Living More Internationally, Part 1

Over the next few entries, I’m going to post some practical advice about how living more internationally can be not just a rewarding experience, but fun, safe, and financially worth your while.

My best advice to someone who wants to live a better life is to start to think more internationally.

Would you consider buying an around-the-world ticket and traveling to new places for a few months (or years) if you thought you could afford it? Let’s think about it for a little while — dream a little.

A cheap around-the-world ticket should cost about $1,300. I’ve consistently found that the best deal on these tickets can be found in the travel section of the New York Times. Look for the tiny little ads with the almost unreadable type. In 30 years, I’ve never had a problem with any of these outfits, but if you want to be more careful, you can pay with a credit card.

Most of these tickets have to be completed within a year, so you might just want to buy a one way ticket to Bangkok and put the rest of the trip together later. Thailand is, for some reason or other, the cheapest place in the world to buy air tickets. This will give you more flexibility, too. Trust me, you’ll want as much of that as possible.

Probably your first major stop will be in Europe. My advice — keep it short. A couple of days in London cost about the same as a month on the beaches of Goa. You`ll kick yourself for blowing so much early on in the trip.

Next stop – let’s say Bombay. OK, the pollution is horrific, jet lag has got you down. Just chill out for a day or two – it’s going to get better. Try to stay in the Colaba section — the sea breeze will help. Here let me mention the importance in India (but everywhere really) of going in the right season. Go during the hot season and you will not enjoy yourself.

Let’s backtrack a little; when planning your trip, check on the weather for the time you plan on visiting. I get out my well-worn National Geographic Atlas and check out the 2 pages devoted to temperature and rainfall at some 400 cities around the world. Don’t ignore what you learn there — monsoon season in Lake Toba in Indonesia will be a bigger factor than you imagine.

So, you’re over your jet lag, you’ve discovered Leopold’s Cafe and things are looking up. Notice the prices? Like about 1/5 what they were in London. That’s only the beginning.

One of my favorite things to do in Bombay is to attend a meeting of the Laughing Club of India. It meets every morning at 7:30 in the little park down by the Gateway to India. I won’t spoil it for you. Just prepare to have your spirits raised.

So let’s start paying for this trip. Do you take any medications? Go into any drugstore and do some sticker comparisons. The same drug you pay $1,200 for in the States costs $40 here. A doctor’s appointment, including prescription, should set you back $2. How about a new suit? India is known for its extraordinary textiles. Go to a gentleman’ store (I’m partial to Raymond’s) and have a suit made up that is tailored perfectly to your body, full silk lining, the works. Should cost about $100.

Getting tired of the city? Take the train to Rajasthan — Indian trains are one of the great ways of traveling. Second class sleeper gives you a comfortable bunk so you can take a nap whenever you feel like it while you watch the fascinating scenery slide by. You can travel all the way across India like this for $20. The train serves good curry but every stop has vendors selling whatever you need.

 

Places that are dangerous

Since I talked in my last post about not being afraid of travel, I should probably add a few words about places I do consider dangerous.

Colombia used to be near the top of the list, but I hear it’s better now.

In Afghanistan (all the “stans,” for that matter), you’ll have no trouble getting into all kinds of dicey situations.

Also, no one should underestimate the problems and real dangers of travel in Sub-Saharan Africa. Problems in this part of the world are under reported – 5.4 million people have died in the Congo since the war began in 1998¹ and it has hardly appeared on the world’s radar screen. These places are not for the first-time traveler.

Most of the rest of the world, though, is at least as safe, if not safer, than America. If you want to be scared of anything, be scared of third-world traffic.

 

Don’t be afraid of travel

So many Americans have a totally irrational fear of traveling.

Let’s put things into perspective.  Statistically, you’re much more likely to come to a violent end in America than the average world citizen is — lots of people have guns here and we have quite a high murder rate.  The streets of Boston are far more dangerous than Shanghai, Calcutta, Damascus, or practically anyplace else you want to mention.

People tend to be afraid of the wrong things.  SARS, which everyone was so worried about a few years ago, has killed fewer than 800 people, while AIDS is killing millions upon millions. Even swine flu is relatively unlikely to kill you: you have less than a one in a million chance of contracting swine flu – and only about a one percent chance of dying from it, if you did catch it.  Ironically, you’d probably be better off if you were overseas right now, since the majority of the cases have been reported in North America.¹ You could fly around the world 200,000 times before you stood a 50-50 chance of dying in a plane crash.² Simply walking is many thousands of times more dangerous — in fact, it’s far and away the most dangerous way to travel. How many of the millions of American expatriates abroad have died at the hands of terrorists? A handful. More people die of bee stings.

I’m not saying there isn’t some danger overseas. There is. It’s just not what’s portrayed in the media, and there are simple solutions. The traffic in India is murderous — take a train. The Indian Railway System has the same safety record as Europe – also, it’s super cheap and great fun. Malaria and AIDS are terrible problems in Africa — take your pills and be mighty selective of your sex partners. No problem.

 

The world is friendlier than the media suggests

One important thing to remember is that most people in the media see it as their job to alert everyone to what is going wrong in the world.  You won’t win a Pulitzer Prize for writing about a trade agreement, or how the Sikhs in the Punjab gradually became more peaceful, or about a happy marriage, or anything of that sort.  You move ahead in your profession by showing dramatic conflict — wars, famines, etc.  That can be good, in that it can alert us to problems. It can be bad if that’s what you really think the big picture is.  For what it’s worth, the average world citizen is far less likely to die in a war or a famine than in any period in world history.  The world is a far friendlier place than most Americans believe.

Here’s a tip that may surprise you, but I’ve found to be quite true.  If you want to be treated rudely, go to some country that is supposedly our military ally — say Germany or England.  If you want to be treated royally, go somewhere that is supposed to be our enemy.  I was once in a large city in Syria where I had to stand on a corner for an hour.  In the course of that hour, I was invited to dinner no less than 20 times.  Don’t expect that to happen in Paris.

I believe that at some level the vast majority of people are sick and tired of being told who they’re supposed to hate.  There is a desire for sharing and communion.  God knows there’s a tremendous diversity out there.  We’re exotic, too — we’ve got something to share.  Be part of it.

 

Own Up to Your Nationality

I know a lot of American tourists who choose to say they’re Canadian when they’re abroad instead of admitting that they’re American.

I have to say, I find that pretty distressing. None of us chose where we would be born, or for that matter, our race or sex. We’re responsible for who we are and what we do. What kind of a trip will it be when every encounter you have begins with a lie? A big part of travel is to see beyond prejudices. No one who has worked as a volunteer on a kibbutz in Israel or enjoyed the unbelievable hospitality of an Arab home, as I have, can ever look at issues in the Middle East in simplistic ways. Be a decent human being while you’re traveling. If you have grave misgivings about many of your government’s actions, as I do, then express them — let people see you as an individual, not an image or a label.

It is my firm opinion that if we manage not to blow this planet up, it will not be because of a few crucial decisions by a handful of powerful people. It will be thanks to millions upon millions of small interactions between perfectly ordinary people.

 

The Times on Why You Can’t Afford Not to Travel

I’ve always thought that a recession shouldn’t stop you from traveling, and the New York Times agrees with me.

Check out Hard Times? Time to Take Off to get a sense of exactly what I mean when I say that the recession is a perfect time to go on the road. At times like this, most people look at their wallets and assume they can’t afford to travel, but what they should be thinking is that they can’t afford not to travel.

 

Kaunas University of Medicine

A year ago, I ran into an American fellow who went to medical school in Lithuania. I know there are a lot of very poor-quality med schools around the world that will grant you a degree, but perhaps don’t offer a very good medical education. Some of the programs in Mexico and the Caribbean are especially suspect. It was my impression, though, that the school my friend attended in Kaunas, Lithuania, was actually first-rate.

Kaunas University of Medicine is the largest in Eastern Europe. They have a policy of accepting students provisionally, even if their previous academic work is not top-notch. Once you’ve been accepted, it’s up to you to prove you can handle the work. They encourage foreign enrollment and, in fact, have students from over 30 countries. Interestingly, about half of these are Israeli and a large percentage of the rest are from Arab countries. Conveniently, all the classes are in English.

I know there are a lot of people who would’ve liked to have become doctors, but, for one reason or another, didn’t quite make it into medical school. One of the main reasons why medical care in the United States is so expensive is because the AMA works hard to keep the supply of physicians low.

In America, before someone is allowed to begin actual medical studies, they’re required to take a lot of courses like physics, calculus, and various classes in the humanities, which have no actual relevance to the practice of medicine. While I appreciate the value of a liberal arts education, it seems that that practice just serves to discriminate against those who perhaps can’t afford eight plus years of higher education. In Eastern Europe, on the other hand, everything that you learn from the very beginning pertains directly to the practice of medicine, which means that more doctors are able to start work in a shorter amount of time.

If you think you might be interested in looking into this matter further, you can check out Kaunas University of Medicine’s website, which has information about the history of the school, and about the current faculty.

I stopped by Kaunas while I was in Lithuania, and I took some pictures of the University of Medicine and the city of Kaunas.

Students at Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

Kaunas, Lithuania

Lobby of the Kaunas University of Medicine Library, Lithuania

Kaunas University of Medicine Library, Lithuania

Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania