Post: #1

What's up guys, I'm fairly new and have been lurking and doing reading here and there when I get a chance. I just did my first international trip since becoming an adult earlier this year, so I'm new to game and traveling as well. About me, I work a lot (~35 days straight typically averaging 80-100 hours per week with about 5 days off in between), so my social skills with women have gotten much worse these last few years. Only time I really have to interact with women is a strip clubs on my short days when I'm working (but I usually decide to just catch up on sleep for obvious reasons). I'm about 5'8"-5'9" and probably fairly close to the worst shape of my life, by due to my physically demanding job it's difficult to work out and work. Been working on my dieting here lately, but even that's fairly difficult due to the fact that I work in fairly remote areas of the country. I'll probably need some help getting some decent attire for this trip as I probably dress terrible to most of your standards. Anyway, i decided a couple weeks ago that I was going to save up as much money as I can aside from normal bills, food, and gas etc etc and quit my job and travel the world for 6 months. I wanted to start off in Thailand and go to Muay Thai training camp for 3 months, then head to Korea and/or eastern Russia from there, and then take the railway across Russia into Europe (but I'm open to other suggestions as well). My target savings goal for this is $20-30k USD, but that's probably the most I'll be able to save from now until the end of the year (my tax return will probably be $5-8k, so that'll probably help as well). The European countries I was going to try and visit are Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Denmark, Italy, and France. During this trip I wanna experience new cultures, check out some places with great architecture, and hopefully meet beautiful women through out this trip.

Age: 25
Background: Asian/Latino (I can pass as Hawaiian, Filipino, or Mexican)

Thailand estimated costs:
-Flight $900-1,200
-housing $500/month
-Weekly allowance $500 ($6,000 for 12 weeks)
-Muay Thai training camp $800

Thoughts?

Post: #2

Strip clubs don't seem like a very productive way to spend the little free time that you have.

If you're not pulling women where you are, I don't think just suddenly dropping into an unfamiliar environment is going to help, unless it's pay for play, in which case we wouldn't be able to help ya.

My suggestion would be not to quit your job, but reduce your hours if at all possible, and save the money for a little while until you refresh your experience with women. It'll pay bigger dividends. Maybe take a short vacation for a couple weeks to suss out the place(s) you're interested in, before you go "all in." In addition, some of the places you mention are places it's pretty pointless to be if your goal is to meet women, if all you know is English.

Post: #3

So, you want to save $30K by end of this year and go traveling? Do you have an emergency fund in addition to that? What are you going to do when you have to come back? Can you get your job back when you return? Can you take a sabbatical to keep you job? Can you crash at your parents' or friends' place? Will your family help you out if you run out of money?

About the budget: in places like Thailand, you can stretch that money pretty far. For example, my fried who spends winters in Phuket, spends about $1,200 per month excluding tickets. This includes a nice room/apartment, a nice motorbike, food, entertainment (not much drinking though and definitely no strip clubs/whoring) and some sports activities. I've never done Muay Thai, but you can probably find options cheaper than $800. A lot of schools on Phuket island, for example.

Another point: the slower you travel the less you spend. For example, if you just hang out on one island or in one city most of the time and only travel for visa runs to neighboring countries, you'll spend relatively little. If you travel all over the place all the way to Europe, you'll spend a lot more in the same period of time, probably a multiple.

My estimate is that $30K is enough to live as long as a couple of years in SEA (places like Phuket, Bali or Chiang Mai) if you watch your expenses but at the same time enjoy life and don't live like a dirty backpacker. Alternatively, you can just spend a few months in SEA on this budget and use the rest as your emergency fund.

Also, avoid strip clubs and avoid hanging out with losers who go to strip clubs. A lot of them out there in SEA. Don't hang out with them. Find RVFers and other guys with a self improvement mindset instead.

Post: #4

Reducing hours would be impossible as that is the norm for the industry and it would make it pointless for me to be in this industry if I didn't make a lot of OT (No OT=not very good money). Once again I work in fairly remote areas of the country, so meeting women is difficult and the ones around here are probably not very good ones to get with anyway. I speak Spanish as well.

Post: #5

Let's just say I have the amount I plan on saving for this trip already saved, but that's the money I planned on coming back to, and yes I can more than likely get my position back if I decide I want to come back. When I came to this industry, I drove damn near across the country knowing no one and nothing in this industry, so im confident I can the same position or another similar whenever I decide to comeback. I may just decide to go back to school when I return depending on how the industry is doing. If any RVFers are interested in coaching in then I'm willing to travel to wherever they are on my ~5 days off that I take every 5 weeks or so.

Post: #6

The job is unsustainable unless you are satisfied merely by the work and money involved, with little else in your life. Trust me, I did a similar thing that consumed the bulk of my twenties. Although I ended up way ahead of many in terms of finances, I am way behind due to the lack of meaningful connections built during those years. Since men don't peak until after these years it is possible to catch up, but don't kid yourself about the amount of effort required in doing so. IMO, unless you absolutely love it, the only reasons for continuing doing one of these "no life jobs" are: 1) angling for a management position with a more normal lifestyle or 2) banking money while you plan a transition to a new career.

5 free days every 5 weeks? The years are going to pass you by in a heartbeat.

Post: #7

(05-30-2016 01:41 PM)Tapestry Wrote:  The job is unsustainable unless you are satisfied merely by the work and money involved, with little else in your life. Trust me, I did a similar thing that consumed the bulk of my twenties. Although I ended up way ahead of many in terms of finances, I am way behind due to the lack of meaningful connections built during those years. Since men don't peak until after these years it is possible to catch up, but don't kid yourself about the amount of effort required in doing so. IMO, unless you absolutely love it, the only reasons for continuing doing one of these "no life jobs" are: 1) angling for a management position with a more normal lifestyle or 2) banking money while you plan a transition to a new career.

5 free days every 5 weeks? The years are going to pass you by in a heartbeat.

Sounds like mining/petroleum, from the description.

Everyone knows that these industries go through boom/bust cycles. I don't think there's any guarantee a job as well paid as the last one will be available when the OP returns, but he seems convinced it's possible and certainly knows his situation better than I do.

Unless the OP has some secret skill in another area that he can apply to reduce his workload and earn a similar income in a more hospitable location for a social life, I'd consider completing a degree or some kind of certification a "must", not a "may."

Post: #8

Yeah, I was going to decide after my trip if I wanted to come back to this industry, or possibly go back to school. I wanted to work in this industry because if you work your money right, you can be pretty much retired after 15 years or so. The route I'm going now is gonna potentially set up for a $250-350k a year position in about 3-5 years. My normal work schedule is 15 days on/6 days off, but the time you get any large cities it usually adds up to about a days time. The reason I work through my days off is because the people I hung it before I came here are still pretty much in the same places in life, and that just saddens me, so I stay extra to get myself further ahead in experience and financially.

Post: #9

I know without a doubt, that I can get myself back to work whenever I return. I am 100% a go getter, so I'm confident I will get myself back to work after my travels. There's a long story behind this, but I'll explain later. There may potentially be another job that would probably better for me as far as my social life goes here in the future (~1 year) earning a fairly decent pay $1200 or so a week take home. But I'm the type of individual that's believes if I work 40 hours and make $1200, and I still have the other 128hrs a week, I'm gonna do the job that hardly let's me sleep and allows me to make double that. Id rather have very little time and make more money, than have a lot of time and very little money to spend during all that free time.

Post: #10

(05-30-2016 04:30 PM)Lateapex Wrote:  I know without a doubt, that I can get myself back to work whenever I return. I am 100% a go getter, so I'm confident I will get myself back to work after my travels. There's a long story behind this, but I'll explain later. There may potentially be another job that would probably better for me as far as my social life goes here in the future (~1 year) earning a fairly decent pay $1200 or so a week take home. But I'm the type of individual that's believes if I work 40 hours and make $1200, and I still have the other 128hrs a week, I'm gonna do the job that hardly let's me sleep and allows me to make double that. Id rather have very little time and make more money, than have a lot of time and very little money to spend during all that free time.

To each their own. But if you are a slave wager. Remember that what you are really trading is your skills+your-time for money. In my opinion, money comes and go, your skills will improve accordingly, but time bro, time never comes back, never go up or down. It is your time of whatever you have in this life, in this world.

I used to think like you. But after some eyes opening shit, I decided that life is to be lived. Don't get me wrong, make decent coin but there is a point, especially when one is a slave wager, that more money is directly proportional to your unhappiness in life.