Poker Abroad

[RainDog]

I believe the time is drawing near for the actualization of my little poker fantasy that I've had for the past few years. I've now been playing online poker fulltime long enough that I have developed an adequate notion of security (as far as poker being sustainable income). It has dawned on me that my current source of income is not entirely location dependant and I'm free to wander wherever decent internet connections are prevalent. Unfortunately, I am by no means getting rich off this now delitefully tedious game, but I am managing to aggressively pay off debt I've accumlated through the years, as well as cover bills, rent, taxes, and still have enough left over to support my expensive dining and drinking habits (Sushi has become a "top ten" expense as of recent).

Anyhow, I've been looking at different foreign locations that I might like to travel and reside for a time. Thailand was an immediate consideration because of its striking afordablility. However, I have a fondness for Latin America and would very much like to become proficient in Spanish. Currently I'm almost entirely settled on heading to Buenos Aires, Argentina in late August/early September. My apartment lease expires on July 31st at which time I will drive to S. California from my current home in Knoxville TN, visit with family for a month or so and prepare for the trip leaving, I imagine, from LAX airport. There is no Visa requirement for Americans staying 90 days or less in Argentina and the Visa is easy enough to renew for a longer stay. The Spanish dialect there is slow enough and interpretable for someone as daft as myself to potentially pick up over time. The city seems quite amazing and is a good central location to venture out to other places for weekend trips. I've scouted out several temporary apartment brokerages with reasonable offers. I'm sure they are a bit more costly than if I were to arrange accomodations from within the country, but for convenience sake I can get a 2-3 bedroom fully furnished apartment in a nice district with high speed internet connection, laundry service, and all utilities included (some even with a pc supplied!) for between $400-$600/m. The only downfall is that there is of course a deposit (typically one month's rent) and whatever term you decide to stay you must pay for up front upon signing of the contract. So, I figure I'll pay for a two month term and sign a new contract if I wish to prolong my stay at said apartment or I can just find a new place at the end of the two months once I'm reasonably oriented. There are some computer considerations. If I rent one of the places with a pc supplied, I'm going to have to inquire about detailed system specs and likely bring my 2001FP along. I don't have a laptop so I imagine that it would be cumbersome and perhaps expensive to bring my entire pc. I've considered investing in a reasonable laptop for the trip, which I'd like to have anyways. I'll have to contact Neteller and all the sites that I play at to inform them that I'll be operating from an Argentinian IP address. All these considerations seem easy enough to tackle, so hopefully all shall go well.

I've always been a solo, bare necessity sort of traveler...but this will surely be a different beast. I'm considering finding a like-minded person or two to bring along for aid in rent, beer consumption, and well...motivation. I don't imagine any of my close friends will be willing or capable of making the venture with me. I've posted a similar thread in a few travel forums minus some of the poker jargon. But hey, really, if there are any of you out there that would potentially consider a little adventure of this sort, feel free to send me a PM. Also, any advice that you knowledgeable zoosters might have for me is much appreciated.

Cheers all, just thought I'd share with ya. Soon I hope to meet some beautiful Argentinian girls and tango til' I'm sore (pun intended).

Ryan - 23 yr' old restless poker player