Expat Community > Ecuador

ExpatPM
Joined 2010
Posts: 30

Expat Reading Materials

14 years ago

I've been an Expat at heart for years although I have never actually moved outside the US I've worked in 19 foreign countries - 20 if you count Long Island :).

In that time I've developed a great affinity for international life. While I do intend to buy a home in Ecuador I don't intend to become a permanent or even a nearly permanent resident. I think the 180 days one can manage with a little border shuffle would be more than enough for me since I want to spend about 6 months a year in the states, about 6 months a year in Singapore, about 6 months a year in Africa and about 6 months a year in Ireland - clearly the years are not long enough anymore.

In any event, I began reading some expat books a few years ago that only poured fuel on the fires of discontent - discontent with a static life (not discontent with the home of our fathers).

So here's the first installment for your reading list:
1) Walden, Henry David Thoreau. Anyone who is contemplating leaving home and hearth to go see what else is out there should read this to get Thoreau's perspective on life as an "inpat" (that's my own word by the way - don't laugh).

2) Vagabonding, Rolf Potts. "Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life — from six weeks, to four months, to two years — to discover and experience the world on your own terms." Quoted from the authors web site. This is a great book about just dropping what you're doing and heading off to see the world. This is Walden moved out of the woods and out into the wide, wide world.

3) 4 Hour Work Week, Tim Ferris. Ferris takes inspiration from the previous two books (and a number of others) and presents a case for becoming a PT (permanent traveler, perpetual tourist, etc). His approach is to find a way to make a modest amount of income, outsource the parts of your life that are not fulfilling or challenging, and get out of your comfort zone to experience life out there on the edge (or as close to the edge as your comfortable with - I personally find the edge to look a lot more ragged today than it did 30 years ago).

The next school assignment is to find that dream purchase or dream activity or dream advinture and keep it before your eyes. If your dream is fly fishing in the eel infested waters of Bankok then get it out there where you will be conscious of it and keep working toward that goal.
For me, it's the idea of having enough funding, time and energy left to fund a HUGE fresh water project for villages in Asia and Africa where the water is deadly and children have to drink it anyway. My ten year old son on the other hand wants to buy a Douglas DC-3 - he found a 1942 model for sale on the Internet for $136k and has made up his mind to earn the money and buy it (I don't think he has thought about how difficult they are to fly but that's a whole other dream in itself).

Finally find a way to fund all of the above. 4 Hour Work Week has some great ideas and there are tons of good sites out there on the web. I've been working the last couple of days to collect some that info for y'all so it can be in a centralized repository. I've stood up a Business Startup Ideas blog site where I will discuss opportunities and ideas. It's slow going though since I don't want to put anything on there until I've taken the time to review it thoroughly myself.

So, come up with a way to fund your life as an expat (Business Startup Ideas), read some good stuff about being an expat (not just a run away), and start fueling your mind with a little dream building exercise or two.

Till next time,
ExpatPM

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