Well, it’s more like a wad of cash. Sure, it’s about 1/4 of what I made at my lowest paying job, but dude, I’m feeling golden right now! I have a job that I find fulfilling, friends I can laugh with and learn from daily, and I’m calling a place I always wanted to visit home.

The past few days, in general, have been fan-fucking-tastic! I feel like I’m looking at this experience and Thailand in general with what the Thai call a “cool heart”. I’m realizing that old lesson once more: that life can be easy if you just let it be. Every night I’ve been riding home on my motorbike just laughing with glee and yelling “I LOVE MY LIFE!” at the top my lungs. Nothing can shake this feeling and it has less to do with money and more to do with my outlook: shifted.

A weight has definitely been lifted.

Photo by: Tyler Batson

As I mentioned before, this isn’t a competition. I don’t want to be a success or a failure. I want to just be. I want to live. There is no measure of success or failure, of superior or inferior by which I live; there is only living. Fully. Always. If only I could say the same for everyone else.

Life is indifferent to arrangements. My plans are of no concern to my path. Daily, we cross paths with hundreds if not thousands of people with their own arrangements, their own lives. Anyone who thinks they can control their days and create a happiness with all their strict planning within this beautiful chaos we all live in, is in for an awakening. As our planets magnetic fields, energies, and communication technologies draw us further outward and inward, it becomes more and more evident that we all need to let go. Stop planning, stop carrying the burden of our pain and others’ pains, stop letting fear guide our decisions, stop comparing yourself to others and stop trying to manage life or just survive it. You could be living! Out loud, without the symptoms of insecurity, defense mechanisms, and lonliness that a life half-lived brings.

You can say you understand these words, but as a wise woman once asked me: “But are you happy?”

This is no superficial understanding I am living. I carry around no mask, make no effort to hide or pretend, and I don’t claim to have the answers, so it’s frustrating to find people like this in my life. I don’t want to inherit their pain, their negative energy, or their insecurities, whether they are doing it consciously or unconsciously. I can tell you right now, I’ve been there, I’ve done that, and I don’t want or need to go back. No one does and I’m not going to feed into it.

Arrangements or no arrangements, I’m finding that there are some basic life skills that are missing, some that are so basic that their lack just makes life all that more painful and difficult for others. I have not often been exposed to these kinds of people, so this is very much a learning process for me, too. But one thing we all knew was that this is supposed to be a group endeavor. Every decision of the individual affects the whole. Was that not clear at the onset? Everyone was expected to fulfill certain tasks. Was there some miscommunication? Life happens, I know this, but when faced with such enormous opportunity how can you just throw it away? My answer cuts to the core: fear and insecurity. Why do I mention this? Because the core elements of life are universal and this can be a lesson not just for me, or for those around me, but for everyone.

For now I am working on releasing thought. I am finding the shine that has been dimmed over the past month or so. I’m finding it in new friends, new places, new moments of light and spontaneity, new languages, and new paths I’m crossing every day. And it feels good. My mind is slowly quieting, that lump in my throat is dissipating, and I’m living as I want to live, not by the influence of others’ decisions and experiences.

Some arrive with their arrangements already etched in their being. I don’t live that way. Some are still learning things I have learned already. Respectfully, I acknowledge that we are all on our own path. It’s chaotic, it’s beautiful, and it is thriving. Moreover, I know love. I am loved and I can see the totality of life not just its fragments. This is a gift that has become my daily practice and I can only be grateful for this bounty of a life behind me, in front of me, and right here and now. So in spite of it all, when that wise woman asks me again if I’m happy, I can answer unequivocally, yes.

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Desperate times call for artful measures.

So I thought I did everything right. Then one delayed flight, some seriously dumb-ass bankers, and one month later, I’m broke.

• Total loss of savings: $800.00

• Total loss of hope: Zero

So I’ve launched the “Photos for Food” campaign, using my passion for photography to lift me up. It’s simple: Buy a photo, feed an artist. I may not be teaching English to orphans, but hey, it’s a contribution. Hopefully one that will yield some monetary contributions… from you. Or someone you know? (Read: please re-post!)

Get a taste of Thailand without leaving home… and give me a taste of noodle soup. Everybody wins! Maybe I’ll even get out of this country when the time comes. (Read: news of an impending Thai civil war not all that encouraging.)

X’s and o’s ladies and vagabonds! Thanks for the support.

So far finding work has been a struggle. The job that I had hoped for being long-term is not and my bank and discount airlines screwed me from the start. The need for food, shelter, and transportation remain. So I have an idea!

Photos for food.
Get a taste of Thailand and give me a taste of food. (And maybe out of this country when the time comes.)

More info soon. In the meantime you can check out my photography blog at tylerbatsonphotography.tumblr.com.

For now, we are in Bangkok. Some of you might remember that our intention was to go to Northern Thailand, but financial concerns are keeping us in the capitol for a presumed better chance of finding employment. Bangkok, I will admit, is not the kind of experience I was hoping for. In fact, it wasn’t even really on my radar. As I have mentioned before, I seek beauty – and I can see beauty in slums, squares, and symphonies alike – but so far Bangkok is not cutting it for me. I am not as concerned about my finances as the rest of the cast, so that combined with my intrinsic proclivity for taking chances rather than playing it safe has my freedom in a bind – and feels counter intuitive to what I feel is the JS0 experience. You may have little cash, but you can still be happy and live a full life. In my opinion happiness comes before money and money comes when you honor your happiness. Money is not a huge motivator in my life. It just isn’t. Even when I have been straight up poor, I just gravitated to love not the money I didn’t have. And that, my friends is more beautiful than any printed notes or silver coins.

So we’ll see. We decided we would stay in Bangkok for the rest of the month, find an apartment, and make it work. What I am most excited about – and perhaps a little nervous, as well – is a trip outside the city that Evita and I both planned for ourselves. She didn’t think it was a good idea at first, but I was all for it. In the end we both agreed and soon we will be off the Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Siam. I’m hoping this will be an opportunity for us to break down some of those walls and ease into the warm, kind, and loving energies I know we both have… in Thailand.

See. Money is satan.

Data entry job in L.A. = hella baht in my pocket

I got a job! Saving money for this trip just got a lot easier.

I’ve said from the start that this whole experience is an act of fate. The money hasn’t exactly been flowing on high for me for years, really – certainly not since I graduated from college. And my apartment burnt down. And I got my license suspended. (I digress.) But something always told me that everything would work out. Even as I ranted expletives about my dire straits, something still told me it would all be okay. Better than okay, it would be amazing!

Enter my dear friend Leslie King. She’s amazing. An inspiration, really. She got me a job at a production company and now I can diligently savor the sweet relief of employment (above). Also, I got a $525 traffic ticket talked down to, how much? $300? $200? Um… try $0 baby!

But it’s not all about money. As much as I can worry about it, it isn’t until I relax and allow myself and my circumstances room to breathe that things really start to work out. I elect to work with time, not against it. And I vow to not let the “zero” get in the way of my “jet set”, because if there’s anything I’ve learned it’s that with an open mind and heart, it doesn’t matter how hollow your pockets are. If you can take time to just be, fate will remind you just how sweet it is.

Special thanks to Leslie, Commissioner Alan Rubin, and my Mom. I’ll try to cuss less in future video blogs. (Try.)

Jet Set Zero goes like this: 1 country. 90 days. 4 soon-to-be-friends.

Problem: No money.

Solution: Find job.

I caught the traveling bug long before I joined Jet Set Zero. How did I foot the bill for my wanderlust before?

Soaking it up in Rio de Janeiro

I’ve financed my travels in different ways, including working both stateside and abroad. A fellowship in Tokyo during university landed me a job in asset management in Singapore post-graduation. Like Freddie and previous Jet Set Zero cast members, I also taught English in Korea, which offers some of the best paid ESL jobs coupled with a high standard of living. We at Jet Set Zero are living proof that working while abroad is one of the most rewarding ways to sustain a life overseas.

My favorite street meat stand in Busan, Korea

Whenever I’ve returned home to Los Angeles between trips, I’ve spent time working short-term contract jobs to replenish my bank account – anything from assisting the CEO of a hedge fund to conducting research for a consulting firm. I’ve also freelanced for my alma mater, writing economic forecasts on the real estate markets in Southern California for USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate.

Catching up with friends back home

Working in this way – on my own terms – has given me the ability to save money for traveling and the freedom to travel as needed. And yes, for me, travel is a need.

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by freelancing guru Michelle Goodman, author of My So-Called Freelance Life and the inspirational blog The Anti 9-to-5 Guide. Her book and website should be some of the first stops for anyone aspiring to break free of the bonds of cubicledom. Michelle was interviewing people who, like me, resist the security of a permanent job in favor of the perks – ahem, freedom – of contract work or consulting.

Check out what I have to say in her article on ABC News Money column.