All posts by Drew Meyers

Drew Meyers is the co-founder of Horizon & Oh Hey World. He worked for Zillow from September of 2005 to January of 2010 on the marketing team managing Zillow’s API program and various online partnerships. Founder of Geek Estate Blog, a multi-author blog focused on real estate technology for real estate professionals, and myKRO.org, a blog devoted to exploring the world of microfinance. As passionate as you get about travel.

Travel Plans

Figuring Out Life’s Next Step

July 12, 2012 Drew Meyers 3 Comments

Matt and Christine got me thinking hard about where my next stop is. Living a nomadic life, the question of where to visit next inevitably arises every few days, weeks, or months. It’s that time again.

With limitless choices, decisions become harder.

That’s the challenge with figuring out where to settle down after my time in Spain and a trip to Bali in August for Startup Abroad. When I can literally go anywhere in the world, where do I settle down to build this travel startup?

Go live in the Big Apple? That’s been on the list for awhile. I have to admit, TechStars spring 2013 in NYC is pretty damn appealing.

Trek around South America for the entire fall?

South Africa?

San Francisco?

Or maybe go back and live in Asia again and eat freaking amazing food at prices unheard of elsewhere in the world. Can you believe I paid 15 euro yesterday for a big dish of cashew chicken? Don’t get me wrong, it was good. But not 15 Euro good. Man, what I’d do to be transported back to the streets of chiang mai for some unreal street food for 35 baht.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. I’ll keep you posted.

Drew Meyers

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Travel Plans

An Update to My Travel Plans

July 11, 2012 Drew Meyers 1 Comment

After arriving in Stockholm on June 24th and spending 2 days taking shots at the Ice Bar and taking a high speed boat tour, I’ve more or less been in Amsterdam ever since my 30th birthday on June 27. The last two weeks have included a two day trip to Nijmegen to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers (best concert I’ve ever seen), Pearl Jam at the Ziggo Dome, Startup Weekend, a day trip to the Hague and Leiden, and a number of days accommodation in Noordwijk at the Flying Pig Beach Hostel (about an hour from Amsterdam).

But I’m about ready to move on. What’s next travel wise?

On Saturday, I’m meeting up with Anna Zalazar and we are heading down to Ghent in Belgium. We’ll spend a few days there before hitting Brussels and Bruges for a day each mid next week. On the 19th of the month, we fly to Barcelona where we’ll spend a few weeks soaking in the rays, eating paella, drinking Sangria, and taking siesta. Then, I fly out to Bali for Startup Abroad in mid August — which should be an awesome awesome trip.

Onward…

PS: Yes, Europe is expensive and yes my pocketbook is hurting right now.

Drew Meyers

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Travel Thoughts

The Cycle of Being “Busy”

July 11, 2012 Drew Meyers Leave a comment

How often do you say you’re “busy”? Do you focus on booking every last slot on your calendar? If so, why?

I’ll be the first to admit it — occassionally when asked how I’ve been, I respond with “busy. crazy busy”. I vow to cut that down after reading NYT’s The “Busy” Trap two weeks ago. The article wraps up with this:

I did make a conscious decision, a long time ago, to choose time over money, since I’ve always understood that the best investment of my limited time on earth was to spend it with people I love. I suppose it’s possible I’ll lie on my deathbed regretting that I didn’t work harder and say everything I had to say, but I think what I’ll really wish is that I could have one more beer with Chris, another long talk with Megan, one last good hard laugh with Boyd. Life is too short to be busy.

Being the entrepeneur that I am, not working (aka being “busy”) is hard for me sometimes. If I’m going to work on something, I’m going to go all in and kick ass. There’s no sense half-assing building a brand or company. Maybe that’s why I’m addicted to travel. It’s one of the only times when I feel okay doing literally nothing for an entire day except sipping lattes, wondering aimlessly around for hours, drinking a few beers, reading for an hour — and going to bed. Being abroad is the only place where “busy” doesn’t creep into my life. Life is about a hell of a lot more than working. I know that. There is nothing I cherish more than time with best friends. I flew halfway around the world to spend time with mine, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

At the same time, I have extremely high ambitions in life — I ultimately want to do social venture capital and work with entrepreneurs working on businesses focused on social good. Right now, I’m doing something I love (building Oh Hey World) and that certainly requires a lot of work to execute on. That said, downtime is essential to performing anything at a high level — at least for me. Burnout is a very real phenomenon that I’ve experienced. I need personal reflection time to stay sane. Most of my best ideas (and I have a lot of them) come when I’m NOT working heads down.

For me, it’s about striking the middle ground of accomplishing great things while still spending loads of quality time with loved ones. If I wasn’t working on something I’m extremely passionate about — I’d probably just travel the world indefinitely visiting friends all over the globe. That would be great, but I feel I’ve been given a great opportunity to make the world a better place — and wouldn’t feel right to not take advantage of that opportunity.

There’s no one right way to live life. If you are a doer who wants to keep a full schedule, all I ask is that you do something you love that makes this world a better place. After all, being busy for the sake of being busy is…well…pointless.

I think this turned into a ramble. Which I guess proves my conflicted thoughts on the subject.

[Photo via Our Out-of-Sync-Life]

Drew Meyers

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Accommodations

What Characteristics Are Needed for the “Perfect” Hostel?

July 5, 2012 Drew Meyers Leave a comment

Like me, you’ve probably stayed at hostels all over the world over the course of your extensive travels. Likely, some really great ones and some really crappy ones.

So, what characteristics would make up the perfect hostel?

Here’s my list:

Comfy common area with a couple couches
A table or two with chairs
A decent location. Sure, a great location would be awesome – but not entirely necessary
Chill music
Character – surfboards, cool artwork, a guitar, etc
Bar
Awesome staff – this is probably the most important item on the list
Local directions, events, and info
Common kitchen with a refrigerator to leave leftovers
WIFI throughout
Organized events (pub crawls, walking tours, dinners) at least every 3 days
Great happy hour specials
Snacks/food available until at least 2 am
Comfortable mattresses with warm comforter (for a cold weather area)
Metal storage lockers that hold a regular sized backpack (not a big one), latch, and can accommodate a small lock

What about you?

I wrote about the perfect hostel as a business idea on BusinessIdeas247.com.

Drew Meyers

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Photos

San Francisco Street Art Example

July 5, 2012 Drew Meyers Leave a comment

Honestly, Christine’s photos never cease to amaze me. Here’s one photo she took of street art in San Francisco.

Seems I need to spend a bit more time surveying the art landscape around me next time I’m in the city. I don’t remember seeing anything close to this gorgeous when I was there a few weeks ago.

Drew Meyers

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Travel Thoughts

When Are You Going to Set Some Roots?

July 2, 2012 Drew Meyers Leave a comment

After having spent so much time traveling the last 3 years, I’m starting to get the “when are you going to set some roots?” question when I’m back home visiting family and friends, as if I’m running away from something.

In their mind, they are asking when I’m going to go back to the “real world”.

“THEIR” real world.

Not mine.

As I mentioned, everyone’s definition of life and success is different. To me, life is not all about a big house, fancy car, two dogs, three kids, a trophy wife, and a white picket fence. With a 9-5 job and a $5,000 mortgage payment every month. There’s nothing wrong with that life — if that’s what makes you happy. But once you see all the world has to offer and how free you feel when you own (almost) nothing, it’s a bit hard to go back to that materialistic US lifestyle when I know for a fact money doesn’t buy happiness.

I agree with Matt. I’m not running away from life. Rather, I’m running full steam ahead toward the life I want.

Setting roots will happen. Just not yet.

[Photo via mindfulbalance]

Drew Meyers

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Travel Thoughts

Why I Travel

July 1, 2012 Drew Meyers 2 Comments

From time to time, I get asked why I spend so much time traveling the globe. I’ve more or less been nomadic since early 2010 and my travels have certainly changed my life for the better. That said, I’m willing to make the tradeoffs in life required to live that lifestyle — at least until the right business opportunity or perfect girl comes along. But, deep down, why do I really travel so much? I know from posts like this it’s a question every long term traveler ponders from time to time.

There’s no simple answer.

But for me?

The draw to traveling is a mix of self discovery, exploration, and adventure. Just as every person on the planet has their own unique story to tell, each destination has its own story to tell, each encounter opens up a whole new world I didn’t even know existed prior to that moment in time. Even with that said, in the end, my motivation for traveling always goes back to people. I’ve met so many fascinating people abroad — both locals and other travelers — that have opened my eyes to the world around me in their own unique way. The world is a completely different place when viewed through the eyes of people all across the world. Each individual has their own beliefs on what constitutes a successful life. Blend all those together, add your own values & perspectives, and you have your own unique definition of life.

Is my answer perfect? Nope. But it’s all I have for now.

That’s why I travel. What about you?

I’ll leave you with this video.

Drew Meyers

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Travel Fails

Top 10 Travel Fails

June 26, 2012 Drew Meyers Leave a comment

If you’ve been traveling long enough, you know crazy travel stories are exchanged on a daily basis every minute of the day in every corner of the planet. Here are the best of the best crazy travel stories I’ve heard over the years:

Getting kicked out of a hostel in Madrid, and sleeping on the street corner near the train station.
Getting kidnapped, knocked out, and mugged in Ibiza two blocks from the ferry terminal. Wake up in an ally way with nothing except boxers and one flip flop. Spend 7 days on the island trying to get a new passport needed to get on the ferry to get off the island (there is no embassy on the island, but you NEED a passport to get on the ferry), only to sneak into the back of a cargo truck to sneak a trip back to Barcelona.
Getting locked out on the balcony of a hotel room on the 6th floor (top floor of the building). Not able to speak enough Spanish to explain the situation to someone across the street or down at street level. Have to climb onto the roof of the building, hop through someone else’s balcony to get back to the hallway and into your own room.
Crashing a motorcycle within 5 feet of where the attendant gave it to you. Within 1 minute of touching the handlebars.
Taking the wrong train from the airport and into Amsterdam. Got off instead about 45 minutes North of Amsterdam and had to turn around and catch a 40 minute train back into the city.
Meeting a Nigerian thought to be a US Soldier at the bar, took him home for a fun night, left for work in the morning only to return to an empty apartment.
Passed out in the lounge of a Vegas casino, and have to be carted back to the hotel room in a wheelchair.
Getting to Milan train station 1 hour early for a train, board the train only to be told 1 minute before departure that the train was the wrong one and the correct one was 10 tracks over. Run to the correct train and chase it down the railroad tracks but miss it. Wait 4 more hours for the next train to Interlaken (not an entire fail since another cute girl did the same thing).
Wake up to your plastic table and all the chairs thrown into the tomato garden next door. Realize someone got locked outside and passed out, woke up and got mad, threw your furniture into the garden next door.
Not traveling — since then you have no amazing travel stories of your own to share with others.

Have any travel fails to add? Leave them in the comments..

[Photo via http://justchuckinit.com/]

Drew Meyers

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Videos

What Was Your “Aha” Moment to A Simpler, Less Materialistic Life?

June 3, 2012 Drew Meyers 2 Comments

I can confidently say that the vast majority of travelers don’t buy into the materialistic mindset that dominates western culture. For each and every one of you, there was an “aha”moment where you kicked the mindset to the curb for good.

For one such example, watch this video – it’s a 50 minute interview with the Founder of Charity Water that details his entire transformation from club promoter in New York to a life of giving.

What was your “aha” moment where you realized there is more to life than the materialistic lifestyles the majority of us in the Western world live?

Drew Meyers

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Videos

Disappear (a Video)

May 31, 2012 Drew Meyers 1 Comment

I was fortunate enough to get to know Monica McCarthy during her extended stay in Chiang Mai a few months ago. Here’s a video she put together following her return to New York from her 3 month trip to Southeast Asia that I wanted to share.

Yea, SE Asia looks awesome, right? Add it to your list. If you haven’t been to Southeast Asia yet, what are you waiting for?

Drew Meyers

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Exploring the Wild Blue Yonder