Hey guys! Alessandro already mentioned me briefly in a previous post, and he was gracious enough to invite me as a regular guest contributor. It will be my pleasure to share some of what I’ve learned on my travels with you, and I hope you’ll take a minute to join the discussion on the forum as well… if you have any comments or questions, that’s the best place to get in touch.
This article will kick off a weekly series about my travels around the world (and about learning languages, of course) – but first, let me say a few words to introduce myself.
My name is Frank Florida, and I’m a so-called “perpetual traveler” – the modern version of a nomad. I’ve been traveling the world for eleven years, and I intend to keep traveling for the rest of my life.
So far, I’ve been to over 300 cities in 50 countries, and I’m in South East Asia at the moment… I’ve also been to your beautiful country of Brazil five times, and I speak Portuguese. I actually hope to visit Brazil again later this year, it’s one of my favorite places in the world.
The funny thing is – it was never my intention to travel the *whole* world. I really just wanted to spend some time in Ecuador, because my family has a lot of friends from Guayaquil… and so I first went to South America when I was 16.
Once I had a taste of traveling though, I wanted more… and so I moved to the United States and attended an American High School, as part of one of those exchange programs that are so popular in Brazil as well.
I had an amazing experience, I finally perfected my English and made a lot of new friends there. The only problem was – traveling can be very addictive!
In fact, I now sometimes joke that nobody should travel for more than 12 months if they ever hope to readapt to life back home…
I’ve met many travelers who were able to readjust to their old routine after about a year on the road… but anybody who stays out longer than that seems to get hopelessly addicted to the freedom this life style has to offer.
Next to traveling, my biggest passion in life is learning new languages. Even though I have Italian and French background, I grew up speaking nothing but German – but I always wanted to see more of the world, and so I decided to learn as many languages as possible.
I’m now pretty much functionally native in English, German, Portuguese and Spanish. I’m pretty fluent in French and Indonesian, and I can hold my own in Italian and Malay. I also know some rudimentary basics of Japanese, Filipino, Dutch and Chinese, but I wouldn’t say that I really “speak” any of those four.
I enjoy teaching languages as much as I like learning them, and so I started working as a language teacher when I was 13… that was in 1994, so I’ve been teaching languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish, German and French) for some 18 years now.
And so of course I wanted to get a degree in education, but I was determined not to get stuck in a college back home… I wanted to complete my studies while traveling.
Fortunately, I found a university that allowed me to complete all my semesters abroad, and I finally completed my last two semesters in Australia.
Anyway, this post was just meant as a brief introduction for this series… I will say that life on the road is not always easy, and there have certainly been hard times.
It can be tough sometimes, trying to make a living in a foreign country where you don’t know anybody and where you don’t speak the language yet… but I’ll also say that the good times more than make up for any hardship you might encounter, and I can’t recommend this life style enough.
In the next edition of “Around the World in 80 Years”, I will answer the question people ask me most frequently:
“You say you weren’t born rich – how can you afford to travel so much… what’s your secret?”
I will share this secret with you next week, so stay tuned… until then, happy studies and I hope to see you on the forum!
Cheers,
49 comentários
Very interesting!! I’m so anxious to read the next post about your travels!! Thanks for sharing your knowledges!! I hope you have the magic formula to teach/learn english!! =D
Tks again!
Hey Michele, thanks for your comment, glad you enjoyed my post! :) Post #2 will be live shortly… let me know if I can help with anything!
Cheers,
Frank
Oi Frank,
Nossa, que bom que fala portugues! Assim, fica mais facil pra tirar uma duvida em ingles, sobre alguma expressao idiomatica.
Adorei o post e nao vejo a hora de ler suas dicas de viagem e experiencias que viveu por esse mundao! :)
Quando for ao Rio de Janeiro me avisa, posso te apresentar bastante amigos e podemos ir a um bar otimo chamado Rio Scenarium que so toca musica brasileira!
Sucesso!
Flavia Cohen
Oi Flávia, obrigado pelo elogio e pelo convite! Eu já visitei o Rio de Janeiro várias vezes, e adoro a cidade maravilhosa… mais ainda agora que está mais seguro! :) Quando eu voltar ao Brasil, vou avisar você através do site…
Um abraço,
Frank
Very Nice this post. Thank for share it with us.
You’re welcome Raphael, and thanks for the compliment! :)
Hi Frank!
It’s a pleasure to be with you here!
Make your self confortable.
See you soon.
Tanks.
Hi Dirceu, thanks for the kind words and the warm welcome! :)
Stay in touch,
Frank
Hi Frank
I liked very much to know about you in this post. It must been amazing to travel around the world. But I’d like to ask you where are you from?
See you soon
Silvana
Hey Silvana,
Thanks for your comment! It’s truly a blessed life style, I guess I’ve been lucky to discover what’s possible early in life. :) And to answer your question, I was born in Germany… and that’s where I lived until I hit the road for the first time at age 16. By the way, my first trip overseas was to Brazil! ;)
Cheers,
Frank
Hello Frank,
I loved this post. I also intend to travel around the world, meet people and especially to learn the languages.
Thank you!
Hey Elayne, thanks!! Let me know if I can help with anything as you plan your trip… you can post on the forum and I’ll be happy to give you some advice. :)
Cheers,
Frank
Hi, Frank! Nice Post, I wonder if you still were in Canada very close to Alaska? How I wonder to come along there for while. So I’ll be wait the next post, allright? See you!
Hey Marcio, thanks for your comment! I haven’t been to Canada yet, but I have a lot of friends up in BC and I keep promising them to visit… so sooner or later I’ll have to actually follow through on that haha. “Into The Wild” is one of my all-time favorite movies… really an inspiration to travel!
Stay in touch,
Frank
Uau he is so young and he’s done too many travells. He really enjoys to be alone
Hey Juliana, thanks for your comment! Actually, it’s amazing how many friends you make on the road… I don’t think any traveler will stay alone for long unless he wants to. :) Just check into a hostel and you’ll make 15 new friends in a heart-beat. Try it some time! :)
Always the best,
Frank
mucho bueno,amigo alexandro.
ouvir cosas interessantes
Obrigado Drauzio… um abraço!
wow.. You’ra a kind of a exemple of life for me. It’s so incredible that someone can travel around the world, learn new languages and cultures, meet new types of peoples… It’s much more than a dream for me.
by the way… great post!
Hey Aline, thank you! I hope I can share this life style with you guys and if you want to travel as well, feel free to hit me up with any questions you might have. I’m always glad to help.
Follow your dreams…
Frank
Hello Frank
we thank you for say about your carrer and how did you learn many languages, this will help us a lot, i hope to read your post next week…
see you next time….
Robert Salla.
Hey Robert, you’re most welcome, and feel free to get in touch if I can help you out with anything, just reply to my thread on the forum…
Best,
Frank
Welcome to the blog, Frank! It’ll certainly be a pleasure to read your posts here every week. I’m sure everyone here will look forward to reading your texts! Once again, welcome!
Thanks for the warm welcome João! Yeah I look forward to sharing more about my travels with you guys soon… Stay in touch! :)
Frank
I really liked it, very interesting!
And I’m very anxious to know about this secret, magical secret ….
Tks and see you soon
Hello Michele, thank you! And no worries, I’ll post about the secret shortly… so stay tuned! :)
Cheers,
Frank
Frank is Verne of the 21st century. I’m glad to be able to read this post, I can’t wait next one.
Haha… the Verne of our century, I like it! Thanks for your comment Flavio!
Frank
Your article is a prove that is really important or I think more essential to live abroad and just keep far away of your native language. I´ve been studied english since last year and certally I´ll move out after doing my toelf test. Other main thing that move my dream is forget the Brazil because I don´t have much money, then I can´t have a good life and I have seen only rich people having a happy life here, of course, they can buy anything without taking carry about the economic, but I´ve said that the normal people will change our tough country, unless I hope so!
Hey Bruno, yup – you’re making an important point. The fastest way to get fluent in a foreign language is total immersion… if you have a chance to live abroad and spend all your time among people who only speak English, you will get fluent twice as fast… that’s a guarantee. Good luck to you on your path to your goals!
Best,
Frank
Great post and great life Frank.
Thank you for share us your experiences around the world.
See you next time.
Luciano.
You’re welcome Luciano, and thanks for the comment!
See you soon,
Frank
Hello,
I just here to say that I really loved this post, learning languages and travelling are my biggest passions also. Can’t wait for the next post, maybe I’ll learn your secret and apply it.
Hi Nathalia, thanks for the compliments, it’s always good to connect with like-minded people… of course traveling isn’t for everybody, but I couldn’t imagine life any other way anymore. Stay in touch, and always the best…
Frank
Hi, Frank!
Thanks for you share your experiences with us. It was a pleasure to read your post.
I look forward to reading the next post.
Welcome!
Hey Karen, you’re most welcome, and thanks for your comment! :)
Keep in touch,
Frank
Very interesting post! I can’t wait for the next one!
Thanks a lot, Frank! Welcome to the blog! :)
Thanks Ana, I appreciate it! The next post will be up shortly… stay tuned! ;)
Always the best,
Frank
Welcome to blog Frank. I have sure that your histories are very interesting and them will help us to improve our english. I can’t wait for the next article. =)
Hey Adonai, glad you like it! :) Feel free to reach out on the forum if you ever want to chat.
Cheers,
Frank
I loved this article!
It was very interesting read about your experience Frank!
I am anxious to read your next post.
Hey Érica, thanks for your comment! Stay tuned for more… I’ll be back with part II in a few days.
Cheers! :)
Frank
Very interesting Frank, I’m intend to travel to New Zealand next year, your tips are helping me a lot :) cant’t wait for the next post :)
That’s great to hear Dauton, good luck with that trip and I hope you tell us about your travels on the forums! :)
[…] before I tell you more about life on the road, I’d like to say THANK YOU for all the wonderful comments that you posted on the blog last week! I read them all and will do my best to reply to as many as […]
magnific! I hope you can share more your experiences about your life,your routine. Thanks for sharing
Hey Francisco, you’re welcome, and thanks for your comment! That’s actually a good idea for a post, eh? “A day in the life of a digital nomad”… I’ll think about that. :)
This site has been helping a lot..
Glad to hear that Otávio… stay tuned for more! ;)