Help me Plan my Trip

Hi! 안녕하세요? здравствуй! よろしくお願いします。你好吗。გამარჯობა! Apa kabar? Салам ))

Thanks for checking out GuideMie. My name is Dave Bowling (pronounced just like a bowling ball). I'm the founder of GuideMie.
Legend has it that the payroll dept. in a furniture factory changed the spelling of my family’s last name to make their lives easier (and because my ancestors supposedly couldn’t read!)

I went from this: 

to this: 

(wild 'One Beer Dave' appears!)

to this: 

and this: 

(that's the same shirt...5 years apart!)

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Peace Corps Indonesia 2015-2017

Virtual Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan 2022-2023

How?

Through gaining invaluable experiences that I could earn from living outside of my comfort zone. Wait, this isn't a job interview. 

F*cking up a lot. And building two key attributes for success in life:

1. Gaining the confidence to overcome any problem life throws at me.


2. Learning to build strong relationships and learn from people completely different from me (the REAL force multiplier!). 


Putting myself in environments where experience poured on me like a tiny bamboo shoot in a waterfall “Takenoko, takenoko, nyoki-ki…” (竹の子、竹の子、にょき木...). (this is a Japanese drinking game, and it was the first drinking game I played baaack in the day...)

  • The Hostel from Hell (that's since gone bust) in Sh*tney, Australia
  • Surviving on a pocket of Japanese coins because I'd left my ATM card in a cash machine in Indonesia (and realized this hours after the fact) 
  • Getting Horrible Food Poisoning and Losing Hundreds of Dollars and the Trip of a Lifetime!
  • Being detained by multiple times by Customs and Immigration for doing nothing wrong --even in my own country!
  • Nearly getting my ass beat by a white supremacist...(and I’m white!)
  • The Christmas from hell
  • Becoming BFFs with a taxi driver who wanted to marry my grandma (we'd have let him too!)

Each one of these experiences made me realize one thing:


Being able to adjust on the fly, and having the confidence to do so is what brings long-term success, and prevents failure. Learning to read your environment and making these adjustments is REALLY what allows you to build relationships and truly have an impactful trip--or get yourself out of a jam. 

And… if you can make an impact on yourself--or on a stranger in a foreign country with a total stranger, you can do it with ANYONE, ANYWHERE.


With each new person I meet, I discover more about myself, the world, and the truth.

And more of what I’m never willing to compromise, no matter what the potential payoff.

Life now is something you can swipe through and live on your phone...or you can live it for real.If you have that desire–that drive–to improve yourself and others, to learn what is REALLY going on, and to discover the truth don’t let the window close. Get out there, kick-ass, and feel free to hit me up anytime.

Take care and crush it!


Dave

I mean it--shoot me a message!

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