It's more fun in the Philippines! My flight is booked.

Introduction and Flight Booking

Vietnam Travel Details and Concerns

0:31 Everybody, I have now booked my flight to the Philippines as of last night. I am looking forward to it. I'm gonna grab my AirPods really quick because I just had some issues with them charging, like one side charging. Okay, there we go. Okay, good. They're charging.

1:02 So anyway, yeah, so I am flying out of Da Nang late next Saturday night. I'll be flying to Manila. I'll have about three hours in Manila to get through customs, security, and then to, um, I think I don't know if I need to double-check. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to transfer terminals, but I need to just double-check. And then I'll be flying to Daggati.

1:38 So it'll be my first time in DTI. I actually was familiar with it last time I went to the Philippines about close to five years now, and just didn't make it there. It was that was more of a discovery trip, just wanted to kind of dip my toes in the water. This time I'm planning to spend a bit more time in the Philippines. I'm hoping to spend a month in Doag Getti. That's kind of the plan.

2:06 I need to book my accommodation. I found the one I want. I just, for whatever reason, have been tired today. Didn't I wake up early this morning because the gym across the street decided to start playing really loud music at 7:30 in the morning? So, um, yeah, I'll be going.

Anticipation for the Philippines and Vlogger Outreach

2:27 So, um, yeah, I'll be going to, I'll be here for a couple more weeks in Vietnam in Da Nang. And the one thing I'm a little bit cautious about is when I filled out my paperwork from Vietnam, I suggested that I'd be flying out of Ho Chi Minh City. I changed my mind about going to Ho Chi Minh City, and so I actually booked my flight out of Da Nang. So I'm hoping that's not going to be an issue.

2:49 The cursory research I did says it won't be an issue. Worst case scenario, lost a couple hundred bucks, and in the grand scheme of things, that's not a big deal. I look at how much money I spent in the US just on rent. So, yeah, bound to make a few little mistakes here and there on my travels.

3:08 So, yeah, I should be, you know, just enjoying the last couple of weeks here. Be eating a lot of Vietnamese food, trying to do some more exploring. I still haven't been down to Hon or up to Hue, so probably be nice this week to make a trip to one of those places and just a taste of something a little bit different from Da Nang.

3:33 I think both are smaller. It's weird, is that just a gray hair? No, it's something else. You know, both of those towns are smaller than Da Nang and should offer something a little bit different. I'm just feeling kind of worn out from this experience so far, to be totally transparent.

4:03 And I'm looking forward to the Philippines. I've already reached out to one vlogger, so I've got one interview tentatively set up. I'd like to get something set up with Mike from Mike's Philippine Retirement. I really like his channel. Of course, I'm not at the point where I'm retiring, but I just think his content is helpful and it's not just trying to sell you the dream.

4:29 I think he does a good job of talking about the logistics of living overseas and some of the challenges that you run into. And I think it'll be interesting to sit down with him and have a conversation, share a little bit different perspective with his audience. And then potentially also some of my audience will appreciate his perspective.

4:49 I'm sure some of you all haven't really seen or heard about him. I think his, like I said, I think his channel is great. It's growing fast, so he's doing something right.

Accommodation and Beachfront Plans in Dumaguete

5:09 So, um, what else? Yeah, I'm hoping to stay by the beach outside of Dumag Getti City. So I won't be, I don't plan to stay in the city.

5:35 Um, there's not really like they have the pier and the boardwalk in the city, but there's not really the same beach vibe in the city proper that you have. Like it's more of a, oh, you've got the college, you've got the airport, you've got the ferry terminal, um, in Dumag Getti. And then also in Siu On.

5:58 So to me, it's more of like a transit kind of hub. I mean, you've got a fair amount there, but it's a place that people are passing through to get to Valencia or to get down to Daan for the diving. I'm not a diver, but I do plan on snorkeling.

6:16 I tried diving when I went to Mexico, and it was just a terrifying experience for a number of different reasons.

Challenges of Vietnamese Traffic

6:25 Um, Gerard asks, how is the traffic in the big cities of Vietnam? So I can't speak for Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. For Da Nang, it's pretty rough. People are driving the wrong direction, people cut you off, people speed around you, people will pull out in front of you.

6:43 People just come to a complete standstill. They'll, they'll drive halfway in the lane. They'll drive, like, you know, trying to decide if they want to stop or not. That's been a major concern for me here.

6:58 And the cities are not set up in a way such that you can get around on foot. So, yeah, I would say the traffic is really a struggle. It's really a struggle.

7:17 I've heard it's more of a challenge in Hoi An City and Hanoi than it is here in Da Nang. It's more extreme, and people do not stop for pedestrians. So, uh, be very cautious if you with traffic if you decide to come here. Please be very, very cautious.

7:36 Um, I've had some close calls. My buddy Jake, he was here for several months. He had some close calls as well. You know, it's something that I would just be very cautious about coming here. It's a challenge throughout Southeast Asia, but here it seems like a little, I don't know.

Eagerness to Leave Vietnam for the Philippines

7:57 It's definitely worn on me, let's put it that way. You can't assume the other people are paying attention, or even if they are paying attention that they, yeah, I, I just ready to head out. That's the best, that's the most polite way for me to put it.

8:30 But yeah, I'm super looking forward to going to the Philippines. I need to reach out, like I said, need to reach out to Mike, need to reach out to Paul. Um, there's feel like there's some other people that I haven't been in touch with.

8:47 Like I've known, I've been in touch with Mark and also Paul for like four or five years now, but there's some other channels that are out there that I'd like to collab with that I just haven't reached out to yet. So if you're in touch with or familiar with anybody vlogging from Daggati that I haven't mentioned or that you think might be interesting, feel free to like holler at them and send them my way.

9:17 Because I'll be there for a month, I may extend for one more month because, um, it just kind of depends on how I like it. It's not necessarily where I plan to stay the majority of my trip. I do plan on leaving Dumag Getti to go down to Mindanao for various reasons.

9:36 But I've never been to Dumag Getti, and everybody's, you know, seems to really, really a lot of people really seem to like it there. Seems to be a lot of different activities that you can do there.

The Fun and Cheerful Culture of the Philippines

9:51 And I'm also looking forward to the English, just being able to speak English with people is something that I really missed. It's, uh, I need to just, I need, I need a vacation from my vacation. I need to go to somewhere that's kind of fun.

10:10 And, um, you know, they have the phrase, "It's more fun in the Philippines." I definitely agree with that. I think it's just a really fun country in general, and there's a lot of opportunities to just, uh, goof off.

10:23 And it's light-hearted in a lot of it's cheerful. Cheerful is the right way to put it.

10:30 Uh, let's see. Let's pull up some of these photos of Duma. Yeah, I love the Spanish influence, the tile.

10:49 I love this sign too. This sign is it's just so, like, I don't know. Let me look at this word to make sure it means what I think it is. It's, I don't know if, um, it's, I guess the word here is campy. Like I don't mean that in a disrespectful way, but it's just so fun.

11:12 Like Dumag Getti, I mean, come on. Like it's, it's they're not taking themselves too seriously. I love the energy. I miss it.

11:23 There's things about the Philippines and the Filipino people I didn't really appreciate until I traveled more and I saw other countries. And, um, I didn't really understand them right because in the US, it's a very formal culture. We're very formal, we're very serious.

11:41 And there, at like, especially with the Filipina that I dated, she's just such a, like, optimistic, like ball of energy. I don't know how else to explain it. This was in Siu On, and she just, like, laughed and joked around and danced and smiled and had this infectious, like, optimism.

Cultural Differences and Personal Reflections

12:05 And meanwhile, I'm very like serious and, uh, plan, plan, plan. And gotta, you know, um, I don't know, gotta be private and gotta like think things through and be strategic.

12:23 And yeah, there's just something, like, I don't know what the word is for it, but there's, I don't know if the word's innocent, but like in a, you know, 'cause we're talking about adults, right? Like, I, you know, I was when I dated her, I was 27, and she was 24.

12:50 Um, but yeah, she just had this, like, the way the it's so, I don't know, it's it's you know, some people say people in the Philippines have to grow up fast. And in some ways, I'd agree with that. I think they do take on a lot of responsibility.

13:05 Like she moved to the big city for a call center job, and she's living there on her own. And I, I know that's got to be hard when you come from such a family-oriented culture. But there are other ways in which it's like this beautiful tropical country.

13:22 And, you know, you're not, you're not sitting there in like the winter for like, like half the year, like we are in many Western countries where you don't want to go outside and it's cold, it's windy, it's overcast.

13:37 Um, it's a place where people, I think, are often used to spending more time outside. In her case, her family owned a resort in, we can pull up B, here B. I don't remember which area in B she mentioned.

14:02 Unfortunately, we lost contact. I don't know if she's still there in Siu On. I'm not sure about that. But, you know, she just talked about like being close to their family and living on this beautiful island.

Philippines as a Fun and Welcoming Destination

14:19 And it's, uh, it's such a different culture from what we're used to in the West. Like, I'm really looking forward to it. I'm really excited. I think it's going to be a wonderful trip.

14:32 It's, uh, you know, it's it's not going to be as budget-friendly as, uh, Vietnam or even Thailand. But, you know, it's going to make up for that in a lot of different ways. May not be able to spend as much time there as I

14:51 I would equivalent for the same dollars in Thailand or in Vietnam. But I just remember making such good connections with people in the Philippines and people smiling so big at me and just feeling so welcome there. Yeah, I'm going to go to Dumaguete. It seems like a great opportunity in many different ways.

Future Travel Plans and Dumaguete's Appeal

15:30 I do apologize. I looked into coming to Indonesia. What I think I'm going to do on my next trip to Asia is I'll probably start off in Indonesia. So my thought on my next trip to Asia is probably fly to Indonesia and experience that, and then go from there, right? Maybe from there go to Thailand, or from there go to, I still like to get to Laos at some point.

16:03 Maybe it's a situation where I fly from there to Laos. But next trip to Asia, I got to do something. I got to do more new places. So this trip was Vietnam. Next time would be Indonesia.

16:16 But yeah, so with Dumaguete, I talked to some people in Dumaguete last time I came to the Philippines. I decided, hey, this is my first time in the Philippines, I want more immersion, like around more local people. And I felt that that was going to be not as easy to do or pull off in Dumaguete, just because even five years ago, Dumaguete had tons and tons of foreigners, a lot of foreigners choosing to relocate there because there's a lot of advantages that we get from being in a place with a ton of foreigners.

16:51 You know, you're not going to ever go without Western food. You're going to have all the people there are going to speak English effectively, be able to communicate effectively. If you want to meet friends from your home country or make friends from comparable Western democracies, then you can do that there. So there's a lot to like about that. I was afraid that I wouldn't get the full picture if I started off my Philippines journey there.

17:19 So I started elsewhere, and I do plan on going elsewhere from Dumaguete. I don't know, you know, I haven't been there, but I don't know that it's a place that I'd want to live long term. And I also don't know if it's a great place to pursue a relationship.

17:38 So maybe one thing I'm noticing from some bloggers is they're saying Dumaguete is a place for couples. It's a place you go to after you're in a committed relationship. It's not really a place to go to. It's not like a place you necessarily go to to meet other people.

18:00 And not that that's like a major, major priority, but it is, you know, in the back of my mind. I'm definitely not apologetic about being a guy and being open to dating in this part of the world. I think there's a lot of synergy in the Philippines between English speakers and the local people because you have that English common ground. And there's a lot of interesting cultural overlap that I didn't really notice as much until I spent time in the surrounding countries.

Communication Ease and Need for a Vacation

18:35 And I'm like, okay, Thailand, Vietnam, very different from the US. Dumaguete is a little bit less separated.

18:53 Yeah, Christopher, Dumaguete will be a nice change of pace. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to being able to communicate with people more easily. Even if people in Thailand or Vietnam learn English, there's still going to be some communication idiosyncrasies where, you know, even just using the translate app, the translate apps can be ineffective, not exactly sharing your intention or meaning. And there's another barrier of having text-based communication, whereas if you're communicating with somebody in person, they can see your body language, they can see your facial expressions. Communication is just more effective.

19:38 And so that's something I'm really looking forward to, and it's going to be fun. That's kind of what I feel like I need right now. Thailand was a place for me for serious introspection. Vietnam has also been more serious introspection, but the Philippines is just such a fun country. It's just such a fun place. It's a place to let loose. It's a place to smile and laugh.

Enjoying Nature and Water Activities

20:06 And you know, another thing I'm really looking forward to is spending time in the water. It's unparalleled. I mean, to me, the beaches and the water in the Philippines are so beautiful. And it's something that I remember fondly about some of the highlights of my trip to the Philippines five years ago were going to the beaches and going snorkeling and seeing the coral, seeing the different species of fish.

20:37 That's something I need to ask about, or I could research it too, but I'd also like to ask friends: what kind of species of fish should I be looking out for in the water? You know, here in DN, south of the city.

Stream Logistics and Departure from Vietnam

20:54 Hey, Unfriendly Stoic, thank you for joining us. I'm sorry you missed us last time. I noticed you, it was around 2:30 AM Vietnam time, and I think I had wrapped up by that point. I usually try to go for a couple of hours, that's about when my voice starts to give out. But I did do some English teaching last night, and so my voice, I don't know if it'll make it quite two hours tonight, but we'll see how it goes.

21:22 Yeah, I just booked my flight out of Vietnam, so I'll be flying to Manila in about two weeks. And I'll have a three-hour layover in Manila. I'll transfer to a domestic terminal, and then I'll fly down to Dumaguete. I get down to Dumaguete around 7 AM, and I'll head into town, get some breakfast, and then I'll head to my accommodation. I'm planning on staying probably in the beach area, south of the city.

22:10 And apparently, a lot of the accommodations are near the beach, so I'll be able to quickly go down and get in the beach really quick. Everyone, if you guys could give the stream a thumbs up, that would be super helpful.

22:26 I should, what's it called? Oh, hey GMM, good to see you. Brown Puppy, did you get a massage in Vietnam? Yeah, no plans for that, Brown Puppy. I'm ready to head out.

Ready to Leave Vietnam and Content Creation

22:43 Yeah, I'm just ready to head out. I've gotten my fill of Vietnam at this point. People are warming up to me somewhat at the places where I'm a regular, but just some of my struggles with traffic, safety, also, you know, when you have those kinds of experiences, it makes you a little bit nervous about running around town. So I'm mostly sticking to my immediate area.

23:16 It just seems like every time I go out now, I'm worried. And it's not conducive to moving things forward and getting things done when I feel tired. I want to make more content, but I just feel kind of worn down. And if I'm, you know, I want to make content that's helpful for people, and if I'm in a bad mood, I think it sometimes doesn't translate to the output that I want.

Personal Experiences vs. General Perceptions

23:49 And there's room for like negative videos or sad videos, but I don't know. I just have to, I think it's important to balance it, to make sure that I'm consistent about focusing on what is not being done, and not getting too personal about it. Because sometimes if we have difficult experiences, we can project that and we can not focus on how it's an individual experience and may not be reflective of other people's experiences.

24:23 Because there's places I've gone I did not like at all that other people love and keep going back to repeatedly. And there's places that I love that other people just didn't care for. I mean, I love the Philippines. The Philippines isn't for everyone. There's some ways in which it's going to wear on my patience because you're on island time. You're not able to just hop in the car and go drive in the same way that you are in the US.

24:51 Like in the US, I can drive across the country, 2,000 miles, in probably four days, maybe five. You can't do that in the Philippines. You know, you're talking a maximum of 40 miles per hour in much of the country. Also, the ferries are not going 40 miles an hour. And sometimes the way the ports are oriented, what looks like a straight shot, I'll show you an example of this too. What looks like it'd be quick, right?

25:32 You know, just, I mean, it doesn't look that far, right? To go from Biliran to Camotes. This was like a four-hour ferry ride. I mean, to me, that doesn't look that far, but you don't actually, at least the ferry I took, you don't go from the shortest point to the shortest point. You go all the way around.

Philippines' People and Travel Logistics

26:05 This looks like it could be the port. The lines are not reflective of my experience. So I did not experience the straight shot kind of thing. Maybe it was Bohol Port. Anyway, it was much longer than what it would look like on paper. So, yeah, I mean, but I can't get over the people there. I mean, the people there are so nice and so warm and friendly.

26:34 But yeah, I hope that answers your question, Brown Puppy. I don't plan on getting a massage here. Yeah, I just don't plan on it.

26:41 Gerard, have you experienced Japan? Yeah, so I went to Japan about five years ago on that same trip and loved it. It's wonderful. You know, if I get a good job offer back in the States, I wouldn't mind stopping in Japan for a week. Although I haven't been to Korea, so I'd lean toward Korea first time as opposed to doubling up on Japan. But now is a great time to go to Japan. The exchange rate is really advantageous. It's like a dollar is like 157 yen.

Japan Travel Value and Manila Airport Advice

27:14 So if you're bringing US dollars, and the exchange rate is probably decent coming from British pounds or Australian dollars as well for those who are watching from those places. But yeah, great time to go to Japan right now. You're definitely getting value for your money. Japan is great value for your money.

27:31 Great value for your money. Some people say it's expensive, but to me, it's been the best value. I might pay a lot, but they're also going to do a great job. Japan's a great experience, and I'd love to go back at some point. You can't go wrong; it's just super developed. To me, it's comparable with Scandinavian and European countries in terms of development, great public transit, fantastic food, and very comfortable hotels.

28:12 The advanced bathroom technology there is interesting too. GMM, hi there. Leave Manila as fast as you can when you land. I'll just be there for a few hours, and if I could avoid flying into Manila to get to Dagugett, I would. To be honest, I don't have a strong interest in even having a layover in Manila. It's going to be interesting getting there at 2 a.m. It'll be better than being there in the middle of the day when it's more busy. I assume it's going to be less busy at 2 a.m. It's just such a crowded airport, and it's spread out too, in a really kind of weird way.

Alternative Travel Routes to Dumaguete

28:58 But it's better than flying to Cebu and then taking like a six-hour bus ride. The alternative to flying to Manila and then flying to Dagugett would be flying to Cebu City. You don't even actually fly to Cebu; you fly to Mactan, then you fly across the bridge. Then you've got to take a bus, I assume the bus crosses the bridge. You go south all the way down through Naga, through Carcar, through Boljoon, through Dagugett, and through Oslob. Then you get to Liloan and take the ferry from Liloan to Sibulan. So, we're talking like a six-hour bus ride from Mactan and then another two or three-hour ferry ride from Liloan.

30:11 So, it's like, okay, I'll just do it on the airplane. I'll fly to Manila and deal with the Manila congestion to get to Dagugett because that beats the bus ride and the ferry ride. Now, to go from when I leave Dagugett, I will most likely be taking a ferry. I'm not sure, it may be an overnight ferry where I've got to sleep on the ferry. I'm still learning about the ferries in the Philippines. They're not very common in the US where I'm from, so it's a different kind of experience.

Nature, People, and Collaboration Goals

30:48 Christopher says, agreed. GMM, yeah, it's all about the nature for me. It's all about the nature and the people, and that's what I'm looking forward to in the Philippines: being able to experience the nature and engage with the nature. I've got to find out if I could order some contacts there because I want to be able to put on the swimming goggles so when I go snorkeling, I can see more clearly and effectively.

31:21 GMM says, "Dramatic, be sure to avoid all the YouTubers there." Yeah, so I'm actually seeking out the YouTubers. GMM, I'm hoping to do some collaboration. I think it's a great way to connect with other people and share some interesting YouTubers that I really like with my audience. And then also get to know their audience too, right? I think collaboration is awesome. I think having this group where people have different perspectives from different ages and different backgrounds can be super helpful to help grow our comprehension and our understanding.

Navigating YouTube Drama and Politics

32:07 And I don't mind the drama because I don't get involved in it. Like I don't, for all the drama that I hear about, I'm not picking sides. I don't think one guy is the good guy and the other guy is the bad guy. I personally haven't been attacked by any of this stuff. I'm sure I'll get at least a little bit of trolling after I do some interviews with some of these people because they certainly have their detractors or the people that don't like them. I don't take it personally either. I've had trolls try to come after me a little bit, and I don't feed them.

32:43 Trolls are looking for attention; they want people to pay attention and to feed them their attention. I don't give them the reaction that they're looking for, and so they move on to somebody else that they can get what they're looking for. They can get the attention, they can get a rise out of them. I also am not afraid to block them. I'll block them super quick, and there's also not as much for them to feed on. I feel like I just don't really do that divide and conquer.

33:25 I really try to avoid talking about politics, for example, and I don't at all when it comes to countries outside the US. I have no interest in talking about that stuff outside of the US, and so it's harder for people to pick that apart, if that makes any sense. Some YouTubers will say, "Oh, I don't want to talk about politics," and then they'll talk about American politics and then get mad when you disagree. It's like you can't control that conversation. It's like talking about religion; if you want to bring up religion or politics, that conversation is probably going to spiral out of control.

34:17 Especially if you've got a large audience, especially if you're streaming to a lot of people, you're going to quickly make somebody upset. I don't care to convince people to change their beliefs. If some of my viewers are Christians, some are Muslim, some are Buddhist, it makes no difference to me. I don't want to change anybody's opinion. I respect everybody; everybody has their own experiences in life that are different from my own, and that also influences politics.

34:54 For what it's worth, when it comes to American politics, I'm politically homeless. My views do not neatly fit into any package; there's too much nuance and intricacies to my experiences to believe in one side or the other. But yeah, that's I don't want to get too much more into that except to just explain that 7,000 islands and a thousand are populated. It's pretty hard to drive around in the Philippines.

Driving Challenges and Ferry Adventures

35:24 Yeah, GMM, it's not the easiest place to drive around. My buddy may have a work truck in Mindanao now, but I know he's used it somewhat in the past. I think he's also got a motorbike up there, so I may try to do a little bit of motorbike riding. Of course, I'll be wearing a helmet. It's just where I'm going in Mindanao now is much more sparsely populated. It's not like Chiang Mai, which is the second largest city in Thailand, or Da Nang, which is the third largest city in Vietnam. Where I'm going into now is a real small-town vibe.

36:06 GMM, taking a ferry in the Philippines is an adventure. You have to go to four to five different cashiers and pay different amounts, and in the end, you have many papers and receipts and realize that the ferry left you. Yeah, I'm starting to remember what you're talking about because whenever I took the ferry to Siquijor, I bought a combo ticket where they provided me with the ferry ticket, the transportation, and my accommodation on the island. They gave me all these little slips of paper, and I'm just like, what am I supposed to do with this?

36:47 For some people, it's even more, right? They bring their vehicle with them, they bring a bunch of luggage with them. It's such a trip. I am glad I'm not going to be flying over the Sea of Bohol because when I flew from Cebu to Siquijor, when we were above the Sea of Bohol, we dropped like we hit some kind of weird air pocket, and all of a sudden, it felt like the plane was plummeting. I grabbed the arm of the dude next to me, tried to grab the armrest, but his arm was there. Everybody was screaming.

37:25 Fortunately, we were all buckled in, or some of us probably would have hit the ceiling. But that was terrifying. Fortunately, the pilot got it sorted out, but the rest of the flight, everybody was quiet, wide awake, and eventually, we landed safely in Siquijor. But that was, yeah, that was terrifying. I don't know if I'll fly above the Sea of Bohol again, just based on that experience. That was really sketchy. I don't know if that's normal. I don't know if anybody else has had that experience. If you're watching this on replay, let me know if you've ever flown above the Sea of Bohol if you had that experience. Nothing ultimately came of it, but it was scary.

Factors Influencing Country Choice for Travel

38:07 Gerard says, "I wonder what qualities would persuade you to stay in a particular country?" So that's a great question, Gerard. I hate to say it depends, but it does depend. As I've started to go to more countries, I've started to figure out what I like and what I don't like. I've narrowed down the places that I'm interested in into would return or would not return. I've done a lot of new countries in the last few years, and I thought, why don't I go back to some places I've already been? New countries are awesome, right? Seeing something new is awesome.

38:55 A lot of people commit to that; they're like, "I want to go to everywhere." And there's nothing wrong with that, right? Everybody's got limited travel funds, limited travel time, and they want to maximize their enjoyment. For their preferences, for me, a few things factor into it. The more affordable countries are appealing if you're on a limited budget, like I'm on a limited budget. So if I was to compare Southeast Asia to Western Europe, I'm probably spending half in Southeast Asia is what I would spend in Western Europe.

39:34 So if I have money to spend, six months in Southeast Asia, that money would take me for maybe three months traveling in Western Europe. And that's even more exaggerated if we're talking about Scandinavian countries, the UK, Ireland. These countries are very expensive versus Spain, a bit more economical. Portugal, a bit more economical. Parts of France can be a bit more economical. Poland, a bit more economical.

40:08 Poland is a bit more economical, so that's a big one: budget. I would say, just considering I have X amount of money, these are my options. But another one would be, how about culture? Cultures where I feel like my personality and temperament are more compatible. I don't want to go to a place where I'm so different from the locals that we're not able to see eye to eye.

40:39 Some of that can factor into safety as well. There are places that have a reputation for being unsafe, where even if I feel like I'd get along with people, I don't want to go there and risk my safety. So, there are a number of countries that have really unfortunate circumstances right now, and I'm not going to name them. They're in the news, but those places would be off-limits for me because I'm not going to risk my safety or run into significant problems. I'm not going to risk not going back because I want to keep traveling.

41:21 I love to travel, and if something terrible happens to me when I'm traveling, that could mean the end of my travels. What else? I would say research. I just do a ton of research on the countries. At this point, I've researched most of the places that I want to go in the world, also the places I would consider living long-term.

41:46 I've kind of narrowed it down between, if I was totally financially independent, I would probably live in either Latin America or Southeast Asia for different reasons. They're economical, the people are generally friendly, the quality of life is high. A number of countries in this region seem pretty stable, and that's another factor where you feel like people have been living in these countries for decades.

42:25 Look at Southeast Asia. People have been visiting Thailand for like 50, 60 years. Same like Bali has been popular for at least probably 20, 30 years, probably longer than that. The Philippines has been popular for decades. So these places have a long history of people going there and enjoying it.

Singapore vs. Other Global Cities

42:47 One thing that also helps is meeting people from those countries in the US. So, in the US, I grew up around a person from the Philippines, grew up around a few people from Vietnam. I didn't really meet any Thai people until I was an adult. I think more Thai people are checking the US out now, but when I was younger, just where I lived... yeah.

43:11 Singapore is interesting, but there are a few challenges with Singapore. One is that it's not necessarily a place I would call vacation-oriented. You have some elements there, but it's a big city, right? It's like, would I want to take a vacation in Manhattan? It might be fun for a weekend or a week.

43:40 I spent a week in Singapore about five years ago. I felt that it was a place that even if I had the budget to live there, it's pretty business-oriented. People are living there because that's where their career is at, that's where their job is at, that's where their education is at. It's not necessarily a place people move to to kick back and relax and enjoy their lives.

44:12 If I was going to live in Singapore, I'd probably just stick to San Francisco, a city I've lived in close proximity to for a long time. And yeah, that's how I feel about Singapore. I feel the same way about London or Sydney, Australia. These global mega-cities, you know, I have access to those cities in the US, so I don't know that it would be worthwhile for me to put in the effort to move to one of those cities.

44:40 I know some people say, 'Oh, they're so different.' I don't doubt that they're quite different and unique based on my visits to places like London and Singapore. But as far as the logistics of getting a Visa, getting a job, trying to apply for residency, all those things are costly and time-consuming. It's much easier for me to move to a Manhattan or to move to a San Francisco than it would be or Los Angeles than it would be to move to one of those places.

45:11 Because moving to a place like that is for career. Most of the people that are going to move to Singapore, they're going there either to get their education or because they want to go there and make some money. And so if I was going to go for my education or to make money, I've got some fantastic options in the United States for that. I don't judge people that have lived there, but it's not practical in terms of my goals.

45:41 With my goals, I'd rather just... I mean, I've lived in San Francisco off and on for a while. I know where I can get an apartment like with a snap of my fingers. I have friends there that I can go and spend time with. I'm not starting over. That's the best way for me to put it.

46:00 If, you know, I compare plugging back into the Bay Area, where I have friends throughout the Bay Area, I know people, I know the places I like to eat, I know the beaches I like to spend time at, versus Singapore, where I'm having to learn a whole new place. It's much easier for me to just go back to SF. And the weather I prefer, like I like California weather a lot better than weather in London or weather in Singapore.

46:27 California weather, in my mind, is perfect. I can't think of anywhere else in the world, you know, that other than the Mediterranean climates, like I haven't been to Greece, but Greece or Portugal or Spain. It's that temperate weather that's just unbeatable for my preferences. I don't live in Southeast Asia for the weather, I'll tell you that much.

Southeast Asia's Affordability and Food Culture

46:55 GMM, it's like in a bar, never speak about politics, sports, religion. Absolutely agree. There's nothing to be gained from that. I have friends of all kinds of different backgrounds from all over the world, and we have a lot of fun together. We don't need to talk about things that are divisive and stressful, and things we don't even have control over.

47:13 GMM, I did follow a Canadian couple that went to Bangkok, who went to live the maximum six months on a tourist visa to become debt-free in Canada. They did spend around 30% of what they spent in Canada. That's about what I spend in Southeast Asia.

47:29 GMM, I spend about a third, roughly, of what I would be spending there. The rent is the biggest savings. Food is somewhat of a difference, but I do eat more Western food than probably some people in Southeast Asia. That's something I haven't totally been able to get over: I do enjoy pizza.

47:56 Infrequently, I do enjoy, you know, other Western treats infrequently. It's something I can't totally give up. Today, I had only Vietnamese food, but that's not something I want to do every day. And same in Thailand, like I love Thai food, but I don't want to eat Thai food for every single meal.

48:19 It's delicious food, it's amazing food, some of my favorite food, but it's kind of like any other food. If I only have like, variety is the spice of life for my preferences. I love being able to try a lot of different stuff.

48:37 So yeah, I hope that that helps. And you know, it is a place people can pay off their debt. Like one of my favorite channels, I'll mention JP and Amelia. They have managed to pay off their debt too. Like they had some debt back in the US, I think some of it was medical. JP has some medical health challenges related to his spine, and I think Amelia mentioned she may have had some education-related loans.

49:07 And so living abroad has allowed them to pay off a lot of that stuff because they're not putting out a financial fire every day. Like in America, you know, it just feels like you're constantly going uphill in a blizzard financially. Every little thing costs an arm and a leg. Rents are through the roof. Maintaining a home is through the roof. Car maintenance is through the roof. It's just, you know, basically the middle class is being priced out.

49:37 And I think a lot of middle-class people have the choices of one: just accept being poor, or two: move to a different country. And you know, for young people in the US, Western democracies, maybe they anticipate having enough career growth where they'll be able to catch up. But you know, some people aren't in that position, like JP and Amelia.

50:01 I think they're both around 50. There's limited career growth at 50. It's not quite as extreme as say, from 30 to 40 or 40 to 50. Maybe for some people it is, if they're lawyers or they're doctors. But like a lot of people, they may be running into health issues, right? Like if you're having significant health challenges at 50, do you have the energy to go grind it out in your career when you're having to go to the doctor, you're having to get surgeries?

Student Loan Debt and Financial Challenges

50:38 Some people's bodies just can't take it, the stress of living in the West and in the modern West. And so yeah, I think it's a great idea.

50:48 What the couple you mentioned did to become debt-free... I have some debt, it's not massive, like maybe around 5K in student loans. But you know, at one point, the US president was talking about excusing all the debt or forgiving it. And so I was thinking, why would I pay it off if they're going to forgive like 10K in debt? Now they've walked that back, but they may it may come back out again.

51:15 It's like I said, 5K sounds strange, it's a negligible amount of money in the US. It's... I could pay it off today in cash, but if somebody else is going to pay it off for me, you know, I'd be stupid not to let that happen. And I know some people feel strongly about it, like, 'Oh, you borrowed it, you should pay it back.'

51:43 There's a lot that goes into that. It's a very complex issue. Student loan debt is overhanging a lot of young Americans. I'm very fortunate that mine is fairly minor, but there are a lot of people that will never be able to pay.

Singapore's High Cost of Living and Cleanliness

51:57 Of people that will never be able to pay their student loan debt back. Gerard's rent is very expensive in Singapore. Many companies and people leave it nowadays because of this. Renting a small condo in Singapore is like renting one in New York, and the price is comparable.

52:20 Rent is very expensive in Singapore. They have a lot of public housing for citizens of Singapore, but if you're moving there just to work, you're probably not going to get citizenship. Getting citizenship in Singapore is a very expensive and lengthy process.

52:38 I think you can buy permanent residency for five years for like a million or two million dollars. You have to invest a million or two million dollars, something like that. I'm not at that point in my life currently.

52:53 Singapore is beautiful; it's a gorgeous country. It's very safe, probably the safest country I've ever been in. The architecture is incredible; I enjoyed just the architecture alone, on top of everything else I liked about it.

53:11 The botanical gardens are amazing. I think they're probably the best botanical gardens I've ever visited in the world. Singapore is extremely clean, like shockingly clean.

53:24 It doesn't look very lived-in compared to some other places. You go to the parks and they're spotless. It looks like somebody took a pair of scissors to the grass, it's so neatly cut and maintained.

53:46 Living in Southeast Asia for a long time changes your stomach and taste buds. More than one slice of pizza or a greasy hamburger with cheese makes me nauseous and sick nowadays.

Concerns About Returning to American Food

53:59 I have been worried about GMM. I'll probably be going back to the US in the spring, if not before then, if I get a great offer. I'm not looking forward to American food; it's just so depressing.

54:12 It's so heavily modified with hormones and oils. They use a lot of oils, and if you're not in California, which I may not be going back to stay in, then the food is just not great.

54:31 Where I'm from in Tennessee, Tennessee has a lot of great qualities, but the food is not one of them. Most of the food I enjoy in Tennessee is food from other countries.

54:44 The local cuisine is tasty, but it's just not healthy. That's true for much of the US. Even in California, you've got plenty of fast food.

54:54 You've got In-N-Out Burger, for example, that's very popular out there. I used to enjoy one on occasion, but the food in Asia, I like it a lot better.

55:07 That to me is another factor: the food in Asia is fantastic. That's something that I grew up on Asian food in the US, which is very atypical for a lot of American people.

Asian Food Culture and Affordability

55:18 The food I eat here is closer to what I'm used to growing up. I ate rice every day growing up in the United States; most people don't grow up eating rice like I did.

55:29 For me, tonight I had beef with fried rice, and it reminded me a little bit of American Chinese, but it's more Vietnamese style. Delicious, but that beef with fried rice was equivalent to $3.

55:45 In California, I'd probably pay $18 for that. So it's just not really economical because Asian food is much more niche in the United States.

55:57 Anytime you've got a niche kind of thing in the US, they're going to charge you through the nose for it. Many returning Americans seem to feel sick, powerless, and gain weight fast in America when they go home.

56:16 It depends on where they go and also what they're returning to. I'm optimistic about going back; it's probably displaced because I haven't been back in over a year now.

56:44 I have probably an overly optimistic attitude toward America right now because I've been away for over a year. In some ways, I've forgotten how bad it is or how bad it's gotten.

57:00 I'm just so used to the conveniences of living in Asia. Thailand especially is extremely convenient.

57:07 Being able to pay with your phone everywhere you go, being able to order things and them showing up the next day. Being able to hop on the BTS, the train system, being able to fly really quickly all over the country without having to...

57:29 It's just like in America, the systems designed for the public are terrible, and the people have bad attitudes.

Challenges of American Systems and Work Culture

57:41 You feel like you're burdening the airline staff in America by going to the airport. You feel like you're... I don't know, it's just such a hassle.

57:56 People don't take pride in their work like they used to because of many different reasons. Here, people take their job seriously a lot of the times.

58:06 The flight attendants, you know, they seem like they have some pride. They're helping people get around.

58:16 America just ain't what it used to be. I do plan on making content about that. The channel may pivot to just me talking about some of the challenges that Americans face because a lot of people are going through tough times.

58:35 I don't know if it's going to get better in the near future. I'm not sure if the government will respond to the recession with dropping interest rates a little bit.

58:51 It may take an alarm bell situation, right? Like it did in '08. It's a tough time right now in the US. A lot of people are frustrated, stressed out with the direction of things.

59:10 I'm trying to plan my next steps to be able to leave permanently. My goal with my next stretch of time in America is to make as much money as I can, save as much money as I can, invest as much money as I can, and hit my FIRE number.

Long-Term Goals and Paths to Citizenship

59:27 And then leave and not come back. That's just kind of where I'm at. I'd like to do... there are a few different options I have as far as like a slow travel wheel.

59:38 Maybe getting like, you know, in the Philippines, for example, Americans do have a path towards citizenship. A lot of people don't talk about this.

59:47 This is not legal advice, but in the Philippines, for example, if you're an American and you enter the Philippines and you don't leave for 10 years, you can get permanent residency.

1:00:05 There's a channel called PHX Prepper that's working on it. He's somebody I would reach out to ask about it. He's actually working toward Philippine citizenship.

1:00:16 This isn't something that's common. It's probably not applicable for a lot of people. He may be on a marriage visa, so that may be the path where you get on the marriage visa, you keep extending the marriage visa.

1:00:29 When you haven't left in like five or 10 years, you can apply for citizenship. So he's really serious about it. He's been there for a while.

1:00:36 He retired from the tech industry in California. I think he married a Filipina when he was in California, and then they moved to the Philippines some years back.

Financial Independence and YouTube Growth

1:00:47 That's something that he's working on. But yeah, that's my long-term plan. I've got the target amount of money that I need. It's just a matter of putting in the work and being disciplined.

1:01:08 Not falling for the short-term thrills. You know, just living frugally, living economically, living below my means, regardless of how much money I'm making.

1:01:19 I'd like to get back into tech because it's just a great... there's a lot of great opportunities in tech. You have a lot of leverage with tech.

1:01:29 You have scale in tech where you're making more money because you're serving a lot more people. A solid tech business can serve millions or even billions of people, so your compensation reflects that.

1:01:47 Yeah, that's just kind of what I'm looking at right now, and I'm trying to plan out those steps. Ideally, I would be able to accomplish that in like five or six years.

1:02:02 If things go super fast, maybe three or four years. If things take longer than expected, more like eight or nine years. But in the meantime, I will keep traveling.

1:02:14 If I hit certain financial milestones, I'll probably take vacations interspersed in that time. Who knows? We'll see how YouTube goes in that time.

Philippines Content Potential and Personal Connection

1:02:23 I'd like to do YouTube on the side. It's hard in the states when you're working a soul-sucking job and you're just dealing with the headaches and the time consumption of that.

1:02:36 My channel's grown a lot since then. When I came over here to Southeast Asia, maybe a year ago, I had maybe 400 subscribers. Now I'm at like 16, over 1600.

1:02:53 I'll probably pass 2,000 within a few months in the Philippines because my Philippines content, like I did a little bit last time, and those videos got tons of views.

1:03:05 Filipino people who were living abroad were watching those videos because they had left the Philippines when they were kids and just never gone back. They prioritized other things, maybe could go back every 10 years.

1:03:22 Content in the Philippines tends to do really well. I also have a super positive impression of the Philippines, and people can pick up on that. I'm more enthusiastic.

1:03:32 People really like it when they can tell you genuinely like a place and you're not just trying to sell it. Some bloggers try to just sell these places and they don't want to...

1:03:45 ...they don't necessarily pick places they're genuinely interested in. They pick places they think will be successful. I don't know, I actually like the Philippines a lot.

1:03:56 I debated on going to numerous other places that would be first-time places for me, but I thought, do you want to go to just another yet another first-time place where you're...

Connecting with Locals and Cultural Perceptions

1:04:10 Another first-time place where you're seeing yet another beautiful destination, but not really engaging with it because everything kind of blends together. Or do you want to go to a place where you're connected with the local people? You love the local people. You have met some of the local people you've seen in the environment. I can connect with people like I, yeah, I, that's what I'm missing.

1:04:34 And I miss my friends there. I haven't been there in five years. I want to go see my buddy Z. We've been chatting a bit, and he's just like, 'Bro, you need to come here, man. You need to come here.' Like, let's stop talking about it, let's be about it. And he's making a great point. He's much more polite than that. I'm the one that's not so polite sometimes, but I should say I'm a little bit more direct.

1:05:00 But yeah, I'm excited. I mean, there's so much about the Philippines I did not understand when I went there the first time. I was like, 'Why are these people so nice? Why are they so polite? Why are they so friendly?' And in the time since then, I understand it. I've watched a lot more content on the Philippines. I've been friends with Z for like seven years now, maybe six years, but a while now, and he's just such a consistently nice guy.

1:05:33 And so yeah, it's I'm looking forward to it a lot. I think it's a great experience. Gerard says, 'Born and raised in New York City, but I cook and eat Asian food.' Yeah, Gerard, I think part of it is growing up in New York where you're in this international world city, one of the best American cities in my opinion. You're exposed to people from all over the world, people of different ethnic backgrounds, people with different cultural backgrounds, very different from Middle America where people are not so exposed to these other places.

1:06:02 It's a night and day difference. When I talk to my friends in California about world travel versus when I talk to people from Tennessee about world travel, they're saying, 'How could you go there? It's so bad.' And I saw in the news this, and I saw on the news that, and I watched this news channel and they said this and that. And wasn't it really bad 30 years ago? And so it's a place that's kind of stuck in time, especially among the older generations, and they have very negative perceptions of anything that's different from what they're accustomed to.

Misconceptions About Colombia and Cultural Differences

1:06:41 And so, you know, I talked about going to Colombia, and people are, you know, when I talk to people in Tennessee, 'Isn't that Pablo Escobar?' Like, that's all they know. They don't know about the biodiversity. Colombia is like the most biodiverse country on the planet. You have extreme variety there, like a shocking amount of variety in the environment. Also, the cities are really unique and different from one another. It's Colombia is amazing.

1:07:09 I love Colombia, but, you know, a lot of people where I'm from, they've never tasted Colombian food. They think Colombian food is Mexican food, which they're very different from one another. But people where I'm from can't tell the difference. Many people, not everybody, and definitely the older generations are worse than the younger generations. The younger people are more open to it, but it's a state where a lot of the younger people leave.

1:07:33 A lot of the younger people actually move to other places for opportunity that they can't get in that state, especially if they don't have family there. Like I don't have much family in Tennessee, so I was ready to go as soon as I graduated college. I left actually before, like right before I finished college, did my last class online, and left.

1:07:56 And so that's kind of the difference between a place like New York or San Francisco versus Middle America. In Middle America, most people, you know, I just had so many negative experiences with trying to talk to people about my Asian background. And I thought, I can either stay here and continue to get a negative reception, or I can go to a place where there are a lot of Asian people, where people are not shocked at the idea of going and living in Asia.

Contrasting US Regions and Local Dynamics

1:08:25 Like most of my friends in California, all of my friends in California have either lived in another country, or they are from another country. Even my friends in California who came from different US states. And so that's where it's just such a different experience from the, you know, from New York where in New York I could talk to people about anything. 'Oh man, you're from such and such country, what's that like? I've never been there, that's so interesting.'

1:09:02 Where in Tennessee, like they're immediately, 'That's a third world country. Wow, that's a third world country. I can't believe you came here.' And so, you know, you just, yeah, it's like I said, it's not everybody there, but there's a sizable portion of the population that is afraid of the world outside of what they're accustomed to. That's extremely resistant to change of any kind.

1:09:34 And I get along great with people from New York. I was somewhat raised by somebody from New York. My grandma had a boyfriend from New York City, and he opened up my eyes in a lot of different ways because he just had a kind of a New Yorker attitude that rubs some southern people the wrong way. They think, 'Oh, he thinks he's this and that.' It's like, no, he's just trying to be efficient. He's just trying to get things done. He's just trying to make the maximum value of his time because he doesn't want to sit around and do nothing and watch TV all day.

1:10:15 Like he would go, he was playing tennis in his 80s. I don't know anybody from Tennessee that's playing tennis in their 80s. And, you know, like I said, it's not everybody, but there's, yeah, I mean, yeah, it's just, like I said, the young people in Tennessee, they're not like that. They tend to be more diverse, more open-minded, more kind of international in their mindset, more open-minded to trying different things and trying new things.

1:10:48 But the leadership in Tennessee is just really bent on keeping it the way it is because they make a lot of money from it being the way it is. They make a lot of money from the dysfunction. I've talked to a friend of mine that works in that environment, and he's like, 'Yeah, I mean, people here, they make money from the dysfunction. That's why the dysfunction is not going to get fixed.'

Appreciation for American Diversity and Opportunities

1:11:15 But that, you know, that's a Tennessee issue. The beautiful thing about America is that if you are an American, you know, you have one of the, you don't even need one of these documents, and you can go to any state of your preference. If you want to live in New York and you're an American, you can go live in New York. If you want to live in California, you just get in your car and go.

1:11:36 So there's, you know, to contrast what I've been critical of, there's a lot I love about America that I didn't appreciate until I spent, at this point, I've collectively spent around two years outside of the United States, and it's made me more appreciative of my country and the advantages that we have, the blessings that we have, the opportunities that we have.

1:12:02 The variety, I mean, just the variety alone is amazing in America. Like, if you don't like some, like you don't like the people around you in America, you can go somewhere else and be around totally different people. There's just so much human capital there, and it's kind of this shining beacon on the hill to some extent, more so historically, but even today we're like, if you want to go, you know, learn something new, if you want to be intellectually stimulated.

Philippines Geography and Live Stream Experience

1:12:31 I have a lot of positive things to say about America after living abroad for as long as I have, and not missing some of these things about the country. Samuro Mab Island, I had to double-take the name. Yeah, I still do. Every time I see Mazete, where let's see, Mazete. Yeah, every time I see Mazete, I laugh. You know, I've never really looked at it much though. I'd say most of what I've looked at in the Philippines is the big islands, of course, Luzon in the north, and then Siu, Elo Elo, and then Mindanao.

1:13:23 Hey Tony, good to see you, Tony. I meant to say hey earlier. Welcome to the stream. Thanks so much for joining us. Tony says, 'I always feel like I'm dropping in to visit a friend for a coffee when I catch one of your live streams.' Thank you so much, Tony. I'm so glad that this time slot is effective for you. And one sec, guys, I need to plug in my laptop charger first. I need to pull my table back. They were doing really loud, one of the neighbors was doing loud karaoke last night, and so I moved my table away from this back wall.

Live Stream Benefits and Content Creation

1:14:18 Yeah, I really enjoy doing these live streams. They're a lot of fun, and we can cover so much more ground, and I can answer your questions in real time. When I do my videos, I have to compress things to make them efficient for a really wide audience, right? I don't know who's going to be watching, and I've got to structure it in such a way that it's fast-paced. In the live stream, I try to go fast, but I can take more time. I think I could take more time to answer your questions.

1:14:52 Ronal, what's up, boss? Where you at now? What country? 'That's the only complaint in the Philippines, karaoke, roosters, noise, and dogs barking.' Yeah, I mean, Ronal, that's the one drawback. I can say noise does bother me if I'm being fully transparent.

Noise in the Philippines vs. Quiet in the US

1:15:19 It's definitely like if I could point out one challenge in the Philippines that's a fair point. It's, you know, you have karaoke and music being played everywhere. And for me, like, I sometimes I just prefer it to be quieter. I'm trying to remind myself it's a tradeoff. Like in the US, it's so quiet that it can feel kind of lonely at times, right? Like people aren't really talking to each other.

1:15:55 If they are engaging, it's in some kind of conflict. Like in public, you see a lot of people going through some serious challenges. And so you hear

1:16:05 Serious challenges. You hear people going at it in the Philippines, and it can be boisterous. I try to remind myself these people are in a fun-loving environment and want to socialize, communicate, and connect with others. It's very different from myself; in a way, I feel like an old man trapped in a young man's body sometimes.

1:16:34 To be fully transparent, when I did that interview on Tyus Times, I mentioned I'm 31, and people in the comments were like, 'This guy looks like he's 51 or 41.' There's nothing wrong with being 41 or 51. My grandmother is 93 and says you're not an adult until you're about 50. So, that just puts things in perspective. That's a different attitude toward the same number.

1:16:58 But in the Philippines, I'm pushed out of my shell; I'm forced to communicate. In America, I'm distrustful. I don't trust people; I don't want to talk to people because I don't know how they're going to try to get one over on me or take advantage of me. Everything turns into a sales pitch; everything is an upsell where people are trying to sell you on this and that.

Commercialism in the US vs. Socializing in the Philippines

1:17:20 Oh sir, while you're getting your oil change, you want to buy this? You want to buy that? That's at every step in society. You drive down the road, there are billboards here, billboards there. You turn on the TV, it's advertisement after advertisement. It's this constant, in-your-face pushing you to engage, to spend money.

1:17:41 Where in the Philippines, a lot of people just want to have fun. I remember I was dating this woman in Cebu, and she genuinely just wanted to spend time with me. She never asked me for money; she never once asked me to take her here or take her there. She never once tried to get me to invest in some kind of business.

1:17:59 She wasn't judging me; she wasn't telling me what was wrong with me. We didn't date for a long time; I had to leave the Philippines. This time, that's part of the reason I'm staying much longer. I have more time to invest in a potential relationship.

1:18:19 But it's hard. It was wearing on me sometimes because there were certain days where I didn't get a great night's sleep because I was woken up in the middle of the night in the Philippines. It tested my patience. I was like, 'Why?'

Personal Flaws and Travel Patience

1:18:32 I was checking into this hotel, and I can pull it up here. This is just full transparency because some YouTubers will try to convince you they're these awesome people, and I have some real flaws and weaknesses. But I was staying at this hotel, and that's crazy. It was really cheap back then.

1:19:04 It looks like they're charging $60 a night now. I think I paid like $10 a night five years ago. But yeah, so I was checking into this hotel, and they... let me double-check. Okay, we're still pulled up. And they're just like talking and talking and talking in the lobby. I mean, just chattering.

1:19:25 And I didn't sleep great the night before. So they're waiting to clean my room or whatever, and I just go sit outside. I sit out here on this pebble kind of area, and the woman comes out and she's like, 'Why are you sitting out here?' I'm like, 'Sorry ma'am, I just need some peace and quiet. I didn't sleep great last night and I've got a headache. I just can't take the conversation right now.'

1:19:53 I can't think clearly. So then I check in, right? I go to the room, and it stinks. Anyway, yeah, I'll probably need to do that. Darn it. Anyway, that's fine. I need to make a note of the timestamp. Sorry guys, I just want to be respectful.

1:20:30 So I'm staying at the hotel, and that was on me, right? That wasn't anything wrong with them. They're just having fun; they're just being social. I was just tired from travel, probably the pace of travel, and I needed a break. It's not on them; that was on me.

1:20:53 I just could have made a stronger effort to be more patient. I could have approached the situation differently. That's something that's important to be aware of. It's important to be self-aware when you are traveling anywhere that's different from your home country.

Insular Communities and Open-Mindedness

1:21:27 Tony says, 'I lived two years in a part of the US that was very much like the way you described, Mississippi and the Mid Country, very insular, ethnocentric, threatened by anything outside of their holler.' Yeah, Tony, absolutely. That's a challenge like in a lot of the US and most rural areas. You've got a few families that own everything, and everybody else just kind of barely gets by.

1:21:55 You know, they try to distract themselves, but they're just unhappy with their lot in life. And who can blame them? When you live in an area where the few good jobs go to the people with connections, and everybody else fights over the scraps, then naturally, people are just going to be stressed out.

1:22:16 And they're also more easily manipulated. When you've got a few people that you have to appease to succeed, then I think it just kind of bends people's psychology. Tony says, 'The only restaurants for fast food, complete lack of knowledge of the rest of the world, distrusting of it.' Yeah, I mean, it's like they got frozen in time.

1:22:40 The rest of the world keeps moving forward, and they are still convinced that if they just bury their head in the sand, things won't change.

1:23:05 Yeah, that's a part of it. I'd happily go back and stay at the Pocket Hotel. They were super friendly and accommodating with me. That, like I said, was my bad; that wasn't their bad. I just want to clarify that.

1:23:26 But at the time, I was very into world cultures, music, and people with different experiences and outlooks. In the part of the US I was in, people were suspicious of these things. Yeah, it can be really discouraging too, Tony, like when you're an open-minded person and you want to learn about other places and expand your mind, expand your experiences, empathize with other people.

Overcoming Travel Fears and Global Perceptions

1:23:53 One of the things that really helped me to open my mind was going to Mexico. I talked a bit about that in the previous stream where I met a friend at Burning Man, or no, I talked about it in a video I made recently. I met a friend at Burning Man, and he's from Mexico. I asked him, 'Isn't it dangerous?'

1:24:11 I got the sense somebody else had probably said something like that to him before. I tried to be mindful, tried to be more polite than just saying, 'Hey, isn't it dangerous?' like, 'Hey, isn't where you come from rough?' But he was like, 'No, it's not.'

1:24:25 So I gave it a try, and I was just shocked at how awesome it was. The thing about Mexico is, at least where I've been, it doesn't feel dramatically different from the US. You see so many Americans down there; it's not that exotic.

1:24:52 People don't understand, like Tony, people don't seem to understand a lot of these places are on a scale. On one end, you have France, Canada, or the United Kingdom. Then on the far other end, you have like Iraq, or you have... enk. So it's not this binary thing people think it is; it's a spectrum.

1:25:30 And it's also a spectrum of safety. In the US, the safest city is probably very small towns in the middle of nowhere, like Nebraska. No offense to people watching from Nebraska or Colorado. The most dangerous, maybe some part of Chicago. But there's a whole lot of places in between.

1:25:59 It's not a binary where everything is either the safest place or the least safe place. That's how you know people in parts of the US think about things. I know people that haven't left my home state in 10, 15, 20 years. They haven't even driven to a neighboring state, much less conceptualized going to another country.

Travel Destinations and Practicality

1:26:25 To me, you could probably go to about 80 different countries before you start to run into more serious issues. Once you get to like 100, 120 countries, that's when you start to run into places with some serious issues. But most people don't need to go to that many countries.

1:26:49 I think most people will be happy with like the top 40 or the top 50: Southeast Asia, Latin America, Europe. That's going to encompass the places where most people would consider living. Most people are not thinking, 'I'm going to move to Mongolia.'

1:27:15 Nothing wrong with Mongolia; it's just very cold. It's cold, it's sparsely populated. Most people are not interested in extremely cold weather. And a lot of people want to be in environments where they have some level of convenience. If you're in a place that's sparsely populated, it's just simply not cost-effective.

1:27:35 Regardless of where you live, it's the same reason most people aren't moving to Nebraska or Kansas. Wyoming is also the most sparsely populated state; it's just not practical for most people to live there. And so they assume that like everywhere in the US is like that.

Comparing US Regions and Opportunities

1:27:59 I'm thinking, man, where I'm from, Tennessee, often feels like more of a backwater than Bangkok or here in Da Nang. Especially outside of Nashville. Nashville is nothing like the rest of the state. Nashville has people from all over the world; there are a lot of interesting different cultures there. But you go to, for example, Tiptonville, right? I've driven...

1:28:33 I've been to near here. I nearly went to college here in Union City. There's nothing up there. I mean, there's really very little up there. It's just might as well be like any small town anywhere in the world. It's pretty far apart from civilization.

1:28:53 Most of the people there, if they're ambitious, they'll get their degree. They might come up here to Union City and get their degree at Martin, and then they're going to go to or Martin. Actually, I get these two mixed up because they're so similar, but then they're going to move to the big city, Memphis or Nashville. They may move up to Chicago. Most of them are not going to stick around there.

1:29:19 So that's another challenge that you have in some of these places that are super remote. The super ambitious people, the people that are more open-minded like yourself, it's hard to keep those people in these small towns. I've had debates with people in small-town Tennessee a lot about this, where they're like, 'You think you're better than this town?' It's like, no, I just want variety. I just want to do something different. I want to see something different. I want to experience something different that's out there that you don't have around here and you're never going to have around here because you don't have enough to offer by comparison.

Economic Impact and Regional Competition

1:30:02 The world is a very efficient place in the modern era. It's also very, very competitive. Places are trying to offer as much as they possibly can with the human capital they have. Unfortunately, some places have more to offer than other places, and it's tough.

1:30:23 I also, you know, you have to look at NAFTA in the United States. NAFTA really hurt a lot of rural areas. Most of the economic growth in the last couple of decades in the US has been in urban California, urban New York metropolitan areas. Even Nashville has grown a lot in the last five years, but there's other places that have...

1:30:51 I've spent some time in Mississippi, and you know, much of the state is just not changed. It's just not a vibrant or dynamic economy. It's the poorest state in the United States. There's some very nice people in the United States. I got pulled over a couple of times in Mississippi with expired tags, and the cops let me go. Well, I got pulled over once and I was speeding, I was doing 70 in a 55 zone north of Oxford.

1:31:24 I went to a concert in Oxford, and you know, they're polite and friendly, but it's like, you know, they've got to compete with places like Memphis. And then places like Memphis have to compete with Atlanta and Chicago. And Atlanta and Chicago have to compete with LA and New York. So people were always trying to sort out the most efficient, the best place for them.

Moving to California and its Advantages

1:31:53 One of the best decisions I ever made in my life was moving to California. When I moved to California, and I think you might appreciate this, Tony, I got so much pushback in Tennessee. People telling me, 'Oh, it's so expensive. Oh, you this and that. It's so this and it's so that.' And there's some brown people out there, and there's LGBTQ people out there. I felt all of that was exaggerated.

1:32:21 These days, California is not much more expensive than Tennessee. Maybe it's 10 or 20% more expensive, but you get a lot more. You get the beach. You get an international airport, or you can fly to Asia and be in Asia in 10, 12 hours. You've got the Central Valley, which produces 25% of the food in America.

1:32:46 You've got San Jose, like, you know, that produces this technology that's popular around the world. You've got Wine Country up here in the north of the city. You've got the Lost Coast that's popular for the Redwoods. And that's just north. I mean, if you want to go to SoCal, you've got LA, home of the entertainment industry. You've got all these beaches up and down the coast like Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, San Clemente, where one of my buddies is from Oceanside.

1:33:28 And then you've got access to Mexico. So, you know, if I'd listened to them, I'd still be making $11.50 an hour in Nashville, complaining about being broke. Maybe I would have had to borrow money at that point, gone into debt. So it was amazing for me to leave and get to experience California.

Historical Philippines-Mexico Trade and Migration

1:33:47 The crime that happened to me was fairly inconsequential. I did get a window smashed in Berkeley. I was able to pay for it to get fixed. Yeah, I just, you know, you feel like you're living in the future when you live in Northern California.

1:34:13 Ronell says, 'Interesting facts, Mexico and Philippines were trading goods when Spain colonized them.' Oh yeah. Something I'm curious about, and Bud Brown talked about this a little bit, there were Filipinos in Mexico. So there are people that went, moved from the Philippines. Let me look that up actually.

The Bay Area's Appeal and Global Access

1:35:49 So apparently in Jalisco, which is the Guadalajara area, there are 1,200 people of Philippines nationality actually living in Mexico, which is wild. But yeah, like back in the day, I think that was really common. Somewhat common for people to go between the two. And it makes sense, right? Because they're very different from one another as far as geography, agriculture, crops, even culturally, they're somewhat different.

1:36:25 Let's see, back in the 1600s between Mexico City and Manila. Oh, okay, Ronell. Wow, I didn't know you were also in the Bay. Very cool. Yeah, it's, you know, I love the Bay. It's probably my favorite part of the United States, if I'm being totally honest. The weather's wonderful, the people are so interesting. You're surrounded by brilliant people, some of the most intelligent, hardworking, ambitious people in the United States. You've got such a variety of activities. You've got international airports. You can go anywhere in the world.

Weekend Activities and Maintaining Activity

1:37:07 You can, yeah, the world is at your fingertips there, and it's such an interesting and vibrant place to live.

1:37:36 But yeah, um, how was your weekend, Tony? And also Ron, anything fun this past weekend? I don't think I did a whole lot. Went out to some restaurants, did some walking by the beach. That was really nice. Last Friday night, after the stream, I went walking on the, I guess you could call it the beachfront walking area. And I may do that tonight as well. I'm trying to maintain being more active. I haven't worked out today, and I didn't work out yesterday, so I like to get active more.

1:38:18 I had a good nap today. I slept for several hours, caught up on sleep. I'm just like in scramble mode because I'm bouncing to another country and just trying to get everything together. Got to start packing here in the next few days.

Travel Shows and the Evolution of Travel

1:39:14 Ronell, do you have any travel plans coming up for this year? Tony says one of the first TV shows before the internet that inspired me to world travel was Lonely Planet. It was called different things in different countries: Pilot Guide, Guide Globe Trekker. That's so interesting. Lonely Planet, I didn't realize was a TV show. I was familiar with the guidebooks, right? Like you, I'm sure Tony, you're familiar with the Lonely Planet guidebooks. I didn't really know about it much until I was an adult, but there's so much valuable information.

1:39:51 Like, I think that back in those days, you had to be a bit more adventurous. Traveling the world now doesn't feel as adventurous as it used to because I've got like hundreds of YouTube videos on every single city there is. Any city you could think of that you'd want to go to, we could pull up content on YouTube and watch people traveling in that place. We've got Google Maps as well, like we can map our way around all these places. Back then, I think those people really had a lot of courage.

1:40:28 When I traveled in the US, I remember when I started traveling the US and I felt so scared. I can't believe I'm about to get in the car and drive that far. I was a bit sheltered growing up, only child, single mom, that kind of dynamic is naturally going to lend itself to being a bit sheltered. So it was really scary for me to like get in the car and go somewhere.

Early Travel Experiences and Guided Tours

1:40:57 But you know, now that I've traveled to the extent that I have, I don't worry about it anymore. Part of what helped that process, like being so fast, is you know, having these internet tools. Yeah, Tony, I'm curious, like when you were watching these shows about world travel, did you ever feel nervous? What was your first country outside of your home country that you went to? I'm just curious if you felt nervous or excited. Nervous might not be the right word, I use that word a lot, maybe I use it too much. But I wasn't nervous the first time. I was more nervous later on.

1:41:44 The first country I went to was a study abroad, and I felt like, well, I'm going with my teacher. How bad could it really be? My teacher is an experienced professor, she's been to this country five or six times. You know, like we're on rails in a certain way, right? We're like in this guided experience, we've got a guide. It's full-on tourism mode.

Structuring Travel and the Impact of Online Resources

1:42:12 It's full-on tourism mode, very different from just booking a flight and a hotel and landing there to figure out what I'm going to do. Now that I've already booked my flight and committed, I'm locked in with this expensive flight and hotel room or Airbnb, so now I've got to figure out what I'm going to actually do there. Even watching videos gives you a cursory understanding and a sense of vacation mode, but there's nothing like actually being there.

1:42:45 You also wonder, if you're not taking a guided tour the whole time, how are you going to structure your time? How are you going to figure it out? So then I just pull up highlights like, what are the highlights of this city? What should I be doing? What should I be checking out? And then I just kind of plug those in.

1:43:06 Yes, you're correct, Alex. There was no YouTube, only the Lonely Planet TV show books. There was nowhere else to learn about world travel, and now it's everywhere. Walter's World actually did a video, I'll probably watch it after the stream, but he released a video on how travel has changed in the last 25 years.

Modern Travel Trends and Healthcare Tourism

1:43:31 He's probably going to talk about how you had to be somewhat more cavalier back then and a bit more of a risk-taker. Versus now, I hear Americans talk about Bali all the time, or more frequently. My manager at a previous job ended up going down to Colombia. People now, a lot of Americans are going to Mexico for dental work and healthcare.

1:44:11 I think the state of Utah actually flies people down to Mexico to fill their prescriptions because it's cheaper for the state of Utah to send these employees to Mexico to fill their prescriptions and then fly them back to Utah than it is for them to fill those prescriptions in Utah.

Cusco: An Astronaut-like Experience

1:44:34 Cusco was my first trip. For a guy that never left his home city 25 years ago, with no YouTube, Google Maps, I felt like an astronaut visiting a different planet. That's a perfect way to talk about it, Tony. You do feel like that in those initial trips, especially.

1:44:49 Because now you can look up top 10 activities in Cusco and watch people do those activities. Back then, you could watch the Lonely Planet TV show, but there's also an element where you're like, that's a production crew, they've got guardrails, they reached out to a reputable tour company, and people are there to ensure their safety.

1:45:24 Exactly. I felt like an astronaut the first time I left the US. Really, the first three trips, after the third trip, I was adjusted enough where it felt comfortable enough that it wasn't as big of a deal. But the first three times, I was thinking, I hope I come back from this because there's no telling where I'm going if I'm going to come out the other end.

Peru's Uniqueness and Cancun's Familiarity

1:46:01 Now I recognize that everything was fine, but back then, you just feel like, I hope things work out. I hope people are nice to me. I really got to cut out my 'likes' and my 'ums.' I say them too much.

1:46:23 No GPS back then, no smartphone or WhatsApp in my hometown. No one heard of Peru, no one understood why I would go for two months to a weird country. Peru is, yeah, Peru is weird in a lot of different ways. It's what I loved about it; it's kind of a weird place, not cookie-cutter, not cut and dry.

1:46:58 I love Mexico, but like you go to Cancun, and it's like the 51st state of America in some ways. They have a Costco, a Sam's Club, Burger King, McDonald's. You're closer to the lower 48 in Cancun than you are in Hawaii or Alaska. So it doesn't really feel that different.

Geographical Distance and Travel Commitments

1:47:38 Whereas if you go to Peru, you are, like, 10 countries away. You've got Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador between you and the US. And I know Tony, you're in Canada, so that's an extra country entirely.

1:48:00 Two months is a lengthy journey. A lot of people go to Cusco for like a week, fly into Cusco, maybe stay a night to adjust to the altitude, maybe a couple of nights, but they're quickly on their way to Ollantaytambo and then on their way to Machu Picchu.

1:48:50 As soon as they finish the hike, it's like a four-day hike, they come back down to Cusco, maybe stay a night to relax and rest up, and then they're back on the plane to Lima, and from Lima back to their home country. So, two months is a big commitment to being somewhere so different from North America.

Lima's Modernity vs. Cusco's Remoteness

1:49:16 The geography is different, the weather is different, the language is different, the people are different. It had to be jarring. It's also remote; it's not like going to a coastal city where you go to Lima, and Lima is very modern, international-feeling. You've got Japanese architecture, sushi restaurants.

1:49:51 Here in Miraflores, you've got a medical college, and Parque Kennedy has these really cute cats. It doesn't feel, I mean, it's definitely unique, Lima's unique city. It doesn't feel extremely different from like an LA or San Francisco or San Diego; it's got that somewhat of that West Coast vibe.

1:50:21 Cusco doesn't have that at all. You really feel remote, like you are on another planet. You're surrounded by mountains, by these remote villages. It shocked me because there were some parallels between being in Cusco and being in the mountains of Colorado, where you do feel super remote.

Cusco's Safety and Exploring Surroundings

1:50:50 You see that they found this flat place to build all the houses because all around this flat grid is mountains going up in every direction. It's very unique in that way. Also, people understand going to a resort town in Mexico for a week, but two weeks, two months exploring Cusco? Why are you doing that?

1:51:20 I'm curious too, Tony, like how were you received when you came back? Because I imagine some people were a bit nervous for you, thinking, 'Man, what is he doing down there? Why is he going down there? How is he going to occupy his time for two months? Is he going to come back in one piece? Are we going to have to go rescue him?'

1:51:40 Cusco is a super safe city. I felt super safe; I felt like it's more safe than many North American cities. If you're staying in the central historico or some of these areas, there's nothing to be worried about. You can go to Pisac, very safe, feeling like a super small town.

The Melancholy of Returning Home After Travel

1:52:11 If I go back at some point, I'd like to spend more time in Pisac, visit the surrounding towns that I didn't spend time in. Because I'm a city guy, and so like Cusco to me, okay, I'm in the city, it's fine. It's like any other city, it's not, but there's this probably false sense of comfort I feel from just being in a big city.

1:52:41 We're in a small town, it's like, okay, I don't know, is there, you know, are there some of those conveniences? Like, can I just walk into the phone store and get data? Can I just ask somebody for directions if it's midnight and I don't know where I'm going? I don't know, it's just in my head.

1:53:10 The only traveling people did back then was visiting family abroad or one week to Florida or Mexico to a resort. I was alienating coming home. I wanted to talk about my experience and self-change, but no one could relate to the experience. Now there are online communities that do global travel.

Sharing Travel Experiences and Concert Analogies

1:53:30 I felt like I was in a dream when I came home. I wondered if the whole thing was just a dream. That's a great way to put it, Tony. There is kind of that melancholy feeling, like whenever I go back home to the States because I've had all these wild experiences, but nobody else can relate.

1:53:47 And you want to talk about them because everybody wants to talk about the good things in their lives, right? Like when we see people we care about we haven't seen in a while, we want to talk about what we've been up to. They want to talk about what they've been up to, but they haven't been on that journey.

1:54:08 It's kind of like going to an awesome concert, you see your favorite musicians play, and everybody in the audience is vibing together, connected, moving their bodies to the music, in tune on the same wavelength. You try to tell your friend about it the next day, or your family member, and they just don't understand because they weren't there.

Solo Travel vs. Group Travel and Past Experiences

1:54:41 You can't also, I think part of the trouble there too, Tony, is like you may have experienced this as well. People have asked me, 'Why don't you travel with a group? Why don't you wait and try to...'

1:54:51 If I waited for other people to go with me, I would just never travel. I would never be able to travel if I just waited for other people to join me because other people have their own priorities, right? They have their financial priorities, their time priorities, they may not even have a passport. Like most Americans don't have a passport, so if I was to try to get friends to go with me abroad, I'd be waiting at minimum multiple months to even start to plan or schedule anything. And that doesn't even get into what if they get nervous?

1:55:33 What if they get nervous? I had that experience when I did my study abroad. My ex-girlfriend, now we broke up after that long story, but at one point I just walked around the town we were in. I'll just go ahead and say we were in Israel for my study abroad. I know it's a controversial topic, but at the time it was fine, and I just got up and walked out of the hotel and walked around the town. She said, 'Oh, I can't believe you're just doing that.' And I said, 'What's the big deal? I doubt we're in a bad area. I doubt this hotel is probably $400, and it's, you know, we're not... I could just tell our professor, the guide for our trip, is not going to put us in a bad area.' And I could see the outside of this area, and it looks relatively fine. Am I going to be out all night? Actually, no, but I just want to walk around the block. And she was just shocked at that.

The Healing Power of Shared Experiences

1:56:45 She thought these people have never traveled before and they can't imagine doing even just walking around the block. It was strange, it's hard to put into words, and I just had a flashback to that trip. Yeah, that's the beauty of online communities, right? We can connect with people that are going to these places and having these experiences, and it's such a beautiful thing to be able to do that because you can meet different people that have these shared experiences, these really powerful experiences that are life-changing and deeply spiritual.

1:57:38 I was talking a bit about that with Jake recently, and we were just discussing how healing it can be to go to Thailand. We had our unique experience that kind of matched each other. Being in these places, you really have time to slow down and process your experiences, put things in perspective. I know that Cusco is a deeply spiritual city with a lot of opportunities to have otherworldly experiences. It's important to talk about these experiences with other people who have also experienced these things because you feel less isolated.

Finding Family in the World and Cusco's Traditions

1:58:29 It can feel a bit lonely to have done all of these different things and to not be able to talk about them with people who just don't understand. You get the 'Oh, that's cool, man.' Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled programming. My friends have been supportive. Back in Nashville, my hometown, my friends are like, 'Wow, dude, you get to travel the world.' But they've got their own lives that they're excited about. They're in relationships, they've got significant others, some of them have purchased houses, some are really making headway in their careers. Different people value different things, right? And a lot of people value the progress they make more than they would value doing these extended trips that I've done.

1:59:22 For me, I value these trips a lot because I don't necessarily have some of the things they have in our hometown as far as family goes. So for me, it's like I'm kind of finding my family in the world. And yeah, I really connected well with the people in Cusco. They're in touch with tradition, they're in touch with the ancient way of life. It's a timeless place where people work hard but they're not so rushed.

Cusco's Underrated Appeal and Architecture

2:00:19 Watching you do Google Maps talking about Cusco brings back powerful memories. For years, those places were just in my memory bank. Now, hearing and seeing others talk about it on YouTube makes it seem real. Listening to you talk about this, I'm overwhelmed with feelings of nostalgia. And also, to be fair, Tony, I don't feel like Cusco gets enough attention. So many people are focused on Machu Picchu that it's almost an afterthought.

2:00:50 I've done a lot of digging on content related to Cusco, and they talk a lot about the architecture, which is very beautiful. It's got this classic look to it. There's a lot of rules about the development in Cusco, maintaining certain height restrictions, that North America doesn't make as much sense to me because you've got growing populations and immigration bringing lots of people in. People need places to live. Cusco isn't necessarily a place where tons of people moving makes sense. Part of what makes it appealing is that classic kind of look.

Cusco as a Hub and Overland Travel Challenges

2:01:30 But people don't necessarily talk about the ancient feeling, the ancient vibe. I think there's some of it that's just indescribable. And the local people, to them, it's their day-to-day life, so they appreciate their traditions, they appreciate their history. I think, to some extent, they wonder how relevant it is to the outside world. Cusco is the business hub; it's part of what provides people the opportunity to visit the Sacred Valley, to visit Machu Picchu. You got to fly into somewhere, right? Most people, if they had to travel to Cusco overland, would just never make it. It's like a 16-hour bus ride, maybe 18-hour bus ride, assuming no traffic, assuming perfect weather. That's a long journey.

Cusco's Solo Traveler Appeal and Extended Stays

2:02:46 I can't imagine what it was like in the past before they had modern transportation technology. So it is a place that is in some ways quite isolated from the world, and I think that you do get that bubble feeling there. I was shocked when I met people from other countries because it almost seemed like to them it was a secret too, because it was people coming as individuals. I think what was appealing to me about Cusco is some places you go are very much oriented toward family or big group travel. In Cusco, I kept meeting solo travelers, and that was something that stuck out to me.

2:03:33 Versus Colombia, where most of the people I hear going to Colombia, it's like, 'Me and several of my buddies are going to go down there.' Or Cartagena, 'Me and several buddies are going to go there.' Or Mexico, 'Me, we're going to go there on a spring break trip.' In Cusco, a lot of the people I met, it was like, 'Yeah, I found out about it online, it seemed like a cool place, I wanted to visit,' and then I ended up just staying. I met quite a few people in Cusco that were traveling there, and they basically decided to stay.

Expat Stories and Entrepreneurship in Cusco

2:04:18 They thought, 'Well, I'll just come to Cusco for a couple of weeks and then I'll keep traveling.' I'm going to go down to Bolivia, I'm going to go, you know, I'm going to stop in Cusco and I'm going to head on to La Paz. But for a number of the people I met, they were thinking, 'Okay, I'm going to go to Cusco, keep traveling,' and then they got there and they thought, 'Why don't I just stay? Why don't I just stick around here? I like this city a lot, I like the weather, I like the people.' And then they start building up a social circle, then they get an apartment, then they commit.

2:04:56 Maya Lombards, this Belgian woman I met in Cusco, she ended up getting a Belgian roommate and then she signed up to do singing several nights a week. She's singing at different bars in Cusco, and she just likes people who just end up there and then build a life there. They have all these different backgrounds. Another guy I met there, Cody, has a nonprofit there. He's also married to a local woman, a Cusqueña. They have, I think they just recently had a child. He's from Texas originally, and I think he told me he was just researching the history in Cusco, reading about the history, decided to visit, and fell in love with the place.

2:05:50 Another guy, that was probably more surprising to me than anything, this guy named Amit. Amit's a chef from India. He's from one of the cities in the triangle, there's like three historical cities that form a triangle. Agra is one, basically where the Taj Mahal is. So yeah, I think he's from Agra. He ended up in Cusco, and this guy's from India, like he's from nowhere. I mean, I get Europeans and I get North Americans, especially because South America is not that far from North America. But he's from India.

2:06:37 I talked to him about it, and he said, 'Well, I came here as a backpacker and I really liked it.' So I went back to my job in India and kept working and saved up money and decided to open a restaurant here. So that's where he opened this restaurant, Garhwal, and he's doing cooking classes now.

2:07:02 And he's doing cooking classes now, very cool. Okay, he wasn't doing cooking classes back then; he was just doing the restaurant. It's open, he's open till 11 PM. That's mind-blowing. He's still in the same spot. Let's see if he's got a picture. So you can kind of it kind of looks like him, but he decided, 'I'm going to open a restaurant there.' I think he lined up financing, and he's just such a high-energy person.

The Impact of Cusco and Returning Home

2:07:25 But yeah, another solo traveler that stopped through there decided they loved it in what feels like the middle of nowhere and committed. So he's been there for, gosh, like three or four years now. I need to reach out to Amit because he was so hospitable. He welcomed me into the kitchen and was showing me all this different stuff.

2:07:49 He really shocked me. He told me, 'Like, we can get some of the same ingredients that we can get in India here. It takes more work, but there's...' It's like, how to explain it? It's... yeah, there's just this entrepreneurship kind of culture there.

2:08:17 Tony says, 'Yes, returning home at least 25 years ago when I first did it had a demoralizing aspect effect. It was the most powerful, life-changing experience of my life, but there was no one to talk about it.' That's how I felt going back to Nashville. I remember showing up in Nashville, sitting at the airport for about six hours because everybody was at work. I landed around 10 AM, and I'm just sitting there, and I just had this mind-blowing experience, and I'm coming down from it.

The Grind of Developed Country Life

2:08:42 In a way, you could almost describe it as, like, an otherworldly experience, and I'm trying to talk to people about it. I'm trying to figure out where I am, like, 'Wait a second, I've been in South America for the last six months.' Like, 'What? Where am I? What's happening here?'

2:09:04 And I'm trying to talk to people, and they were initially excited, but then the excitement wore off because now I'm back in the grind. Now I'm getting a job, now I've got to do an oil change in my car, now I've got to talk to people in a business or professional setting. Now I've got to worry about this, now I've got to deal with this, now I've got to do that. Now I've got to speed back up. I've got to rush, rush, rush. I've got to do the things required of us to live in a developed country where we have these expectations placed on us to contribute at a very high level.

Communication Skills and Synthesizing Experiences

2:09:47 And it was just like, it happens so quickly. It was six months of my life that I reflect on that almost at times felt like it went by in a snap.

2:10:01 Gerard for an introvert, you have outstanding communication skills. Thank you so much, Gerard, that's so kind. I think working in sales really helped me sharpen some of these skills where I had to talk to people all day long. It was a grind, and it was definitely uncomfortable for me at many points, but it forced me to articulate this stuff because when I think this stuff in my head, it sounds great in my head, but it's not as organized until I actually have to put it out there and I actually have to share my experience with people.

2:10:28 I actually have to talk to people like Tony, where Tony and I can individually think about our experiences in Cusco all day long. But, you know, they're just thoughts in the ether, right? But when we actually have, when I actually have to communicate with him, and he's communicating back and sharing his experiences, we can compare and contrast and synthesize these experiences into one.

Cusco's Magic and Underrated Status

2:10:51 And I think a lot of other solo travelers have been there in Cusco where something just clicks for them. There's something about the place that's magical, that is spiritual, that is timeless, that is creative. It's, it's underrated too, like Cusco is to me an extremely underrated city.

2:11:21 I, yeah, I will always look back at my time there fondly. My thought is, if I go back to Cusco, who knows, maybe I save up some money and do another return trip. I mean, it's just, it was so good. It's like hard for me to imagine a place that would beat it, like would be that I would prefer to live in South America because that's how much I enjoyed it.

Comparing Cusco to Other South American Cities

2:11:48 It's not too big of a city. Like, I'm curious about Sao Paulo, Brazil. I taught a guy in Sao Paulo yesterday, but Sao Paulo is 22 million people. Am I going to really have those down-to-earth experiences or be able to have those in-depth conversations with people in a city of 22 million? I'm not sure.

2:12:10 You know, I go, if I go to a country like Chile, like Santiago is the capital of Chile, very, very developed. Is it too developed for me to have some of those experiences? Where in Cusco, people feel very much connected to the Earth. It's like an agriculture hub in a way. You see farmers' markets throughout the city where people just put out blankets and just cover the blankets with vegetables and fruits.

Cusco's Unique Fruits and Markets

2:12:37 I've tried so many strange fruits and vegetables there that I never would have tried. One of my favorites is the custard apple. And I'll just go and type that in the chat, but it's, it's such an odd fruit. It looks strange. It's, you know, it's just such a strange place. It's hard to explain. The more I think about it, the less the place makes sense.

2:13:10 But it's, it's so special. I'm trying to think of some other people. The Venezuelan couple, I didn't mention my friends from Venezuela. Tony says, and I'll talk, I'm gonna respond to Tony's comments and then talk a little bit about this Venezuelan couple I met watching the ladies selling choco in the market.

The Meaning of 'Choclo' and Time Perception

2:13:27 A funny thing, Tony, every time I saw the word 'choco' like in Cusco, it took me a couple months. I was thinking, 'Chocolate? Are they talking about chocolate?' I like chocolate. 'Choclo' is the corn, right? But it just took me so, I mean, it literally took me, I think, a month or more to figure out they're talking about corn with really large kernels, the big corn.

2:13:50 Because I'm used, in the states, we've got our GMO, our GMO corn. It's kind of small. And I even ate a bunch of it, like they would always, in Cusco, at a lot of the restaurants, the Peruvian restaurants, they serve you like a little dish about this big full of the dried and salted choclo. It's delicious. It's so crunchy, and the texture is so good. The salt is also nice if you've been sweating a lot, if you've been really active, which is easy to do if you're walking in those hills. You're just, it's a, it's really exertion.

2:14:25 Tony says, 'Time slowed down for me. It was only two months, but felt like a decade.' Yeah, it's, I get what you're saying, Tony. Because sometimes I feel like it went by with the snap of my fingers. And then other times, it was such a jam-packed experience with so many different experiences and conversations and connections.

Friendship Intimacy and Lengthy Conversations

2:14:49 And a lot of, what I would call, intimacy in the form of friendship, right? I don't mean that in a dirty way, but having these emotional connections to other people that felt extremely unique.

2:15:10 And yeah, it definitely, like I think about the visits I had with people and the exploration I did. The times I spent alone that were really nice to recharge, but also just being able to have like, it's weird in that because it's a laid-back city, you can have lengthy conversations.

Cusco's Relaxed Pace vs. US Work Culture

2:15:35 Like I would go visit friends at their apartment and we'd hang out for several hours. That's infrequent in the US. My friends in the US all work a lot, they have busy jobs. We hang out, we can hang out for a few hours, but it feels like some of the conversation is dominated by work, like we're just trying to destress from work and the demands of our jobs. So that we're halfway present, you know, we might have some beverages that help us to decompress and open up a bit, but there's just this kind of edge that you have from go, go, go, go, go. And when you're there and you really slow down, you can discover, I think, your true self a bit more.

2:16:21 Tony says, 'I'm getting a little choked up hearing you talk about this. My private thoughts and dreams of 25 years feel real hearing someone else share that.' They had the same experience. Yeah, it's such an intense experience.

Cusco's Weather and Vegetarian Dining

2:16:42 It's like what I wanted Colorado to be like, being in the mountains, being there but not cold and frigid like in Colorado. You're stuck inside half the year because it's snowy and icy cold. In Cusco, you're not stuck inside. You can go outside and enjoy yourself. And I was even there part of the time I was there was in the winter, and it was still nice.

2:17:07 But the Venezuelan couple I met, I think they may be back in Venezuela, but I met them because I met my friend Maya, and Maya invited me out to lunch at this vegetarian restaurant. I can't think of the name at the market. Was it Mercato San Blas?

Venezuelan Perspectives and Media Bias

2:17:42 Yeah, so it's the Mercato San Blas. So she's got like, kind of a, I don't know if you call it a popup shop, but it's, you know. So I went there to meet with Maya, and she was meeting her friends from Venezuela and also from Colombia there. They're so welcoming, and I got to talking with them about why they came to Peru.

2:18:04 And he mentioned he's a video editor and he wanted to be able to work, but in Venezuela, he just couldn't get paid. Every time he'd open up a new account, a PayPal account, a money transfer account, it would get shut down because, you know, there's sanctions against Venezuela such that he just couldn't keep an account open. So he did research and figured, 'Okay, I'm gonna go to Peru.' So he and his wife went to Cusco.

2:18:37 And he said, 'We have a nice place here. It's very comfortable. I can get paid for my work here.' And I learned a lot about Venezuela from him. He said, 'Yeah, the media, like it, they have a strong bias.' And I told them, 'I want the other side, like I want to hear about your perspective because in our country, we're not getting the truth about a lot of the world. There's a certain bias to get people to maintain patriotism and allegiance and to not question things.'

2:19:13 And I'm not sitting here to say Venezuela is very different from the way they say it is. I'm just suggesting that...

Economic Realities in Venezuela

2:19:21 They say it is. I'm just suggesting that I would rather get the story from somebody who's actually from there, who's actually lived there, who's actually going back and forth, than to just blindly trust somebody who's trying to sell advertising. Most of the major media corporations, they're there to sell ads. They want to create content that's palatable to advertisers; they're not going to add nuance to the conversation.

2:19:47 So he's telling me how his parents have these fast food restaurants in Venezuela, and I'm like, 'Who actually eats there?' Because we're always hearing about the economic challenges in Venezuela. If you were to talk to an American, they would assume nobody would have the resources for that.

2:20:11 He said, 'Well, you know, there's a lot of people from China actually living here, and they are working in oil and gas, and so they actually come to our restaurants, they actually support our restaurants.' And it's just so, like, you just don't get that kind of information if you watch Western media. It's uh, they're only going to talk about the struggles.

Venezuelan Migration and Contributions

2:20:36 I know there are challenges there; I'm not going to be dismissive of those or downplay those. I met Venezuelans in Colombia, I met Venezuelans in Peru. There are also Venezuelans all over South America and now also in North America. But it's, uh, it's just very different to talk to somebody and actually get their perspective and their experience.

2:20:58 And he loves Cusco. I think they went back because his wife ended up having a child, and they wanted to, um, at least for some time, get some interaction with his parents. But they maybe came back to, um, Peru. I don't know. I think they might have a Visa scheme as well, a situation where people from other South American countries are more welcome to travel to other South American countries.

2:21:32 But it would make sense. He's contributing a lot; he's buying groceries there, he's paying rent there. They had a really nice apartment, very conveniently located.

Cusco's Cozy Atmosphere and Contrasting Weather

2:21:46 And seeing this picture, like, it makes me a bit emotional too because I remember how chilly it could be and how cozy Cusco feels. It was so different from what I was expecting because before I went to Peru, I was thinking, 'Oh, it's South America, it's hot, it's tropical, it's all Mexico.' That's not the case at all. I learned that South America has a lot of variety in geography, and you have plenty of places that are chilly or cool, mountainous, that feel very different from the beaches in Mexico.

2:22:41 Almost the opposite. And the colors, I love the orange-red contrasting with the, uh, gorgeous blue skies. It's, um, yeah, it's just so beautiful. Like, it's such a strong contrast. Ah, man, Tony, like, starting to make me emotional.

Personal Transition and Appreciation for Cusco

2:22:57 Having this conversation because it's, um, it was an interesting transition space in my life where I was wrapping up my programming education, kind of giving up on that to some extent, deciding to go into software sales. But, you know, hadn't really made the transition, and also psychologically, I just needed a break.

2:23:30 And it's kind of a happy place too. I mean, people, even though it's like a working city and people work hard, I imagine it's pretty expensive compared to the surrounding areas. It's also a place where people go on vacation, and so you see a lot of happy tourists that are like, 'Wow, this is so interesting and so unique and so different.'

2:23:50 But yeah, let's check out some of these places. I'll probably wind down the next, uh, 10 minutes or so, maybe 15 minutes, just because my voice is starting to get a bit hoarse. Thank you so much, Tony. I really appreciate your generosity. That's very kind, and I greatly appreciate it. It definitely helps with the channel.

The Value of Shared Experiences and Nostalgia

2:24:20 It's viewers and guests like yourself of the channel that really drive me to keep creating content and adds a lot of meaning. Because for a while, I felt like, 'Ah, this stuff just, it only matters to me.' Not that other people don't also have these experiences, but when you're not online connected with other people, these experiences live in your head, and you feel like the only way I could recreate or relive that is if I go back to Cusco.

2:24:51 But even that's not the same because some people will have moved on, some people's lives will have changed in different ways. People have different priorities. You know, like my friends that went back to Venezuela, I think their friends may have gone back to Colombia. But in this way, like we had this moment in time where we can discuss these things, and it's really helping me to appreciate the time I had there.

The Transition of Life and Taking Time for Granted

2:25:19 Because anytime you have a wonderful experience, toward the end of it, I'm thinking, 'Man, I don't want to leave. I don't want to go. I want to stay here. Why do I have to leave?' But life calls, responsibility calls. It's, you know, the only constant is change. And so it's really nice to have the nostalgia to relive these experiences.

2:25:46 I took my time in Cusco for granted to some extent. I felt like, 'Ah, this isn't Asia, so this isn't like extremely different from what I'm used to.' At the time, my previous trip was in Asia for about four months, and I was a little bit convinced that I need to have the most different or the most strange experience possible compared to what I'm used to.

Cusco's Walkability and Cuisine

2:26:18 And in reflecting on it, I'm thinking, 'No, Cusco is amazing.' Not better than Asia, not as good as Asia, but it, there's a level of comfort there that I just don't get here in Asia. I'm not exactly sure if I could narrow it down to one point or one subject. The layout of the city is nice. Cusco is a very walkable city, very easy to get around. That's something that's just harder to find in Asia broadly speaking.

2:26:49 You get it in Singapore, you get it in parts of Bangkok, but it's not like Cusco, where Cusco was designed well before cars. People were living in Cusco for hundreds of years before they ever got cars, and so it's very pedestrian-friendly. Also, the cuisine is more similar to North American cuisine. So even though I like Asian food and I grew up on it, I also ate plenty of North American food where the ingredients are a little bit more similar, like potatoes, different proteins.

Cusco's Weather and Historical Architecture

2:27:22 The weather is like much more similar to California weather, which is much to my preference. Like I wish I don't wish this because this would be kind of terrible, but for other reasons, Cusco is pretty close to my ideal weather: sunny, chilly. It almost felt like, and it may have just been the time of year I was there, but like perpetual fall or autumn.

2:27:52 Yeah, I miss that city so much. It's such a nice city. It's such a cool city. Let me, uh, yeah, so this is an example of some of the history there, the Qorikancha. And it's just right there in the city, like you're not traveling super far outside the city, so you can just see it at nighttime. They light it up really well.

City Planning and Navigation in Cusco

2:28:28 You see some of the Spanish-style architecture, reminds me a lot of Spain, Andalusia, for example, with the arches. I suspect they got some of that from Rome. I think parts of Spain were part of the Roman Empire.

2:29:17 I think Freddy did take me to the Cristo Blanco. It reminds me of, like, I've never been to Rio de Janeiro, but it reminds me of the Christ the Redeemer statue. And so you get this gorgeous view over the city, and you see the level of organization. It's not as apparent when you're walking around in the city because you're just living your life, trying to get around, and you don't exactly know where you're going.

2:29:50 But when you see it from above, you see that grid infrastructure where you're thinking, 'They planned this city really, really well.' Like they knew what they were doing when they placed all these buildings here because you can get around. It's so easy to get around Cusco. That's one of those things that sticks out to me about Cusco: it's a very easy city to navigate by foot or by vehicle.

Cusco's Relaxed Cab Culture

2:30:11 Most cities are one of the other. Like American cities, most American cities, they're great by car, not so great by walking. Or vice versa. I had a buddy that worked in Manhattan for a while; he was working as a driver, and he talked about how stressful it was to be a driver in Manhattan. It's a city that very much caters to pedestrians. Cusco somehow gets both down.

2:30:39 There were times I took cabs in Cusco, and the driver was very calm and not freaking out, not stressed out. Or I'm used to when I travel in the developing world, cab drivers can be kind of stressed out and worked up. It was like I think I even rode in the front seat with him. It was that relaxed. I don't even know if he was an official cab driver; he just pulled up and told me, 'Hey, hop in.' And so I get in the front seat, and we're just cruising around. He's playing music, smiling and laughing, and just really laid-back. It was pretty strange.

Value for Money in Cusco Accommodations

2:31:24 Gerard says, 'Great conversation for over two hours. Keep it up.' Thank you so much, Gerard. That's very kind. Tony says, 'Perpetual Autumn, great term. Can you show the area you stayed in? Your apartment?' It was the capital city of the Inca Empire. Cusco meant the navel of the world, I believe it absolutely.

2:31:43 Tony, I'd be happy to show you some of the places that I stayed, the hotels I stayed in, and great value for money. Like fantastic value for money. It's one of those places where I'm not going to tell anybody that has hotels there, but it seems like a place that could be more expensive than what it was. I was genuinely impressed at what I was getting for my money there.

Hotel Golden Inca and Active Lifestyle

2:32:15 Getting for my money there. The uh, oh, look at the alpaca, the goofy kind, almost kind of a smile. That's something that I'd like to do when I go back. You've kind of convinced me. You've helped to convince me, I should say, Tony, that I need to go back at some point in my life. I don't know exactly when that will be, but it's, yeah, it's a special place.

2:32:44 So I'll go ahead and pull up the hotels I stayed at. This is the hotel I spent most of my time at, the Hotel Golden Inca. And it's, I wish you could see the front of the hotel; it's distinct. Oh, here we go, this is a good example I can show. They have this breakfast every single day, so I'd start off the day, I'd go upstairs and have toast and fruit and a little bit of meat and some tea. I'd have tea; it was a great way to start off the day because I was exerting myself a lot in Cusco, super, super active.

2:33:25 I was the healthiest I think I've ever been in my life in Cusco because I was so active and the weather is so conducive there to getting out and doing stuff. So yeah, I was staying here. This is, I was like, maybe 10 blocks from the historical city, so I wasn't in the historical city. But how I would get there is I'd walk up the hill.

Proximity to Historical Center and Local Neighborhoods

2:34:05 And I'd walk where's the Plaza de Armas? I'll just pop it in the map here. Plaza. Okay, that's not what I was looking for. Let's see. Plaza. Yeah, so I would walk. It was about an 18-minute walk, a little over half a mile. I'd walk up the hill and then down this road, and then I'd be in the Historical Center. I loved it because it felt a little bit more spacious. I didn't feel quite as densely packed as the Historical Center.

2:34:54 The hotel is a bit more modern, and also there's it's right next to this or across the street from there's some kind of transportation or construction like business across the street, which was kind of interesting just to see that. To look out the window and to see that it was relatively quiet. It wasn't perfectly quiet, but it was relatively quiet for being in such a convenient location, being so close to the Old City.

Neighborhood Amenities and Late-Night Options

2:35:27 It also, the thing that I liked about it was that you had access to this local neighborhood where you had a lot of local people who work in tourism, the tourism industry, but they're not going to live in the Old City, right? Because the Old City is pretty pricey. You're paying a premium for rent in the Old City. It's also not easy to like drive around in the Old City. So like if you want a place to park your car, you're not going to really find one. I don't think any of my friends that lived in the Old City had cars.

2:36:00 Whereas here, it's more like a normal neighborhood, and the people were so friendly too. They got to know me at the convenience store. I'd go to the convenience store to get Gatorade and also get my laundry done because I didn't really, I don't think I saw in this part of the city any laundromats where you'd go and wash your own clothes. So I'd go and pay probably like a dollar a kilo equivalent, so very good value as far as laundry service there.

2:36:29 And then I get my Gatorade, and also they have a ton of places that open late night. Even though it's kind of a sleepy city in certain ways, it's not like people feel relaxed, but you can get like, you noticed a meat restaurant is open till 11 PM. It's a place that seems like it should close early, but it doesn't.

Convenience Stores and Central Meeting Points

2:36:54 And also I would sleep really good there once I got adjusted to the altitude. I was working out a lot, I would sleep like a baby almost every night, which is not easy for me. Like, I've struggled with insomnia since I was pretty young, and so to be able to get a good night's sleep every night was wonderful.

2:37:12 It's also like, being here is also just very convenient to get to the, it was kind of a long walk, but like, it's not bad in a cab to come down here to Plaza Via, which is like Cusco's biggest store. So if you need to go to a Walmart type of a store, they've got all kinds of normal goods. I bought some clothes there.

2:37:45 You've got a lot of imported goods here, like if you want Lay's potato chips, if you want, you know, just your normal stuff. It gives you a sense of normalcy in such an interesting, eclectic city where you don't expect to be able to find a Walmart type of a store, but you have that convenience there. So it's very, very convenient.

2:38:07 They've convenient. They've also got a movie theater which shows a lot of the modern movies. It's, I looked at it, staying here as the best of both worlds. I have the access to the Old City where a number of my friends stay, and I can meet up with people very easily. It's a central location for people throughout the city. We don't know where to meet. Oh, let's just meet up at the Plaza de Armas, or let's just meet up at this restaurant in the Old City.

Modern Conveniences in Cusco

2:38:36 And that's a little bit harder when you're more on the outskirts. So I liked its proximity to the Old City, and then proximity to the new city. Because if you go over here to the newer city, you've got, there's even an anime store in Cusco. Like, to be in Cusco is far away from, I think there was also a video game shop. There's all these conveniences in the new part of the city that you wouldn't expect in such an ancient and traditional city, coupled with the old world down the street.

2:39:14 So it's like the new world is here, and then the old world is over here. Here the other place. And I think I stayed in a couple of other places, but the other place that I stayed was because I wanted to mix it up. I thought, why don't I check out a different part of town? I like this, but I also want to stay somewhere a little bit different. And also there was some good deals on it.

Hotel Tor Dada and Local Hospitality

2:39:44 They were so nice. The guy moved there from Lima. He bought this hotel. Hotel Tor Dada. So after I figured out that Cusco is a pretty safe city, then I wanted to check out some other places. And I thought, I'm up here, why don't I go to a different part of the city? Still not in the Historical Center, but I did stay in the Historical Center when I first got there. There was a hostel I stayed in.

2:40:21 I can't think of the name off the top of my head. It was, you know, it was okay. I think it catered to a little bit younger crowd. But yeah, Hotel Tor Dada. So I booked this hotel because I thought, ah, it's a little bit further outside of the city center. It might have a bit more local vibes. It might have some different markets or different kind of interesting things down there.

2:40:48 And this hotel, super comfortable, very modern, very nice rooms. The shower was freaking awesome, like really nice hot water, of course. All the, both of the hotels I stayed in had hot water. The hostel did not have hot water, kind of a disappointment. But yeah, really nice breakfast here. They, they would serve like, they basically, they'd send one of the ladies there to the market, and she would just buy a bunch of different fruit, and then she would just ask me, okay, which fruit do you want? I'll just cut it up. And how do you want your eggs cooked?

Residential Neighborhood Charm and Parks

2:41:28 And such great hospitality made me feel so included. And the hotel is just super comfortable. I really liked this hotel a lot, and different too. I mean, different like not in the city center. Surrounded, it was like in a residential neighborhood too, which was kind of surprising, surrounded by residential houses. It was also, you have this park here right in front, which is a nice place. I'd go there at around sundown and just enjoy the sunset.

2:42:13 That's I have, I didn't see this building. This is beautiful. But yeah, you have this park here, and then also you could walk along, you could kind of walk by the river, not exactly, but you, I mean, it was a pretty peaceful place to go walking.

Affordable Local Restaurants and Markets

2:42:36 But yeah, lots of local places I liked too. I would come down here and there's a lot of local restaurants where you could have fantastic, I think it's like what I would call the best value for money for food of any city I've been to in the world. They, I would have like, I have these small steak or chicken lunches for like six solay, which is equivalent to about $1.50.

2:43:20 Is there? We go. Okay, it's staying on. I was just kind of shocked, confused by that. But yeah, this was a great neighborhood to stay in. There's a market. I was going to Mercato de Juan. This might have been it, but maybe it was Cusco SE. No, yeah, but very different from being in the city center. And people were super welcoming in this neighborhood too. I was kind of surprised because it's very much a local neighborhood.

Neighborhood Amenities and Exploration

2:43:52 People were very nice. They had, somewhere around here, they had a place where almost like a soccer camp or soccer training facility where people could practice soccer. Really interesting.

2:44:16 And also not too far. I mean, you can still, like I'll show you here. I could still get to Plaza de Armas in about 4 minutes of walking, or I'd just call a cab. It's, you know, it's not that bad pricewise. You're not going very far. So I'd walk up there and it was, you know, a little bit steep. I mean, you're walking uphill most of this way, but still it provided me an opportunity to explore some different neighborhoods.

Winding Down and Appreciation for Cusco

2:44:56 But um, yeah, I think I'm gonna wind down here, guys. My throat is really, really starting to go. I greatly appreciate you both joining me for this long. Gerard and also Tony, thank you again, Tony, for the super chats. Always appreciated. Your contribution definitely helps the channel continue to go and continue to grow as well.

2:45:24 Thanks so much. I can't thank you guys enough for helping taking me back to this experience. And I could definitely talk more about Cusco in future streams because it was a highlight of my time in Latin America. I liked Colombia a lot. I enjoyed seeing my buddy Chully there, but Peru was, I love the piece of my heart in Peru. That's the best way to put it.

Stream Wrap-up and Call to Action

2:45:52 And always good to visit with you, Tony. It is like having a cup of coffee together. These live streams are, so yeah, if you haven't, just going to do a little bit of a rundown on some admin stuff before I wrap the stream up. If you're watching this on repeat, please give us a thumbs up. It helps with the YouTube algorithm. Comment if you're interested in going to Peru or to in America, if that's something that is.

2:46:22 America if that's something that is intriguing to you after watching the stream, I wouldn't blame you. It's definitely been a highlight for folks like myself, Tony, and I'm sure many other subscribers will make it there one day.

2:46:33 Finally, if you're watching a repeat of this stream and you haven't yet, please subscribe to the channel down below. We greatly appreciate your subscriptions.

2:46:44 And yeah, we'll wrap it up here. Thanks so much, everyone. I hope everybody has a great week ahead and see you soon.