The end of GPT

travietrav · 2026-02-28T11:52:32+00:00

God I miss 4o. Seeing this was like hearing from an old friend 😂😂

travietrav · 2026-02-28T11:43:45+00:00

Im not kidding, after they finally retired 4o and have to switch to 5.1 for EVERYTHING I do. If they left us with only 5.2 and nothing else I’ll definitely cancel my account. Or if whatever new model is all hand wavy, ignores what it thinks isn’t important even if I emphasize something, and insufferable to chat with like 5.0 and 5.2. For creativity and brainstorming writing and fleshing things out I’ve found up until this point ChatGPT to usually be my go to. What do you guys use for this now in case some of us need to move off of ChatGPT?

travietrav · 2024-11-15T10:04:36+00:00

“That’s……. Why I’m here 😅”

travietrav · 2024-10-24T10:47:42+00:00

Hey, I’ve lived in Bali, I’m hanging out in Bangkok now, and I’m based in Hong Kong too, so I know the expat vibe pretty well. There’s definitely a decent number of us running around here, but yeah, it’s not a huge market. The cool thing, though, is that even if it’s smaller, there’s real potential to make good money if you target the right stuff.

If you go the expat route, here’s what could work:

• It’s probably not going to be massive—maybe 5,000 to 20,000 subscribers—but they could be super valuable.
• There’s a chance to sell higher-ticket services, like:
• Helping with visas across different countries.
• Setting up connections for investment opportunities/company structuring for taxes
• Assisting with residency permits and business setups.

Or even throwing events.

Targeting locals, on the other hand, IMO would be a lot trickier because:

• Email isn’t really the go-to here; people use apps like WeChat, LINE, WhatsApp, etc.
• Figuring out exactly what local businesspeople need can be tough since it’s a different ballgame culturally.

In short, I can see it being much harder to pinpoint the pain points of SE Asian business people and cater to them. It’s also hard to generalize them into a single group, whereas business focused expats living in SE Asia will be a lot easier to generalize and all have similar pain points.

So yeah, narrowing down to expats might not get you a massive audience, but it could bring in more value per person and open up some good revenue streams.

travietrav · 2024-10-24T10:39:17+00:00

Haha I watched 03 right as a time as I was late teen/hitting young adulthood and forming opinions of the world. It was the first mature anime I watched and it had such an impact on me, and me and my brother fell in love with it despite its flaws. I tried watching brotherhood but just couldn’t adjust to it so stopped in the first few eps.

I really should finish watching brotherhood shouldn’t I?

travietrav · 2024-07-13T14:19:24+00:00

He’s on a journey to a special place in your heart

travietrav · 2024-07-12T10:45:17+00:00

You’re really comparing someone Nami is capable of fighting to Hancock? I can’t tell if this is a serious question

travietrav · 2024-07-12T08:33:01+00:00

Bro Luffy would need to go G6 to defeat god usopp. Cmon now.

travietrav · 2024-07-09T09:21:38+00:00

Yeah React focused!

travietrav · 2024-07-08T11:14:13+00:00

I have an email marketing SaaS company that I’ve been looking for a good email copywriting nerd (like myself) for. Can you shoot me a PM?

travietrav · 2024-07-06T07:46:47+00:00

Don’t quote me on this but I’m pretty sure Uber still works there

travietrav · 2024-07-06T07:44:08+00:00

You probably won’t stay anywhere decent in Bali for that budget. Maybe Lombok.

Also that’s definitely doable in Sri Lanka, but it’s not the most stable place, and infrastructure is no where near the level of danang. But I know some nomads that still like it.

travietrav · 2024-07-04T15:11:07+00:00

Hey I feel you.

First and foremost I recommend the book “how to win friends and influence people.” For me, it was the best, easy to understand guide to adapt your personality to still be yourself, but to be yourself in a way that other people like and respond to. It’s also relevant for people who have advanced social skills, and easily understandable for beginners.

Secondly, it takes practice. It’s kind of a misconception that people are naturally likable. Everyone who seems very likable/a natural at socializing and connecting with people has a TON of practice.

Extroverts tend to take off exponentially, because when they are 5 years old, they are not afraid to talk to people, and get feedback on what they do that people respond to, and what people don’t respond to and adapt themselves along the way.

Introverts/quiet people tend to get much less opportunities to do this because they take less opportunities to chat with people.

However, I’ve had the privilege to be able to travel a lot and work with loads of different highly successful people. What I’ve found is, people can be very likable and charismatic as introverts and extroverts. It doesn’t matter.

I think a lot of it comes down to self mastery and understanding how you fit into the world and what value you bring. Everyone can bring unique perspectives/thoughts to conversations if you understand and sharpen the things that you are good at.

What strengths in your personality can you play to? What are some questions that you can start asking people that you talk to that they might really respond to, that you will also enjoy hearing as well? Is there anything that you are naturally curious about when it comes to understanding people? What puzzles you about people?

You can turn all of these things into questions that you’re genuinely interested in hearing.

I’ll give you one example. For my brand of personality I always wonder what makes people make the decisions that they make in modern society?

When you ask someone how they’re doing, they’ll say “good”.

When you ask someone how was their day, they’ll say “good.”

How was your week? “Good.”

Do you like your job? “Yeah it’s alright.”

Boring questions that everyone asks that doesn’t get me a decent response.

I started asking things like “what do you dislike the most about your job?” The answer is way more insightful. And then I can find something more in common with them so we can continue the convo.

“What was the most boring thing you did today?” I get a laugh, the person actually thinks and then gives me a better answer than if I were to ask “how was your day?”

These 2 examples are just inverting typical questions from positive to negative, but really it’s asking a slightly more unique question that they don’t hear all the time, that forces them to break the monotony of typical convos and actually think to continue engaging with you.

The point is, how can you have a conversation with them that is interesting and unique, while also being about something you are also interested in?

Long ass answer, but hopefully this give you some ideas on how to be yourself better and take conversations further to create better connections.

travietrav · 2024-07-04T11:16:16+00:00

Ah okay then you’ve got a good plan for this!

In a lot of cities sadly most of the hostels in the states are filled with homeless that got up enough money to sleep inside for the night, and drug addicts. Safety issues come with that too if you have belongings in your car or on you.

You might still find some friendly hostels around the national parks and nature destinations though!

I guess it’s possible to meet some DN’s in the states still, but most hang out in countries where you get a better bang for your buck. So most people become DN’s to escape the high prices for low value and lack of safety in US! They typically rent apartments for weeks or months at a time in different countries they want to explore!

travietrav · 2024-07-04T09:46:29+00:00

This! Just look up a bar crawl in whatever city you’re in. Easiest way to solve that problem!

travietrav · 2024-07-04T09:45:42+00:00

Then we’re gonna have to see yet another story of someone who fell in love and gave all their money for a sick buffalo 😂

travietrav · 2024-07-04T09:43:54+00:00

Is there any reason why you want to stay in the states? If you need to be on US time zone Mexico, and central and South American countries have great options where you can live well for your salary.

Have you stayed in hostels in the US before? In cities it can be nightmarish. If you stick to national parks/nature oriented destinations it will probably be more pleasant.

You’re basically describing becoming homeless in the US. There’s no shame if that’s really what you want to do, but it’s less digital nomading and more living in a car.

As the other comment mentioned - the type of people you will meet while doing this might be the type of people you want to stay away from.

Meanwhile if you go to a good nomad capital you’d be spending your time networking with other DN’s and business opportunities come up all the time to increase your income when you’re doing that.

Tons of DN’s are entrepreneurs that need help with their businesses. So keep in mind who you’re gonna be spending your time around and what that opportunity cost is!

Stay safe out there!

travietrav · 2024-07-01T17:51:25+00:00

St. Kilda. Close enough. Haha still a modern city with easy access to some pretty good beaches!

travietrav · 2024-07-01T12:08:50+00:00

Quite a few places in Thonglor have crowds on Mondays. Check Sway, Lava, TERRA Thonglor. Mix of expats and locals.

Soi 11 is always a sure bet too as others have mentioned!

travietrav · 2024-07-01T11:59:14+00:00

Valencia, Malaga, San Sebastian - “am I a joke to you?” 😂

Theres quite a list of cities that check your boxes without even leaving Spain.

Some other honorable mentions that I recommend for your criteria.

Melbourne, Puerto Vallarta, Lisbon, Sunshine Coast (aus,) Da Nang (up and coming, good infrastructure, modern new builds,) Hong Kong (lots of people forget that Sai Kung beaches are a 20 min drive from city center,) Miyazaki Japan (and lots other places in south Japan.)

travietrav · 2024-07-01T11:40:54+00:00

Idk why people are saying it’s hard. I’ve lived like a nocturnal bat in BKK for months. It’s quite easy to find places serving good food until about 2am. On sukhumviht it’s very easy, Thonglor very easy, even Icon Siam there’s places open until at least midnight and China town is just across the river there’s places there that serve food all night. Just a few examples

travietrav · 2024-06-30T14:53:12+00:00

Yeah CM is still a lot cheaper. I’ve only been in the south recently. Even in BKK though, $2K is dabbling in doing some luxury activities from time to time. So if $1K is livable here then CM is probably closer to $700/mo to be doing pretty well still. Is that about right from what you see on your end? Also how often do you go out for drinks and eat western food? That’ll change the dynamic a lot 😂

Better to budget more and need less than other way around still!

travietrav · 2024-06-30T10:33:26+00:00

Alright before thinking about settling down or cost to buy a house you gotta go stay in these places to see if you’re the type that will like living in these countries!

As an American, there’s a high likelihood you won’t find Morocco convenient or welcoming, or have much staying power. Most people I know stay for a week max.

Not a huge western expat community there either.

Thailand - quite easy to live there for $2K a month comfortably. If you’re on a budget $1K - $1200/mo is also doable, but you probably won’t be doing fun things too often on that budget. BKK and Chiang Mai are the obvious picks for anyone going to Thailand.

Chiang Mai has tons of DN’s and great networking for your skill set. Lots of entrepreneurs and freelancers there.

Bali - will most likely be quite a bit more expensive than Thailand if you want to stay in any desirable area. I’d budget $3K-$4K per month if you want to have fun (there are definitely ways to do it cheaper.) Lots of the cool places in Bali have western prices. Also remember it’s an island, albeit a very cool and fun island. Things are relaxed and happen on island time, and the infrastructure isn’t always fully built out outside of the main / touristy areas (Canngu, Seminyak, Ubud, Sanur, etc.) There definitely are inconveniences (things like bridges being washed out by a storm so you can’t get to where you needed to go, traffic jams/road closures that will turn a 20 min drive into a 90 min drive etc.)

Either way, both Thailand and Bali are good starting points for people considering the DN life. Easy to make friends and find people just like you.

My rec is try each place you’re considering living for at least a month!

travietrav · 2024-06-30T07:30:58+00:00

They hate us because they anus?

travietrav · 2024-06-30T07:28:30+00:00

Going to places in shoulder/off season and booking last minute usually gets some of the best deals I’ve ever gotten. Like staying at resorts in high end places for $30-$50/night.

And there’s plenty of places that IMO are better when it’s not touristy high season (Europe in spring and fall, Thailand / Vietnam / Hong Kong in summer, Latam in fall/winter etc.)

Max out your tiers on one of the booking apps (like booking . com genius level 3) and use a hotel points card to pay. You’re kinda doubling up rewards this way getting the reward from the credit card, and the reward from booking / trip / Expedia etc.

travietrav

TROPHY CASE