

 20 Things I’ve Learned From Traveling Around the World for Three Years  - carusen
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/10/30/20-things-ive-learned-from-traveling-around-the-world-for-three-years

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stretchwithme
"Even if it is technically a democracy, most nations are run by and for the
benefit of the elites that control the institutions of power"

Democracy by itself is almost meaningless. Individual rights, including strong
property rights, even when there is no democracy at all (such as in Hong Kong
for most of British rule) produces more freedom and economic well being than
decades of democracy without them.

I really liked this piece. Although not sure about the whole thing about
Americans traveling less than other people do. Most people in geographically
large countries do less foreign travel than people in tiny countries, but they
aren't necessarily traveling less.

~~~
electromagnetic
I think the problem is that the US essentially spans from the arctic circle
down close to the tropic of cancer - if you include Puerto Rico it extends
past.

This provides a large number of environments _within_ the US. It's hard to
blame someone for not going through the colossal bullshit of an international
crossing when you can simply drive or take a national flight to get to another
environment.

In countries like the UK (where I'm from) people travel out of country on
almost every holiday as you want to go somewhere different, but it's hard to
do in the UK.

I think there's a stronger correlation between vertical size of the country
and lack of international travel.

~~~
arethuza
Probably a more sensible comparison is to compare Europeans who travel out of
Europe and Americans who travel out of the United States - both are roughly
the same area.

[NB I mean Europe the Continent, not the EU, or Western Europe]

~~~
electromagnetic
I believe that is a fairer comparison. My family traveled less distance to
holiday in France than it takes my in-laws to visit much of their family
whilst remaining within Canada and that's only Ontario to the Atlantic's,
that's nothing compared to some of their family that lives on the Pacific and
can travel to the Atlantic just to see family.

However I have currently traveled to the US and Turkey (in the legitimately
Asian geographical area), and currently live in Canada and am currently
planning a trip from Canada to Australia because of my brother. Which will
have netted me 4 continents. I'll need to hit up somewhere in South America
and Africa, perhaps I'll have to land myself in Japan or China sometime to
fully claim Asia.

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corin_
Already posted at <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1851537>

~~~
GFischer
And that was also a repost of <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1629521>

though they followed the submission guidelines there and removed the "20" from
the title. (maybe they need to be more visible? Could be a case of bad UI/UX)

~~~
eru
How about just asking the submitter, if the number is really necessary? Can be
done by a program.

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arethuza
For some reason this reminds me of the quote from Dune:

"Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens"

To me, travel is definitely one of the most interesting kinds of change.

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sfphotoarts
It's actually pretty interesting the things learned. The preconceived notions
that the author had are so US centric.

Having travelled around the world, I'd mostly agree, but coming from a
European country I maybe saw things a little differently. For example the
US/Canada culture thing.

Also I found it rather amusing the shot about not needing much stuff, carrying
a $1000 camera :)

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muffinman2010
Just wondering if the 4 hour work week is actually a good book, I read like
the first chapter, I was very disappointed, no in content and very wordy. Does
it get better?

~~~
hugh3
Like the blog, the book is more about bragging than giving useful advice. All
you have to do, he says, is start a zillion-dollar-a-year business which can
run without any actual effort on your part. And then you can spend all your
time doing other stuff. The rest of the book is a list of other stuff he's
done and musings on whether it's better to bum around Berlin or Buenos Aires.

There, I just saved you fifteen bucks.

~~~
nhangen
hahaha, you're spot on. It's a good read for motivation and inspirational
purposes, but it won't teach you any mad scientist tricks.

I don't think I know a single person that's more self-promotional than Tim.
I'm not sure whether to congratulate or hate him for it.

