Where in the World?! Wednesday
📆 April 20th, 2022
📍Rome 🚂 Lucca 🚂 Florence 🚂 Padova, Italy
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Ciao friends –
At no other time in our lives have we heard so many different languages spoken, varieties of food eaten, and modes of transportation taken as we have in the past two weeks. To catch you up, Midori and I have sailed from Estonia to Sweden, trained to Copenhagen, flown to Germany, ventured by rail to Prague, flown to Rome by way of an 8-hour layover in Amsterdam, taken a train from Rome to Florence, Florence to Lucca, Lucca to Florence, and (by the time you’re reading this) from Florence to Padova.
It has been exciting, tiring, challenging, stimulating, and above all else, just the way we wanted it. If we didn’t feel like full-time travelers before, we sure as heck do now… and we feel so lucky for it. Now, let’s give you a glimpse!
👊 Two quick hits from us ~
- Some of you will remember that a few weeks ago, while we were still in Estonia, we joined forces with TLU Students with Ukraine to support the refugee crisis that stemmed from the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine. We called on all of you to chip in however you could. We emailed the results of our work to those of you who donated and have just published that email on our website for everyone to see the impact we had. We couldn’t be prouder of this community – thank you!
- We’ve had several new subscribers to the newsletter in the past few weeks (💪 welcome!). For anyone who’d like to get a feel for the kind of content we share here via newsletters past, please check out the newsletter archive on our website. Added bonus – you’ll see how far we’ve come!
🛤️ Traveling to Europe? Two tools to help you plan, book, and immerse ~
- It goes without saying that the most ‘European’ way to travel around Europe is by train. And with an unprecedented travel season just around the corner, planning is important. But really, it’s only half the battle. What about booking the actual tickets? Enter: Omio (referral). Their app and website are excellently designed (something most European train sites cannot claim) and work rather seamlessly with the backends of several major European train networks. Also unlike some train sites, you can book using US credit cards. We’ve seen little to no price difference between searches on Omio and on train operators’ sites, especially in Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Best of all, they’re VC funded and offering new users $ off their first booking when referred by friends – so, indulge in a little win-win with us by using our link 😉 Pro tip: use in conjunction with a cashback portal like MaxRebates (referral) and save a few bucks further!
- Remember Rick Steves? Even if you don’t, I can almost guarantee the mention of his name to your parents will put a smile on their faces. Basically, he’s the OG travel god: he writes books, authors guides, films YouTube videos, and even today has a travel company that helps arrange tours and travel for his fans (yes, a travel agency! Remember those?). But one of his lesser-known FREE gems is his Audio Europe Travel App. This is a treasure trove of well-narrated walking tours of various European cities, paired with maps and interviews with locals, that Midori and I have been addicted to. It’s pretty much standard protocol now to spend our first few hours in any city wandering around, doe-eyed, with Rick Steves’s walking tour in our ear getting us acquainted with our surroundings. Having this much context on a city’s history and culture before spending the next several days exploring is seriously underrated. We cannot recommend the app enough!
🐣 One tweet to inspire some financial changes in life ~
- For our fellow personal finance and FIRE enthusiasts out there, we thought you might enjoy the comments conversation that followed this viral tweet last week. Definitely check it out on Twitter, but we’ve included some TL;DR ‘hot take’ highlights below the tweet:
#1 – Minimalism is the ultimate luxury, #2 – Only ever borrow money to make more money, #3 – Nobody has ever ‘saved’ their way to true wealth, #4 – (personal fav, truly elegant) The answer to most personal finance problems is literally ‘go make more money.’
You’ve made it to the end – you’ve earned that prosecco!🥂 Or, erm, maybe that’s just me projecting after having written this newsletter. Thanks for reading!! 😂
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🎶 Hey now, hey now, this is what dreams are made of (iykyk),
Akaash (& Midori)
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