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Have you ever gone on a vacation only to come back feeling more tired than before you left? It’s not a good feeling to need a vacation from the vacation, but many of us have experienced that kind of let-down.
The secret to overcoming this feeling is planning some good, productive blocks of “work time” into your restful vacation.
No, I am not a workaholic. The key difference is that the work you do on vacation needs to be the kind of work that brings you energy… not the kind of work that tethers you to your cell phone or PDA.
While people not interested in lifestyle design may not appreciate this idea, I suspect that many AONC readers will not find the combination of vacations and productivity to be strange at all. The goal of most vacations is to relax, but we often go about it the wrong way. We binge on relaxation the same way we binge on work. It feels good the first day, but by the third day, you may have the same burned-out feeling you get from working too much.
Without a clear set of goals for your vacation, you may not come back feeling relaxed.
That’s why I advocate a process of goal-setting and GTD for vacations that is fairly similar to what I use for the work-week. The projects on the list are much different than work-week projects, but the system is the same.
At the start of any vacation, I set a few goals for myself -- usually just two or three big ones, along with a few small ones such as journaling every day. If you adopt this system, you should set goals that make sense for you, but feel free to steal some of my ideas if you’d like.
Here’s a Few Ideas
-Complete a bigger “weekly review” than usual. This could be a quarterly or yearly review. For several years now, I have completed a full annual review each December while on vacation. It is the most important thing I do that week, and I plan everything else around it.
Later this year, I'll explain more about that process in real time -- but for now, you can create your own review by looking at the major aspects of your life and planning anything you want to change. There are also many good books that can help with this - two of my favorites are Wishcraft and Finding Your Own North Star.
-Work on one or more writing projects. The good thing about being a writer is that I can work anywhere. I don’t even need a laptop all the time (although I do usually take one with me) because I do a lot of my initial work in a paper notebook before transferring it to computer. But even if you’re not a writer by profession, chances are you have some writing projects to work on, and these are usually a good fit for a relaxing week. You’ll likely find you get a lot more done without interruption, and the work is usually free of the stress that comes with being online all the time.
-Exercise Goals. I try to eat sensibly wherever I go, but I do usually end up eating a bit more while on a real vacation. That’s why I always make sure to set some simple goals of exercise during the week, which also helps maintain my regular habits of taking care of myself. I like to run, so my exercise goals revolve around that, but depending on where you are vacationing, you may also be able to swim, bike, or just take long walks.
Live from Alaska
By the way, I actually wrote the notes for this short essay in June while on vacation myself, from a cruise ship on the Alaskan inside passage. And in between all those big dinners and bread pudding desserts, I set aside a morning to run a full marathon (26.2 miles) while on the open sea. You can read the whole story here, but the short version is that it was an intense, crazy experience that I probably wouldn’t repeat, but I’m tremendously glad that I did it.
I knew I would have a good story to tell, and I enjoyed the bread pudding a lot more afterwards. Then, I went back to my room and did some more writing.
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The Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare
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As a self-employed writer and entrepreneur, I don’t normally have much to do with resumés. I do maintain one of my own, but it’s more of an academic CV that gets used only for academic applications. Otherwise, I’ve never really applied for a job or had a use for my own job-applying materials.
I don’t do much hiring either, but every once in a while I get the chance to sort through applications for non-profit jobs. I got that chance last week, and I learned a lot through the experience.
More than anything else, I learned a few things not to do if I ever apply for a job. And if you’re in that position, pay attention to this essay – I can’t guarantee that everyone will process resumés the way I do, but I’d expect that a lot of these principles will be universal.
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Greetings from my home city of Seattle, Washington. For the first time in six months, the monthly update comes to you live from World Domination Headquarters, conveniently located in my…
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The first time I went to Vienna, I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. I was tired after a two-week trip to Africa, and headed back to the U.S. a couple days later. The dollar had hit another all-time low against the euro the day before my arrival, providing even less motivation for visiting an expensive European city I expected to find crawling with tourists.
All that to say that the city of Vienna completely surprised me by how truly beautiful it was. From start to finish, virtually everything about my stay went right. From the airport I took the express CAT train to the Landstraße station, where I changed to the underground metro. At the city station, an Austrian Airlines check-in desk allowed me to check in to my ongoing flight even though it was two days away. I took my boarding pass for a flight that wasn't leaving for 36 hours, which I didn’t even think was possible until they handed it to me.
Walking down to the subway, a guy approached me, saying something I didn’t understand. “Entschuldigung, ich spreche kein Deutsch,” I replied, using a full third of my German vocabulary.
“Oh,” he said in English. “Can you please spare 90 cents?”
I’m always impressed by multilingual panhandlers. In America they could work for the U.N., but elsewhere in the world they have to ask for spare change in the subway. Anyway, the metro line took me exactly where my directions said it would, and I found my hostel a few short blocks away.
If this sounds normal, it’s not—I have a recurring experience of getting lost nearly everywhere I go, usually with my bags and often for an hour or more. It’s a small miracle when I successfully arrive at my destination in an unfamiliar city without getting lost at least once.
The hostel was just what I needed: a small dorm room with a writing desk and a window that looked out over a pretty courtyard. After dropping off my bags, I walked to a bakery I had seen on the way in. The sun was shining and I sat outside for 40 minutes, sipping cappuccino and brainstorming some notes for a business project. Life is good, I thought.
That evening I did some more business work and went running along the river Wien. It was incredibly relaxing and served as a good capstone for my first day in the city.
***
The next day was much the same—perfect chocolate croissants, friendly people, fun streets to wander. The skies were overcast and it rained off and on throughout the day, but I live in Seattle, so that didn’t bother me.
At the end of the trip I decided two things: first, I love Vienna and will start using it as a Star Alliance hub city instead of Frankfurt from now on. Second, I realized that part of what I like or dislike about certain places has to do with fairly narrow, personal standards. Is it a nice country to run in? Are there fun discoveries to be made? Of course there always are, but are they my kind of discoveries?
I hope I’m not becoming materialistic. At any rate, I do try to find beauty wherever I am. And by these admittedly personal and quirky standards, Vienna is beautiful. I spent my last morning at my favorite café, where I had gradually become amazingly fluent in ordering various kinds of coffee and croissants. This might not get me a job at the U.N., but it’s a good skill for my own travel needs.
When I went back to the airport, I headed straight to departures thanks to the boarding pass I received two days earlier. I left Vienna and traveled further east to Romania, which I expected to be a fairly direct contrast to everything I found in Austria.
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The Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare
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I read an interesting article about Applebee’s last week. Personally, I don’t like Applebee’s or its numerous imitators – not eating burgers, chicken tenders, or something they call “riblets” kind of limits the menu of the average Americana-themed restaurant for me – but I enjoyed the analysis of how these kinds of places are trying to survive in an economically challenging environment.
My favorite part was when the CEO was asked why Applebee’s and IHOP (also owned by the company) don’t have healthier choices on their menu. People are more health-conscious than ever, right?
“What people want and what they say they want are different,” she said, and as much as I wanted to disagree, I couldn’t.
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Friends and readers, in celebration of the Phelpsian (this is a newly created adjective; Google returns 11,000+ results for it already) achievements that you and I are on track for, I thought it would be important to show how winning eight Olympic Gold medals in nine days is still not enough to please everyone.
Check it out in the three-minute video below.
(Newsletter and RSS readers, I have no clue how this will display in your browser. If you don’t see anything, just click through to the site.)
If you can’t see it for some reason, try using this direct link from Google Video.
***
The last time I posted a video update, I got good reviews from everyone who was able to view it, but naturally some readers with slow connections were not able to do so. There’s really no easy way to fix that.
The reason I make videos is because it’s a different medium than writing, and different people like to consume different forms of media. Think about podcasts, books, magazines, blogs, etc. If you can use one more than one form of media in your army-building, so much the better.
With the help of Ken the professional videographer, I’ve recorded one more update like this that should go up in a couple weeks. After that, we’ll make more based on how you all like them.
Oh, and speaking of Michael Phelps, have you all heard the news about how he has been returned to his tank at Sea World?
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The Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare
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You might expect that a hotel which offers its cheapest room for €299 ($440) a night would be pretty luxurious. Here in the city of Valletta on the island of Malta, I’m staying at the Le Meridian Phoenicia, where I noticed the room rates sign at the check-in desk.
Of course, I’m not paying €299; I’m staying here for free using my Starwood points, where the same room goes for a bargain rate of 7,000 points a night. This turns out to be a smart decision for more reasons than one.
From the web site, the place looks gorgeous. Visiting in person, it looks like it was possibly gorgeous about 30 years ago.
I’m given a real key to my room instead of a room card, and when I get there via the creaking elevator that holds a maximum of three people, it doesn’t work. I head back downstairs with my bags for an apology and a new key.
My dusty room has a no-smoking sign on the wall and an ashtray on the desk, which of course I find amusing. I drink three glasses of water from the tap, and it tastes like drinking straight out of a swimming pool. As I set the glass down for the third time, I notice a picture near the sink that seems to imply that the drinking water is unsafe. Too late for that, and I’m sure not opening the mini-bar to pay for mineral water.
The Cocktail Party
At check-in, I was also given an invitation to a “Management Cocktail Party” at 6:30 that evening. I’m not sure what to expect, but on the principle that you should never turn down a free drink from a $400 hotel, I decide to attend. After resting in my room and watching French TV for an hour, I put on my nicest clothes (which aren’t very nice after a week of traveling without any laundry opportunities) and head downstairs to the lounge.
I take a free glass of bad chardonnay and check out the room. In a full ballroom, I observe that I am the youngest person by about 80 years. Okay, maybe it's more like 30 years… but it certainly seems like everyone else here has come straight from the nursing home for cocktail night at Le Meridian.
There is a French corner and a British corner, but other than the language, you couldn’t tell them apart. Every single person is white, old, and looks strangely comfortable in this ancient hotel. It’s like a reunion of the Greatest Generation from both sides of the channel. I try to take a quick photo as inconspicuously as possible while balancing my chardonnay and a handful of peanuts, but it doesn't come out well. A waiter gives me a bad look, so I put the camera back in my pocket.
a•nach•ro•nism. noun. something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, esp. a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time.
Later I run four miles around the city and down by the seaport. The hospital ship I worked with for four years in West Africa was registered here in Valletta, and more than 20 years ago it had docked in the city for registration and maritime certificates. I enjoy running along the docks of each side of the water, wondering which quay our ship had docked at and thinking about my memories of those amazing days from 2002-2006.
Afterwards I wander through the town, eventually buying an olive calzone to take back to my room at the hotel. The next day I run some more, explore the fort, and after another night of takeout olive calzone (no free drinks on your second night, apparently) I check out of the anachronistic Le Meridian.
I ignore the taxi drivers waving to me outside and take the bus back to the small airport. I'll be flying back to Vienna, and the strange visit now feels eerily comfortable to me, just as it apparently does to the centenarians at the hotel. I'm writing these short notes in the departure lounge, and now it's time to leave this island nation behind and return to the continent.
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The Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare
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I have survived as an entrepreneur for 10 years not because I am inherently good at most aspects of running a business. I am a terrible salesperson, I get bored easily, I don't like busy-work or higher math, and I have the classic ADD personality.
None of this is tremendously helpful in business, and in a lot of ways, it's made things more difficult than they are for other, more balanced people.
Instead, I trace my success at survival to two key skills: first, I am a decent copywriter. Writing well really does help you do a lot of things. Second, I have a fairly good understanding of the twin concepts of price and value.
There are some other "life skills" that are also important -- notably, persistence -- but in terms of specific business skills, that's pretty much all I've got. And for the most part, it works just fine, if a bit haphazard at times.
Today I thought I'd tell you about the second skill of understanding price and value, and I'll do so with a real-life case study from the launch of my first AONC product. I'll tell you what I did wrong, what worked well, and why I chose to market the product the way I did.
Ready?
First, all understanding about the whole subject of pricing comes from one critical principle:
Whenever we spend any amount of money, we undertake a complex, emotional analysis of price and value.
This process is hard to overstate, and few of us are immune. In fact, it is pretty difficult to buy much of anything without going through the process. It's often subtle or even subconscious, but it's definitely real. We often have expectations for how much something should cost, and when our expectations are unmet, we respond with emotion.
- BAD Feeling (skepticism, uncertainty) - "Wow, that's so expensive. Is it really worth it?"
- GOOD Feeling (happiness, fulfillment)
- "Wow, it's on sale! I'm getting a great deal!"
These feelings are not always rational -- have you ever known someone who will drive 30 miles to save a couple dollars? Or someone who uses coupons to buy products they don't like?
Like I said, our expectations of value are not entirely rational, but they are very real nonetheless. From a $4 latte to an $8 movie to a $15,000 car, we evaluate purchases based on the expected emotional benefit in exchange for the money we give up to receive it.
When we go to Starbucks, we complain about the $4 latte... but then we go back the next day or next week. Apparently, the latte is worth the price even though we feel a little guilty about the $4.
There is a lot to this - the great book Influence covers the topic in far more detail.
The important thing to understand is that buying something is not simple. There's a lot going on, and that's why it's critically important for businesses to get the pricing right.
If you price something too high, you alienate buyers. People will kick the tires, but most of them won't take the car off the lot without more persuasive selling. That may seem fairly obvious, but the opposite is true as well.
If it's priced too low, this is also a big mistake, because perceived value is directly related to price. People are skeptical of advice on the cheap. Free is good, and reasonable-to-expensive is good, but cheap is bad.
What if you heard about a consultant who works for $9 an hour, would you think, "Wow, what a deal?" I suspect that most people would think, "Wow, they must not be very good."
Again, this may not reflect reality -- perhaps there's an awesome consultant out there who just likes pricing at the low-end -- but true or not, it reflects how we perceive value. When you hear about a $300 an hour consultant, you might not be able to hire her, but you usually respect her. The perception is that a $300 an hour consultant is much better than a $9 an hour consultant.
For another example, say you walked into Best Buy and saw a $99 iPod killer on the shelf. Would you buy it right away?
I suspect not. You'd automatically think it couldn't possibly be as good as a real iPod. You'd be very suspicious, because you expect iPods and even iPod knockoffs to be more expensive because they're worth more.
Those are somewhat hypothetical examples, but you get the idea. Let's take a look at a real-life, recent, highly-personal example.
The UGDA Case Study
As many of you know, last week I released my first commercial product, the Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare. This was definitely a labor of love and an emotional investment for me, because I've spent a lot of time working on the AONC site and building an audience over the past five months.
For anyone who believes that bloggers shouldn't sell things, let me assure you that there are a lot easier ways to make money. But on the other hand, I passionately believe that artists should be allowed to make money. (I wrote that post in part to preempt complaints about creating an online shop in addition to my free essays and other content.)
Since I've been an online entrepreneur for ten years, I'm not normally indecisive with pricing. I can usually look at something and know fairly quickly how much it should cost. But since this was a new market and my first "branded" product, I was a little nervous.
Before the launch, I sent off some emails to people I know and trust to get their advice on pricing. Unfortunately, there was no consensus.
My internet marketing friends, who sell ebooks every day for $67, $79, or $97, took a look at the guide and said I should price at $49. "Look at what you are giving people," said one.
"You're telling them how to get access to airline lounges, the truth and lies about upgrades, how to get elite status without flying, and on and on. This is worth hundreds of dollars."
Yes, that's all true. But I felt uncomfortable pricing at the $49 point -- I really wanted it to be more accessible. On the other hand, a few other respected experts said I should price lower than I expected.
$14.95, said one. $18 max, said another.
Yikes - I was equally uncomfortable with that idea. There is real value in the information I provide, and if I was selling it on the cheap, I'd rather just give it away. I'm not a mass-marketer; this is a niche product, and the average airfare costs $413 in North America. If someone can't afford $25, I don't mean to be insensitive, but they probably don't do much flying.
Thus, I had to make my own decision, and as much as I dislike the middle ground, that's what I went for - $24.97. I might sell more copies at a rock-bottom price point, and I might make more money selling at a higher price, but such is life with pricing decisions. You just have to make a decision and see how people respond.
So, how was the response?
Well, I won't be retiring to Monaco anytime soon, nor can I rely on this as anything close to a full-time income... but I think I have the potential to build a nice little business over the next year.
There were a couple people who complained about the price, and a couple people who said after reading the guide that they gladly would have paid more. I can live with that kind of healthy tension.
Oh, by the way - social proof is another important part of the price and value correlation. We'll have to cover this later, but in short, social proof is the public display of what other people think about your work.
Here are the early reviews, from real-life people:
I feel like I’ve stolen the book for that price. Well worth the investment. -Elliot Webb
And here's another, from Naomi who writes from Ontario over at Ittybiz:
"While I admit it takes a shotgun to my head or a hefty handful of Xanax to get me on an airplane -- I seriously considered taking a boat to Bali for my honeymoon -- sometimes it has to be done. This book actually makes flying seem kind of fun. Very informative, value packed, no fluff. The guide to airport lounges alone was worth the cover price. If you don't save money after reading this book you are quite frankly too stupid to be allowed on a plane without a chaperone."
(You may have noticed that Naomi is quite a direct person. Don't be offended. She's a friend.)
I have a lot more feedback like that, and I'll publish some of it on the product page over the next week or two. Elliot wrote his note to me at the same time someone else (who did not purchase) sent me a long rant telling me how expensive the guide was and how I was doing a disservice to the world, all marketing an evil, etc. I appreciated reading Elliot's note right after hearing from the unhappy person.
Despite the fact that the launch went well, there's always a few things you can learn from any success.
Here's my list of what-to-do-better in the future:
- I should have included a 2-page sample.
Someone said that they would like to know more about what they are getting. You guys are correct, and I've fixed that. Here's the sample. The sample is representative of the practical information included on each page of the guide.
- The length could have been extended.
This is the ultimate pricing paradox, and I've thought a lot about it. I've bought a few dozen ebooks over the years, and about half of them have cost me $49 or more. Almost all have provided good value, but almost all have been a bit too long for my taste.
There is inevitably a lot of good content but also a lot of fluff in the average ebook, and I wanted to avoid that with mine. I focused entirely on practical strategies and tactics, and left the fluff out. (There's no blank pages for notes, for example, or long checklists that take up extra pages.)
However... I now realize that some people decide on value based on a price-per-page basis.
If you think about it, this is highly irrational. If someone drew you a treasure map, would you worry that it was only on one page? But as noted previously, most purchase decisions involve more emotion than rationality. Thus, even though I offer free lifetime updates and will be adding more to the guide in the future, I probably should have had a few extra pages in there. Point noted.
- Lastly, I couldn't do it this time, but in the future we'll do a better job with segmentation.
I got emails from the U.K. and Australia asking for localized versions. I got emails asking for a higher-priced, higher-end version for business travelers most interested in flying First Class. I got emails from India and elsewhere asking for a bare-bones (but cheaper) version.
We're working on these ideas. I have to find the right balance there (i.e., I don't want 10 different guides for the same subject), but it's on my mind. For now, I have a makeshift solution for those international readers who are interested. If you're one of them, write me and I'll give you the details.
For the next guide, I'll take each of these lessons to heart and see how to make it even better. I'm working on it already, but it won't be coming out for a while. Like the first one, it's better to do it right than to do it quickly.
***
Getting Back to Basics
There's no way to eliminate the emotional process of buying something, but I recommend taking the process into the open. Asking serious value questions - not "What color is it?" or "How many pages is it?" but "How will this improve my life?" helps reduce the tension and ensure better choices. Another good question is, "Do I value this item (or service) more than I value the x dollars it will cost me?"
When I started thinking more about this, I started making different life choices. I made my decision to visit 100 countries by thinking about price and value. I entered and completed a Master's Degree program by thinking about price and value... but then I turned down a Ph.D. program by thinking about the same thing. It wasn't the right time for me.
Your mileage, as they say, will vary. You might not do the same things or make the same choices - in fact, I hope you'll do whatever it is you want to - but when you think carefully about price and value when buying (or selling), you'll usually make wiser decisions.
Good luck out there.
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I spent the evening at Barnes & Noble last night, and did a lot of reading in the café area. I spent most of the time reading the first part of Haruki Murakami’s new book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. It’s part running log, part self-help guide, and part writing memoir. I love it.
I read a few other things too – the BBC Focus on Africa magazine, a travel guide for Sri Lanka, and a quick look at a memoir of someone who spent two years at Harvard Business School.
I tend to spend a lot of time reading like that, although recently I’ve cut back. That’s not a good sign – I believe reading is one of the most important things we can do every day – so I’m working on fixing it.
The regular intake of valuable resources, especially books, is crucial to the development of any committed world-changer.
In this post I’ll share more about why reading is so important, and let you know about a few other materials I’ve been checking out recently.
First, let’s say you’ve got your two answers to the most important questions in the universe, you’re building a small army, and preparing to launch a plan of attack (or scale up your current plan). How do you keep the momentum going?
Without regular doses of the right resources, your world-changing will be limited, and that momentum will shift downwards. Since we live in an age where access to information has been democratized (at least for everyone able to read this essay), there’s no real excuse for not taking the time out to learn.
Good resources can inform, inspire, or entertain. These goals are not mutually exclusive; some resources can accomplish more than one at the same time.
Fiction
I try to read at least one work of literary fiction a month. I recently read Never Let Me Go and Baudolino, both of which I’d wholeheartedly recommend. Earlier this year I read The Rector of Justin and re-read A Wild Sheep Chase, another Murakami book. I picked up Harbor for the last trip, but it didn’t arrive on time, so I’ll have it for the next one.
For less intellectual entertainment resources, I check out the Fail Blog, GraphJam, and a few online comics.
Non-Fiction
Some of my all-time favorites are linked on my Inspiration page. In addition to those, recently I’ve discovered The Power of Full Engagement and have been slowly reading that.
Earlier this year I also read The 7 Habits for the first time ever. For some reason I missed it in its original shining hour, but reading it felt very familiar. I realized that I lot of the principles and examples in the book have been adapted (and sometimes stolen without credit) by many other writers and teachers in the personal development field.
I have to admit that I thought a bit less of the people I’ve learned from who used Stephen Covey’s stories without any attribution. Maybe I should read The 8th Habit next and see what else has been stolen.
(Note to Prospective Gurus: if you want to become a self-help teacher, by all means, use the best stuff that’s out there. But you should also create your own material, and credit what you do end up borrowing or adapting.)
Alternative Learning Styles
I’m an old-school fan of traditional books, and probably always will be. For me, there's something about holding the paper and ink in my hands that isn't easily replicable with other mediums. But it’s true that not everyone has the same learning style, and it’s always good to mix it up a bit. When I’m running I usually listen to a 20-minute language learning podcast before switching over to high-energy music for the rest of the run. I’m not an inherently good language learner and don’t always enjoy the process, but once I start the podcast I can usually stick with it until the end.
In addition to language learning, the iTunes directory has an increasingly large selection of free educational resources. There are also video podcasts, which don’t work well while running (I’ve tried and it isn’t pretty; trust me) but can be fun to check out on the bus or airplane.
For paid products, the Teaching Company has some fun courses which I’m sure you can learn a lot from. If I don’t sound too certain, it’s because this is definitely not my learning style. I have a hard time listening to lectures.
(One tip: these DVD and CD products are pretty expensive. You can get a better deal by shopping on eBay for used copies.)
Eliminating Distractions
While I advocate taking in many diverse sources of information, I also agree that you should eliminate as many unimportant distractions as possible. For me, the biggest distraction is internet surfing. I have an incredible ability to spend hours in front of the computer doing nothing of value. An hour will pass and I don’t even remember what web sites I’ve been reading. Yikes—that’s not good.
To end, or at least cut back on this bad habit, I’ve had to set rules for myself. The current ones are:
- Gmail three times a day (no more)
- News-reading twice a day (no more)
- Try to initiate at least one minor-to-moderate project a day (instead of continually responding to other things)
- Complete at least one task towards each major project
- Spend time writing first thing in the morning
- Never feel bad about stopping work to exercise
Speaking of the Murakami book, one passage I read last night was especially relevant.
I’m struck by how, except when you’re young, you really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time and energy. If you don’t get that sort of system set by a certain age, you’ll lack focus and your life will be out of balance. I placed the highest priority on the sort of life that lets me focus on writing… I felt that the indispensible relationship I should build in my life was not with a specific person, but with an unspecified number of readers. As long as I got my day-to-day life set so that each work was an improvement over the last, then many of my readers would welcome whatever life I chose for myself. Shouldn’t this be my duty as a novelist, and my top priority? My opinion hasn’t changed over the years.
Except for being a novelist, that’s pretty much exactly how I feel about what I want to do. But I know I have a lot to learn, so that’s why I keep reading.
What Resources Do You Rely On?
I included some of what I’m reading these days in case you’re looking for referrals, but it’s important to read according to your own preferences.
What’s on your bookshelf – or your iPod, your Kindle, or whatever – these days?
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First – thank you to everyone so far who has purchased my first product, the Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare. I am truly grateful.
If you weren’t here yesterday, you can read more about it in the expected location. Against the conventional wisdom of scarcity, I plan to keep selling and improving it for a long time.
And now -
This is the story in which I am provided a geographic tour of Singaporean prostitutes, reflect on the biggest travel month of my life, and sleep in Changi airport prior to heading back to Hong Kong on the ultimate no-frills airline.
It’s a bit long—if you’re not interested in my travel diaries, you might not like this one. But if you’re up for it, here it is.
The last time I was in Singapore, things didn’t go so well – I walked into the glass door of a Starbucks on Orchard Road. My head recovered quickly, but my pride was wounded for the rest of the day.
Today I’m between Brunei, an odd little country completely surrounded by Malaysia, and Hong Kong on a nice 36-hour transit stop. I arrived mid-afternoon, which means I officially have one-and-a-half nights to spend before catching a 6am flight back to HKG. The first night I had planned to stay in a budget hotel, and the second night I expect to hang out at Changi Airport.
Singapore is the Asian city all travel writers love to hate.
Almost any commentary on visiting here is filled with references to canings and chewing gum. The implication is that Singapore is uptight, militant, and boring. Mention you are going to Singapore among established travel writers, and many will roll their eyes. “Why don’t you go up to Malaysia or down to Indonesia for some real culture?”
Yeah, yeah. Actually, I like Singapore just fine. It has a culture all of its own. Sure, part of that culture is somewhat manufactured – but that doesn’t mean it’s not culture in its own way.
On the train from Changi Airport, I listen to my iPod and say silent prayers for being finished with Brunei and on my way back home. In Singapore I have no schedule or major travel mysteries to solve, and I am happy for that.
The Red-Light Hotel 81
For my one night in the city before sleeping in the airport the next night, I’ve booked the cheapest hotel I could possibly find. Times are hard these days, and that’s just how it goes. The YWCA I stayed in before goes for $90 a night, but I’ve found a cheaper place further out of town in the Geylang district – which also happens to be the red-light district.
When I learn this information about my neighborhood, I’m a little surprised. I had no idea that Singapore even had a red-light district, but indeed they do. I get out of the train and hail a taxi to take me to the hotel. Along the short journey, the driver gives me an unrequested run-down on the prices of the local prostitutes.
“This area here, this is Chinese area. Chinese prostitutes, very expensive—maybe $80!” he says. ($80 in Singapore dollars is about $60 U.S.). He looks back at me for encouragement, but I don’t give him any. Nevertheless, he keeps going.
“Indonesian prostitutes over here—they go cheaper, lah. Maybe $30!”
I tell him I’m only interested in sleeping in my room tonight, but he doesn’t take the hint. “Over here, Malay prostitutes, over there, Thai prostitutes…” and on it goes.
It’s like the ASEAN of prostitutes in this neighborhood, with every nationality assigned its own couple of blocks. When I check in to the budget hotel, a Chinese guy next to me is paying for a stay of two hours. A sign reads “Only two people are allowed in the rooms after 11pm.”
Well, this is definitely not the vibe I get up at the YMCA, which does stand for Young Men’s Christian Association, after all. But the room is clean, and I take a quick shower, leave my bags, and head out to the parts of the city I’m more interested in.
The rest of the day, I walk. First I take the MRT over to Little India, a great neighborhood I’ve never managed to explore before.
Unlike a lot of Chinatowns, it really is like its own, well, little India. After a late lunch of potato curry, I head over to Orchard Road, Singapore’s central shopping area and also a nice place to walk in the early evening. I had just ran about 13 miles in Brunei the evening before, so my legs are pretty tired. I walk along at a slow pace, thinking about the whole trip that will be coming to an end soon.
The next day I head out to Changi Airport for an overnight stay before a 6am flight. I’ve decided to save money again and sleep on the airport floor, which at Changi is usually not as bad as it may sound if you haven’t been there.
Changi is frequently voted the #1 airport in the world, and for good reason. Transit passengers have access to free Xbox gaming consoles, internet-enabled PCs throughout the airport, nice relaxation rooms, a movie theatre, and even an outdoor garden you can sit in to pass the time. If you’re transiting in Singapore between 4 and 24 hours, the city will even send you on a free tour into the city, or give you a complimentary transfer shuttle so you can make your own tour.
In short, if you are going to sleep on the floor of an airport, Singapore is one of your better choices. I had planned to hang out in the garden, get caught up on emails, have a nice dinner at the vegetarian restaurant (yes, they have one of those too), and then crash out down by the Oasis lounge, where reclining chairs are freely provided.
There was just one problem… as there often is when traveling.
I do most of my long-haul travel on the Star Alliance and OneWorld networks, with major airlines like Cathay Pacific, Austrian, Thai, and so on. But I do a lot of side trips on low-cost carriers, which are ubiquitous throughout Asia and Europe.
On this side trip, I was traveling between Singapore and Hong Kong on JetStar Asia, a budget carrier in the truest sense. On JetStar Asia, you can’t even get a cup of water without paying extra for it… and they don’t allow you to bring your own food or drinks on board.
I know, I know – it’s almost as bad as Air Canada or any major U.S. airline. But the most troubling thing to me was that in addition to charging $1.80 for a cup of water, JetStar also does not allow anyone to check-in for a flight more than two hours prior to departure.
I didn’t realize this before I got to the airport, because I frequently get boarding passes for up to 36 hours in advance from other airlines. Then I’m free to cross security to the transit side, hang out in the lounge if I have access, or do whatever I want.
Anyway, I found out about 2pm that afternoon that I would not be able to get a boarding pass for my flight until 4am the next morning. This was definitely an unexpected disappointment, because it meant that my whole plan of spending the night in the transit area would not be possible now.
Happiness and Expectations
Writer Gretchen Rubin is publishing a book on the search for happiness next year, and I’m eager to hear what she has to say about it when the time comes. For me, I’ve learned through travel that happiness is largely related to expectations and perception.
I had been looking forward to the meal and the relatively comfortable place to sleep on the airport floor. With that plan, I’d get up about 5:15 in the morning and walk straight to the gate with boarding pass in hand. But without the boarding pass, of course, none of that was possible.
I’d have to fend for myself in the check-in area (which had less comfortable chairs and no carpeting, just a hard floor), and I would also have to wake up at 4:00, queue for the check-in, go through immigration and security, and then have another hour to wait until the flight actually boarded.
With my expectations dashed, I felt disappointed and unhappy. But when I thought about if further, I realized I had been in far more serious situations before. I mean, just last week I arrived in Pakistan without a visa. This should be easy, right?
I gave myself the “get over it” talk – also known as ass-kicking – and realized further that it was 2pm and I hadn’t eaten anything all day. (The lovely Hotel 81 in Geylang offers the option of two-hour rooms, but no complimentary breakfast.) After I ate some nice fried noodles with chili sauce, I immediately felt better about the situation.
I left my bags at the drop-off office downstairs, and went back into town on the MTR. After walking around Raffles Place for a while, I took the long way back to Changi. There wasn’t anything waiting for me there, and besides, I like to walk. For about an hour and a half, I walked through downtown, going along the Singapore river and then the Boat Quay area. Singapore is usually hot and sticky, but halfway through my walk, it cooled down.
Goodbye, Southeast Asia
My trip was coming to an end, and I was heading home. At 6am I’d be back on the no-frills flight to Hong Kong, then a connection to Tokyo and a long-haul flight across the Pacific the following morning. This trip had been far more tiring than usual, but I also made some good progress towards my long-term travel goal.
I realized I had been in a lot of places recently:
Pakistan – where I arrived without a visa, but then had a great week hanging out in Karachi.
Brunei – which was not really my kind of place, but I did have a great two-hour run and saw The Dark Knight with some Malaysians at the theatre in Bandar Seri Begawan.
San Marino – where I rented a car from the Rome airport and drove 12 hours round-trip to visit the Europe’s smallest republic. What, you don’t remember that story? It’s probably because I haven’t written about it yet. In fact, I may never write about it, because it didn’t go very well. But I did it, and I’ve been to San Marino now.
Mongolia – where I was evicted from my guesthouse—a first for me. It’s over, so that’s good. But it was also cool to see the Genghis Khan Brewery and other interesting cultural sites.
Poland – where I had another great run, also about 13 miles or so along the Vistula riverbank in Warsaw. I also learned I had made my biggest travel mistake ever, but I’ve gotten over it by now.
Northern Iraq, AKA Kurdistan – where I took off from my time in Eastern Europe to visit over a weekend. I was impressed with the culture and felt completely safe the whole time I was there.
Russia, Moldova, and Beyond – where I trekked through the Baltics, on to Russia, on Moldovan Airlines to Chisinau, and a train to Bucharest… before flying back to Vienna.
Yes, it was quite the journey. As I write this out in my journal this afternoon, I realize there’s a good reason why I’ve been so tired lately.
Thankfully, being tired works in my favor when nighttime comes, at least tonight in Singapore. I go back to Changi and enjoy a surprisingly good meal in the subway area below the airport. It also costs half the price of the $9 meal in the real airport, so I’m doubly-content. I buy a beer at the downstairs grocery store (they have one of those at Changi too) and head up to the check-in area, where I’ll make my “bed” on a couple of plastic chairs.
It’s not comfortable and they never dim the bright lights even after the last flight has left, but because I’m so tired I manage to sleep about four or five hours. I wake up sleepy-eyed, but ready to check-in and move on at 4:00 a.m.
I fly back on the uneventful JetStar Asia, but the good news this time is that the flight is half-full. I have a row of three seats to myself, and right after takeoff I fall asleep across the whole row. Nearly three hours go by before I wake up as we descend to Hong Kong, and I’m very thankful for the extra sleep.
Home from Japan
And then, a few hours later, I was heading back to Tokyo on the wonderful Japan Airlines, which provides consistently great service. Hot towels are brought out to everyone in all classes, and everyone gets a welcome drink. The 15 flight attendants, who are all women, are super-polite.
“Excuse me, sir,” says one of them as we are all boarding. “Is it alright if I ask you to please turn off your iPod before the departure?”
Being asked like that puts you in a great mood for the flight. Yes, it is quite alright. Thank you for asking so nicely.
The next morning, I'm on the way across the water, and I watch Kung-Fu Panda and type up these notes for everyone. Next stop, Seattle, my home city. It’s nice to travel, and it’s nice to come home.
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Lately I’ve had a lot of reasons to think a lot about the relationship between Art and Money. There's a lot to say about that subject, and we'll cover it from different angles over the next few months. To kick off the series, here's a quick story from the archives of unhappy people on the internet.
Andrea Scher writes over at Superhero Designs, where she also sells homemade jewelry and does commercial photography. For five years and counting, she’s provided regular inspiration for a hyperactive community of women, fellow artists, and self-proclaimed superheroes.
So anyway, last week Andrea announced that she would be doing a site redesign, and the new site will include a few spaces for sponsors in the right column. This is the normal protocol for full-time bloggers – build a community, write for free, and have some advertisers on the right-side that help pay the bills. That’s not my plan here, but I have no problem with people who do it that way.
No big deal, right? Well... in the comments section of an otherwise tame blog, a few people felt like the world had ended. Here’s what some of them had to say:
- “it is not right to put an ad on your beauty. it is not healthy for everything to be for sale. this is a cultural sickness.” -kelly
- “I really never thought I would see ads on your Superhero Journal. I won't read it anymore because I am tired and sickened by the selling of America. You can paint it and dress it in pearls but that's what this is. ADS. Ads. ads. I feel so sad.” –penelope
- “i am opposed to advertising impacting every aspect of our existence and I wish more of us would keep boundaries around our creative space and say ‘this is not for sale!’" -katie
Someone even compared Andrea to a cocaine dealer and email spammer – yes, seriously. It reminded me of this article in my favorite non-newspaper, The Onion.
Really, putting an ad on a blog is as bad as selling cocaine? It seems that the hyperbole of the internet takes over in full force with some blog commentors, who strangely enough don’t usually provide links to their own blogs.
Of course, most people aren’t that silly. There were dozens of positive comments posted on Andrea’s blog supporting her decision, with 95% of the people expressing their appreciation for all of the free inspiration she continually brings to her community. In the end I have no doubt that she will benefit more from the exchange than if no one had complained at all.
But most of us tend to focus on – and worry about – the complainers who want to hold everyone down to the level of average.
I talked to someone from San Diego the other day and mentioned the singer-songwriter Jason Mraz, who lives there. “I really like his music,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said. “Although now that he is all famous and everything, he no longer plays coffee shops, so I don’t like him as much.”
You hear this kind of attitude a lot about musicians. Now that he can afford to have a house and buy health insurance for his family, Dave Matthews sucks. Coldplay was cool before they started selling out arenas, but now they are the band everyone loves to hate.
(The funny thing is that Coldplay’s new album has been #1 for weeks in most countries that track record sales… so if everyone hates them, who is buying the album? Hmmm.)
When you are a starving artist that lives by donations, that’s cool too. But when you become successful enough that more people want to appreciate your art, all of a sudden you become the target of jealousy and resentment from less successful people.
Unfortunately, it’s not only the critics who feel this way—some artists have a similar complex of their own that holds them back.
I usually end up meeting artists whenever I travel, and I've noticed that some (certainly not all, but a significant minority) seem to have a fear of letting money come anywhere near their art. They think that selling something, anything, is the same as “selling out.” They worry that people will criticize them if they decide to go commercial – and as we can see from Andrea’s recent experience, they’re probably right.
Paradoxically, by not taking the next step in their art, they are severely limiting themselves. Bill Cosby said once, “I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
Being 100% non-commercial is safe and easy – no one can complain, because you work for free. To take it up a level, you have to enter the marketplace.
My Upcoming Cocaine Dealership
Talking about Art and Money is not a hypothetical discussion for me. I won't be putting ads on the site because that’s not really my style, but as I have said from the beginning, I have no objection to people earning money from their art form.
With that in mind, I’m creating a series of Unconventional Guides that will be offered for sale here on the site. The guides will feature 100% practical information focused on specific topics related to Life, Work, and Travel. In the guides I’ll explain exactly how I travel around the world, pay relatively little for airfare, earn money without a job, and so on.
More importantly, I’ll explain how you can do the same, or even better—how you can use the strategies to do whatever it is that you are interested in.
The first report is called the Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare and will launch on Wednesday morning. I’m pretty excited about it. In 31 pages of specific strategies and tactics, I’ll tell you exactly how you can become your own travel guru and pay a lot less for plane tickets than virtually everyone else out there.
Of course, the guide will be professionally designed, include free updates for life, a complete satisfaction guarantee, coffee refills at Starbucks, etc.*
(*The coffee refills may not happen. But everything else will.)
I already know that some people will love this. I get emails every day asking for this kind of information, and I spent a lot of hours writing the Discount Airfare guide. I'll be surveying the readers who purchase it to determine which guide I should write next, and to keep it as accessible as possible, I'll price the guide a lot lower than market value.
Other people won’t love it or just won’t need the information, and that’s fine too – that’s why it’s a paid product, so that those who can benefit from it will buy it, and those for whom it is not relevant for can sit it out. No problem. Assuming this guide is well-received, I’ll be making more of them, and maybe something else will be a better fit for you. Or maybe not, and that’s also OK, because my writing on the site will always be free.
But if someone thinks I’m as bad as a cocaine dealer for selling products that improve people’s lives, well, they’ll just have to think that, because I could probably not convince them otherwise.
For everyone else, I hope you like it. I’ll see you on Wednesday with more details about the guide, and an order link for those who are interested.
###
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Almost without exception, the hundreds of people I’ve met in dozens of countries are nearly always happy to meet an American. Most people are smart enough to separate a government’s policies, which they may or may not agree with, from an average citizen who happens to be traveling in their country.
As previously reported, I often end up having the same conversations over and over in different parts of the world. I don’t always respond to the usual “Where are you from?” icebreaker question right away, but after talking with someone for a few minutes, I don’t hesitate to say I am from the U.S.A.
In Pakistan, where I spent the better part of last week, this was certainly the case. The stock dialogue usually goes like this:
“Oh, you are from America. That is a very nice place!”
“Yes, well, Pakistan is nice too. I’m happy to be here.”
“Really? You like it here?” (They usually sound a bit surprised.)
“Yes, very much.”
And so it goes, ad nauseum, the same conversation everywhere with a few variations.
On the way back to the Karachi airport after my four-day visit, the taxi driver and I have this conversation for a while, and then he leans forward and says, “You know, I want to tell you something about America.”
As he says this, I have déjà vu all over again. I have seen this movie before, and I know exactly what comes next.
“American people very nice,” he says, sounding like a Pakistani Borat. “Pakistani people like American people very much.”
Yes, I know what comes next, because I’ve heard it in Uganda, in Vietnam, and Romania.
“But Mr. Bush,” he says. “We don’t like him or Mr. Musharraf.” (Mr. Musharraf is the president of Pakistan, although he’s in the process of being impeached this week.)
Then there are the references to Guantanamo, Iraq, the difficulty of getting visas to the U.S., and so on. It’s usually a bit depressing to hear the litany, and there’s not much you can say except “Sorry about that.” But this time, since we’re closing in on November, I have a better response.
“Well,” I say, “We are having an election in America very soon, and next year there will be a new president.”
And here is the part of the conversation I did not expect, the one variation in the simultaneous love of America and indictment of post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy that I hear pretty much everywhere.
“Yes! The election!” the driver says, taking his hands off the wheel and looking at me in the back seat as I frantically watch the road in front of us. “You will have Mr. Obama as president!”
I laugh at this unexpected statement. Should I try to explain that Obama has not yet been elected, and there is in fact another candidate in the race? It’s probably too complicated.
“You know of Mr. Obama?” I ask.
“Of course,” he says. “Everyone here is talking about him.”
After careful deliberation, the taxi drivers of Karachi have apparently decided to endorse Obama in the American election. When I ask my driver what he and his friends think of the other candidate, he says, “You mean Mrs. Clinton?”
***
One of the things I love most about traveling is conversations like that one. Every time I meet someone like my driver in Karachi, I walk away with the conviction that I couldn’t make these stories up if I tried. I have my share of misadventures, but I also meet incredible people with ways of life that are completely different from my own. I don't usually have a desire to live my life the way they do - I probably won't be moving to Pakistan anytime soon - but I almost always appreciate how different people view the same world.
Later, at the KHI airport, I sit in the departure area waiting for the check-in desk to open up. I look at the departure sign, which reads as follows:
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
Dubai
Kuwait City
Hong Kong via Bangkok
Colombo
Jeddah via Riyadh
Doha
Two-thirds of the flights are to the Persian Gulf, where laborers head off to work for nine months or more. There are also a lot of kids here, though, and a lot of women who don’t keep their distance from me as much as most of them do in the city.
The check-in begins on time. I go through the second security check. At 1:40 a.m. we finally take off to Hong Kong, with a stopover in Bangkok to drop off two-thirds of the passengers. My next stop is Brunei, a small, sleepy Islamic monarchy surrounded by Malaysia. It’s the last stop on the trip, and after this, I’ll be headed home.
###
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Before I went to Africa in 2002, I had been working as an entrepreneur for about two years. During the first year, I worked at a $50 plywood desk in a corner of my bedroom that was too small and threatened to fall apart whenever I set anything on it. It did the job for a while, but as I spent more and more time sitting there, it quickly got old.
I finally broke down and decided to upgrade. I went to Office Depot and spent nearly $500, a huge sum of money for me at the time, on what I decided to call The Ark.
The Ark, recreated above thanks to a public domain image, was my Command Center. My actual Ark was dismantled when I went overseas, but that's pretty much what it looked like. When you go from a $50 desk that threatens to fall apart at any moment to a desk like that, you feel pretty powerful.
You also get a lot more done.
If you’re going to take over the world, or do pretty much anything worthwhile, you’ll need a Command Center of your own. This Command Center—you can call it a workspace, if you want to be traditional—must enable you to do all the work you need to do to accomplish your goals.
Ideally, a Command Center that suits your own unique abilities will foster your productivity and facilitate a good working environment. You can save money in lots of ways, but don’t skimp too much on a workspace that helps you work well.
Looking through the Office Max and Staples websites, where you can find a decent selection of Command Centers, here are a few that I like:
I chose a selection of different sizes to accommodate varying work spaces. Ideally, you won't shop for a desk like that online -- it's a lot better to do this kind of shopping in person whenever possible.
Other Weapons of Mass Construction
Many good workspaces are not technology centric. I do my best writing with a pen on a legal pad, so be sure to have plenty of pens and paper around even if you usually prefer the computer.
Another important element of your Command Center can be a series of project boards that you can hang up. These project boards – bulletin, dry erase, calendar system, choose your favorite or use them all– exist to keep you focused on what you’re trying to accomplish.
If you’re like me, you have a lot of things going at once, so use several different boards. Put the projects up and start working on them task-by-task.
Here are a few other things you may want for your Command Center:
- A nice chair
- Inbox for your GTD system
- Nearby coffee maker that is as simple or as fancy as you like
- Nice lamp
- Cell phone charger
- Dual monitor system
- Laser printer
- Wireless router
What if your goals call for constant work on the road?
Simply put, if you’re working on the road, you need a Mobile Command Center. To be honest, I find this challenging. As much as I travel, I wouldn’t rely on a mobile model exclusively. I do travel with a laptop, a SmartPhone, and my Moleskin journal… but beyond that, I haven’t worried too much about setting up my show on the road. I once heard of a guy who carried two laptops and a printer with him wherever he went, but that just sounds stressful to me. Lots of other people do this well, though, so maybe you should check with them.
What about artists and other non-business types?
You still need a Command Center. You need a space to create or do whatever it is you do. It doesn’t need to be a whole office—a corner is fine. A coffee shop may work for some people, although as I mentioned above, a stationary space is usually better in the long run. Writers and artists of all kinds are just in need of their own space as anyone else.
***
Your Command Center is your ultimate workspace. It’s where you will plan and accomplish great things. Are you completely satisfied with your working environment? If so, great! You’re ahead of most of the rest of us.
If you’re not satisfied, think about what you need to upgrade. Make a plan to get your own Ark, or whatever you need to make a space of your own. Make it a priority, and as you work on taking over the world—or at least changing it for the better—your Command Center will reward you.
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View previous “getting to” entries here: Getting to India Getting to Moldova Full Trip Reports Archive *** As the Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong lands in Karachi, Pakistan, the…
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Live from Pakistan Greetings from Karachi, the commercial capital of Pakistan. I arrived via Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong and will be here all week. Expect an on-location trip report…
