YC Advice: Travel

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=147947

by mrtron • 18 years ago

3 5 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Discuss your personal stories of how travel has influenced you.

mrtron2• 18 years ago

In many threads people suggest traveling. Lacking motivation? Travel. Depressed after a startup failure? Travel.

I always agreed and have been positively impacted by traveling throughout my life. I just returned from a trip to Asia that reenforced this.

As always happens, I reached a point where things were starting to go poorly. My motivation was lacking, I was developing tunnel vision and overall was just not that excited. A short trip of a week and I am revitalized. I have an abundance of energy, motivation, and the whole flight back I was writing outlining my plans for the next few months.

So go travel. Now. Get it out of your mind that you don't have time, the break will pay dividends. You can't afford not to.

colinplamondon2• 18 years ago

You don't have to travel and just look around, shouting 'Hey! I'm traveling!"... though, that's an incredibly fun thing to do, and you meet a lot of smart, amazing, and ambitious people in a very short time by doing it.

You can work abroad, easy- I'm currently working on a startup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I'm from San Francisco. The LLC is based in Delaware via LegalZoom, our mailing address is an EarthClassMail Account, our phone number is GrandCentral forwarding to Skype.

We work from cafes around Buenos Aires, usually camping out in one place the entire day- much cheaper than renting an office, and the food is great to boot.

And, speaking of cheap, let's talk about rent real quick- for an apartment all to myself with an amazing view, internet, utilities, and a weekly maid cleanup included, it's $500 in a great location. At the grocery store it's eight pesos for two big steaks, or, about $1.25 a pop.

The subway and bus are both one peso (1 USD = 3.15 Argentinean Pesos) and I can get anywhere in the city within a half hour or so. I meet lots of very cool, interesting, well-travelled backpackers and expats all the time, and have made plenty of friends with people who are living here for the next six months to a year.

Right now the weather is perfect, sunny during the day, rain at night to cool things off (as Eluvium plays on my MacBook, fading out slowly) as I go to sleep. In another couple of months it'll be winter, weather will still be decent, and I'll be a first class suite bus ride away from a weekend skiing.

I could go on, but, really, travel isn't just a way to relax, it's also a great way to work. Your costs are cut and you don't have to sacrifice as much of your lifestyle as you would in the States.

simonista• 18 years ago

I'm currently living in Buenos Aires as well and completely agree that city has a great vibe, not to mention how far you can stretch the dollar. Although I don't have experience working here (I'm here learning Spanish), I can say that travel has taught me more about the world and opened me up to more social interaction. And learning a new language isn't too shabby either.

btw, Colin - if you're interested in grabbing a coffee sometime, shoot me an email. My address is in my profile.

colinplamondon2• 18 years ago

You've got mail.

mrtron2• 18 years ago

I was lucky enough to travel with a friend who grew up there. So I was shown around to all the best places, ate at a place that had a 5 star chef (it was his house, he works at a hotel) that cost a few dollars, and so on.

I agree traveling can work well by really experiencing the place. Living somewhere cheaply and getting paid in North American wages is truly ideal. Great story.

YC Advice: Travel

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