Sean Hampson

The United States is one of the most diverse nations in the world and the great majority of it’s citizens have all immigrated from somewhere else. As for these newly immigrated Americans, they obtain their citizenship, become full fledged members of society, and integrate themselves into their new life. Meanwhile, like the rest of us, they pursue careers, buy homes, and often build families.

My father, as well as many of my friends are the first born generation of Americans.

Yet, one different point echoes. My friends of every ethnicity are always asked “where are you from?”, or “what are you?” my father was not.

To give an example, a friend of my was sitting at the bar when she was approached by a man in his early 30s. After a brief exchange, the man casually asked her “So, where are you from?”. She responded, “I’m from Florida”, to which the man shakes his head, then follows up with “No, no, like, where are you from?.”

Now, for those of you who do not follow where this conversation is about to go, this is not how you ask a persons heritage, or ethnicity.

Neither is,
-what are you?
-where are your people from?
-or anything along the lines of “what kind of Asian are you?”

Hopefully you get the gist.

After explaining to the man that she grew up near Cocoa Beach, he again responds with, “yeah, but, where are you from?”….

What can I say?

Sometimes you have to Fisher Price things for stupid people.

‏Travel has a way of pulling us out of our routine and making us appreciate life and all the comforts we have at home that we miss while we’re away. Yet, sometimes we forget how great home really is and what our local areas truly have to offer.

A short trip to a new or even familiar local spot can have the same effect of excitement and discovery as an overseas journey if done the right way. Take a hike, go to the beach, go see the worlds largest ball of string for all I care. Just enjoy this life you are given and try to see the world around you with a new set of eyes with each new experience.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did” -Mark Twain

When choosing a new adventure, try to keep it fresh and stay open minded. If you don’t like the days activity, don’t go back or don’t do it again, but at least you are a fuller more interesting version of yourself than you were before.

For instance, living in Central Florida offers many opportunities to explore the beaches of the Atlantic and Gulf coast. There are also airboat rides through the swamp, a few casinos, and many theme parks, all within an hour and a half drive. You can be a part time tourist in St. Augustine, the keys, Miami, and on International drive. There is also kayaking just about anywhere, or you can even stroll around Lake Eola and get a drink at Relax when you get too hot.

These are local examples, but even the most “boring” places have held something fun or beautiful to offer. You just have to be willing to find it.

I heard a great quote by country music star Kevin Welch. I can’t say I know a damn thing about his music, but I still feel it’s a great point about life in general.

“There’ll be two dates on your tombstone and all your friends will read ’em but all that’s gonna matter is that little dash between ’em.”

The United States of America has prided itself on being the melting pot of the world.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

When I was a kid growing up in this country,
The United States of America was portrayed as the refuge to the people of the world, no matter their place of origin or their beliefs. We were supposed to accept people from all walks of life and work together in harmony to build a better future, as long as they shared the same “American Dream”.

Yet, as a nation, we don’t.

Now I’ve grown older, traveled to many countries, and noticed that on a world scale, a lot of the American citizens act like sheltered, self centered, asshole children. Loudly and boisterously, claiming the title of #1, demanding service, and insulting other countries, cultures, languages, or accents wherever they go all because they are different from their own.

Which is exactly my point…

If we are going to claim to be the melting pot of the world, perhaps we should set a better example, or at least become more neighborly.

On a global scale, Chinese, Spanish, English, Arabic, and Hindi are the most spoken languages.

So, when I heard my fellow countrymen damn people for the use of a second language, I argue that we consider here in the United States it is estimated that there are at least 350 different languages spoken daily and our multilingual brothers and sisters are enriching us as a nation.

To push the point further, we the monolingual Americans should work to be multilingual ourselves.

This would not only help global communication in business and personal travel. It would also help to unify us as a nation as well as set a positive example towards the movement of acceptance at home and around the world.

To conclude my point I leave a quote from one of our founding fathers. A strongly opinionated abolitionist, and author of the pamphlet Common Sense, which is said to inspire the revolutionary war and our supposed fight for freedom.

“The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion” -Thomas Paine.

Maintaining a relationship takes work. Long hours of our time and energy are put forth in the pursuit of happiness with our significant other. In this pursuit, we can find and experience many amazing things that make it all worth while, and having somebody you love to experience the world with is a beautifully irreplaceable thing.

Now, let’s cut the cutesy shit and rip the band aid off.

If you have the spirit of a traveler, you may need to leave your girlfriend/boyfriend.

Too many relationships are burdened by fearful, cheap, selfish, and lazy partners that don’t want to budget or dream towards building future experiences together.

Does this sound like someone you know?

Sure, maybe your girl wants to see Rome. If she expects you to foot the bill, that’s not love, it’s dependency.

I have a friend from the bar whose ex girlfriend told him he looked like he lost a lot of weight just after their breakup. His response was beautiful.

“I did, around 130 pounds”.

Travel comes with it’s inconveniences and can teach you a lot about the person you are with. Sometimes they are dead weight and need to be cut loose.

It’s compromise, not sacrifice. Yes, a relationship is 50/50, but both sides need to give 100%, especially if you want to travel and live life together to the fullest.

Find someone who makes and saves their own money to keep their dreams alive. A person who has hobbies and passions. Someone who burns to live life to the fullest with the time they have. They are out there, but only for those who are true to themselves.

Don’t entertain a relationship that holds you back. Find a partner who appreciates your dreams and has dreams their own. Otherwise, leave them, it’s just easier to go it alone.

Most of the world is comprised of interesting and kind hearted people, but thieves and assholes are everywhere. Here are a few tips to help you out along the way if you run into a tough spot.

Empty your wallet of any valuable items

Fill your wallet with old business cards, your drivers license, an expired credit card, and a little of your cash. Keeping too much cash in your wallet not only attracts undue attention, it is also a recipe for disaster.

The rest I sometimes put in a travel pouch I tie around my waist, under my jeans, or under my boxers. This includes my extra cash, credit cards, and my passport if I don’t have a safe available at my lodging.

Never leave your money in your bag. In one fell swoop your whole trip could go to shit.

Consider the possibility of getting mugged overseas. It doesn’t sound like the ideal beach vacation we all dream of and we all like to believe we can handle ourselves in a spot of bother, but bad things can happen to anyone.

Be humble.

A wallet or bag with a bunch of bullshit in it isn’t as hard to part ways with than the one that contains all of your valuables.

Spread your cash in your pockets

Pickpockets count on easy prey and if you have all your valuables in one place, you are asking to be robbed.

Surprisingly, many hang out in areas that have signs warning about the presence of pickpockets. This is because most tourists see these signs, check their pockets for their belongings, and tell the thieves exactly where their belongings are like a neon sign saying “I’m an asshole, rob me”.

To avoid this, keep your wallet in your front pocket and spread some cash around the others. Keep the rest of your cash either in a travel pouch like I mentioned before, or just don’t withdraw it until you need it.

Put some money in your sock or shoe

This one is also a good trick for keeping a larger sum of money on you without it all being in your wallet. It’s a difficult place for thieves to get to and allows you to access it quickly if needed.

I just recommend you step into a bathroom to get your money before buying anything if you do choose to adopt this method. I don’t know many people who would appreciate damp money that smells like foot. So keep it out of sight so it stays out of their mind

After all, we all like money, and what they don’t know won’t hurt them, right?

Should you choose to travel to on a low cost budget or not, I highly recommend you pack away some sandals, flip flops, slops, or whatever your region of the world calls them.

After a day of pounding pavement or blazing trails, they continually prove to be a nice lightweight addition to any travelers supplies.

Therefore, a pair of sandals can be be a helpful alternative for relaxing or when you are traveling in the same shoes for a long period of time.

Laundry day is where I have found sandals to be most helpful. This is because they provide you the ability to wash an additional pair of socks that could later prove helpful when the same facilities may not be available further down the road.

The majority of hostels I have stayed in were frequently maintained and just as clean as, if not more than any hotel I have booked.

However, not every accommodation to meet the acquaintance of the budget traveler has proven to have the best facilities known to mankind.

Therefore, having something to wear in the shower is a pleasant prevention of annoyances such as athlete’s foot or whatever else may roam

Also, keep in mind that in some countries, the presence of shoes is an uncommon thing.

For instance, if Southeast Asia is your destination, a pair of sandals will make your life much easier since you will remove you shoes to enter nearly any temple you encounter. With that being said, I assure you there are more temples than you can see without a degree of burnout. Choose shoes wisely.

As someone who unknowingly started his travels in uncomfortable sneakers or boots, I highly recommend you bring appropriate footwear to your destination of choice.

So, if you unintentionally find yourself on a beach, touring temples or in accommodations which are lacking and not reminiscent of the photos, at least in one department, you came prepared.

Hopefully.

Stepping off the plane in Narita airport was a truly humbling moment.

Tokyo is a fast paced city, tied together by an amazing subway system and local buses. You can pick up a PASSMO card at any subway stop, charge it up, and be on your way.

The map of the subway can be intimidating at first, but I recommend you take a day just jumping on and off the train to get the hang of things. I found the locals to be very helpful if I got turned around to help point me back in the right direction.

As a tip, circle your stop on the map. It helps since it’s inevitable that you will get mixed up.

The locals understand most people don’t speak Japanese, but something like the example below will get you a lot farther than “Do yoooou speak Ennnglish??”

A simple “Sumimasen” (excuse me), point to your circled location and say “Koko kudasai” (Improper grammar for “here please”).

Google translate says “Koko ni shite kudasai” is correct, but I’m not sure, either way, they will love the effort.

They may even walk you there personally.

One of my favorite parts of Tokyo was how readily available street food was. I gorged myself on ramen, takoyaki, yakitori, and Japanese BBQ.

Keep in mind that the Japanese don’t typically eat and drink food on the go, so even if you stop at a vending machine, drink or eat what you purchase before you move on if you don’t want funny looks. Plus all of the garbage cans are generally located by vending machines in my experience.

I stayed in Asakusa as my home base and branched out from there.

Shibuya was great for night life, Ueno for shopping, and my night in Roppongi was a shit show where I barely escaped a mob brawl and was stalked by a toothless hooker until drunkenly finding the subway to get back to my hostel.

I spent 4 days in Tokyo and easily could have stayed longer. There is something to do for everyone, but found Tokyo it’s best just to wander and people watch.

My biggest regrets were not seeing a Sumo match, as well baseball live in Tokyo, but there is so much to do that you are bound to miss something.

In our culture, we should make it a point that we must take two weeks off of work to travel.

In American society, we tend to drain ourselves for 51 weeks out of the year, buffered by a few sick days, and even less personal days. All in hopes of getting approved for a week away to rest and recooperate physically and/or mentally from the demands of a job that stresses the hell out of us.

I’m going to explain why this is bullshit and why taking two weeks off of work is a necessity.

Travel time

A traveler loses two days of vacation solely in transit time to and from their destination. Basic mathematics tell us this leaves 5 days to attempt to unwind, reconnect with ourselves, and forget our worries.

You can’t forget about work if your trip operates like it’s just another business week. Two weeks off can fix this.

Time to Unwind

People need time to decompress. Our mental, spiritual, and emotional baggage doesn’t just dissolve when we step off the plane. In fact one week is about the time it takes to START to relax.

I realized this when I told my boss I was planning a trip to Japan.

She looked at my request for a week off, laughed and said “If you fly that far I better not see you for two weeks.” I stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then asked for 2 and a 1/2 weeks off instead.

Why not?

Fortunately she agreed.

The point here is that I had just come from a typical corporate job where I lived the typical American life aforementioned and the idea of two and a half weeks away from home baffled me.

This is when I realized the need for time to unwind.

In the first week of travel, we worry. About anything and everything. On week two of vacation, we have forgotten about our coworkers who care too much about drama, the stress of the major deals and projects, the buzz of the damn refrigerator, the ticking fan in your bedroom, your neighbors yappy ass dog who hasn’t allowed you to get 6 straight hours of sleep in months, and anything else that could potentially turn somebody into Michael Douglass in Falling Down.

Some people aren’t the asshole they appear. They are stressed the hell out and need to get away.

Cost effective

Now I’m sure at this point, there is a fair share of doubt about how to afford a two week off of work when a week vacation is already so expensive. Read on.

The average vacation seems expensive and it shouldn’t be. Flights are usually the most costly thing in a week long vacation and sometimes you can find better deals to go for 10 days, two weeks, and even for a month.

Now our concern becomes lodging and accommodations. If this is not affordable, it’s probably that your tastes that are too expensive. It’s a room that hopefully will just hold your stuff while you leave to see and experience the world. Until you need sleep or shag that is.

As an example, I went to Luang Prabang, Laos in 2016. In this city there are cheap hostels and hotels that charge from $20-$180 and up. I stayed in a hotel for $20 to get out of hostels for a night of quiet rest, then spent the rest of the week back in a hostel for $5 a night. Choosing differently could have had a huge impact on my budget.

So let’s sum up the costs of my choice as well those of an inexpensive hotel and an expensive hotel.

My choice:
$20+($5×6)=$50/week (could have been $35)

Inexpensive hotel:
$20 x 7=$140/week

Expensive hotel:
$180 x 7= $1,260/week

Where you choose to rest your head can effect a lot. The budget for an expensive hotel for one week was $448 more expensive than my round trip flight for a month into Thailand and also covered the cost of my flight into Laos, my visa, lodging, and more while I was there.

Stretch your money for more experience. If you like fancy hotels, budget a night or 2 when needed. Would you rather travel longer and see more, or have a nice room for a few days?

Between American excess and allowing the company to run us, we are cheating ourselves out of some of the best parts of our lives. Travel longer, live more.