See how beautiful the water is?
The photo was taken during a snorkeling tour at Shark and Ray Alley, off the shores of San Pedro, Belize. During the Holidays, everyone I met (family, friends, colleagues, etc) was jealous of my escaping the harsh Canadian winter to take it easy for a few weeks in Belize. Even worse, several people I met in South Beach couldn't believe just how lucky I was to be flying there. You see, Belize was on their bucket list. Considering that the most expensive price I paid for accomodation anywhere in Belize was about 30$ a night for a private room with a double bed and a fan, one has to wonder how Belize and countless other destinations could be on anyone's bucket list. . .
Many of you, here and on Facebook, simply cannot believe how I can afford to travel as much as do. That always puts a smirk on my face, for there is no reason why most of you couldn't do the same. Most of you make as much or more money than I do, after all.
The biggest misconception out there is that traveling is a luxury. It's a ridiculous lie. Problem is, most people believe this. And hence, they also believe that they don't have the means to travel around.
So I've decided that I'll write a post or a series of posts explaining just how you can fly away to distant lands without breaking the bank. Summer is coming, so here's to hoping that many of you will use this information to travel on the cheap, or even for free. If you have some money on the side and a desire to see the world, chances are that you'll realize just how easy and affordable traveling can be.
Imagine how cool that would be! I'd be the one commenting on how beautiful your pics are on Facebook instead of the other way around! You'd see unbelievable sights, meet great and fascinating people, be forced to see the world through new perspectives, experience life in sometimes entirely different ways, and much, much more. And on your way back when you'd share your thoughts about your experiences, you just might raise the ire of and be accused of racism, sexism, religious fucktardness, homophobia, and more by a rageaholic and psychotic Thai lesbian troll and the anal retentive members of the PC police! Now wouldn't that be great!?! ;-)
With this post or posts, I just want to demonstrate how easily and inexpensively anyone can travel to foreign countries and experience the trip of a lifetime. I know that life has not always been easy for Larry and that he's often found himself strapped for cash in the past. Well, hopefully these posts will show that everyone has the means to actually travel around, near and far. And the next time he wants to elaborate on why he supported something as heinous as Acrackedmoon's post, he will be able to offer insightful commentary based on his own real-life traveling experiences instead of a quote from a Forrest Gander work. . .
Stay tuned for more. . . And start making travel plans for this spring/summer! =)
37 commentaires:
If you manage to teach me how to get my ass to Belize, Croatia, Thailand, or any other fabulous countries you have visited and posted pictures of over the last couple of years, I will buy you dinner at Worldcon this year!!!
Finally you'll reveal your secrets to us unworthy souls! I wouldn't mind finding myself overseas once college is done this spring!
it's not hard: just calculate where your money is being allocated and divert unnecessary consumption towards a future goal (i.e., travel). I've been to 32 countries myself and, if you want to do it on the cheap, most in Asia and Eastern Europe are quite possible (I lived in Asia for six months on six grand). The biggest expense is getting there and traveling around; lodging and food can be incredibly cheap, depending on your need for luxury or lack thereof.
That'd be great Pat! I remember you providing some advice before, such as spending less on 5-star luxury hotels that you hardly stay in and more on the experience and culture outside. I just came back from a trip through south India, Thailand and Vietnam which was great.:)
Can you also tell us the secret of getting time off of work, which is in reality the biggest obstacle for many...
Ser Christophean,
That depends on what kind of work you do. Most of my "long" trips have been made possible because I was granted a leave of absence.
If your job is seasonal to a certain degree, or if business is stronger during certain periods of the year, it's easier to get a leave of absence granted during periods when business is slow or slower. You'd be surprised how many employers are happy to get rid of you and your salary for a number of weeks if the company is not making as much money as they want...
For many businesses and companies, the post-Holiday period is a wasteland. Yet January and February are the very best time to visit Southeast Asia, South America, Central America, many African countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand! And if you live in the northern hemisphere, that means that you also leave winter behind!
It's also easier to get extra weeks at your expense to add to your paid vacation time if you take that vacation outside of the period when everyone wants to go. For instance, few people want to go on vacation in May. So if you decide to choose those weeks, your employer might be more flexible and grant you an extra week or two on your own dime since you'll be available and working during the time of year when everyone wants to be on vacation (July and August).
And believe you me: If you're going to Italy, France, Greece, or Spain, it's much better to head out in May to beat the crowds and the higher prices...
It's little things like that that may permit you to travel, and for a much longer period of time you originally thought you'd be able to...
About Larry: touché!;)
Beatrice
There's a pervasive attitude that "If I can't do it, it's impossible. Anybody else who says they're doing those things is a liar."
It's insidious and creates this weird environment of envy and vitriol. Being open about what you do and why you do them is one good way to battle that mindset.
I've traveled a bunch, so I know the truth of what you say. It helps even more if you have family in far flung places.
Yeah, I have never wondered how you can afford to travel, more what you do that allows you time off work with a job to come back to. The economy isn't what it once was, and I would no longer feel confident quitting work to travel for a year and coming back expecting to find a job that pays a living wage.
Of course, I'll never know if I don't try, but the time for that was probably before getting married/reproducing. Oh well, I did make it to South and Central America, Europe, Asia and North Africa over the last half-decade.
Touché indeed!
Larry is maybe the most well-read SFF blogger out there, but sometimes it feels like the guy had no real life experience at all. Time for him to get out of his books and leave the south and discover what life is really about.
Sounds like a good idea, I'm sure all the info is already out there for those that want to search but your personal thoughts and ideas would be good to read. I'll be reading them closely as, apart from my trip to the USA in September, I am contemplating using the next year or more to focus on travel.
Could you maybe link to Larry's posts that you're referring to? I assume they're on Westeros and not his blog?
No it's on his own blog. Just scroll down.
Finally, we'll get a peek at how you are able to pull off some of these excursions. My wife and I love traveling, and fortunate enough to have gone to the caribbean, South America, and a travel a good bit around the U.S.
We'd love to make it across the pond and see Europe, New Zealand, etc. etc. It's always great seeing where your travels bring you and it does inspire people to save a few bucks, get the time off, and just do it!
Hi Patrick,
Long time. Hope this finds you well. I have been looking for contact information for you, but have been unable to find any on the site. Any chance you would be willing to visit my website and drop me an email. I have something to ask you.
Many thanks.
Best,
David B. Coe
Thanks for posting one of the nicest place in Belize. I will put this on my TBV list.
Ha, David B Coe just dropped you a note, nice. Make sure he knows that many of us out here in the interwebz like that guy, and too keep up the good work.
peterbound
The problem isn't money, it's time! How can you bring so many holidays? "Normal jobs" do not give you all this holidays...
I can travel cheaper than you! ;) (In any case, I'll read your next post about travels: maybe I'll find some good hints here too. ^^ )
So there was nothing in the criticisms of your posts that you found valid at all?
-Sciborg aka Saajan Patel
To Sciborg aka Saajan Patel, you found anything you'd consider "valid criticism" in that hate-filled tirade?? She spun everything in a negative light, misinterpreted everything to make Pat look bad, fraudulously omitted to include the full body of text and use only what she wanted, made wild accusations. Want me to go on?
Looks like Larry doesn't need to travel: http://www.ofblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-dont-need-to-travel.html.
I enjoy both of your blogs for different reasons. But Larry's response is lame to say the least. If he thinks he'll ever broaden his horizons by staying in rural Tennessee, it does make me wonder about just how ignorant the guy can be.
I like Larry as a reviewer and I enjoy the OF blog of the Fallen. But this post is gauche and makes him look like a southern hick. Apparently Larry doesn't believe he could benefit from seeing the world...
Most of us were wondering why he linked the RH post. Maybe he and acrackedmoon are not that different after all.
Crybaby Larry! His post stinks of all that people hate about ignorant Americans. That's culture for you...
Bradley
It boggles my mind that anyone would think to that and not except the kind of reaction he got. Particularly when he complains about people's histrionics on other forums. I mean, if thats not histrionics then wtf is?
Based on his posts on Westeros, I knew that Larry would respond somehow. What I didn't expect was how lame his reply would turn out to be. Talk about how like a poor dumb American he sounds. This clown seems to claim that it's more rewarding to spend time in pastoral Tennessee than to travel around the world! Both can be rewarding sure, but wtf?
Get out of them books Larry and dare to move out of the South! Maybe you'll learn somethiing.
Robert
P. S. I guess Larry also forgot just how beautiful Canada and especially Quebec are.
:D
You don't even get the sarcasm, do you?...
LV, we do get it.
Instead of saying that his financial situation precludes him from traveling but that he wants to see the world and everything, Larry got back at Pat by going on and on about how remaining in the Nashville region is all one needs to be content, that the whole wide world doesn't necessarily hold anything that could possibly make him want to leave Tennessee behind.
That's culture for you!
Is anyone surprised by Larry's post? It's Larry...
Ha. Larry is deleting posts. The hypocrisy almost has a smell at this point.
I begin to think Larry lives in a different realality then we do.
Looks like Larry is losing followers...
It's all getting pretty childish now.
It's been childish from the beginning. This all started from a blog that basically sounds like a 12 year old having a tantrum.
What happened between you and Larry for him to do you like that???
"To Sciborg aka Saajan Patel, you found anything you'd consider "valid criticism" in that hate-filled tirade?? She spun everything in a negative light, misinterpreted everything to make Pat look bad, fraudulously omitted to include the full body of text and use only what she wanted, made wild accusations. Want me to go on?"
Well I was referring to the comment section of the post on the topic at this site actually.
I thought Raj (last I checked one of the final commenters) had summed up the argument without Moon's anger (or vitriol as you may see it).
Personally I would not use Moon's tactics, but I do note that they seem to force conversations about prejudice - no matter what side you are on - that would not otherwise, IMO, take place.
-Sciborg1 aka Saajan Patel
Sciborg, how do you defend the fact that she deletes posts that disagree with her in any way? That's sure as hell not having an open discussion, and I never see it addressed when people try and defend her.
@Grack: I apologize for the length.
"Sciborg, how do you defend the fact that she deletes posts that disagree with her in any way? That's sure as hell not having an open discussion, and I never see it addressed when people try and defend her."
I think the question here is what I'm defending about RoH. My opinion is the site possesses useful reviews with regards to problematic depiction and attitude.
Moon has noted the site is not a social justice site, it is a site for her to post her opinions. The performance rage isn't always my thing but it seems to speak to a certain frustrated segment of SFF fandom.
I don't always agree with her, specifically about Bakker, and I recognize that she might be seen as the "bad cop" and others such as myself or more eloquent people like Raj (flowne) or Larry might be the "good cops".
RoH is more of a catalyst IMO from which opportunities for discussion spark. It is not necessarily a meeting ground, though disagreements and debates have been conducted there.
What is complicated is the safe-space nature of RoH for what seems a different set of SFF fans. There is an openness and solidarity between varied marginalized persons ranging from minorities to victims of sexual assault. Is it this enforcement of what might to many seem an arbitrary/skewed deletion policy that creates this space?
I suspect it is one of the places feel as if they as marginalized persons will be heard, where in other internet SFF watering holes they might be more easily dismissed.
Color me curious, in any case.
-Sciborg2 aka Saajan
Good points, Saajan.
Many people fail to understand that a weblog is not automatically an open forum for discussion. Someone posts an opinion you disagree with on the internet? Well, post your own opinion and reasons on your own weblog - freedom of speech and stuff. There is no 'right' for your disagreement to be hosted on the original blogger's site and there is no 'right' for you to haveyour o-so-important discussion there.
Additionally, someone who posts opinions about rather non-trivial stuff on the internet has no obligation to explain all the theories and facts of the matter to you. The assumption being that the weblog's readership is already familiar with them and has no interest in giving you a lecture (which is one of the reasons why several feminist weblogs simply link to certain 'basic feminism' or 'feminism 101' sites when uninformed people post their uninformed disagreement there). So, if you want to discuss stuff, educate yourself, don't expect others to do it for you.
If RoH's detractors actually cared about the issues and searched her weblog for posting policies, they would know her rules. But they don't care at all but throw tantrums instead, making themselves look like idiots in the process. Especially, because her weblog is supposed to be a safe zone with some special rules (surprise!...), something that everyone with half a brain can deduce from the issues she writes about. But well...
@LV:
I've been thinking about this gulf between groups in SFF a lot, seeing it as a small sampling of the larger population and its treatment of entertainment/politics/kitchen sink.
The challenge here is that there is vast gulf between how people view things and the principles at work.
For many, RoH violates a principle they value - if you are going to engage as a polemicist then you must be open to discussion from all comers.
The challenge being that the rules of discussion are not the same. Moon has a policy of allowing disagreement but low tolerance for tone arguments, lecturing, etc as she notes in her About section.
So to some people they see the deletion of their posts as intellectual dishonesty whereas her supporters see it as blocking arguments that are rehashes of what they've seen before.
This is why I think of RoH as a catalyst rather than a meeting ground for those diametrically opposed, which is not an attack on RoH as its stated purpose is clear.
But this separation goes further, in that people are left with different opinions on politeness, privilege, and the qualifications these bring or don't bring to the table.
For example, I don't see how visiting many countries qualifies one to offer what I see as a presumptuous expertise, all the while realizing I've done that in the past.
The other side sees it as a simple observation that did not warrant a vitriolic attack, and naturally I think they are wrong (even if my own methods of argument might differ from Moon's) and vice versa.
Anyway, I could go on, but I think there's something complex going on in all of this, a microcosm for the greater communities we are a part of.
-Sciborg2 aka Saajan Patel
Post a Comment