Search 400+ airlines worldwide for each service. Orbitz is my starting point for pricing comparisons, after which I check both Kayak and Sidestep. Sidestep has proven most effective when searching for flights that start and end outside of the U.S.
TravelZoo Top 20 (http://top20.travelzoo.com/)
Moscow for $129 one-way? These last-minute weekly travel specials might be the push you need to pull the trigger.
Priceline (www.priceline.com)
Start bidding at 50% of the lowest Orbitz fare and move up in $50 increments.
CFares (www.cfares.com)
Consolidator fares with free and low-cost memberships. I found a round-trip ticket from California to Japan for $500.
1–800-FLY-EUROPE (www.1800flyeurope.com)
I used this to get the $300 roundtrip from JFK to London that left two hours later.
Discount Airlines for Flights within Europe (www.ryanair.com, www.easyjet.com)
Free Worldwide Housing—Short Term
Global Freeloaders (www.globalfreeloaders.com)
This online community brings people together to offer you free accommodation all over the world. Save money and make new friends while seeing the world from a local’s perspective.
The Couchsurfing Project (www.couchsurfing.com)
Similar to the above but tends to attract a younger, more party-hearty crowd.
Hospitality Club (www.hospitalityclub.org)
Meet locals worldwide who can provide free tours or housing through this well-run network of more than 200,000 members in 200+ countries.
Free Worldwide Housing—Long Term
Home Exchange International (www.homeexchange.com) This is a home exchange listing and search service with more than 12,000 listings in more than 85 countries. E-mail directly owners of potential homes, put your own home/apartment on the site, and have unlimited access to view listings for one year for a small membership fee.
Paid Housing—from Arrival to the Long Haul
Otalo (www.otalo.com)
Otalo is a search engine for vacation rentals that searches across the Internet’s many different vacation rentals sites and 200,000+ homes. Otalo is like a Kayak.com for vacation rentals. The site scours a variety of other rental search sites and aggregates the results in one easy-to-use search tool.
Hostels.com (www.hostels.com)
This site isn’t just for youth hostels. I found a nice hotel in downtown Tokyo for $20 per night and have used this site for similar housing in eight countries. Think location and reviews (see HotelChatter next) instead of amenities. Four-star hotels are for binge travelers; this site can offer a real local flavor before you find an apartment or other longer-term housing.
HotelChatter (www.hotelchatter.com)
Get the real scoop on this daily web journal with detailed and honest reviews of housing worldwide. Updated several times daily, this site offers the stories of frustrated guests and those who have found hidden gems. Online booking is available.
Craigslist (www.craigslist.org)
Besides local weekly magazines with housing listings, such as Bild or Zitty (no joke) in Berlin, I have found Craigslist to be the single best starting point for long-term overseas furnished apartments. As of this writing, there are more than 50 countries represented. That said, prices will be 30–70% less in the local magazines—if you have a tight budget, get a hostel employee or other local to help you make a few calls and strike a deal. Ask the local helper not to mention you’re a foreigner until pricing is agreed upon.
Interhome International (www.interhome.com)
Based in Zurich, more than 20,000 homes for rent in Europe.
Rentvillas.com (www.rentvillas.com)
Provides unique renting experiences—from cottages and farmhouses to castles—throughout Europe, including France, Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal.
Computer Remote Access and Backup Tools
GoToMyPC (www.gotomypc.com)
This software facilitates quick and easy remote access to your computer’s files, programs, e-mail, and network. It can be used from any web browser or wireless device and works in real time. I have used GoToMyPC religiously for more than five years to access my U.S.-based computers from countries and islands worldwide. This gives me the freedom to leave all computers at home.
WebExPCNow (http://pcnow.webex.com)
WebEx, the leader in corporate remote access, now offers software that does most of what GoToMyPC offers, including cut and paste between remote computers, local printing from remote computers, file transfers, and more.
DropBox (www.getdropbox.com) and SugarSync
(www.sugarsync.com); then JungleDisk (www.jungledisk.com) and Mozy (www.mozy.com) Both DropBox and SugarSync perform backups and synching of files between multiple computers (home and travel computers, for example). JungleDisk and Mozy—I use the latter—have fewer features and are more specifically designed for automatic backups to their online storage.
Free and Low-Cost Internet (IP) Telephones
Skype (www.skype.com)
Skype is my default for all phone calls. It allows you to call landlines and mobile phones across the globe for an average of 2–5 cents per minute, or connect with other Skype users worldwide for free. For about 40 euros per year, you can get a U.S. number with your home area code and receive calls that forward to a foreign cell phone. This makes your travel invisible. Lounge on the beach in Rio and answer calls to your “office” in California. Nice. Skype Chat, which comes with the service, is also perfect for sharing sensitive log-in and password information with others, as it’s encrypted.
Vonage (www.vonage.com) and Ooma (www.ooma.com)
Vonage offers a small adapter for a monthly fee that connects your broadband modem to a normal phone. Take it on your travels and set it up in your apartment to receive calls to a U.S. number. Ooma has no monthly fees and doesn’t require a landline, but it offers similar hardware you can connect to broadband for a local U.S. number anywhere in the world.
VoIPBuster (www.voipbuster.com) and RebTel (www.rebtel.com)
Both VoIPBuster and RebTel can provide “alias” numbers. Enter a friend’s overseas number on their sites, and both will give you a local number in your area code that will forward to your friend. VoIPBuster also acts as a cheaper Skype with free calls to more than 20 countries.
International Multi-Band and GSM-Compatible Phones
My World Phone (www.myworldphone.com)
I’m partial to Nokia phones. Ensure whichever phone you purchase is “unlocked”—that the SIM card can be swapped out in different countries with different providers.
World Electronics USA (www.worldelectronicsusa.com)
Good explanation of which GSM frequencies and “bands” function in which countries, which will determine which phone you purchase for travel (and perhaps home).
Tools for Off-the-Beaten Path
Satellite Phones (www.satphonestore.com)
If you will be in the mountains of Nepal or on a remote island and want the peace of mind (or headache) of having a phone nearby, these phones work via satellite instead of towers. Iridium has been recommended for widest reception (pole to pole), with GlobalStar in second place (three continents). Rent or purchase.
Pocket-size Solar Panels (www.solio.com)
Satellite phones and other small electronics are of little use (skipping stones, perhaps?) if their batteries die. Solio is about the size of two packs of cards and fans out into small solar panels. I was surprised to find that it charged my cell phone in less than 15 minutes—more than twice as fast as a wall outlet. Adapters are available for almost anything.
What to Do Once You Get There—Career Experiments and More
Verge Magazine (see Restricted Reading appendix)
Meet Up (www.meetup.com)
Search by city and activity to find people who share similar interests all over the world.
Become a Travel Writer (www.writtenroad.com)
Get paid to travel the world an
d record your thoughts? This is a dream job for millions. Get the inside scoop on the travel publishing world from veteran Jen Leo, author of Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures: Funny Women Write from the Road. This blog was a Frommer’s Budget Travel Top Choice and also features great practical articles about low-tech travel and going gadgetless.
Teach Engrish (www.eslcafe.com)
Dave’s ESL Café is one of the oldest and most useful resources for teachers, would-be teachers, and learners of English. Features discussion boards and “teachers wanted” job postings worldwide.
Turn Your Brain into Play-Doh (www.jiwire.com)
Travel the world so you can instant message (IM) with your friends in the U.S. This site lists more than 150,000 hotspots where you can feed your information OCD. Be ashamed if this becomes your default activity. If you’re bored, just remember—it’s your fault. I’ve been there, so I’m not preaching. It happens to the best of us from time to time, but get more creative.
Test a New Career Part- or Full-Time: Working Overseas (www.workingoverseas.com)
This encyclopedia is an exhaustive menu of options for the globally minded, compiled and updated by Jean-Marc Hachey, former international careers editor of Transitions Abroad magazine.
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (www.wwoof.com)
Learn and then teach sustainable organic farming techniques in dozens of countries, including Turkey, New Zealand, Norway, and French Polynesia.
Chat and E-mail in a Language You Don’t Know
Google Chat Bots (http://bit.ly/imbot)
Use this to chat in real time using almost any language. Instant message (IM) directly from your Gmail e-mail account with anyone in the world.
Nice Translator (www.nicetranslator.com) and Free Translation (www.freetranslation.com)
Translate text from English into a dozen languages and vice versa. Surprisingly accurate, though the lost-in-translation 10–20% can get you in trouble. Nice Translator is faster and can be used on the iPhone.
Become Fluent in Record Time
Language Addicts and Accelerated Learning
For all things language related, from detailed how-to articles (how to reactivate forgotten languages, memorize 1,000 words per week, master tones, etc.) to mnemonics and the best electronic shortcuts, click on “language” at www.fourhourblog.com. Learning languages is an addiction of mine and a skill I have taken apart and reassembled to be faster. It is possible to become conversationally fluent in any language in 3–6 months.
Find Language Exchange Partners and Materials
LiveMocha (www.livemocha.com),
EduFire (www.edufire.com), and
Smart.fm (http://smart.fm/)
I particularly like their BrainSpeed learning game.
About.com (www.about.com)
Some of the more popular languages have excellent tutorials on About.com:
http://italian.about.com
http://spanish.about.com
http://german.about.com
http://french.about.com
68. The dollar figures in this chapter are all from a period immediately following President Bush’s reelection in 2004, which correlated to the worst dollar exchange rates of the last 20 years.
69. I refer, of course, to the amazing bike-riding opportunities and famous pastries.
70. Coined by Joel Stein of the LA Times.
71. By all means, go ahead and take a post-office celebratory trip and go nuts for a few weeks. I know I did. Rock on. Ibiza and glow sticks here I come. Have some absinthe and drink lots of water. Following that, sit down and plan an introspective mini-retirement.
72. Muses are low maintenance but often expensive in one or both of two tactical areas: manufacturing and advertising. Shop for providers of both that are willing to accept credit cards as payment, and negotiate this up front if necessary by saying, “Rather than trying to negotiate you down on pricing, I just ask that you accept payment by credit card. If you can do that, we’ll choose you over Competitor X.” This is yet another example of a “firm offer,” and not a question, that puts you in a stronger negotiating position. For a detailed explanation of how I multiply points for travel using concepts like “piggybacking” and “recycling,” search for both terms on www.fourhourblog.com.
73. To see a video of how I pack to travel the world with less than 10 pounds, click on “travel” at www.fourhourblog.com.
74. Founder of www.nileproject.com.
75. http://www.usc.edu/hsc/dental/opfs/SC/indexSC.html.
76. Brazilian shantytowns. See the movie City of God (Cidade de Deus) to get a taste of how fun these are.
77. This is a serious step and should not be taken with those you do not trust. In this case, it helps because your accountant can then sign tax documents or checks in your name instead of consuming hours and days of your time with faxes, scanners, and expensive international FedEx’ing of documents.
78. There are also services like www.earthclassmail.com, which will receive, scan, and e-mail all of your non-junk mail to you as PDFs.
79. This would be used if you leave your computer at home or in someone else’s home while traveling. This step can be skipped if you bring your computer, but that is like a recovering heroin addict bringing a bag of opium to rehab. Don’t tempt yourself to kill time instead of rediscovering it.
80. “Unlocked” means that it is recharged with prepaid cards instead of being on a monthly payment plan with a single carrier such as O2 or Vodafone. This also means that the same phone can be used with carriers in other countries (assuming the frequency is the same) with a simple switch of the SIM memory card for $10–30 U.S. in most cases. Some U.S.-compatible quad-band phones can use SIM cards.
Filling the Void
ADDING LIFE AFTER SUBTRACTING WORK
To be engrossed by something outside ourselves is a powerful antidote for the rational mind, the mind that so frequently has its head up its own ass.
—ANNE LAMOTT, Bird by Bird
There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do.
—BILL WATTERSON, creator of the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip
KING’S CROSS, LONDON
I stumbled into the deli across the cobblestone street and ordered a prosciutto sandwich. It was 10:33 A.M. now, the fifth time I’d checked the time, and the twentieth time I’d asked myself, “What the &%$# am I going to do today?”
The best answer I had come up with so far was: get a sandwich.
Thirty minutes earlier, I had woken up without an alarm clock for the first time in four years, fresh off arriving from JFK the night before. I had soooo been looking forward to it: awakening to musical birdsong outside, sitting up in bed with a smile, smelling the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, and stretching out overhead like a cat in the shade of a Spanish villa. Magnificent. It turned out more like this: bolt upright as if blasted with a foghorn, grab clock, curse, jump out of bed in underwear to check e-mail, remember that I was forbidden to do so, curse again, look for my host and former classmate, realize that he was off to work like the rest of the world, and proceed to have a panic attack.
I spent the rest of the day in a haze, wandering from museum to botanical garden to museum as if on rinse and repeat, avoiding Internet cafés with some vague sense of guilt. I needed a to-do list to feel productive and so put down things like “eat dinner.”
This was going to be a lot harder than I had thought.
Postpartum Depression: It’s Normal
Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.
—ANATOLE FRANCE, author of The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
I’ve Got More Money and Time Than I Ever Dreamed Possible … Why Am I Depressed?
It’s a good question with a good answer. Just be glad you’re figuring this out now and not at the end of life! The retired and ultrarich are often unfulfilled and neurotic for the same reason: too much idle time.
But wait a second …
Isn’t more time what we’re after? Isn’t that what this book is all about? No, not at all. Too much free time is no more than fertilizer for self-doubt and assorted mental tail-chasing. Subtracting the bad does not create the good. It leaves a vacuum. Decreasing income-driven work isn’t the end goal. Living more—and becoming more—is.
In the beginning, the external fantasies will be enough, and there is nothing wrong with this. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this period. Go nuts and live your dreams. This is not superficial or selfish. It is critical to stop repressing yourself and get out of the postponement habit.
Let’s suppose you decide to dip your toe in dreams like relocating to the Caribbean for island-hopping or taking a safari in the Serengeti. It will be wonderful and unforgettable, and you should do it. There will come a time, however—be it three weeks or three years later—when you won’t be able to drink another piña colada or photograph another damn red-assed baboon. Self-criticism and existential panic attacks start around this time.
But This Is What I Always Wanted! How Can I Be Bored?!
Don’t freak out and fuel the fire. This is normal among all high-performers who downshift after working hard for a long time. The smarter and more goal-oriented you are, the tougher these growing pains will be. Learning to replace the perception of time famine with appreciation of time abundance is like going from triple espressos to decaf.
But there’s more! Retirees get depressed for a second reason, and you will too: social isolation.
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