Tim, I saw your book on the Amazon bestsellers list, read your personal profile and bought it withou

The incredible Sony VAIO VGN-TXN27N laptop . This beauty is less than 2 thick and weighs 2.8 lbs. If I add a few ounces of weight with the extended battery (on the right) and trick it out, I can get 15 hours of battery life. [Update: I now use a MacBook Air]
If you pack for every contingency better bring the hiking books in case we go hiking, better bring an umbrella in case it rains, better bring dress shoes and slacks in case we go to a nice restaurant, etc. carrying discount hotel las vegas a mule-worthy load is inevitable. I ve learned to instead allocate $50-200 per trip to a settling fund, which I use to buy needed items once they re 100% needed. This includes cumbersome and hassle items like umbrellas and bottles of sunscreen discount hotel las vegas that love to explode. Also, never buy if you can borrow. If you re going on a bird watching discount hotel las vegas trip in Costa Rica, you don t need to bring binoculars someone else will have them.
-2 pairs of Exofficio lightweight underwear . Their tagline is 17 countries. 6 weeks. discount hotel las vegas And one pair of underwear. I think I ll opt for two, considering they weigh about as much as a handful of Kleenex. One other nice side-effect of their weight: they re much more comfortable discount hotel las vegas than normal cotton underwear.
-1 Canon PowerShot SD300 digital camera with extra 2GB SD memory card. God, I love this camera more than words can describe. It is the best designed piece of electronics I have ever owned. I now use it not only for all of my photos and videos, but also as a replacement discount hotel las vegas for my scanner. I m considering testing the newer and cheaper SD1000 .
-1 Chapstick, 1 Mag-Lite Solitaire flashlight , and 1 roll of athletic tape. The last is a lifesaver. It s as useful as duct tape for repairing objects but gentle enough to use on injuries, which I am fond of inflicting on myself.
-1 Radio Shack kitchen timer, which I ve been using to wake up for about five years. The problem with using a cell phone alarm to wake up is simple: the phone needs to be on, and even if you use vibrate, people can call and wake you up before you want to wake up. The second benefit to using a kitchen timer if that you know exactly how much sleep you are or aren t getting, and you can experiment with things like caffeine power naps of different durations but that s another post ;)
Most people never learn to ask for something properly, so they always get push-back and end up negotiating. I cover dealmaking and negotiating exhaustively discount hotel las vegas in The 4-Hour Workweek , as well as in the bonus chapter, How to Get $700,000 in Advertising for $10,000. Let s look at how to win the fight before it starts.
Here are a few: driving a convertible sports car on the Hana Highway , flying discount hotel las vegas in a helicopter, sleeping in a full-size treehouse, and scuba diving the back wall of Molokini crater. I fulfilled all of them in the first 72 hours.
I bought my plane ticket discount hotel las vegas to Maui about 24 hours before I left, so I landed in luau land with no reservations of any kind. There was only one rental company, so I had to get my convertible from them. Here are the pointers that got me from $542 to $278:
1. The first representative at the desk wouldn discount hotel las vegas t play ball with discounts, so I told her that I need to take a phone call outside, took a 5-minute walk, and came back to test another rep. Choosing the person on the other side of the table just like choosing a slot machine vs. playing slots well is more important than negotiating technique.
Hey, man. How goes it? I m so excited to be here. [After giving him my license and info] If you have any discounts I can use AAA, student, magic elf, or anything at all I d really, really appreciate it. I m on a budget, so whatever you can do would be awesome.
This one is even better. It s the high tourist season in Maui. It s so popular to drive from Kahalui to Hana for coastline and waterfalls that my local helicopter pilot said: Thinking of staying over in Hana? Forget about it. You ll never get a room.
Well, I had thought about it, and I wanted nothing more than to stay in one of the famous full-size treehouses in the rain forest. Doing this in the high season is something like showing up for the last game of the World Series and asking for box seats at the door. So I called the treehouse gods and here s how it went down:
Me: Oh, no. My dream is crushed. Are you sure? Do you have anything at all? Even a dilapidated and unsafe one? [I pause while she first takes me seriously, then laughs] Hmmm Is there anything at all I can do?
We talk for another 20 minutes, and she decides that she would feel guilty if she forced me to shovel while on vacation. I was secretly disappointed, but no matter: she and I met up at the treehouse, and after a trip to a small alcove beach together and much conversation, my stay ended up being free. Not only that, but I was adopted by a wild dog the cutest puppy you ve ever seen who then played companion for the entire time. Dig it.
Be a joker when you can, be pitiful when needed, and learn to get a laugh as you field test the most valuable skill in the world: asking for what you want. If all else fails in Hawai i, just tell them Kama aina, which means you re a local. It should get you an automatic 15-20% off in most places. Don t tell them I told you ;)
How to Change The World with 200 Books You Decide (plus Finalists of the Endless Summer Competition!) The New Face of Philanthropy: How You Can Give $5 Million to Education This Week Help Needed Now
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name , as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration)
Thanks for the travel tips, I m not sure if my wife is willing discount hotel las vegas to jump on the minimalist wagon. discount hotel las vegas But at least I ll have more free hands to carry her excess luggage. We are flying out to Colorado Springs next weekend discount hotel las vegas and I am certainly hoping to use some humor to upgrade our geo metroesque car to something more roomy!
I notice that one of your must-have items is Chapstick. My company makes a lip balm that uses 50% Emu Oil and no petroleum or chemicals. Emu Oil is an anti-inflammatory discount hotel las vegas as well as a highly moisturizing discount hotel las vegas ingredient, so it s great for taking the sting out of bug bites, or a spot treatment if you burn yourself or get a scratch. That s much more benefit, but in the same small package.
I can see it now the chapstick companies will come out with advertising kind of like the Chik-Fil-A fast food folks (you ve no doubt seen the billboards with cows painting slogans encouraging you to eat more chicken less beef). This one will be with emus encouraging folks to save the emus by using chapstick instead of emu oil products. (no argument on your claimed benefits but the emus won t buy it)
On the note of cameras you should ditch the Canon Powershot and get the Samsung NV10 10 megapixel. I just received mine from Amazon a week ago. A dream to use and it s small, sleak, but still durable. Very suitable for travel, and the menu system is a dream. I have my Canon EOS 30D for professional photos, although now I find myself simply discount hotel las vegas using the Samsung because the convenience is awesome and the quality extraordinary.
Since i usually travel to places where i like to go underwater, i always bring my small waterproof camera case made by pelican. my canon powershot sd600 (i agree, the BEST point and shoot ever made) fits nicely even with a small cellphone, discount hotel las vegas ipod or keys. it protects things from getting crushed in luggage and from myself, as i m usually pretty hard on my stuff. beaches, boats, and bars they can be unforgiving on electronics :)
Tim, I just wrote a blog post like this a few weeks ago, complete with photos of everything I packed laid out on my hotel room bed. Now granted, I wasn t traveling discount hotel las vegas the world, but I was gone for a whole week with just one carryon bag. Quite the feat for a woman, if I do say so myself! Keep up the great work!
Tim, I saw your book on the Amazon bestsellers list, read your personal profile and bought it without even reading what the book was about and you didn t let me down- it s by far the best book I ve read this year I m down to checking email twice per week, finished a major project that I ve put off all month, and am taking steps towards automation. So thank you.
1. I sometimes don t bring iPods, etc. if I truly want to experience nature. I find that music is a convenient and tempting crutch discount hotel las vegas for avoiding conversation discount hotel las vegas and other more unique interactions with the outside world. discount hotel las vegas When I unplug, I really discount hotel las vegas like to unplug.
3. Thanks to all who commented that the Costa Rica videos weren t displaying properly. I can t seem to duplicate the error, as I m using Firefox 2 on PC and can see them just fine. Are you using macs? Please let me know the details and I ll do what I can.
Tim, this type of technique can also be applied to hotels, if your staying in a typical city that you know is a busy business district. Hit them up for the best offer during the weekends they may well need the business. Don’t be afraid to play one hotel off against another, if your taking a walk in approach night Audit will often do a super deal before they close the books for the night, they can’t sell a room once the books a closed for the nights. The right hand is not talking to the left, call the central reservations desk get the best rate and then approach the desk and negotiate a better price using your technique as outlined in the Mustang example. Great work on the 4 hour workweek, have heard so much about it yet to pick up my own copy.
Well, I m hooked. I want out of the rat race. I want to recapture the true meaning of life I know it can t be found in my grey cubicle walls. But I can see it in my kids eyes. They get that there is nothing better than playing hard all day long. And when they do stop and rest it s to l