The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Update - Timothy Ferriss [103]
The Financial Realities: It Just Gets Better
The economic argument for mini-retirements is the icing on the cake. Four days in a decent hotel or a week for two at a nice hostel costs the same as a month in a nice posh apartment. If you relocate, the expenses abroad also begin to replace—often at much lower cost—bills you can then cancel stateside.
Here are some actual monthly figures from recent travels.
Highlights from both South America and Europe are shown side by side to prove that luxury is limited by your creativity and familiarity with the locale, not gross currency devaluation in third-world countries. It will be obvious that I did not survive on bread and begging—I lived like a rock star—and both experiences could be done for less than 50% of what I spent. My goal was enjoyment and not austere survival.
Airfare
Free, courtesy of AMEX gold card and Chase Continental Airlines Mastercard72
Housing
Penthouse apartment on the equivalent of New York’s Fifth Avenue in Buenos Aires, including house cleaners, personal security guards, phone, energy, and high-speed Internet: $550 U.S. per month
Enormous apartment in the trendy SoHo-like Prenzlauerberg district of Berlin, including phone and energy: $300 U.S. per month
Meals
Four- or five-star restaurant meals twice daily in Buenos Aires: $10 U.S. ($300 U.S. per month)
Berlin: $18 U.S. ($540 U.S. per month)
Entertainment
VIP table and unlimited champagne for eight people at the hottest club, Opera Bay, in Buenos Aires: $150 U.S. ($18.75 U.S. per person x four visits per month = $75 U.S. per month per person)
Cover, drinks, and dancing at the hottest clubs in West Berlin: $20 U.S. per person per night x 4 = $80 U.S. per month
Education
Two hours daily of private Spanish lessons in Buenos Aires, fives times per week: $5 U.S. per hour x 40 hours per month = $200 U.S. per month
Two hours daily of private tango lessons with two world-class professional dancers: $8.33 U.S. per hour x 40 hours per month = $333.20 U.S. per month
Four hours daily of top-tier German-language instruction in Nollendorfplatz, Berlin: $175 U.S. per month, which would have paid for itself even if I had not attended classes, as the student ID card entitled me to over 40% discounts on all transportation
Six hours per week of mixed martial arts (MMA) training at the top Berlin academy: free in exchange for tutoring in English two hours per week
Transportation
Monthly subway pass and daily cab rides to and from tango lessons in Buenos Aires: $75 U.S. per month
Monthly subway, tram, and bus pass in Berlin with student discount: $85 U.S. per month
Four-Week Total for Luxury Living
Buenos Aires: $1533.20, including round-trip airfare from JFK, with a one-month stopover in Panamá. Nearly one-third of this total is from the daily one-on-one instruction from world-class teachers in Spanish and Tango.
Berlin: $1180, including round-trip airfare from JFK and a one-week stopover in London.
How do these numbers compare to your current domestic monthly expenses, including rent, car insurance, utilities, weekend expenditures, partying, public transportation, gas, memberships, subscriptions, food, and all the rest? Add it all up and you may well realize, like I did, that traveling around the world and having the time of your life can save you serious money.
Fear Factors: Overcoming Excuses
Not to Travel
Travelling is the ruin of all happiness! There’s no looking at a building here after seeing Italy.
—FANNY BURNEY (1752–1840), English novelist
But I have a house and kids. I can’t travel!
What about health insurance? What if something happens?
Isn’t travel dangerous? What if I get kidnapped or mugged?
But I’m a woman—traveling alone would be dangerous.
Most excuses not to travel are exactly that—excuses. I’ve been there, so this isn’t a holier-than-thou sermon. I know too well that it’s easier to live with ourselves if we cite an external reason for inaction.
I’ve since met paraplegics