posted by Justin - 2010-01-28 07:34:02
Stretching While We Can
One thing I learned from spending the last few days in Beijing is that you can really make your dollars stretch there. You could be stupid and go upscale and stay in a 5-star hotel if you want, and you can find yourself ripped off by shady cabbies if you’re not being a smart traveler (lessons learned on day one...), but I was able to stay significantly under my budget for my trip, and this is without skipping anything I wanted to do. In fact I did more than I originally planned. (Going during low season also helped, which is another thing to keep in mind.)
The more places I have the chance to go, the better I get at finding deals and doing activities that don’t suck my wallet dry. I eat well, I see sights, I meet people, and I don’t find myself using my credit cards as a backup. Part of me wishes I could keep hangin’ out in Asia forever and just hit every cheap country there is.
I have also realized that getting hammered every night of a vacation is a good way to ruin this plan. I do enjoy sampling the local drinks, but I think my alco-tourism days are over. (Well, we’ll see if that holds true when I go to Rio in March.)
But the real point of this relatively controversy-free post is this: go and stretch those dollars. Or those pounds, if you prefer. Or those rand. But we are living in an era where our various western currencies are relatively powerful, and it behooves us to take advantage of our literal good fortune. If we have the time and the opportunity to educate ourselves, then by all means we must go and experiencing things we may otherwise never do, and the more things we do, the more knowledge we come away with.
The world will change. In 2050 some other part of the world may be able to afford these things while we struggle to get by. So while we still can spend four days sleeping in a jungle for a total of twelve dollars, or walk through the Forbidden City for five-fifty, we really should.
Most of you in Korea are well aware of this, popping off for trips whenever we can, but we all know folks who aren’t. Spread the word to them, and remind them that we’ve all been given a great shot to see as much of this world as we can. If we don’t take advantage of what we have, then it’s just a waste.
(Those of you in Daegu better be coming to “Blastoff!” on Saturday. Starts at 7 at Buy the book.)
Peace and love,
Justin PBG
The more places I have the chance to go, the better I get at finding deals and doing activities that don’t suck my wallet dry. I eat well, I see sights, I meet people, and I don’t find myself using my credit cards as a backup. Part of me wishes I could keep hangin’ out in Asia forever and just hit every cheap country there is.
I have also realized that getting hammered every night of a vacation is a good way to ruin this plan. I do enjoy sampling the local drinks, but I think my alco-tourism days are over. (Well, we’ll see if that holds true when I go to Rio in March.)
But the real point of this relatively controversy-free post is this: go and stretch those dollars. Or those pounds, if you prefer. Or those rand. But we are living in an era where our various western currencies are relatively powerful, and it behooves us to take advantage of our literal good fortune. If we have the time and the opportunity to educate ourselves, then by all means we must go and experiencing things we may otherwise never do, and the more things we do, the more knowledge we come away with.
The world will change. In 2050 some other part of the world may be able to afford these things while we struggle to get by. So while we still can spend four days sleeping in a jungle for a total of twelve dollars, or walk through the Forbidden City for five-fifty, we really should.
Most of you in Korea are well aware of this, popping off for trips whenever we can, but we all know folks who aren’t. Spread the word to them, and remind them that we’ve all been given a great shot to see as much of this world as we can. If we don’t take advantage of what we have, then it’s just a waste.
(Those of you in Daegu better be coming to “Blastoff!” on Saturday. Starts at 7 at Buy the book.)
Peace and love,
Justin PBG
[end post]