The Spoils of the Spoiled
Smuggling Myself into New Nationalities
Sorry this is a little late today. I’m trying to get myself in order before we leave for a trip to Belgium. In order to avoid a Home Alone situation, we will have people staying in our house and extra dogs(!!) so Marv and Harry better stay far away. They can go harass the Air-BnB guests next door.
A house that used to hold neighbors. A house that my neighbors probably couldn’t afford to rent anymore and definitely couldn’t afford to buy. Homebuying in Richmond means you need to make roughly $102,000 a year. From that same article, you’ll find two fun bits of information:
That's a staggering 24.6% more than locals needed to earn a year ago.
And significantly more than the $81,388 median household income for metro Richmond.
Sometimes talking about my life feels like gloating. This is not a request for permission, just an acknowledgment. I get to stay at home and bake and cook. I get to go to Europe and San Francisco for Thanksgiving. I’m going on a cruise in January. For a lot of people, any one of those would be their entire year of vacationing. We’re planning trips to Denver and the Pacific Northwest (PNW).
A lot of my friends are stuck in perpetual burnout. Working jobs they tolerate for money they need to survive. I spent 20+ years there as well. I grapple with a lot of the morality of my situation. I have a friend in PNW who is currently working 2-3 jobs and doesn’t have stable housing. And I’m going to take a vacation there? When work comes up, talking about how nice it is not working feels like bragging.
Fortunate too, I have opportunity when I do re-enter the job market. Friends have already told me about places that they can help me get hired into. A privilege many people struggling to find one job rightful begrudge. Even the fact that I am able to not work came off the back of other people’s labor.
Vacation All I Ever Wanted
This may sound like I’m unhappy. I’m not, I’m ecstatic about our trips. Being cognizant of the factors that allow me to minimalize my impact and use my privilege to help others. I’m going to Brussels and Ghent and probably Antwerp. I’m going to see a local artist, Stoop Kid. I’m going to pick up records from local bands, especially Teen Creeps who I’ve really grown fond of over the last few weeks.
We’re going to Amsterdam for a long weekend. Adrianne will get to see one of her oldest and best friends in Marina. She has lived in Europe the entire time I’ve known her and we’ve not seen her there once. Good fortune allows us to spend time with one of Adrianne’s dearest friends, so we are taking the chance and making the most of it.
I doubt I’ll see much in the way of tulips in November, but I suspect The Netherlands are beautiful still year round. There’s a magic to seeing a place in the downtimes. Part of the reason I worked so hard is so that I could see as much of the world as possible. I know there are places I’ll never get to go. Every trip is special for that reason.
I can’t wait to eat local food. Experience their neighborhoods. Architecture. We’ll probably even try a fast food place, as that’s always one of my favorite things to do in another country. I just don’t know what the vegetarian options will look like.
If we are able to make it to the PNW, I suspect my friend would be glad to have dinner with us and just spend some time together. Part of what makes travel so special for me is getting to meet so many interesting people all over the world.
I have a lot of thoughts about passive income stirred up, but I also have to get ready. I’m grateful for the opportunities I have and I can acknowledge the privilege, but we still have ~582,000 homeless in the US. Inflation is rampant and income is not keeping pace. Remember, there was a still a middle class in the great depression.
I expect to post next week, but it will likely just be a travel blog. Maybe.