February 2018: Travel and Income Report - Kathmandu and Chiang Mai

For the first time since I started writing these monthly travel updates and income reports, I completely forgot and almost missed it. Maybe it's the fact that I'm leaving for a 19 day trek through the Himalayas starting tomorrow and have either been so focused on that, or the fact that I've already mentally checked out. More likely, it's a combination of the two. It's my first time in Nepal and it's been an intense experience and a culture shock. But what's amazing is even here, I randomly met a travel blogger who's making $3,000 a month writing about what gear he uses during his long through hikes through the Pacific Coast Trail which starts on the border of Mexico and goes up through the entire U.S. to Canada and the Continental Divide Trail.

It just goes to show that even though digital nomads, bloggers who actually earn money, and online entrepreneurs are starting to reach all corners of the Earth and with wifi, technology and the transparency of those with abundant mindsets now openly talking about what's actually working, it's becoming easier and easier to find others wherever we travel. In this month's post i'll be sharing where I traveled, how I prepared, and how much passive income I'm making online from each source so you can follow along the journey. This is what's possible once you set up your businesses and investments to be automated, outsourced, or 100% passive. This is the life of a digital nomad traveling the world from Thailand to Kathmandu and an inside look behind the scenes of how it all actually works.

February Travel Updates

I started this month in Chiang Mai, Thailand by going to a 3 day camping music and art festival called Jai Thep. It was the start of a lot of weekend trips including a 2-day jungle trek in Chiang Mai as well almost daily shorter hikes just outside of the city to train and get into shape. The last time I prepared for a high altitude hike was when I climbed Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo, and I've learned a lot since then and am hopefully in better shape. My biggest regret was not arriving in Chiang Mai sooner this year as even though I was there for 2 months in total, due to the stress and busyness of organizing the Nomad Summit it would have been nice to have more time there to chill out both before and afterwards. The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that I stayed in a super nice condo this time, which even though was much more expensive than places I normally stay in Thailand, it was super comfortable and allowed me to feel truly at home.

Since then, that has all changed now that I'm in Kathmandu. For those who haven't been to Nepal, it's just above India and has a similar culture and feel, just a bit less intense and crazy. Even today, being the Holi Festival of Colours, I'm still able to find some peace and quiet to write this update and do my accounting for the month. Keep an eye out for updates from Nepal here on the blog as well as the Travel Like a Boss Podcast as my plan is to stay here for 6 weeks. Tomorrow morning I leave for the Annapurna Circuit trek which will take 19 days, mostly without internet. The beauty of online business however, is the fact that while I'm trekking in the Himalayan mountains far away from civilization, podcast episodes will still be edited and published, and my multiple streams of passive income will still be generating me more money than I'll be spending, making it both a "free" vacation as well as allowing money to go into future savings and investments.

My last hike in Chiang Mai, Thailand - Top of Doi Suthep

At Holi, Festival of Colors in Kathmandu, Nepal

February Online Income

The best thing about the income I earned this month was that it was pretty much all completely passive. My daily routine consisted of me hiking almost every morning and spending weekends on longer hikes and overnight camping trips. Everything I made this month was completely from location independent, passive income. 

As you can see my my Amazon dashboard, only 1 of the 11 products actually came from a link I put out there, the Go Mic, the rest are commissions you get from people visiting Amazon with your link, even if they end up buying something else! The other affiliate commissions come from multiple sources such my email marketing, blogs, and all of the sources that I case study inside my course Income Boss.  Aside from my affiliate income, I still make money from book sales, Udemy, podcasting, Youtube, courses, and all of my other various sources including passive income investing as discussed in the next section. 

Affiliate commissions from my Amazon Earnings 

Earnings from another affiliate source - Case Studied inside Income Boss

Passive income from my Udemy Courses

Passive Investment Earnings

The best thing about investment income is the fact that it's true passive income as in, since everything I invest in is managed online, it's all completely location independent. The trick however is, with most investments you can't count your chickens before they hatch. Which means, even though you may have made $5,000 on paper or your account is technically now worth a million dollars, until you actually sell, you actually made $0 unless a dividend or interest payment was made. That means that when my Bitcoin/Ether/Crypto account is up by $5,151.06 or if my Vanguard account goes down by $4,973, it doesn't actually matter unless I sell it.

With index fund investing, most months I make money, and my total worth goes up, but as you've seen in my previous income reports I never count paper gains in my income reports or it would look artificially high some months and artificially low in months like this. If you want to know more about index fund investing listen to Invest Like a Boss Episode 86 here.

Reminder to not count your "earnings" until you sell. 

Small interest payments add up! 

My latest investment. It's with Yieldstreet

Income + Expenses

My total online income for the month was $9,114.66
Slight decrease from last month at $9,479.42. 

My biggest expenses this month were:

Flight from Chiang Mai to Kathmandu: $53.56
Fight from Bangkok to Kathmandu: $269.05
Luxury Condo in Chiang Mai: $887.32
Hotel in Kathmandu: $72 (4 nights)

Coworking Space: $125 (Punspace)
Transportation: $40 (Ubers and Mobike)
Food and Drinks: $380 +/-
Misc/Other: $100 +/-

Base Living/Travel Expenses: $1,927+/-

Course/Video Hosting: $83.25 (Teachable)
Email Marketing: $58.92 (GetResponse)
Wordpress Hosting: $4.95 (SiteGround)
Ticket Sales: $25.00 (Ticket Tailor)
Mother's retirement: $1,000 (blog post)

Total Expenses: $3,058 +/-

Passive Income Earned: $9,114.66 

February Wrap Up

It's been a good month, I was able to go another full month without drinking alcohol and I've put my fitness as a top priority and it paid off. I'm sleeping well, extremely low stressed, and in decent shape at least trekking wise. I had a bit of a scare last week however as I overloaded my backpack with 6 x 1.5 liter bottles of water and did a hike without warming up or stretching and strained my back a bit. Luckily I'm better now and thank goodness as I start my 19 day trek tomorrow on the Annapurna Circuit in the Himalayas. 

This month was all about getting into hiking shape while chilling out and enjoying my last month in Chiang Mai before flying to Kathmandu. Stay in touch as this is going to be an exciting month! I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to seeing you when I get back!



Warm Regards,

Johnny FD


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