Seeing the world as a nomad

This weekend, my wife and I were down on Utretchstraat in Amsterdam. They've a lovely selection of restaurants, including one which I can't bring myself to eat at. They claim they're a Mexican restaurant. Having grown up mostly in Texas, I miss good Tex-Mex food and if you love it and move to Europe, you'll miss it too. I make some pretty mean enchiladas. I'll have to see if I can find the ingredients.

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Is it possible? Can you really travel for free? The short answer is "yes". The long answer adds "... if you're a masochist with an extreme tolerance for adventure." Some initial expenditures can go a long way to making life easier for you. I'm not going to pull punches, though; it's often a hard, painful experience. Obviously, this one is for people who aren't planning on leaving permanently. Some people think of it as being a "nomad" or a "vagabond", but the word "homeless" isn't too far from the truth.

Homeless

Paradise still sucks
when you're homeless
Photo by Scott Hudson

I was standing in a Wendy's fast food restaurant, rooting through the trash looking for a relatively clean coffee cup and one of those weird, orange-colored styrofoam plates. Having found them, I put them on a tray and walked up to the cashier and asked for refills because Wendy's was running a special on free refills of french toast (free coffee refills were standard). The person behind the counter looked at me dubiously because frankly, when you're homeless, it tends to be pretty damned obvious. Fortunately, most people strive to avoid confrontation and I received my free breakfast. After all, this was Hawaii and some tourists look pretty shabby.

When people find out I where I was homeless, they often say "oh my God, but you were in Hawaii!" My response: "try it."

Until you've been homeless, you have no idea how hard it really is. You can't keep clean, you can't "hide" being homeless and no one wants to look at homeless people, much less talk to them. Your only other friends tend to be homeless people and from my experience, they're a sad lot indeed — though some of them have amazing stories of how they happened to get there.

So what does this have to do with living/travelling in another country? I've a friend who bought a ticket to the UK several years ago and "missed" the return flight home. He squatted in London, hitchhiked across France, got beaten up and had his backpack stolen in Paris and the police weren't interested in helping a homeless American bum. Still, people have dreams of hitch-hiking across Europe and they sometimes think of the Travellers or Gypsies with an air of romanticism due to their nomadic lifestyles.  Hitchhiking across South America can be a wonderful experience (I've a friend who did it for a few months), but there's a good chance you'll be sleeping rough, longing for a shower and discovering that the police don't care much what happens to bums.

It might sound like an adventure, but honestly, many "adventures" are only adventures after the fact — though these are often the most memorable adventures of all.

Understanding the Nomad Lifestyle

The reality of being a "nomad"
Photo by Ed Yourdon

If you insist that being a nomad is the way to go, then you can start with no money (effectively being homeless), save up a lot of money and learn to budget like you never had to before, or have a source of remote income (maybe a friend who sends you $100 a month). No matter which route you go, it's going to be rough, but obviously the "no money" route is the most difficult for a couple of reasons. First, you have no money for food. Second, many countries won't let you in without a return ticket home and they might demand evidence of your ability to support yourself while you're there. You're also often asked where you plan to stay while in the country. Showing up with a backpack and looking scruffy can easily get you pulled over and questioned. If your intended destination can't be contacted or doesn't acknowledge you're staying there, you are likely on the first plane back home (note: call your destination and verify that they'll confirm you're staying there. There's a guy in our office who wasn't let in to Sweden because the hotel lost his reservation).

In other words, if you go this route and have to fly to your first destination, by a round trip ticket and have a place to stay during that time. This doesn't mean you'll be flying back on your return ticket (and honestly, they're very unlikely to notice at first), but you need to look normal (side note: the round trip tickets are often cheaper than one way tickets). You can also check out an "open return" ticket. You'll need to contact your airline for this. They're much more expensive, but they allow you to change your return date without cost. Very handy if you don't know how long you'll be gone!

If you're homeless while travelling, you might very well find yourself in a very dire situation. However, if you're completely destitute and you're an American, even though the US State Department doesn't mention this directly in their "financial emergencies" FAQ, they can loan you money to get home, but you'll not be able to use your passport again until you repay the loan.

Shelter, Food, and Travel

Next you'll need to figure out where you're going to do this. This is tricky because the richer the country, the better the pickings for you if you go dumpster diving. The poorer the country, the further your limited supply of money will get you.

First you need to decide if you're going to be sleeping rough (outside) or trying to find free/cheap places to stay. I would advise extreme caution about sleeping rough, particularly if you're female. I made it work in Hawaii by hiking a couple of miles outside of town almost every night. On the nights I was too tired to leave town, I was far more likely to get hassled by police and once I found myself fleeing a man who exposed himself to me and decided to give chase when I ran (fortunately, I escaped). If you go this route, try not to do it alone (though I can tell you that this can stress a friendship more than anything you can imagine).

If you don't care for sleeping outside, you can check out couchsurfing.com to try and get free places to stay, but I've heard people saying it's a very hit or miss experience. You can also read this detailed review of couchsurfing.com and alternatives. Basically, there are people all over the planet willing to give you a free place to stay because they're looking to meet new and interesting people. This can be a great thing, but if you can't see any potential downside here, you're probably a wee bit too trusting.

Dinner is served
Photo by Tal Bright

As mentioned, you really don't need a place to stay, but you do need to eat. So you can try dumpster diving. That link explains the ins-and-outs of dumpster diving and it also has UK and Europe specific guides. Depending on where you are, you can actually eat very well off of people's leftovers (supermarkets often have great pickings) and that can save you a ton of money. I would personally avoid the charities which give out free food (unless you're desperate) because those are really for people who are legitimately in need and your love of adventure means you put yourself in this position. Remember that if you're dumpster diving and you find food, you'll often find several days worth.

Also, to get both food and shelter, check out WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). Created in the 1970s, WWOOF is a world-wide network of organic farms who offer volunteers food and shelter in exchange for help on the farm. As usual, Wikipedia provides a useful summary of WWOOF.

After several luxurious days of sleeping in a park and dining on stale bread, you're probably ready to move on. Your feet are the most reliable sources of travel. A bike is nice, but you have to carry supplies to repair it and there's the constant worry of theft. Another think to consider it hitchhiking (again, I didn't say this would be easy! Learning to hitchhike is harder than you think. You're not going to have much success in the center of town and if you look like a scruffy, homeless bum, that's not going to help either.

Here are some basics for hitchhiking:

• Look clean and friendly (smile!)
• Make eye contact with drivers
• Try roads leading out of town
• Don't get in a car if you feel uncomfortable
• Ask people at rest areas, traffic lights and gas stations

Again, I don't necessarily recommend this, but if you die, don't come complaining to me!

Planning

This might sound stupid, but you can train for this. You'll be walking a lot, so pack everything you plan to take with you into a bag and walk with that. I read a book about a man who walked around the world, but in all of his training he forgot to carry a full pack and quickly had to discard most of it. Don't do that! Go for hikes with that full pack and make sure you know what you're getting into. Try spending a couple of weekends alone in a local environment similar to what you're expecting and see if you can survive. Remember: take no money. Try dumpster diving in a "safe" environment first.

At the very least, you'll need:

• A bedroll
• Container for water
• First aid kit (and any med supplies you might need)
• A change of clothes
• Rain poncho
• Spoon, fork, knife, plate, cup, bowl
• Emergency contact information
• Pocket atlas (since you'll be travelling a lot)

Don't bother with a tent. More often than not, you won't bother to set it up. However, you might want something to pull over you if you're sleeping in the rain. You also might consider a writing journal (with waterproof pouch) and a supply of pens. You might think you'll never forget what's happening, but you will. Also, a couple of books you don't mind re-reading will likely help. You're going to be bored much of the time.

You'll probably want a lot more than that, but how much can you carry? Particularly if you haven't eaten for a while? Also, buy the best, most rugged gear you can afford for all of that. If you bought a cheap rucksack and it's falling apart a month into your trip you're going to be pretty unhappy. And if you bring a watch, make it a wind-up or put in a fresh battery before you go.

Should you do this?

For most people, I would say "absolutely not". You honestly cannot imagine how hard this is unless you're actually doing it. By then, it's too late. However, if you have to get out and see the world and you have no money or skills, you can still make it happen. You just have to do it the hard way.

The Pub

Typical Irish Military Output
Photo by Charles Taber

Not going to be too much of a post today as my company took all IT staff and their partners out to an Irish pub last night. It was O'Donnells on Heinekenplein (I'm unsure if they named the square after the beer or its creator) and I have to say it was Just Another Irish Pub — albeit with bitterballen. Notice how cities around the world aren't guaranteed to have, say, English pubs? Or Dutch pubs? Or Australian? It's always Irish pubs. Why is that?

My pet theory is that the Irish are planning on taking over the world and these are their advance locations.

A difficult part of being an expat

When I lived in the US, I had two close friends, a married couple, that I used to hang out with all the time. I would housesit when then went on holiday. We went to Burning Man together. We shared many an excellent meal and had great times together.

Now she's fighting breast cancer and it looks serious. I'm thousands of miles away with a new job and a baby on the way. I can only wish them well from afar. Obviously my "difficult part" is not nearly as bad as theirs, but it's difficult nonetheless.

Mark and Jenn, all my love.

US versus Dutch crime rates

Home for almost 1% of the US population
Photo by Tim Pearce

Yesterday's "Hookers and Pot" post became the most popular post of the week in just a few hours. I suspect that's because it's the aspect of the Netherlands which most people are curious about and familiar with. However, I also suspect that it's part of the whole "how are things different?" aspect. It's worth noting, though, that Abigail posted some rather interesting commentary:

Note though that the overcapacity in prison is only very recent. It's only a few years ago criminals were send home early due to lack of prison space. It's not just a drop in crime rate (or rather, a drop in the number of convictions, which could have multiple reasons), it's also having build more prison cells than needed in the past decade. The call for more prison cells was drug related: there were so many drug runners flying into Amsterdam that many that were caught got a plane ticket home instead of being booked.

Being new to the Netherlands I didn't know this. Now according to many people, it's keeping more people in prison that reduces crime, so if we're sending people home early due to lack of prison space, then we clearly must have more crime, right? Naturally the situation isn't that simplistic, but I thought I'd do some digging.

For the following table, each statistic is per 100,000 people for the USA and the Netherlands.

	United States	Netherlands
Prisoners	738	128
Murders	4.3	1.1
Assaults	756.9	268.9
Car thefts	387.9	233.6
Burglaries	710.0	555.5
Embezzlements	5.8	47.6
Frauds	125.7	120.0
Rapes	301.3	100.4
Robberies	138.8	113.5
Teen Suicide (15-24 years)	13.7	6.8

Congratulations USA for totally kicking the Netherlands' tail in embezzlements.

If you keep digging, you find that the Netherlands still has a fair amount of crime, but not as much as the US and there's relatively little violent crime. In fact, I find that I can walk down the darkest alleys and streets late at night here in Amsterdam (the most "crime-ridden" city in the Netherlands) and I feel perfectly safe.

So how's incarcerating almost 1% of your citizens working out for you America?

What's up with the hookers and pot?

When you say "Amsterdam", many people think of some drugged-out, sex-crazed city, as suggested by Bill O'Reilly, a topic I mentioned in a previous entry. But is that Amsterdam? Culture means something a hell of a lot different if you actually live somewhere. For Amsterdam, culture for young college types is often "pubs, hookers and pot," for more mature visitors, it's "restaurants, museums and pot," and for residents it's "work, friends, and pot."

If you're sensing a theme, it's deliberate, but honestly, the aspect of Marijuana is completely different on the inside than the outside. Most people in the Netherlands don't smoke pot or do any (illicit) drugs at all. However, it's an inescapable part of the politics and frankly, if you live here, you can't walk around without smelling it periodically. It's omnipresent.

Threat to society?
Photo by Taber Andrew Bain

Here's the big secret, though: while many people outside of the Netherlands are unhappy with our prostitution and drugs, many people inside of the Netherlands are also unhappy with our prostitution and drugs. The difference is that they're more unhappy with the crime associated with outlawing it. Others like to moralize and shake their fingers at the Dutch, but the Dutch have first-hand experience with the before and after and they know which they prefer.

The Dutch are often a rather conservative people. As per their Calvinist background, they tend not to brag, they work hard, they prefer consensus, and they'll accept drugs and prostitution if they think that causes less harm to their society than the alternative. Got that? It's not an emotional thing with them. They're not standing up on a moral high horse and preaching about the evils of these things (well, most aren't). They're simply looking pragmatically at society and asking what works. They're very keen on the concept of harm reduction.

If you've noticed anything at this point, it's that we're not talking about a 24-hour party culture. In fact, the Dutch are largely the opposite of this. It's pragmatism which led to their decisions. And has it worked? Well, the Dutch certainly think so.

Amsterdam's infamous Red Light District
Photo by Nicholas Doumani

Prostitution is a highly emotional topic and it can be hard to find objective information about it. Most of the information I've read starts looking at prostitution in light of a particular worldview and imagines if it's good or bad. However, the overall situation is extremely complex. I suspect even most die-hard Libertarians would feel uncomfortable with a scantily dressed street walker waiting outside an elementary school hoping to pick up fathers dropping off their children.

Because prostitution is such an emotive topic, I won't cover it further here, but drugs are a touch safer (in terms of discussion). In the Netherlands, rather than having complicated drug classifications that other countries have drawn up, there are simply "List I" and "List II" drugs, colloquially known as "hard" and "soft" drugs. Both groups are illegal, but the latter is "decriminalized" and you generally won't be prosecuted for using them. The distinction between the two groups is simply whether or not there is an "acceptable" risk of physical harm or addiction.

The results of their liberal drug laws are pretty clear-cut: they have a lower consumption of drugs per capita than other European countries. They don't have a lot of drug-related crime and very little "nuisance" associated with drugs. Further, while the US has more prisoners per capita than any country on the planet — a trend which started when Ronald Reagan decided to step up "the war on drugs" — the Netherlands is shutting down prisons for lack of criminals and renting out prisons to Belgium. In fact, I could cite a lot more information, but it's simply too easy to find it for yourself; whatever the Dutch are doing, it works.

Further proof that the Dutch aren't simply pleasure-seeking hedonists is the news that they're considering making "coffee shops" only available for residents and Amsterdam has been trying to scale back the red light district. There is simply no way the Dutch are going to give up their laws in these areas — they're convinced they reduce harm — but they're also going to keep tinkering to try and further reduce harm. It's an astounding pragmatism which I think is a perfect example of Dutch character.

Peace Corps

When I was younger, the Peace Corps conjured up images of struggling in a mud hut in Africa and feeding starving children. There's a reason the Peace Corps is often referred to as "the toughest job you'll ever love." However, it's not just Africa, though much of it is. It's also Thailand, Eastern Caribbean, Romania, Fiji and many other places.

What's nice about the Peace Corps is that you're not only helping people in need, you also get a short-term taste of what it might be like to be an expat — albeit in an undeveloped area — and you don't have to worry about rent, food, utilities or other aspects of life while you're doing it. Whether you're helping a local school set up a computer network or teaching English in Guatemala, you'll have a two-year assignment and then can come home with a few thousand dollars in your pocket.

Forestry management in Ethiopia
Photo by Trees for the Future

Not everyone is eligible to join the Peace Corps. The requirements vary, but generally they're looking for people with four year degrees (not always, but 90% of their positions require a Bachelor's degree) and a background which is useful in helping developing countries. It helps if you have volunteer experience (30 hours or three months) and husband and wife teams can go together, but they both have to be qualified and there has to be an opening for both of them at the same time. You can read up about Peace Corps requirements to see if you're a good fit and figure out if you want to go.

What you really want to know is what being in the Peace Corps is really like on a day-to-day basis. If you can't answer that, it's tough to figure out if this is an opportunity you want. Fortunately, the Peace Corps Journals is a collection of journals from Peace Corps volunteers. Their stories are fantastic and you can start with this lovely little blog entry from a volunteer in Morocco explaining what a "PCV" is.

Happy New Year!

Nothing to do with Amsterdam :)
Photo by William Cho

There was a huge fireworks display over Amsterdam last night, but not by the city. The people did it themselves. I'm pretty damned certain that last night's fireworks would have been illegal in the US. Very impressive!

We spent the evening with six Dutch people enjoying dinner, champagne, oliebollen and fireworks. I'm spending the morning nursing a touch of a headache and Leïla is trying to sleep in. I think this is going to be the start of a fabulous year for us.

In other news, someone's pointed me to a recipe for homemade Hamburger Helper. I'm definitely going to have to try this on some night that Leïla isn't eating dinner!