The Struggles of an Un-American Dreamer

Great post Brit! So stoked to read that you have affirmed more than ever that you are on the right path. While you are ordering strange foods in a foreign tongue the people you know back home are stocking up on that overpriced Wendy’s. When your daily life holds more excitement than most people’s holidays then you know you are living the dream! See you back in Thailand soon!

Don’t ever let anyone’s expectations in life dictate yours. If you are happy. Then you are happy. It is your life and you do what suits you best. Never let anyone try to change that. Just smile and be polite and then move on. I’m so happy for you, and proud of you for everything that you have accomplished. There is no set schedule, or plan to life. Take it one day at a time. And just BE HAPPY. So many people forget the point in life is to be happy. It isn’t the cars, or houses, or wealth. The point in life is TO BE HAPPY. That’s all you need. Happiness, and love.

Love this thanks for posting I felt like I was reading so many of my own thoughts and it was a good reminder to start meeting some local like minded people. Im in Canada at the moment maybe I should consider some time in Thailand 🙂

I really enjoy reading yours and Charlies articles. You are definitly more normal than most girls all the majority think of is banging out kids and then wondering what happened to my life. Keep searching and your dream will come true. Kind regards keep us posted Ian

As your family knows we also have traveled abroad quit a bit. Having said that, it has opened our eyes (as yours) as to how we as Americans can get trapped here. I once heard a quote from Mark Twain that states “travel is fatal to racism, biggetry (not sure I spelled that correct), and narrow mindedness. You have a richness that few will experience here, or even realize. Just a thought, have you ever thought of expanding others views by starting your own travel bussiness. With your experience, you could share and expand the world/views of others.

that van is dope, would look nice parked DOWN BY THE RIVER

Beers in November while we strategize how to conquer the world?

Just had the Forza serviced 1000km they had a new oil filter ready and waiting. Somebody read the manuel. Keep the great posts coming. Kind regards Ian

Hi guy’s, I have been enjoying your posts, keep up the good work! I don’t know if you are interested but if you are ever in my neck of the woods I would be very happy if you popped in for a coffee or whatever is going. Kind regards Ian.
My address. 37 moo14 Si Chiang Mai Nong Khai . Tel. 08 62 35 81 98

[…] might recall an article I wrote recently, The Struggles of an Un-American Dreamer, where I explained my desires to live a life outside of the norm. To screw the nine to five, the […]

[…] few months. If we want to stretch our savings for as long as possible and keep living this “Un-American dream“, we realized we need to reevaluate our spending and see how we can get ourselves back on […]

[…] online business have really taken off in the past 6 months. It was just last summer when I wrote Struggles of an Un-American Dreamer (our most popular post to date), and we were second guessing everything. We were considering […]

[…] Since we moved to Thailand almost 2 years ago (this month actually!), we forever find ourselves comparing everywhere we go to Thailand, especially when it comes to prices. We have been completely spoiled seeing how far our dollar can go and it’s hard to get out of that mindset. So when we made the spontaneous decision to travel Europe last summer, we experienced a severe case of sticker shock. We knew Europe was going to be expensive, but we weren’t prepared for the drastic difference and, unfortunately, we let it put a damper on our travels pinching pennies and bickering over what we would/wouldn’t spend money on. We were also in a much different place financially as our affiliate sites weren’t where we thought they would be. […]

[…] it is possible. We had a shaky first year on the business front that brought along many doubts and even had us considering going back to the grind. But something happened in our second year. We were dumb enough to keep going. We just kept […]

Great insights and honesty, it is definitely not the easiest path to take, but well worth the personal growth and strength that you build going through that process. Like you say, no regrets.

I spent 3 years in Thailand and moved to Poland for summer (I come from here). I have the same reflections on how you change. I am mostly enjoying food in Poland and seeing my friends, but I hate not having a scooter and just hopping on it and going wherever I like, whenever I want to. I don’t like the constant questions of babies, career etc. from my family. They make me angry. I also feel that I was happier in Thailand cause I didn’t understand the language, so I didn’t know what was going in the news. Here I understand everything and it makes me sad and angry. Of course, in Thailand I knew what was going on in Europe and Poland, but it was so distant, like a different planet. Now, I’m a part of this all and it would depresses me when I think I would need to spend the rest of my life here. Thanks for the post. It actually inspired me to write about my experiences in Poland!