About Me

Hi there, I am Travel-Lars, a Norwegian office rat in my thirties running aimlessly in the corporate hamster wheel of modern life 🐹🎡.

This site is dedicated to the philosophy of minimalism and frugality and the ever more popular FIRE movement. (FI/RE: financial independence retire early) I am currently operating at a more or less 50% savings rate (ratio of net income being saved) and the theoretical abstraction "FI/RE" is projected to be in the range 2024-2035 dependent upon assumptions used in the calculations (and life..). I have been investing savings mostly in low-cost passive index funds, and some other "financial acrobatics", alternating between risk averse and gambler depending on the mood.

I have become more passionate about traveling in the last few years up to the point of taking a one year leave to do a solo backpacking trip. I put all my stuff in storage, rented out my home and went off with a backpack. I managed to "slow-travel" on a budget for almost a year in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand before the covid epidemic set in and I went back to my "cubicle". Longer term solo-travel combined with other life events has changed my perspective of the possibilities we have in our short strange lives, possibilities to make unconventional choices, think outside of the box and be content with less material possessions and amenities. Seeing so many different people living happy lives with almost no material worth really does challenge ones perspective (at least if you are a branwashed neo-capitalist consumer like many of us are).

Instead of obsessing about some hypothetical future situation where all the stars line up and we have reached financial freedom, we should be trying to enjoy the journey by aspiring to become more present, and for me, that means and spending as much time as possible traveling or in nature (lately without my late great hairy german shepherd friend..).

A one year sabbatical is a rather unfortunate set-back savings-wise at my age, but I would rather experience new things now and "live a'little" than to wait for some imaginary future that may never come. It is all a balancing act really. A battle between the future and the present, between instant vs. delayed gratification, between yourself and some idea of a future you that may or may not ever exist.

In the meantime we can only do our best to plan for tomorrow without sacrificing today..