Live the Dream

I was in a car picked up by a professional sailor, who was trying to make it to the shore for work the next morning. He told me he come take me to either Genova or he could drop me at a gas station half-way from Genova to France. It was already late, 11pm, and I looked online for a place to stay in Genova. Nothing came up. I decided to pull an all nighter.

The Sailor tells me about the dynamics of hitch hiking boats across continents. Good information, I’ll have to use it someday.

We get to gas station and it’s time for me to get out. I thank him for the ride and wish him a good life.

It’s midnight now. No one is there, no cars are passing by. I’m obviously close to Monaco because the first car that rolls up is clearly expensive, whatever the hell it was. It’s only a two seater and It’s a guy with his child. I don’t even bother to ask.

I do the only logical thing when it’s midnight at a gas station with no ride, no plans, and no place to sleep. I start drinking, A LOT. I buy a few beers from the gas station, they only have them behind the counter. I pound a few pretty quick.

After I’m a bit tipsy, I get lucky and a polish couple show up. I notice by their license plate. I say “dobry wieczór” I was too tired and drunk to speak polish in a coherent way so we quickly switch to English.

So they have room for me. On the way, I’m ninja-drinking beer. They’re heading into France and they decide to drive around Monaco a bit to check it out. This is when they discover that I’m drinking in their car. They’re not very excited about my bad behavior and they ask me to get out of the car. I think, eh, whatever, you win some, you lose some. Have a good day!

So there I was; stuck on a lonely road, at about 3 AM, drunk, with all my stuff. So I do the only reasonable thing. Start walking down the road with my thumb out.

It doesn’t take long when a van stops. It’s a French guy who picks me up. I tell him my problem and that I’m looking for a place to sleep. He tells me he’s homeless and he sleeps in his van but that he knows a great place on the beach to sleep a couple kilometer down the road. I follow his advice but when I get there, it smells like piss. Fuck this, I think.

I continue walking down the road with my thumb out. I take notice of the steep cliff to my left and the beautiful ocean view. It’s dark out so I can’t see it that well but I can hear the sounds of waves crashing against the shore.

This time, It’s a two-door car that stops and two French guys get out at the same time. They’re smiling big and say come, come join us. I’m a little surprised at their eagerness but I’m desperate enough so I decide to jump into the car. They throw me in the back and with my bag in lap; they get back into the car and slam the doors.

So they start off little slow, “Where are you from?”. “What are you doing here?” I answer them curiously, wondering why they’re so excited to pick me up and what’s going on in their heads so I decide to inquire.
“What’d you guys do tonight?”

And together they shout. “WE DID COCAINE AND WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE!!!”

The guy in the passenger’s seat decides to start punching the driver in this moment. BAM!! BAM!! BAM!! over and over again. This causes him to start swerving on this road, to the edge cliff, and back, then to the edge cliff again, then back. I now imagine myself crashing against the shore instead of the waves. I don’t think the sound would be as pleasant.

It’s impossible for me to jump out so I just let go and start laughing hysterically. . I Think to myself, “Atleast if I died, it wouldn’t hurt so bad thanks to the alcohol”.

We arrive in the next city where, I figure I can find a bed. They let me out, acting like nothing happened. I thank them for the ride, and decide to stop for the night.

Oh, the fun of Hitch Hiking.

Because Bitch Hiking is a lot of fun and it’s safe.

Why it’s so much fun:
1. You are not required to pay anything but can travel the entire world. If you combine it with other activities, you can travel the entire world for $0. These other activities include Couchsurfing and Tripping for free accommodation. The free food options are less than desirable, but I’ve known people who dumpster dived for food and cooked it over a campfire or travel stove.
2. You are given tons of interesting and fun experiences.
3. You will meet some of the nicest people in the world.
4. You forget time exists. You won’t have anything holding you back.
5. It’s possible to hitch hike boats and travel overseas.
6. Something about living without money is eternally satisfying.

How does one become a hitch hiker?

It’s actually quite simple. I few useful but unnecessary items that will help you during your journey:

1. a sign for your destination
2. sleeping mat
3. sleeping bag
4. other camping gear(towel, flashlight, etc)
4. unlocked phone with GPS
5. food and water
6. at least one thumb

Be prepared to spend all day outside and be light enough to be able to walk all day.

It’s possible to go without any of those items, even a thumb, as long as you have other fingers. If you lack hands in general, I would give up your hitch hiking dreams.

Now, it’s time to plan out your trip. It’s possible to just go without any planning but it will take you much longer. In order to find the best hitch hiking spots in your city, go to the Hitchwiki, go to the search bar on the top left, and search for your cities name.

If your city is not listed, that’s OK. You have to find a good spot on your own.

What to look for when looking for a hitching location:
1. A spot the car can stop safely to pick you up.
2. A place where many people are going for long distances.
3. A spot to stand so everyone can see you.

Alternatively, you can go to a gas station and ask people for rides.

It’s best to hitch hike alone. I think it makes people more comfortable and often people don’t have space for 2 but have space for 1.

I think it’s best to have a good idea where you will go ahead of time instead of just living in the moment. With planning, you’ll get to your destination much quicker. So I will look up every city on hitchwiki and on the map and plan out where I’ll go to find rides before I walk out the door. Also, if you’re using couch surfing, It’s best leave early in the day around 8 then go 200 or 300 KM and arrive at 3 or 4 PM. This way, you will be able to have a place to stay and even if things are tough on the road, you’ll get there before it’s too late.

Speaking of that, it’s best to hitch hike early in the day from 8pm to noon. You’ll find the most rides then as you’ll find mostly the travelers who are traveling alone.

If you’re feeling adventurous, hitch hike at night. You’ll always get the most fun and crazy experiences then.

Dear mom, please stop reading now.

There I was in Boracay, a paradise island full of hookers and tourists, walking down the beach barefoot at the beginning of nightfall. I’m going out to go meet my friend at Regency Hotel to start my night off.

So, there’s this girl that looks at me so I ask her, “Where’s Regency?”

She points down the beach and I start walking off into that direction. She decides to follow me and walk by my side. I then ask, “What do you want?”

She doesn’t say anything beside grabs my arm like a woman would. I then just say “Look I’m not interested in hookers, Are you a working girl?”

She shakes her head and says “No! Just sit with me for a second, I want to talk.”

So, trying to be pleasant, I decide to sit with her on the beach for a moment. I tell her “I have to go meet my friend. What’s up?”
She just wants to talk, I guess. Small talk follows…
“What’s your name?”
“What do you do?”
She say’s “Massage”
I think to myself… I knew this bitch was a hooker, I gotta get outta here… I tell her I have to go…
She persists by grabbing my arm and pulling me back.
I make the biggest mistake of my life and lie, “Look, I’m sorry but I’m not interested, I’m actually gay”
She doesn’t believe me. I get up to leave.
She grabs my dick as I leave.

Later that night, I was walking home and I see her.

She says,”I like you, I’ll do anything you want for free.”

I hesitate for a moment and say, “Alright!”
I insist she gives me head on the beach. I didn’t want to have sex with her and I was going to follow through with my lie in order to not have sex with her. It’s kinda hard on the beach as lots of people are walking by. She wants to go back to her place.
I try to make sure it’s safe, I ask her if she lives alone and if it’s really her place.

It seems safe. So I go with her.

When I arrive at her place, She opens the door by bending the flimsy door and pulling out a fork from outside. It’s the most sad place I’ve ever been to. It’s just a mattress on the ground of an unfinished building. The entire room is basically the size of a bathroom. She locks the door again by sticking the fork back into the wall preventing the door from opening.

She starts giving me head at her place but insists “Fuck me, Fuck me” She can’t stop asking me, over and over again.
I insist, “No, I’m gay, it won’t work if we have sex. Just give me head.”
My strategy is to keep up the lie so I don’t have to have sex with her, I have no idea where she’s been and I figure this is the best way to stay safe.
She asks for me to touch her. I decline.
She keeps insisting. I tell her I don’t like pussy.
I’m thinking I need to come and get the hell outta here.
Then, right as she takes my dick out of her mouth, I come all over her face as she says, “I’m a ladyboy”

And I’m like, “I’m outta here!!!”

I put on my pants while that’s happening he stands in front of the door trying to call someone on his cellphone. I spring to action and grab his cellphone and hang it up. He’s pushing me back into the room and says “You must pay”. I push him back and try to open the door. I first pull out the fork but the door opens to the inside. I try to open the door but he’s in the way, pushing me back. So I decide to give the door a kick, right near the hinge, and the door comes flying off.

I’m still barefoot and now i’m running down this unpaved alleyway at full speed with a fork in my hand. I thought that it could come in handy.

He comes chasing after me full speed. Half way down the alleyway we run past a little kid. The kid says hi to the hooker and he says hi back in a nice voice as he continues to chase after me.

We get to the road and no one is there. My feet are hurting like crazy now and I figure I won’t be able to get away with speed alone. He catches up to me and grabs my shirt and tugs me, I do a little spin move and he ends up in front of me.

So I threaten the bitch with my fork…

I continue running but this time, he gives up and doesn’t follow. I’m completely lost and have to climb tons of fences before I find a tricycle-taxi that takes me home.

The moral of the story is, if you’re a ladyboy, I’ll come in your face, kick down your door, steal your fucking fork and try to stab you with it.

Technorati Tags: hookers, ladyboy

First I want to talk about life a little bit.

In life, you don’t know what you don’t know.

This statement to me is incredibly insightful. In other words, it means that you can’t possibly find something if you don’t know what you’re looking for. I think many people go through life searching but not knowing where to look or what they’re actually looking for. Even if you’re not searching, there are plenty of things that if you did find, you’d be happy to find it. So the question is, “How does one find something that you don’t know what it is when you don’t know what to look for?”

The answer is Stumbling upon it unexpectedly.

How do you do that? Well, you get lucky. But every poker play knows that you make money by getting lucky but you can’t just wait to get lucky, have to put yourself in position to get lucky. You can do that in your life too. You can put yourself in a position to find something awesome. I’m hoping that someone stumbles upon this blog post and it changes their life forever. This post is for the people stumbling out there, hopefully this is the luck you need.

Freedom in today’s society is essentially one thing: Knowledge.

The best way to obtain knowledge is through reading books. Don’t be afraid of non-fiction. It’s OK if it’s boring. Once you start doing it, you’ll feel such a rush!

First, you need knowledge to earn money.

The money must be obtained in a location independent way and be able to give yourself your own hours, etc. My solution to his is poker, obviously. But Also, I’ve met people who do this through investing (forex, equities, and commodities), e-business, or a job they can work from their computer from any location. If you need some advice on any of these things, I can recommend someone who can help you with them. I know plenty of people who have attained freedom through these methods! Write me at Bryanzpope@Bryanzpope.com

You can start being a professional investor with little money. You can take leveraged bets that allow you to make a ton of money. So it’s possible for to win the money side of the equation that way. I think forex trading is a really fun way to do it but you can also do other forms of trading. If you want to try out forex trading, go to Oanda where you can do practice trading before making a real account.

If you want to do an e-business or get a location independent job, you have to get involved in the 4 hour work week. Read the book:

He gives the best advice ever for it. I’ve met many people who do this kind of work and it’s awesome!!

Once you have money, naturally, the next question becomes, “Now what?”

The way I stumbled upon the knowledge to travel is from couchsurfing.com. When I was living in Portland, Oregon I had no idea how all the travelers lived their lives. I knew of hitch hiking but I had no idea people actually did it. Especially after you hear all the bad stories of it, it makes you not want to do it. I heard about many things but I had no idea the depth of what was behind it. That’s where you have to stumble on it. That’s what couchsurfing does to you. I was lucky enough to decide to start hosting travelers by turning on my couch to accept people from the website. They are the ones who taught me how to travel! They are the ones who tell you the good stories and what you can get from each of these activities. Don’t trust someone about hitch hiking if they’ve never done it!

Here’s the great thing. Once you make a little change it can have big results! Have you guys ever read the tipping point?? If not, check it out.

Basicly, The book talks about how small changes make big differences. How it applies to this: Once you get stumbling on things through traveling, you find things faster and faster! As you get more hobbies, more friends, more interests you put yourself in more situations to get lucky to find even more interests! That is the most exciting thing of all.

It’s not that I’m smarter, better looking, or more clever that the average person. I just stumbled onto awesome things in my life!! Here is how it worked for me in a small little nutshell.

I was told that you can play poker for a living. I did research on it. I started playing poker. I played poker for years professionally then decided to move to vegas. In Vegas, I heard about the Pickup artist scene. I started to read a lot of books about it. Those books lead me to things like the four hour work week(which lead to this blog). It also lead me to couchsurfing but I decided to completely ignore it. I went to visit my brother in Portland, Oregon. I loved it there and decided to go there. It was a waste of time. Luckily it broke my spirit to the point that I was ready to grab onto something. I grabbed onto couchsurfing and decided to host people. After hosting 60 people in 2 months, I had enough inspiration to travel the entire world as a backpacker! From there, I found so many things in Europe and now in Asia. Everything from hitch hiking, dancing, various communities, cultures, languages, hostels and other things! These things all became important things to my life and I still have so much left to explore.

The best thing to always remember is this: Life is exciting and is meant to be lived to the fullest. Always seek high energy and always shoot for the stars!

LIVE THE DREAM!

It’s been a lovely time here in Manila. It’s been a whole 2 months!!! That’s longer than I’ve stayed anywhere since Krakow!! I met some interesting characters here too. I’ll cover a few of them.

Sifu Nameless(for his protection):
He is a barefoot Chinese Doctor living here in the Philippines. He travels all over the country healing people with acupuncture, herbs and massage. He seems to be very educated and lives in quite an interesting way. He doesn’t have a passport and has been living in the country for 13 years. He was supposedly deported 7 years ago. He get’s around on a fake passport. He serves people in their own home with his practice and gets paid in cash. So he’s effectively dropped off from society. That’s cool. Even more of an outcast loner than me. Amazing.

Beatrice:
She’s a French Vietnamese girl that I’ve been dating. She’s absolutely crazy. She has a super thick French accent and I can barely understand her. Even when I understand every word she says sometimes I have no idea what she means. She’s so much fun though, her smile radiates and her laugh comes so easily. She’s probably the most sexually comfortable person I’ve ever met. She really fits the stereotype of a French girl in that way. She says things like “My pussy is so hot!” and then laughs uncontrollably about it. Many dirty details will be left out.

Katherine:
Such a great Filipina girl. She in many ways fits the stereotype of why guys like the Filipinas. I had a hard time communicating with her as well but the game of grab-ass is pretty universal. Mostly we just played like teenage children with each other since we couldn’t really talk. She would make the perfect wife. Always happy, agreeable and very caring. Unfortunately, it became too much for me because she smothered me waayyy too much. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of her because crazy-ass Beatrice deleted them all.

Russell:
Another guy living in an interesting way. He used to be a poker player but now is trading silver and other things. He got bored of poker. I understand him on that. He wants to start a farm here in the Philippines and live in a co-op. I think he’s a little crazy as he trusts people way too much. Some guy he was hanging out with stole my weed. He’s also hilariously reckless. He went into a back with 500,000PHP in cash and lied to them about certain details then handed over the cash. Russell also knows a good friend of mine, Andrew “Action” Glogowski. I guess they had a little falling out after Russell followed some bad investing advice. I just hope the best for Russell but I fear the worst. He’s still a young guy, I really want to see what comes of him.

The city itself is pretty crazy. One thing you always see around here is guards with AK-47′s and pump-action shotguns. It doesn’t exactly make one feel good.

I think it would be a good setting for a FPS.

Another Image I just thought everyone should see. It’s Osama’s!! They serve Bin Laden Attacks and Osama’s Secret Weapon!

So the next destination is going to Boracay! The island paradise with the famous white sand beaches!

Well, Turns out that Macau kinda sucked. It’s expensive and boring place. I was living there for 2 weeks in an apartment that a poker player named Daz helped me find. His girlfriend had an extra room to rent out so I rented it. It turned out that he lived in the same building and we became friends. We talked a lot about the Philippines and I became very interested in it. When he broke up with his girlfriend my respones was: “Do you want to go to the Philippines tomorrow?”. He said yes and so we went. We got an apartment in Manila and that’s where I’m at now. It’s really amazing here. Everything is super cheap. The people are super friendly. For example, everytime you go places people just stop what they’re doing to smile at you and say “good evening, sir”.

I also met another poker player at the local cafe named Russell. It turns out that we are both good friends with Action.(that’s another story for another day) Anyways, Russell is from the states and he’s really cool dude. We’re talking about moving to Makati when my lease is up on the 11th. So it turns out I’ll be here for awhile. There are tons of poker players here. The poker games are really good. Everything is just amazing.

So now that I have a home again I’m working on poker and doing my hobbies. I’m taking a break from traveling, hitch hiking, and drinking like a fish. So far poker has been going alright, It always just takes time to grind it out.

Watching the World burn in Chillin’ Fufillin’ Philippines…

Tallinn, Estonia. What a beautiful place. The women are amazingly attractive in every way. The prices are absurdly low. Things are fun everywhere. I would want to live here. Except, I’m not ready for that just yet.

So there I was, in Tallinn, Estonia thinking to myself. One part of me wanted to continue my hitch hiking, couch surfing, traveling-bumming ways. The other part of me wanted to get back into the game full force, grinding like never before. I thought about going to the middle east via hitch hiking, or taking a flight straight to macau to get sick as fuck.

I decided to get sick as fuck.

I took a flight to Macau.

Now i’m settled in with an apartment. I’m working out, thinking about poker, and i’m in a really good schedule. I’m going to make a lot of money here. I’m playing a new style of poker that’s so different. but the game has been advancing and i’m going with it.

I’m hungry for a big win. It’s coming soon, I promise.

I can officially call myself one! I’ve just completed a very long hitch hiking journey! I stopped at each one of these cities on the map at least for a night, sometimes more.

View hitch hiking journey in a larger map

There is something absolutely thrilling and freeing about hitch hiking. You don’t know who you’re about to meet. You don’t know when you will arrive. You can’t do much planning as a hitch hiker. You just have to go! There were a couple nights that I camped outside because I couldn’t find a place to sleep. There were some nights that the people who picked me up took me home and gave me a bed! I never had any bad experiences. Everyone was really nice even the crazy ones. Like the German Nazi in a military uniform and the coked up kids in Monaco. But they were still nice people!

Hitch hiking is a good lifestyle choice for the freedom seekers in the world. Try it! It’s not something to be scared of. I am obsessed with it and will be hitch hiking for the rest of my life. It’s just too damn awesome!

I find myself in some family hostel in the outskirts of Gdansk for a few days now. In the last 5 days I read 3 books.

The geography of Bliss: One Grumps Search for the Happiest Places in the World

I found this book to be quite good. It talks about what makes places happy and what doesn’t. From the book it seems that happiness comes from a few things. These things are: trusting everyone, not envying others, having a cultural identity, and having an honest government that keeps the citizens best interests in mind. That’s it. Money doesn’t play a role. There’s an example of Bhutan, a place where people don’t make any money yet are still very happy. And Qatar, the richest place per person on earth, and they’re not so happy.

I personally love this author and how he writes. It’s just humorous. A big part of the book is his jokes. Also, it’s interesting in two different ways. It talks about psychology, many cultures, and personal experiences: All things that one can learn a lot from.

The Talent Code: Greatness isn’t born. It’s Grown. Here’s How

This book is about 3 main things. Practice. Ignition. Coaching. I guess it doesn’t seem so special at first glance but it’s a life changer.

Practice – It tells how people with great skills practice. How they only practice 3 to 5 hours a day.

“Deep practice is built on a paradox: struggling in certain targeted ways—operating at the edges of your ability, where you make mistakes—makes you smarter. Or to put it a slightly different way, experiences where you’re forced to slow down, make errors, and correct them—as you would if you were walking up an ice-covered hill, slipping and stumbling as you go—end up making you swift and graceful without your realizing it. “
Coyle, Daniel (2009). The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How. (p. 18). Bantam. Kindle Edition.

Also talks about this thing called Myelin. Myelin is stuff that wraps around synapses and makes them more efficient: Science stuff. More importantly, it’s made of Omega-3’s. So I guess that’s why you should eat fish.

Ignition – He points out that motivation does not come from within. It comes from seeing other people do great things and you wanting to be a part of it. It comes from our social part of the brain. It comes from external cues. I remember when I first saw Joe Hashem and Mike Matusow win the main event and the tournament of champions. This was my inspiration. Just thinking about it gives me cold chills in my entire body and tears to my eyes. This is my Ignition. What is yours?

Coaching – He meets with some of the best coaches in the world and watches them. He learns that mostly what they do is just say ‘How’ to do something.

The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus into your life

This book takes the cake. Good god… It’s perfect. He talks about many things that are covered in the Power of Now except he makes them useful! He explains how being ‘process focused’ is more important than being ‘goal focused’. Instead of thinking about results, think about what you’re doing. DUH! It seems so obvious but I know I forget it too often. He talks about how patience is actually made by the focus on the process. This book is only 100 pages long. You have to read it. It can be applied to ANYTHING. Thanks to this book I expect many positive things to happen. For one, expect better blog posts!

So lately i’ve been on quite the reading craze. After meeting tim ferris, he proposed some books for me to read. It got me turned on to a few different subjects. I’ve been reading these books about positive psychology and other similar topics.

sway: the irresistible pull of irrational behavior by ori brafman

the paradox of choice by barry schwartz

stumbling on happiness by daniel gilbert

the happiness hypothesis by jonathan haidt

I read all these books in the last two weeks and I must say that these books are amazing insights into the human mind. things that you can use to benefit from and become a better and happier person. I read them all and if you’re looking for deep insights into your self and others, read them.

So, I spent some time in torun and bydgoszcz over the last few weeks. In bydgoszcz I stayed with a guy named dawid in a house next to his grandparents house. we would go over to his grandma and she would cook for us. we mostly just stayed in and played games and smoked pot.

In torun, it’s a small hippie college town and I got caught up with the circus crowd. I learned how to juggle and met some friends. I then stayed with a girl named joanna, who got me addicted to rolled cigarettes. more about her later??

I have many more books to read. i think the next few months are just going to be adventuring and reading. I have many more books to read. That’s all for today! Thank you for reading.