How much time would it take for you to drastically change your life?
There’s usually 2 schools of thought here – little by little or all at once.
Both work, but if you’re wanting to change a bunch of things at once, I think changing your location is the way to go.
Which leads to an interesting thought experiment:
How much would that actually cost? How long would that really take? Could you actually do it?
Now most people dismiss this out of hand.
- I don’t have time, money to do that.
- I don’t know anyone.
- I can’t just LEAVE. (actually, you can)
And these excuses work…if you lived 100 years ago.
Because 100 years ago, travel really was tough. You could get around most of Europe from London in 5 or so days, but to go to America or farther took over a week, and there were several parts of the globe that were over 20 or even 40 days of travel!
That’s a long time!
You can take a look at the map below and imagine how long some of your favorite destinations might have taken you to get to if you were born 100 years ago. All your reasons would have been perfectly valid then…
But the blessing (and the curse) is that we don’t live 100 years ago, and those excuses (whether you want them to or not) don’t work anymore.
Nowadays, by comparison, there’s almost nowhere in the world you can’t get to in less than 2 days.
Literally, in 48 hours, you can be on the other side of the planet.
Take a look at a similar map, but adjusted for today’s travel times.
Gnarly, huh?
Oh, and the costs? Most people back then didn’t travel because they didn’t have money. They also didn’t really do “vacation.” If you traveled, you were going for a while, did it for your job, and maybe were uprooting the whole family to move permanently to your new location (after all, it takes 80 days round trip).
Okay, today most people still don’t travel (unless it’s somewhere safe like Florida), but it’s cheaper than ever.
Most tickets (round trip at that) can be bought for less than $2,000 – even less if you use miles or travel hacking. But for the most part, $2,000 and 48 hours will get you there.
Again, $2,000 might sound like a lot, but it’s $5.50/day for a year. And, while 48 hours might seem like a long couple days (and it would be), people spend it on Netflix marathons or playing video games without thinking.
Want to change your life? Change your location.
In 1914, it took people 40 days to go from London to Asia. Now, it’s less than a day.
Take a second to think about what that means. That means that you can do things right now (little ole you) that the richest person in the world 100 years ago couldn’t dream of doing.
I’m going to say that one more time.
You can do things right now that the richest person in the world 100 years ago couldn’t dream of doing.
A couple of examples from my own life in the last 2 years.
I flew from San Diego to Seychelles (through NYC – which, for the record, is the wrong way around the world). Less than $350. 36+ hours.
I flew from San Diego to Cape Town, South Africa (just about as far away as I could fly on the planet). $800ish. 36 hours.
Good deals and some timing were involved, but it’s possible.
However, like most things, if you’ve already decided it’s too hard, it will be too hard.
But it’s not just about travel…
No matter how much you think your life sucks, 100 years ago people would look at you like the devil if you showed up playing Pokemon Go on your iPhone and complaining that you can’t do more interesting things with your life.
They’d call you a witch with your glowing magic rock and burn you at the stake.
The bottom line:
GET SOME PERSPECTIVE
If you want to change your life – you can do it. You just have to decide to.
Your excuses suck. Give them up already. Spend the time doing something impossible instead.
If you want to change your location – you can do it – for 48 hours and $2,000 (and it probably costs much less and takes a lot less time).
Where are you gonna go?
If you want to travel more, the best resources for you to follow are:
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Love the maps, and the message!
Impossible and Chad Howse (of Average 2 Alpha, even though I don’t dig all that “alpha” male cornball shit) are the only blogs I dig, read, and subscribe to, and actually READ every post. I actually look forward to them, especially since for instance this was just what I needed to read at this point in my life. So thanks, Joel…
“$2,000 might sound like a lot, but it’s $5.50/day for a year” – that’s what struck me in this post.
Cool maps, and yes, it’s ridiculous the lives we live these days … great post!