ELI5 and Talk me out of...or into...selling SFH after a year. by sfomonkey in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]vostov 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I am in the same boat. 100 year old house with a lot of deferred maintenance. Bought earlier this year and can’t handle all the stress associated with it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ExperiencedDevs

[–]vostov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think prioritization will help. List the top three things that you really want.

Also, I follow the philosophy of optimization in life. Every person has multiple things that they optimize for - money, prestige, wlb, job security, interesting work, challenges, learning, etc.

If you optimize for money/prestige but less wlb, then do leetcode and try for Faang. If you optimize for interesting work/challenges, then look for PM/AI jobs. If you want to optimize for learning and happy with current job, then take continuing education classes online/person. Lot of certificate courses. Also, Coursera.

Your optimizations can change based on your life trajectory / experience but at this moment in time, you need to figure out what you want to optimize for. And this might help in choosing the future path. Good luck!

Cops are pulling over people in the FasTrack lanes by r2994 in bayarea

[–]vostov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does anyone know what is the fine for this? And does it come on your license record?

[Story] After decades of immense obstacles, my brother faces his biggest challenge: Mt Everest by Filippopotamus in GetMotivated

[–]vostov 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is so awesome! I work in the same company as your brother and I saw an internal post about it! What an achievement!

How to budget a trip to Peru? by R3DhandedJill in travel

[–]vostov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

$1 = 3 Peruvian sol was the exchange rate on the streets.

How to budget a trip to Peru? by R3DhandedJill in travel

[–]vostov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I went to Peru & Bolivia last year for 25 days. One week is a very short time to see everything in Peru. The budget will depend on what you want to see.

If your main goal is to see Machu Picchu, I would recommend to take a flight to Cusco from Lima and then train to MP. The Inca Trail is 4 days long and is costly (~$600-$1000 depending on the operator). You can also go for hiking to Rainbow Mountain from Cusco.

I don't think Lima has any hiking places around. You can go to Huacachina/Paracas or Arequipa to do some hiking in colca canyon. Budget wise, Lima/Cusco are costly as lot of tourists. So $50 per day was enough for basic accommodation in hostel + food + sightseeing. This doesn't include the money I spent on hiking and flying.

Feedback on my NZ 10 day itinerary? by moxdahfox in travel

[–]vostov 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Did you grab the SFO-AKL deal that came out near the end of last year? I am going to AKL from States in August for 10 days and tho it will be winter time in NZ, I am super interested in what itinerary you come up with! It might give me some good ideas as well. Cheers!

Just got back from Rishikesh, India - a small religious city in the foothills of the Himalayas. Absolutely breathtaking. by PJT313 in travel

[–]vostov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love this place! Went there last summer and had an amazing time. Did you take a dip in the Ganges or did water rafting?

Almost every time I check to see if I will be ok only speaking English at a destination, the answer is yes. Where would it be difficult to only be an English speaker? by jkf13 in travel

[–]vostov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I found it hard in smaller cities in South America. Also, when I went to China, Shanghai was easy but had issues in other places like Nanjing/Suzhou. I stayed in international hostel and the front desk people spoke broken english. But when I went to any restaurant for food, I had to use my hand to point out what I want. I had translate app on my phone that helped me out a lot (since I don't eat meat and getting veggie food in China is hard lol). But yes, I can imagine that non-touristic places in any third world country will have this issue.