18 ms·

How to travel around the world for a year.

248 points by maccman 15y ago

cgh 15y ago
The main thing to think about is this: do you want a one-time, round-the-world experience, or do you want this as a lifestyle, say working 6-8 months a year and traveling the rest? If you are like me and want the latter, then become a contractor and specialise in something that pays well (for me, J2EE - not a great technology, but Big Corp Inc. pays well for these skills). The OP seems to suggest a work/travel approach, but to be honest I found that can be tough to sustain. To be maximally productive, it's really helpful to have comfortable and familiar surroundings, very solid internet, etc. I tend to do just-for-fun coding on trips instead, since I found trying to get setup in new places to be stressful.
- hello_moto 15y ago
  JEE is pretty sweet if I must say myself. JEE, Spring, Maven, Checkstyle, Findbugs. Lock and Loaded.
- mbrock 15y ago
  Are there any books or something about how this contracting thing works? I'm just about to start my career in programming, and I don't really have a hang of the business side of things -- not hoping for a quick change to contracting, but I'd like to start to understand how it works. E.g., what kind/level of J2EE expertise do you need to become a solo contractor for Big Corp Inc.? As a contractor, do you work on a project in a company office for X months and then leave? Or do you work from home? Etc. Thanks.
  - cgh 15y ago
    Here's the path I took: 1. Worked for around eight years as an employee at a few places, including a couple of startups. Ended up with a lot of Java experience. 2. Realised I wanted to restructure my life to work less (but still make good money) and travel/have fun. 3. Spoke to various people and found that contracting through a consulting company (not recruiters, but a team of like-minded programmers) was the way to go, rather than pounding the pavement to look for contracts. The company takes its cut, but I still end up with $80-$95/hr, and they find the work for me. As for experience: Big Corp Inc. wants contractors who can get up to speed very quickly. You tend to get pigeonholed based on technology, so if you get the assignment as a "J2EE guy" and you don't have a lot of experience, then you look pretty dumb. Spend time working as a normal employee first and really become a good programmer. As for work duration: generally, the contracts are open-ended and I am terminated when a project gets cancelled or whatever. I specify up front that I will spend the bulk of my time working from home and that I am taking holidays from time x to time y. The company that subcontracts me out is based in Silicon Valley, as is Big Corp and friends, and I live in western Canada, so this isn't usually an issue. I fly down once in while to hang out. So to sum up: get experience - learn to be a good programmer who has a reputation for getting things done; learn what big companies want in terms of technology; find a company with good connections who will contract you out, possibly as a team with other people; be up front about your lifestyle but work hard to integrate with their project schedules. It also helps to not have kids.
    - robyates 15y ago
      cgh, are there many software consulting companies around? I've been thinking of going that route myself, so I'm curious how you find them.
      - cgh 15y ago
        I think there are plenty of software consulting groups around, particularly in the Valley. Google is your friend on this one, or if you're a local, just ask around. I was referred to the company I now work with most, but I found the last bunch of guys I was with via Craigslist.
    - mbrock 15y ago
      Thank you!
- jamii 15y ago
  I did the work/travel thing for 14 months and found it ok. I wouldn't want to commit to more than 15-20 hours work per week whilst travelling though. My plan for the next trip is to travel in between contracts and then settle down for a few months at a time whilst working. Hopefully that will allow more focus. Edit: Actually I like gexla' idea above - pick a comfortable home base to work in and travel to nearby areas/countries in between contracts.
- stuff4ben 15y ago
  The only problem I've found is that contracting gigs don't pay well and usually want you onsite. I've got 12+ years as a JEE dev and make a decent salary at a big corp but all of the contracting companies out there only want to pay you $50-$55/hr which isn't even close enough to being enough.
mceachen 15y ago
Very inspiring! I was a bit off-put at first by the fact that the gorgeous photos in this post were not taken by Alex. I then realized that it was the photographer that inspired Alex to take his trip in the first place. There's also something to be said for staying "behind your eyes" instead of "behind the glass." It's easier to be "in the moment" when you don't have to worry about documenting everything for posterity.
jamesgpearce 15y ago
Enjoyed. Though I disagree with 'time is running out'. Doing these kinds of trips and long-term sabbaticals with kids is the best education you can give them. (Stay wired a little, and apparently they barely dent career prospects too.)
- arjunnarayan 15y ago
  Costs twice as much, and they tire much faster. Some of the seedier risks I've taken when traveling alone I wouldn't take when traveling with a girlfriend, let alone kids. The risk-free premium is quite high, and jacks up the prices quite a bit. I'd say traveling with family doesn't have to be boring or as expensive as people presume. But it is qualitatively different from traveling in your twenties.
- prawn 15y ago
  Full price flights once they're 2yo. Before that, they won't remember much. Travel overseas before they're born then domestically until they're about 8.
nirvana 15y ago
We've been full-time nomads for 4 years, and are in the middle of our second year of travel outside the USA. This article is a good overview for a particular type of travel, which I tend to perceive as vacation travel. Its great to take a year off, and see all those countries on $22k, and if you're considering doing that, I highly recommend doing something like what he's doing! For us, we chose to make international living more of a lifestyle. We are running our startup this way. When we added our third co-founder, it became three of us traveling this way. It is working out pretty well. We use AirBnB or local real estate agents to book accommodations. We stay in a country for 3-6 months depending on their visa length. We work a sort of regular schedule, so we're not out seeing tourist sites every day. But that's what we do on the weekends. At the end of the day, living like this, all over the world, is cheaper than it would have been if we'd just stayed on the West Coast of the USA. Well, cheaper financially. One way we keep things cheap is by trying to focus on inexpensive countries. Our time in europe was great, but even there we stayed in berlin (which since the wall came down still has reasonably priced rents), and a small UK town. Mostly we're focusing on less developed / expensive countries which is also the more interesting ones. We book maybe 1-2 flights a year. We are careful about this. We got a nice 7 day "vacation" in Venice when we were able to save $300 by booking a layover thru that part of Italy on our repositioning trip. Taking your time on your flights lets you maximize flexibility and gives you great opportunities like Venice. Keeping major international flights to a minimum keeps our expenses low. All three of us live out of big suitcases. We were trying the "one bag one world" thing and living out of a 55 Liter backpack. This was ok in terms of size, but airlines have decided that refusing to take bags, even if they're carryon size, is a revenue opportunity, so rather than fight them, or deal with the hassle, we've switched to a 2 bag solution- one carry on for the expensive electronics and one checked bag for the clothes etc. (so 2 bags each, though the carry ons tend to be rather small.) I really need to do a blog post about this. Actually, I have a dozen blog posts, but I need the blog first. And the blog is not coming until the MVP is done. Anyway, traveling around the world for a year-- totally good idea, not that unreasonably expensive, and if you want to make a lifestyle out of it, you can do it, by increasing the amount of time you spend in each country to bring the costs down. Only downside of living this way: there's some impact on productivity due to the travel. So, we lose probably 4-6 weeks a year of productive time because of it. For instance, we didn't get a damn thing done in Venice. Some of those "lost" weeks are the most fun too.
kyt 15y ago
Most interesting part of the article: "So the net cost for the tip was about $22k. I paid for the vast majority of this with one month's consultancy beforehand."
- kpennell 15y ago
  Wow, I did not know a young consultant could make that much in a month...jaw dropped when I saw that. Anyone care to explain how that is possible?
  - arethuza 15y ago
    I've heard of daily rates of up to £2000 ($3000) in some very specialized areas of finance systems, so $22K in a month seems achievable if you have the right skills.
  - phillmv 15y ago
    Say, $200/hr times 6 hrs a day times a month. Not impossible but not easy, exactly. If you take a year to plan it out I think you could set that aside, working in tech, but it's obviously not for everyone.
  - jamii 15y ago
    I'm currently working 6 8-hour days per week at $100 per hour. That's $20k per month. That's about the going rate for a competent back-end developer. It doesn't require any unusual skills or knowledge, just self-discipline and a professional attitude.
    - Ives 15y ago
      And being located in a place that's willing to pay its developers 100$ an hour.
      - jnbiche 15y ago
        Or telecommuting. I freelance remotely and make upwards of $100 an hour. It seems like a lot until you remember: -- No job-related health insurance. -- As a contractor, I pay almost twice as much employment taxes as full-time employees in the US. -- Business is sometimes sporadic -- your next paycheck is not guaranteed. However, all that is perfectly acceptable to me since in the end, I'm my own boss. There are only a few kinds of job offers I'd consider at this point since I'm very happy with being a freelancer. But don't take the $100 figure at face value -- add in taxes, business cycle, time needed for marketing and accounting, etc, and it's not as much as it seems.
kpennell 15y ago
Thanks for posting this Alex. Anything to get more people traveling.
rflrob 15y ago
I think it's also worthwhile pointing out that a lot of the cost of these kinds of long trips don't grow a whole lot in comparison to relatively shorter trips. Flights are, in my experience, the largest single expense, and so will cost the same whether you stay for a few weeks at each stop or a few months.
- izak30 15y ago
  It also depends on how much you pay for two residences. if you keep your rent/mortgage @ home that's another major monthly expense. If you find a sublet/AirBnB or something this still applies. One of the best times to travel is between leases, if you can stand to 'move' twice. Once to storage, go travel, once from storage to a new place.
- saryant 15y ago
  Much of the cost of airfare can be diffused with airline miles. If you've got good credit you can pretty easily rack up a few hundred thousand miles without leaving the ground. Sites like FlyerTalk.com are a great resource for this sort of thing. I haven't paid for the airfare of any of my recent trips to Japan and Europe---it's all been done with miles, in premium cabins.
jenius 15y ago
I'm absolutely doing this. After reading your first article, I got super excited about the idea and started planning for it right away. I just graduated college and started working (design & ruby dev), so I don't have enough yet, but I'm putting money into a savings account every month so that I can have enough by the time I'm ready. Anything you write about this is really fantastic and helpful, so thank you : ) I'll certainly let you know how it's going once I get out there. You have inspired at least one young programmer, so thanks for that!
netmau5 15y ago
This is a great marketing page for Nikon.
whalesalad 15y ago
So the net cost for the tip was about $22k. I paid for the vast majority of this with one month's consultancy beforehand. That's crazy when you think about it, one month's consultancy in return for a year traveling. And I certainly didn't hold back with the budget, I met a lot of people doing it for much cheaper. Where there's a will, there's a way. One consulting gig, $22,000. I really need to get on this level! Was a fantastic read, especially since I have a lot of respect for Alex due to some of his great work. That Mark Twain quote really hit home. I recently decided that I need to do the same thing actually. I'm sick of the USA, of the people here, their attitudes, etc.. (I am in LA). Ready to get out and experience the rest of the world. I leave for Sweden on Feb 24th! My first time out of the country!
- corin_ 15y ago
  You are literally the opposite of me - I've travelled all over the place, and if my job wasn't keeping me tied in the UK right now I'd move to LA tomorrow. Have fun in Sweden, be prepared for a high prices though!
  - robin_reala 15y ago
    Sweden’s cheap if you compare it to its neighbour Norway! Housing seems cheap compared to the UK too there, but then I guess that’s what happens if you have 1/6th the population in 3 times the land area.
- henrikschroder 15y ago
  > I leave for Sweden on Feb 24th! You could have picked a good time to visit, but you just had to pick the coldest month? Why? :-)
  - jarek 15y ago
    It's not exactly height of the tourist season which can help with prices. If he's from LA, the fact that it's cold and there'll probably be snow might well be a feature for him.
  - 15y ago
grecy 15y ago
As a "me too" account... I spent 2 years driving from Alaska to Argentina, working on freelance websites and programming on the side. Total trip cost (yes, including gas) was $27k. Full story at http://theroadchoseme.com http://theroadchoseme.com Anyone interested in a similar experience should checkout http://wikioverland.org http://wikioverland.org , the encyclopedia of Overland Travel
- nirvana 15y ago
  When I was in Deadhorse Alaska (near Prudhoe Bay) ran into a couple of argentinians who had driven up. About as far north as one can drive... and they went south to patagonia to start their trip, too. Always wanted to do that. Great thing about traveling in alaska-- you can just pull over to the side of the road and sleep. Spent weeks doing that, and the only "incident" was when an Alaskan Pipeline worker woke me up (it was noon! I my clock was thrown off by the 24 hour sunlight) to make sure I was ok. (I was relatively near the pipeline at that point, and they patrol it.) Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm enjoying reading it!
  - grecy 15y ago
    Yep, I drove up to Deadhorse, and then down past Ushuaia until the sign at the end of the road. Sleeping on the side of the road like that is not only in Alaska, I camped almost my entire trip.
  - masterj 15y ago
    I remember seeing a lot of Canadian plates while I was hitchhiking down to Ushuaia on the other end. I think that route has a siren call to a certain type of person. Some of them looked very relieved at that final border crossing :)
kellysutton 15y ago
I'm leaving for Berlin on Feb. 11 to start doing exactly this. This is great.
- nirvana 15y ago
  Good luck. Berlin is one of the greatest cities. If you get homesick, the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz, shows american movies in english. Be sure to check the times of the Fernsehturm in Alexander platz- we were there 3 months and because we didn't make a specific plan to do so, never got a chance to go up the tower. Also, if you go to Checkpoint Charlie, the Museum there is pretty good, and big, but during peak hours it is extremely crowded and this detracts from the experience. Worth trying to go in off hours for that one. Also the DDR Museum is really great, as is the Berlin City Museum. Especially if you've an interest in the soviet era.
- brynjar 15y ago
  I'm also leaving (the UK) for Berlin to start doings this come April.. Can't wait.
metra 15y ago
I'd like to know how you made $22k, after taxes, in one month. Can you elaborate on your consulting?
- frasertimo 15y ago
  He said 'the bulk'. Sigh.
stuff4ben 15y ago
Sigh, I frequently regret my wasted youth. Now that I'm a husband and father of two wonderful kids, I wonder if I can transpose and apply what this guy did to my family situation? Maybe take a nice 3 month working vacation (work-cation?) during the summer. If any of you younger whippersnappers are reading this blog post, GO OUT AND DO THIS!!! You'll most likely regret not doing it when you're older.
- rubashov 15y ago
  I've traveled a fair amount and I don't get the degree of fascination. It's essentially a form of entertainment. I've learned more about almost any place from books and media than just passing through, seeing the sites, and meeting some people. "Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend. Living somewhere a couple years is another matter.
  - zeroonetwothree 15y ago
    I've traveled a fair amount as well (~30 countries, almost all the US states), and I guess I agree with you. I don't really find it "enlightening" but it can be very different and fun compared to what you can do while staying in the same place.
  - nirvana 15y ago
    >just passing through, seeing the sites, and meeting some people. Is what most people do because they are very short of time, due to the fact that the time they have is vacation time from their full time job. This forces them into a particular mode. But for many people, this is still very rewarding. >"Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend. I think there's a big difference between spending 3 hours and 3 days somewhere. There's also a big difference between spending 3 days and 3 months somewhere. And then even further, you could spend 3 year somewhere. I know in 3 months we don't get the same level of experience as spending 3 years, and we may well find a place where we want to spend 3 years at a time. Everything in life involves tradeoffs, especially travel. I won't knock someone who spends 3 hours in a place I spend 3 months, anymore than I would want to be knocked by someone who spent 3 years there. But I strongly disagree that you can books and media can replace travel. Sure you can learn a lot, but the experience of living somewhere or even visiting is a lot different than seeing it portrayed by others.
jodrellblank 15y ago
Travel posts are suspiciously full of wide-ranging and untestable claims about the benefits of travel that I should really be asking for evidence.
- hello_moto 15y ago
  Travelling is not science.
  - jodrellblank 15y ago
    What exactly excuses it from having to prove its expensive and time consuming claims?
- phil 15y ago
  Happily, the only reliable way to get that evidence is to go collect it yourself...
  - jodrellblank 15y ago
    Dan Gilbert's TED talk covers people having miserable experiences and synthesising happiness to make them feel good. That makes it not reliable, travel could be an instance of that. It should be possible through behavioural studies and observation to prove whether there is any substance to "Travel is fatal to bigotry" or "You can't fail to come away from traveling inspired with a fresh perspective", and whether that makes any difference to anything. "Traveling opens your eyes to some of the real problems people face", does it? "gives you the opportunity to come up with solutions to tackle those" and do people use that opportunity? $22k and 1 year is a lot of opportunity cost. This is argued by someone who travelled easily from a powerful country, with an iPod and laptop, to surf, party and program while meeting Ruby programmers, and claiming travel is a way to "get out of the echo chamber"(!) From someone who talks about how possible it would be to turn it into a fulltime lifestyle doing the same consulting he did to pay for it in the first place, and after all that singing the praises, doesn't do so. Is it really so downvotable to question how much is hype, and how much substance?
jcampbell1 15y ago
> Start in Beijing. Take the train to Tibet. If this is your first backpacking adventure, I highly recommend not starting in mainland China. It is an order of magnitude more difficult a place to travel than other places.
- phil 15y ago
  The article makes it pretty clear that he's plenty experienced. I agree with the thought though. Rural China is one of the most difficult places to get around I've been to. Outside the cities, most people are just not used to encountering others that can't speak or read, so you have to supply the skills to fumble around and communicate. And Mandarin is a fiendishly difficult language for the native English speaker, so it's tough to pick a few phrases to get around.
- crdoconnor 15y ago
  I found it very easy and I speak zero Chinese. Plus, it's very cheap, which makes a lot of things (e.g. finding a reasonable hotel for the night) pretty easy. Also safe.
  - jcampbell1 15y ago
    This is frankly impossible. Either you were only in foreign tourist areas, or are a really experienced traveller. I speak a decent amount of Chinese, have lived and travelled extensively in China, and I still find China way more taxing than a country like Cambodia. I don't speak a lick of Khmer, but it is still a traveller's paradise compared to China.
    - crdoconnor 15y ago
      I'm really at a loss to know what you found so difficult. I did two things that I didn't usually do. I got people at the hostels I stayed in to write down instructions for me (e.g. tell them to write down "I would like a haircut/I would like to buy a 2nd class sleeper at 22:30 from Xi'an to Chengdu" and stuff like that). Another thing I did was have the number of somebody who spoke English and Chinese and call them up when I really needed some translation (e.g. with a bus station attendant telling me that their tickets are all sold out for that day). That's it. Those are the only two things I did in China that I didn't do in Cambodia (or Shanghai/Beijing). Most stuff you buy you can buy just with gestures and a couple of words. Taxis can take you where you want to go with a point to a place on the map. What else is there?
rprime 15y ago
I've been very inspired by Alex's first post and although I've been planing to do something like this in the feature I was a bit scared about it, well, who wouldn't? :) But now that's gone and I am already "drawing" a plan. Thanks Alex!
nikhilalmeida 15y ago
Great post. Anything to get programmers traveling a lot more. We need to get out there and see the real world, a world other than silicon valley, understand problems and spot potential opportunities. Only by making peoples lives easier by solving problems can we build more meaningful businesses else we will keep getting more of "me too" features built to share what you are thinking while on the pot.
- cgag 15y ago
  It always amazes me that there are people who make their money freelancing or working remotely who don't travel regularly. I'm currently working at a big corporation, but I'm currently spending my free time working on learning web related stuff so I can hopefully pick up freelance work to try to support myself while traveling in the future.
AlexCP 15y ago
It's possible to travel for a lot less. If you are on a tight budget. I traveled for 6 month in India, Nepal and Thailand 2 years ago for less than 6k. I think the real cost of travel is time.
CeiII 15y ago
I'd also suggest a book to read on the plane: http://www.alaindebotton.com/the_art_of_travel.asp http://www.alaindebotton.com/the_art_of_travel.asp. A good read to explore some of the common, but not often openly discussed, feelings and responses people have to travelling.
drpancake 15y ago
Does anyone have any thoughts on the ergonomics of travelling and programming? I've come to rely on a very specific setup to avoid the symptoms of RSI. I find that coffee shops and the like tend to encourage the worst kind of posture for this. I suppose one compromise could be to deck out your own vehicle with an ideal setup and travel in that; but then you're more limited in where you can go.
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  I have the same interests and concerns. The older I get, the more injuries and problems I develop. Currently, I need my Kinesis Classic keyboard, my Logitech mouse, my eye-level monitor, and my excellent Steelcase chair. I believe that I could get by with a less ergonomic system if I limited myself to part-time work (say, four to six hours per day) and had ample time to walk around. I've found nothing better for back/neck problems than a good 15 - 30 minute walk, focusing on posture. Also, I would find something like a more powerful iPad, on a stand, with a nice Bluetooth keyboard to be much, much more valuable than a laptop, and it should still be very space efficient.
- gexla 15y ago
  Rather than doing one around the world trip, setup one "home base" and focus on seeing that region. For example, I live in the Philippines and I can get tickets to anywhere in SE Asia are very cheap. I can work hard for a period to bust out some projects and then take time off to travel to another area in the region for a week or longer. Then go back to "home base" and repeat the process. The author seemed to be working on his own projects during his trip. Doing contract work on the road is far more difficult, so the "home base" strategy also works better if you have to continue contract work while abroad.
lobster45 15y ago
Traveling around the world is my dream. Unfortunately in the corporate world the most I am able to take off at a time is a three week vacation per year. My wife and I have taken three week trips to South Korea, Greece, Italy and several shorter trips. If I did not work for the man and was able to get work as a contractor, I would jump on the next plane out of here.
- mmorey 15y ago
  My wife and I do a similar thing. Take a large 3 week trip a year. Although I like the idea of traveling for a year or longer, I do believe I would miss several things, my bed is at the top of that list.
georgieporgie 15y ago
Regarding security, my advice is to always have two bags. The main bag has all your clothes, toiletries, etc. All the stuff you would be sad but not devastated to lose. In the other, smaller bag goes the Macbook, camera, and everything else that would be terrible to lose. Also, consider thin dry bags (I think mine are Sea to Summit) to keep out moisture and sand, two things which are inevitable on any adventure. :-) Having toted an SLR everywhere, I'll admit that unless you're an avid photographer, you will probably be happier and less anxious with a quality point-and-shoot. I gave an awful lot of impromptu classes on photography to people with SLRs that had kit lenses (not much better than a good P&S) and wildly inappropriate settings (much worse than a P&S).
gexla 15y ago
I disagree with the age comment. If you don't want the baggage of life, then don't let the baggage build up. You can do this at any age. I made this comment in another post also, but I will repeat it here. If you need to continue working, it's difficult to do contract work while on the move. I suggest setting up a home base in a region that you can concentrate on. For example, setup a home base in SE Asia, knock out some projects and then travel to the nearby areas while between projects. When you are happy that you have seen everything that you want to see in that region, then setup a home base in another region and repeat. With this strategy you could extend your "around the world trip" to as long as you like.
kayhi 15y ago
A bit off topic, is there a website that lists places to stay around the world with great Internet connections?
- notintokyo 15y ago
  My favorite was staying in a $10 / night hut in Thailand, next to a resort that probably cost $100 / night. It was near enough that I could use their wifi.
moped 15y ago
Also, CouchSurfing is a great way to find free places to stay and meet intersting folks. I've been on the site ~5 years, and the experiences have been nothing short of amazing..dare I say, a lifechanger www.couchsurfing.org
zobzu 15y ago
i'd like to do 22K in a month. If I did that much, I think i'd travel a year off more often. :-)
Tsagadai 15y ago
If you really want to stay travelling for a long time and you want to stay for extended periods in places which don't have amazing internet you should consider getting some other skills. Going from national capital to major population centre is all well and good but you will only see amount of the planet that way. Consider welding, electrical or diesel engine repair as skills you can get employed with pretty much anywhere. Sure, you may not make a consultants salary but those sorts of skills generally pay more than enough to live on comfortably practically everywhere in the world. Food for thought if you want to spend a lifetime on the road instead of just a year.
- kayoone 15y ago
  Or you could just try to work on gigs that pay well for 3-4 month a year in a place that has awesome internets and dont work while being in places that dont have decent connections. Better than getting into real employment situations anyway.
deleted 15y ago
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Samuel_Michon 15y ago
So here's a guy who lives in California, which used to be part of the Wild West. He wants to broaden his horizon by visiting some other countries. Then he comes back from his trip and writes: "the world isn't the wild west that some people seem to think it is" Precious.
adnan_wahab 15y ago
wow, i am going to save up some cash and do this right away.
paraschopra 15y ago
Visas are a big issue for many people in the world. I'm an Indian and frankly my biggest headache about traveling internationally is getting a visa. I can't imagine how big a hassle would it be to arrange 20+ visas (for a decent round the world trip). Each application would require financial proofs, ticket proofs, hotel proofs and what not. Wish there were a simpler way!
paraschopra 15y ago
Visas are a big issue for many people in the world. I'm an Indian and frankly my biggest headache about traveling internationally is getting a visa. I can't imagine how big a hassle would it be to arrange 20+ visas (for a decent round the world trip). Each application would require financial proofs, ticket proofs, hotel proofs and what not. Wish there were a simpler way!

248 points by maccman 15y ago

cgh 15y ago

The main thing to think about is this: do you want a one-time, round-the-world experience, or do you want this as a lifestyle, say working 6-8 months a year and traveling the rest? If you are like me and want the latter, then become a contractor and specialise in something that pays well (for me, J2EE - not a great technology, but Big Corp Inc. pays well for these skills). The OP seems to suggest a work/travel approach, but to be honest I found that can be tough to sustain. To be maximally productive, it's really helpful to have comfortable and familiar surroundings, very solid internet, etc. I tend to do just-for-fun coding on trips instead, since I found trying to get setup in new places to be stressful.

hello_moto 15y ago
JEE is pretty sweet if I must say myself. JEE, Spring, Maven, Checkstyle, Findbugs. Lock and Loaded.
mbrock 15y ago
Are there any books or something about how this contracting thing works? I'm just about to start my career in programming, and I don't really have a hang of the business side of things -- not hoping for a quick change to contracting, but I'd like to start to understand how it works. E.g., what kind/level of J2EE expertise do you need to become a solo contractor for Big Corp Inc.? As a contractor, do you work on a project in a company office for X months and then leave? Or do you work from home? Etc. Thanks.
- cgh 15y ago
  Here's the path I took: 1. Worked for around eight years as an employee at a few places, including a couple of startups. Ended up with a lot of Java experience. 2. Realised I wanted to restructure my life to work less (but still make good money) and travel/have fun. 3. Spoke to various people and found that contracting through a consulting company (not recruiters, but a team of like-minded programmers) was the way to go, rather than pounding the pavement to look for contracts. The company takes its cut, but I still end up with $80-$95/hr, and they find the work for me. As for experience: Big Corp Inc. wants contractors who can get up to speed very quickly. You tend to get pigeonholed based on technology, so if you get the assignment as a "J2EE guy" and you don't have a lot of experience, then you look pretty dumb. Spend time working as a normal employee first and really become a good programmer. As for work duration: generally, the contracts are open-ended and I am terminated when a project gets cancelled or whatever. I specify up front that I will spend the bulk of my time working from home and that I am taking holidays from time x to time y. The company that subcontracts me out is based in Silicon Valley, as is Big Corp and friends, and I live in western Canada, so this isn't usually an issue. I fly down once in while to hang out. So to sum up: get experience - learn to be a good programmer who has a reputation for getting things done; learn what big companies want in terms of technology; find a company with good connections who will contract you out, possibly as a team with other people; be up front about your lifestyle but work hard to integrate with their project schedules. It also helps to not have kids.
  - robyates 15y ago
    cgh, are there many software consulting companies around? I've been thinking of going that route myself, so I'm curious how you find them.
    - cgh 15y ago
      I think there are plenty of software consulting groups around, particularly in the Valley. Google is your friend on this one, or if you're a local, just ask around. I was referred to the company I now work with most, but I found the last bunch of guys I was with via Craigslist.
  - mbrock 15y ago
    Thank you!
jamii 15y ago
I did the work/travel thing for 14 months and found it ok. I wouldn't want to commit to more than 15-20 hours work per week whilst travelling though. My plan for the next trip is to travel in between contracts and then settle down for a few months at a time whilst working. Hopefully that will allow more focus. Edit: Actually I like gexla' idea above - pick a comfortable home base to work in and travel to nearby areas/countries in between contracts.
stuff4ben 15y ago
The only problem I've found is that contracting gigs don't pay well and usually want you onsite. I've got 12+ years as a JEE dev and make a decent salary at a big corp but all of the contracting companies out there only want to pay you $50-$55/hr which isn't even close enough to being enough.

mceachen 15y ago

Very inspiring! I was a bit off-put at first by the fact that the gorgeous photos in this post were not taken by Alex. I then realized that it was the photographer that inspired Alex to take his trip in the first place. There's also something to be said for staying "behind your eyes" instead of "behind the glass." It's easier to be "in the moment" when you don't have to worry about documenting everything for posterity.

jamesgpearce 15y ago

Enjoyed. Though I disagree with 'time is running out'. Doing these kinds of trips and long-term sabbaticals with kids is the best education you can give them. (Stay wired a little, and apparently they barely dent career prospects too.)

arjunnarayan 15y ago
Costs twice as much, and they tire much faster. Some of the seedier risks I've taken when traveling alone I wouldn't take when traveling with a girlfriend, let alone kids. The risk-free premium is quite high, and jacks up the prices quite a bit. I'd say traveling with family doesn't have to be boring or as expensive as people presume. But it is qualitatively different from traveling in your twenties.
prawn 15y ago
Full price flights once they're 2yo. Before that, they won't remember much. Travel overseas before they're born then domestically until they're about 8.

nirvana 15y ago

We've been full-time nomads for 4 years, and are in the middle of our second year of travel outside the USA. This article is a good overview for a particular type of travel, which I tend to perceive as vacation travel. Its great to take a year off, and see all those countries on $22k, and if you're considering doing that, I highly recommend doing something like what he's doing! For us, we chose to make international living more of a lifestyle. We are running our startup this way. When we added our third co-founder, it became three of us traveling this way. It is working out pretty well. We use AirBnB or local real estate agents to book accommodations. We stay in a country for 3-6 months depending on their visa length. We work a sort of regular schedule, so we're not out seeing tourist sites every day. But that's what we do on the weekends. At the end of the day, living like this, all over the world, is cheaper than it would have been if we'd just stayed on the West Coast of the USA. Well, cheaper financially. One way we keep things cheap is by trying to focus on inexpensive countries. Our time in europe was great, but even there we stayed in berlin (which since the wall came down still has reasonably priced rents), and a small UK town. Mostly we're focusing on less developed / expensive countries which is also the more interesting ones. We book maybe 1-2 flights a year. We are careful about this. We got a nice 7 day "vacation" in Venice when we were able to save $300 by booking a layover thru that part of Italy on our repositioning trip. Taking your time on your flights lets you maximize flexibility and gives you great opportunities like Venice. Keeping major international flights to a minimum keeps our expenses low. All three of us live out of big suitcases. We were trying the "one bag one world" thing and living out of a 55 Liter backpack. This was ok in terms of size, but airlines have decided that refusing to take bags, even if they're carryon size, is a revenue opportunity, so rather than fight them, or deal with the hassle, we've switched to a 2 bag solution- one carry on for the expensive electronics and one checked bag for the clothes etc. (so 2 bags each, though the carry ons tend to be rather small.) I really need to do a blog post about this. Actually, I have a dozen blog posts, but I need the blog first. And the blog is not coming until the MVP is done. Anyway, traveling around the world for a year-- totally good idea, not that unreasonably expensive, and if you want to make a lifestyle out of it, you can do it, by increasing the amount of time you spend in each country to bring the costs down. Only downside of living this way: there's some impact on productivity due to the travel. So, we lose probably 4-6 weeks a year of productive time because of it. For instance, we didn't get a damn thing done in Venice. Some of those "lost" weeks are the most fun too.

kyt 15y ago

Most interesting part of the article: "So the net cost for the tip was about $22k. I paid for the vast majority of this with one month's consultancy beforehand."

kpennell 15y ago
Wow, I did not know a young consultant could make that much in a month...jaw dropped when I saw that. Anyone care to explain how that is possible?
- arethuza 15y ago
  I've heard of daily rates of up to £2000 ($3000) in some very specialized areas of finance systems, so $22K in a month seems achievable if you have the right skills.
- phillmv 15y ago
  Say, $200/hr times 6 hrs a day times a month. Not impossible but not easy, exactly. If you take a year to plan it out I think you could set that aside, working in tech, but it's obviously not for everyone.
- jamii 15y ago
  I'm currently working 6 8-hour days per week at $100 per hour. That's $20k per month. That's about the going rate for a competent back-end developer. It doesn't require any unusual skills or knowledge, just self-discipline and a professional attitude.
  - Ives 15y ago
    And being located in a place that's willing to pay its developers 100$ an hour.
    - jnbiche 15y ago
      Or telecommuting. I freelance remotely and make upwards of $100 an hour. It seems like a lot until you remember: -- No job-related health insurance. -- As a contractor, I pay almost twice as much employment taxes as full-time employees in the US. -- Business is sometimes sporadic -- your next paycheck is not guaranteed. However, all that is perfectly acceptable to me since in the end, I'm my own boss. There are only a few kinds of job offers I'd consider at this point since I'm very happy with being a freelancer. But don't take the $100 figure at face value -- add in taxes, business cycle, time needed for marketing and accounting, etc, and it's not as much as it seems.

kpennell 15y ago

Thanks for posting this Alex. Anything to get more people traveling.

rflrob 15y ago

I think it's also worthwhile pointing out that a lot of the cost of these kinds of long trips don't grow a whole lot in comparison to relatively shorter trips. Flights are, in my experience, the largest single expense, and so will cost the same whether you stay for a few weeks at each stop or a few months.

izak30 15y ago
It also depends on how much you pay for two residences. if you keep your rent/mortgage @ home that's another major monthly expense. If you find a sublet/AirBnB or something this still applies. One of the best times to travel is between leases, if you can stand to 'move' twice. Once to storage, go travel, once from storage to a new place.
saryant 15y ago
Much of the cost of airfare can be diffused with airline miles. If you've got good credit you can pretty easily rack up a few hundred thousand miles without leaving the ground. Sites like FlyerTalk.com are a great resource for this sort of thing. I haven't paid for the airfare of any of my recent trips to Japan and Europe---it's all been done with miles, in premium cabins.

jenius 15y ago

I'm absolutely doing this. After reading your first article, I got super excited about the idea and started planning for it right away. I just graduated college and started working (design & ruby dev), so I don't have enough yet, but I'm putting money into a savings account every month so that I can have enough by the time I'm ready. Anything you write about this is really fantastic and helpful, so thank you : ) I'll certainly let you know how it's going once I get out there. You have inspired at least one young programmer, so thanks for that!

netmau5 15y ago

This is a great marketing page for Nikon.

whalesalad 15y ago

So the net cost for the tip was about $22k. I paid for the vast majority of this with one month's consultancy beforehand. That's crazy when you think about it, one month's consultancy in return for a year traveling. And I certainly didn't hold back with the budget, I met a lot of people doing it for much cheaper. Where there's a will, there's a way. One consulting gig, $22,000. I really need to get on this level! Was a fantastic read, especially since I have a lot of respect for Alex due to some of his great work. That Mark Twain quote really hit home. I recently decided that I need to do the same thing actually. I'm sick of the USA, of the people here, their attitudes, etc.. (I am in LA). Ready to get out and experience the rest of the world. I leave for Sweden on Feb 24th! My first time out of the country!

corin_ 15y ago
You are literally the opposite of me - I've travelled all over the place, and if my job wasn't keeping me tied in the UK right now I'd move to LA tomorrow. Have fun in Sweden, be prepared for a high prices though!
- robin_reala 15y ago
  Sweden’s cheap if you compare it to its neighbour Norway! Housing seems cheap compared to the UK too there, but then I guess that’s what happens if you have 1/6th the population in 3 times the land area.
henrikschroder 15y ago
> I leave for Sweden on Feb 24th! You could have picked a good time to visit, but you just had to pick the coldest month? Why? :-)
- jarek 15y ago
  It's not exactly height of the tourist season which can help with prices. If he's from LA, the fact that it's cold and there'll probably be snow might well be a feature for him.
- 15y ago

grecy 15y ago

As a "me too" account... I spent 2 years driving from Alaska to Argentina, working on freelance websites and programming on the side. Total trip cost (yes, including gas) was $27k. Full story at http://theroadchoseme.com http://theroadchoseme.com Anyone interested in a similar experience should checkout http://wikioverland.org http://wikioverland.org , the encyclopedia of Overland Travel

nirvana 15y ago
When I was in Deadhorse Alaska (near Prudhoe Bay) ran into a couple of argentinians who had driven up. About as far north as one can drive... and they went south to patagonia to start their trip, too. Always wanted to do that. Great thing about traveling in alaska-- you can just pull over to the side of the road and sleep. Spent weeks doing that, and the only "incident" was when an Alaskan Pipeline worker woke me up (it was noon! I my clock was thrown off by the 24 hour sunlight) to make sure I was ok. (I was relatively near the pipeline at that point, and they patrol it.) Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm enjoying reading it!
- grecy 15y ago
  Yep, I drove up to Deadhorse, and then down past Ushuaia until the sign at the end of the road. Sleeping on the side of the road like that is not only in Alaska, I camped almost my entire trip.
- masterj 15y ago
  I remember seeing a lot of Canadian plates while I was hitchhiking down to Ushuaia on the other end. I think that route has a siren call to a certain type of person. Some of them looked very relieved at that final border crossing :)

kellysutton 15y ago

I'm leaving for Berlin on Feb. 11 to start doing exactly this. This is great.

nirvana 15y ago
Good luck. Berlin is one of the greatest cities. If you get homesick, the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz, shows american movies in english. Be sure to check the times of the Fernsehturm in Alexander platz- we were there 3 months and because we didn't make a specific plan to do so, never got a chance to go up the tower. Also, if you go to Checkpoint Charlie, the Museum there is pretty good, and big, but during peak hours it is extremely crowded and this detracts from the experience. Worth trying to go in off hours for that one. Also the DDR Museum is really great, as is the Berlin City Museum. Especially if you've an interest in the soviet era.
brynjar 15y ago
I'm also leaving (the UK) for Berlin to start doings this come April.. Can't wait.

metra 15y ago

I'd like to know how you made $22k, after taxes, in one month. Can you elaborate on your consulting?

frasertimo 15y ago
He said 'the bulk'. Sigh.

stuff4ben 15y ago

Sigh, I frequently regret my wasted youth. Now that I'm a husband and father of two wonderful kids, I wonder if I can transpose and apply what this guy did to my family situation? Maybe take a nice 3 month working vacation (work-cation?) during the summer. If any of you younger whippersnappers are reading this blog post, GO OUT AND DO THIS!!! You'll most likely regret not doing it when you're older.

rubashov 15y ago
I've traveled a fair amount and I don't get the degree of fascination. It's essentially a form of entertainment. I've learned more about almost any place from books and media than just passing through, seeing the sites, and meeting some people. "Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend. Living somewhere a couple years is another matter.
- zeroonetwothree 15y ago
  I've traveled a fair amount as well (~30 countries, almost all the US states), and I guess I agree with you. I don't really find it "enlightening" but it can be very different and fun compared to what you can do while staying in the same place.
- nirvana 15y ago
  >just passing through, seeing the sites, and meeting some people. Is what most people do because they are very short of time, due to the fact that the time they have is vacation time from their full time job. This forces them into a particular mode. But for many people, this is still very rewarding. >"Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend. I think there's a big difference between spending 3 hours and 3 days somewhere. There's also a big difference between spending 3 days and 3 months somewhere. And then even further, you could spend 3 year somewhere. I know in 3 months we don't get the same level of experience as spending 3 years, and we may well find a place where we want to spend 3 years at a time. Everything in life involves tradeoffs, especially travel. I won't knock someone who spends 3 hours in a place I spend 3 months, anymore than I would want to be knocked by someone who spent 3 years there. But I strongly disagree that you can books and media can replace travel. Sure you can learn a lot, but the experience of living somewhere or even visiting is a lot different than seeing it portrayed by others.

jodrellblank 15y ago

Travel posts are suspiciously full of wide-ranging and untestable claims about the benefits of travel that I should really be asking for evidence.

hello_moto 15y ago
Travelling is not science.
- jodrellblank 15y ago
  What exactly excuses it from having to prove its expensive and time consuming claims?
phil 15y ago
Happily, the only reliable way to get that evidence is to go collect it yourself...
- jodrellblank 15y ago
  Dan Gilbert's TED talk covers people having miserable experiences and synthesising happiness to make them feel good. That makes it not reliable, travel could be an instance of that. It should be possible through behavioural studies and observation to prove whether there is any substance to "Travel is fatal to bigotry" or "You can't fail to come away from traveling inspired with a fresh perspective", and whether that makes any difference to anything. "Traveling opens your eyes to some of the real problems people face", does it? "gives you the opportunity to come up with solutions to tackle those" and do people use that opportunity? $22k and 1 year is a lot of opportunity cost. This is argued by someone who travelled easily from a powerful country, with an iPod and laptop, to surf, party and program while meeting Ruby programmers, and claiming travel is a way to "get out of the echo chamber"(!) From someone who talks about how possible it would be to turn it into a fulltime lifestyle doing the same consulting he did to pay for it in the first place, and after all that singing the praises, doesn't do so. Is it really so downvotable to question how much is hype, and how much substance?

jcampbell1 15y ago

> Start in Beijing. Take the train to Tibet. If this is your first backpacking adventure, I highly recommend not starting in mainland China. It is an order of magnitude more difficult a place to travel than other places.

phil 15y ago
The article makes it pretty clear that he's plenty experienced. I agree with the thought though. Rural China is one of the most difficult places to get around I've been to. Outside the cities, most people are just not used to encountering others that can't speak or read, so you have to supply the skills to fumble around and communicate. And Mandarin is a fiendishly difficult language for the native English speaker, so it's tough to pick a few phrases to get around.
crdoconnor 15y ago
I found it very easy and I speak zero Chinese. Plus, it's very cheap, which makes a lot of things (e.g. finding a reasonable hotel for the night) pretty easy. Also safe.
- jcampbell1 15y ago
  This is frankly impossible. Either you were only in foreign tourist areas, or are a really experienced traveller. I speak a decent amount of Chinese, have lived and travelled extensively in China, and I still find China way more taxing than a country like Cambodia. I don't speak a lick of Khmer, but it is still a traveller's paradise compared to China.
  - crdoconnor 15y ago
    I'm really at a loss to know what you found so difficult. I did two things that I didn't usually do. I got people at the hostels I stayed in to write down instructions for me (e.g. tell them to write down "I would like a haircut/I would like to buy a 2nd class sleeper at 22:30 from Xi'an to Chengdu" and stuff like that). Another thing I did was have the number of somebody who spoke English and Chinese and call them up when I really needed some translation (e.g. with a bus station attendant telling me that their tickets are all sold out for that day). That's it. Those are the only two things I did in China that I didn't do in Cambodia (or Shanghai/Beijing). Most stuff you buy you can buy just with gestures and a couple of words. Taxis can take you where you want to go with a point to a place on the map. What else is there?

rprime 15y ago

I've been very inspired by Alex's first post and although I've been planing to do something like this in the feature I was a bit scared about it, well, who wouldn't? :) But now that's gone and I am already "drawing" a plan. Thanks Alex!

nikhilalmeida 15y ago

Great post. Anything to get programmers traveling a lot more. We need to get out there and see the real world, a world other than silicon valley, understand problems and spot potential opportunities. Only by making peoples lives easier by solving problems can we build more meaningful businesses else we will keep getting more of "me too" features built to share what you are thinking while on the pot.

cgag 15y ago
It always amazes me that there are people who make their money freelancing or working remotely who don't travel regularly. I'm currently working at a big corporation, but I'm currently spending my free time working on learning web related stuff so I can hopefully pick up freelance work to try to support myself while traveling in the future.

AlexCP 15y ago

It's possible to travel for a lot less. If you are on a tight budget. I traveled for 6 month in India, Nepal and Thailand 2 years ago for less than 6k. I think the real cost of travel is time.

CeiII 15y ago

I'd also suggest a book to read on the plane: http://www.alaindebotton.com/the_art_of_travel.asp http://www.alaindebotton.com/the_art_of_travel.asp. A good read to explore some of the common, but not often openly discussed, feelings and responses people have to travelling.

drpancake 15y ago

Does anyone have any thoughts on the ergonomics of travelling and programming? I've come to rely on a very specific setup to avoid the symptoms of RSI. I find that coffee shops and the like tend to encourage the worst kind of posture for this. I suppose one compromise could be to deck out your own vehicle with an ideal setup and travel in that; but then you're more limited in where you can go.

georgieporgie 15y ago
I have the same interests and concerns. The older I get, the more injuries and problems I develop. Currently, I need my Kinesis Classic keyboard, my Logitech mouse, my eye-level monitor, and my excellent Steelcase chair. I believe that I could get by with a less ergonomic system if I limited myself to part-time work (say, four to six hours per day) and had ample time to walk around. I've found nothing better for back/neck problems than a good 15 - 30 minute walk, focusing on posture. Also, I would find something like a more powerful iPad, on a stand, with a nice Bluetooth keyboard to be much, much more valuable than a laptop, and it should still be very space efficient.
gexla 15y ago
Rather than doing one around the world trip, setup one "home base" and focus on seeing that region. For example, I live in the Philippines and I can get tickets to anywhere in SE Asia are very cheap. I can work hard for a period to bust out some projects and then take time off to travel to another area in the region for a week or longer. Then go back to "home base" and repeat the process. The author seemed to be working on his own projects during his trip. Doing contract work on the road is far more difficult, so the "home base" strategy also works better if you have to continue contract work while abroad.

lobster45 15y ago

Traveling around the world is my dream. Unfortunately in the corporate world the most I am able to take off at a time is a three week vacation per year. My wife and I have taken three week trips to South Korea, Greece, Italy and several shorter trips. If I did not work for the man and was able to get work as a contractor, I would jump on the next plane out of here.

mmorey 15y ago
My wife and I do a similar thing. Take a large 3 week trip a year. Although I like the idea of traveling for a year or longer, I do believe I would miss several things, my bed is at the top of that list.

georgieporgie 15y ago

Regarding security, my advice is to always have two bags. The main bag has all your clothes, toiletries, etc. All the stuff you would be sad but not devastated to lose. In the other, smaller bag goes the Macbook, camera, and everything else that would be terrible to lose. Also, consider thin dry bags (I think mine are Sea to Summit) to keep out moisture and sand, two things which are inevitable on any adventure. :-) Having toted an SLR everywhere, I'll admit that unless you're an avid photographer, you will probably be happier and less anxious with a quality point-and-shoot. I gave an awful lot of impromptu classes on photography to people with SLRs that had kit lenses (not much better than a good P&S) and wildly inappropriate settings (much worse than a P&S).

gexla 15y ago

I disagree with the age comment. If you don't want the baggage of life, then don't let the baggage build up. You can do this at any age. I made this comment in another post also, but I will repeat it here. If you need to continue working, it's difficult to do contract work while on the move. I suggest setting up a home base in a region that you can concentrate on. For example, setup a home base in SE Asia, knock out some projects and then travel to the nearby areas while between projects. When you are happy that you have seen everything that you want to see in that region, then setup a home base in another region and repeat. With this strategy you could extend your "around the world trip" to as long as you like.

kayhi 15y ago

A bit off topic, is there a website that lists places to stay around the world with great Internet connections?

notintokyo 15y ago
My favorite was staying in a $10 / night hut in Thailand, next to a resort that probably cost $100 / night. It was near enough that I could use their wifi.

moped 15y ago

Also, CouchSurfing is a great way to find free places to stay and meet intersting folks. I've been on the site ~5 years, and the experiences have been nothing short of amazing..dare I say, a lifechanger www.couchsurfing.org

zobzu 15y ago

i'd like to do 22K in a month. If I did that much, I think i'd travel a year off more often. :-)

Tsagadai 15y ago

If you really want to stay travelling for a long time and you want to stay for extended periods in places which don't have amazing internet you should consider getting some other skills. Going from national capital to major population centre is all well and good but you will only see amount of the planet that way. Consider welding, electrical or diesel engine repair as skills you can get employed with pretty much anywhere. Sure, you may not make a consultants salary but those sorts of skills generally pay more than enough to live on comfortably practically everywhere in the world. Food for thought if you want to spend a lifetime on the road instead of just a year.

kayoone 15y ago
Or you could just try to work on gigs that pay well for 3-4 month a year in a place that has awesome internets and dont work while being in places that dont have decent connections. Better than getting into real employment situations anyway.

deleted 15y ago

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Samuel_Michon 15y ago

So here's a guy who lives in California, which used to be part of the Wild West. He wants to broaden his horizon by visiting some other countries. Then he comes back from his trip and writes: "the world isn't the wild west that some people seem to think it is" Precious.

adnan_wahab 15y ago

wow, i am going to save up some cash and do this right away.

paraschopra 15y ago

Visas are a big issue for many people in the world. I'm an Indian and frankly my biggest headache about traveling internationally is getting a visa. I can't imagine how big a hassle would it be to arrange 20+ visas (for a decent round the world trip). Each application would require financial proofs, ticket proofs, hotel proofs and what not. Wish there were a simpler way!

paraschopra 15y ago