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I Will Never Be Financially Stable

March 19, 2018 by Turner Wright Leave a Comment

I Will Never Be Financially Stable

Image credit-Jacob Edward License-CC BY 2.0

 

On any given day, I have pervading thoughts about my future, but the one that really sticks with me pops up whenever I see a giant advertisement with a celebrity selling watches or jewelry. Those actors and models can make more money on a single endorsement than I will have accrued over my lifetime.

The truth is, I don’t really care that I will never have as much money as Warren Buffett or even a low-level Wall Street type who takes trips to Bermuda every weekend. What bothers me is I will never have enough to own a house without brutally murdering my future because of a mortgage, or be able to take a vacation without being concerned about paying the bills in the following months, or even retire in relative peace.

You heard right. I harbor no illusions about my current financial status. Unless an aneurysm or other act of god cuts my life short, I will be working until my 70s, 80s, 90s, or 100s… medical science might take me that far, but I doubt I can afford the cyberware in the early 22nd century.

I’ve known this was a possibility my entire life. I was born into a relatively privileged lifestyle by American standards. I attended private school and was able to graduate university without being encumbered by student loans. Had I chosen to pursue a career in engineering as my degree dictated, I might be in a position topping six figures annually as we speak, and the only thing that it would have cost me is my sanity and my soul.

I still cannot fathom how we in the middle and lower classes accept such hardship and sacrifice as part of our existence. Some of my classmates, while not necessarily working themselves to death, are still in the pursuit of a magic number that will allow them to live through the end of the century. This number doubles every time they have another child. When money is even a factor in continuing the human race, you know we messed up our priorities down the line.

At the moment, there’s no sense of panic. I’m in good health and don’t require ongoing medical treatment. I’m young and can work a variety of jobs without fear of ageism. I make enough to live comfortably, but to save anything more than a few dollars for the future would mean I would be living just to work: eating, sleeping, trudging to a job. I would have no money for indulgences like vacations, or meeting friends for drinks, or taking a language class… what kind of life is that?

Despite all this, I know I’m one of the luckier ones. The ones who can work to live comfortably now, without burdening family members or being dependent on the government. More than two-thirds of American households make less than $126,000/year (https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/09/459087477/the-tipping-point-most-americans-no-longer-are-middle-class), meaning there are hundreds of millions of people living in the richest country on the planet who could easily find themselves indigent after only one accident or misfortune.

How does this fact not keep me up at night, drive me crazy during the day, and keep me from making any kind of retirement plan? Sometimes it does, but what I always cling to is the promise of the unknown. Circumstances may easily get worse for me in twenty years, or even in six months, but I don’t know what tomorrow will bring – no one can know. I can’t know with absolute certainty I’ll never find love, just as I’ll never know if one day my lottery ticket will show the winning numbers, or if my writing will result in a high paying job, a movie deal, or one of those opportunities afforded to the elite.

“I was gonna die… totally alone. I was gonna get sick, or get injured or something… I had power over nothing. And that’s when this feeling came over me like a warm blanket. I knew, somehow, that I had to stay alive. Somehow. I had to keep breathing. Even though there was no reason to hope… So that’s what I did. I stayed alive. I kept breathing… Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?” – Cast Away

Once you accept that something is completely out of your control, there is a certain peace to be found. We have a degree of control in where we choose to work and how we choose to spend our time, but beyond that, the last ten years have proven we can’t rely on any aspect of the economy. The housing market can crash. YouTube can be demonetized. Your boss can fire you because she just doesn’t like you. You can be completely ostracized from the online community – and job searches – because of one insensitive or stupid remark. Even if you make it to the finish line with savings, banks can fail.

I don’t apply this laissez faire attitude to everything. Some aspects of life will benefit from hard work and lots of hustling. I hope to find love, so I keep dating and meeting new people. I hope to find my passion, so I keep working different jobs and don’t let myself become complacent. Still, at the beginning of every day, I proceed with the assumption that one day I will reach a breaking point, and the comfort and security I have enjoyed will be gone. The only thing I can do is put my best self forward and hope the universe will provide.

 

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Turner Wright is a freelance writer with an engineering background. He is originally from Texas, but usually finds himself in the Bay Area if not some random corner of Asia. He is currently the Digital Media Manager for Airbnbhell.com and TravelVisaPro.com. He enjoys running long distances, eating more than necessary to do said running, and traveling to other countries.

Follow him on:

Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Turner Wright’s Website

Filed Under: Featured Post

5 Fictional Characters Who Were Totally Underemployed

June 2, 2017 by Turner Wright Leave a Comment

5 Fictional Characters Who Were Totally Underemployed

Image by Mike Licht (License CC BY-SA 2.0)

 

1. Superman: Newspaper Reporter

Superman is a millennial, even if he was created decades ago. Don’t believe me? How else would you explain a man who finds no passion in his work as a reporter – choosing instead to devote all of his energy to his non-paying side gig, saving people?

When Superman is wearing his costume (suit and tie, rather), he’s practically dead inside. Everything he does lacks the enthusiasm we see when his true self is out in the world. He lives in a cramped Metropolis apartment frugally on a reporter’s salary.

How else can someone that active be willing to accept a desk job?

Have they even addressed the eventual death of print media in the comics? Somehow, despite all of this, he’s still able to afford a house up north.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogs

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un: Two Peas In A Pod?

May 23, 2017 by Turner Wright 1 Comment

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un: Two Peas In A Pod?

Image by MB298; (License CC BY-SA 4.0)

 

I feel very far removed from life in the US right now. Physically, it’s because I’m living in Japan for the next year. Mentally, not as much news crosses my path as it used to; with the exception of one colleague asking me what Trump meant when he called Kim Jong Un (KJU hereafter) a “smart cookie.” My language skills weren’t advanced enough to explain to him that the president just says things without thinking and doesn’t care about the consequences.

I can understand why the average Japanese person would be interested in US politics when it intersects with North Korea. Although KJU’s latest attempts to create an ICBM have fizzled, Japan is just as much on the front lines as South Korea in terms of aggression from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK hereafter); possibly even more so, as both Koreas may ultimately see the other side as “lost” and in need of a steady hand to exert control. Unfortunately, animosity towards their former occupiers is still widespread, even passed down to the younger generations.

“Even facts for which there is video evidence, like not having the largest crowd of all time on Inauguration Day, remain a fluid topic for someone like Trump.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Politics Corner

From Underemployed to Employed: What Does It Feel Like?

May 5, 2017 by Turner Wright Leave a Comment

Image by Owlchemy Labs (License CC BY-SA 3.0)

 

Technically, I’m still underemployed, in the sense I’m not doing a job that satisfies my interests. But underemployment, as anyone reading this blog knows, has many faces. There are freelancers who never see a steady paycheck. Employees with masters degrees working retail. People who do have their dream jobs, that happen to pay less than the cost of living. For the longest time, I enjoyed being a freelancer and all the freedoms that came with it.

I found that I worked best not by constantly bouncing from city to city and country to country, but rather basing myself abroad in one place for a few months. This way, I could reap the benefits of being mentally stimulated by a new language and foreign surroundings without getting burnt out by not being able to join a gym or having to settle for unhealthy food most of the time.

Nevertheless, when an opportunity came to work full time again, I had to seriously weigh the pros and cons. Was I ready to be tied down, waking up at a set time, getting dressed in a suit five days a week after I was used to working at 2 AM and showering when it suited me? Of course, there’s more to it than that – money, reliability, free time – but at its core, being employed versus unemployed or underemployed is more about your priorities in life.

“True, I can no longer accept random invitations to go out, and have to fill out an official-looking form to request a day off, but the experience hasn’t changed my attitude the way I thought it would.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogs

If I Wasn’t Underemployed And Didn’t Have To Worry About Money

April 21, 2017 by Turner Wright Leave a Comment

Sometimes, I like to imagine I’m someone else. Someone who doesn’t have to worry about income on a daily basis. It’s easy to look at a guy in a suit walking out of a Starbucks with a fancy venti drink in one hand and a cell phone in another and assume he’s the type who doesn’t have to choose between seeing the doctor and eating that week. I’d like to think I’m right in the middle of the economic divide. I’m probably between someone like that guy in the suit with the venti and a homeless person. But the truth is, I’m more likely to become homeless than I am successful.

I wonder how the world must look from that man’s eyes and those of others like him? Are they so wrapped up in their own lives they simply can’t appreciate how lucky they’ve been to maybe have a friend who could introduce them at a networking party, or a family member who knew to call an acquaintance regarding a job when they entered the job market? How maybe they caught the interviewer on a good day? How they were fortunate they could afford the business attire to make themselves appear respectable? How they had a safe place to store those clean clothes, take a shower, and have enough sleep?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogs

11 Essential Products For Travelers On A Budget

March 31, 2017 by Turner Wright Leave a Comment

Image by Zach Dischner (License CC BY-SA 2.0)

 

One of the joys of having paid time off from your underemployed job, or really any job, is getting away from it all and going on a vacation. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the kind of money that allows us to spend anything we want in preparation for a trip.

In that spirit, we reached out to contributing writer, world class traveler, and creator of the travel website, Once A Traveler, Turner Wright. We asked him to put together a list of traveling essentials he could recommend that would be cost effective and easy to get. The following are his results.

We want to let you know that neither Turner nor the site have been paid in any way to advertise or endorse the following products on this list. In fact, he put this list together, and then we got links for them. However, we do get a small commission if you use any of the following links to purchase something. That commission assists us in running this site. Also, many of the following links we have contain discounts on the items you’ll be told about. With that out of the way, take it away Turner.


11 Essential Products For Travelers On A Budget

As a digital nomad and frequent traveler, I’m a bit of a minimalist, usually taking less than what I need to spend months out of the country. As such, everything I have, from my jacket to toiletries, have been selected after careful research and recommendations from fellow travelers. The Underemployed Life asked if I could promote any of these products to their readers, and I’m happy to oblige. What’s in my backpack?

  1. Timbuk2 Travel Bags

You don’t have to go all the way to central Mali to appreciate one of the bags made by this San Francisco-based company. Any sports or outdoors store is bound to have a variety of backpacks, but Timbuk2 stands out for its durable material and compact size. I specifically chose one of their bags for the fact they were padded enough to protect my laptop, and small enough so I wouldn’t be tempted to travel with anything but the necessities.

Get them here

 

  1. Luna Sandals

As a minimalist runner, I’ve gone through dozens of pairs of shoes in my life, slowly tearing away the soles one molecule at a time. I was skeptical about Luna Sandals at first, having started my training in Vibram Fivefingers and sometimes switching to Newtons, but was willing to accept the endorsement of a figure like Barefoot Ted. As a traveler, these sandals are not only suitable for marathon training, but double as great casual footwear in tropical countries. They got me through Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Get them here

 

3. Mighty Wallet

I always get comments on my wallet once people have a closer look, and not only because I chose the TARDIS pattern. Mighty Wallets are made out of recycled and highly durable paper; I usually only have to replace them every two years, and mainly because I want a change. When I did have the map pattern wallet in my backpack during my stay in Korea, I’m convinced thieves overlooked it, thinking it was just a map. Excellent camouflage.

Get it here

 

  1. Clarks desert boots

Anthony Bourdain can’t be wrong; that’s all I have to say. These practical and fashionable shoes are perfect for long walks in dry climates; outside of that, I really wouldn’t recommend them for any kind of protection from the rain. When I want to appear more professional but still be ready to travel, I toss the hiking boots into my duffle bag and slip on these desert boots.

Get them here

 

  1. VinniBag

It’s not always necessary for travelers to risk lugging a huge bottle of red wine around in their checked bags, but if you’re particular and want to bring one over to Asia where the California blends are lacking, a VinniBag is a good way to go about it. Inflatable, recyclable, and sealed to protect your clothes from liquids, this is my choice for transporting alcohol across borders.

Get it here

 

  1. Go Toob

There are other products like this and any travel-sized shampoo, soap and conditioner bottles can be reused for the same purpose. However, I’m a big fan of having a few extra containers around to store things like coconut oil, rubbing alcohol, and even on occasion real alcohol to smuggle onto planes.

Get it here

 

  1. Travelon RFID Blocking Passport Case

This product appeals to my more paranoid side. Just like using wifi in a public place leaves you vulnerable to hacking, so too does carrying an RFID passport around an international airport leave you with the possibility of identity theft. I just like the peace of mind knowing my information is secure, and it helps to have a few extra sleeves to store cards and tickets.

Get it here

 

  1. Exofficio Underwear

Exofficio does offer a women’s line, but I can only speak as a male traveler. This type of underwear is useful to me on a number of levels: doesn’t require washing every day to smell clean, lasts longer than cotton boxers, and isn’t priced as high as comparable products like Underarmor.

Get it here

 

  1. Justin’s Peanut Butter Squeeze Packs

Traveling to a different country means accepting a different cuisine most of the time. Even in bigger cities where familiar food is available, there’s always going to be a change to your diet, which can lead to lethargy or worse. I like to stay on top of my energy by taking a few of these packets with me whenever I travel. Not only are they small enough to be allowed on airplanes, but peanut butter provides a protein quick fix in the morning when you may not know what exotic breakfast is available.

Get them here

 

  1. Ultralight Travel Hammock, Grand Trunk

Hammocks are a bit of a luxury item for most travelers, but there’s something to be said for having one around when you just can’t get comfortable in your hotel room and want to set up shop between two trees for a few hours. This one is surprisingly easy to pack and set up, making that Instagram photo of your feet dangling in the water that much closer.

Get it here

 

  1. Travel pants, Betabrand

My sense of style has certainly evolved over the years, especially when it comes to how I present myself when I travel. I still see people wandering to the airport in sweatpants clutching stuffed animals – yes, adults – and can’t imagine ever having that mentality. As such, I believe it’s important to have practical and fashionable clothes when traveling, and these pants from Betabrand definitely meet those standards.

Get them here

Whether you plan on traveling sooner or later, save this page and come back to it when you’re ready to get the essentials you’ll need for a great travel experience.


Turner WrightTurner Wright is a freelance writer with an engineering background. He is originally from Texas, but usually finds himself in the Bay Area if not some random corner of Asia. He is currently the Digital Media Manager for Airbnbhell.com and TravelVisaPro.com. He enjoys running long distances, eating more than necessary to do said running, and traveling to other countries.

Follow him on:

Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Turner Wright’s Website

Filed Under: Blogs

11 Essential Products For Travelers On A Budget

March 31, 2017 by Turner Wright Leave a Comment

Image by Northridge Alumni Bear Facts (License CC BY-SA 2.0)

 

One of the joys of having paid time off from your underemployed job, or really any job, is getting away from it all and going on a vacation. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the kind of money that allows us to spend anything we want in preparation for a trip.

In that spirit, we reached out to contributing writer, world class traveler, and creator of the travel website, Once A Traveler, Turner Wright. We asked him to put together a list of traveling essentials he could recommend that would be cost effective and easy to get. The following are his results.

We want to let you know that neither Turner nor the site have been paid in any way to advertise or endorse the following products on this list. In fact, he put this list together, and then we got links for them. However, we do get a small commission if you use any of the following links to purchase something. That commission assists us in running this site. Also, many of the following links we have contain discounts on the items you’ll be told about. With that out of the way, take it away Turner.


11 Essential Products For Travelers On A Budget

As a digital nomad and frequent traveler, I’m a bit of a minimalist, usually taking less than what I need to spend months out of the country. As such, everything I have, from my jacket to toiletries, have been selected after careful research and recommendations from fellow travelers. The Underemployed Life asked if I could promote any of these products to their readers, and I’m happy to oblige. What’s in my backpack?

  1. Timbuk2 Travel Bags

You don’t have to go all the way to central Mali to appreciate one of the bags made by this San Francisco-based company. Any sports or outdoors store is bound to have a variety of backpacks, but Timbuk2 stands out for its durable material and compact size. I specifically chose one of their bags for the fact they were padded enough to protect my laptop, and small enough so I wouldn’t be tempted to travel with anything but the necessities.

Get them here

 

  1. Luna Sandals

As a minimalist runner, I’ve gone through dozens of pairs of shoes in my life, slowly tearing away the soles one molecule at a time. I was skeptical about Luna Sandals at first, having started my training in Vibram Fivefingers and sometimes switching to Newtons, but was willing to accept the endorsement of a figure like Barefoot Ted. As a traveler, these sandals are not only suitable for marathon training, but double as great casual footwear in tropical countries. They got me through Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Get them here

 

3. Mighty Wallet

I always get comments on my wallet once people have a closer look, and not only because I chose the TARDIS pattern. Mighty Wallets are made out of recycled and highly durable paper; I usually only have to replace them every two years, and mainly because I want a change. When I did have the map pattern wallet in my backpack during my stay in Korea, I’m convinced thieves overlooked it, thinking it was just a map. Excellent camouflage.

Get it here

 

  1. Clarks desert boots

Anthony Bourdain can’t be wrong; that’s all I have to say. These practical and fashionable shoes are perfect for long walks in dry climates; outside of that, I really wouldn’t recommend them for any kind of protection from the rain. When I want to appear more professional but still be ready to travel, I toss the hiking boots into my duffle bag and slip on these desert boots.

Get them here

 

  1. VinniBag

It’s not always necessary for travelers to risk lugging a huge bottle of red wine around in their checked bags, but if you’re particular and want to bring one over to Asia where the California blends are lacking, a VinniBag is a good way to go about it. Inflatable, recyclable, and sealed to protect your clothes from liquids, this is my choice for transporting alcohol across borders.

Get it here

 

  1. Go Toob

There are other products like this and any travel-sized shampoo, soap and conditioner bottles can be reused for the same purpose. However, I’m a big fan of having a few extra containers around to store things like coconut oil, rubbing alcohol, and even on occasion real alcohol to smuggle onto planes.

Get it here

 

  1. Travelon RFID Blocking Passport Case

This product appeals to my more paranoid side. Just like using wifi in a public place leaves you vulnerable to hacking, so too does carrying an RFID passport around an international airport leave you with the possibility of identity theft. I just like the peace of mind knowing my information is secure, and it helps to have a few extra sleeves to store cards and tickets.

Get it here

 

  1. Exofficio Underwear

Exofficio does offer a women’s line, but I can only speak as a male traveler. This type of underwear is useful to me on a number of levels: doesn’t require washing every day to smell clean, lasts longer than cotton boxers, and isn’t priced as high as comparable products like Underarmor.

Get it here

 

  1. Justin’s Peanut Butter Squeeze Packs

Traveling to a different country means accepting a different cuisine most of the time. Even in bigger cities where familiar food is available, there’s always going to be a change to your diet, which can lead to lethargy or worse. I like to stay on top of my energy by taking a few of these packets with me whenever I travel. Not only are they small enough to be allowed on airplanes, but peanut butter provides a protein quick fix in the morning when you may not know what exotic breakfast is available.

Get them here

 

  1. Ultralight Travel Hammock, Grand Trunk

Hammocks are a bit of a luxury item for most travelers, but there’s something to be said for having one around when you just can’t get comfortable in your hotel room and want to set up shop between two trees for a few hours. This one is surprisingly easy to pack and set up, making that Instagram photo of your feet dangling in the water that much closer.

Get it here

 

  1. Travel pants, Betabrand

My sense of style has certainly evolved over the years, especially when it comes to how I present myself when I travel. I still see people wandering to the airport in sweatpants clutching stuffed animals – yes, adults – and can’t imagine ever having that mentality. As such, I believe it’s important to have practical and fashionable clothes when traveling, and these pants from Betabrand definitely meet those standards.

Get them here

Whether you plan on traveling sooner or later, save this page and come back to it when you’re ready to get the essentials you’ll need for a great travel experience.


Turner WrightTurner Wright is a freelance writer with an engineering background. He is originally from Texas, but usually finds himself in the Bay Area if not some random corner of Asia. He is currently the Digital Media Manager for Airbnbhell.com and TravelVisaPro.com. He enjoys running long distances, eating more than necessary to do said running, and traveling to other countries.

Follow him on:

Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Turner Wright’s Website

Filed Under: Blogs

11 Essential Products For Travelers On A Budget

March 31, 2017 by Turner Wright Leave a Comment

One of the joys of having paid time off from your underemployed job, or really any job, is getting away from it all and going on a vacation. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the kind of money that allows us to spend anything we want in preparation for a trip.

In that spirit, we reached out to contributing writer, world class traveler, and creator of the travel website, Once A Traveler, Turner Wright. We asked him to put together a list of traveling essentials he could recommend that would be cost effective and easy to get. The following are his results.

We want to let you know that neither Turner nor the site have been paid in any way to advertise or endorse the following products on this list. In fact, he put this list together, and then we got links for them. However, we do get a small commission if you use any of the following links to purchase something. That commission assists us in running this site. Also, many of the following links we have contain discounts on the items you’ll be told about. With that out of the way, take it away Turner.


11 Essential Products For Travelers On A Budget

As a digital nomad and frequent traveler, I’m a bit of a minimalist, usually taking less than what I need to spend months out of the country. As such, everything I have, from my jacket to toiletries, have been selected after careful research and recommendations from fellow travelers. The Underemployed Life asked if I could promote any of these products to their readers, and I’m happy to oblige. What’s in my backpack?

  1. Timbuk2 Travel Bags

You don’t have to go all the way to central Mali to appreciate one of the bags made by this San Francisco-based company. Any sports or outdoors store is bound to have a variety of backpacks, but Timbuk2 stands out for its durable material and compact size. I specifically chose one of their bags for the fact they were padded enough to protect my laptop, and small enough so I wouldn’t be tempted to travel with anything but the necessities.

Get them here

 

  1. Luna Sandals

As a minimalist runner, I’ve gone through dozens of pairs of shoes in my life, slowly tearing away the soles one molecule at a time. I was skeptical about Luna Sandals at first, having started my training in Vibram Fivefingers and sometimes switching to Newtons, but was willing to accept the endorsement of a figure like Barefoot Ted. As a traveler, these sandals are not only suitable for marathon training, but double as great casual footwear in tropical countries. They got me through Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Get them here

 

3. Mighty Wallet

I always get comments on my wallet once people have a closer look, and not only because I chose the TARDIS pattern. Mighty Wallets are made out of recycled and highly durable paper; I usually only have to replace them every two years, and mainly because I want a change. When I did have the map pattern wallet in my backpack during my stay in Korea, I’m convinced thieves overlooked it, thinking it was just a map. Excellent camouflage.

Get it here

 

  1. Clarks desert boots

Anthony Bourdain can’t be wrong; that’s all I have to say. These practical and fashionable shoes are perfect for long walks in dry climates; outside of that, I really wouldn’t recommend them for any kind of protection from the rain. When I want to appear more professional but still be ready to travel, I toss the hiking boots into my duffle bag and slip on these desert boots.

Get them here

 

  1. VinniBag

It’s not always necessary for travelers to risk lugging a huge bottle of red wine around in their checked bags, but if you’re particular and want to bring one over to Asia where the California blends are lacking, a VinniBag is a good way to go about it. Inflatable, recyclable, and sealed to protect your clothes from liquids, this is my choice for transporting alcohol across borders.

Get it here

 

  1. Go Toob

There are other products like this and any travel-sized shampoo, soap and conditioner bottles can be reused for the same purpose. However, I’m a big fan of having a few extra containers around to store things like coconut oil, rubbing alcohol, and even on occasion real alcohol to smuggle onto planes.

Get it here

 

  1. Travelon RFID Blocking Passport Case

This product appeals to my more paranoid side. Just like using wifi in a public place leaves you vulnerable to hacking, so too does carrying an RFID passport around an international airport leave you with the possibility of identity theft. I just like the peace of mind knowing my information is secure, and it helps to have a few extra sleeves to store cards and tickets.

Get it here

 

  1. Exofficio Underwear

Exofficio does offer a women’s line, but I can only speak as a male traveler. This type of underwear is useful to me on a number of levels: doesn’t require washing every day to smell clean, lasts longer than cotton boxers, and isn’t priced as high as comparable products like Underarmor.

Get it here

 

  1. Justin’s Peanut Butter Squeeze Packs

Traveling to a different country means accepting a different cuisine most of the time. Even in bigger cities where familiar food is available, there’s always going to be a change to your diet, which can lead to lethargy or worse. I like to stay on top of my energy by taking a few of these packets with me whenever I travel. Not only are they small enough to be allowed on airplanes, but peanut butter provides a protein quick fix in the morning when you may not know what exotic breakfast is available.

Get them here

 

  1. Ultralight Travel Hammock, Grand Trunk

Hammocks are a bit of a luxury item for most travelers, but there’s something to be said for having one around when you just can’t get comfortable in your hotel room and want to set up shop between two trees for a few hours. This one is surprisingly easy to pack and set up, making that Instagram photo of your feet dangling in the water that much closer.

Get it here

 

  1. Travel pants, Betabrand

My sense of style has certainly evolved over the years, especially when it comes to how I present myself when I travel. I still see people wandering to the airport in sweatpants clutching stuffed animals – yes, adults – and can’t imagine ever having that mentality. As such, I believe it’s important to have practical and fashionable clothes when traveling, and these pants from Betabrand definitely meet those standards.

Get them here

Whether you plan on traveling sooner or later, save this page and come back to it when you’re ready to get the essentials you’ll need for a great travel experience.


Turner WrightTurner Wright is a freelance writer with an engineering background. He is originally from Texas, but usually finds himself in the Bay Area if not some random corner of Asia. He is currently the Digital Media Manager for Airbnbhell.com and TravelVisaPro.com. He enjoys running long distances, eating more than necessary to do said running, and traveling to other countries.

Follow him on:

Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Turner Wright’s Website

Filed Under: Blogs

11 Essential Products For Travelers On A Budget

March 31, 2017 by Turner Wright Leave a Comment

One of the joys of having paid time off from your underemployed job, or really any job, is getting away from it all and going on a vacation. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the kind of money that allows us to spend anything we want in preparation for a trip.

In that spirit, we reached out to contributing writer, world class traveler, and creator of the travel website, Once A Traveler, Turner Wright. We asked him to put together a list of traveling essentials he could recommend that would be cost effective and easy to get. The following are his results.

We want to let you know that neither Turner nor the site have been paid in any way to advertise or endorse the following products on this list. In fact, he put this list together, and then we got links for them. However, we do get a small commission if you use any of the following links to purchase something. That commission assists us in running this site. Also, many of the following links we have contain discounts on the items you’ll be told about. With that out of the way, take it away Turner.


11 Essential Products For Travelers On A Budget

As a digital nomad and frequent traveler, I’m a bit of a minimalist, usually taking less than what I need to spend months out of the country. As such, everything I have, from my jacket to toiletries, have been selected after careful research and recommendations from fellow travelers. The Underemployed Life asked if I could promote any of these products to their readers, and I’m happy to oblige. What’s in my backpack?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogs

Liberals Will Have to Address Trump Supporters Eventually

March 14, 2017 by Turner Wright Leave a Comment

Image by Gage Skidmore (License CC BY-SA 2.0)

 

As a digital nomad, I don’t have strong roots in any neighborhood. However, I’ve been in Oakland long enough to realize the perceptions outsiders have are mostly false. Yes, there are protests and civil unrest in response to police brutality, but the area isn’t a war zone filled with gangs policing territory for drugs. Anyone who says otherwise after spending more than a few days here only sees what he or she wants to see.

With that in mind, I recently participated in a jury focus group in Oakland involving a man who may have been the victim of overzealous actions on the part of the Oakland Police Department. As a diverse mock jury, we represented a variety of income brackets, races, personalities, and professions. I was one of three people who looked Caucasian. The other two: a 60-something gentleman with a bad sense of humor – he actually said, “has anyone ever called you ‘Turner Left’?” – and a blustery obese man whose perceptions remained a mystery until we were given the chance to express our thoughts.

“If you think Trump supporters are ignorant rubes because they can’t see beyond their own world, then show them what life is like outside of it.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Politics Corner

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