Don’t Undervalue Proximity

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If you had asked me two months ago what I expected life to be like while living in Thailand, I may have answered that it would be rather low key and full of sightseeing, work, and perhaps meeting a few new people.

And I would have been completely 100% wrong.

The last month of my life has been one of the most fun and exciting I’ve ever had.  On EVERY. SINGLE. LEVEL.  Seriously, let me give you a brief run down of what life is like for me these days.

I spend most of my days working my ass off for the Tropical MBA.  We are building a business that is going to be taking our industries by storm, and we have an incredible team of people behind it.  Dan and Ian, the men with the vision, have been great about giving me the freedom to learn while bringing my own skills to the endeavor.  As previously mentioned, the opportunity is way more than I ever could have expected or asked for.

But that isn’t the point of this post. (Although I will write more on all of that soon).

After working, I go out and meet people.  But not just any people, some of the coolest people I’ve ever met.  One of the things I’ve quickly realized about Bangkok, its that everyone is here for a reason.  I have yet to meet one person who came here to sit at a desk and be miserable.  Everyone is doing something that on some level is making them happy.

I work a lot....but then there are the days like this.

I feel as though its a rare thing to meet so many people who are so stoked about life on such a daily basis.  I was recently talking with a friend about what it is that makes travel so appealing, and we both agreed that one of the most fulfilling parts of it all, is that on any given day you have a story worth repeating over and over again.  It can be as simple as seeing an elephant cruising down the street on my way out to dinner.  Sometimes it is something more extravagant, like ending up at rooftop party with a bunch of supermodels and Tiesto spinning.

Everyday for the past three weeks I’ve had incredible stories and met incredible people.  Sometimes the people are the story, and that is what is so cool.  If I were in Portland, or just about any other city in the US (with a few obvious exceptions), you don’t get this kind of stuff.  The proximity isn’t there.  These days everyone seems to be flocking to Bangkok, so the amount of smart, talented and interesting people that are here are overwhelming.  This isn’t to say there aren’t smart and interesting people in Portland, but you don’t get the constant flow of new people coming in and out on a regular basis.

Recently I wrote about how the online world and the real world are one and the same.  You might be thinking I’m contradicting myself by saying proximity is everything.  And maybe I am.  While it is totally possible to create extremely meaningful relationships via the internet, there is something to be said for being able to meet  someone in person.  Especially in a city like Bangkok where there is so much energy and ambition.

Because I’ve met so many interesting people while here, I wanted to recognize just a few people who I’ve met that have some really remarkable stories.  I realize by doing this that I’m leaving a ton of people out, but I’m going to share a few anyways.

Benny Lewis – Fluent in 3 Months.  Do you know someone that can speak two languages? How about three? Four? Try eleven.  Seven of them fluently.  That is Benny Lewis.  One of the most interesting people I have come across in my travels, Benny spends three months in each location and works to become fluent in that language by the time he leaves.  And you know what? He succeeds. While I was in Koh Phi Phi I had the pleasure of doing a video interview with him, so be on the look out for that in March!

David Walsh – Muse Life.  David is one of those people that I had been aquainted with through the internet, but it took meeting him in person to realize just how similar we are.  He has a remarkably successful consulting business, and is the author of one of the best ebooks I’ve read in recent memory.  Not only that, but he has a new product coming out that will blow you away.  It’s that good.  He is one of the most business minded people in the location independent community, which is awesome, because so many of us, well, aren’t.

Oh, and he is a hell of a lot of fun to hang out with as well.

Gary Arndt - Everything – Everywhere.  Gary is without a doubt one of the most successful travel bloggers on the internet today.  With a passion for experiencing cultures and photography, Gary is poised to make some big moves in the coming months, and I can’t wait to see where his travels take him next.

Some how I have a feeling that National Geographic better watch out if he keeps up with the pace he is at now.

Jodi Ettenberg - Legal Nomads.  This is the ultimate story of following your passion.  Jodi was accepted to law school at the age of 18, and upon graduation worked as a lawyer in Manhattan for six years.  Pretty impressive right?  Well whats even more impressive to me, is that she gave it all up to pursue her goal of travel.  She has now been on the road for 2 years and doesn’t show any signs of letting up.

The list could go on forever, but I am going to stop there because I have some real work to get down to.  The point of all of this being, even though the internet is an immensely powerful tool for building relationships, it can’t replicate everything.  Being in a place like Bangkok, New York, or Buenos Aires, where this is so much going on, really gives you the opportunity to create new relationships of every kind.

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