The art of long-term world travel | Hacker News Reader

The art of long-term world travel

tim.blog

53 pointsblacksmythe17 comments

I'm a Software Engineer who decided there must be more to life than sitting at a desk.

I saved as hard as I could for 12 months, and set-off for 2 years and drove 40,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina. That trip changed my life. (http://theroadchoseme.com/expedition-overview)

I returned to a desk and saved and saved and saved for over four years, built my dream Jeep, and am right now driving all the way around Africa, probably for about 2 years and 80,000 miles through ~30 countries. (http://theroadchoseme.com/africa-expedition-overview) I am in Cameroon, and meeting all kinds of interesting people and learning so much more than I have up until now in my life (I'm 35).

I am living almost entirely on savings, though I am attempting to move into photography/writing as a "career" and currently earn a little from that.

If anyone is interested, AMA.

>I saved as hard as I could for 12 months, and set-off for 2 years and drove 40,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina. That trip changed my life. (http://theroadchoseme.com/expedition-overview)

How'd you cross the Darien gap?

> How'd you cross the Darien gap?

I put it in a shipping container in Panama and flew to Colombia to meet it and continue the trip.

Details & price here:

http://theroadchoseme.com/shipping-across-the-darien-gap-pt-...

That jeep looks super comfy. Do you have anything for protection (I don't see anything on the list)?

>protection

Crossing borders with a firearm is a serious no-no and would result in instant jail time. I also strongly believe if someone has a gun, the worst thing I can do is have a gun myself.

West Africa is not what you think. I have met the friendliest, kindest, warmest people of my whole life here, every day.

Do you have a family? (if not: would you like to start one?)

I don't right now, and I am thinking about it more and more these days.

I continually bump into people on the road with kids. It absolutely can be done. (Yes, even in Central America and West Africa!)

What does make a human being interesting?

Lots of life experiences, widely varied experiences

Just build an affiliate marketing site that teaches people how to build affiliate marketing site and you can travel the world in perpetuity and work two hours a week!

The link to "Storming 'The Beach'" in the article leads to nowhere, but the feature can be found on Rolf's own page at https://rolfpotts.com/storming-the-beach/

I have mastered annual 2 week travel instead. Much harder.

Not joking. You have to plan well, you don't have the luxury of slipping dates, you want to optimise dead-time, compromise between time and cost, synchronise with your project's schedule, family and of course be patient enough to last until its beginning.

I am always shocked when I bump into Americans traveling.

With only two weeks, they are always stressed and rushing. When timelines do slip, they have to throw money at private taxis etc. It is fascinating they are spending more in 2 weeks than I spend in 2 months.

Shameless Tim Ferris self promotion

This site is a perfect example of intrusive and exit-intent advertising. It is near unusable on mobile and exit-intent is exactly the wrong time to ask more of someone - like hanging into someone's sleeve as they try to leave your store.

2008

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