1st Horse Back Ride in Costa Rica
About Author: Mike Behnken
One of my primary motivations for creating AskTheTrainer.com was to create a remote business which would allow me to travel while still have an income. For the entire year of 2008 I stripped myself of a social life and vacations pledging to devote 100% of my spare time to creating the website which would allow me to travel more.
- Now it is June 2009 and I am living in Bangkok. Bangkok is not only a wonderful city in a wonderful country it is centrally located. If you wanted to travel Asia living in San Francisco you’d have to take the 20+ hour flight and rush exploring several countries. If you want to come back you have to fly those 20 hours over and over.
If you live in Bangkok you can book a cheap flight to hundreds of interesting cities in more than a dozen vastly countries within 5-6 hours.
How I got Started
I’m 1/2 Italian, 1/4 German and 1/4 Eurotrash but neither of my parents have ever left the friendly confines of the west coast of the United States. Being born and living in an international city like San Francisco where you’re seldom in a public place where there’s not someone speaking a foreign language one cannot help but feel an urge to travel.
From recommendation from a well traveled friend, my first trip out of the country was to Thailand in 2005. As a sheltered American I perceived Thailand as being dangerous as most Americans view things foreign to them. When I arrived I suffered from culture shock for the first 3 days but then started feeling at home. I was fascinated by the different way of life in which the Thai people lead.
I noticed people in Thailand who had little money seemed to be far more happy and content than the Average American. Bangkok was a gigantic, hot, polluted, dirty city but the Thai people and all the international tourists seemed to love it. I returned to San Francisco after 3 weeks and immediately wanted to back but my personal training clients were without a trainer.
More Travel & Philosophy
Being a busy personal trainer can take a lot out of you believe it or not. I adopted the philosophy of taking on a heavy training schedule for months at a time separated by travel. I traveled to numerous places all over the world visiting tourist attractions such as beautiful beaches, volcanoes, jungles, national parks but they were never the main attraction for me.
When I traveled the cities and people were always the main attraction. I could be on a beautiful beach anywhere in the world but it would still feel like any old beach. I could visit a famous statue such as Corcovado in Rio De Janeiro Brazilan and realized that I could probably experience it just as well on a DVD or postcard.
Something you could never experience on a postcard is actually interacting in a city defined by the people who inhabit the city. Every city I visit I look at as a potential home. You will hear many people say something like, “If you want to experience the real Thailand you have to leave the city,” which I would argue is a ludicrous statement. I see it being analogous to saying if you want to experience the real United States you have to leave New York, San Francisco, LA or Dallas and go to a small town in South Dakota.
After heading to numerous places and even taking Japanese language for a year with intentions to move to Japan I decided that I would try to live in Bangkok for at least a year.
About this Blog
I put an incredible amount of time working on AskTheTrainer.com helping people with their health, fitness, nutrition, supplements and personal training issues. This travel blog gives me a much needed change of pace and it is fun to share my experience. I will include all topics pertaining to living in Bangkok and visiting the countries in the surrounding region.
