Ep 40: Cameron Flett

Yeah, yeah, I think having, yeah, one question, kind of be smart. Yeah, yeah. So, this is the third episode we do. Okay, this part of the podcast me, Kayla, had a podcast together.

About 30 episodes. Wow, congratulations. It's just five to 10, five to 15 minutes every day. We're just talking about a day, stuff like that.

And this idea I've had for a while. Travelers, travelers' podcast. Because there's a lot of, you know, friends, family, people that I know growing up that, you know, I ask them questions about what they want to do in their life. So they say, well, I want to eventually travel, right?

And then something that's part of my mind. It's like, why are you waiting? Like, what are you waiting for? If you want to travel, like leave, right?

Absolutely. So it's that barrier that I'm trying to break down. It's the fact that people think that they need to go achieve something first and then go travel. And that's something that I'm trying to understand.

So, I have created a set of questions. Yeah. And I have modified them for this one because the other, I just, you know, wrote them down and just picked something. Now I have more specific.

Yep. I would actually want to start with something really unique that I don't think you know about me. So yeah, I started traveling thinking that, you know, I needed to have a bunch of money and being able to, you know, kind of have this lifestyle. But in reality, when I was living in Southern California, I was in a lease, which was ending.

And me and my roommate said, let's not get another lease and go travel. In a month, I sold all of my belongings, including my car. That's so cool. And I had a total of $800.

With that $800, I went to Malaysia. And within three months, I was out of money. And I've been traveling for 16 months. Wow.

How did, you know, I kind of overcome that. Yep. And I got questions that will reveal and unfold that. Very cool.

A very first few questions I wanted to ask is like, who are you? Who's Cameron? Where are you from? I know a little bit about that.

And then how did you end up in Pi? So we obviously met in Pi. Yes. And how you got here is always a fun story.

So who are you from and how do you get to Pi? Right on. So my name is Cameron. Many people refer to me as Cam.

Cam is a name that I love here in Thailand because it's a one syllable. It's easy to understand. I came to Pi after being in Chiang Mai for six months. So I worked as a tattoo artist in Chiang Mai.

I absolutely fell in love with Thailand. After the new year spent in Chiang Mai, I went down south. I did the South for about a month. And then there was another instance where I ran out of money at $18 to my name.

And I was pretty scared. I asked my little brother if I could borrow 20 bucks. He gave it to me. And I had $38.

And I was quite like content with that. And I knew I could figure it out. But I actually didn't. Because while I was working in Chiang Mai, the reason I went down south is because my tattoo machine broke in Chiang Mai.

So my equipment, my function. So I didn't have a way to operate it. And that held you back from bringing it back. Absolutely.

So I was pretty much gasping. And I had heard a place I had heard about Pi. And I knew it was somewhere in the mountains. And I'm like, you know what?

If I go to a meditation retreat, I can save some money. If I live more low-key, more local, I can save money. So I thought, you know, let's do it. So I spent about $22 of my dollars to get a 23-hour bus from Phuket to Pi.

Really? So, yeah, it's a 10-hour bus ride from Phuket to Bangkok, 12-hour bus ride from Phuket to Chiang Mai. We're doing a two-and-a-half hour from Chiang Mai to Pi. Did it in one stretch?

Yeah, just because, yeah, it was literally like desperation. I didn't know what to do. But that brought you here. Yeah.

So upon coming here, I stayed in a hostel in town. Never really been to Pi before, but felt good. And in less than 48 hours, I stumbled into Paradise. And at Paradise Backpackers, I saw the art on the wall and I met Johnny.

And I said, hey, I really love all this work. Is there a chance I could maybe do a mural? And, you know, just for some food or something, you know, no expectations. Really humble approach.

And he looked at my Instagram and he thought, you know what? Let's meet Joe. And Joe looked at my Instagram. He saw my tattoos and my illustration.

He said, Cam, you're very good. How would you like to start tomorrow? We need some help here. And I said, great.

And they're like, awesome. Like, we'll give you a key to a bungalow, a scooter. And you have meals as long as you need. And you can imagine my heart center bloomed.

Yeah. I realized that that was the omen I was looking for. I was in complete synchronicity with my reality. Everything was working out.

And then, yeah, I stayed here for two months, worked as a graphic designer, a lot of stickers and t-shirts. And then that's where income flow happens. That's kind of the next chapter there. That's so fucking cool.

And then obviously, you know, you've been here now. How long ago was that? So this is about seven months ago. You've been out of name of Pi.

But that's seven months ago. Yeah, so I got to Pi first time late February. And then I lived here for four months. I went to Vietnam for a month.

And then I just finished a three month trip in Europe where I got back to Pi just four days ago. Yeah, because you've been able to save up funds to work in here. Yeah. So time working in Pi has had enough money to book a flight to end from London Heathrow.

And I got to go to nine countries. That's cool. You're crazy. Yeah, all because of Pi.

That's so cool, man. That's an amazing fucking story. And then obviously, we know that you're a two artist. That's your craft.

That's what you're good at. How did you get into that? You know, drawing usually stars. You know, there's some sort of like a pencil and paper.

And then it merges into like being a two artist, right? Yeah. How did it stop at you? I think a lot of it started from my community projecting the idea onto me as people asked, Hey, I like your work.

May I get a tattoo? Yeah. And I kind of was thinking, I'm kind of like a middle man here. How can I monetize on this morning?

I was like 16 when I did my first tattoo. So I really didn't really know what I was doing. I guess this is the term where you're like a scratcher. Like you're literally uneducated giving a tattoo.

But, you know, it's everywhere starts from humble beginnings. Yeah. But yeah, by the time I was 19, I was apprenticing. I had a massage table in my house.

I was doing tattoos in and out of studios. It was really awesome. But the thing was when I left to Asia, I actually wanted to leave all my tattoo equipment in the States because I wanted to get myself a break to artistically develop. And you can imagine when I went through three months in, I'm like, Oh, fuck, I'm out of money.

How am I going to do this? I'm like, I'm going to go back to tattooing. Yeah. And yeah, it was a really interesting journey.

But I feel that tattooing has been something that's allowed me to not only connect with people on a deeper level, which is something I find I do naturally. You know, as with you, you know, just in a few conversations, we've died so deep into life's fabric. And we've really seen what beautiful patterns are and the colors that are available to all of us. And the fact that tattooing is kind of a conduit for that just allows me to connect and then as well tell people's story.

Yeah. So I love storytelling. I think that is something that I appreciate. Yeah.

Especially with the twos, you know, you get to tell somebody else's story through your words kind of because you're like, it's hard that you only, that you design, right? Because there's something that you agree with somebody that wants that tattoo, right? It's like you sit together and then that's a process itself. Yeah.

And that's how it's going to look like. And now you're going to permanently have it on your body, right? Yeah. So that in itself is just a really cool, you know, scenario.

And that, you know, I have one tattoo that I got when I was 16 years old. It was more like a, you know, like a stamp of something that I had experienced like that I needed to like make evergreen. And, you know, it's there and I haven't, you know, I haven't sought after another one. And I can see that you don't have many tattoos either.

I've got 22 tattoos. What? Yeah, my legs. There's like nothing on your arms.

I can't see them. Like, my friend Jackie was like, kind of inspired me. He's like, yeah, like, it's kind of like the left eye is the DIY thigh. So if...

DIY. Yeah, like do it yourself. Oh. So if there was like a idea that was like kind of cool, but I knew it wouldn't look amazing.

Boom. My mind was already made up. Left eye. And so I just started collecting this kind of like...

Just like a scrapbook on your left eye. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah.

So now we know how you got to pie and how you got into your craft. And sometimes it's fun to dive into like how that all happens. So like you're upbringing your parents relationship with life. From when you were younger like, you know, say high school years and how you evolved up until now.

How has that been? Like, have you... Do you enjoy your relationship with your life? Yeah, that's a great question.

I've had a unique upbringing. I was born in Reading England. And at the age of five, I moved to the United States. And by the age of eight, my parents got divorced.

My mother moved back to England. And for seven years of my life, I went to and from the UK to the US three times a year. So as a kid, I was basically a jet-setter. I wanted to be a pilot.

I loved flying. But I never knew what it felt like to have a summer with my friends. Yeah. That's one thing that I didn't get until I was like 16.

Yeah. Because those ones were your parents, the one with the other ones. Yeah, exactly. So that was really interesting.

And yeah, from a young age, I really knew the feeling of love. I felt that I had something really special inside of me. And I was very deliberate as a kid to use my words and to allow myself to just make people smile and kind of hold space from a very young age. I started meditation at about the age of 15.

I was this kind of like unconventional kid where people were like, we're going to go out to this party tonight. Do you want to come in my head? I'm like, I just want to go draw this $1. That's so cool.

I'm just going to go home and draw and meditate. Yeah. Because that was more valuable to you. Absolutely.

And you felt that genuinely. You didn't feel like you were missing out on anything. Yeah. Yeah.

That's something that I could definitely learn from. Because I full-mode a lot. A lot. So I gave up so much of the things I wanted to do personally because I was afraid of missing out or anything.

But yeah. Interesting. Yeah, I valued skill acquisition from a very young age. That's fucking amazing.

Yeah. And especially, I don't know. But like, wrap a t-shirt around my head and pretend I was a ninja and just like, make that my work out. Yeah.

Just because I thought it was a skill I needed to know. That's awesome. Yeah. I did archery at a young age.

Like, I was really into. To stake you. Obviously, to stake, you know, creative. It sounds like.

Yeah. Yeah. I think creativity is probably the lifeblood of culture. Yeah.

And I'm really into problem solving. I mean, that's the big difference between design and art. You know, some people ask me, are you a designer or an artist? And quite frankly, I'm both.

Because they're different. Of course. Yeah. I can imagine a world in which somebody can be full of that.

I feel like I am. Yeah. An artist in some ways, creative in others. Sometimes they merge.

Yeah. So like, art is subjective expression. Exactly. And design is problem solving.

So people who think they're like, they go to school for design. You're really going to school to learn how to solve problems. Yeah. I like that.

That makes sense to me. Yeah. That's awesome. So in your relationship with your life, as you explain it right now, how is the support from friends and family then?

Well, my, so friends and family from back home or friends that I've met along the way. From back home. Okay. So, this is, you know, this is part of the theme of the podcast I was trying to get to.

People that you meet are traveling. It's usually the people that you want to get to. Yeah. But the people that are hard to get away from is the people that you grew up with, your friends from back home, their patients from society.

You know, that circle of people that, you know, have some conscious, you know, expectations for you and that we subconsciously try to fulfill the acceptance of society. Right? So then did you have support from friends and family from back home? Well, it was really well articulated.

I definitely have, you know, healthy relationships with pretty much everybody in my life. I'm a mindful person. You know, I'll send someone a text when I can. I'll even give them a face time.

Just get that face and face value. Yeah. But you know what? It's now it's kind of infrequent.

You know, like some of my best friends at home, like we talk and it feels like I didn't leave, you know, a year and a half ago. But, you know, they- You can back to exactly the same thing that you lost. Yeah. And of course, I think the hardest thing for these relationships back home, even my parents say, when are you coming back?

And to be truthful, you know, I just don't know what's around the corner. But I know that like I put my heart into every step I take. So I'm just like, guys, I'll be back when I'm back, but I'm really focused on my life right now. They're here with that.

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, what's that? I said, I'm going to work decentralized from anywhere in the world.

And he said, good luck. Yeah. Because he's kind of, he's climbed the corporate ladder and he's like, you need stability. Yeah.

And I think after I passed the six month mark, he was like, oh my God, like I'm really proud of you. Yeah. Like, I don't, I can't even comprehend the things that you've seen or gone through. And the fact that you're so positive every day means that you're on the right track.

It's probably the reason you're on the right track. Yeah. Because you're an optimistic mindset. Amazing.

What has, well, actually, you know this, how did you earn your way before you became into two artists? What did you do? Oh, shit. All through high schools and APR, I was incredibly scholarly.

I went to college in my senior year of high school. So I was doing concurrent enrollment. I did all of my GE while a senior. And then when I went to college, I enrolled in the architecture program.

I was the youngest student studying architecture. And I earned my associate's degree in just under two years with two certificates in sustainable design and development. That's incredibly impressive. So I'm not necessarily focused on architecture now, but that foundation of environmental design has served as a major interest in all the cities I've gone to.

And it's actually funneled into, for example, getting a chance to design a tattoo studio, being able to pull from a vocabulary that is, you know, educated. Yeah. You know, I can use words and I can think about themes on a macro and micro level, you know, just proportionally. I can proportionally design.

So, yeah. That is how you have essentially major income, not only being here in high traveling, but also when you were back home. Yeah. So when I was back home, I, so after, so just to bring up speed after, I went to architecture who graduated in the year 2017.

And then there I got a job working as an art director for a stable company. So I started doing graphic design then. And that was great because the Adobe platform was a reflection of the AutoCAD interface. So I was able to kind of step into that.

After that, I founded my own graphic design firm with a few partners. And I was working as a graphic designer for about a year and a half. And that was fantastic experience. So the architecture of the graphic design and tattooing was kind of this, like, trinity of expression that I was always going in between.

Yeah. And for a long time, I felt like I was getting pulled in many directions. I'm sure you've experienced this. Like, you have this identity shift where you're like, I want to do this, but I'm interested in this.

Yeah. Who am I? Yeah. And I felt like it was my responsibility to bring all of those disciplines to a parallel.

And say, I'm unique because I have all of these things. Yeah. That's, that's beautiful. And that's, that's a hard decision to take.

You say that, um, that I have probably something similar. And I do, I have a similar similarity in which I feel like I want to go into different ways. And then, and then I feel like I got picked, but then I don't have to pick. Like, just go try everything and see what it is that resonates with you the most, right?

Absolutely. I love that. So, um, what has the price to you most about yourself, um, in your, um, your, so this, this can be a broad question. It can either be, you know, like a live question or it could be like a, or a travel question, right?

We're about to go into like travel questions. This is more like a personal part of it. Um, but we can merge it into like the personal, what is the price you most about, uh, your growth in your travels? Okay.

I, I felt like right when you said surprise, I knew an answer and I think it was my ability to delay gratification. Nice. Yeah. Yeah.

And every single moment, I'm just like basically like attuning myself to gratitude. And I feel like because I have a lens of gratitude in which I observe with, I'm able to see which moments I should put energy to, which compound to be some of the greatest moments that I will ever leave. Yeah. That's the word.

Compounding. Yeah. It's like, it's like, it's the same as negativity compounds, right? And then good happenings, a positive mindset, a good mindset color, a good mindset is also a check of the positive mindset.

As you say, like a gratitude, um, a thankful mindset will also compounds. Like luck, your coincidence has happened. Uh, you know, the definition of luck. No.

So I, I heard this. I think it was wrong. I think it was from a J. Shady podcast.

Yeah. He was saying that, you know, luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity. So people say, you know, you create your own luck, but in reality, time is cyclical. And when a door opens, if you're prepared, you walk in, wow, we're a lucky shot.

Yeah, right. No man. I worked really hard for that. Yeah.

Yeah. So repeat that for myself and for this thing. Luck, the definition of luck. Is luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity.

Amazing. I love that. I love that so many ways. No, we're going to go into more of like a travel.

Oh, questions like, um, um, what's like useful for travels, more information about like how it is to be a traveler, right? So what's the most reliable source for you personally for travel information? Um, honestly, I feel like I use people as waysigns. So yeah.

What about? Yeah. What about? It's always the way networking, there's so many things that I came here and found that I had no clue about.

And I was like, how I haven't heard of this because we're going to get to find online if you're not actually here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the thing about a lot of these, you know, countries and Southeast Asia.

There are people who have created online cultures, travel blocks, things of this nature, but I think when you're, you know, saying an awesome example, and someone's like, I did the craziest thing today, go do this, or I tried the best household, have you been to this restaurant, and you're like, no, but I've been here, and it just, like, stimulates so much knowledge. So, what about? Where's the mouth? Where's the mouth?

What was your core motivation to start traveling? My core motivation was, actually, because I wanted to pursue a master's in architecture, but I felt that I would be held back if I learned about the world from a textbook. So I told my parents right when I started school, I said, if I'm going to pursue, I will have a deeper kind of pool of experiences that when I'm in the classroom, and someone's talking about the Coliseum, I can say, oh, yeah, I've been there, and it felt like this, and I saw the neighboring structure, and I didn't think it reflected the Coliseum, so I could speak from a tongue where it was formulated from experience. From your actual experience?

Yeah. And from somebody trying to tell you how it feels over there. Exactly. I love that.

What is the most important lesson you've learned while being on the road? You can name three, because I've imagined there's fucking millions of them. Yeah. So, like, three that comes to mind.

Okay. So three lessons that I would share, so lessons come from the stakes. So I think that the first mistake is there are times where you wake up in a city and say, I need to leave today. Listen to that feeling.

Yeah. Like, go. Travel. You can move fast if you have to, and that's really fun.

Yeah. So lesson is, if you feel stagnant, do something about it. Yeah. Lesson two is a smile can lead you on a journey that you can never expected.

Yeah. So always keep your chin up. And even when you're feeling sad, then, you know, just smile and you'll be surprised. Yeah.

Half an hour later, you're going to be in a completely different place. Yeah. Such powerful. And my third lesson is, you're not always as hungry as you think.

So we always think like, man, like, I need six meals today, but I don't have that much money. Yeah. Like, just like, think about it. Like, do, do exercise, but stick to a three course meal, even two course.

Yeah. And yeah, eat a lot of fruit. Two course is something that I was surprised that I was able to. And fruit fucking snacks, dude.

That's something that I could fill me up quicker than, you know, a two for fried rice. Yeah. And then I just, and like, a bunch of those, I don't know what they're called. There's like, amazing snacks all around this country.

Yeah. Like what are the yellow ones, the round ones that you can like your people off. Rembutens, what do you call them? Rembutens.

Rembutens. Yeah. They're like, yellow and round, Dylan by some. They like the leeches.

Yeah, but they're not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know what they're called either. So surprised that I could have, because I'm a big dude. And I've always ate a lot, right? And I came here and I have had, you know, rice every day for four and a half months.

And I'm so fucking okay with it. It's totally fine. Yeah. basically like alchemized spices to just make amazing you know combination of the flavor and you're like wow yeah I need to learn how to make that when I go back home.

And this mode is probably with the lessons that you had from earlier but what would you say to somebody that is unsure about executing other traveling dreams where I hesitant to do so. So yeah there's a number of things that you know would deter someone from traveling. I think that the first thing you should look into is not only the political atmosphere of a country but also the situation in nature. So I'm so grateful to have never been in a country where it's been a natural disaster but that is probably the top of my mind you know make sure you're not gonna somewhere during hurricane season because you'll land you'll get to your hotel but maybe you need to stay inside for eight days and that is detrimental to your mindset.

Yeah so definitely making sure that the conditions are okay and also googling you know when are the best seasons to go because you could map out four or five different countries based on you know where to go. Actually another thing I would say is when traveling buy a one way ticket to one country and another ticket going home from a different country and fill in the fill in that space with your time. That's what we did. Yeah it's great it's awesome because then it forces you to actually go see what's in between.

Absolutely. Yeah that's awesome. I like that you didn't mention money there because most people are like pay your debt and then because maybe I should specify this question a little differently because it's more like traveling dreams. It's going to be only traveling dreams.

Let's say you're gonna go out traveling for six months. Yeah there's some stuff you need to get done at home before because you don't want to have credit card debt you don't want to have all that stuff right. Yeah but since you know you're optimistic mindset you're like money finances all that will be solved even when you're on the road and I love that. Yeah I know I've certainly had my parents say like hey we got these letters from your cell phone bill like are you gonna pay this?

It's like it doesn't work in Asia what do you think? But yeah of course you need to deal with things and yeah it's it's very important to assess those kind of things that you it's still part of your life no matter where you're in the world. Yeah it just needs to be taken care of right? Yeah.

So now let's talk about a little bit more like fund destinations and stuff like that. So cool. What is your favorite place outside of your home country and why? Oh that's probably many.

There's many. Yeah so I recently tallied a list of other countries up into and the list exceeds my age. Really? Yeah cool so you've been to almost 30 countries.

Dude I'm definitely not 30. I mean I've been to 25 countries so which is just phenomenal and I was thinking about trying to keep this like you know a thing for a long time and I want to inspire the people like you know places and how you are. Yeah yeah that's pretty cool. That means I need to go one new place.

Now you have some years to catch up there. Exactly. So I can like be stacking for a little bit but yeah like for example my stint in Europe like I went to nine countries like I was just trying to go as fast as possible. Yeah but yeah it was it was pretty cool to you know fill that up.

I left the United States with zero stamps in my passport and I now have only one and a half pages. That's so cool man. Yeah so over 20 pages are stopped. I love that.

That's crazy. That's such memory for like the future and keeping it cool safe and just look at it when you're 50 right? Yeah exactly. Yeah so fun destinations I have really thought about you know things that I was interested in as a kid.

Yeah so I loved the game Assassin's Creed 2 which was all based in the Renaissance era and I think his I think his name was Ezio so he had to go through like all of these different places in Italy and just like scaling buildings and stuff. So what one thing that I really look for is I said that I could climb so I'm an avid rock climber back home. Yeah just being able to travel I'm always thinking about like how look it like I wonder if I can scale this kind of wall. That's what Assassin's Creed do guys.

Yeah video games. I love video games. I play a lot of League of Legends. Yeah I do.

Yeah that's cool. Yeah RuneScape. Nice. Fucking that was a game.

Do you feel like you've brought those interests into what you know you look for while walking by yourself? Yeah I mean you know I think video games just sparked not only the ability to speak English because you know it was my first language so that is how video games have helped me primarily and you know and in the world of video games which is just amazing right? So I don't know how I was so it's how I like reconnected with an everyday life on video games but definitely learned a lot from them yeah and I haven't actively been playing them but I really do miss it. I'm gonna go back to my brother he's a big gamer and we're gonna probably be gaming everyday for the next two months now so that's gonna be nice.

I'm interested in hearing about interesting person or situation a interesting person situation that you can remember right now like somewhere you've been doesn't have to be here by be anywhere an interesting person in an interesting situations during your travels. Wow I think that there's you know an interesting thing every day I have a mantra of meeting a new person every day so that's sort of yeah I kind of like acts as a catalyst to be around here it's very easy very easy yeah I'm having about two to six people a day yeah it's amazing and you know I'm really good to remember names so like a few months ago like I just kept hearing the phrase over and over again like I'm really bad with names it really kind of like struck according to me so I said I'm never gonna say those words so I'm I'm really good at names yeah and I can walk into a group of like 12 people and you know it takes a little bit of time to like look at each person and my technique is I say okay so let's say there's four people here Felipe Sarah you know Eric and Jack so I'll say like hey like hey like it's great to meet you thank you for introducing me to Sarah you know Sarah it's great to see you today and the fact that you're sitting next to Eric is awesome yeah and then like I'll like we have like Felipe have you met Jack yeah and then basically like pull it all together in the story in front of people's eyes yeah and then people are like wow yeah and then in the conversation I make sure to address each person one time that's cool because then at the end I don't forget them and it's the worst feeling right you need someone you walk away you don't remember their name yeah so if you address their name halfway in the conversation it gives the space to say oh well like have you been to the white Buddha here in Pi yeah well was your name again yeah say it then yeah because at the end it totally saves that yeah yeah that's really cool yeah I struggle with that previously like with names not remembering them so then when I came here you know it happened that happened yesterday to me which was really cool that you like brought up that story that we were just sitting like eight people around the table and I was the one that was able to you know connect everybody okay this guy meant like hours ago and this is you know met yeah so yeah even last night when I met John over there on stage yeah you know we were talking and I'm like hey have you met Felipe you're walking up and John's like yeah I'm saying it out wow yeah it's it's really crazy that's one of the fucking things I'm gonna miss around here man that's such a cool thing to be able to just walk out to your backyard and that's what's happening yeah crazy what destination have you been have you not been to go cool so I have not been to Sri Lanka or Nepal I really want to go to either one of them hurt beautiful things about both yes I have to my parents had a honeymoon in Sri Lanka cool and I want to go to just Northern India super bad yeah I need to go there too I've heard so so many good things about it about you know the Indian culture and how everything you know unfolds up there's just a difference yeah we're in Asia right now but it's like you can't compare it you can't take all the time culture to the new culture oh absolutely no I think I mean so I've been in Thailand for 11 months almost a year shit you know it's it's been it's been stacked and yeah like not only have I appreciate I culture so much more than American mainly just because of this like opportunity to connect yeah it's really about the connection for me not only with yourself but with nature yeah that's awesome it's an important part of being human I think connect with nature I've learned that not long ago really I didn't even know was a thing and then recently I don't really know exactly what it was but I think I read a book a new earth you probably read that yeah which the very first time I read that book was like it's like something like unlocked it was just so cool and I think that was one of the things he doesn't say we talked so much about nature but he talks about humanity as a whole right we are consciousness you are consciousness and we all were created by it right and that's something that I'm locked in my brain there and I like it's just like I feel a gratitude that just you know it's amazing how you get introduced to one idea even when you meet someone new they they kind of break you know this kind of paradigm in your head and then after that you start to look at everything else a little bit differently and it's almost like you're just absorbing information through a different lens and it's like wow yeah I think it looks really good yeah I love that what does the nation I already asked at what is the best piece of travel advice you received my best piece of or or or a best piece of travel advice that you would give but this is more like a similar to question from earlier yeah but you could you could maybe you could tweak that a little bit what is the best piece of travel advice that you've received acted upon and seen the advantage wow that is a great a great lesson the best piece of travel advice is to wear a helmet that's a great that we can stop it right there because there's so many fuckers that don't do that yeah I say fuckers because every time I see somebody not wearing a helmet you know I want to be like put your fucking helmet on yeah I'll be like maybe well yeah Kayla you know that we're like okay we're trying not to judge people so we shouldn't judge the people are not wearing helmets let's just say maybe well yeah wear a goddamn helmet that's so true and and with me I always took it one step further is I would request a helmet with a face mask mainly because of the books yeah there's bug hours here yeah a dust like six to seven or five to six or something like that yeah and it's in it's everywhere I usually hide in my bungle at that time what is the next item to completing a bucket list oh wow yeah my bucket list has grown in size yeah yeah yeah like I've been I've been skydiving I've I've gotten plenty of tattoos um yeah I've you know road to I'm here to China on a motorcycle like I've done some really crazy things but I think the next thing on my bucket list was or is to I really want to go oh man I think I want to go into a jungle with a machete yeah yeah I'm really interested in going into an overgrown area and not only having the knowledge to navigate it safely but know that I have a tool to create a path where there isn't one yeah because I know that that experience yeah will translate to some mental experiences oh yeah so yeah I oftentimes use like I have these energetic rains that I put on my reality and I try to learn lessons actively in every moment so I can basically articulate lessons for myself to grow from and guide others a perfect mindset man I love that that's it's only you can only grow from that yeah if you put yourself in situations like on what's the word it's unpredictable situations that you know that you don't know how you're gonna solve it until you get there yeah that is growth that's just that is how you grow it's just amazing I love that answer what is the most useful item you've brought with you on your travels oh my most useful items are two answers yeah so the first so I'll say you what I brought and then what I took away so I think the most useful item has been my I want to say my backpack but I got a different backpack because I realize that backpacks are really important so I totally qualified my back when I got this and yeah definitely definitely a rain jacket yeah there's been and like you want to get one that's actually kind of bright like I had a bright blue and orange rain jacket and when I first started yelling like I look like a dunce yeah you know he's like that guy is a foreigner but that rain jacket has been with me for a long time and I really kind of felt that I am safe with it on people recognize me I can walk in the street you know I know my dad would be so proud to hear that because he always said like you know not only was I raised to wear helmet always even when every single one of my friends was not wearing helmet I do but he was really big on like I was used to be in the cycling so he's like put reflectors on your bike yeah you know and that and that's been a really good lesson I've just kept forward I think a lot of times I'm traveling I think about like if my parents could see me like if I was riding a motorcycle and had like a drone filming me like they'd be so proud he's wearing a helmet and then the thing that I've got all my travels is a reusable water bottle yeah that's my I was gonna say that yeah yeah so I'd start traveling without one my buddy had one I was super jealous every time I saw him fill it up I'm like yeah I just want to get a cool one yeah it's cool that's yours right yeah this one is that this one is called a doffer I got this from Holland so yeah it's a Dutch company and yeah I'm really big on function so this I definitely also qualified my water bottle yeah so this you know is it's an open top here but you can actually take this part off and oh nice oh nice yeah yeah yeah so that's that's been really cool and yeah like I feel that if you can carry a water bottle their refill stations in every restaurant you go to yeah and you know what it's super useful any stay fucking hydrated which is important I think about eight of those day minimum that's amazing and also like I actually feel good that if I'm in a day and I don't speak to many people I think as long as I speak to someone at a restaurant and say hey can I have some water it kind of fosters some kind of interaction yeah and I really thrive on interaction so it doesn't matter what the context is as long as you're opening your mouth and getting some kind of reciprocity I dry energy from that I love that water bottles you reusable water bottles my friends yeah I sort of got even even at home like it's so much easier to have that than to like grab a glass every time even like growing up I imagine I would be drinking a lot more water probably healthier now you know if I because you know I've had a I've had a theory of there's people in the world that doesn't have water but there's also people in the world that has water that doesn't drink enough yes and that's a statistic that I'm trying to get to and you know and use that against my life like have I had enough water how does that work like and then having the bottle obviously being here isn't great I don't feel dehydrated I feel like I'm functioning better just because I had enough water yeah and it's definitely we've touched on this already we've touched on how would you say traveling has helped evolve right yeah I mean I've definitely strengthened the connection with my own mind you know with my spirit I think with all of my energy I just got a firmer handle and what it takes to kind of reattune you know there's so many times where in our everyday life we become numb to our own feelings because we're just like in a in a yeah cycle but out here you know because we have time to pause there's a lot more inward introspection that happens and I think it gives an opportunity to say you know what like I need to work on my digestion yeah I'm gonna focus next week on digestion or I'm gonna focus this week on grounding you know yoga just because you need to open up that root chakra so so it helps you you say you've evolved in your level of self awareness yes self awareness for sure yeah I think the best one of the best advice I got from my uncle when I started traveling he's like I know you're gonna be great but keep your wits to you yeah and that's always stuck to me because when I first got to Asia I was really wide-eyed like everywhere I looked I'm like wow this is so much to take in and then now I realize if you look wide-eyed you're more likely to be approached by someone who's going to scam you know like if you go to Europe there's gonna be gypsies you come up to you like hey like I'm I show you trick and you know just be a lot more omnipresent yeah throughout every single location you go and you'll be great yeah that's really cool so that's how I'll have travel involved yeah how have trouble yeah now a different question is why why has travel help you well traveling help you well I think it would best be described in an acronym so I'm really into acronyms and one that I heard recently was the idea of safe so we all look at being safe as in our bubble and then there's the uncomfort zone where we're like oh my god I don't want to go there but I got to go there so we can look at safe as an acronym and that's stay average forever yeah so if I want to stay average forever I'm not gonna travel yeah but I don't want to do that I want to be extraordinary I want to be unique and I want to have stories that can make the world brighter yeah so that's why I went to travel and I think I've had a relationship with travel being always push push push push yeah higher we go yeah so yeah that's that's exactly how I feel about it too why why traveling has helped it's because of diversity I think yes because of that exposure changes in perspective at all times the new people you get to talk about every single day in a lot of the different parts of the world that speak different languages but they understand each other but actually not they don't speak the same language but it's just similar and then there's all of these perspective that you like interconnect which I believe is why traveling has personally me helped me off which is just you know the cool fucking reality what is your dream traveling experience you might already be in it yeah I might be in it yeah cool and yeah I think the dream is to be able to have for me it's artistic freedom so however that manifests it will evidently lead me to a place of peace yeah and being able to connect with people on a daily basis and contribute to my environment and community I care deeply about community and making sure that I am playing a part that leaves it brighter than I found it amazing yeah and that's how you build community that's how you build anything really yeah I'm staying here and pie for more than a few months I mean you felt it as well you you have that relationship the people around you the Thai people even other travelers they support you and I support you man every time I see you doing something new I'm like both hands up my feet are up I'm levitating for you I love that and that's the all around here and pie also like you're being supported whatever it is that you're doing on the open stage Mike and you're like you just picked up the fucking guitar and you haven't sung one song from anybody you're gonna get cheery right yes because it's not the performance that is valued is that you've got out there the first place yeah and that's what's so beautiful that the place let's change something for a little bit cool we're gonna it's just a simple question actually because what I really want to do is invite people to get the fuck out of their own countries and experience the world right because there's so many people that are in their countries in their even hometowns and having the right so how do we get these people to get out of out of their little bubbles experience the world most people I would say 95 people like I don't have the money I had the time everything's about comes down right what do you want right so to put a new perspective of people's minds how much money would you say you would need for six months of traveling experience in Southeast Asia six months no working no working so so we can play with this scenario right because we're volunteers right if you're volunteering for six months you probably wouldn't need more than like $2,000 yeah if we're volunteering get a free commendation here we get you know 50% of everything some places even give you food right so if you don't have to pay for food you have to pay for for accommodation you don't need basically anything yeah but if you're not working if you're not volunteering you're six months out traveling Southeast Asia and traveling solo how much do you need I want to say between yeah two and a half I mean two thousand to four thousand max yeah and the reason I say that is because it depends how quickly you want to go yeah and where you want to go to yeah so for example Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia there is similar you know like economical situation if you go down to Indonesia it just varies on where you go I mean I've been to Bali which was expensive in the South but then when I went to different islands yes but then then I went to other islands in Indo so just Java and it was very cheap there just I've been to Malaysia three times it was really cheap there but you know for example when I went to Europe it was at minimum 12 to 15 euros a night for a hostel yeah and it's out these Asia people don't know this but it's four euros yeah minimum yeah like it's like you could probably get it for three like a hundred bucks yeah but the fact is it's like their place isn't fighting it for sixty bucks yeah which is about two dollars yeah not even yeah not even two bucks so the thing is just like I think people in their hometown believe that things will cost just as much when you travel and I think that's a big status quo that needs to be broken you know but for example if you do work here you get paid less so it's just relative to where you go yeah and I think the best the best thing I met this guy from Israel a while back and he had done it where he had traveled all Southeast Asia he came to Shanghai and by the beginning of his travel he said I love it here in paradise he went to Vietnam I think he went down to Malaysia and then he came back to paradise just to volunteer for his last two weeks of his trip because he wanted to experience what it was like to be in a local setting I thought that was really valuable yeah that's great yeah so like if you if you if you like somewhere and you have six months to do it take it slow yeah yeah don't rush anything this is one of the things that I've experienced you too like planning ahead is not necessarily a little change yes I was not saying as well as a day but there's a reason why it's typical exactly because it's the truth right so so I realized you know I came here with $4,000 we're planning to stay out six months we're two people we did four months without having to you know re-upper funds and then you know obviously we had some complications with lead which led to you know we probably spent up to like $5,000 but it's two people and it's six months $5,000 it's not that much money right yeah we also could have you know it depends on how much you drink oh yeah I don't right yeah maybe because I haven't been out at Bar Street once every time a drink alcohol has been at paradise and it's mostly like fed to me so yeah this is like the area that I want to create you don't need a lot of money to travel yeah perfect we can I feel like you're gonna get that from a parallel like if that's the message you want to convey to your audience many people that you know you talk to no matter which country you know you're gonna say yeah if you have a will to be there you will find a way yes always always always always talk about the future is it not your dream job why did you dream job I asked that question to Dylan they said first of all I had a dream job it would be a job yeah I said obviously not because you would have probably created that thing and it would be your passion it would be you know what you love doing right yeah so what would that be or are you already there no see the thing is with me I I like to work I think working is I have a very positive relationship with work and my dream also doesn't tell work it's because you associate work with something like doing yeah yeah associate work with fulfillment so these these two things go hand in hand I think for me being raised in an artistic setting I'd like to do something in the creative space but I'm incredibly humble in myself to know that my journey is far from over yeah and maybe I haven't discovered what outlet will be there but I think my dream job is to write a book and be a public speaker awesome yeah let's help each other because that's my dream too yeah I truly truly want to be on stage somehow yeah public speaker yeah that's awesome where would you most like to live in the world and why I would love to live in Budapest so Budapest was somewhere where I traveled to and not only did it just embody my entire expectation and more of what I thought Europe would be all in one place but it had integrated public transport it had tons of local open areas it had tons of vegan restaurants and it was an international city it's not too expensive no it's it's probably one of the cheaper cities in eastern Europe yeah yeah yeah so did you know Budapest is actually two cities merged oh I didn't know that so there's a river that runs through that divides Buddha from pest really yeah so when you go there it's like you don't really know this and then people like yeah I'm going over to Buddha today you're like what never heard that that's so cool yeah yeah so the pesticide was where like all of the all of the like activities were a lot of local events and then the Buddha side was like the cathedrals and like a lot of the older and or older architecture that's so cool Budapest yeah where do you see yourself in ten years Wow so I know this guy not personally but you know through podcast named Tom W I love Tom W is the shit like so I listened to Impact 3 for a long time now and he says this quote that you whatever you set for your 10 year plan make it happen in six months yeah so that's sort of like right when I hear that question I think Tom will be proud because he's like yes like I got a trigger because that that's really it's the trigger so what I want my plan to be in six months would be the proper answer this um yeah in in six months I want to yeah re-out my funds a ton I want to go to South America I want to go to Canada definitely go back to States and potentially either live in Budapest or live back and high during the right season and then the 10 year plan is to be fully sustainable with basically everything in my life you know business yeah business I'd probably I mean I've been in Oshawa for a few years now I know what it it takes to you know get out of bed and you know kind of work yeah like move against the currents of life but yeah I think that in 10 years I want to have inspired a million people are you happy am I happy yeah yeah I'm happy now in 10 years I hope to be I hope my process from now to you know what would be the year be two thousand and twenty nine yeah at that time I'd like to be present along the whole journey yeah that's that's a great goal I gotta read in your earth about once a year to be able to do that nice we're gonna we're closing up now we're fifty five minutes in and we're gonna do some last questions it's gonna be a sequence of either or see just okay rapid fire yep let's go and then I'm gonna ask you the last question I've asked everybody actually most of course I've asked them but this is a really cool question that I created and people come with a different answer which is really cool so either or train or bus train to your coffee coffee espresso you like doubles doubles yeah I like French like Belgium coffee or something yeah I've had almost I worked as a previous europe have you had like Malongo coffee Malongo coffee I don't know I marketed as most amazing fucking coffee in the world I think Malongo room boats from about student right when you were there amazing well yeah doubles rest of my thing yeah toilets squats the Western to be real like Western is nice but like I'll go for a bush you have to go you have to go then or air conditioning air conditioning really yeah I've got over to fan now only because in a tattoo studio there's air conditioning and it cools the whole room not just like follow the fan yeah strict schedule or go with the flow uh strict schedule with open segments yeah I saw the combination of that something that's perfect for your wine wine city or countryside man I'm totally floored on that one I'm gonna say city because I'm in a state of growth right now think after city country yeah yeah window or aisle seat oh window bungee jumping yes or no yes solo traveler group travel solo groups are inevitable if space travel is available yes or no no earth is pretty great so this is the last question I like all of that awesome I was unsure about asking that last one I can also cut it out but it's you know that's a different topic it's a different you know podcast maybe even yeah it's like no we're just something that I'm gonna slowly like incorporate that might be a whole podcast in itself yeah yeah we should start like a separate one this one's called daily unpacking nice killers came up it was pretty cool I like it yeah nice cake so the last question to close it all up we got another two minutes which is perfect I asked this I asked it to myself and I've come up with so many different questions answers to it as the villain as the senator completely different answers so I asked you to if the entire world was listening right now what would you say I would tell everybody to take a breath and to smile at yourself and say I can do it that's perfect I think everybody has a different dream and we all have the potential inside of ourselves to actualize it sometimes we need a little help sometimes we need a little little bump but oftentimes we're the only one that's gonna be that yeah thank you so much for doing this we can awesome and yeah