The Art of Non-Conformity: Unconventional Strategies for Life, Work, and Travel

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I arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after trekking through Jordan and Israel. Flying on Gulf Air, I stopped off in Bahrain for six hours, where I persuaded the immigration guy to let me into the country for a while even though I was in transit. Total cost: $10 for a one-day visa.

Six hours may not count for a country visit by most travelers’ standards, but my rule is to never pass up a country when it comes my way. I can always go back to Bahrain later and see the sheik, meet Michael Jackson, etc.

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I realized recently that it’s been about 90 days since I started this web site and committed to the publishing schedule of three essays per week. I thought it would be good to summarize what I’ve learned, including the mistakes I’ve made as well as the things I’ve done right.

Even if you’re not a writer or blogger, this might be interesting to you. If it’s not, there will be something else for you on Friday, where we’ll go on to the Persian Gulf after heading over from Jordan.

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If you’re reading this essay, I have some good news for you today: the odds are that you are very well-off in the financial sense. In fact, in case you’ve never realized it before, you are incredibly rich. Surprise!

You may not have realized how rich you are, so I thought I’d show you how it breaks down in real, measurable terms. And don’t worry—there are no guilt trips or anything messy like that. It’s all good news, at least for you.

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Image by Premasagar

It takes a long time to get to Jerusalem from Seattle, especially if you’re planning your trip around the lowest ticket price. There are direct flights to Tel Aviv from New York, but I had a free one-way ticket to Brussels (also via New York), so I went there first. From Brussels, I bought a $300 ticket to Tel Aviv on an airline that I wasn’t sure was in existence, because according to Wikipedia, it goes back and forth between operating and bankruptcy every couple of years.

If you think that sounds a lot like the U.S. airlines, it is–except when the non-U.S. carriers go under, they don’t usually keep flying like the U.S. airlines do. Thankfully, when I went they were doing fine and everything worked out very well.

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Image by iirraa

Ever play the lottery? If you have, did you spend a few seconds thinking about what it would be like to win when you scratched off that ticket or selected your magic numbers?

Don’t lie—no one is listening except yourself. Here’s my guess:

If you ever bought a lottery ticket, OF COURSE you thought about winning. You had a secret lottery fantasy like everyone else who has ever paid their $5 to join the pool of potential winners. However briefly, you thought about what life would be like with that oversized check and all those Powerball millions.

Well, I’ve thought about that before too, but no longer. See, I’ve decided to let go of that fantasy. I haven’t ever really been a big gambler, but I’m taking it a step further—I’m officially giving up the option to win the lottery for the rest of my life.

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