Last month was my first month back writing, and I wrote…a lot. I’m going to try to streamline things and get to the point quicker in this post. Lego!
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WE “LIVED” IN PRAGUE
This is the first time in a long time (or since we left SF?) that we spent an entire calendar month in one city. Prague had some big shoes to fill, since we loved love Budapest. After 5 weeks in Prague, I still didn’t want to leave. While I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Prague, I’m not sure if this was more about liking Prague or just being tired of traveling (and packing).
The food ended up being better than I expected (mid to high expectations), and the beer was superb (extremely high expectations). More on both of these below.
The weather was also a very nice change of pace from Budapest. It was seldom too hot and it hardly rained. There were even multiple times I got to wear pants! While our accommodation wasn’t as nice as Budapest, it was a lot more comfortable (probably mostly due to the weather). Like Budapest, I really, really enjoyed our location/neighborhood/proximity to other neighborhoods.
WE HUNG OUT WITH PEOPLE
The best part of our time, though, was all the people who came to visit! I’m not sure if it was the timing or that people really wanted to visit Prague, but everyone who came to visit us chose August/Prague!
Our friend, Henry, kicked things off by being our first friend to visit. He trekked all the way to Stansted (London) and flew Ryanair to see us–both of which he hated. Later that day, Yunji’s cousin, Narae, came to visit. The next day, our friend, Greg, joined, and the five of us got to hang out for three days (mostly eating and drinking).
After the three of them left, Yunji’s mom and aunt came out. While we got sick in between visitors, we were able to spend almost a week showing her family around. Finally, just a few days ago Patrick & Krizia came to spend our last few days in Prague with us. A lot of beers (and sausages? Meat in general?) were shared.
WE DID TOURISTY THINGS
With so many folks visiting, we had many sights to see (multiple times 😅). Besides Greg, it was everyone’s first time visiting, so we made sure to show everyone the main tourist attractions? in Prague.
We went to the Old Town Square and stopped at the Powder Tower along the way. We tried our best to take pictures with the Church of Our Lady in the background. We crossed the Charles bridge (in each direction) among many other bridges linking the main part of the city to Mala Strana and Holešovice.
We braved the crowds outside the Astronomical Clock and Prague “Castle”. We revisited Letna Gardens (way better in the winter!) and went to Dancing House. We also passed by the TV Tower almost everyday!
WE DRANK EVEN MORE BEER THAN IN BUDAPEST
A lot of friends and family visiting was one reason we drank so much beer (and in general?). The other reason: Prague/Czech Republic has the best beer in the world in my humble opinion. From our first afternoon to our last evening, we enjoyed some truly spectacular beer.
Our first beers were at a local craft beer bar, Pivo a Párek (beer and sausage), just outside our front door. While our last beers were enjoyed outside sedm˚, a craft beer bar in Prague’s Karlin neighborhood. I can’t remember many subpar beers but do struggle to remember all the fantastic beers.
While some (or many?) bars only served the ubiquitous Pilsner Urquell and Kozel, some bars had rotating and seasonal taps. It did get boring at times going to places with only 2-3 choices, but even then the beers would be poured perfectly and taste delicious. Looking back, I regret not logging everything I drank into untappd. Stay tuned for a blog post (or definitely a YouTube video) on the best beers/bars in Prague.
WE WENT TO GERMANY
We slept every night in August in Prague, but we did spend one of our days in Germany (two for Yunj). This trip was unplanned and started when Yunji’s cousin started looking at potential day trips from Prague. It was her first time in Europe, so she thought it’d be fun to explore another country. They had so much fun that we took her mom and aunt when they visited.
We took the 08:25 EC176 from Prague to Dresden and arrived around 11:00. We headed straight to Großer Garten, Dresden’s largest park, to The Grand Garden Palace (something that looked straight out of Bridgerton). On the way we passed by the Dresden Zoo and were surprised by some zebras and giraffes!
Afterward, we got some traditional German beers and food (ribs!) for lunch. We then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the downtown/city center and looking at all the gorgeous (restored) buildings before crossing the Augustus Bridge to grab ice cream.
Yunji saved the best for last, ending our afternoon exploring the Vienna Zwinger: part garden, part palace & part museum. Even though it was under heavy construction, it was one of the coolest places I’ve seen–I felt like I time traveled 200 years into the past.
After that, we grabbed one last weissbier before heading back to catch the 17:10 EC177 back to Prague (where we got more beer…this time of the Czech variety). If you’re in Prague (or Leipzig or Berlin), I highly recommend a day trip to Dresden. It’s the perfect sized city to spend a day and isn’t more than 2.5 hours away from the aforementioned cities. If Dresden sounds up your alley, check out my YouTube video of our day there:
WE ATE A TON OF GOOD FOOD
I alluded to this a bit above, but we ate very well. I was worried about the Prague food scene after we ate so well, so I adjusted my expectations down a bit. Prague delivered though! Because I love to ramble about the food/restaurants we ate, I will be writing a separate food article for August/Prague eats.
If you don’t want to wait, you can check out a video of our first day in Prague (and all the things we ate and drank that day) here:
I CREATED THINGS
I briefly mentioned above that we got sick in between guests. While this definitely put a damper on my content output, it didn’t drain it entirely. The below is what I created/shipped in August:
I PUBLISHED 4 YOUTUBE VIDEOS
I usually publish ~8 videos per month (or 2 per week). With so many folks visiting, I planned to axe my Wednesday videos for the month. After getting sick, I also missed a Saturday video, so I ended up with even less than I expected.
I plan to post an August Recap video tomorrow (Wednesday) and then plan to eventually start posting two videos per week again.
Here are the videos I published in August:
I WROTE 2 BLOG POSTS
While I had set my goal for 4 blog posts, I had spent the past several months (1 year+) writing 0 posts. Most people wouldn’t count 50% as a win, but I’ll take it!
I plan to get in the rhythm of writing four articles per month. These are the two I wrote in August:
- July Recap: Our Month in Budapest or (why not having a job is hard, too)
- The 13 BEST Things I Ate in July (Budapest & Prague)
I MADE 11 TIKTOKS
This was another fail resulting from people visiting (excuse) and getting sick (more reasonable excuse). I started a 30-day challenge and didn’t even make it halfway. I’ll talk more about my plan/goals below.
COMMITMENTS
Since I don’t have a manager or anyone who tells me what to do (besides Yunji 😅), this part of the recap has been a good way (or at least idea) to keep me accountable.
AUGUST RECAP
- 4 blogs/month (1/week) ❌ 50%
- 6 tiktoks/week ❌ ~40%
- More sustainable, objective plan short form ❌ still no plan
I talked about most of this above, but I came up short in every category. I think I might still struggle writing one blog a week while I do two YouTube videos per week, but I should be able to hit my TikTok goal. The sustainable/objective short form plan continues to sit on the backburner and remain unresolved.
SEPTEMBER GOALS
- Go on 6 runs of 2+ miles
- Catch up with 2 friends via call/FT
- 6 tiktoks/week
I made the decision to bring more casual shoes to Europe in lieu of running shoes. This is mostly because I had taken running shoes to Mexico for two months and ran zero times. While walking is great, there were many times I wanted a better (more exhausting workout). Getting back to California in September, I have no excuses not to get back into running.
While I did a good job spending time with people IRL, I have slacked on keeping in touch with friends. I want to call/Facetime at least two friends in September.
Once I’m back home, I should also have less excuses and should be able to post at least one TikTok per day.
I READ 6 BOOKS
This month I read:
- A Wild Sheep Chase
- Dance Dance Dance
- The Affair (Reacher, #16)
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
- And Then There Were None
- Night School (Reacher, #21)
August was a pretty solid reading month. I definitely went on a light Murakami bender which I always enjoy. I threw in some Reacher to lighten things up, and I took advantage of a physical copy of And Then There Were None being available at our Airbnb.
My favorite book I read in August is a tie between Dance Dance Dance and And Then There Were None. DDD is arguably one of Murakami’s most fun books, and rereading ATTWN was so much more enjoyable the second time around. I didn’t dislike a single book I read this month.
I’m currently reading Leviathan Falls (Expanse, #9) the last book in the Series, and I am at 36/52 books for my annual goal.
LEARNING
Learning continues to be an odd category to write about as I don’t have many concrete things I am working on. I do, however, like having this section because it forces me to reflect on what in my life I’m working on.
LIVING IN THE MOMENT
Being present continues to be my top priority. Focusing on what I’m doing in the moment and not fixating on planning what to do/where to go next (whether it be in 15 minutes or 15 days) is something I’m really working on.
While I currently don’t have a great way to track/assess this, I feel like I am slowly doing a better job putting my phone down and enjoying my beer or walking outside and taking “it” “all” in.
INVESTING…HIGH YIELD SAVINGS/”SAVE”
I’m continuing to look into bond alternatives. I think most folks generally agree you should have a stock (equity) to bond (debt) ratio of 70-80% to 20-30%. Although there are some fans of 100% equity (stocks).
At one point I was 90% equity and 10% bonds. The older or less risk averse you are the more bonds/debt (bonds not credit card!) you should probably have. When you’re in the accumulation phase I personally think 100% equity is the way to go.
Anyway, bonds ($BND, $IEF) have severely underperformed the last few years, so I have been looking for alternatives. With the Fed increasing rates (and planning to continue to), banks have increased APY rates on savings accounts. Ally (1.85%), Wealthfront (2.0%), and LendingClub (2.07%) are all great high-yield accounts I have found.
Another bond alternative I have found is called Save. It’s a savings alternative where the bank invests your money into the market. If they make a return, they charge you a fee. If they make nothing or lose money, you don’t lose anything. It’s FDIC insured up to $250k just like a typical bank account. I need to look more into this, but I highly recommend you look more into this.
Disclaimer: I don’t get anything for recommending any of the above. I just think you should check them out. I’m also not a financial advisor.
LANGUAGE
There’s no way around it: we failed hard at Czech.
While we were in Prague 25% longer than Budapest, we definitely learned less Czech than Hungarian. One reason I attribute this is that we spent more time with friends and family, so we spoke less to locals.
One silver lining is our Czech accent (for a few words at least) got really good. Multiple times we confused waiters into thinking we spoke Czech by saying good day () or thank you () well.
Looking forward, language is something I do want to invest in but it may be hard until we sign a lease/commit to living somewhere for 12+ months. If we go to Asia in 2023 (as we plan to), I fully plan to do better than I did in Europe.
MONEY/FINANCES
August you cruel mistress. August was looking superb…until it wasn’t. The market was up. The bottom was over. We were returning back to January highs! Then the Fed said they’d continue raising interest rates to combat inflation. The market didn’t like that.
While I agree with the Fed’s choices (and think dealing with inflation ASAP is most important), my portfolio didn’t love it.
PORTFOLIO
I filmed my YouTube August recap video Tuesday morning with two market days left to go. At that time, I had “only” “lost” $31,924 for the month. Now that the month is done, I am “down”
$50,360. What a difference those last two days made.
While, as usual, I’m not happy to “lose” money, I am happy to continue buying more $VTI and lowering my DCA (dollar cost average). That is, until I run out of cash. Then I’ll need to decide what to do with my bond/debt allocation. I encourage you to do the same especially if you still have income/are in the accumulation phase. Again, not a financial advisor.
SPEND
While it was another bad portfolio month, it was a nice spend month. Now that I think about it, the only month my portfolio has been up is the only month I’ve gone over budget. Hmm…
- Accommodation: $637.50
- F&B: $286.50
- Transport: $105
- Activities & misc: $2.50
- Total for me: $1,031.50
- Total for 2: $2,063
Food and beverage was very low for us. This was not because Prague is a lot cheaper than Budapest or because we didn’t eat out much. Yunji’s mom visited and graciously bought a lot of food (and drinks) for us–thank you!
Transportation was a mix of amortizing our flights from LAX to Europe, our business class train to Bratislava (more on that later!), and one metro ride in Prague (we walked a lot!).
WHAT’S NEXT?
As I write this, we are on our fancy train ride (I love it) to Bratislava. We will spend a few nights there before heading onward to Vienna. I’m very excited to drink some more beer, eat some hearty food, and (surprisingly?) get some souvlaki/gyros!
In Vienna, we will see more friends from SF (oh, hi Mark…and Ch!) and likely drink more beer. I hope (plan?) to eat some sausage, schnitzel and a döner kebab or two. I might even do some shopping (give me that VAT back!).
After that, we head “home” to California for what should be the rest of the month. Thank you for reading and hanging out! “See” you soon!