3 lessons from traveling the world on a dollar a day | Andrea Meszaros & Tobias Svensson | TEDxUNYP

[Music] [Music] yeah let's start with a question that we'd like you to think about have you ever done something that made you feel alive surprised others with how daring it was was and left a positive mark on the world this is something you might have an immediate answer to or something you have to dig a little bit deeper into we brought you a story today that may sound extraordinary to some but we want to make it accessible to everyone together we embarked on a journey that took us across two and a half continents in Latin America hitchhiking while camping and volunteering all while living on just a dollar a day for an entire year we wanted to see what the minimum is that we can spend and still feel happy and in the end we realized that on average we didn't exceed a dollar per person each day most expenses were joint expenses such as hygiene articles rice or most importantly coffee however we could also see that we were able to spend 8 to 12 Days on the Road without spending a single scent today we'd like to share our learnings from two very different perspectives my name is Andrea someone who loves to plan things out from start to finish and I'm Tobias I enjoy tackling obstacles s Day come what we discovered during the trip was not just about surviving on limited means but it was also about growing thriving and redefining perspectives so today let's dive into our three main Lessons Learned it all began with breaking free from routines and familiar territory stepping out of your comfort zone can unlock a huge number of new possibilities this trip was on our mind for quite some time but then covid happened which certainly built up a hunger for adventure and change however people around us seem to move past Financial instability settle down and be more or less clear on what was coming next research tells us that experiences rather than materialism lead to Great happiness so we decided to collect experiences and not things leaving behind the predictability of our daily lives was a challenge but it led to some unexpected insights to say the least take Argentina this was the second country we visited after getting our first taste of hitchhiking in Chile one evening we were on our way to buen Osiris hitchhiking with the Laurer driver on his way there and at 10 p.m. his truck just broke down we had our at hand as we were always white camping but he offered us to sleep in the truck cabin so that's what we did and the day after we had no idea when the mechanic would arrive so we just started walking the highway said bye to our new friends putting our thums out 10 minutes later this guy stops he was on his way to Buenos ciris more than happy to pick us up and we bonded straight away his name was Pablo and he asked us why do you want to see buenos ciris I I told him that we wanted to try out tongo because I'm a dancer at heart and the Asado because apparently that's the best Argentinian Stak out there he said well then you have to come to my place because I make a best Argentinian stake in the world we had to take him up on there so when arriving to Pablo's place he showed us around said to make ourselves feel like home and then he suddenly vanished so he had to go on an errand leaving these two strangers he' known for less than fre hours alone in his home unattended completely unattended when he returned he introduced his partner we ended up preparing food together having a great evening together we even ended up staying four nights with them one of the things we kept thinking about after meeting Pablo was the level of trust he showed us by inviting two complete strangers into his home and just leaving us there maybe it was the bond creating during the car ride that made him do so or the fact that we seem to be in a vulnerable situation or Pablo was already implementing the aspect of stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something new we can't say for sure what we can say is that we kept in touch with him for the rest of the trip and among all the people we met while traveling he remains one of the closest ones what is one thing you always wanted to do but haven't yet due to routine or fear for me that could be giving a tedex talk like this because I absolutely hate speaking in front of people or getting on a random flight or if taking regular Health checkups all in all stepping outside of your comfort zone and Breaking Free from routines while investing into experiences rather than buying stuff can lead to unexpected insights and meaningful connections Breaking Free from routine by constantly being on the Move while relying on others also open doors to making genuine connections outside our social bubbles while we were traveling or volunteering we met people with all kinds of background stories beliefs on a daily basis and when you live most of your adult life in the city you tend to forget that every day you're passing by thousands of people and stories you just simply zone out this was quite the opposite of that there are countless of examples of the genuine connections we made while traveling we still keep in touch with many of our new friends many of the friendships we made along the way were definitely strengthened by whatever situation we would find ourselves in especially on the road for example we never thought that we would hit shik in the cargo area of a truck or on top of 450 cases of bottled beer or that a young crew picking us up insisting that since it's such a long drive we should definitely stop by a cavern and swim in a waterfall we also acquired some new families along the way feeling like we now have homes in various different countries and Toby also managed to jam his way into people's heart through music all by hitchhiking having a great conversation in the car being invited over so we can stay safe for the night and then playing on the harmonica guitar piano until dawn in many different countries while being open and kind to people you can experience so many small miracles that it's hard to grasp living un limited means also taught us to adopt a more environmentally conscious lifestyle people often think that living sustainably is expensive and timec consuming whereas surprisingly it made our life so much easier we reused all our broken things and new creative ways such as a sock with a hole in it would be altered into a hair tie or or as we hitchhiked we shared cars with others hence we use less gasoline on a perad basis the importance of sustainability in our trip also became clear the more we traveled for example everything we had was in our backpacks that was our entire life and it was really important that whatever we carried on our shoulders was something that we would use this really made me reflect on how much stuff I would buy and consume in my everyday life and if there really was a need for all of it studies show that often rethinking beliefs even other conclusions is possible so we also spent a lot of time volunteering in different countries and in different places helping out small families and different businesses for example we met stepen Myra in the Chilean Countryside where we helped them out for a week in their sustainable home and bamboo architecture Farm These two amazing human beings live without producing nearly any waste they even have proper systems for recycling your own poop they had a small garden with all sorts of veggies and fruits and they even started Brewing their own beer while we were there so we were lucky to taste the first batch it was delicious and let me emphasize this again there was no waste and the beauty of that is that you don't have to live in the Chilean Countryside to be able to accomplish that so we'd like to challenge you to reflect on how you can incorporate sustainable practices in your everyday life whether it's by using less plastic or buying less stuff starting communal Gardens or simply cycling to work instead of driving our experiences showed us that by making meaningful connections outside of our social bubbles or living in eco-friendlier ways can make life so so much simpler and satisfying while it actually doesn't have to consume your time or money this journey also taught of the power of redefining risks as opportunities if you Embrace vulnerability this can lead to personal growth and small victories when crossing the land border from Honduras to Nicaragua exactly one year ago today we had our eyes set crossing the somoto canyon which was a big hike we knew that it would be very time consuming to do the hike there and also that it would take us at least a day to cross through the whole Canyon we also knew that we've been hitchhiking and wild camping for over a week running out of clean clothes food and energy so when checking out the village of simoto we came across this beautiful little hostel and we made really good friends with the owner Carla she was more than currious curious to hear how two foreigners with massive backpacks ended up close to the Nicaraguan border we ended up talking to her for hours about travels nature running a business and life in general since we felt a strong bond building between us we made a suggestion what if we do some digital marketing work for the hostel in exchange for three days of food and accommodation she said yes so we held a little meeting with Carla trying to understand what message and Vibe she wanted to send with the hostel and after two days of creative work we had regained our energy Carla was frilled with the end results and we had enough the time to explore the simoto canyon without feeling any constraints which was great fun studies show that often rethinking biases even beliefs is possible and useful as it generates new Solutions many facts change over time such as how healthy we think they or vegetable oils are are so we challenged our perception of risks now think of a risk you've been hesitant to take it could be quitting a job starting a venture traveling solo or going on a blind date how might your perspective change if you would view this as an opportunity rather than a potential setback let's take traveling solo for example there are three very common concerns about traveling alone what will I do with my time will I get lonely will I feel safe these fears can be turned into excitement by discovering all the amazing time things you can do during this time while of course reading up on a certain area you're planning to visit is always a good safety measure the benefits of solo travel include knowing yourself better increased Independence better decision making and many people actually find it easier to make friends too also according to Google's Trend data for the UK the search term solo travel has increased with more than 700% in the last 2 years so there are certainly other people out there already considering it however as with everything it's important to remember to challenge yourself without being Reckless the point is that here we're giving solo travel as a very specific example but whatever situation you find yourself in there will be ways to look at it differently our main lesson learned during the trip was the idea of seeing risks as opportunities it is important to reevaluate your own beliefs for fresh solution every once in a while for example I try tofu every year to see if I now like it still no luck but who knows maybe next year so to sum it all up by challenging your own limitations making real connections you can live life to the full we encourage you to reassess your own life and consider options for positive change we experience for ourselves that it's possible to travel with nearly nothing so you two can do something that initially seems crazy but in the end proves possible so if you've been thinking about something for a long time ask yourself what stops you from doing it now and how can you make it a reality referring to a great film from the '90s transporting choose life so go ahead take that leap you've been thinking about Forge those connections and be open to risks that can lead to incredible opportunities because after all you'll have to enjoy the process instead of just focusing on your end goal whatever that is thank you very much for being a part of our journey today can't see we can't wait to see where yours will take you [Music] [Applause] than

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 3,299

Keywords: Climate Change, English, Grit, Life, Life Hack, Personal growth, Social Interaction, TEDxTalks, Travel, [TEDxEID:54268]

Id: t8UIakgn_Ec

Length: 15min 16sec (916 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 24 2024