30 Monday Sep 2013
Mr. Selfish and I are starting to settle down in San Francisco and are happy to be here for the next few months. It’s odd being in one place and being able to fully unpack our suitcases. We are definitely enjoying SF life thus far, especially our new view:
We can’t believe how fast this past selfish year went by and are truly grateful for all of the wonderful experiences we had.
Here are our top 60 photos of the past year. Enjoy!
26 Thursday Sep 2013
Posted in Best Of, Living Abroad, Rant
Tags
Abroad, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Things We Learned, Tips for Traveling Abroad, Traveling Abroad
This is third and final part of our 3 part series on Things We Learned While Traveling Abroad for a Year. If you missed them, here’s Part 1 and Part 2.
23. Your appearance immediately sets expectations. Run with it.
Posin’ in Xi’an, China.
A buddy of mine and I were recently comparing our experiences in Seoul, South Korea. In my experience, almost no one spoke English in Seoul. In his, pretty much everyone did. The difference? He’s 6’2” and white as the day is long. I’m 5’10” and half Chinese – a look that makes me indefinably ethnic at home, but probably Chinese in Korea. People were expecting him to speak English, so they did so preemptively. With me, they weren’t quite sure where to start.
Conversely, I’d be willing to bet that I received better treatment in Paris because I looked like a fumbling young Japanese tourist to most French people.
24. Asians are everywhere.
A Chinese tour group in Yellowstone.
Thanks in large part to Chinese and Japanese tour groups, Asians are everywhere. Other ethnic groups, not so much.
25. And Sexpats are all over Asia.
Yay, sexpats, bleh.
It’s especially bad in Thailand, but you see them all over Southeast Asia. Pretty revolting, stuff, actually.
26. Sometimes it’s worth it to pay for a room with a view.
Bora Bora was totally worth the cost.
In Paris, we rented an apartment with a view of Sucre Coeur. In Tokyo, we got a room facing Mt. Fuji. In Bora Bora, we had a room facing the volcano. I never used to be a stop-and-admire-the-view kind of guy, but there’s something to be said for waking up and immediately feeling like you’re in an exotic, amazing place.
25 Wednesday Sep 2013
Posted in Best Of, Living Abroad, Rant
Tags
Abroad, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Things We Learned, Tips for Traveling Abroad, Traveling Abroad
This is Part 2 of our post on the 33 Things We Learned While Traveling Abroad for a Year. You can view Part 1 here.
12. If you can’t research a meal ahead of time, going with the most popular place almost always works.
If it smells good, and it’s crowded, chances are it’s safe AND delicious!
Most of the time, Mrs. Selfish painstakingly researched restaurants days, or weeks before we arrived. Sometimes, however, the best meals were restaurants we spotted while wandering. If it smells good AND there’s a crowd, chances are it’s worth eating!
13. Goods cost pretty much the same everywhere…
Electronics in Akihabara, Tokyo are just as expensive as home.
Sometimes you can find a better deal on goods in their native country. For the most part, however, we found that goods cost just as much as in the States… except those countries never had any sales! Where’s a good Black Friday when you need one?
14. …but services are cheapest in Southeast Asia.
If it’s cheap manual labor ye be wantin’, head to Southeast Asia.
Without a doubt the cheapest services I’ve ever seen were in Southeast Asia. We paid $7 for an hour long massage in Bali, $10 in the Philippines, $5 in Cambodia, and $14 an hour in Thailand (the best one!). For haircuts, I found the cheapest (and best) was in Beijing, where I paid a whopping 10 yuan ($1.60). Unless it requires a huge amount of finesse, chances are it’s cheaper in Asia.
15. Shipping is cheaper than you think.
Especially if you don’t care if it takes months to get there!
While Mrs. Selfish and I loved haggling for goods, we had one major problem – we didn’t have enough room to bring them back! Fortunately, mailing stuff by by boat (which usually took 2 months), was pretty affordable.
In England, we paid roughly $100 for 10 kg (22 lbs). In China, we ended up paying closer to $40 for the same amount. In total, we shipped off 6 boxes with roughly 120 lbs worth of stuff, and almost everything arrived intact, with the exception of a mask we bought in Xi’an.
16. Deodorant is more prevalent in Asia & Australia than Europe.
Vive, la Stench! Sadly, a cliché for a reason.
Especially on the metro. Come on, Europe, you smell weird, and no one wants to be around you!
24 Tuesday Sep 2013
Posted in Best Of, Living Abroad, Rant
Tags
Abroad, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Things We Learned, Tips for Traveling Abroad, Traveling Abroad
One of my secret (hopeful) goals of traveling for a year was to improve myself in a Julia-Roberts-Eat-Pray-Love kind of way. I’m not entirely sure what I was thinking at the time, but I figured there was a good chance I’d have an epiphany while viewing the Great Wall of China, or a greater insight into myself while practicing yoga on the beach somewhere in Thailand.
Utter crap, of course.
If anything, I think I’ve come out of the experience a little more sure of who I am, and what I’m about: a sarcastic bastard in his early 30’s filled with a strong desire to maximize everything.
Nevertheless, while I didn’t learn anything new about myself, I did learn a lot about who I am when I travel and a little bit more about the world.
1. It is possible to get travel fatigue.
Walking 5 miles at 10,000 ft. in Machu Picchu was no joke.
Planning a 10 day trip for 2 cities is all fun and games, especially when you’re doing it from the office. Planning a trip for 370 days for 95 cities is exhausting, as it turns out. Especially when you factor in the fact that you’ll be changing rooms (and beds) on average less than once every 4 days. We probably spent a good 2-3 days of the trip just packing and unpacking our bags!
2. You will lose weight.
Waterfall Repelling in Da Lat, Vietnam. I fell. A lot.
Most of our friends and family (secretly) thought we’d gain weight while traveling for a year. And while we did cook whenever we had a kitchen, we probably ate more than 2/3 of our meals out. So how did we lose weight? As it turns out, simply being on your feet 4-8 hours a day goes a long way.
Back in Orlando, I’d probably sit down for all but 2 hours a day, and hardly any of that was spent walking. Traveling there were days where we’d be on our feet ALL day, and I’d go to sleep strangely exhausted, though I hadn’t done anything strenuous.
Oddly, the country where we gained the most weight was America – even with all the gym time.
3. You can get by without seeing friends and families for several months at a time.
Mrs. Selfish and her cousin barely survived a monkey attack in Bali.
We were fortunate to be able to meet up with friends and family several times throughout our journey, but there were months at a time where I’d only see Mrs. Selfish. Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of the internet, we managed to stay in touch with loved ones.
4. After a few days, you no longer miss TV.
Mrs. Selfish never misses a photo-op. Taken in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Mrs. Selfish and I used to turn on the Food Network or TBS almost immediately after coming home from work. As soon as we hit the road, we stopped watching TV immediately, and I didn’t miss it. There was just too much to do. Now that we’re home, we still don’t watch TV.
11 Wednesday Sep 2013
Posted in Best Of, Living Abroad
Tags
Pack, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Things to Pack, Things to pack for long travel, Traveling Abroad
Over the course of our Selfish travels we’ve had several people ask what we pack for a year abroad. Most people assume we’re hauling backpacks around the world, which would probably have been a good idea, however Mrs. Selfish and I are too old for that type of travel.
Mrs. Selfish and I are in our 30’s. Not really ancient, but my days of sleeping on floors are probably over. I do appreciate the feel of a good mattress, and enjoy staying at fancy hotels, so it’s probably safe to say we fall more in the flashpacker category.
Here’s some of the things we ended up bringing for our year long trek around the globe.
1. A crappy looking backpack to store your valuables.
As per the DOs of traveling, Mrs. Selfish and I rock a 10+ year old, frayed backpack to house most of our important documents and devices. I can’t tell you the number of people I’ve seen on the road keeping time on their rolex watches, bandying about their designer purses, or taking pictures with their iPad 4. They make traveling easier for the rest of us.
2. One or two all in one power converters.
I love the Insten Universal World Wide power converter. So far we’ve used this sucker in every continent but South America. The only downside is that you still risk frying some of your devices in Asia and other parts of the world since they don’t convert electrical output current and voltage.
3. Small laptop.
Useful for staying in touch with the rest of the world. Mrs. Selfish likes to rock the Lenovo X230 which starts at a mighty 2.99 lbs.
4. A compact power strip.
Given that you’ll likely have a few devices with you, I highly recommend a portable power strip like the Outlets to Go power strip. It’s extremely compact and has room for 3 power cords, as well as a USB device. My only gripe would be the bright blue light, that shines like a lighthouse.
5. A collapsible and expandable bag.
Or two! Mrs. Selfish and I ended up bringing 3 Briggs & Riley bags with us to Europe, and 1 Briggs and Riley bag and 1 Samsonite bag to Asia and Australia.
In hindsight, I wish we had brought 2 B&R bags since the Samsonite ended up dying midway through China. I like Briggs & Riley for two reason: 1) They have a lifetime warranty, 2) The zippers never die. You can also buy them for cheap on ebay.
10 Tuesday Sep 2013
Posted in Best Of, Living Abroad
Editor’s Note: This was originally going to be part of our “DOs of Traveling” post, but kind of ballooned out of control. It doesn’t seem like there’s much out there on haggling, so we figured we’d do our part to contribute to the vicious blood sport of bartering.
Haggling is an essential skill in most non-Western countries or in just about every outdoor market, yet most Westerners are put off by the concept of bargaining. GET OVER IT.
If something doesn’t have a price tag, chances are you’ll be given a “flexible” price. In Shanghai we saw marked-up prices as high as 500%, in Marrakech this was probably closer to 300%. The vendors aren’t holding back, and neither should you. Here are some common techniques to make sure you leave with your shirt still on your back.
1. Survey the competition. 
Haggling over Fatima hands in Marrakech
Never buy from the first place. Chances are that several merchants are selling the same wares – and the ones with the crappier location will sell things to you at a better price.
In Marrakech we shopped around for leather camels and checked their prices at about 8 stands to establish a base line cost.
2. Buy in bulk to reduce costs.
Camels for everybody! The furry ones make Godzilla noises.
Planning on buying gifts for the whole family? Might as well ask how much that camel costs when you buy 10 of those suckers!
3. Buy from the guy with the roll up carpet, not from the place with a window.
The Marrakech markets were lined with vendors on carpets.
People with low overhead can afford to cut you better prices. They also might not have a merchant’s license, so don’t be surprised if your bargaining gets better when the police get close.
4. Lie about where you’re from, when necessary.
Market in Siem Reap where we were either from Hong Kong or Singapore. Some times both!
It may seem like they’re making conversation, but merchants are probably trying to judge how rich you are before they offer you a price. America has an inflated reputation of being extremely wealthy, so in Asia we told people we were from Singapore since they couldn’t tell the difference in English accents anyway.
5. Never accept the first price, the merchant can usually go lower.
Breakdancers in Bangkok’s seedier side of town.
Pick a number in your head (like 40% of the starting point) and start below that. The merchant and you will usually meet in the middle, unless someone gets the upper hand.
09 Monday Sep 2013
Posted in Best Of, Living Abroad
Yesterday we went over some of the DO’s of traveling, so today we’re going over some of the DON’Ts of traveling.
1. Don’t pay in your currency when given the option by a merchant.
In a rather horrible turn of events, many foreign merchants will now give you the option of paying in your home currency. Sounds great, right? NOT SO FAST.
Not only will merchants give you a crappy exchange rate so they can make a little more off your purchase, but it’s also possible that your credit card company will charge you as well. Even if you have a card with no foreign transaction fee.
2. Don’t get suckered in by tuk tuk and tour scams.
Bangkok is notorious for the tuk tuk scam. Beijing is notorious for the tour scam. Both work similarly – you work out a cheap rate ahead of time, but are then driven to other stops before you reach your destination.
In the case of the Bangkok tuk tuks this is usually a jewelry store where the tuk tuk driver receives free gas in exchange. In the case of the Chinese tour bus it’s not uncommon to be brought to an Eastern Medicine building where doctors will diagnose you with all sorts of illnesses. Fortunately for you they can be cured with herbs and medicines that they keep on premises, of course.
3. Don’t give money to Asian monks.
A common(er) scam in South East Asia. The scammer is dressed as a monk asking for money for some cause or another. The thing is… monks don’t ask for money. Politely decline and move on.
08 Sunday Sep 2013
Posted in Best Of, Living Abroad, Rant
Tags
American Airlines, Award Wallet, Dos of traveling, Lufthansa, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, TripIt, United
Over the year of our Selfish travels, Mrs. Selfish and I developed a few travel habits that helped us successfully navigate new countries regardless of language and technology. For today’s post I’ll go over some of the DO’s of traveling.
1. Do research how to get to your hotel ahead of time.
The moment you arrive at a new country is when you’re most vulnerable to scams or are most likely to get ripped off. Not only are you unshowered, jetlagged, and exhausted, but you are also carrying your valuables, cash, and important travel documents. Getting to your hotel/hostel safely should be a top priority in order to make sure your stay goes smoothly.
Mrs. Selfish and I always research transportation options on sites like flyertalk or tripadvisor prior to landing to compare costs and times – especially when the best option is a cab.
2. Do run the math on low cost carriers.
Low cost carriers like Ryanair, easyJet, Jetstar, and Air Asia, almost always undercut their competition by dozens of dollars per direction, but are they worth it? Sometimes.
Since Mrs. Selfish and I were often checking 2-3 bags, one of which was ALWAYS oversized, adding in the extras to cost often meant a legacy carrier was a better way to go. Especially since we could often earn miles on those flights.
3. Do negotiate taxi fares ahead of time.
This was less of an issue in Northern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand where the cabs just ran the meter. In South East Asia and parts of Europe, however, cabbies often hid their meters or refused to use them.
If you ever find yourself in one of those countries either make sure they use the meter (ideally ahead of time), or negotiate a price before you close the door.
4. Do know basic words or phrases to smooth over transactions.
Learning basic phrases like “hello,” “thank you,” “goodbye,” “excuse me,” and “do you speak English?” can really smooth over most transactions and sets expectations. Parisians are notoriously unfriendly to visitors, yet they bent over backwards to help us after we uttered a few French words.
14 Tuesday May 2013
Posted in Asia, Japan, Living Abroad
One of the odd realities of long term travel is that you still have errands to run and chores to do. Laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning the bathroom, taking out the trash – definitely not things I associated with traveling abroad, but definitely things that all need doing should you stay in one place for more than a few days.
At home, we handled these chores without thinking. Abroad, they’re an adventure!
Hunting down Tex-Mex ingredients in Paris? Check. Looking for a good laundromat on a remote island in Thailand? Check. Getting a haircut in Japan?
Wellllll…
10 Monday Sep 2012
Posted in Europe, Living Abroad
Tags
It’s been one month since we left the States and started this whole Selfish trip, and while we’ve only been in London for a little less than a month, it strikes me that “home” has changed meaning in the last few weeks. A few months ago, “home” was Orlando, but after packing everything into storage and renting out our house it’s safe to say that definition no longer applies. For now, home means our little studio in Highgate, but in a week, home will be a hotel in Scotland, and in a month, an apartment in Paris.
In the States (or maybe everywhere), we have a tendency to romanticize the European lifestyle. 35 hour work weeks! Amazing food and wine! Architecture! History!
Having spent a little time abroad now, I’ve definitely noticed a few differences between living in the States and Europe (or at least in England), which I will now present to you in rant form:
1. Doing Laundry is extremely time consuming. I used to think this was the case back home, but man was I wrong. In the States, a long time for laundry was 3 loads of laundry in 6 hours. Here, it takes a day for each load, which is due to the fact that England seems to have a massive shortage of dryers. So instead of throwing things in the dryer, you have to hang your clothes up to dry. After a few hours in the sun (if you’re lucky and it hasn’t rained), your clothes are ready to be brought in – only now they have a delightfully crunchy texture. This is due to either the water here, or perhaps because of the lack of dryer sheets – I’m not sure what to believe. To combat this apparently a lot of Europeans iron everything, including socks and underwear!
2. Semi-Wet Bathrooms. If you’ve never encountered one, you’re in for a treat! Instead of simply elevating the shower or adding a curtain, you have a delightfully open shower with a drain in the floor. Move ever so slightly the wrong way and water cascades off of your elbow and on to the floor (or worse, the toilet). To fix this problem, we use two different bath mats: one to sop up all of the water from the shower itself, and the other to wipe down the entire bathroom floor after we finishing showering.
06 Thursday Sep 2012
Posted in Europe, Living Abroad, London, United Kingdom
While Mrs. Selfish and I have certainly enjoyed our time in England, we’ve noticed a common problem – we can’t understand the English. And to make things even more confusing, some times they can’t understand us!
Oftentimes it comes down to an issue of terminology. Shopping for groceries we had a devil of a time tracking down crushed tomatoes (“passata”). Or when we asked for cotton swabs in a local pharmacy the confused store clerk brought us to the cotton ball section.
But more often that not it comes down to the fact that we just can’t understand people’s accents – and there certainly are a range of them here in England. The other day I stepped aside for some lady in a museum, and she responded with “S’cuse me guv’nor!” To make matters even more confusing, London also seems to have a pretty large population of immigrants, whose British is even harder to understand!
One thing Mrs. Selfish and I have enjoyed, however, is British movie marketing. We don’t have a TV, nor have we watched any movies in the theatre (not at 15 pounds a pop!), but we have seen a ton of billboards.
In American you’re on your own – I feel more rugged already!
You’d be a mug to miss it. – What’s a mug?!
The New Guv’Nor – When did Ford get so British?
Oosh! Bang Tidy! – This one makes me laugh every time. We briefly considered watching Keith Lemon: The Film, but it had a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and neither Mrs. Selfish nor I speak British that well.
With less than 3 weeks left in England, I can’t help but wonder whether things will be more or less confusing when we leave. I wouldn’t be surprised if they speak English better in France!
26 Sunday Aug 2012
Posted in Europe, Living Abroad, London, United Kingdom
Tags
Mr. Selfish and I feared the consequences of eating out too much and not working out while on this year-long adventure. Therefore, one of our first priorities was to find a gym in London.
The first gym that we found was an L.A. Fitness, which is where we had gym memberships back in Orlando. We signed up for free 5-day passes and worked out every single one of those five days. I even took a few yoga classes – even though I had difficulty understanding the instructor’s British at times. Once that expired, L.A. Fitness wanted to charge us 45 pounds each for 2 weeks. Since we had a month longer in London, that would have been 180 pounds (~$285 USD) for the both of us!
Luckily, we found the Archway Leisure Center, which was having a summer deal for a 30-day membership for only 30 pounds. So we paid 60 pounds (~$95 USD) (instead of 180 pounds at L.A. Fitness) in order to work out and avoid the appearance of Jabba the Ho.
Mr. Selfish likes to swim laps so the pool will come in handy. I must also note that L.A. Fitness didn’t have a huge monster slide. Although I haven’t gone down it yet, I will soon!
15 Wednesday Aug 2012
Posted in Accommodations, Europe, Living Abroad, London, United Kingdom
Tags
Mr. Selfish and I arrived in London! It was a rainy and miserable day, but after all of the sunshine we had in Ireland, I can’t complain. Here’s our new flat:
It’s a quaint studio. I love it already.
Our first order of business was to buy groceries and make dinner. I was definitely sick of eating out. There is only so much Irish/English food a girl can take.
Our first cooked meal on the trip is chicken with tomatoes, onions, zucchini, and mushrooms on pasta. Mmmmm…there’s nothing like a delicious home-cooked meal.
I’ll post more about Ireland later. Tomorrow, we’re celebrating my 33rd birthday!
The Selfish Years 