Bet I can't get worst... Destiny: Hold my beer

Woke up this morning in a hospital bed with a needle in my arm in this country on the other side of our round shaped Earth. Itchy throat and numb hearing from the right ear.

But first, how did I get here? I feel like Wolverine from X-Men in the latest movie called Logan, where Wolverine is old and tired from its numerous adventures. Maybe with my new body age, the self-image should update itself but didn't. Who really feels over 25 in their head?

I have to give it up to my body, been traveling non-stop in wild places for the last 3 months and it's put up with my craziness. Food street, lack of sleep, a bit of party and other excesses. Also, the red "check" light on my inner dashboard has been blinking for a while, especially since dusty and cold Nepal, from where everything seemed to have gone downhill for the last month. 

• New Zealand was a clean and sweet break, although tiring but rewarding.
• Indonesia wasn't a resting place either and about one week ago I could feel my ear clogging and had to see the first doctor. 2 surfing days later(I had to surf, my last chance and there were glorious waves), it got worst and 4 days after antibiotics I only had a running nose and pink eye. 
• Once in Thailand and with the Similan Islands diving in mind, went to another doctor who increased the antibiotics. 
• Next day, I had the most intense fever and head pain of my life and had to stay in bed for the whole day. 
• Fortunately, the day after I felt a bit better and went exploring Phuket on two wheels. I must have driven 7 hours and crashed a scooter for the 2nd time in Thailand, which is amazing since my balance is a bit off with the ear infection. Repaired the scooter broken mirror and cleaned the dirt off my scratches and kept riding. Later at night the doctor from 2 days before told me to check in the hospital because he doesn't know what else to give me.
• 45-minute ride to the hospital just to get an appointment for the next day.
• Yesterday, I finally came and after some more advanced checks, the doctor said I had to be admitted for 3 days because of an acute sinus infection. Called my insurance and now I'm staying in an 800$ per night room that looks better than most recent hotels with a sunset view, great food, with caring cute nurses and a bed that has 10 buttons (my inner geek is in love, it's like driving a low rider).

So here I am in a hospital room with some new friends coming to visit but mostly resting and chilling, which is something that restless souls have trouble with.

Can't wait to go dive in the Similans and seeing Ko Tao again

One last image for all the extreme vegans out there(just because it made me burst out laughing while waiting for the doc yesterday:

37 hits

Nothing like a bit of cold and dirty Nepal, followed by dirty and hot Bangladesh, followed by expensively clean, modern and civilized New Zealand, then amazing tropical Bali and very jungle tropical basic Timor that reminds me of the English Guyana without the violence.

Time keeps stepping in its predefined direction like a migratory bird. I certainly hope I've made my genes proud, succeeding in school, succeeding with the career, succeeding with world exploration and even in the partner searching department. Maybe I tend to overachieve in certain departments and put extra pressure for no obvious reason, but then again don't we all? Maybe my genes would just love to play around with a grandson and have me more attentive to them. Maybe....

Are you living in a loop? Do you feel like your life is passing you by, that you're never really in control of yourself? Waking up tired, altering your tired body with caffeine/sugar/cigarettes/etc to get up on the strong foot.... Funny but I've been traveling for almost 3 months now and I still feel that the coffee is important, that my body is tired, that I feel lonely and can't really connect with people.

Either way, it would be great to take 60 minutes of your time to reflect on how life is recently and in what direction to maneuver it. In those 60 minutes, the first 20 should be to stretch and relax, the second 20 minutes should be to provide the body with light food and lots of water. The last 20 minutes should be to plant the seed of self-reflection.

Here's what came out of mine:

1. I book all my time in order not to feel the lack of self-reflection. Always on my cell phone or on my new computer or on tv when I get the chance. Basically, I'm not comfortable with silence or also known as myself.
2. I feel that this is more common than most people would like to admit and it's that we feel lonely and don't seem to connect to other human beings. The few we respect, admire and trust seem to be unreachable. I sincerely feel that I lack a real life partner with whom to share all my adventures, but in retrospective, I wouldn't be able to have achieved all of my trips in the comfort of a loving heart-bonding soul. I travel sort of to find myself or at least to explore what I have to offer. Now with the 37 candles, I see that my energy is more limited and my body has its limitations. I'm sincerely not happy of losing my youth indestructibility but there's no point in fighting the inevitable and also time to find new things to explore. More people get animals so they don't need to feel the discomfort of dealing with other humans. It seems to happen more when the weight of times greatens.
3. Look for new business ways to generate money, since I feel that half of me is an investor now as opposed to the worker. Maybe even invest in raising the lifestyle bar instead of revenues.
   

Steps to take:

1. Establish limits on my sweet technology addiction by taking walks, doing yoga and meditation, by muting it or putting it away
2. Find a more durable partner with a taste for adventure with whom the relation would grow and we'd push each other in the right direction. Also, organize or participate into more social and cultural events with like minded people
3. Brainstorm with like minded people on how to achieve a better income on investment or how to better manage the spending.
4. Stop wasting time on things that don't impact me directly, like politics, religious beliefs. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and to any argument there’s a counter argument.
   

Since I’m talking about long life partners, some could be curious as of my tastes. I’ve had enough experience to define better what I would need in the longer run.

• Not crazy: I understand that woman live on a constant monthly cycle and sometimes emotions could be overwhelming, but that’s no excuse to be a bully. Communicate and I’d be happy to help or get away for a while. The goal is to enrich our time together and grow.
• Good with money: I did a favor to a poor girl(my ex-wife) before and it came to bit me back in the ass, so heartbreaking sad stories don’t compensate for reality. I’m expecting her to be good at managing money and by definition not poor, not a princess and not a shopaholic. She’d be possibly the mom of our kids and if something happens to me I need someone that I can count on.
• Good family values: I’m a bit too independent and I’d like someone to compensate for that. Good warm family and good values would be more than welcome.
• Adventurous: don’t aspire to be a home mom, it feels like such a lazy way to waste life. Have a career, have a taste for adventure and exploring the world that we could share and try.
• Love pets: I’m definitely getting a Pug :P
• Cuddle: because I wouldn’t be able to live without cuddles from the one that has my heart
• Normal stuff: cute, witty, funny, easygoing but punctual and very sexual since we’d be friends without those

By the way, I’m not interested in marriage. We all have the right to change our minds and wasting resources on lawyers is a pain in the ass since at best we agree and still have to pay for notary fee. If we actually grow together and it’s pleasant to come home, then why would anybody go wander around?

In resume, what would be a good mind in a good body with a good bank account without someone great to share it with?

Your feedback, comments or questions are more than welcome at my personal email braikoff@gmail.com

I’m always happy to share my knowledge and views of the world.

Alex

Planning you life adventure

Hey reader, usually  I like to share personal adventures, but I'll start this blog differently. Because if you've read this, it means you have imagined yourself in the traveler's shoes and here's how to achieve it:
Cut loose all of your attachments/addictions:

• Loved ones (best friends, family, partner)
• Money making activities leaving a good safety on the side
• Debt making possessions (house, vehicles, etc)

Probably 90% of your reticence to leave for adventure is caused by one of those 3.

Health:
The most important aspect of, life in general, is keeping the machine in good shape, so go get vaccinated for EVERYTHING. It's worth the money and the time. Do some workout and drink enough water. Also get a travel insurance, it will be worth your money if you get sick.

Finance:
Put some money on the side. I'd go with around 2000USD per month to cover for plane, shelter, food and party. It can get much more expensive but also cheaper, especially if you get involved in community work or woofing. Couchsurfing.com will also help you if you feel the desire to stay at people's houses and get to know other people when you travel.

Websites:
Google flight, skyscanner.com and hipmunk.com are amazing to find cheap flights.
Couchsurfing.com, Airbnb.com and download.com are amazing to find you the right accommodation.
Uber now seems to work in most places.
Try to look up the necessary visas you need ahead of time, especially if you want to stay longer somewhere.

After this trip, I'll have been in over 95 countries around the globe, so feel free to contact me with any questions about a country you'd like to visit and I'd love to help with you going after your dreams.


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Once upon a time man needed boundaries and created beautiful useful concepts like:

• God: to explain the unknown
• Religion: to establish some order and general behavior rules
• Monogamous heterosexual couple: in order to pass riches down generation

The important thing is to remember that the 3 above points are MAN MADE concepts and that reality is really what you feel even if it goes against a man made concept.

Here are a couple of funny travels facts:

• Only in Philippines and Vatican, you can't divorce if you marry. Funny that "Filipinos" are as Catholic as the pope.
• In Indonesia, your religion is written on your ID and you can't marry someone from another religion. It's part of the law.
• Indonesia doesn't recognize Judaism as a religion.
• In Bangladesh, you can't be in the same hotel room with a person of the opposite sex, unless you can provide the marriage papers.

As a good friend would say, different places, different game, so I follow the local rules and stay out of trouble.

This trip has been a nice mixture of pleasure and business. Got a great interview in HK, found some very interesting opportunities in Taiwan, lots of Start-Ups in Bali, where I'll return to investigate further. Met 2 company bosses in Nepal and possibly soon in Bangladesh and New Zealand.

It all started with a one night of free hotel transit in Beijing where Google and Facebook are blocked. 

Busy and efficient HK with lots of foods and an incredible amount of things to see, do and buy. 

Then clean and ordered Taiwan with its lovely people that don't speak much English but are very warm once the ice is broken.

Amazing Bali that never really let me down with its waves and many things to see and do. Always a party or a place to hang out, harassed by prostitutes, drug dealers and much more. Also love driving a scooter there, because it's madness takes you on the sidewalk and sometimes against traffic at full speed. Cimaja with brother Bobby is always a pleasure, but things change and we evolve, so I wish you all the best brother.

Jakarta and Bogor are not so interesting and without the people there, it wouldn't be worth it.

Now Nepal is like Bali without the beach. Everybody harasses you and has something to offer, which most likely I'm not interested. Also, the Nepalese people are very warm and friendly but also don't have a notion of personal space or privacy which sometimes transpires in nosy questions.
Bangladesh has an infrastructure that is better than Nepal. New cars, tall buildings, good roads but also insane never ending traffic, constant pollution and dust. The most annoying sloth-like immigration officers that took 2 hours to charge me the insane travel preventing amount of 51USD for a visa on arrival. Like another good friend told me, I'm the only dumb bastard that found it's way in Bangladesh and on top of making it a pleasant experience, the initial touch was mind melting. Although the food is okay and there might be some things to visit, you might as well go to famous and dirty Nepal in another season than winter and should enjoy a better experience. Also, it's better if you go with someone to Nepal or Bangladesh. This will make your experience more fun since CS isn't at its best over there.

For now, I just can't wait to meet a cool biker couple in New Zealand, where I decided to rent a car instead of a motorcycle for availability reasons.

Once again, all I can hope is that my stories will inspire you to have a more open mind and follow your own dreams. Your questions are welcome and your feedback is appreciated.