Earlier this year, I’ve been planning to go to Japan with my girl. But, things started to get difficult when we hit the dreaded visa process…
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Reason being?
I’m traveling for three weeks for business. I needed to get her several thousand dollars in cash to show she had funds (money isn’t the problem, it’s that it’s a pain in the butt to do in Ukraine and requires dozens of ATM trips), and then we still couldn’t book accommodations for our mid-March trip until I returned in February (assuming she got approved).
But, on one random Saturday, I was browsing my favorite Miles + Points hacking sites and saw that Qatar Airways had some pretty good deals on round trip business class flights to Thailand.
I had always wanted to go to Thailand.
It wasn’t ideal. The original flight is out of Italy, so we have to fly there first.
But man, the fares were there. They weren’t cheap, but they also weren’t crazy expensive.
I found flights that I liked, on planes that I liked (you’re damn right I’m going to buy the seats that turn into a double bed…), and put them on hold for 24 hours. She got home that night, I showed her the tickets, and we finalized and booked everything the next day. Thankfully, her work is pretty flexible, and I’ve obviously got near-unlimited flexibility.
Here’s the deal:
In the span of a few hours I decided to take a multiple-week trip.
I spent a few thousand dollars with the snap of a finger (more like a few mouse clicks).
I’m not saying this to brag or show off. I’m trying to illustrate that I am liquid.
After all, what’s the point of making $300k/year at a corporate job if you can’t ever enjoy any of it? If you have zero vacation flexibility, or all your money is tied up in the American wheel of consumerism — really, what’s the point? It’s not like you are getting any enjoyment out of life.
That’s just silly.
But hold your horses, there’s more…
How am I able to do this?
I’m glad you asked.
Simply put, because I have more than enough passive income coming in every month that I don’t really “need” to work at all. And don’t get me wrong, my job hardly feels like work. But there are definitely days I don’t work more than a couple hours a day, because I have the systems in place to support it. Even better, those systems can easily support me flying business class, lounging on the beach in luxury, and booking all of it on a whim without having to ask any boss if I can go on vacation.
In fact, the most pressing question me thinks I’ll have is:
Should I drink champagne or cognac?
PS: There will be no Thai ladyboys…
I have a friend in Japan and she told me that it’s hard to get visa to the country because there is
high quality of life, good salary and many people want to stay and work here. If you want to get to Japan much easier you need to buy package tour with other tourists.
Yeah, they are a culture that values keeping Japanese culture alive, so they don’t let just anyone in and give them handouts unlike our liberal governments. Nor do they just pass out visas.
It’s a pain, but it’s good for a society in the long term.