Rant: Had a chat with a hostel owner in Bangkok that made me rethink my whole setup

I was sitting in this hostel lobby in Bangkok last week, and the owner who's been doing the nomad thing for 12 years asked me why I'm always booking hostels instead of apartments. He said 'you're not traveling, you're just moving your office to cheaper places' and honestly it hit me hard. Like yeah I've been chasing the next cheap spot instead of actually experiencing any place. Made me wonder how many of us are just working in different countries versus really living in them. Anyone else ever get called out like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

derek_ramirez27d ago

Damn, yep. Buddy of mine did that for a year and came home with zero real memories. Just receipts.

adam_nguyen727d ago

That's a pretty rough wake up call, especially from someone who's been in the game that long. Makes you wonder though, what's the real difference between "chasing cheap spots" and just being a broke backpacker trying to see a bunch of countries on a budget. Most of us can't just sit still in one expensive city for months, so does moving around to cheaper places automatically make it a bad thing? Or is it more about what you're actually doing when you're there, like going to local markets and talking to people instead of just working from a hostel bed?