As an American I don't think that's really that difficult for people here either. Thailand is notoriously a cheap travel destination (once you get there) and YM

As an American I don't think that's really that difficult for people here either. Thailand is notoriously a cheap travel destination (once you get there) and YMMV but I'm friends with a lot of waitstaff that make good money including tips (avg. ~60k so maybe they just got lucky) and I live in a medium-sized city. There are tons of societal and financial problems in the US but you kinda gave a super cheap travel destination as an example.