Bike Beats Car

Looking at my expenses for the last few months I've noticed a steady and scary rise in what I've been spending. Some of this is was somewhat unavoidable. For example I was on vacation to the USA and although I spent most nights with family or friends a stay at a hotel was sometimes necessary. I also had major car problems that ended up costing an arm and a leg. Another great reason to not own a car and just another time that I have been let down by and completely embarrassed by a car.

So I should do something about it and I have. While at home I bought a new bike and have brought it back with me to Japan. I picked up a Kona "Jake the Snake" This model and brand came very highly recommended from a friend who was using the same bike for years in Japan. It's light, good looking, and exactly what I want. I can, and have, been learning how to adjust everything on it from the brakes and shifters, to the positioning of the handle bars and seat.

I like this because now I am in control. WIth a car and it's various parts you really have to know what your doing. I understand the basic concept of how a car works but when it comes to actually digging in an fixing it I'm at the mercy of a mechanic. My mechanic is my family which you might think would make me favor a car, but it doesn't. Although my family are huge car nuts they can't be with me all the time and are especially not with me when I have a break down. So far every year that I have traveled back to the states I have had one major break down with my car. In fact I actually have anxiety over driving as it's no longer a matter of "if" just "when" I am going to have car problems.

In Japan, as I've stated before, I don't need a car. I absolutely love that fact. It's such a weight off of your shoulders to not have to worry about if your car will make it. The train runs 99% on time and can take me wherever I want to go. In fact I am typing this now from a location in rural Japan that I arrived at via bus and train. It's great and in the long run costs me less than gas, insurance, parking, upkeep, and the stress of wondering which highway I'll be broken down on.

So where does the bike come in? Well, although I'm a pretty healthy guy, eating right and getting exercise, I think I can do more. And in doing more I can make save and invest more money. As I've mentioned here in Japan most employers will pay for your train pass for you to come to work. This is a great benefit but at the end of the day I still end up at zero. They pay me $600 for a six month train pass and then I spend $600 on a six month train pass. I suppose I do end up a bit on top as I don't have the stress of a car. But what if instead I rode my bike to work? Now I can pocket the $600 and get more exercise. This will increase my health and hopefully decrease my health care costs in the future.

Other benefits and money saving effects would be on taking trips. My girlfriend also bought a bike and we plan on using them on the weekends to go to the beach and on long weekends to take extended tours. My dream is next summer to not travel outside of Japan at all and instead take at two to three week tour around Japan. I've lived here for almost five years and leave almost every summer. So the bikes get us out more (health, exercise) and we don't have to pay for the transport (saving money). This bike thing is starting to look good from almost every angle!

We did buy pretty expensive bikes (mine was about $1000 new and my GF bought a nice used bike for about $740) but I want these to be the last bikes we have to buy. Sure it's a lot up front but if I can bike to work everyday for two years not only does the bike pay for itself but it also nets me a nice little bonus! That's money I'll put towards investing and hopefully buying my freedom just that much sooner.

I'd like to keep track of how far I've traveled via "Run Keeper" but it will depend on another project I'm working on to reduce my cell phone bill.

Happy biking everyone!

At The Airport In Korea

My four week vacation to the states has come to an end and that means back to Japan and life as usual. Which includes time for blogging.

This was my first experience in North America with my new found mustachian ways. My trip opened my eyes (or rather brought back from memory) the strong current of consumerism the runs so rampantly through North America (yep I'm looking at you too Vancouver BC). Transportation, shelter, health, entertainment is all ingrained in spending money. It's not an easy stream to cross once you've been caught up in it.

But that doesn't mean I didn't try. For example the last few years when I came back to visit I always reactivated my cell phone so that I would have it to contact my buddies, family, and of course emergencies. On this trip however I decided to go without. I did this for a few reasons. The first, obviously, was money. To reactivate and use my cellphone costs me capital which I would rather invest. Also my girlfriend and I often travel between the US and Canada and have used the phone while roaming. This can really jack up the bill. Previous years saw me shelling out about $100 plus for just a voice plan and roaming.

Another reason was I wanted to see just how difficult it would be to rely on things like free wi-fi at shops, restaurants, and hotels. I have an iPhone 4 in Japan and can still use it in the states when I can find wi-fi. Free wi-fi hotspots are more prevalent in the USA and Canada than Japan. With email, Facebook, and iMessage, and Skype I'm just about covered for all my friends that I need to contact (not just in the USA but ALL my friends ALL over the world). I just let them know ahead of time that I don't have a phone but would contact them in one of those previously listed ways.

So how did it work? Well at my parents place where I spent most of my days I was able to contact my friends, family, and my girlfriend in Canada for absolutely no money. Even when I ventured into my little town I quickly found the shops or restaurants that offered free wi-fi. I would generally just connect send out my message and be on my way. I didn't really feel guilty about this one bit. Their huge bill boards and shop signs expose me to the advertising so I figure I'd expose my phone to their free wi-fi. If I really had to make a call I would use Skype which cost about 2 cents a minute. I'll admit the Skype was iffy at times but I wasn't relaying life or death medical procedures I was usually scheduling a meeting with someone (which is content for a different blog post).

Even in emergencies this worked out. For example, on our way out of Canada to the US the alternator on my sweet ass right hand drive Honda Prelude went out. I know, I know. Not so sweet. But we were just a block from a Holiday Inn and the nice guy manning the counter there let me connect to the hotels wi-fi to contact my parents and strategize a plan of action (THANKS JASON!)

Now the car was a whole other emergency (and a topic for a whole other blog post) but my point is is that I was able to find communication with just a little bit of leg work. I'm not saying people should absolutely go without cell phones. But do you really need that bloated voice and data plan?

In the service of full disclosure I did keep my cellphone with me and charged so I could dial 911, or if I really needed it I could dial 611 and reactivate it. So it's not like I was totally out on a ledge without a twig to stand on. But my point is is if you learn where the free wi-fi spots are (libraries, coffee shops, hotels, your friends house, etc.) you could probably make it without a plan at all (assuming you have a smartphone that connects to wi-fi). It's also not all that bad as I couldn't text and drive or talk on the phone in the car. Plus it felt good to put some distance between me and the internet.

This is the kind of unconventional thinking that can save you thousands of dollars over the years and I didn't really feel a drop in security or ability to connect with my friends. Maybe it won't work for everybody but I'm now challenging myself to find situations like this in my life and find a more unconventional solution. What about you?