 1: a list of like provincial schools where he wanted English teachers,
19:52
Speaker 1: and since they're remote, the salaries were higher than what
19:56
Speaker 1: you would get in the city, and they were like
19:58
Speaker 1: four to six thousand a month. And I almost went
20:01
Speaker 1: back to China and started teaching again when I saw that.
20:03
Speaker 1: But I dig traveling, so I didn't, but if you
20:06
Speaker 1: want those jobs, they are there in China. I don't
20:10
Speaker 1: have that specific guy's information anymore. But if you ask
20:13
Speaker 1: around while you're looking for a job in or out
20:15
Speaker 1: of the country, you are going to get so much
20:19
Speaker 1: more information than you could ever use on which jobs
20:22
Speaker 1: are available where and how much you get paid and
20:25
Speaker 1: the benefits, because again, native English speakers are in such
20:30
Speaker 1: high demand. As far as countries go, China is probably
20:33
Speaker 1: the easiest. Japan is probably the most difficult. But even
20:37
Speaker 1: in Japan, it's not very difficult to get an English
20:39
Speaker 1: teaching job, especially if you get your tefl certificate. So
20:43
Speaker 1: if you're worried about getting a job, you don't need
20:45
Speaker 1: the tefil certificate, but if you have one, you'll definitely
20:49
Speaker 1: get the job at a higher pay immediately, and that
20:53
Speaker 1: is a forty dollars investment group on that will that's
21:00
Speaker 1: the rest of your lifetime and guarantee you a job
21:02
Speaker 1: as long as people speak English. Can also get a
21:05
Speaker 1: work visa. If you talk to a school before you
21:08
Speaker 1: go and they agree to spont to your work visa.
21:10
Speaker 1: You'll probably go over on a tourist visa, and once
21:12
Speaker 1: you actually show up. The school will go through the
21:15
Speaker 1: trouble of getting you the work visa if you're working
21:18
Speaker 1: for a university, and then they'll get you the work
21:19
Speaker 1: visa beforehand. But yeah, you can get a work visa.
21:23
Speaker 1: But if you just go over there or to any
21:26
Speaker 1: country on a tourist visa and then join a school,
21:29
Speaker 1: they can get you a work visa once you start working.
21:32
Speaker 1: Or you can roll the dice and just work on
21:36
Speaker 1: a tourist visa. But that is illegal in some countries.
21:39
Speaker 1: It's not illegal in some countries. I don't recommend it,
21:43
Speaker 1: I did do it. If you need money, go teach
21:47
Speaker 1: English and you'll have all the money you need or want.
21:51
Speaker 1: It's more money for half the hours, and it's your
21:54
Speaker 1: native language. But if you already make more than five
21:58
Speaker 1: hundred on a remote job, yeah go you're good if
22:01
Speaker 1: that's your only concern. If you're making more than five
22:04
Speaker 1: hundred USD a month and you have a remote job,
22:07
Speaker 1: you're fine. You can go travel. If you want to
22:10
Speaker 1: check out some of these English teaching jobs I'm talking about,
22:12
Speaker 1: you can go to eslcafe dot com look for the classifieds.
22:17
Speaker 1: There's a whole bunch there are teacher jobs listed in
22:20
Speaker 1: every country. You can just email them and they'll email
22:23
Speaker 1: you back and you'll get a job. And I mentioned
22:25
Speaker 1: dave z sl Cafe because it's one of the oldest
22:28
Speaker 1: job listing sites there are, but there are hundreds of
22:32
Speaker 1: those sites with thousands of listings, and most of them
22:36
Speaker 1: are just platforms that connect you, the prospective English teacher,
22:39
Speaker 1: to the school directly, so you can very quickly see
22:42
Speaker 1: if it's a real job posting, which for EESL it
22:46
Speaker 1: is a real job posting, and determine for yourself whether
22:49
Speaker 1: or not that school is a good fit for you. Again,
22:52
Speaker 1: you don't have to get the job before you go
22:55
Speaker 1: to the country you want to teach English in, but
22:58
Speaker 1: you can apply to any of these jobs and talk
23:00
Speaker 1: directly to school members, recruiting officers, sometimes the owners of
23:05
Speaker 1: the schools themselves, and see if that's what you want
23:07
Speaker 1: to do, if that's where you want to teach. Another
23:11
Speaker 1: phrase I hear a lot exclusively from people who haven't
23:15
Speaker 1: traveled is culture shock, which is I'm still not sure
23:21
Speaker 1: what exactly that's supposed to mean, other than I'm in
23:24
Speaker 1: a place where I can't speak the language and things
23:27
Speaker 1: are different, but you're not actually going to go into shock,
23:30
Speaker 1: like if someone cut your arm off. The craziest example
23:35
Speaker 1: I've seen in real life of culture shock is something
23:38
Speaker 1: like they call noodles meen, how do you remember that.
23:42
Speaker 1: They're like, well, that's just the word here meah, They're like, oh, okay,
23:47
Speaker 1: culture shock over. Another common example of culture shock is
23:52
Speaker 1: chopsticks are hard. It doesn't usually get much more severe
23:57
Speaker 1: than that. And if you don't like the country, you
24:00
Speaker 1: can just go to another country. One hundred and eighty
24:02
Speaker 1: other countries are waiting for you. But countries you haven't
24:07
Speaker 1: been to are very similar to the country you have
24:09
Speaker 1: been to the country you're from. Regardless of where you're from.
24:13
Speaker 1: The more you think your country is unique from other
24:17
Speaker 1: countries and your people are unique from other people is
24:22
Speaker 1: probably an indicator of how little you understand your and
24:26
Speaker 1: other countries, which, of course is going to be the
24:28
Speaker 1: case if you've only ever lived in one country. Trying
24:31
Speaker 1: to understand the world if you've never lived in it
24:35
Speaker 1: is like writing a senior thesis about the ocean, but
24:38
Speaker 1: you've only ever been to a swimming pool. And if
24:41
Speaker 1: you ever feel like you need any sort of assistance,
24:43
Speaker 1: ask around. People will try to help you. And organizations
24:48
Speaker 1: are available. There are embassies that you can call up
24:52
Speaker 1: for help. You can just call up the US embassy
24:55
Speaker 1: for help if you're in another country, just for regular
24:57
Speaker 1: help if you need it. But English, which is the
25:00
Speaker 1: second language in pretty much every country on the planet,
25:03
Speaker 1: so if you're an English speaker, you will be able
25:05
Speaker 1: to find help somewhere. There are pharmacies everywhere, there are
25:09
Speaker 1: supermarkets everywhere, there are concerts everywhere. It's not a radically
25:15
Speaker 1: different world. It is a world where the letters look
25:19
Speaker 1: different and people use a different word for cow, but
25:23
Speaker 1: the world itself is still the world. So culture shock
25:27
Speaker 1: should not be a huge worry for you. As soon
25:31
Speaker 1: as you learn where the local supermarket is, which looks
25:34
Speaker 1: like a supermarket in every country I've ever been to,
25:37
Speaker 1: or convenience store, and the local guy selling food outside
25:40
Speaker 1: on the street, and you have your apartment, the culture
25:43
Speaker 1: shock part of it is over. You know where there's food,
25:46
Speaker 1: you know where you can go to the bathroom, take
25:48
Speaker 1: a shower, you have a roof over your head. Just
25:51
Speaker 1: start learning the language and culture shock. Like I said,
25:55
Speaker 1: nobody who ever has traveled really uses that term very
25:59
Speaker 1: often because you get used to a place very quickly,
26:03
Speaker 1: no matter how different it seems to be when you land,
26:07
Speaker 1: you can deal with this. People are adaptable. You are adaptable.
26:11
Speaker 1: When you get there, you'll adapt. Most of these changes
26:14
Speaker 1: or differences are completely superficial anyway. And the quicker you
26:18
Speaker 1: learn the language, the more comfortable everything will be more quickly,
26:23
Speaker 1: and you do not have to be fluent. Just learn
26:25
Speaker 1: a bit. People will like you more, you'll feel more
26:27
Speaker 1: comfortable where you are, and you're going to make English
26:30
Speaker 1: speaking friends wherever you are anyway. So yeah, don't worry
26:34
Speaker 1: about culture shock. If you are feeling isolated. There are
26:38
Speaker 1: CouchSurfing groups in every single country. You guys can meet
26:42
Speaker 1: up its expats and locals, and you can make friends
26:46
Speaker 1: very easily. You can join one of the friend apps
26:50
Speaker 1: like Tinder for dating, but just for friends, and you
26:54
Speaker 1: can just start hanging out with people. It's very easy
26:57
Speaker 1: to connect, especially when you're traveling. You're going to find
27:00
Speaker 1: you make way more friends traveling than you ever did
27:03
Speaker 1: at home. That's a common refrain from travelers in general,
27:07
Speaker 1: especially if you're a solo traveler, people will just start
27:10
Speaker 1: talking to you. It's easier to strike up conversations and
27:13
Speaker 1: make connections with people while traveling because everyone is kind
27:17
Speaker 1: of looking and exploring, and they're all just more open
27:20
Speaker 1: minded and open hearted abroad than someone tucked in a
27:25
Speaker 1: neighborhood for twenty years. Also, so many of those expets
27:29
Speaker 1: are not going to have the stress that you see
27:32
Speaker 1: in the States because it's not grinding their soul through
27:37
Speaker 1: financial ruin every single day. You need so little money
27:41
Speaker 1: to live well in most of these countries that there's
27:46
Speaker 1: just not that overwhelming depression that seems to swim through
27:51
Speaker 1: the atmosphere in the United States, slowing everyone down and
27:55
Speaker 1: making them bitter. The cost of living is so much
27:58
Speaker 1: more affordable while traveling in most of the world's countries.
28:02
Speaker 1: Your passport it costs one hundred and sixty five dollars
28:05
Speaker 1: right now. I think you can spend three hundred dollars
28:09
Speaker 1: to go to any country in the world, and less
28:12
Speaker 1: than one hundred to go to half of the countries.
28:15
Speaker 1: After you have your passport, and for a couple hundred bucks,
28:18
Speaker 1: you can cut your cost of living by eighty percent immediately.
28:22
Speaker 1: So if you want to go two steps, get your passport,
28:26
Speaker 1: get a ticket. Let's start with the first step. How
28:29
Speaker 1: do you get your passport? You can get it online now,
28:33
Speaker 1: but you still have to go in person to the
28:34
Speaker 1: usps US post office. Anyway, I would just recommend going
28:38
Speaker 1: to the post office nearest to you that offers that service.
28:42
Speaker 1: You go in there, you fill out a form, they
28:44
Speaker 1: take your picture, you pay the fee, and two weeks
28:48
Speaker 1: later or one week later, you get the passport in
28:50
Speaker 1: the mail. That's it. It's a very straightforward process, and yeah,
28:55
Speaker 1: cost one hundred and sixty bucks, but again, your cost
28:58
Speaker 1: of living is going to be eighty percent cheaper immediately
29:01
Speaker 1: once you use it, and the passport lasts for ten years,
29:05
Speaker 1: so you're spending sixteen bucks a year to reduce your
29:08
Speaker 1: cost of living by eighty percent or more. It's a
29:12
Speaker 1: pretty good deal for one hundred and sixty bucks to
29:15
Speaker 1: not pay one thousand, six hundred dollars in rent every month.
29:20
Speaker 1: Then the next and final step is to get a
29:22
Speaker 1: ticket to somewhere that sounds interesting to you for whatever reason. Okay,
29:26
Speaker 1: ticket to the rest of the world. Cheap tickets around
29:31
Speaker 1: the world are much cheaper than people tell you they are,
29:34
Speaker 1: and that everywhere tell you they are. Just look every
29:37
Speaker 1: day for like three days and you're going to see
29:39
Speaker 1: these prices wildly fluctuate, use an incognito tab so that
29:44
Speaker 1: you can see the real prices. If you use an
29:46
Speaker 1: incognito tab on one site and on another device you
29:50
Speaker 1: type in Japan flights and then look for Japan flights,
29:54
Speaker 1: it's going to be thirty fifty dollars more expensive because
29:57
Speaker 1: they know you're looking for a flight, which means you're
29:59
Speaker 1: in hint on buying a ticket, which means they can
30:01
Speaker 1: charge you a little bit more and you'll get it.
30:04
Speaker 1: So I always use incognito tabs. I always check for
30:06
Speaker 1: a few days in a row. But even if you
30:09
Speaker 1: pay the most versus the least, the cheapest flight to
30:12
Speaker 1: Japan from la or Seattle or whatever, Texas is about
30:16
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty bucks, and the most expensive is
30:19
Speaker 1: generally four hundred and fifty dollars. So if two hundred
30:21
Speaker 1: dollars isn't a big deal to you, bearing in mind
30:24
Speaker 1: how much money you're going to be saving because of
30:27
Speaker 1: the cost of living abroad, then it's fine. You don't
30:31
Speaker 1: have to worry about ticket prices that much. And if
30:33
Speaker 1: you just do the minimum of research, or you even
30:36
Speaker 1: just set price alerts, you really will get the better deal.
30:40
Speaker 1: If you plan ahead or for me, I buy all
30:44
Speaker 1: my tickets about one to two weeks out before I leave,
30:48
Speaker 1: and the price is neglige. It's maybe ten dollars more
30:52
Speaker 1: or ten dollars less. It doesn't seem to make much
30:54
Speaker 1: of a difference. If I plan three months ahead or
30:57
Speaker 1: two weeks ahead. I buy my most recent tiket it
31:00
Speaker 1: three days out, and I buy a lot of tickets
31:03
Speaker 1: like that. I bought same day tickets before. It's still
31:07
Speaker 1: basically the same price. I got a same day ticket
31:10
Speaker 1: to Laos that was cheaper than the ticket I was
31:12
Speaker 1: originally gonna buy. So once you have your ticket to
31:16
Speaker 1: the rest of the world, your little cool blue book
31:19
Speaker 1: passport adventure journal, you can renew it whenever you want to.
31:23
Speaker 1: You can add pages to it if you go to
31:26
Speaker 1: too many countries and you have too many stamps. It's
31:30
Speaker 1: just a very simple, straightforward, inexpensive process compared to how
31:34
Speaker 1: much you're paying now for US utilities and rent and
31:38
Speaker 1: insurance and all that stuff. So if your concern is,
31:42
Speaker 1: but isn't traveling expensive more expensive than I'm spending now? No, not,
31:48
Speaker 1: in any way, it's so much cheaper. Okay, So if
31:53
Speaker 1: you're nervous about how difficult it will be to travel
31:55
Speaker 1: for the first time. I recommend Thailand. There's a reason
31:59
Speaker 1: why so many people go there. Everyone is super cool,
32:03
Speaker 1: they're so friendly, and the economy and businesses and people
32:11
Speaker 1: are very used to tourists. There's people who speak English there,
32:16
Speaker 1: and there's a ton of other travelers too from other countries,
32:19
Speaker 1: so there are people all around. You can talk like,
32:21
Speaker 1: am I traveling right, just to like make sure that
32:24
Speaker 1: first time, and they'll assure you that, yes, you are
32:26
Speaker 1: traveling perfectly correctly. And it's inexpensive. It's a very easy
32:30
Speaker 1: climate to live in. Everything is there in Thailand. They
32:35
Speaker 1: have access to tech because they're in Asia. You can
32:37
Speaker 1: get anything you need. The food is great, everybody's casual.
32:42
Speaker 1: The whole culture is kind of casual. Everyone's very accepting.
32:46
Speaker 1: So if I have to recommend like a first country
32:48
Speaker 1: to go to, it's probably Thailand if you're really worried
32:51
Speaker 1: about if you're going to like where you are, because
32:54
Speaker 1: it's pretty difficult to go to Thailand and not like
32:57
Speaker 1: it unless you hate hot weather, and then you know,
33:00
Speaker 1: go to Japan or some other northern latitude country. But
33:05
Speaker 1: Thailand's probably the easiest place to start very inexpensive, very
33:09
Speaker 1: nice people, great food, good place. Overall. You should go
33:13
Speaker 1: to China, and you should probably go to India because
33:16
Speaker 1: there are like two billion people in each of those countries.
33:20
Speaker 1: So if you want to find out what the majority
33:23
Speaker 1: of the world is doing, go visit those two countries. Oh,
33:28
Speaker 1: talking about safety real quick again. Tourists are especially protected
33:32
Speaker 1: because tourism is a huge industry in any country, including
33:35
Speaker 1: the United States. So most countries and Thailand is another
33:39
Speaker 1: great example of this, protect their tourists very well because
33:42
Speaker 1: they don't want any negative publicity to get out and
33:45
Speaker 1: make it look like their country is not safe. So
33:48
Speaker 1: that's another reason why as a tourist you should feel
33:50
Speaker 1: safer than you do in your own country. There's actually
33:54
Speaker 1: an index of countries from like most to least safe,
33:58
Speaker 1: and Laos Andatemala are in the bottom fifty of those
34:04
Speaker 1: out of two hundred countries. But I've been to both
34:06
Speaker 1: of those and they're fine. And there are one hundred
34:08
Speaker 1: fifty countries above those that are green that are perfectly
34:12
Speaker 1: safe to go to. There are lots of safe destinations,
34:16
Speaker 1: comfortable destinations that will welcome you with open arms, with
34:20
Speaker 1: a vastly lower cost of living that you can enjoy.
34:24
Speaker 1: And that's solo travelers, that's male travelers, female travelers, special
34:30
Speaker 1: needs travelers, families, people with special considerations, chronic illnesses, whatever
34:37
Speaker 1: it is. I've met those people and they are traveling.
34:42
Speaker 1: They're happy to see Chef shauin in Morocco. That's cool
34:45
Speaker 1: little city where everything is blue, everything's like painted blue,
34:49
Speaker 1: where they're happy to go to Westawira and check out
34:51
Speaker 1: all the cool surfers and nice beaches. Like there's travelers
34:55
Speaker 1: of all kinds everywhere, and you can be one too.
34:58
Speaker 1: If that interests you and you are wondering can I travel,
35:03
Speaker 1: I'm here making this podcast to tell you, Yeah, you can.
35:09
Speaker 1: If you have any questions or concerns, please write to
35:13
Speaker 1: me at bit of a Rambler at gmail dot com.
35:16
Speaker 1: I will get back to you. And if anything I
35:18
Speaker 1: mentioned you want to go into more detail on, look
35:22
Speaker 1: at the episode list and try to find the tefil
35:25
Speaker 1: one teaching English as a Foreign Language. There's a medical
35:28
Speaker 1: tourism episode. Yeah, just dive into whatever you're curious about.
35:33
Speaker 1: Those episodes will go into what I've talked about in
35:35
Speaker 1: more detail. Good talking to you, and I will see
35:38
Speaker 1: you on the next one. Oh, I guess. Let's close
35:42
Speaker 1: this out with a few ticket prices. So Mexico twenty
35:47
Speaker 1: two dollars, Canada twenty two dollars, Puerto Rico's forty, Honduras forty,
35:54
Speaker 1: Guatemala fifty nine. Oh, Jamaica is eighty one. Let's move.
36:00
Speaker 1: Let's go to Australia one hundred and forty five dollars.
36:05
Speaker 1: These are all tickets from the States. The Netherlands is
36:08
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty six. France is one hundred and
36:11
Speaker 1: fifty six, so yeah, you can get to Wow. Ireland's
36:16
Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy. Go to Ireland, it's great. What
36:20
Speaker 1: else do we have? Let's go see what Asia looks like. Ooh,
36:24
Speaker 1: Japan two sixty one, Egypt to eighty nine. Out Asia,
36:28
Speaker 1: I know, uh, Korea three hundred and thirty three. Oh,
36:32
Speaker 1: that's cool, okay, South Korea is three hundred thirty three.
36:35
Speaker 1: That's a good number. Go to Korea. Highland three thirty
36:38
Speaker 1: eight also a good number. Wherever you want to go,
36:42
Speaker 1: you can go, and it's going to be great. Have
36:45
Speaker 1: a great trip. Wow, listen to that one hundred whatever
36:50
Speaker 1: episodes ago? How professional? Did I sound a bit more
36:56
Speaker 1: than I do? Now I feel a bit looser these days.
37:01
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll do a whole new can you Travel? Episode? Anyway,
37:07
Speaker 1: That more monotonous voice makes a very good point, Yes
37:11
Speaker 1: you can. And I still get that question all the time.
37:16
Speaker 1: I still get that response time I wish I could travel,
37:19
Speaker 1: and I still get people asking me do you think
37:21
Speaker 1: I could travel? And I still haven't said no so far,
37:26
Speaker 1: every single person that asks me the answers, yeah, yeah
37:30
Speaker 1: you can. So if you want to talk more, give
37:33
Speaker 1: me a holler at bit of a Rambler at gmail
37:36
Speaker 1: dot com or bit of a Rambler on Blue Sky
37:38
Speaker 1: and Lemmy, I'm here hanging out. I hope you're having
37:42
Speaker 1: a great day and I will talk to you soon.
37:45
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening.