I like to travel, learn and tell stories.
Travel podcast here
New episodes Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Q&A community: https://crazypeople.online/c/bitofarambler
Any travel questions are welcome, they don’t have to be podcast-related
FAQ
how much does it cost to travel long-term?
The cost of living in most countries is around $500 USD a month for transportation, rent, utilities and food altogether; teaching English pays $2000 USD a month with zero qualifications or experience.
every month I taught English, I had a few exrra months of my cost of living.
I taught English for about 7 years.
as long as you’re making more than 500 USD a month remotely in any job, you can travel long-term.
if you want to backpack, CoL shoots down to $200 a month real quick.
“…she is a true inspiration.”
wow, what a stellar gift, and something that you can throw your appreciation for her into.
do you have a finished picture of the “we can do it” piece you can share?
haha, i remember soldering headphone wires for the first time and ending up with a crazy lumpy Boulder of solder and burnt wires by the end.
to which, of course, I shrugged and rolled electrical tape around and accepted.
Whoa! That is a legitimately fascinating video, thanks again for sharing. “We Can Do It” is such a great image too.
Youtube shorts might net you a little extra revenue if you have a bunch of these clips, btw, if you aren’t way ahead of me, haha, i just learned about shorts.
How long did it take you to develop such a steady hand for the solder?
So there’s no glue and the metal doesn’t fuse into the glass, but the overhang of the solder once it’s cooled acts as a picture frame for each shard and then a complete frame for the whole piece? That’s amazing.
And you definitely did great work on the smooth part of the soldering, all of those front-facing lines look very even and smooth.
Ha, easy to bump projects, i got all excited about these t-shirt designs but after four designs i started up a podcast and got super distracted throwing myself into the episodes. It’s great to feel that inspiration though when you like a project so much you can be reasonably assured it’ll develop into something you’re proud of.
Well, I’m excited to see the new piece, thanks for sharing all this information with me, I would have no idea how something like this worked otherwise.
Are there special glass paints to use for the colors?
oh wow and it’s a time-lapse, you legend!
that definitely gives me a better idea of how the process goes, thanks a lot for sharing, that was very cool to see.
so that’s the copper foil at the end and then do you use a blow torch or something to melt all the pieces together?
that must be so much fun for you also, do you have a lot of projects going on at the same time or do you tend to focus on one at a time?
Ha, that’s awesome, thanks for explaining. Yea, I’ll definitely check out the video when it goes up, sounds like a nail-biting, rewarding process.
Very cool, it came out great.
I coincidentally looked up glass cutting recently and found videos of people cutting window panes by scoring a line and then smacking the scored section off. Is that what you do for cutting glass curves also? Your work looks too technically precise for the smacking method I saw.
wow, that’s very cool. so you have to cut each piece of glass for each finger bone like that?
no, why?
Are you asking another “is this possible at all” question?
“That’s a very short-sighted, one-dimensional take.”
those are ticket prices, not a “take”.
I’ve addressed all of your questions and many more besides, accounting for multiple variables and providing information with factual data, experience, consensus and outside inputs in mind.
if you believe the consideration of various perspectives, classes and cultures is one-dimensional, it is likely a result of your own perspective.
No use for doubt when the information is avalable:
Tickets to central america this month starting at 21$, Europe starting at $98, Asia starting at $249(cherry blossom prices).
you have pretty broad questions, so I’m going to give you relatively broad answers, that i am happy to expand upon further.
“Where?”
wherever you want that fits your circumstances.
“how do they stay?”
Americans travel visa-free or visa-on-arrival to over 180 countries and can stay in those countries for weeks, months or years.
“You need a visa. That’s not easy”
It’s pretty easy. Americans usually don’t need a visa, and when they do, the process these days is usually
online form for 5-15 minutes.
Pay fee.
visa is emailed to you.
“what about language?”
I suggest learning the local language where you’re living for a variety of reasons.
There’s an episode about that coming up!
Actually, there are episodes about all of this coming up, haha.
“what about support network? Whom do you ask for help…?”
There are huge expat and local support networks in every country that will answer every question you’ve asked, as well as embassies, consulates, and help lines.
If you’re teaching ESL, you’ll have a cultural liaison from your school or less formal support staff.
“All of your knowledge of how law, politics, social customs, and more is now irrelevant”
is that knowledge particularly relevant to your day to day life in your home country?
Abroad, you may reflect upon that information being about as useful and temporary as…paper cranes in a flood.
“Fifth, what about a job?”
If you have a remote job that pays $500 USD a month, you can live in most countries comfortably.
If you are a native English speaker, you can teach English and make a lot more.
Those are two of any number of work options.
“why would a company hire a foreigner?”
For the same reasons all companies hire foreigners: that foreigner has a skill the company requires.
“they can pay you dirt”
Starting pay for ESL in china is $2500 usd a month in china without a degree or tefl certificate. With both, it’s closer to $3500 a month.
Cost of living in China is about $300-$600 usd a month depending on where you are.
“…it makes me feel like I’m abdicating my responsibilities as a citizen”
Participating in and paying into the US system that is exploiting entire generations and stripping their rights bears more social guilt than protesting against the system and withholding funding, but:
nobody is making you take these available opportunities.
My point is and has been that most Americans can escape the system and stop supporting it if they want to.
Nobody is going to make anyone start traveling, learn things, make friends, and save money, but you can if you want to.
that’s good, I definitely wasn’t saying “take a vacation”.
“You original comment…so literally.”
don’t take it too literally.
when i wrote:
"i suggest leaving.
it’s better outside."
I was referring to leaving the country and situation that is making OP miserable, rather than leaving this post or your apartment or whatever literal conclusion you’re referring to now.
““can” is subjective.”
They can or cannot. Pretty clear-cut.
'“Can” people afford a plane ticket to somewhere? Probably."
Yup.
“Would their quality of life in that destination be satisfactory?”
also a strong yup. higher to much higher quality of life.
Higher pay, fewer hours, better social support, better infrastructure, more opportunities.
“…not actually working or settling down?”
In the previous comment, I was answering your question of “where americans can travel” to.
If you want to work or settle down abroad, you can do that.
If you want to travel indefinitely, you can do that too.
Travel is up to the traveler.
"…filthy and dirty in public.’
they really have been for a while now.
you got your wish.
“planning on living as obnoxiously and proudly as possible.”
go for it, my concern is that you won’t achieve what you want this way.
“I want queer people to be an issue no one can ignore,”
I think this is another goal you’ve already achieved, queer people in general are an issue nobody is ignoring already.
on the good side, the prevalence of queer culture is higher than it’s ever been, even in conservative enclaves like the US.
on the bad side, the most powerful people in a few countries like tge US are so afraid of glitter that they’re trying to override the other two branches of government in a vain efforts to shove the fancypants genie back in the bottle.
but that’s the thing about genies and bottles, though.
“being visible in today’s world is very very dangerous”
in some places, it is.
in other places it’s totally normal and accepted to be as visibly queer as you like, as it has been forever because other cultures have never been binary.
I support whatever course of action fulfills you and hope your activism achieves the further goals you are working toward, and also hope you’re aware that becoming a martyr is not the only or possibly most effective way you can be useful to your movement.
“Are you speaking from direct experience?”
i am speaking from direct experience.
“Where did you end up”
I’ve been traveling over a decade; started in china, went to a few dozen countries, still going.
“how?”
came across an ad for teaching english, flew over to China. kept going.
“Fascism is a growing trend.”
it’s certainly a very popular topic within a few countries these days.
i daresay it’s much easier to comprehend from out here.
“America has changed pretty significantly”
it might seem like that standing on the pulse there but again, things look different from out here.
“bit cat and mouse with the direction other nations are also headed.”
there are 200 countries, none of which are static.
you may feel confined because you’re living in one of them, and it could be that you think you’re only supposed to live in one of them.
“retreating”
protesting, not retreating.
if you live outside of the states for more than 330 days per year, you aren’t required to pay earned income tax up $125,000.
administrations and policies I don’t agree with don’t get my tax revenue, and haven’t for a long time.
Withholding funding from the system is preferable to participating in and contributing to the system.
Vote with your feet.
Americans can travel to most countries in the world(180 of them, give or take) either visa-free or with a visa on arrival.
Almost all remaining countries accept online visa applications. You fill out an online form (15 minutes or less), pay the fee, and they email you the Visa a day or two later.
nobody is going to make you leave, I’m offering advice and encouragement for people who do want to leave or feel hopeless about their prospects.
couple things here:
“I’m gonna stay and I’m gonna enjoy myself until the bullet passes through my brain. I’m gonna make sure it stains their nicest carpets and finest dress,”
it’s much easier to die for a cause than to live for a cause.
you can do a lot more damage alive than dead.
your life is worth a lot more than inconveniencing somebody’s carpet.
as an example, if you travel for 11 months out of the year, you don’t have to pay earned income tax, and taking away revenue from the government is going to do a lot more harm than you being dead.
especially because I don’t see any evidence for this:
“they love seeming civil and clean.”
I don’t think they like being clean so much as they don’t care about being dirty in public anymore.
are you trying to ask where Americans can travel?
“…that molten glass was involved…”
yeaj, the process you actually go through is even more impressive than the already incredibly difficult fantasia-sequence molten glass process I imagined, haha!
creating a 40 piece picture frame or 60 piece or whatever it is, jeez, that is very cool, and to get it so smooth.
the podcast is called “bit of a rambler”, it’s everywhere podcasts are, main page here: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bit-of-a-rambler--6571124
the first two episodes are out and new eps will be coming out every Wednesday for a long time to come, travel stories and information.
those paints came out great, very vibrant colors, and the car polish you added is such a smart idea, they’ll probably look that way forever.
the nail polish in UV lamp are another good idea, what’s on hand is the way to go, I ended up using strips of old pool noodles lying around as sound insulation for the office I record the podcast in just the other day.
I’ll be on the lookout for whatever you post here next. or I’ll remember you from Lemmy when your YT shorts blow up!