In what was a rather bizarre turn of events, I found myself lodging in a hostel abroad, as there had been a mix-up with my booking which had the private rooms overbooked and, because I arrived super-tired from my long flight, I decided to make do with the bed in the four-bed dormitory as the only remaining option. All was not lost though, because I’d go on to make really good friends with a guy I now refer to as the ultimate digital guy and he, along with the whole situation, showed be just how much money I’d been wasting trying to do things traditionally or conventionally, so to say…
The management duly apologised and offered to slash my nightly price for the bed down to an amount I won’t bother sharing, because I don’t think anybody will believe me. Not only that, but since I’d fully paid-up the room via an online booking agency, they resolved to hand me my tax-deductable receipt (business expenses) for the full amount, while reimbursing me with the difference, in cash, so I had extra cash in hand! This opened up a whole can of worms as my ultimate-digital-guy roomie would go on to tell me all about how doing everything online had him firmly on the path to buying citizenship through investing in a home in some Caribbean country, which in itself offers tax-free living!
I almost wanted to kiss the receptionist when she came up to the room and asked if everything was okay, in spite of the mix-up, this while I was excited at the prospect of at least momentarily following in the footsteps of the ultimate digital guy – taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi that came with the bed to cash-in on the next no deposit bonus on an online casino we had earmarked to try our luck on.
Apparently there is so much money to be saved when you resolve to do pretty much everything online, but we’re talking here EVERYTHING in the true sense of the word. I know we pretty much live our entire lives in the digital space, but I mean who knew that if you timed it right, you could get a Tesco Lotus food and groceries delivery right to your door, even in a country where a chain such as Tesco Lotus doesn’t officially trade?
This guy orders his food online and has it delivered to his door, which in this case was the communal door at the hostel where I’d go on to meet many backpackers. The delivery guy arrives in plain clothing and doesn’t appear to be working for any specific delivery company, and it’s not always the same guy, even!
The big takeaway for me was that you should make inquiries. Those “contact us” forms most websites have should be put to good use, and by “put to good use” I mean making outrageous requests, or what normal people would consider to be outrageous.
The worst that could happen is a reply with a big, fat “NO,” but the flip-side of that inexplicable embarrassment is landing up with a lot of value you got for free or for a very low fee, which you would have otherwise parted with a lot of money to attain!
Whatever it is, try to do it online and see how far you can push the bravery that comes with someone not being in front of you to make eye contact with you while they dismiss your outrageous requests.