Category: Advice

The fork in the road: Australia

I’ve heard that anything done once can be a fluke, but if you do it twice it becomes a pattern. New Zealand was supposed to be one last hurrah. It was a way to say my dreams were worth pursuing, however grand they may have seemed at the time. And now? I am currently living in Australia, in this fever dream I’m calling life.

After New Zealand

When I had left for New Zealand, I was a mess. I had a job that I sought since college, a partner, and student loans freshly paid off. But something was missing. So I left, on the chance I might find myself. And I did. I came away from the trip more confident than I ever had been. My confidence to move mountains was restored.

The Task to move mountains

Holiday working visas are no easy feat to pull off. You have the application fee, the plane ticket, and the initial months without work. Not to mention miscellaneous, unforeseen expenses. For example, if you’re tired and want to grab food after your flight. Or if your bank randomly adds foreign transaction fees to your card. If you’re doing back to back holiday working visas it can be extremely difficult.

My timeline is as follows: Pandemic -> quit job -> find work -> Pay of Student Loans -> get cavities -> New Zealand… New Zealand -> find work slowly -> start making good money -> travel last month of visa and accrue debt. Then I come back home and have 9 months to make money, which created a completely new timeline… Hop off plane -> say hi to family -> go to alumni event -> become soccer coach -> new job saving a Gala -> Finish Job -> Mini Vacation -> Job Market collapses -> become cashier -> Hop on plane. So as you can see, very little room for error. All this to be unemployed in a foreign country (at least for a couple weeks).

So as you can see, even if you are focused and know what you’re doing, you will have a period where you use the money you saved. This is especially true if you want to have a mini vacation, like I did my first week.

My Mini Vacation

New Zealand was messy. I spent two weeks in Auckland where I befriended a British person right away. This friendship pretty much sealed my fate of drinking every day (for the first couple weeks). For this trip, A week in Sydney, a weekend in Melbourne, and then a house in Adelaide. Sydney was bank account and tax I.D. (as well as a mullet) where I ate free breakfast at the hostel, made cheese sandwiches, and had pasta. My splurge was on a rooftop bar during happy hour. Melbourne? Pure vacation filled with live music, brunches, and clubbing. Did I take the train? Of course! And then a 12 hour bus ride to Adelaide. If I didn’t have the weekend, I would’ve lost my mind. And Adelaide? Settling in and getting to know my roommates.

The coming weeks

I just set up transfers with my US bank. Pro tip: do not pay international wires as they will have high fees and not the best conversation rates! Instead, get a Wise account. You could also try Revolut, although I haven’t used them. Set them up as an external transfer, similar to what you’d use for banks back home. That way, you can transfer money to Wise. Once you set up your account, you can transfer it to whatever country bank account you’re using!

My next task is to find work, which means updating my resume and getting a few licenses specific to handling alcohol and if I want to go the extra mile, a food handlers card. It involves reaching out to local recruiters for the industry I’m applying for and as an extra measure, joining local business professional networks.

Once that’s done, I can start looking into things such as run clubs and perhaps even board game cafes!

Is it worth it?

Obviously, yes. The amount of growth I will achieve on this trip is immeasurable. It’s tough to start but gets a lot easier as the visa goes on. I have my own room, with a desk, so I’m already doing a thousand times better than when I started in New Zealand! Cheers to the future and I’ll be trying to post when I get the chance!

As always, thanks for reading! If you have questions about travel, feel free to reach out! I love sharing my experiences! I’ve also expanded to medium, so I’m expecting a lot more traffic in the coming year!

Sustainability Month 2023: E-Bike vs. Car

Wowza, it’s that time of year again where I talk about sustainability. Could it be about the environment? Investing? Life Style? All three? Who knows but it’s been a successful series and I have more to talk about this year.

E-bike

So I haven’t been driving in a couple years! In 2019 I bought a Rad Power Bike (still not an ambassador) and while at the time I bought it because I liked riding scooters downtown, the value has only gone up over the years; try saying that about your pickup, I dare you.

The Benefits

For me, it was a one and done. I paid for the bike in full and thus owned the bike. All said and done, it was around $1800 for fenders, a basket, a nice helmet, and of course the bike. I could have done monthly payments but I didn’t want to deal with the headache. Now E-bikes are fairly common but in 2019 they were something you only saw every once and a while. And in 2019, gas was a lot a cheaper.

Benefit one

Cheaper than gas. That’s right, I could pay a few hundred a month in gas or ride an E-Bike. Even electric cars need to be charged often and not everywhere has a charging station. My bike battery can get about 20 miles on full throttle, going 20 miles an hour. For city commuting, this will get you where you need in a decent timeframe. And it takes about 6 to 8 hours to charge. If I use peddle assist, I get 40 miles (and more) per charge and speeds that far surpass a normal biker with no effort exerted on your part (I tested this on my brother).

Benefit two

Exercise. Yes, you heard me right; you get to have your cake and eat it to (not literally, of course). Most commutes will be a mix of peddle assist and throttle, so prepare to work those calves. In a car, you sit. That’s it. No wind in your hair, no nothing. You sit and think about your life choices.

Benfit Three

They do not take up space. This has immediate impact. If you have a house (so no one) you can put the bike in a corner of your garage and use all that space for… Whatever you want! Woodworking? No problem. Set up a painting studio? You got it? Man Cave? Bam, it’s there. Now, big picture. You take up less space on the road and guess what? You have your seats filled. Cars are funny in the sense that a lot are built to have more than one person in them but 90% of the time people are driving alone. No carpooling, just driving alone. If you don’t believe me, go stare at a car passing you the next you’re on a run or walk. You are more likely to see one person than a car filled with people; crazy! Now imagine if society shifted to majority of people biking. Less space taken up means no need for eight lane highways and we can put back what was there before. Which, if you were wondering were houses, libraries, and schools; you know, things society actually needs.

Wow, another paragraph. It doesn’t stop there. Less cars means no need for massive parking lots, which in turn could be parks and plazas; you know, places for people to gather socially. I know, I know, I’m talking like a madman right now. If I’m not careful, I might say that if we just shut down entire blocks to traffic, it’ll actually make people happier and drive up revenue for local businesses. Gross!

Benefit four

You don’t kill people. That’s right, less cars means less death. Turns out supersizing your pickup is actually dangerous to kids and people who weren’t born six feet tall. Do you need a large pickup in a city? No, no you fucking don’t. Are you hauling lumber? Hay bales? Towing a truck? No, you’re just driving? Good job. You’ve just spent a bunch in gas and made the oil corporations very happy as well as the car lobbyist. If your truck takes up two spots in a parking, maybe you are the problem.

Benefit Five

No monthly payments (unless you didn’t pay in full). That’s right, they’re cheap. You don’t need to take out an expensive car loan to purchase one (I see you tesla drivers!). That saves roughly $500 a month give or take. On top of that, no bike insurance! That saves you another $150. That is investing money right there or rent (just kidding) or groceries (for a couple months). Cars are an extremely poor investment, I’m telling you. And if you have no commute, you literally just have a hunk of metal sitting around losing value every second it exists. If you need a car, guess what, lyft is probably cheaper or better yet, for that one trip, get a rental.

Benefit Six

They don’t pollute. Obviously, there is the cost of manufacturing. Trucks drive, materials get shaped into batteries, etc. But from my understanding, there is less of an environmental impact than the manufacturing of electric cars. And of course, when you ride your bike, zero emission. So you can feel good as you ride your E-bike. Driving a car, even a Tesla, not so much. You are stuck in traffic, wasting gas and if someone builds you a new lane, you just get more cars on the road. So enough, let’s start acting like Europeans. Cars don’t make economic sense and they’ve made America a beautiful Hellscape of pavement and broken dreams.

Benefit Seven

They’re just fun. They are fun to ride. Unlike a normal bike, you do not have to worry about dying in a pool of your own sweat. You can ride your bike and just enjoy the ride. Want a long bike ride? Use peddle assist at the lower levels and you can go 40 miles. Want to get groceries? Throttle up and enjoy the wind in your hair. However you ride, it is your choice to make. You know what doesn’t have congestion? Bike lanes. So ride on.

So that’s E-bike’s in a nutshell. There are really no downsides to owning one. The older models can be a little heavy but that just saves you a gym membership right there. For a sustainable future, I truly believe this is it. Get an E-bike and society will adjust. Imagine all the money you’ll save and imagine a world where walking and biking are the norm.

Journey’s Beginning: There are no ends

We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.

Orson Welles

The Beginning?

So here we are again, at the beginning. Or is it the end? I am trying to find myself. My decisions, my choices have led here to this moment. And I am proud, but I am also broken. I have held the world on my shoulders for too long and it has left me hollow, an echo of my childhood self. The kid who dreamed, the kid who sang, and the kid who never gave up. The kid who wanted the world to be a better place only to watch his heroes die and the shadows infest the very flame that burned so bright.

The Cycle Ends

To be fair, the last ten years have seen tremendous growth in my life. A lot of tough choices and no easy answers. I understand myself and know I cannot exist as I am. I came back home and said goodbye to my Dad as alcohol consumed him. My once hero became my sparring partner and truth be told I’ve been lost without him. In another reality he never touched a bottle and I could spend this portion of my life asking him advice, having him guide me in an uncertain world. Instead, I can visit his grave and hope he is watching over me. My questions are told to an urn as I slowly lose my mind.

As I prepare for New Zealand, I’ve been spending a lot of time with my friends. Beers on the weekends, game nights, and running. I’m grateful that I’ve nurtured these relationships over decades and have the capacity to create new ones. I’ve been treating my working visa as if I’m on my deathbed and it’s made me appreciate what I have all the more.

What I’ve been missing in my life has been hope and love which has proven to be my undoing. When I was younger, I wish I had appreciated the love I had, because I never realized that one day it would be gone. I was reminded the other day what it means to still have a heart that beats and as I feel the blood slowly come back into my body, I leave my life in the hands of the fates. I want to believe it will all work out as it was meant to even as I watch my once safe world crumble before my eyes. Life is tough but worth living.

The Cycle Begins

This chapter of my life is about finding myself and perhaps even building a new fire from within. New Zealand is my hard reset. It has forced my hand to lay a foundation of success. I have a long ways to go before I’m ready but everything is in motion. I have sacrificed pleasure for the past 6 months to have enough money saved up to pay off my student loans. We are here; after this month they will be gone. Now my focus has shifted towards personal finance; I don’t just want to survive, I want to thrive. I’ve started looking at credit card usage, have been investing for the last year, and am planning to get a second credit card before I head overseas. I’ve cut subscription costs since the pandemic and now only have what I use on a consistent basis. The other path to success has been focusing on my skillset and knowing my value; versatility will be king if I am to spend the next couple years traveling. New Zealand, Ireland, and Japan is my current three year plan; when I next arrive in the US, I will be a different man.

For my US send off and to end my twenties on a high note, I opted to run a half marathon. Since I started my training back in April, I can now run 13 miles with relative ease and the next couple months will be focused on getting faster. Physically, I feel better than I did when I ran cross country and it seems fitting that as I get ready for the next decade, I reconnect with an activity that has given me so much joy over the years.

Living my Dreams

Since an early age, I have wanted to travel and experience the world. I achieved this dream when I did study abroad in Mosbach, Germany. This time, it’ll be New Zealand and it’s all on me. Housing, Work, and a one way plane ticket. What better way to spend my first year as a thirty year old? As I get closer to October, the more excited I become. And what’s even better is I’ll finally get to write about travel once more. I’m also planning to bring my camera, so I’ll be trying to get out and take as many photos as I can while I’m overseas. Just me, in a land of strangers. It’s just what the doctor ordered and it’s one of those few moments in life that just makes sense. While I can take a small breath with my student loans, these next couple months will be crucial. I am focused and I am motivated, so bring it world.

And that’s a wrap. If you had asked me a year ago that my crazy dream of traveling and living abroad once more would become reality, I would have wondered if it would ever work. Does lightning strike twice? Apparently it does. So this year will be a busy year! Luckily, all I need to blog is a computer and an internet connection! Cheers to the future and get ready for more travel content as I prepare for my trip!

Adventures in Dating: Single be as single does

So, I’ve rewritten this article a couple times now. I thought this article would be easy to write but it turns out not so much. Dating stories are easy; I like talking about meet-cute’s and the occasional drama that comes from dating apps. Talking about being single is a first for me.

The idea popped up in my head about a month ago, when I was sitting alone in my room; I quite enjoy being by myself. I’ve always treating love as an end goal, a destination to reach, not a journey to be had. The most joy from dating I’ve had is where I’ve simply dated. And while it may be cliche, love is about the journey, not the destination. What’s the rush to have a girlfriend? Get married? We’re on this Earth for a decent amount of time and the relaxed approach seems to work best.

I adhere to my own schedule and in the last decade have become fiercely independent thanks to my time spent in college and half a decade spent learning to look inwards for gratification. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from being on your own; you’re in essence, as free as the wind. There are few individuals I have met where I have thought I’ve wanted to spend the rest of my life with them (and I’ve caused knees to buckle since preschool).

The dating climate today is exhausting and quite expensive. Online dating is nigh impossible and takes the fun out of dating altogether; dating was a chore before a Pandemic and having a glass of wine with someone over a zoom call is far different than hitting a nice German bar or going on a hike and having a nice meal afterwards. Bouldering dates are non-existent in this current dating Hell we find ourselves in.

On the eve of my twenty sixth year on Earth, dating has become a minefield. The older I become, the more likely it is women are likely to have been in long term relationships that are now just ending. Those high school sweethearts you thought would be together forever? Turns out, not so much. If I were to enter a relationship, Ideally it’d be two to three years. Children aren’t in the plan and I’ll typically take passion over dedication any day of the week. Dating is about mystery and excitement, marriage is for the good and bad. Could that change over time? Most definitely. But if you’re not enjoying the journey, then it’s not worth your time.

I enjoy flirting. A wink here, a compliment there. When my hair grows long, I like to flick it. Years of perfecting my approach, I am now a master. Most of my charm I owe to my management degree and the rest I owe to practice. This has no relevance to the core of this article, I just wanted to add this part for flare and to emphasize the fact that dating itself can be quite a lot of fun when you’re single. Relationships require a different approach and sacrifice some of the freedom being single affords you; not inherently better or worse, just different.

The point I wanted to touch upon for this article is that it might be better if more people were single for longer. We are born dependent, we become independent and then we become interdependent. If we do not learn to win our private victories, we stay dependent and jumping into a relationship in this state creates a co-dependent relationship. Co-dependence may sound romantic, but it’s not. Ideally, a perfect relationship is two independent individuals coming together and setting goals together while still retaining their individuality; it will not work if one party is dependent. Food for thought but I thought it was worth noting. If you’re in your late twenties and haven’t been in a relationship but have been working on yourself, you’re more than likely to be set up for healthier relationships down the road. That’s not to say young love can’t prevail but should that relationship come to a halt, will you have the skills necessary to pick up the pieces?

And that’s it! Another dating article successfully written. This article took longer than expected but I’m thrilled so many people are enjoying this series. Part of the goal is to transition my article writing to more creative topics that shy away from business and informational topics. Especially now, as the world feels chaotic, I think it’s nice to read something different. I had fun writing the article and hope you enjoy the final product! If you like my content, please consider following the blog, liking, and sharing among your friends. If you want to support me, as a creator, I also have a Patreon and a Ko-Fi. Below is the link:

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Also, feel free to comment below! Do you agree? Disagree? Do you think first love holds true or do you think it’s better to be comfortable in your own skin before taking a dive?