The World as Your Classroom: The Unconventional Education and Life Lessons from Nearly 100 Countries
- Randall Osche
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Ninety-five countries. Ten years. A lifetime of earned perspective. Erick Prince, known as the Minority Nomad, is a travel journalist and photographer whose experiences go far beyond collecting passport stamps. His decade on the road offers a clear look at how sustained travel reshapes perspective, challenges comfort, and forces real personal growth.
Life is Unfair—Get Over It
Erick started the conversation with a truth most people try to hide from: life is unfair. We’ve developed this collective delusion that just by existing, we deserve something. We don’t. Things suck for a lot of people. You still have to find your lane and move forward.
Erick’s beginnings were humble. His grandfather was a welder, his mother was a chef, and his father was a musician. He learned early that the only thing you control is what you do with the circumstances you have. If you fall, you cry for a minute, dry your tears, and get back up. Nobody cares about your excuses because they’re dealing with their own.
The Power of the "L"
We’ve become a society that pays to avoid taking losses. We’ve gotten soft. But taking an "L" is how you grow. It’s how toddlers learn to walk, they fall a lot. When you run away from pain, you stop growing.
He joined the military in 2001 to take care of his son and get an education. He spent 10 and a half years in the Air Force, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seeing war and extreme poverty changes your perspective. It strips away the "entitled asshole" mentality that many Americans carry. When you see a family selling a bag of rice just to eat, you stop complaining about your latte being lukewarm.
The Exposure Gap
One of the biggest hurdles to growth is a lack of exposure. You don't know you can achieve something if you don't even know it exists. Growing up in factory towns, we didn't see white-collar jobs as a reality; they were for "other" people.
For Erick, representation matters. When he was coming up, every judge, teacher, and person in power was white. He started a nonprofit to take low-income kids because he wanted to bridge that knowledge gap. He wanted them to see that the world is bigger than a few blocks in Cleveland.
The Trinity of Success
Erick follows a simple "Trinity" system. It’s simple, but it’s not easy:
Core Values: You need three non-negotiables. For Erick, it’s things like never putting profit over people.
Mentorship Duality: You need a mentor to check your ego and a mentee to audit your beliefs. Erick is 42, his mentees are in their 20s, and his mentor is 81. This keeps him grounded in both experience and the future.
Health Trinity: Physical, mental, and financial health. If you lose one side, the whole structure falls.
The Global Reality Check
The conversation with Erick Prince brought into sharp focus the stark contrast between the cost of living and the true quality of life, a disparity that many Americans rarely confront. In the United States, a pervasive narrative of exceptionalism often shields its citizens from global realities. We are constantly assured by political rhetoric that we are "the best at everything," fostering a sense of complacent superiority.
This illusion is shattered when one examines the economic realities on the ground. Consider the global perspective: a person earning a modest $35,000 a year is, by international standards, among the world's most affluent, sitting firmly within the top 15% of global earners. (Source: The World Inequality Report 2026) Yet, within the context of American society, this income level is barely enough to secure basic necessities. It represents a struggle to maintain a roof over one's head and reliable transportation and the foundations of a stable life.
Erick Prince’s decision to live in Thailand for the past twelve years has provided him with an invaluable, long-term external vantage point. His experience illuminates how other nations approach core societal needs not as market commodities, but as fundamental human rights. In many developed nations, including those in Southeast Asia like Thailand, systems are structured to treat healthcare and education as basic entitlements, guaranteed to all citizens, rather than financial burdens or, as they so often become in the U.S., debilitating debt traps. This shift in philosophy from profit center to public service radically alters the financial landscape and reduces the stress load on the average individual.
The Intoxicating Illusion of American Privilege
Living abroad as an American offers a unique and complex experience. It provides a level of unearned privilege that can be deeply intoxicating. Simply holding an American passport can smooth interactions, open doors, and grant preferential treatment in ways that are not dependent on the individual's personal achievements or wealth. This privilege is a powerful anesthetic against the harsher realities of global life.
However, Erick's experience serves as a crucial caution: this privilege is simultaneously dangerous if it is not recognized for what it truly is, an illusion of personal superiority rather than a reflection of a superior society. If an American living abroad fails to acknowledge that their elevated status is a systemic export, not a personal trait, they risk a profound misunderstanding of both the host country and their own nation. To fully grasp the quality of life enjoyed by others, one must first strip away the false glow of the American passport and confront the global economic structure that grants it such disproportionate power.
The world doesn't owe you anything. Your character is exposed when you realize you’re wrong and decide what to do about it. Do the best you can until you know better; then, do better.
Stop waiting for things to change. Draw your tears and move forward. That’s the only way to earn the respect of the person you’re going to become.
🎙 Want to hear more? Check out my whole conversation with Erick Prince on The Randall Osché Podcast—available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
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