But I was also planning to visit Chicago for some personal reasons – there are some personal development seminars that I will attend.

So if there’s anyone from Chicago that wants to pick my brain while they show me around, I’d be happy to do that.

Email me at tomaz at freedomideas.com or contact me through +38641923766. I’ll get a US prepaid phone once I get there…

I am arriving tomorrow on 10th and departing on 21st of June…

This is also another example of the freedom you can achieve with a home based online business. If you decide that you want to go somewhere at any point of time, you can actually do that.

You don’t need to take a holiday or get a permission from your boss. You also don’t worry about the price of that journey – I’ll actually earn more in these 11 days in Chicago than it will cost me for the whole trip – and that includes flying business class.

I hope that motivates you to keep your goal in mind and keep building your online businesses.

Will update this post with some pictures of my travels in Chicago…

Update: Chicago proved to be one of those typical American cities with huge skyscrapers, huge streets and huge portions of food.

Very friendly people too!

Airbus A340-600 from Lufthansa was very comfy

It gets cooler by the river

Fish & Chips - I can eat only half of that. Here's where US obesity begins...

Chicago a windy city? Looks more like cloudy city...

Simple American lunch. Now that's the right size.

Great view for a relaxing afternoon

Cool reflecting sculpture in the park

T-Rex Sue and me

Scary reality

I am writing this post as a journal for myself to remind myself later of where I have been and also to perhaps inspire and motivate all those who look to become financially free and do whatever they want to do.

New Year In Bangkok, Thailand

I arrived in Thailand on the 31st of December (flying with business class of course from Slovenia ) and spent the New Year’s Eve in Bangkok where hordes of people came to see the entertainment show in front of the Central plaza (a big shopping mall).

There was also a short fireworks show but really nothing spectacular. It’s interesting to celebrate New Year in short pants and sleeves and sweat at the same time – while most people in the Northern hemisfere wear thick jackets and gloves and maybe even enjoy some snowy conditions.

Cruising with Costa Allegra

My girlfriend and I flew to Singapore on the 6th of January (business class ) and spent a few days there before embarking on Costa Allegra ship on 9th of January.

This was my second cruise and I got us very cheap tickets since I booked the cruise in December and Costa company has lowered the prices 50% since they were not getting enough people to book the cruise.

I paid $599 for one ticket for 14 days of cruising – and the normal price was around $1200.

The cruise took us back to Phuket, Thailand where we stayed a day and a half.

We also stopped in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), and Jakarta, Bali and Komodo islands in Indonesia.

We also stopped in a few other ports but they were not that interesting.

The Costa Allegra ship is not the biggest cruise ship – it takes around 900 passengers and there were slightly over 600 on this particular cruise.

We also met Dusty and Rebecca from USA, who currently teach English in South Korea and Tom (from Norway) and Alina (from Romania) and had a good time talking about different ways of life on this interesting planet…

The food was amazing and so was the entertainment. There were excellent singers and dancers in the evening entertainment show so we probably didn’t miss a single one.

All in all, the cruise was excellent, the only negative thing that I have to say is that some of the ports were really not well chosen (what shall I do in Jakarta traffic jams?) and the excursions were very expensive and not really worth the money. A lesson for the next time…

They should have taken us to some beaches – since most of the people came from cold European winters and would surely prefer to enjoy sunny beaches and swimming in the sea instead of bus excursions in heavy traffic jams of mega cities.

We returned to Bangkok on 23rd of January and spent some time relaxing, burning the fat by jogging and swimming in the local pool and waiting for my best friend’s arrival.

Exploring Bangkok, Pattaya and Koh Chang

My best friend Urban booked a ticket to Thailand in July 2009 since I was sure to be here in the winter and he wanted to see Thailand for the first time.

By the way, he paid 620 euros with Turkish Airlines for a return ticket Ljubljana-Istanbul-Bangkok and back – which is very affordable!

Consider Turkish Airlines if you plan to visit Thailand at some point…

Urban arrived on the 30th of January and we got to play some tennis at the hard courts of Tennis Academy of Asia.

We also spent a day in Bangkok, checking out some temples, the Paragon shopping mall and had some traditional pad thai (thai pasta).

After a few days we went to Pattaya (about 2 hours drive with a bus) to show Urban a typical Thai tourist place where lots of dark side (prostitution) of Thailand can be seen too.

We spent two days in Pattaya and then took a van to Koh Chang – which took us about 5 hours all together to arrive in the Coconut resort.

Koh Chang is one of the hidden gems of Thailand. It’s the second biggest island in Thailand but fortunately it’s not so well known.

In fact, it’s not so commercialized and there’s no sign of the dark side (prostitution) here so there are much fewer tourists here.

The Coconut resort is very nice looking, they have their own restaurant, their own beach and their own pool – so it’s a perfect place to relax and enjoy the summer conditions.

We spent 5 days in Koh Chang (exploring the island on the bike, taking a swim in the river in the jungle, enjoying mango, papaya and other Thai delicious fruits and seafood) and then returned to Bangkok since Urban had a plane to catch on the 12th of February.

After another short period in Thailand, my girlfriend and I headed for Penang…

Exploring Penang, Malaysia

The main reason why we went to Penang was because my visa was about to expire and I had to leave Thailand and then return one more time to get another visa.

This time we opted for the cheaper ticket with AirAsia.com which cost us only around 300 euros for both.

We spent 12 days in Penang, staying 2 to 4 days in one hotel and then moving on to another. I booked most hotels with Paypal through Agoda.com and then just handed the printed voucher in the next hotel where we arrived.

We also met Ricky – an SBI-er – who was kind enough to show us around and in exchange I poured tons of my tips into his brain on how to get more traffic and income.

(Ricky! I am still waiting for your success story! )

Mon and I stayed the last 3 days at a five star hotel Equatorial in Penang and it was really an incredibly comfortable and luxurios stay. Kudos to Equatorial.

We then arrived back to Thailand on the 2nd of March and I left for Slovenia on the 16th of March.

The winter in Slovenia was very harsh this year since there was lots of snow compared to previous years and the temperatures were often below zero.

Thailand temperatures on the other hand almost never dropped below 30 degrees Celsius – and almost never below 35 degrees in March.

The Freedom Of Doing An Online Business

Having a successful online business gives you an incredible freedom. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection and you can work on your business at any time you want.

Google, Chitika, Amazon and Clickbank all allow you to put the payments on hold which is another great bonus. I had my earnings accumulate during these 2 and half months and then released them in time so that I received all checks when I returned home.

The bank clerk almost melted from kindness when I brought her 4 fat checks to cash in to my account…

I hope my story increases your motivation to achieve financial freedom and live the life withot being a slave in some company and spend hours and hours staying afloat while someone else on top reaps the benefits of your hard work.

Free yourself!

The ticket price from Ljubljana to Bangkok through Istanbul was just around 1600 eur which translates to around $2,300.

That’s a good price for a business class since most other airlines charge double or more for the same distance (Austrian Airlines through Vienna and Lufthansa through Munich or Frankfurt).

There’s not much difference flying business class on Airbus 319-100 which took me from Ljubljana to Istanbul except that there is more leg room and that flight attendants bring more drinks and food.

But the business class on the Boeing 777-200 flying from Istanbul to Bangkok is a high tech luxury seat.

Business class on Boeing 777-200 Turkish Airlines

The Boeing 777-200 has 16 of these small suites and you’re basically sitting alone in your own adjustable seat which can go to completely flat position. You get a pillow and a blanked and can sleep quite comfortably for a few hours.

Adjustable seat and TV on Boeing 777-200 business class

The only » problem« is that you get served dinner at around 1:00 AM since the flight starts from Istanbul at 23:45.

Our flight started 40 minutes late and so our dinner was served even later – at around 1:30 AM. We were going quite fast and it’s amazing when you consider that the plane is going at over 1000 km/h at 11 kilometers high and the outside temperature is -54 degrees Celsius – while I am having a delicious dinner.

About 9 hours later we landed safely (and softly) in Bangkok and I was really not tired since I could sleep for about 4,5 hours during the flight.

I think I have a small problem now; because once you fly business class on a long flight, you REALLY don’t want to go back to the economy.

I don’t mind economy at all for up to 2 hour flights (which covers most of Europe from Slovenia), but there is a huge difference in comfort when you fly 8 and more hours over night.

Turkish Airlines has really lowered their prices recently and if you book an economy flight from Ljubljana to Bangkok for example, you’d pay only 620 euros (return flight). Most other airlines charge around 1000 euros for the same distance.

And if you can pay for your flight with paypal, that’s even better…

There are two reasons why I wanted to share this with you; it’s my first time (but definitely not last) flying business class and I wanted to record this on my blog (so that I can check this in a few years ).

And secondly, to motivate you, to give you some exciting goals for which you’ll focus more on improving your online business and earning more so that you can easily afford a business class flight next time you travel somewhere.

If you want to stay motivated and keep working on your sites for many hours, you need to have strong reasons WHY you’re doing this.

»Having more money« is not strong enough motivator. You need to know WHY you want to have more money.

What are you going to do with it?

And looking forward to flying business class to Thailand is definitely an exciting goal for me – since I like planes, traveling and Thailand.

So… What are your specific goals and things you want to do with the money earned from your online business?

In other words, I’ve been looking for websites where I could book a cheap flight or book a hotel and complete my payment with Paypal.

There are some very useful sites that offer Paypal as the payment option and here’s what I’ve found so far:

Cheap Flights in the USA

If you’re travelling in the USA, these companies allow you to pay for your flight with Paypal:

1. American Airlines (only for US, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands residents)
2. Northwest Airlines
3. JetBlue Airways
4. US Airways
5. Hotwire.com (I tried booking one hotel in Paris, France with Hotwire and was unable to select Paypal as my payment option. The Hotwire support answer: »The reason why it would not let you choose this payment option is it is not available for this hotel.  The hotel may not accept Pay-pal for payment.« So it seems that Hotwire accepts Paypal only if the airline or the hotel does. Please share your experiences!)

Cheap Airline Tickets In Europe

The following websites allow bookings for flights (in Europe only) with Paypal:

1.    Jet2.com

International Flights – Any Country

The best website I’ve found so far that allows Paypal payments for cheap flights to any destination is Jetabroad from Australia…
1.    Jetabroad.com
2.    Air Asia X (mostly Asia and Australia)

Hotel Bookings Payable with Paypal

The best one I’ve found so far is Hotelopia which allows you to book a hotel and pay with Paypal anywhere…

1.    Hotelopia.com

2.    Excelloz.com

3.    Hotwire.com (check my note above…)

4.    Agoda.com

If you have come across any other websites that allow payments with Paypal for cheap tickets or hotels, please email me at tomaz (at) freedomideas.com and I’ll update the post. Thanks!

Why Payment With Paypal?

There are various ways to earn money online and get paid through Paypal. The most well-known is eBay.com, but if you’re into internet marketing, then consider these programs which I use, that pay to my Paypal:

1.    Chitika.com – Chitika is my biggest earner and they pay on time. I could easily now live only on my Chitika earnings, if I could pay for other stuff with Paypal. Chitika also sends you a check if you wish.
2.    Sitesell.com – The Sitesell Affiliate Program also pays to Paypal (or check).
3.    Infolinks.com – They pay to Paypal or wire transfer to your bank.
4.    Shoppingads.com – If,  like me, you cannot use the eBay Affiliate Program, Shoppingads is a good alternative and pays to Paypal too.

So why is using Paypal so cool? Because you don’t pay tax for the money in your Paypal account, whatever you earn, you get to spend.

I’ve just completed my planning for a trip to the Roland Garros Grand Slam tennis tournament and was able to pay for my plane ticket and 8 day stay in Paris all with Paypal. Great!

Now I only need the real money for the tennis tickets, food and souvenirs!

It’s been a great experience from the holiday perspective and from the online business perspective – or maybe I could say enjoying freedom while doing almost nothing for my websites.

I took my laptop and found some nice places on Koh Samui where there was free wi-fi in the restaurant. So I had my pad thai, checked my emails, updated a few Content 2.0 pages and went swimming again.

Free wi-fi on Koh Samui

The power of internet allows you to earn money while doing minimal maintenance work on your authority content sites. I’ve had my best month so far and I’ve done the least work in this month in the last 3 years of my journey into the internet marketing arena…

Here are a few more pics from my travels…

Having breakfast on a ferry to Koh Samui

Beautiful temples on the island

Thai food is great!

I hope you also take some time ocassionally from your work and enjoy life. Otherwise you may happen to die with thousands of dollars in your bank account. What a waste…

Before you check the photos, I want to add something; a few months ago I was reading a blog post which was something like “A Day in the life of… (I forgot the name)”.

The guy who was interviewed was making around $20,000 per month, mostly on passive income (Adsense, affiliate programs, …).

Here’s how I remembered his day description: wake up at 8, quick breakfast and start checking and replying to emails (1 hour), writing articles for his websites (2 hours), checking the RSS feeds (1 hour), lunch and a short break (1,5 hours), uploading articles to his sites and uploading them to other sites + social bookmarking and voting (1,5 hours), checking email again (30 minutes), doing other website related stuff (design, planning new sites, link building, … – 2 hours), short break and dinner snack, then maybe watch some TV news or play a computer game (1,5 hours), checking email and RSS feeds again (1 hour), going to sleep at a around midnight.

This story always reminds me of how I NEVER want to live my life. Having more than enough and still wanting more and more and more…

Here’s what me and my girlfriend did:

The really sad thing is that some people start this journey to financial and personal freedom, manage to free themselves from working for someone else, but then become slaves of their own obsession for money.

I’d be really interested in hearing your thoughts on that…

Sorry for the lack of useful posts but sometimes we have to take the really needed vacation.

And this post won’t give you any special ideas on how to become financially free but hopefully it will show you what kind of lifestyle you can afford with a successful online business on autopilot.

So let’s start the SBI cruise!

Bye bye Slovenia! I am leaving for Paris and then for Miami on the 16th of January. I left Slovenia at 7.30 AM and arrived in Miami the same day at 5.00 PM! And lost 6 hours of time difference somewhere on the road…

Soon after arriving I met an old friend from my town of Skofja Loka – Ales. Ales works in Miami as a waiter and is really enjoying the warm climate and generous tipping in this area.

Freedom of the Seas – the BIGGEST cruise ship in the world. Wow!

When 3500 people want to check-in at the same time, it can get pretty crowded. There were more than 25 booths for checking-in so the whole process went relatively smoothly.

Leaving Miami on a cloudy and windy day. Most of the people were on the deck so it was one the rare times when I could get a good feel of how many people are actually on the Freedom of the Seas.

The first meeting of all SBI-ers on the boat. Dr. Ken Evoy, the CEO of Sitesell.com, gave a welcome speech and shared his thoughts on making money online, freedom and what it really means to him.

Ken also shared his journey from the days of being a doctor, to starting a toy company and ending up helping people achieve financial freedom through small home based online business.

Day 3 – Labadee, Haiti. Warm weather, beaches and fun activities on the beach.

Day 4 – Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I went on a tour with a bus, checked out the forests of Jamaica and spent some time waiting for the warm rain to stop. Oh, and I also climbed the famous Dunn’s River Falls – a waterfall climb lasting 45 minutes.

Day 5 – Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. The offshore haven with more than 500 banks. So far I am paying my taxes in Slovenia but I have considered an offshore account in the past. The tax rate in Cayman Islands is 0! Hmm…

Day 6 – Cozumel, Mexico. The older brother of our cruise ship came into town on the same day – Voyager of the Seas. Impressive ha? I asked a local taxi driver how often do they get cruise ships in their port. “Every day.” Wow.

Day 7 was spent on the sea and in the morning of day 8 we arrived in Miami. Everyone had to leave the ship by 10 AM since new passengers were arriving at 2 PM.

I noticed that this cruise ship business is a massive money making machine. The amount of money a ship earns in one week of cruising with all the extras you can buy and enjoy on the ship is staggering.

NBA – Miami Heat – Boston Celtics. I finally got to see a NBA game live but it wasn’t a really good game. And yeah, that’s another money making machine…

Boeing 747 – the journey home begins. Very soon – I will buy a first class ticket. Very soon…

Alps above Austria – soon I’ll land in Slovenia, back to cold, grey and rainy winter.

The SBI cruise was a very joyful and interesting experience. I got to meet more than 30 SBI-ers and even had a chance to get an exclusive interview with Dr. Ken Evoy.

The SBI forums are already buzzing with excitement since the planning for the next year’s cruise, seminar or something like that has already started.

Are YOU coming?

I am still used to Thai time at the moment since I wake up at 3 am which would be 9 am in Thailand.

Oh yes, and I am writing this post at 5.45 am too.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that I am still alive and that the transition from 35 degrees C:

to -2 degrees C was quite shocking.

By the way, I’m planning a special competition for all the commenters who add value and different points of view to this financial freedom blog.

You’ll know all the details tomorrow so stay in touch!