When I tell friends I am traveling abroad they sometimes freak out about "how dangerous it is" "what about the terrorism?". 

Case in point bomb in Bangkok this year where I will be traveling in October for a conference.

My advice:

• follow your gut
• be careful
• look at the real risk probabilities.

I remember last year all the fear around the coup/martial law in Thailand. It was a complete non-issue once I was on the ground there. 

That is also my experience with all other news stories about countries I have visited. The news and US State Dept reports are full of negative hype (that is what sells news) and the reality is completely different. Yes the events happen and they are such a small part of the total reality you have to go looking for them to see them when you are there.

Looking at this from a rational risk probability of death you are far more likely to die other ways

Here are common probabilities of dying (source):

Pedestrian                        1 in 47,273

Car occupant              1 in 17,625

While on railway train    1 in 10,283,615

air/ space accidents      1 in 440,951

Fire                              1 in 91,149

venomous snakes   1 in  95,980,407
venomous spiders   1 in 28,794,122

Poison/OD                 1 in 16,407

Self harm                 1 in 9,096

Assault                   1 in 16,325

Childbirth (mom)          1 death of mother per 5000 live births in US/EU
Terrorism deaths       1 in 1,700,000 to 1 in 20,000,000 (source)

So! I would be far more concerned about risks from cars, suicide/depression, muggings or pregnancy than bombs in bangkok. (Risk reduction: put on seat belt in taxi/pick a safe driver, not walking drunk at 3am in bad neighborhood, self mental health care are all good ways to reduce these risks.)

For a discussion of the real terrorism risk and some insight on to why we spend so much extra time and money on this risk the article in Reason magazine is useful. 

Basically both the news media and government get an enormous amount of benefit from amplifying the terrorist threat. The news sell more stories/advertising, the government gets to spend trillions on DHS easily changing laws to control/spy on their citizens.

This entry was posted on August 19, 2015 at 2:58 PM and has received 1349 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Being sick on the road sucks. Today we look at 

1) How to prepare while at home to be travel healthy

2) What steps do you take to avoid getting sick/injured when traveling

3) If you do get sick on a long trip what to do

1. Prep - Stay healthy with steps below. Healthy is goal #2 of mine so this is easy for me to focus on each day.

• Healthy food, exercise and plenty of sleep/naps. Lots of water. No coffee, alcohol or smoking.

• For exercise I do the Donna Eden 5 minute energy resets and 30-60 minutes of kundalini yoga/meditation each day. Plus a lot of walking.

• Daily multi-vitamin and 1000mg Vit-C

• Brush and flush teeth daily. I just got a travel water pik as that helps my gums stay healthy.

• Set intention of being healthy and young.

• Visualization of each body part in turn - sending light and seeing them each happy, healthy, smiling and youthful.

• Clearing any emotions as they come up rather than stuffing them into a body part as I used to do. Journaling also helps.

• Listen to my intuition "What does my body want to eat in this moment to be super healthy?" rather that eating what my mind/ego wants. Ditto on type of exercise.

2. Avoiding sick/injured while travel.

• Keep to practices from 1. Even if that means getting up 4am to do yoga before an early flight.

• Avoid alcohol on flights as it is dehydrating and planes are kept at low humidity. Bring my own water on flight and drink it. Get up from seat every few hours - in theory to pee - in practice to stretch. (Avoiding deep vein thrombosis).  Get aisle seat to facilitate this practice. Take naps rather than stay up all night on plane watching movies.

• Take extra naps/rest.

• Schedule extra "rest days" in my travel schedule so it is not all "go-go-go". No business calls scheduled on these days (I mark whole day as "busy" in google calendar so ScheduleOnce won't put a call there). I often leave a day before intercontinental flight and a day or two after for rest.

• Keep up maintenance. Get a general check up once per year. Get teeth cleaned and checked every 6 months.

• If I feel I am "coming down with something" then I head it off by take a packet of Emergen-C that I carry with me, drink more water and have a long nap. And meditate on clearing the sickness pattern from my body. This is rather than keep going if tired/getting sick. Change my plans/cancel side trips for the day so can rest. It is hard to enjoy a trip if sick.

3. When got sick when traveling.

• Rest for as many days as needed with last step from 2.

• Tell friends that I am sick and to check in on me. Preferably in person, though Skype can work too. Easy to get depressed when sick so this is a help to reduce that.

• When I was sick in Bangkok at DCBKK 2013 with mystery disease (itchy red spots, tired as a dog, sore throat) I went to see a doctor at an expat health service where they spoke English. It was Thai chicken pox, I could stop worrying what it was. Cure: rest (and the other things I was doing). There is nothing Western medicine can do for viruses.

• Talk to the disease or injured body part. Tell it I love it and ask if it has any messages for me. Often just hearing the message makes the sickness significantly better. Sometimes it cures it. The book "You can heal your life" by Louis Hay has a big table of symptoms and standard messages at the back that is useful when starting this practice. I keep a copy on my Kindle as I travel for this purpose.

• Use the Busting Loose from the Money Game Process to take back my power from this illusion of sickness. (Health Game)

• Ask a remote energy healer for help by email.

• Get acupuncture. Often helps heal any underlying energy imbalance.

• Get a massage - helps relax and also to move lymph fluid which is where the body gets rid of toxins and waste from fighting disease

This entry was posted on May 11, 2015 at 5:22 AM and has received 1606 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This entry was posted on May 14, 2014 at 9:32 PM and has received 1603 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

You have decided to be a permanent traveller, moving around the world, not resident in the countries that you work and play in (Five Flags approach). You are entrepreneurial - perhaps a freelance writer, programmer, photographer or marketer. Or any job that you can do remotely via Skype, gotomeeting and email. You decide to create a company in your home country to present a professional image to clients and to limit your liablity. Stop!

Creating a company - good idea

Doing in in your home country, where you were born and have (one of your) passports from - bad idea

Why? Because the chances are if you are from a Western country (USA, CAN, AU, UK, EUR, JAP) that there are

• lots of company taxes
• lots of forms to fill out and delays to start your company
• lots of forms each year at tax time
• lots of regulations about how you chose to run your business (eg around hiring and firing workers in France and Germany)

If you were living and working in your home country then perhaps it would make sense to open your company there. (And if your company will pay you a salary in your home country expect it to be taxed there!) But you are permanent traveling and you have more options! You can live and play in one or more countries, have clients in a second (or with internet marketing in many other countries), incorporate your business in a third country and have your company bank account in a forth.

The advantages are:

• many fewer forms to fill out to start and often one day incorporation
• low or zero company taxes
• few or no annual reporting forms
• few or no regulations about how you run your business

If you use an incorporation service firm you do not have to travel to the country in question to incorporate - you fill out forms online, scan passport and any other supporting documents (and mail notorized copies). In many cases the firm will help you open bank and brokerage accounts for your company remotely too.

Costs: figure on USD $1000-2000 to incorporate and around $1000 per year in renewal fees. If you pick a country that requires accounting and other annual reports allow for those expenses too. You can pay by credit card or wire transfer.

My favorite offshore company locations. My personal current pick is the Marshall Islands due to low annual paperwork, privacy and reliablity.

• Hong Kong
  • Pros
    • enterpreneurial country, business orientented government
    • low tax regime (16.5% for HK income, zero for non-HK income)
    • absence of foreign exchange controls
    • political and economic stability
    • fast and easy offshore company setup 5-7 days
    • not viewed as a tax haven by OECD
    • Directors can be Hong Kong residents or non-residents
    • English is used for business lanaguage
  • Cons
    • Company secretary must be a local individual or corporate resident.
    • A HK physical address that is not a PO Box is required as the registered address.
    • No bearer shares allowed
    • Ongoing Compliance including annual audit of company accounts; intimating the Companies Registry of any changes to the company or its members; filing annual returns with the Companies Registry; filing tax returns with the Inland Revenue Department; holding timely AGMs; maintaining company records, accounting records and other business documents; renewing business registration certificate;
  • More info on process and a service firm to help
• Singapore
  • Pros
    • enterpreneurial country, business orientented government
    • low tax regime (8.5%-17% for SG income, zero for non-SG income, 3 year tax holiday on startups)
    • absence of foreign exchange controls
    • political and economic stability, transparent, corruption free
    • English common law system
    • fast and easy computerized offshore company setup 1-2 days
    • not viewed as a tax haven by OECD
    • English is used for business lanaguage
  • Cons
    • One of the Directors must be Singapore residents
    • Company secretary must be a local individual or corporate resident.
    • A SG physical address that is not a PO Box is required as the registered address.
    • You must engage a professional incorporation firm to register a Singapore offshore company.
    • No bearer shares allowed
    • Ongoing Compliance including annual audit of company accounts; intimating the Companies Registry of any changes to the company or its members; filing annual returns with the Companies Registry; filing tax returns with the Inland Revenue Department; holding timely AGMs; maintaining company records, accounting records and other business documents; renewing business registration certificate;
  • More info on process and a service firm to help
• Marshall Islands
  • Pros
    • enterpreneurial country, business orientented government
    • low tax regime (8.5%-17% for SG income, zero for non-SG income, 3 year tax holiday on startups)
    • absence of foreign exchange controls
    • political and economic stability
    • English common law system
    • fast and easy offshore company setup 1-2 days
    • No corporate taxation or reporting required
    • not viewed as a tax haven by OECD
    • No local requirements for shareholders, directors or secretary. Can all be one (foreign) person - you!
    • bearer shares allowed
    • Directors and owners are confidential and information does not have to be provided to either the Government or the Public.
    • Legal system simlar to SG and SG banks are used to working with MI companies
    • English is used for business lanaguage
  • Cons
    • A MI physical address and registered agent is required as the registered address.
    • Annual corporate renewal fee
    • Grey area on tax haven status
    • Few people have heard of it
  • More info on process and a service firm to help
• Panama
  • Pros
    • enterpreneurial country, business orientented government
    • low tax regime, zero for non Panama income
    • absence of foreign exchange controls
    • political and economic stability
    • fairly fast and easy offshore company setup 4-5 days
    • No corporate taxation or reporting required for offshore income
    • not viewed as a tax haven by OECD
    • No local requirements for shareholders, directors or secretary. Can all be one (foreign) person - you!
    • bearer shares allowed
    • nominee directors allowed if you want extra privacy
    • low annual fee $500
  • Cons
    • Under the influence of the USA and potenially the IRS
    • Spanish is used for business language
    • Napoleonic legal system
  • More info on process and a service firm to help

Note: if you are a US citizen or resident you are required to file and pay the IRS where ever in the world you live based on your worldwide income. Addionally the IRS and US Treasury have lots of paperwork requirements for offshore companies and businesses owed by US citizens. This makes offshore company much more attractive to non US-citizens passport holders.

This entry was posted on October 20, 2012 at 1:09 PM and has received 1984 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

I use Earth Class Mail  to handle my postal mail. I signed a form and the post office redirects all my personal and business mail to them. I get an email every time I receive a letter and I can control what happens with my mail - open, scan, shred, recycle, forward or store. They can even deposit checks. It is not the cheapest such service however I have found it to be efficient and reliable. It works better for me than having a friend deal with mail because it is available 24/7 and doesn't make mistakes.

I save all the scanned PDFs of mail in a folder in Evernote so that I can easily search for mail on my laptop, web or smart phone plus it provide a second backup of the scans (they are stored by ECM too).

This entry was posted on October 14, 2012 at 1:59 AM and has received 936 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This is a family with two children who are traveling around the world for a year that stayed in the same building as me for two months in Cusco Peru. Might give you some inspiration and ideas.

They have hiked the Four-Day Inca Jungle Trail Trek to Machu Picchu mountain biking, white water rafting, ziplining across valleys ready for a 5am start to Machu Picchu. Attended Spanish rock concerts, volunteered at a Peruvian after school place and learned Spanish as a family. And generally learned that happiness does not come from working long hours at a job, paying a large mortgage and owning multiple new cars and other consumer stuff. And even if the shower doesn't always work, or buses arive late that doesn't mean you can't have fun!

When they were planning this trip this is what they said was their vision

We are calling this [web]site “The Journey is the Reward” because that pretty much sums up our family philosophy; both for this adventure and for our life in general. Even preparing for the trip seems a journey in itself. (see the map above for our currently planned itinerary)

 

We’ve been talking about this trip for a number of years, and our vision is for a sustained perspective-shifting family experience. We hope to meet new people, experience different cultures, face challenges, serve others, learn, grow, try, and have some adventures along the way.

 

We are building the trip around two long-term volunteering opportunities (one in South America, and one in Southeast Asia), with a number of other stops along the way. The general goal is to spend time together as a family, learning and growing together, and expanding our horizons beyond our comfort zone (especially for the kids).

 

The four of us have been living happily in the Pacific Northwest for the past 12 years. Our two kids are Alex (11) and Leah (9). Noah works in IT program management, and Anne is a teacher (part-time) at Alex and Leah’s school. We also have three dogs Zillah (black dog), Kona (Australian Shepherd), and Lucas (Mom's poodle) -- and what to do with them is one of our many challenges.

During the 18 months of trip preparation they invited family and friend to meet up with them for mini vacations along the way, social networked for connections in the places their were going and spent a few months giving away stuff and preventing more paper coming into their home while they were gone (which then rented out for 12 months). They planned a "career break" from their jobs as a contract software project manger and part time teacher, plan home schooling on the go for their kids and organized four long term Voluntourism gigs for the trip. They also chose to get used to shaking up their home life and learn some Spanish by having a home stay student from Chile stay with them for a year!

And if you want to travel but are using your "family", "job","pets", "other" as an excuse not to travel then it provides some food for thought. (And they chose to overcome plenty of resistance to traveling not only from themselves, but from family, friends and I believe bosses too.). More on their adventures at http://anvl.travellerspoint.com/ andon their Facebook fan page

(quote from Randy Komisar's book "The Monk and the Riddle")

This entry was posted on October 13, 2012 at 10:29 AM and has received 2918 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

As I move my stuff from my storage locker to my apartment in Cusco Peru I often chose to pack as much as I can. Three tips that have helped me get more than the weight allowance on a flight: use a duffel bag, be friendly, and try a different check-in agent if the first one doesn't work.

I recently traveled on American Airlines and LAN from Washington DC to Cusco Peru. I had a 69 lb suitcase, a 58 lb duffel bag and 15 lb backpack and a handbag. I was concerned at having to pay for two overweight bags at $100 each according to AA's website. I knew the minimum fee would be $30 for one extra bag (AA gives you one 50 lb bag for free on international flights).

I prayed to the travel angels, connected with the light, expanded my heart and asked myself "what would it take to pay $100 or less in fees". Then I smiled and kept a positive and friendly attitude with the ticketing agent and struck up a friendly conversation with her. And when I put the duffel bag on the scale the ends must have been drooping off the edges of the scale because it only showed 42 lbs! The suitcase showed the whole 69 lbs that I was expecting so the scale wasn't broken. Then the agent researched the fees and discovered that instead of paying the $100 AA overweight fee I could pay the $90 LAN overweight fee. Yippee!

Update: My flight was canceled and I had to return the next day. I could have left my bags to travel without me and picked up in Cusco but I wasn't keen on leaving them at the carrousel in Peru for hours without me so I took them overnight to a friend's house and checked back in the next morning at curbside. This agent was not so friendly and he put the duffel bag on the scale himself end up instead of me putting it on with the ends hanging over the edge. The true weight of 58lb showed. I asked for a break due to flight delay and when he said no I just went inside to check in at the ticket counter instead. This time I showed the agent that I have already checked in and had luggage tags - she just printed new ones and put them on without reweighing. So sometimes it pays if you don't get by the first agent to try another one...

This entry was posted on August 14, 2012 at 8:12 PM and has received 1053 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

It has been a while since my last email on my adventures. I will give some catch up emails another time, meanwhile one question I have been asked is: How can you travel indefinitely (if you are not Bill Gates)? One way is to save money by visiting low cost countries, cooking your own food and using buses rather than planes. I have done this when I lived in Bolivia and had a good time on less than $500 per month.

Looking at the other side of the income-expense equation of traveling there are many ways to make income while you travel. I make more than I spend per day by running my business remotely via skype and email. I have met other travelers who can cover their travel costs indefinitely by travel writing, selling photos, teaching English, doing import-export of local handy crafts or working in local tourism businesses. Once I have paid off all my old business debts and credit cards I will be making more money than I spend. Yay!

Even if you don't make enough to completely cover all your expenses it can let you travel for longer than you could just on savings. Some of the travelers I have met work 8-16 hours per week to cover the week's expenses because they are paying expenses in a low cost country like Peru and earning money remotely in a high pay/high expense country like the US or Europe.

Another approach is the "4 hour work week" (Tim Ferris) one of working for a few months then taking a 3 month mini-retirement of traveling. Rinse and repeat indefinitely. His book and website also have lots of info on starting your own online business or negotiating to work remotely.  I have met some Australian miners who earn enough in a year to travel for two years without working. I have also read of some miners in Australia who work 14 days straight and then take off 14 days living in Bali and traveling in SE Asia - again they do this indefinitely.

More ideas and travel tips at Travel Stack Exchange - a great place to ask and answer travel questions by the way! And other ideas on travel and money from  Benny Lewis, the fluenent in any language in 3 months guy.


What are you long term travel tips?

This entry was posted on August 14, 2012 at 7:18 PM and has received 1634 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I spent a month in March 1989 driving along the Mediterranean coast of Spain, staying at small hotels along the way. I didn't have plan - if I liked a place I would stay there a few days. Then I had to quit my job to get travel time, now with remote internet working "from home" you can work while you travel. Here are some travel tips for longer term travel doing remote internet based work based on both that trip and many I have made around the world since then.

While I mention Spain a few times below, most of this advice applies to all countries.

Money

At the time it was not aways easy to find a working ATM, especially in small towns. Not sure if that has changed. So I recommend you have some Euros and dollars as back up when traveling. Also recommend you have several ATM and credit cards because sometimes your bank will cancel your card due to "suspicious activity" which is really just you spending money abroad. They will do this even if you tell them by phone ahead of time of your travel plans. So some back up cards come in handy while you wait for you bank to either reinstate your card or FedEx you a replacement. I have read that some automated ticket machines in Europe don't like US credit cards (except for Amex) because they want to see a chip on the card. More on that here 

Security

I recommend you scan all your passports, IDs, cards, tickets etc and put in a secure, password protected place such as Evernote so you can access them if you loose any originals. And put a backup card and cash in a separate place in case your main stash is stolen. Keep an eye on bags at all times. Do not assume that a hotel room is 100% safe. 99% of the time all is fine and people are honest but it makes sense to be safe.

I would recommend figuring out your backup strategy in case your laptop is stolen. I use a USB external drive plus an internet backup solution. And I encrypt my data using TrueCrypt. I also bring a laptop cable lock to prevent casual walk in thieves from walking away with my laptop. With 25% unemployment in Spain I would not recommend flashing expensive computers, cameras or jewelry around. And in the event you see any riots or protests I recommend walking the other way no matter how interesting they appear.

Computers and phones

I think you will find wifi in most places. I imagine it is free but not sure. I have found my Boingo account useful at airports and other places where I would otherwise have to pay for wifi (about $10 per month). Your computer power adapter will work with the 220 V electricity in Europe but you might check any other electronics that you bring with you - sometimes they are 110 V only and plugging them in will short them out and smell bad! A mini US power strip can be handy if you have several items to charge and then you only need one power adapter to plug the power strip into the wall.


It is a lot cheaper to get a local SIM chip for your (unlocked quad-band) phone or buy a local phone rather than using roaming which can easily add up to thousands of dollars in voice and data fees. Skype is great too and they have a flat rate plan for calls in US and many other countries.

Costs and housing

I have read that it is pretty expensive in Madrid with high prices and 20% VAT (sales tax), so you might want to get out in the countryside. If you are going to stay in one place for a month or more it will be cheaper to rent an apartment. You will get a better price if you can enlist a local to help call the ads in the paper. Not all places are advertized on the internet, so this is best done on the ground once you are there. Another way to get free housing is to do a house swap with a local who wants to live in your house - there are several websites for this kind of thing. House sitting is another way to score free housing.

Visas

I am pretty sure you can enter Spain on US passport and get 90 day tourist visa entry. You can probably visit another country after that and get another 90 days if you desire. Don't tell the immigration people that you plan to work while you are abroad- it only causes excitement and might get you barred from entering the country. And in truth you are working in USA while you travel. Just say you are tourist if asked.

Language

While many people will speak English you will find many people who do not, especially outside of big cities. So some Spanish will come in handy. You can get a Spanish-English dictionary and phrase book for your phone or a paperback works well too.

Traveling light and resources

The less stuff you carry the easier your trip will be - most items can be bought abroad if you really find out you need them.

The travel stack exchange is good for researching and asking travel questions  I recommend reading the 4 hour work week and Vagabonding on traveling light longer term travel. Those resources and more here.

This entry was posted on June 7, 2012 at 10:44 PM and has received 1081 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This article is by a girl who has traveled and worked her way around the world straight out of college. If she could do it with no experience perhaps you could too.

Next week marks the two-year anniversary of the day I graduated from college.

Holy cow, does time fly.

In that time, I’ve lived in two countries, traveled across three continents, and had too many adventures to count — and (except for one six-week period) I did it all while holding a job abroad, or with another one lined up.

Not only does she tell her story of how she did it, she also gives some tips on how to do it. Including:

• Scout out places where cost of living is low.
• Research visas and working holiday passes.
• Take a TEFL course online while you have free time.
• Buy a one-way ticket.
• Set up online billing and payment
• Don’t be afraid to look in unconventional places for jobs.
• Give yourself a deadline and a back-up plan.
• Make yourself useful/Volunteer.
• Step out of your comfort zone.
• Don’t be afraid to say yes to a job or opportunity.
• Be passionate.
• Network, network, network. Even if you were shy before.
• Be patient and flexible.
• Take risks.

I would add that if college doesn't inspire you then it would be possible to do this straight out of school too and people have done exactly that.

This entry was posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:22 AM and has received 1014 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.