bitofarambler

living outside the country good buddy

i haven’t myself, but i became friends with a chilean couple who traveled around the world according to berry season, Australia, Italy, Germany and so on picking berries, living in free housing while saving for a house back home.

they seemed pretty into the lifestyle, or at least willing to trade a few years for traveling and a house.

absolutely, you’ll be good.

I could barely count to ten and knew how to say pho, and still enjoyed my entire trip and made friends, so you’ll be fine.

haha me too, i thought it was pretty funny there.

Very well.

I spoke nearly no Vietnamese and bikepacked across rural northern Vietnam for 3 months after buying my bicycle in Hanoi.

People in the city can speak some English, but even if they can’t they’re so earnestly helpful that I was able to easily buy clothes, bicycle repair items, get my bicycle repaired, buy food everyday(pho lyfe) be invited to tea and then a family feast, take shelter from a rainstorm, the stories of their generosity go on.

It’s definitely a good country to visit.

The mountains are pretty magical, and every single person was extremely helpful and gracious, either in the city or way out in the tiny mountain villages

no, why?

Are you asking another “is this possible at all” question?

the coolest.

i was on a bike, so i guess he felt like he had to hustle.

Vietnam, Thailand, India, Guatemala, Taiwan is a good call.

in Vietnam, someone literally ran out of their house while I was stopping to adjust my headphones in order to invite me to breakfast at his home.

he had a tiny orchard in his front yard and we shared mango, dragonfruit and pancakes.

“That’s a very short-sighted, one-dimensional take.”

those are ticket prices, not a “take”.

I’ve addressed all of your questions and many more besides, accounting for multiple variables and providing information with factual data, experience, consensus and outside inputs in mind.

if you believe the consideration of various perspectives, classes and cultures is one-dimensional, it is likely a result of your own perspective.

9 penises is his personal best?

No use for doubt when the information is avalable:

Tickets to central america this month starting at 21$, Europe starting at $98, Asia starting at $249(cherry blossom prices).

you have pretty broad questions, so I’m going to give you relatively broad answers, that i am happy to expand upon further.

“Where?”

wherever you want that fits your circumstances.

“how do they stay?”

Americans travel visa-free or visa-on-arrival to over 180 countries and can stay in those countries for weeks, months or years.

“You need a visa. That’s not easy”

It’s pretty easy. Americans usually don’t need a visa, and when they do, the process these days is usually

1. online form for 5-15 minutes.

2. Pay fee.

3. visa is emailed to you.

“what about language?”

I suggest learning the local language where you’re living for a variety of reasons.

There’s an episode about that coming up!

Actually, there are episodes about all of this coming up, haha.

“what about support network? Whom do you ask for help…?”

There are huge expat and local support networks in every country that will answer every question you’ve asked, as well as embassies, consulates, and help lines.

If you’re teaching ESL, you’ll have a cultural liaison from your school or less formal support staff.

“All of your knowledge of how law, politics, social customs, and more is now irrelevant”

is that knowledge particularly relevant to your day to day life in your home country?

Abroad, you may reflect upon that information being about as useful and temporary as…paper cranes in a flood.

“Fifth, what about a job?”

If you have a remote job that pays $500 USD a month, you can live in most countries comfortably.

If you are a native English speaker, you can teach English and make a lot more.

Those are two of any number of work options.

“why would a company hire a foreigner?”

For the same reasons all companies hire foreigners: that foreigner has a skill the company requires.

“they can pay you dirt”

Starting pay for ESL in china is $2500 usd a month in china without a degree or tefl certificate. With both, it’s closer to $3500 a month.

Cost of living in China is about $300-$600 usd a month depending on where you are.

“…it makes me feel like I’m abdicating my responsibilities as a citizen”

Participating in and paying into the US system that is exploiting entire generations and stripping their rights bears more social guilt than protesting against the system and withholding funding, but:

nobody is making you take these available opportunities.

My point is and has been that most Americans can escape the system and stop supporting it if they want to.

Nobody is going to make anyone start traveling, learn things, make friends, and save money, but you can if you want to.

that’s good, I definitely wasn’t saying “take a vacation”.

“You original comment…so literally.”

don’t take it too literally.

when i wrote:

"i suggest leaving.

it’s better outside."

I was referring to leaving the country and situation that is making OP miserable, rather than leaving this post or your apartment or whatever literal conclusion you’re referring to now.

““can” is subjective.”

They can or cannot. Pretty clear-cut.

'“Can” people afford a plane ticket to somewhere? Probably."

Yup.

“Would their quality of life in that destination be satisfactory?”

also a strong yup. higher to much higher quality of life.

Higher pay, fewer hours, better social support, better infrastructure, more opportunities.

“…not actually working or settling down?”

In the previous comment, I was answering your question of “where americans can travel” to.

If you want to work or settle down abroad, you can do that.

If you want to travel indefinitely, you can do that too.

Travel is up to the traveler.

I’d like to say that so are zombie films and media.

zombies have become an excuse to dehumanize and glorify justifiable violence against humans at this point.

public baths in Japan got me comfortable with being naked and i wholeheartedly agree that there are some cultural activities like saunas that obligate nudity.

and are far more comfortable when nude, anyway.

that’s usually why those activities are done nekkid in the first place.

"…filthy and dirty in public.’

they really have been for a while now.

you got your wish.

“planning on living as obnoxiously and proudly as possible.”

go for it, my concern is that you won’t achieve what you want this way.

“I want queer people to be an issue no one can ignore,”

I think this is another goal you’ve already achieved, queer people in general are an issue nobody is ignoring already.

on the good side, the prevalence of queer culture is higher than it’s ever been, even in conservative enclaves like the US.

on the bad side, the most powerful people in a few countries like tge US are so afraid of glitter that they’re trying to override the other two branches of government in a vain efforts to shove the fancypants genie back in the bottle.

but that’s the thing about genies and bottles, though.

“being visible in today’s world is very very dangerous”

in some places, it is.

in other places it’s totally normal and accepted to be as visibly queer as you like, as it has been forever because other cultures have never been binary.

I support whatever course of action fulfills you and hope your activism achieves the further goals you are working toward, and also hope you’re aware that becoming a martyr is not the only or possibly most effective way you can be useful to your movement.

“Are you speaking from direct experience?”

i am speaking from direct experience.

“Where did you end up”

I’ve been traveling over a decade; started in china, went to a few dozen countries, still going.

“how?”

came across an ad for teaching english, flew over to China. kept going.

“Fascism is a growing trend.”

it’s certainly a very popular topic within a few countries these days.

i daresay it’s much easier to comprehend from out here.

“America has changed pretty significantly”

it might seem like that standing on the pulse there but again, things look different from out here.

“bit cat and mouse with the direction other nations are also headed.”

there are 200 countries, none of which are static.

you may feel confined because you’re living in one of them, and it could be that you think you’re only supposed to live in one of them.

“retreating”

protesting, not retreating.

if you live outside of the states for more than 330 days per year, you aren’t required to pay earned income tax up $125,000.

administrations and policies I don’t agree with don’t get my tax revenue, and haven’t for a long time.

Withholding funding from the system is preferable to participating in and contributing to the system.

Vote with your feet.