Most people don’t actually want to be rich, they just want the experiences that the rich guy has. In today’s world this is achievable without huge reserves of money, since the internet has opened up huge possibilities to us.
Tom Torero has often said that AirBnB is like having your own international property portfolio, while Uber is like having your own worldwide chauffeur-driven limo service. This is absolutely true. Moreover, in an age where air travel is (in relative terms) extremely cheap, then travel is no longer reserved for a select few: it is open to anyone who has the nous to make a little money.
I am becoming increasingly interested in minimalism, which seems to me a philosophy perfectly for men who want to enjoy the world without the trappings that mainstream society says that we need.
I actually need very little. I need somewhere to sleep. I need a laptop to write, work, and watch movies on. I need a Smartphone to contact people, send messages, find locations, record podcasts etc. I need some clothes. I need a Kindle for books (although I can read on my smartphone). I need some basic hygiene and grooming products. I also, of course, need money for food. But beyond that I don’t need much more.
The thing about life is this. We all see the same sky. We all feel the same sun. We all hear the same sound when the sea crashes against the shore. The fundamentals of life are very similar for all of us, regardless of money.
When I went to Ibiza recently, I stayed in a cheap apartment. To what degree did my experience differ to that of the rich guy? At first sight, significantly. He was probably on a yacht, surrounded by beautiful girls. Perhaps he stayed in one of the island’s 5-star hotels, ate in one of its Michelin-starred restaurants. Maybe he took a VIP table when he went to Pacha.
But we need to think about experience on a granular level. I didn’t go on a yacht but I saw the same sea, the same beaches. I could, had I wanted to, probably have paid to go on a yacht trip, and there are certainly plenty of boat parties available where I could have been surrounded by hot girls had I so desired. I saw beautiful girls, just like he did. I had sex (through game) just like he did.
Personally I don’t care very much where I stay. I don’t particularly like hotels, even 5-star ones. But the point is that in general when I’m travelling I tend to use my room to sleep, perhaps work in, and little else. Having Philippe Starck furniture around makes zero difference.
I love delicious food, of course, but personally (ands perhaps my palette is unsophisticated) I don’t register so much difference between the food produced by the best restaurants I’ve been to and something I could pick up much more cheaply in a small deli. I once ate great lobster at an elegant establishment in Ibiza, for example. But I’ve had equally enjoyable meals at small, much more inexpensive places there.
I have been in the VIP area at Pacha as well as on the dancefloor and, in my experience, the dancefloor is a lot more fun. You can hear the music better and you can move around more easily, thus getting access to an array of hot girls. In VIP you are confined to one place, the sound is poor, it’s difficult to dance, and you are less likely to interact with other groups because of the way it’s set out.
My point is that we should think about experiences first, not how expensive something was. Because really when all is said and done it is the experiences themselves that we will remember, that will touch our souls.
I’ve been lucky enough to stay in some very expensive hotels and to enjoy my fair share on upmarket events, restaurants and clubs. I can’t say that any of them particularly stick in my memory. Whereas I do remember a great many times in much less-vaunted milieus, where the nature of my experience on a granular level was enough for it to be retained in my memory.
I would much rather be rich in experience than in money. Money comes and goes, and it’s useless when you die. Experience, meanwhile, not only remains with us, it actually shapes us and changes us as people.
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