Adventures in Lifestyle Design from a Path Less Traveled
Travel Around Thailand 1 – Preparation
Over the past month or so my girlfriend and I have been pretty busy. In case you haven’t really been following my blog lately, or you just scroll to the bottom of my weekly posts to see my clickbank screen shots without actually reading the text, I am going to travel around Thailand for about 2 months.
My girlfriend and I are leaving Sea-Tac Airport for Bangkok on September 28th and we will be returning on December 7th. I’ve been slaving away on these websites for the past year, and sometimes I’ve asked myself why I’m doing this only to scrape by at half or one-third of what I used to make in an office. But taking a 2 month vacation kind of makes up for it :) How many desk jobs will give you more than 2 weeks off per year, let alone 2 months?
Anyway, I tried Tim Ferriss’ tips for getting cheap tickets that he mentions in the 4 Hour Work Week. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an outrageously cheap deal. Tickets ended up costing about $1000 each, but still, we’re going which is better than spinning our wheels obsessing over $50 here or there.
We also made friends with some Thai people that work at a Seattle Thai Restaurant called Rom Mai Thai. If you are ever in Seattle, check it out. This place is really good! They’ve helped us prepare for what to expect and learn a few tips for dealing with an unfamiliar culture. Plus they are probably two of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life, which makes me feel more comfortable going to Thailand.
Last weekend, we also went to the Thai Language and Culture Meetup Group here in Seattle to see if we can get any tips. People there were really friendly, but I started to feel really in over my head.
Personally, I am terrified of not being able to read anything or communicate with anyone, so I’ve made a set of flashcards of the Thai alphabet and I’ve been going through that in addition to learning some basic phrases. Currently, I’m pretty sure I’ll end up curled up in some alley in Bangkok having a nervous breakdown from being overwhelmed by everything.
Well, at least I look sort of like a farang (foreigner), so no one will really expect me to speak Thai. But from what I understand, I’m probably going to get charged higher prices on things because they (falsely) assume that foreigners like me are loaded with cash. I’m sure I will sorely disappoint them.
I’m still looking for a place to stay. I’ve been finding pretty good deals on Mr Room Finder. Everyone else I’ve found is asking ridiculous prices. I even found a place that was going to charge 8,000 per month. At first I was really excited because I thought it was baht, but then I noticed it was actually US dollars and I felt heavily disappointed. Who the hell would pay $8000 a month to rent a studio apartment anyway!?!
While we’re there, my girlfriend and I are planning to take yoga lessons (probably at Yoga Elements Studio). And we’ll also be taking two short trips down to Krabi (and maybe Malaysia and Singapore) and then up to Chiang Mai for the Loy Krathong festival in November.
Anyway, I’ve got a lot to do. Plus I’m moving out of my apartment this week too. What a pain! Can I just fast-forward to about a month from now?
Other Popular Posts:
Comments
Leave a Reply
Dude sounds like you’re going to have tons of fun. Bummer about your moving out this week though. Doh! Hey you might want to check into couchsurfing.com I think they’re still around and probably a great place to get some hookups for free lodging. Lookin forward to hearing more about your trip.
Also are you going to be placing “earnings updates” while you’re gone? I’d fascinated to see if you earn more or less. We’d REALLY get an idea of how “auto pilot” or hands off this business really is.
You could check out helpx.net, i think they might have some hosts in thailand. that might get you a place to stay in the beginning while you look more locally for a place to stay.
One of these days I want to helpx over in france or something and learn to make french cheese and wine!
I just checked and helpx has about 19 ‘hosts’ in thailand so there is always the option of working on a farm for your room and board!
good luck with your trip, and dont’ worry about being over your head, once you get there you will pick things up no problem. nothing beats immersing yourself in a foreign language!
P.S. I am curious how much traffic you get at your sites and what kinds of conversion ratios you have. would you be willing to divulge this kind of info? Thanks again!
@Justin, Yeah, I’ve been checking out couch surfing. Might come in handy during my shorter mini-trips to the north and south.
I’ve neglected some of my sites for a few months at a time while I worked on other sites, so I know that these websites run on autopilot–at least in the short-term. I’m definitely going to keep doing income updates while on the road though.
@Brad, Thanks for the tip. I’ve never heard of helpx.net, but I’ll look into it. after spending a year cramped up in coffee shops doing this stuff, putting in some manual labor on a farm actually sounds quite nice.
About stats… I’ve got two sites that get about 5000 visitors / month, one that gets 3500, one 2500, one 2000, and one 900 (newer). I still need to sort out my clickbank tracking ID’s on all of my sites, but on the 3 that do have TID’s: For August, I’ve got 1:19, 1:40, and 1:79 for orders to hops conversions. I don’t get tons of hop clicks, but I’ve been lucky to have really good conversion rates :)
Don’t have to worry not able to read or speak Thai. You and your girlfriend will be fine. Use single simple words usually works. Sometimes they have a calculator, so just punch in the amount you are willing to pay when shopping, lol.
Hey Clayton,
Hope you have a blast in Thailand. Dont sweat not being able to speak Thai too much, I understand that people there are generally really friendly and helpful. In my experience making any sort of effort to communicate in the native language goes a really long way to winning people over.
I leave for the Philippines tomorrow afternoon and have had my nose buried in a Tagalog language guide all day. Hopefully I will pick up some basics to help smooth communications, although I understand that English is widely spoken.
Have a blast mate
Rodderz
Thailand is great and the people are great! I am traveling at the moment and spent 6 months there. Language barrier not a problem most of the time.
I used to get the hotel staff to write down my destinations in thai, worked a treat every time!
Have a top trip! (Just dont get in a tuk tuk if they offer to take you around all the sites for 20 Baht!:)
Jonny
@Lilian, Thanks for the tip. I think I’ll be able to keep myself from getting in too much trouble as long as I know the most important phrase for any traveler to know: “I’m sorry”
@Rodderz, Yeah, I know what you mean. I was in Italy once trying to get a hotel room on Capri and the hotel owner didn’t speak a lick of English. I tried my best to communicate with him, but for the life of me, my Italian just plain sucked. Finally I broke down and asked him if he spoke Spanish and his face just lit up. Smooth sailing from there :)
Have a great trip to the Philippines. All the Tagalog I know is “surap surap!”
@Jonny, That’s a good tip. I’m starting to learn the Thai characters, which is actually fun for me. I can sort of half-way read Thai writing. Yes, I’ve heard bad things about tuk tuks…
hey Clayton,
You still owe me a beer in Singapore! ;)
@how to get a hot girlfriend, You know it! Looks like I’ll probably be there the first week of November. We’ll work something out once I know for sure :)
PS: Nice-looking website!
Enjoy Thailand. If you ever do decide to visit New Zealand, then I can give you some help planning it real cheap. For instance check out www– .standbyrelocs.–com (not an affiliate and did not want to make this a live link hence the lines). Cheap way to get to see Australia and New Zealand. In Christchurch the motorhome crowd is at the airport, (about 15 min from CDB where Affilorama HQ is). If you ever do decide you can e-mail me (the e-mail you have on record is my main e-mail) and take it form there. I have done Christchurch to Auckland 4 times (over a few years). Enjoy Thailand and feel free to contact me when you ever decide to visit NZ.
[...] trip to Thailand is creeping up fast and I’m starting to feel a little under-prepared. Thankfully I learned [...]
[...] Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of posts this month. I’ve been totally snowed under trying to wrap up some obligations I had and getting ready to travel around Thailand. [...]
Hallo clay nice too meet u,
I got into this blog from affiliorama forum. your earning just open my eyes about achivement that u already got with AB. did you get all the success using method taught in AB or u use other tools or technique. I will consider to buy AB if that is really works As i still very2 newbie in IM, even I just finished my course about minisite. but seems many obstacles that i still suffer to achive a good or stable earning.
btw thailand is nice place with many good foods. I also live in bangkok since june ’10. i am not a local here but foreign too which do full time job for earning. i still try hard to pursue become a successfull internetmarketer which seems still far from my eyes *0*
best
gon