Update from January 2014: Travel in Thailand

Hello everyone,
Here is the first South East Asia Update with the goal to inform you about the life abroad. I will try my best to share with you insider-secrets about what we all want secretly: Having more time, more money and more life quality.

For those who don’t know me yet:
My name is Ronald and left my old life behind me to travel in South East Asia. I travel very light, all what I have with me is a 7 kg backpack that is suitable as hand luggage in every plane. It is very minimalistic way to travel and still I have everything with me that I need.

My last 9-5 corporate job lasted 2 years and 8 months.
Sitting every day in the office andstarring for 8 hours at the computer screen was a torture. My mood was getting worse day by day, I became depressed and burned out.

I knew that I would like to travel and see the world again and I started to save money for this goal. By the end of 2013 I had enough money to be able to live, travel and pay my bills without a job for at least 6 months. Then I just quit the job and now I am in the sunny Thailand. Now I have enough time to travel and to think about what I would like to do next. I know already that a boring 9 5 Job in an office will not do it for me.


I am writing this newsletter to inspire you to work on your dreams, whatever it might be, to travel the world, to spend more time with your family or to have a better life-style – everything is possible if you believe in it and if you work on your goals.

At the moment I am in Koh Samui and enjoying the warm weather and the fantastic beaches here. My bungalow is located directly on the beach, a few meters from the water (see photo).

After waking up in the morning I go for a swim before having breakfast in one of the Thai restaurants. The food is great and should satisfy everyone.

My tipp: If you will be in Thailand, try to get used to the Thai cooking and avoid the western food. Pizza, burger and spaghetti will cost here up to 10 times more than Thai dishes. If you are going to McDonalds in Thailand then you could stay at home as well.

Please excuse the long intro, the next articles will be only about the events and experiences here in South East Asia. The next article is coming on the 1^st February, probably from Hua Hin which is a very attractive city and should be a paradise for golf players.

Take care,

Ronald

South Korea - Benefit broadly the human world

Seoul

South Korea - here I come! After saying good bye to Japan I finally arrived in Seoul, South Korea. My first night I spent the hostel Yellow Submarine in Seoul. The owner was very friendly, showed me my room and the kitchen and introduced me to the other guests. This was a real warm welcome!

More is coming soon!

P.S.: Currently I am reading this book listed below. Ignore the stupid title because it is the best book I have read so far!!! Forget all the other books and buy this one if you want to have TIME to travel as long as you want while having a business that is supporting your lifestyle while you are traveling.

WARNING: Do not buy this book if you don't want to quit your job and be free!!!

Printed Edition

Kindle Edition

Japan - Manga, Yakuza and Sushi

Tokyo

Dear friends, as promized this post will be about my first visit to Japan in 2010.

I left New Zealand to continue my world travel, with my backpack and a flight ticket to Tokyo. Even I fly a lot, this time it was different. I was sitting in the plane and could feel the excitement to arrive. For years I have been dreaming to visit this country, studied the language and the culture and finally my dream was about to come true.

When I arrived at the Tokyo International Airport it was busy and as expected full of people. I picked up my lugage and bought a subway ticket to the city. They have those subway system maps whick you can get for free. My friends warned me already about how hard it will be to understand how the subway works - and they were absolutely right. It was a challenge but at the end it worked well and I arrived at Asakusa station where I booked my accomodation. It was a nice hostel with really friendly staff and cosy interior. I enjoyed it so much to finally speak Japanese in Japan, this also made the daily life so much easier, as most of the people do not speak English.

My first days were full of adventure. I had this map of Tokyo with must see higlights of the city and directions how to get there. Every day was like waking up, grab a breakfast and then exploring a new part of the city.

Akihabara

The most impressive spots that I liked most were Asakusa, Tokyo-Ginza, Akihabara and Kamakura. It was so much fun exploring the small shops, the big supermarkets, the city gardens and mostly to taste all kinds of Japanese food. If you are into really fresh sushi then you should visit the famous fish market.

Ginza

In the evening there are several options what you can do and I preferred the visits in an Izakaya. An izakaya (居酒屋) is a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks. They are casual places for after-work drinking. Even Tokyo is one of the most expensice cities, there are still options to eat out for cheap if you take the time to compare the prices and find out the cheaper spots.

Asakusa

Time is passing by quick in Tokyo and one day I had to move on to visit South Korea. It was really hard to leave but the flight was booked in advance and I had to move on. Tokyo is a must have on you bucket list - if you have one ;-)

New Zealand - One year in Middle-earth

This post is dedicated to my experience in New Zealand while I was living there for one year.

Since I left Germany in 2007 to travel the world, I was in Thailand and two years in Australia. In September 2009 my visa expired and I moved to Auckland in New Zealand. My first day was exciting. When I arrived at the Airport, I took the bus to Auckland City and enjoyed the long ride while looking out of the bus window, curious and excited like a child. I did not know what to expect in this new country but somehow I knew that it will be amazing and fun.

I checked in the YHA in Auckland and then I took a city tour with the bus. The amazing skyline and the busy streets full of shops, restaurants and so many people made the city look huge and fascinating. Auckland is great for eating out and to live there. The best thing is the city library where you can use the internet for free if you have a membership card. I applied for my tax file number, opened a bank account and converted my european driver licence into a New Zealand driver licence - now I was feeling almost like a local.

After three weeks I was able to find a job in a central hostel as a receptionist. I had no previous experience but I was able to score with my Japanese language skills. The hostel owner was Japanese and most of the customers as well, this is how I got the job.

The time there was the most exciting and interesting experience so far. As a receptionist you learn to know so many guests from all over the world. The work was very busy and I spend my free time on learning how to trade Forex, improving my Japanese and dating.

Working in a hostel I made so many new friends (and some enemies) and eventually started dating one of our guests. Work and private life should be separate and the beginning was challenging. Keeping the relationship secret is not easy and avoiding gossip is even harder. But you become creative in finding opportunities to get what you want without getting caught. At the end everybody knew about us and it was fine.

I decided to leave New Zealand after one year and I took a flight to Japan to live for a while in Tokyo. It was a first time for me to be in Japan and the next post about this interesting country is coming soon.

Living wrong Life

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What if you woke up one morning and realized you were living the wrong life?

Many people which I meet during my travels, ask me why I left my home country behind to move overseas. The most honest answer I can give is that I really realized one day that I have been living the wrong life when I was in my early twenties and then I have done a U-Turn in my live.

I was working for a big company in Germany, had a nice car, a stable life and a good developed circle of friends. However from time to time I had this silent question in my mind, which became louder and louder from day to day:

“Why I am here?”

Maybe I didn't know the answer, but one thing was for sure, I did not wanted to spend my life working for the next 40 years! I was feeling like a Bengalian Tiger, who is kept in a cage. I could be a good employee, a good working man and a good tool, but I would not be happy, because this is not where I belong to.

Since this day a lot of things have changed in my life. I left everything behind, I travel and live in many differnt countries, I'm working less but I'm enjoying and learning much more and I'm a happier person!

I did not had a Million Dollar in my bank account, in fact it was only about $3,000. I started small and I developed a plan and strategies on my way, the most important step was to take action!

I'm writng this lines, because I honestly believe, that there are many people out there, who are asking themselves similar questions. The truth is, to think about the purpose of life is not the beginning of a mental illness, but it is the beginning of the human maturity.

Why is not everybody interested to know their personal purpose of life? Personally I believe there are two reasons. At first, people have very different personalities, which is good. But the second reason is, that in todays society we are so much distracted with television shows, mass media, advertisement, shopping and activities, that we are too busy to ask ourselves the really important questions of life.

However, if you ask yourself a new question, you will open a door to completely new and infinite possibilities:

“Where I am coming from? Why I am here? Where I am going?”

My next blog update will be posted in a while, so now you have time to contemplate about those questions. Take care my dear friends and always remember that life is a book and you are it's autor!

 

Freedom

From a poor nobody to a Mini-Retirement by age 25

I am a hardcore vagabond. I was born in Europe but have lived and traveled in several countries since. I am fluent in three languages and have learnt and continue to learn every new skill at the school called LIFE. Personality Development has been my topic of interest for a few years now.

I was employed with Vodafone for four years. Very soon, I was designated branch supervisor and was responsible for a new Vodafone franchise store. Though the money was good, I found myself with little or no time to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Soon I realized that I was stuck in the "rat race", working six-hour days six days a week!! Before long I was suffering from the "burnout syndrome" and I decided that it was time to make a positive change in my life.

I left for Australia after bidding my old life goodbye simply because I wanted to learn how to make money work for me. My biggest motivation is that I don't want to work all my life for money and make somebody else rich. After traveling across Australia and finding myself completely broke, I started working for an export company in Perth. It was around this time that I discovered a new BIG interest: INVESTMENT. I started reading books by Robert Kiyosaki: "Rich Dad – Poor Dad" and "The Cashflow Quadrant". I started implementing Kiyosaki's cashflow management strategies right away and began to increase my savings immensely. Inspired by Kiyosaki's books I set an d achieved the goal of saving $10,000 in just five months.
I quit my job in Perth on a six-month long mini-retirement plan. My goal was to visit not only all the capital cities of each region in Australia but also the Outback. Between these six months, I also traveled to Thailand to learn everything about the real estate situation there and also spent one month traveling across Europe.

I am in New Zealand now, with the twin goals of becoming a Permanent Resident and starting with investment to become financially independent in 7 to 10 years. I believe financial intelligence is the key to success and happiness, and with the right mindset, EVERYTHING is possible!

So my readers and friends ... just dare dream big, believe in yourself, keep an open and positive mindset to learn new things, focus on "what you want in life" and you will get there ... just like I did :)

... by Ron

P.S.: If you want to be financial independent and travel the world then get those two books now and get out of the rat race!