Rumrumi's Knowledge Absorbtion Digest (1/14 - 1/21)

Welcome to the first issue of my Weekly Knowledge Absorbtion Digest. Every week I will share with you everything I had the pleasure of learning about (that is worth sharing). Obviously there is a lot more learned in a week, but these are the items I thought might be of some use to you. They may not be of any use at all, but I know I will definitely make use of some of these:

Tumbleweed Houses

As I do my daily internet learning, I came across this awesome company called Tumbleweed Tiny House Company – There are two options:

1. They build you a tiny 1 person house on wheels which you can take with you anywhere (like the picture above) OR;
2. They can build you 2-3 bedroom full on houses like the picture below

These bad boys are in the range of US$40,000-60,000. Which in all honesty, when compared with Hong Kong pricing, these houses are free of charge. I would suggest if anyone has some money to spare, they can use this as a relatively cheap investment. Let them build you a home and you can rent it out!

Creative Live

The next thing I came across was Creative Live, which is an online tutorial website where leaders in photography, design, business, software, video & film go live and teach you how to do really cool stuff. Best thing is, it’s all FREE! Except of course if you want to download the content to your desktop, otherwise, you have to stream the course live.

BlackJet

BlackJet offers guaranteed private jet seat availability and the most affordable private jet charter solution. BlackJet booking technology provides confirmed seats on private jets in 10 seconds. BlackJet private jet seat service is a perfect complement to fractional jet ownership, jet card programs and private jet charter. BlackJet is not an owner or operator of aircraft. Flights are provided by professional aircraft operators who are authorized by the FAA and DOT to provide on demand air charter service. BlackJet manages the booking and quality control of the guaranteed private jet seat service for our members.  

Although I don’t see myself using a service like this in the near future, simply because my schedule does not require me to rush onto planes at the last minute, but I definitely see this service being of use to others who need to hop from city to city at the last minute. What’s cool about it is that you can literally book your ticket in 10 seconds and just drive straight to the plane. No securtiy checks, passport checks etc…It’ll cost you the same price as a first class ticket, but then again, it’s a private jet and you save a lot of time.

You will need to find someone in your social circle to provide you with an invite to this exclusive service. Whatever you do, do not ask me.

How to travel to 20+ countries with Free Room & Board

Finally, I would like to introduce you to a new concept to me; “Couchsurfing“. From the brief research I did about this subject, I found to be quite interesting and free way to travel the globe. Before I give you my explanation, let us get to know what couchsurfing is all about:

Couchsurfing is a community of over 5 million members in 97,000 cities — and every country — around the world. Our website connects travelers and locals who meet offline to share cultures, hospitality and adventures – whether on the road or in their hometowns.

Our Mission is simple: Create inspiring experiences.

We envision a world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places they encounter. Building meaningful connections across cultures enables us to respond to differences with curiosity, appreciation and respect. The appreciation of diversity spreads tolerance and creates a global community.

At the Couchsurfing headquarters in San Francisco, we’re working tirelessly to create the greatest possible online platform for our community to achieve its goals.

Here is my version of Couchsurfing. The idea is really quite simple:

1. Choose a location
2. Create an account at Couchsurfing
3. Select someone’s couch to stay on at the location you chose, and I can tell you that there are available couches all over the globe
4. Remember to read the person’s profile carefully when selecting a couch to stay on. You need to feel as comfortable as possible
5. Sometimes you can be lucky enough that the person who will be hosting you on their couch (for free), will actually come and pick you up from the airport, but should they not do that, you need to make sure you get all the information you need before you arrive at the host country. Make sure you know where to find a hidden key to their home, also make sure you ask for door codes, should they live in an apartment building.

Benefits of couchsurfing:

1. Obviously having a free place to stay
2. Food & drink will be at a minimum cost
3. You will have someone to tell you exactly where to go and what you need to see that might not be mentioned to your traditional tourists. You will experience the heart of the host country
4. From the get go, you will be in the deep end of a new culture. You will make new friends from that culture and if you’re lucky enough, the person you’re staying with may take you by the hand and show you everything you need to see

My only advise is to be sure you do your research about the person you’ll be staying with and make sure everything is agreed upon with your host before you leave home. You need to make sure that both parties are comfortable. Do not invade their privacy. Learn the basic lingo that will get you by. Leave your couch in better condition than the day you arrived. Remember you will have a profile on the website and your host can rate you as a couchsurfer.

Some people are living their lives like this. They are traveling every corner of the globe. Meeting new people. Making new friends. Experiencing life like no tour could ever match. This is a lifestyle choice for some and for others this could be a horrible idea. I thought I’d do my job and throw it out there and hope someone benefits from it!

Best of luck and I hope once again you’ve enjoyed my post. I would like to make two items clear:

1. I am currently writing a book (which is consuming most of my time out of work), so I may not be post as frequently as I usually do, and when I do post something, it may not be as large and indepth as some of my previous posts, so please forgive me for that.
2. My parents are visiting me here in Hong Kong, and I did not realise just how little time I’d have to myself, so let’s just say I’m on break for now. My next post could be mid-week or mid-February. Don’t really know when I’ll be sat infront of a computer for long enough.

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