I get it – fans want more, more, more. But here’s the truth: no computer, no content.
This past week I hit Madrid, Ibiza, and Munich for Oktoberfest. Eight days. Tapas tours, 6am night clubs, Romanian strippers. Think EuroTrip’s Cooper with the code word “fluggelgleckheimlen”.
Madrid blew me away. The city runs at a laid-back, effortlessly elegant pace. People look good, laugh often, and don’t seem weighed down by stress – or body fat. Maybe it’s because they don’t actually work? Hard to tell, but whatever they’re doing, it’s working. I felt safe and the people were accommodating.
Ibiza had the resort vibe dialed in, and one particular club night set a new high bar for service. It’s hard to even begin to explain how much cooler than city was than me. Munich? Oktoberfest was a total letdown – but that rant deserves its own post. Let’s just say it was “very German.” I now understand why you may need to have a table reservation on the first day of its opening.
Now that I’ve checked 20+ European cities off my list, I’ve got at least some perspective. I wouldn’t call myself a seasoned traveler – I haven’t touched Asia, South America, or Africa – but one thing stands out: the airports. Step into a U.S. terminal and it’s obvious. Americans are louder, heavier, slower. Freedom gave us the world’s top performers, but it also left us with the bottom of the barrel. Germany, by contrast, runs tighter – people live for the machine, not themselves – so their “range” of health and lifestyle is narrower. That’s why, from the outside, America looks both exceptional and like a joke.
And yet, I wouldn’t live anywhere else. America prints rich people. There are more top earners at home than in Europe, guaranteed. Our system rewards creativity and expertise. Theirs props up social well-being. Both are failing in their own ways, but if you’re a wealthy American, Europe doesn’t feel unattainable. Even with a weak dollar, a €10 beer at the Four Seasons isn’t outrageous – it’s the price of atmosphere. Bottom line: you grind at home so you can enjoy what other cultures do differently, and sometimes, better.
Travel, though, isn’t easy. It wrecks your body. Sleep-deprived, digestion shot. Before a trip, I’m producing Michelin-star logs. Land in Europe, eat the food, and suddenly I’m pooping rabbit pellets. Add gallons of booze, zero exercise, minimal water, and cappuccinos that never quite hit, and you’ve got a broken machine. Nevertheless, I’m adapting. Doorless showers, no A/C, strange comforters, water with gas… they’re second nature at this point. Even the awkwardness of not speaking their language, it doesn’t bother me a bit anymore. They want your money.
I think America / capitalism encouraging creativity and hard work is directly correlated with the fat, lazy bottom of the barrel. I just listened to a podcast about our food supply which is a great example.
In a nutshell, there are a ton of additives that make food much less healthy, but also much cheaper. Food companies love cheaper! The lower class make financial decision as well as practical decisions that ultimately affect their health – it’s way faster and cheaper to microwave a premade dinner for your kid than spend an hour cooking something healthy. It doesn’t make them sick right away, but after a few years and decades of this shitty food, we become fat and sedentary. ‘Healthy’ options, which may be better for society in the long run, lose out to the creative workarounds of other food companies. Then, once those companies have so much money and power, it becomes extremely hard to change the system.
There are two ways out. One is just more creativity / innovation; something like GLP-1s are potentially curbing this trend towards unhealthy food. The second is government intervention. At a certain point, we regulate for the good of the people; food supply, cigarettes, traffic laws, etc are in place to keep us safer. Option one may never happen and option two plenty of its own problems.
Social media is another great example. Genius invention, hacks the human brain into making poor decisions but ultimately makes the richest people in the world. Keep scrolling, become addicted, become isolated, become depressed, become unhealthy. It’s not a hard trend to trace that in a lot of cases the mega-rich get mega-rich off of exploiting the masses. But up to now, it’s the best system we’ve got.