Hey there, I took an ebike around with me while RVing through the states and charged everything with a DIY solar setup.

Panels - charge controller - deep-cycle battery - inverter - power strip(additional outlets), and I had all the free electricity I needed, although I always wanted to add a little wind turbine to the mix.

Size how much power your panels produce, make sure the capacity of the charge controller is higher than that. Then size how much peak power you will be converting into AC through the inverter and make sure the capacity of your inverter is higher than that.

Connect the panels to the charge controller, connect the charge controller to the battery, connect the inverter to the battery and then connect the power strip to the inverter if you need additional outlets.

I suggest used panels from a surplus store, they’re much cheaper, often high-quality since they’re industrial-use removed/replaced by newer panels and still have 90+% efficiency after years.

I went to SanTan solar coincidentally, in Arizona, and their panels are even cheaper today then when I got mine, 250w for $40.

haha, congratulations. is it hot there now? its just starting to warm up in japan, but I’m heading to busan next week.

tldr: Exchange first, bring less cash.

You can bring that much and generally have to declare bringing in any amount of cash over 10,000 euros into the EU.

I’ve been traveling 15 years and find that currency exchange heavily depends on your currency and local facility of exchange, so:

i have no doubt you’ll be able to find a money changer that can exchange rial and dinar, but since they’re not as popular as other dominant currencies at the moment, it is worth checking prices in your area before you go.

If you can find a place that exchanges under 5% nominal exchange rate, there’s a good likelihood that’s a better exchange rate than you’ll find upon arrival in the EU.

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Healthcare abroad is a great option for anyone who can’t afford their medical bills or wants better quality of care.

Very nice. Venezuelans, Colombians, Guatemalans, Panamanians all told me to go to Medellin and I had a great time. Everyone was nice, great public parks, very decent monthly rentals on Airbnb and really cool public transit where you can take cable cars up the mountains around the cities. Good hikes with exercise parks at the top.

Medellin is now my alternate start-traveling location I recommend for affordability, health care, culture, food, and general easygoing-ness. It has most things Thailand has plus a way more comfortable climate.

I lucked out with the altitude and didn’t end up sick in Cusco, but i did run a lot in medellin beforehand to try to prepare, so maybe that paid off.

Are you any closer to making your travel choice?

Only medellin. I almost want to bogota next because of its fairly wild elevation and then reading wikivoyage found out the elevation of cusco and went there instead, loved cusco so much

I can’t be perfectly objective because i haven’t been to Argentina, but Colombia was great last year.

Beautiful mountains, modern city, great food, good people.

The weather is 365 21-23C, very comfortable

Cool, sounds like a fun why-not.

Is this for beer?

I’ve brewed a lot of wine with a lot of ingredients but chile pepper isn’t something I’ve tried adding yet.

A little goes a long way with any flavor, a single vanilla bean or half a cinnamon stick completely changes the flavor, so the only practical advice I can offer is to start small.

I was wondering about the capsacin affecting the yeast, but plenty of people online are saying they cut the peppers in half and throw them in, and I’ve had any number of spicy brews and wines, so it must not be too much of an issue.

Last time I was in Beijing, the newest BYD was under 8,000 USD equivalent to buy in person before haggling.

The new 2026 economy sedan on the BYD .com website is publicly listed at $11.5k and 13k USD equivalent for 80 miles and 135 miles of range respectively.

Considering they have EV chargers every other block throughout the country and installed 10 million EV chargers in 18 months, that’s plenty of range for a great price.

Those tropes are very accurate.

A stark differences I see between the US and the rest of the world is that many of its infrastructures are nakedly profit-based rather than service-based. In the EU, the healthcare systems have their problems, but their fundamental purpose is to provide health. In the US, the healthcare infrastructure’s main purpose is to generate a profit at any sustainable human cost.

Much of the transportation infrastructure in the EU is meant to help people travel from one place to another. In the US, the point is to make a profit off of providing transportation. Many US states have literally no forms of public transportation between cities hundreds of miles away from each other. Born in Miami? Hope you like it there or have a private vehicle.

Education in the EU is first a system by which to educate EU citizens, whereas the US educational system is primarily a profit-making venture selling educational services.

Not the individual healthcare workers, educators or conductors who care about their jobs and helping people, but the US infrastructures themselves seem completely divorced from the idea of citizen service or social compact as anything but a means by which to siphon and accumulate capital.

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Nothing, do you mind explaining it?

I have a podcast and now I’m always interested in hearing about audio techniques of all kinds.

That’s great. I hear from a lot of travelers that Mexican hospitals provide high quality, affordable healthcare.

Thanks, i live abroad full time so it’s all been a vacation for the past 15 years!

Cambodia was great: angkor wat is fascinating, the towns are all chill and i got to hang out with those old guys at a great sushi bar/microbrewery while they told all their stories.

I’ve backpacked and lived all over Thailand more than a few times, i recommend it fairly constantly. Great food, people, nature, waterfalls, you’ll appreciate giving it a go.

Thanks, fixed.

I am right there with you. In Cambodia, I was friends with a group of old guys from the US and all four of them were able to treat serious medical conditions by avoiding US “healthcare”. One of them had won a years-long battle against cancer right before i met them which he never could have afforded in the US.

Would have died years ago in the US, instead he was sitting around a table eating sushi and drinking beer with friends.

My health problems have largely been dental, and Thailand dentists unequivocally superseded the quality of care in the US for less than 1/3 of the cost at the relatively expensive bangkok clinic, BIDC.

If you ever want info about health care abroad, reach out to me at Travel.

There’s some good healthcare info in this post, too.

Hey US Americans, quick reminder that quality, affordable healthcare is available abroad; I use it and you can ask about healthcare here or in travel.