If you were reading my blog few days ago, you know that I went on a cruise trip to Mexico and visited one of the best vacation heaven- Cabo San Lucas (photos) – The land’s end where the journey begins!
My wife was set free after her company went under. We decided to take a week break to the place we visited 2 years ago in 2006. Why we decided to visit the same place again? Cabo San Lucas is the place that inspired me to quit my job two years ago. Now, I want to get more inspiration and continue my journey at the same place.
The first photo was taken few days ago. It looks a lot of different than the second one, which was taken in April 2006. You can see the little tiny beach (Lover’s beach) has changed. There are a lot of stuff changed at Cabo San Lucas in the past two years. So did my journey.
First of all, I had great time! That’s the most important thing for this trip. I enjoyed. We all enjoyed. If you really like to take a cruise vacation at west coast, I totally recommends CARNIVAL PRIDE. It will take you from Long Beach, CA to the following beautiful places.
I also saw so many dolphins and whale at horizon line. It makes this trip even more valuable. So what have inspired me on this trip?
Let’s face it!
We all know that economy is very slow now. Many of my friends just recently got laid off or lost their job. Regardless what their financial conditions are, they have to face one fact that they are still living in much better condition than the rest of the people on earth.
On the ship, there are over 900 crew members from 57 countries. Most of them are making only US$600 a month. They work about 14 hours a day, 7 days a week and straight 7 months without a day off. If they get sick on the ship, they will stay at their room without any pay.
Photo: The crew members on stage. The captain is speaking.
Stop complaining!
Comparing to the crew members on the ship, our living conditions are much better. They try to save every pennies to feed their families, while we are waiting for government to bail out our own mistakes. When we were in Mexico, we saw many poor people begging for money by selling US$1.00 souvenirs. They took their young children with them. The kid was leaning how to make living on the street, while our kids were playing XBox and watching DVD.
Photo: A little kid is learning how to sell the $1.00 toys to make living.
Photo: Hiding under the shade. A family making living on the street.
Take off your shoes!
If you are someone like me, you put yourself into other people’s shoes. You try to think the the way they think. I say that we take off our shoes and think with your bare foot. Pretend that you have nothing left. What will you do to start from scratch? The best part is that you have nothing. So you have nothing to lose.
Appreciation!
Although we spent money on vacation, we are still normal human-beings. We appreciate all the crew members, who work so hard to make our vacation memorable. We should appreciate that the bad economy give us a new opportunity to change our life style, change the way we spend money and change the way we predict our future. We should appreciate everything that not many people in other countries have the same fortune.
First thing first!
As far as economy goes, I don’t think we will see DOT COM era anytime soon. So the first priority is to save money before making money! Let’s assume that we will spend less as part of our life style improvement. We will eat healthier and eat less. If you are not sure how to get start, you should take a look at Justin’s experiment – 7 Days Without Spending A Dime and read my comment there.
When we have extra left, we will start helping the people around us. By helping other, it gives us chance to appreciate what other people did to help us.
Move on!
My journey is to help other people improve their business and create win-win situation for business owners and consumers. I think I am on the right track. I love helping other people, which is my passion. I truly believe that money will come after that. So let’s move forward on our journey and make the best changes in our life!
Seeing people less fortunate then myself always seems to change my perspective. This usually happens while traveling, so reading a post about someone else’s travels servers as a good vicarious experience, hopefully it will produce a similar result.
Beautiful place! Hope things work out for the wife. Kristi tells me your from the Phoenix area. I, myself, am from Goodyear! It’s a small world. Again, good luck with everything.
Twitter: TerenceChang
says:
@Phil:
Thank you for stopping by. I love reading people’s travel blog, it opens my eyes on things that I have never thought about. Learning from other will speed up our pace on the journey to the success.
I agree that reading travel blogs is a great way to see new experiences. If you can’t actually go somewhere, the next best thing is to read about it from someone elses eyes.
Twitter: TerenceChang
says:
@Web Marketing:
Thank you for stopping by. I am glad to hear from new readers in Arizona. People will get their jobs eventually, if they are talented. Financially, we don’t have problem to stay the way we live. However, it’s easily getting bored without doing any works.
@Justin Wright:
I really like to travel around the world before I die. I envy your plan and guts to do it early. Hope to read your new adventure blog posts soon.
Here is one of the best travel sites that I love to read. Totally recommend!
Brave New Traveler
It’s my first visit here. The photos are lovely!! It sure sounds like you had a lovely day. However, I was really shocked to read about the low wages that the crew members were getting. I’d imagine that it would be higher. They have to stand and smile all day!!
Twitter: TerenceChang
says:
@Evelyn Lim:
Welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy reading. I was so socked how low their wages are as well. The worst is that hey don’t get to see their families for 7 months. It makes me feel bad that they have to serve me with smile everyday. That’s how they got me to tip them much more.
Thank you for stopping by.
Great post! Thanks for being such an inspiration…glad you had the chance to take a break and get some rest and relaxation ~ keep up the great work…your passion shows!
Hi Terence – I’m glad you’ve had a great trip. I would love to go on a Carnival cruise some day. But I had no idea that the crew got wages that low. It is terrible.
When we went to Mexico – lots of children were selling things. And outside the tourist areas, there is so much poverty.
I know what you mean though – we worry about our economy now but we’re so much better off than many people. I was reading what was happening to the people in the Congo right now and even if I was living on the streets I would be so much better off.
It is ok to want to do well ourselves but as you say, we should be working towards helping folk in other countries who desperately need our support.
I’m going to submit this post to Twitter.
While I was in Phuket there were little girls, barely the age of 5? going to various restaurants selling roses to tourists. I was advised by the waitress to not cave in. Apparently they’re behind syndicates or what not.
You make a really good point in this post. We really live VERY well in the US compared to most 3rd world countries. A fact that we often times take for granted unfortunately. I also agree with you on your last point. If you have an attitude of helping others money and success will come to you in great abundance. Just my 2 cents.
Twitter: TerenceChang
says:
@Houseonahill:
I had great time in Mexico and planning for the next cruise trip to Alaska. Hope to see the whale in the close range. Thank you for stopping by.
@Cath Lawson:
Thank you for your tweet. I am glad that I was able to help in someway to make other people living better. My wife and have been volunteers for many years. We deliver foods to homeless people weekly. It did make me feel good by contribute my energy for some good causes.
@Myron Tay:
It’s hard to understand their living condition unless you visit the places. I was so shocked by what poor people were eating. There were luxury restaurants cross street though. Thank you for stopping by.
Twitter: TerenceChang
says:
@Gerald:
Thank you for stopping by. If you are making US$50K a year, you are the top 6% richest people in the world. Wouldn’t that make us guilty?
It makes appreciate other more and more.
@Granit:
Please take time to visit Mexico, you will appreciate the condition we are living in. Many of them have no idea and have never touch computer. We should appreciate that we are the top 10% richest people on earth.