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How about with kids? With a family? With aging parents that needed help while you are the only child? With a H-1B visa on the edge of being kick out because I

• darkmouth 10y ago
  Many might be jealous you got selected for an H1B visa. Moral of the story - if its bad for you, its always worse for someone else. Not something that may make you feel better, but its important to try not to lose some perspective.
  • rdtsc 10y ago
    Agreed. I always try to keep things in perspective. Most problems I end up complaining about are really first world problems. The thing is I remember growing poor in a different country, so I should know better. But after all this years I find myself complaining my internet is slow, my water heater doesn't heat enough water, I had to wait in line getting a plane etc. My younger poor self would slap me on the head and laugh at me for complaining.
• gervase 10y ago
  As long as you have a $60,000/mo trust fund, these aren't difficult problems to solve. Just take your entire family with you when you travel! No need to renew your H-1B since your income from that job is a pittance compared to your monthly stipend anyway. And you can always hire a full-time aide to care for your parents! </s> Seriously though, it sucks that you're going through a rough time. I don't think there's a magic bullet - you just have to keep on moving and see where life takes you. If you end up having to move back to your home country, will that really be the worst thing imaginable? Even if your standard of living takes a hit, your family will survive and you'll be together. I've been down a similar road before, and although it seems calamitous at the time, eventually you adapt and it's just life.
• gamache 10y ago
  Advice: read the article, it's satire.
  • alistairSH 10y ago
    Sadly, there are enough people in my neck of the woods (Fairfax County, VA) that have trust funds and extreme privilege, that the essay didn't come across as satire. I literally thought this was just another oblivious rich guy.
• cortesoft 10y ago
  Easy... just bring your live-in nanny with you on your travels!
• jzymbaluk 10y ago
  The solution is so simple: Just have a gigantic trust fund!
• joshvm 10y ago
  I think your best option is to be practical. You're unlikely to be so old that in 20 years you'll be too old to travel. Having kids just means that, at worst, you have to wait until they're 18 before you run off globetrotting. In the meantime you can still see the world, but you might be limited to their holiday periods. If you're on a H-1B then don't forget you've seen more of the world than the majority of people who don't leave their own countries, ever. Aging parents are trickier, but this comes down to how much money you have and how important it is that you are the primary carer. It sounds cold to put it in those terms, but if it comes down to it, that's the decision you're making - 24/7 care is certainly something you can buy (and might actually be better than what you personally are be able to provide).
• michaelleland 10y ago
  Xbeta--it's possible, but not super easy. I don't know that I can give you a lot of advice, since your life is bound to be so much different than mine, but I can tell you what we did. I own a small business (14 employees, <1MM in revenue) that does essentially technology-oriented bookkeeping. I'd say we're a startup, except that we're bootstrapped and capital comes from customers, not from VCs--not sure if that excludes us or not. A couple of years ago, my wife and I decided to move with our 4 children to Sweden for a year, where she has two sisters. We wanted our children to be able to speak Swedish, not just English, and I wanted to see the world a bit more. (I actually commented on a hacker news piece while there: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8731296 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8731296) Things got a little crazy when we found out before we moved that she was pregnant with number 5--and that if we moved he was going to be born in Sweden. We had only 10,000$ saved up, but we decided to take the plunge knowing that I could work remotely on my business here and I had 60k income. Note that her being a dual citizen was critical--we knew she would be able to take advantage of the free health care. It was an awesome year, with some powerful struggles--living above the Artic circle in a foreign country made me look at things in a whole new way. The three things that made it possible were 1) We had a support group (her sisters) in Sweden willing and able to help us 2) I had a remote job and 3) she was a citizen. We came home broke, and I lost a few customers by not being able to focus as easily, but I have no regrets. My company didn't go bankrupt, both me and my children now speak fluent Swedish, and we have an amazing circle of close friends that we would otherwise never have gotten to know. I can't say it's easy, but the moment my wife & I decided _as a team_ to do it, I knew it was possible.
• avip 10y ago
  Kids are natural travelers! Especially lacking any alternatives :) They'll follow you everywhere - you basically pack them and off you go.
  • junto 10y ago
    You have to travel a little different when you have children though. They need longer to adjust to places, so as long as you stay in each place a little longer they cope quite well. So rather than stay somewhere for a day or two, you stay a week before moving on.
• return0 10y ago
  > that's exactly where I'm in now You mean you have a trust fund and all? Ask your advisor then.