Binge Traveling Excerpt

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FABLES AND FORTUNE HUNTERS:

An American businessman took a vacation to a small coastal Mexican
village on doctor's orders. Unable to sleep after an urgent phone call
from the office the first morning, he walked out to the pier to clear
his head. A small boat with just one fisherman had docked, and inside
the boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. The American complimented
the Mexican on the quality of his fish. “How long did it take you to
catch them?” the American asked. “Only a little while,” the Mexican
replied in surprisingly good English. “Why don't you stay out longer
and catch more fish?” The American then asked. “I have enough to
support my family and give a few to friends,” the Mexican said as he
unloaded them into a basket. “But...What do you do with the rest of
your time?” The Mexican looked up and smiled. “I sleep late, fish a
little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Julia, and
stroll into the village each evening, where I sip wine and play guitar
with my amigos. I have a full and busy life señor.” The American
laughed and stood tall. “Sir, I'm a Harvard M.B.A. and can help you.
You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger
boat. In no time, you could buy several boats with the increased haul.
Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats.” He continued,
“Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly
to the consumers, eventually opening your own cannery. You would
control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to
leave this small coastal fishing village, of course, and move to Mexico
City, then to Los Angeles, and eventually New York City, where you
could run your expanding enterprise with proper management.” The
Mexican fisherman asked, “But, señor, how long will all this take?” To
which the American replied, “15-20 years. 25 tops.” “But what then,
señor?” The American laughed and said, “That's the best part. When the
time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to
the public and become very rich. You would make millions.” “Millions
señor? Then what?” “Then you would retire and move to a small coastal
fishing village, where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with
your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in
the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your
amigos...”

I recently had lunch in San Francisco with a good friend and former
college roommate. He will soon graduate from a top business school and
return to investment banking. He hates coming home from the office at
midnight but explained to me that, if he works 80-hour weeks for nine
years, he could become a managing director and make a cool $3-10
million per year. Then he would be successful. “Dude, what on Earth
would you do with $3-10 million per year?” I asked. His answer? “I
would take a long trip to Thailand.” That just about sums up one of the
biggest self-deceptions of our modern age: extended world travel as the
domain of the ultra-rich. I've also heard the following: “I'll just
work in the firm for 15 years. Then I'll be partner and I can cut back
on hours. Once I have a million in the bank, I'll put it in something
safe like bonds, take $80,000 a year in interest, and retire to sail in
the Caribbean.” “I'll only work in consulting until I'm 35, then retire
and ride a motorcycle across China.” If your dream, the pot of gold at
the end of the career rainbow, is to live large in Thailand, sail
around the Caribbean, or ride a motorcycle across China, guess what?
All of them can be done for less than $3,000. I've done all three. Here
are just two examples of how far a little can go:

$250 U.S. Five days on a private Smithsonian tropical research island
with three local fisherman who caught and cooked all of my food and
also took me on tours of the best hidden dive spots in Panama. $150
U.S. Three days of chartering a private plane in Mendoza wine country
in Argentina and flying over the most beautiful vineyards around the
snow-capped Andes with a personal guide.
Question: What did you spend your last $400 on? It's two or three
weekends of nonsense and throwaway forget-the-work-week behaviour in
most U.S. cities. $400 is nothing for a full eight days of
life-changing experiences. But eight days isn't what I'm recommending
at all. Those were just interludes in a much larger production. I'm
proposing much, much more.....

....THE ALTERNATIVE TO BINGE TRAVELING -

“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel
from coast to coast without seeing anything.” --Charles Kuralt, CBS
News Reporter

If you are accustomed to working 50 weeks per year, the tendency, even
after creating the mobility to take extended trips, will be to go nuts
and see 10 countries in 14 days and end up a wreck. It's like taking a
starving dog to an all-you-can-eat buffet. It will eat itself to death.
I did this three months into my 15-month vision quest, visiting seven
countries and going through at least 20 check-ins and check-outs with a
friend who had negotiated three weeks off. The trip was an
adrenaline-packed blast, but like watching life on fast-forward. It was
hard for us to remember what had happened in which countries (except
Amsterdam), we were both sick most of the time, and we were upset to
have to leave some places simply because our pre-purchased flights made
it so. I recommend doing the exact opposite. The alternative to binge
travel--the mini-retirement—entails relocating to one place for one to
six months before going home or moving to another locale. It is the
anti-vacation in the most positive sense. Thought it can be relaxing,
the mini-retirement is not an escape from your life but a
re-examination of it—the creation of a blank slate. Following
elimination and automation, what would you be escaping from? Rather
than seeking to see the world through photo ops between
foreign-but-familiar hotels, we aim to experience it at a speed that
lets it change us. This is also much different from a sabbatical.
Sabbaticals are often viewed much like retirement: as a one-time event.
Savour it now while you can. The mini-retirement is defined as
recurring—it is a lifestyle. I currently take three or four
mini-retirements per year and know dozens who do the same.

PURGING THE DEMONS: EMOTIONAL FREEDOM -

True freedom is much more than having enough income and time to do what
you want. It is quite possible—actually the rule rather than the
exception—to have financial and time freedom but still be caught in the
throes of the rat race. One cannot be free from the stresses of a
speed-and size-obsessed culture until you are free from the
materialistic addictions, time-famine mind-set, and comparative
impulses that created it in the first place. This takes time. The
effect is not cumulative, and no number of two-week (also called
“too-weak”) sightseeing trips can replace a good walkabout. In the
experience of those I've interviewed, it takes two to three months just
to unplug from obsolete routines and become aware of just how much we
distract ourselves with constant motion. Can you have a two-hour dinner
with Spanish friends without getting anxious? Can you get accustomed to
a small town where all businesses take a siesta for two hours in the
afternoon and then close at 4pm? If not, you need to ask, Why? Learn to
slow down. Get lost intentionally. Observe how you judge both yourself
and those around you. Chances are that it's been a while. Take at least
two months to disincorporate old habits and rediscover yourself without
a reminder of a looming return flight.

THE FINANCIAL REALITIES: IT JUST GETS BETTER -

The economic argument for mini-retirements is the icing on the cake.
Four days in a decent hotel or a week for two at a nice hostel costs
the same as a month in a nice posh-apartment. If you relocate, the
expenses abroad also begin to replace—often at much lower cost—bills
you can then cancel stateside. Here are some actual monthly figures
from recent travels. Highlights from both South America and Europe are
shown side by side to prove that luxury is limited by your creativity
and familiarity with the locale, not gross-currency devaluation in
third world countries. It will be obvious that I did not survive on
bread and begging—I lived like a rock star—and both experiences could
be done for less than 50 percent of what I spent. My goal was enjoyment
and not austere survival.......GET THE BOOK TO READ ON...OR VISIT TIM'S
WEBSITE AND BLOG @*** http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/***