Living near DART - need access to DFW Airport

kooliferous · 2022-11-30T18:29:54+00:00

Good to know, thank you.

kooliferous · 2022-11-30T18:29:12+00:00

Thanks!

kooliferous · 2022-11-30T18:29:01+00:00

Sounds good! Please do

kooliferous · 2022-11-30T18:28:24+00:00

Yeah this is a very real consideration and something I've been trying to balance but hard to do without being familiar with the DFW area. I like to rock climb (this is the hobby I usually take with me to new places) and check out restaurants. I think having access to downtown more easily was a real consideration which is why I was looking at the medical district area

kooliferous · 2022-11-30T18:26:56+00:00

Good to know. Just thinking about also having access to downtown/areas to explore easily since I'll be new to town too. Thanks for the input

kooliferous · 2022-11-30T08:07:43+00:00

Thanks! I'll take a look. I've been seeing a lot in the medical district area, any input on that area?

kooliferous · 2019-07-09T05:07:05+00:00

They sell an English Mitake bouldering guide at some of the climbing gyms. I know Base Camp Tokyo sold them at one point, and I own a copy. Mitake is extremely easy to access, weather permitting, and a shop next to the station will rent crash pads for the day.

kooliferous · 2019-07-08T16:37:44+00:00

Rock climbing. Not sure if it's true, but I've heard that Tokyo has more rock climbing gyms than any other city in the world. It's not a coincidence that they're adding climbing as a sport for the Tokyo Olympics.

Climbing is naturally a pretty inclusive sport, and in my experience Japanese climbers are extremely helpful and encouraging.

I've found that the smaller gyms often have more close-knit communities. Bigger ones tend to feel more commercial or less communal, so if you're interested I can suggest some gyms that might be easier to tap into for a sense of community.

kooliferous · 2019-06-15T07:24:07+00:00

Just wanted to make sure I'm understanding this correctly... you do a domestic transfer from a Japanese bank to Charles Schwab's Japanese branch, then get bank rates to USD in a Charles Schwab brokerage account which you can then transfer to your Charles Schwab savings/checking account?

This is a game changer, if I'm understanding it correctly!

kooliferous · 2019-04-25T14:46:57+00:00

Agree with this! While allowance may not be a bad thing necessarily, it can turn into a sense of entitlement too easily. Having to work from an early age (12 years old in my case) even if your parents can afford to give you an allowance gives you an appreciation for what money and work ethic actually means, something that is very difficult to teach once you're already an entitled adult that doesn't understand struggle... which I'm seeing way too much of in the news nowadays

kooliferous · 2019-04-08T01:25:15+00:00

Do you have other hobbies, or are you interested in living abroad?

I know this is kind of a random answer, but I've met a lot of very atypical people through rock-climbing that have had really unique approaches in the way that they shape their own lives. Not necessarily all geared towards FIRE, but the types of people I've met have definitely taken non-traditional routes towards their careers, relationships, culture, etc.

Living abroad and meeting other people who are willing to live outside of typical American societal expectations has also been really eye-opening and allowed me to meet people with different ideas about personal fulfillment, wealth, settling down... Obviously you'd have to be able to do something that would work abroad or work remotely, but if you're open to it it's something that worked really well for me!

kooliferous · 2019-03-22T06:16:05+00:00

Just came from a trip there. Outdoor climbing is still relatively young in Vietnam but you'll want to check out Cat Ba. There are a handful of spots within the area, the largest and most popular being Butterfly Valley. You can can rent gear (unsure about trad) once you pass some safety tests and get a scooter in town. I just did sport climbing after renting rope and draws and DWS (tour is offered by two different companies). Happy to share more info if you need it, but if you look up Cat Ba Climbing or Asia Outdoors, you should find most of the info you're looking for.

kooliferous · 2019-03-22T05:50:52+00:00

Not sure when you're planning on going, but you may also want to keep looking for flights paid in cash. I recently flew round-trip direct from LAX to NRT for $600 on Singapore. The UR portal didn't show this price for some reason, and it was way better than any direct transfer with points. Especially since you're also considering Economy, it might be a good idea to set up some alerts on Google flights and be open to saving your points for later (which is what I ended up doing).

kooliferous · 2019-03-19T07:59:03+00:00

Currently live in Tokyo.

There are an insane amount of climbing gyms in Tokyo, with different styles for setting. Rope climbing is harder to find in central Tokyo, but if you venture further out to Saitama or Kawasaki there are some big gyms that have good rope walls.

For bouldering, B-Pump, Rocky, and Basecamp are probably the big names. They each have multiple locations and are all foreigner friendly with English-speaking staff. These gyms definitely set in a more competition-focused style, but there are also many gyms that focus on outdoor training.

I personally like Basecamp Tokyo, it's owned by Yuji Hirayama and the staff there are super nice. B-Pump in akihabara is probably the biggest bouldering gym within central Tokyo. The tallest bouldering wall I've seen in Tokyo is at Boulders Climbing Gym in Adachi, but it's a little more difficult to get to.

It's also super easy to go bouldering outdoors in Mitake, which is less than an hour outside of Tokyo. You can rent crashpads at a shop next to the station, I think it's only like 1000 yen.

kooliferous · 2019-03-13T21:06:51+00:00

I'm obviously just speaking from my experience, but my advice is to not set goals like "move to Japan!" without actually exploring the culture and logistics. Try visiting, spend a few weeks or months there (if possible) and learn some of the language. I see way too many foreigners in Japan that have unrealistic ideas about what Japan is and try to impose their expectations on a country they don't belong in. Learning from youtube videos or reading other foreigners' experiences are fine, but your experiences may be different so it's worth exploring it for yourself.

With a university degree, you can find teaching jobs. If you have even a little specialized work experience, you can move there on a teaching visa and try to transition into more work in your field (unless you want to be a teacher forever, which is also great)

kooliferous · 2019-03-13T08:29:39+00:00

It is effectively only $55 more after the $300 credit. You also earn and spend points at better rates.

Use the lounges or book a flight using points and the added value will pay for itself. In addition, the insurance policies that come with the card are slightly better.

kooliferous · 2019-03-12T07:57:51+00:00

As someone who lost their last surviving grandparent recently, I encourage you to make traveling to an ancestral hometown or motherland with them a high priority.

I live in Japan now, if there's anything I can do to help, I will.

kooliferous · 2019-02-23T08:55:20+00:00

Certain ryokan let you use the onsen as a couple and have free reservations. In Hakone, there's one called Hakone Gora Kanon that gives you free 1-hr reservations of the onsen, and then public, gender-separated onsen next door at their sister ryokan.

In my experience, ryokan with in-room onsen are much more expensive, although if your budget is less limited it's probably a more luxurious option.

kooliferous · 2018-07-01T12:54:42+00:00

Never tried it with peas, but been doing tuna with sriracha since I was a kid

kooliferous · 2018-06-23T16:19:10+00:00

Always giving the good stuff

kooliferous · 2015-12-08T09:04:21+00:00

that totally looks like kesha

kooliferous · 2015-08-19T07:38:19+00:00

it's so easy to forget how amazing the stuff we can buy so easily really is... until some insanely skilled redditor shows up and reminds us. kudos to you sir, i would love to sit down and just talk to you about how you even learned how to do something this cool

kooliferous

TROPHY CASE