Topic: Future US Expats Globetrotting Expedition (expected leave date: Jan. 2018) (Read 1098 times)

Don't tell anyone, but I generally post these kinds of threads as a brain trick. Normally, I'd try to do something like this on-the-fly, but pretending it's some big thing helps me believe it's worthwhile to make contingency plans for everything, letting things go on cruise-control once it's time for the actual outing. I would never look into enough details to think I'd need to check in with some Slovakian "Border and Aliens Police" if I were only checking for the three of us, for example.

That said, if someone does go with us, the fees as presented total roughly $5000 per order (in my guesstimates, roughly 50-75% of the "other category" is recycled back to buyers, but for an additional person in the given scheme, the "other" category is multiplied by 1.5, likely resulting in a management fee drop, not per person, but total). Given the uncertainties (for example, if a flight's significantly delayed, I'd pay for travel and room while we wait), it's also possible I'll take a loss, but I've obviously stacked the odds in my favor. There are quite a few benefits to traveling as a group, not the least of which is being more likely to gain an audience with more relevant people. With a 25-person group, it's basically a traveling Bitcoin conference. It helps draw people in rather than needing to seek everyone out.

If you do travel alone, http://travel.state.gov covers just about all the regulations you'd need to know for travel to a different country (they break it down by country - just enter the country's name in the search bar). There are actually quite a good few places online to check for house rentals in foreign countries, too, but they usually won't cover areas outside major cities.

I just want to know why anyone would choose to go with you at a huge premium when it's possible to do all this alone. The only one getting a free holiday would be you in this case.

In Thailand I could rent a nice apartment or even a hotel room for 400 USD a month in Bangkok. This is the most difficult part anywhere where English is not widely spoken: finding an apartment. For this, I suggest one prints out a paper with the following in the local language:

"I am looking for a room/apartment for rent"

then under it options for deposit the landlord can point at, such as 1 month, 2 months, etc
same for contract

same for items such as airconditioning, etc. This worked for me in Thailand, Laos and even Georgia.


for flight, the best option is this: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/
search here, buy on expedia or ortiz.


the rest is fun. (so long as you have the money)

I'm interested in leaving the US. I want somewhere fairly cheap to stay, with fairly lax laws or poor enforcement of laws, particularly with regards to financial tech services. I was thinking about a two-month stay in the Phillipines to check it out before making more long-term plans, estimating a total cost of around $10k to visit one country. Well - why visit one country when I could visit 12 for dramatically less per country visited? -And if I'm going to look up everything required for that, why not make it a group event and recoup most of my own expenses in exchange for some extra headaches?

This is an interest-check for a year-long globe-trotting expedition for Americans, going from the US to Asia, to East Europe, to SA, and back to the US. After searching for average home-rental costs, bureaucratic nonsense, and flight costs, I have come up with the following rough estimate (it should actually be substantially cheaper, but I need a ton of time to organize, and someone with formal experience would be nice):

That's PER PERSON (you should expect your total trip costs, including what I don't provide, to be around $50-60K for one person, but if you work remotely, this could be a "free" or "near-free" vacation). To upgrade to business class flights, triple flight costs. First class, multiply by seven. For each additional person, multiply flight cost by 2, boarding costs by 1.25, "other" costs by 1.5. To convert your house rental costs to a higher-end hotel, costs will vary quite a bit, but expect anywhere from 4x to 10x the price. I'd strongly prefer not dealing with your Frequent Flier stuff. If you want to try booking your own flights, go ahead, and I'll make sure all your VISA stuff's covered, but you'll have to arrange for transportation to your dwelling by yourself, and I won't be holding your hand during layover. If you're asleep when your flight's called - you'll be in for a world of terror, costs, headaches, and possibly a visit to the Customs & Immigration office.

These numbers obviously aren't firm - everything about them (including layover time) should be significantly improved by the time we leave, though I may be underestimating the "Other" costs. Estimated expedition start date is January, 2018. Yes - it'll take four years to compile all the needed information and get everything lined up. This is all heavily customizable (possibly including countries you want to opt-out of), but the latest I could know about your interest is the beginning of 2017. If you only want to visit South/Central American countries, for instance, and thus only have a 5-month trip, that's definitely doable. Or if you only want to visit the Asian countries, that's also quite possible.

What this includes:
*Hand-holding on all VISA requirements (including layovers in unlisted countries).
*Furnished house rental during stay in country. This house is intended to give a reasonable idea of a house you'd stay in if you lived there, roughly the equivalent to middle class US residencies. I'll take care of all infrastructure bills (water, electric, Internet, trash) except security deposits (which I will charge you upfront and refund each time we leave a country if the landlord has not determined it's forfeit). All dwellings will have an absolute minimum Internet bandwidth capacity of 1mbps with a monthly cap no more severe than 50GB down. Everyone should be within ~30min of each other, but not side-by-side. Location in a minor city or large town, usually within an hour of a financial hub city.
*Coach airfare with WiFi if at all possible.
*Food during layover and "group outings."
*Group tourist outings, at least 2x per week, participation obviously non-mandatory. I'm a boring person, and these will be fairly boring places... cultural sites, historic sites, any major festivals going on, and perhaps some meetings with agents of government for a discussion on why we should consider their area. If you're interested in something and think the group may be, too, just lemme know.
*Books on each country, compiled personally, with a focus on stability issues, regulatory issues, citizenship/residency requirements, and various other issues as they relate to starting a business.
*Visits from least three Bitcoin-using locals to chat up about the country during the stay. (Ideally, we find singles who are open to having a house rented nearby and a stipend in exchange for following us around and telling us if we're doing something terribly stupid [ideally, would be open to following you around for tips on-demand])
*Tickets to at least two virtual currency conferences during the expedition.
*BTC->local currency conversion at low fee (1-5%). If you'd like to convert fiat to the local currency, you'll have to figure that out on your own.
*$1k equivalent short-term lending at no charge. If you're at a market and short on local currency, I'll deliver it to you within a reasonable time-frame... just don't call me every day.
*Pocket language books for free and a 50% subsidy on levels 1&2&3 Rosetta Stone products for languages of countries we stay in (typically ~$250-350 for all three levels).
*The peace of mind knowing you're traveling with a group, with the expedition manager staying in a nearby house, not giving half a damn 5,000 miles away charging $50 per sneeze. All the small details I can think of, from providing outlet converters to giving pamphlets going over local transportation methods to monitoring your water intake, will be covered.
*If there are enough minors going, we can figure out a plan so they don't lag behind in education. (this will probably be on you and anything you can offload onto your school district, though)

The list of countries to be visited will be changed within a month. Visiting both the Czech Republic and Slovakia is ridiculous. Peru may be cut (Ecuador will stay). Certain areas in the Phillipines are dangerous, and may be cut. Germany will probably be stuffed in since they have such an excellent Bitcoin community and relatively defined virtual currency laws. Moldavia may also be worth a visit. The country list is likely to change in the years as tourism conditions change and major event dates are known. Cities to visit will be defined in no more than two years, but also subject to change.

Following people would not be eligible for trip:
*Prone to sickness. You can try to go if you want, but outside of alerting your emergency contacts, calling for emergency services, and getting an outbound flight booked for you at your expense if necessary, I can't do much else for you.
*Unable to obtain a US passport book in time. (they're surprisingly expensive - ~$135 + 4-14 weeks from order date to delivery date)
*High risk of needing to physically leave the trip (funeral, major illness of relative, emergency meeting of some kind). You're still eligible, but the vast majority of expenses can't be refunded once you've started on the trip.
*Refuse to obtain necessary vaccinations and medical checks for travel. (I'll look up everything the various countries demand of tourists).
*Unwilling to waive me of liabilities from your trip. Some areas slated for visit are not particularly safe, though should be safer than inner-city Detroit. You or your family may be raped, murdered, kidnapped, or mugged at gunpoint. Keep that in mind and carefully consider it. Methods to prevent injury to you and your family will be carefully considered, and I won't be exposing you to anymore risk than myself and family, but know this is a high-risk venture and you have more to lose than your money. Any area the USG explicitly suggests staying far away from will be removed from the list of areas to visit.

Other caveats:
*This trip will be pretty screwed up if I die during it. Try not to murder me and I'll try not to die.
*If you have to die for some reason, please don't die right before we're scheduled to exit the country. This would cause significant problems for the rest of us since we can't just pay someone to ship your carcass to the US and continue on our way.
*Cases where the next country on the list is unvisitable for some reason will be taken on a case-by-case basis and may result in more costs and frustrations for you.
*Layovers frequently occur in unlisted countries and may be for a significant amount of time. Moving forward, I'll try to figure out what's required for you to exit the airport (wouldn't want a "Terminal" situation happening) and have activities or hotels booked if possible (at my expense).
*It would be inadvisable to pack or buy much - maybe a week's clothes, a laptop, a phone, and a paper wallet. Most countries will try hitting you with customs as much as possible.

This is incredibly ambitious. I need a minimum of ten other people interested, but no more than twenty-five (more than that, and the opportunity of finding one flight for everyone starts approaching 0%). Once we hit 2016, I'll want a BTC1 deposit (unless that's more than a quarter of the trip cost) which'll be refunded once we're on our way back to the US (non-refundable if you do not eventually fully pay for the trip). Full funding (including security deposits) will be required in mid-2017, payable in BTC or fiat. This will be mostly non-refundable once payment's made (some flights may be refundable, some house rental costs may be refundable, "other costs" should mostly be refundable, but everything will be booked ASAP). Security deposits will be refunded in BTC on the plane ride out of the country assuming the landlord did not insist you forfeited it.

Updates will be given semi-regularly. Email [email protected] with [subscribe] as the title to be added to a mailing list.