So it's 6.45am or thereabouts, and I'm on my way to work, minding my own business. I stop at a set of lights, which of course, seems to take 5-10 Halley's comet sightings to change. Apparently nothing unusual there. Then some moron comes out of nowhere, pushes me over (I only had one foot unclipped, but fortunately my pannier takes the brunt of the fall) shouting crap like "You think you're F***ing tough (has he been reading my posts at BF)? Get off your F***ing bike".
As I get up, he throws a punch, though thankfully it wasn't one he would have been proud of, and my spanky sunglasses deflect it. At this point a passer-by comes along and drags him off, while another passer by stops to make sure I'm OK (a gesture I really appreciated at the time, let me tell you). First chance I get I'm out of there, and continuing on my way to work.
Apparently the police can do little because I didn't hunt down the names and addresses of the witnesses. It probably didn't help that I waited until after work to go and see them either - my bad there. I don't know whether this guy was a bigoted f***wit, or just looking for a fight. After what happened to David Hookes, there's no way I was going to allow him that pleasure.
I have to say that of all the "incidents" I have ever had in over 120,000km of riding, this would be about the most unsettling. Heck, I'm still emotional about it now! WTF is going on here? The daily verbal abuse and occasional projectile I can deal with, but I've never had such a direct confrontation before. In response to my dilemma about hot water bottles, I heard one suggestion that I move somewhere else. If this happens again, I'll seriously consider it.
Pat
02-25-04, 02:22 AM
That was assault and this guy is obviously disturbed. You probably would have had done him a favor getting him arrested. People like that need some sort of help. If you did not have a cell phone, you probably could have borrowed one from a bystander and gotten a couple to stand around till the police arrived to get the guy. Now he might not have been prosecuted for assault but there is no telling what other things that guy was into.
I recall that my brother was assaulted by a guy while he was just in his car waiting for a light. My brother got out, beat the guy senseless and then called the police and had the person arrested. It turned out that the assailant was high on drugs and, I think, had some in his possession.
Juha
02-25-04, 02:40 AM
Probably he was hallucinating and saw you as a big, hairy ape... no, wait... umm...
Sorry, could not resist. That is a weird incident indeed. The guy must have been mentally sick or high or both. I know that a heated argument with a cage driver can get me emotional for some time, but I can only imagine how I would feel after being physically attacked with no apparent reason at all.
I think this assault is more about him and his obvious problems, not about you, your clothing or bike or whatever. You just happened to be there. Not that it necessarily makes it any easier for you to deal with.
--J
Chris L
02-25-04, 03:55 AM
Pat -- You're right of course. The only problem is that when the thing occurred I just wanted to get out of there in a hurry. I even forgot the relative proximity of Broadbeach police station in favour of reporting the thing in Southport after work. If this ever happens again (and I hope it doesn't), there have been lessons learned.
Juha -- I suspect the proximity of Jupiters Casino might have had something to do with it, too. Although I still didn't expect it at 6.45am.
ridealot
02-25-04, 05:28 AM
Wow that is a scary situation. the thing that gets me is the whole suprise aspect of the ordeal. That had to have been the worse part of it.
Sorry to hear it happened to you.
DanFromDetroit
02-25-04, 05:54 AM
Is pepper spray legal where you are at ?
It is a wonderful alternative to mixing it up with nutcases and possibly having to break bones to get your point across.
Dan
KrisA
02-25-04, 06:43 AM
Wow. I think I might have given him a few kicks with the old cleats for a bit of revenge. Sure two wrongs don't make a right, ans sure it would probably make him hate cyclists even more, but it sure as hell would feel great!
Dan - I agree, after an incident like that I think I would consider parking a bottle in the cage to deal with freeks like that.
Prosody
02-25-04, 07:05 AM
I'm impressed that total strangers came to your rescue. I suspect, though, that they may not really be total strangers. They may be people who regularly see you riding to work, or the one who dragged the guy off may, indeed, know him. Why else would he drag him off?
I think you handled the situation about as well as you could.
Guest
02-25-04, 07:43 AM
Ok, which forum member was it?
:D
erraticrider
02-25-04, 07:54 AM
And, people think I'm hallucinating when I say that drivers are out to kill me.
PaulH
02-25-04, 08:08 AM
That is really strange, Chris. I hope the people who dragged him off did not stop dragging until they got to the local police.
Paul
Daily Commute
02-25-04, 09:08 AM
The attack also shows a downside of bike paths. As much as I love my isolated ride along the river on a path, if some nut attacked me, there probably wouldn't be anyone around to help (unless I was attacked when the ROTC was marching on the path).
I was thinking about getting Halt to deal with dogs. I might get it now to deal with people, too.
P.S. I'm glad you weren't hurt.
slvoid
02-25-04, 01:48 PM
Sounds like the guy might've been drunk or high or something, hell I see people going up to TREES and saying "you think you're so tough, big guy!" and start being the hell out of it. Maybe his friends finally found him and decided to drag him back to the casino. Probably some pissed off hung over drunk who just lost his mortgage at blackjack.
Glad you're ok though. Next time some moron decides to take it up with you, remember, pepper sprays and tasers might be illegal but a handy kryptonite skull crackin' chain is all good... he he he...
Gus Riley
02-25-04, 02:02 PM
Ok, which forum member was it?
:D
It was I, says I :D .
Seriously, three of us were riding one day and this pick-up truck passed us with a guy screaming bloody murder from the driver's side. It appeared he was directing his rage at us. None of us understood him as he went by (he gave us plenty of room as he passed). He pulls over to the side of the road and jumps out of the vehicle, ranting and raving like a enraged bull. We stopped, quite short of where he was, he started walking for us. I took my cell phone out, and made it very obvious I was calling 911 (police) he back tracked, jumped back in his pick-up and was gone.
We didn't have a clue what set this guy off. Each of us swore up and down none had ever seen this guy before. I really think he thought one of us was someone else. It really was a weird experience...nothing like yours however.
Chris L
02-25-04, 08:31 PM
I'm impressed that total strangers came to your rescue. I suspect, though, that they may not really be total strangers. They may be people who regularly see you riding to work, or the one who dragged the guy off may, indeed, know him. Why else would he drag him off?
I think the guy might have been thrown out of the casino, although the time of morning makes it doubtful. I'm also beginning to suspect the guy who dragged him off might have been one of his mates or something. Perhaps the attacker was just some twat who couldn't handle his booze? I've since been told that particular area is gaining something of a "reputation", so I've changed my commute to work to avoid it.
Chris L
02-25-04, 08:32 PM
It was I, says I :D .
Geez, I know we've had some disagreements over the years, but did you need to take it so personally? ;)
SteveE
02-25-04, 08:39 PM
Ok, which forum member was it?
:DDoes Allister have an alibi?
LittleBigMan
02-25-04, 08:50 PM
Crazy bastid.
NZLcyclist
02-25-04, 10:00 PM
It was us Kiwis, trying to get you for all those sport wins....haha
Glad that you are OK!
Good luck with the new commute route
Brendon
temp1
02-25-04, 10:22 PM
Could have been a White Sox fan.
John C. Ratliff
02-25-04, 11:31 PM
ChrisL,
Don't beat yourself up too badly about your reaction. It's entirely natural, and even has a name, the "fight or flight response." :eek: I admire the bicyclist who avoided a confrontation by taking out his cell phone to dial "911." But it's kind of hard to do when you are already on the ground grappling with someone (helmets and glasses have some other worth); same with using mace or pepper spray. When you are "blind sided" and tackled, only close in fighting or flight will get you out of it, and you took the reasonably route. It is too bad the others didn't turn this weird person in to the police, but they had that responsibility; yours was simply to survive, which you did. I wholely concure with your route change.
John
Chris L
02-26-04, 01:15 AM
It is too bad the others didn't turn this weird person in to the police, but they had that responsibility; yours was simply to survive, which you did. I wholely concure with your route change.
I'm pretty reluctant to "blame" the others as such, they basically got me out of some serious trouble (this guy was a bit bigger than me, perhaps he saw me as an easy target?).
The sad part is, I'm now considering buying myself a mobile phone just for reporting incidents like this or others (like that jerk in Surfers a few weeks back). The reason it's sad is because I wouldn't use a cell phone for anything else, probably wouldn't even have the thing turned on.
khuon
02-26-04, 02:18 AM
The sad part is, I'm now considering buying myself a mobile phone just for reporting incidents like this or others (like that jerk in Surfers a few weeks back). The reason it's sad is because I wouldn't use a cell phone for anything else, probably wouldn't even have the thing turned on.
If you go that route, you might want to consider getting a pre-pay. If you truly think you'll never use it except in the case of emergencies, then you might check to see if in your country, the mobile phone services work like they do in the US whereby any handset regardless of if it's activated on a network or not can be used to dial 911 emergency (or equivalent). This way, you can pick up some old cheap phone and don't have to sign up with a service. Bear in mind however that unless the providers in your area have implimented or deployed location tracking, your emergency call may be routed into a call center that isn't necessarily local to your position.
digger
02-26-04, 10:26 AM
I'm pretty reluctant to "blame" the others as such, they basically got me out of some serious trouble (this guy was a bit bigger than me, perhaps he saw me as an easy target?).
The sad part is, I'm now considering buying myself a mobile phone just for reporting incidents like this or others (like that jerk in Surfers a few weeks back). The reason it's sad is because I wouldn't use a cell phone for anything else, probably wouldn't even have the thing turned on.
I am glad yer OK Chris, but ya think a big hairy ape like yourself would be able to handle any attacks. ;)
In another post that I was involved in (but backed out as I was getting a tad scared) many cyclists carry a gun for just such instances as yours. They claim that the protection offered by a firearm is a necessity. Do you feel that a firearm would have helped in this case? Would you carry one now, provided that you are legally able to do so in your neck of the woods?
The reason I ask, and seemed to falll on deaf ears in the other post, is that a firearm will only escalate an already tense situation, most likely ending up in your death or serious injury (or worse).
What do you think would have happened IF you had a firearm?
Digger
temp1
02-26-04, 10:50 AM
What do you think would have happened IF you had a firearm?
I think guns are like the Doomsday machine in Dr. Strangelove, the guy probably would not have attacked if he knew Chris was packing, but if during the altercation Chris had pulled a handgun, things would have turned out much worse. Makes me think screw the handgun, strap on a rifle, or a sword, or a machety, or ride in a Ninja outfit. Maybe you should ride around in a costume similar to the ones GWAR wear on stage you could even have your bike spray fake blood.
jfmckenna
02-26-04, 12:42 PM
Probably he was hallucinating and saw you as a big, hairy ape... no, wait... umm...
Sorry, could not resist. That is a weird incident indeed. The guy must have been mentally sick or high or both. I know that a heated argument with a cage driver can get me emotional for some time, but I can only imagine how I would feel after being physically attacked with no apparent reason at all.
I think this assault is more about him and his obvious problems, not about you, your clothing or bike or whatever. You just happened to be there. Not that it necessarily makes it any easier for you to deal with.
--J
LOL
I'd say the guy was lucky. I know after a few miles of riding with all that blood flowing and adrenaline pumping you could probably put a hurt on some one. I guess that guy is from that long genetic leneage of criminals down under ;)
SD Fixed
02-26-04, 04:24 PM
Ok, which forum member was it?
:D
Lotta water between Chris L and myself. Can't be me. :D
Chris, I'm glad you're ok. Don't move, that's the slipery slope.
Dutchy
02-26-04, 04:57 PM
Time to move to Adelaide Chris. One option is to get a second hand phone and go on the Vodaphone No-plans, plan. There is no monthly rental, you only pay when you make a call. I never turn my phone on, so my bills are usually $0.
Someone else asked was Pepper-spray legal down here, no it isn't.
CHEERS.
Mark
Chris L
02-26-04, 08:22 PM
What do you think would have happened IF you had a firearm?
Given the way I panicked and totally forgot which police station was nearest to me, there is every chance I would have panicked and used it. Like I said in my original post, I was really freaked out by this thing. I say it's just as well I didn't have one, I really don't want to spend the next 10 years in prison over something like this.
Chris L
02-26-04, 08:24 PM
Chris, I'm glad you're ok. Don't move, that's the slipery slope.
I was already saving for a major move (to somewhere in Europe) in around 4-5 years' time anyway. At the time I wrote my original post, I still had some adrenalin running around looking for an outlet. I'll stick it out here for a little while yet, still some new rides to discover.
Dchiefransom
02-26-04, 08:34 PM
The attack also shows a downside of bike paths. As much as I love my isolated ride along the river on a path, if some nut attacked me, there probably wouldn't be anyone around to help (unless I was attacked when the ROTC was marching on the path).
I was thinking about getting Halt to deal with dogs. I might get it now to deal with people, too.
P.S. I'm glad you weren't hurt.
HALT for dogs isn't as strong as the stuff for humans.
Dchiefransom
02-26-04, 08:38 PM
ChrisL,
Don't beat yourself up too badly about your reaction. It's entirely natural, and even has a name, the "fight or flight response." :eek: I admire the bicyclist who avoided a confrontation by taking out his cell phone to dial "911." But it's kind of hard to do when you are already on the ground grappling with someone (helmets and glasses have some other worth); same with using mace or pepper spray. When you are "blind sided" and tackled, only close in fighting or flight will get you out of it, and you took the reasonably route. It is too bad the others didn't turn this weird person in to the police, but they had that responsibility; yours was simply to survive, which you did. I wholely concure with your route change.
John
Very correct! I've had some wierd stuff happen to me at work, and the first thing I did was get to where people are.
Pat
02-27-04, 01:25 AM
Pat -- You're right of course. The only problem is that when the thing occurred I just wanted to get out of there in a hurry. I even forgot the relative proximity of Broadbeach police station in favour of reporting the thing in Southport after work. If this ever happens again (and I hope it doesn't), there have been lessons learned.
Juha -- I suspect the proximity of Jupiters Casino might have had something to do with it, too. Although I still didn't expect it at 6.45am.
I can't blame you on that. I always think of what I SHOULD have done after the event.
Pat
02-27-04, 01:35 AM
Well, as far as motorists out there trying to kill us, I don't think so. I do get the rare person who yells obscene things and I get the honk and squeeze every now and then. If a significant number of drivers actually tried to kill cyclists ,with the mileage I do, I would have been dead long ago.
Packing a fire arm, while it has a certain appeal, is, in my opinion a very bad idea. As I said, I have never ever had anything more destructive then a frame pump on me and water bottles and I have never had to use either on a person. If you think about it, say you shoot a motorist. The police will want to know about it and it is quite possible that the authorities will have a different idea of whether your use of the firearm was justified or not. Besides, firearms are heavy. Why spend the GNP of a small country to shave 2 lbs off of your bike and then carry a 3 lb hunk of steel around? If you feel as if you need personal protection, carry a cell phone and maybe a little spray bottle of pepper spray. That combination will give you as much protection as you would probably ever need and have far less possibility of adverse outcomes.
LittleBigMan
02-27-04, 06:11 AM
Packing a fire arm, while it has a certain appeal, is, in my opinion a very bad idea. As I said, I have never ever had anything more destructive then a frame pump on me and water bottles and I have never had to use either on a person. If you think about it, say you shoot a motorist. The police will want to know about it and it is quite possible that the authorities will have a different idea of whether your use of the firearm was justified or not.
Here we go...
The only real purposes of a firearm on a bike is:
1) people might be afraid to bother you if they see you have one
The problem with this is that you might also become a target. My coworker knew a man who went to pick up his drunken wife from a bar. On the way out, some guys were trash-talking her. He pulled up his tee-shirt to show them his gun to scare them off. They walked up and blew the back of his head off.
2) you can use it if attacked
On a bike, if you are attacked you are unlikely to be able to do very much because you have to balance the bike while reaching for your weapon, which presumably is displayed openly (see 1 above) so the attacker is alerted in advance and ready for you, maybe with his own gun.
3) you can use it against wild animals.
Unless you are riding in a national park, this is unnecessary unless you need to shoot dogs. A grizzly bear will be tough to stop with a handgun, but it's better than nothing.
Just my opinion.
willic
03-03-04, 10:28 AM
Thats real scary Chris, my money is on the Loony was high on drugs...
Or maybe he discovered you were a MAN UTD. Fan, now that is worth beating up on someone. LOL....
tom cotter
03-03-04, 11:21 AM
I took my cell phone out, and made it very obvious I was calling 911 (police) he back tracked, jumped back in his pick-up and was gone.
Good move!!!! Showing a cell phone to an aggressor regardless of the situation can be a playing field leveler. Works while driving also.
vixen2yall
03-03-04, 01:48 PM
So it's 6.45am or thereabouts, and I'm on my way to work, minding my own business. I stop at a set of lights, which of course, seems to take 5-10 Halley's comet sightings to change. Apparently nothing unusual there. Then some moron comes out of nowhere, pushes me over (I only had one foot unclipped, but fortunately my pannier takes the brunt of the fall) shouting crap like "You think you're F***ing tough (has he been reading my posts at BF)? Get off your F***ing bike".
<Snip>
i'm sorry for you being attacked but i gotta say you were very lucky! slightly off topic here as i wasn't on a bike, but some relevance. few years back i was attacked by a guy breaking into my truck. he pulled an 8 inch blade on me and started stabbing me in the face. it was 12 in the afternoon, bright sunny day, loads of people walking around, and not one person tried to stop this guy. ok one guy stoped in his daily whatever and said to the guy, "hey dude why don't you just leave her alone." i repeat he said it, he didn't shout it. if he had shouted it, it would have helped me ALOT more. but instead he said it while i got a blade in the forhead.
all in all i had four facial stab wounds, one of which broke my nose. another one broke out two teeth. he attempted to stab me in the stomach several times but the knife got caught in my clothing. (i personally believe my gaurding angel caught that knife up in my clothing to protect me.) he severed the tip of my thumb, hit me anywhere between 30 and 50 times in the face, head, neck, and back. not one person tried to help me. only one person had even the balls to even say to the guy to stop. no one called the police. i was left for dead. he even tried to run over me w/ his get away car.
your so lucky that anyone helped you i can't say that enough and i'm thankful that some people out there would stop in their daiy whatever to help someone out. i was pretty surprised to find out that no one would help me out being a very small female but i guess it's where your location is that determins that and probably in my case the fact that the guy had an 8inch knife and didn't have any qualms w/ using it on someone else may have had something to do w/ that. guess seeing him stabbing me like a pinyada(sp?) detured any would be helper.
btw i have sence learned that the best way for someone to help someone else in any situation like yours or mine is to MAKE NOISE! if you have a horn, honk it, yell screem and shout your lungs out. call 911, or 999 if your in the uk, or 000 in australia. this way you won't be putting yourself in danger, but you will be helping the one who's being hurt.
again i'm sorry for you being attacked but i gotta say, you were VERY lucky!
hope your rides are much more boring from now on.
cheers
kat
John C. Ratliff
03-03-04, 07:28 PM
vixen2yall,
'Glad you are still able to bicycle and to read and to post. WOW, with an experience like that, I'm surprised you have much faith left in humanity. Thanks for sharing, and your recommendations for NOISE are right on.
John
Chris L
03-03-04, 08:09 PM
Thats real scary Chris, my money is on the Loony was high on drugs...
Or maybe he discovered you were a MAN UTD. Fan, now that is worth beating up on someone. LOL....
I thought Chelsea were supposed to be the team that everyone hates now.
Chris L
03-03-04, 08:11 PM
i'm sorry for you being attacked but i gotta say you were very lucky! slightly off topic here as i wasn't on a bike, but some relevance. few years back i was attacked by a guy breaking into my truck. he pulled an 8 inch blade on me and started stabbing me in the face. it was 12 in the afternoon, bright sunny day, loads of people walking around, and not one person tried to stop this guy. ok one guy stoped in his daily whatever and said to the guy, "hey dude why don't you just leave her alone." i repeat he said it, he didn't shout it. if he had shouted it, it would have helped me ALOT more. but instead he said it while i got a blade in the forhead.
You're right, I was lucky. Although if anyone had tried telling me that a week ago....
In anycase, I'm glad to hear you managed to survive your attack. That is scary.
If this place ever reaches that standard, I will move.
AdrianB
03-03-04, 10:56 PM
Glad you're OK Chris. Changing the route in looks like the best option for now. Considering all the 1000s of kms you've racked up without an incident like this, the chances of it happening again are tiny. I don't own a mobile phone and wonder if it would help sometimes. But then again, in a real emergency there would almost always be a bystander, business or home nearby who would be able to help.
You weren't wearing that red jersey again were you?
Chris L
03-04-04, 01:10 AM
You weren't wearing that red jersey again were you?
How did you guess?
AdrianB
03-04-04, 03:15 PM
How did you guess?
Like you said it stirs up trouble! Good visible colour though.
My current favorite jersey is red with a bit of black/silver on it. Very visible. I think the black/silver elements turns it from anger invoking red to something more blokey a bit like flame decals on a V8. It seems to settle the 'boys' in there Commodores (note: not tested on "high" casino patrons). Doesn't seem to help with my limp wrist though :P
Chris L
03-04-04, 08:32 PM
Like you said it stirs up trouble! Good visible colour though.
My current favorite jersey is red with a bit of black/silver on it. Very visible. I think the black/silver elements turns it from anger invoking red to something more blokey a bit like flame decals on a V8. It seems to settle the 'boys' in there Commodores (note: not tested on "high" casino patrons). Doesn't seem to help with my limp wrist though :P
Could also be that you live in a more civilised part of the world than what I do. Although I'm still having problems sorting out my limp wrist.
Roughstuff
03-05-04, 10:07 AM
Good move!!!! Showing a cell phone to an aggressor regardless of the situation can be a playing field leveler. Works while driving also.
When I was in Iran on my world tour, I had one of those days where everything goes weird. At one point a car pulled up next to me and the guy in the passenger seat seemed to want me to give him some money. At first I thought I they wanted to do currency exchange but 99% of the world knows the expression 'change money' and they were not saying this. I was in a town and traffic was heavy so we rode next to one another back and forth for a while.
I stopped to let them get ahead of me. They stopped. I rode by them. They pulled up next to me and cut me off. I wasn't panicked...i had so many bizarre incidents up to this point in Turkey and Iran that I didn't get flustered (which as many of you mentioned, clouds your judgement.) I took out my camera, slid the lens door open, and took the guys' picture. I then said something about going to the police. They took off mighty quick. And I didn't even really take a picture: my camera makes a weird noise when ya open it that makes it sounds like a photo is being snapped. As they drove off I got their license plate number also.
About ten minutes later another car pulls over and cuts me off! The guys get out on both sides and start talking to me in damn good English. It turns out these guys are from a local Iran bicycling team, and they invited me to join them at a local coffee shop. Well, I told them what happened to me before and gave them the guys' license plate number. Who knows...maybe the bicycle ayatollahs came and got them!
Who knows--maybe they never meant any harm. It is so easy to misunderstand a foreign language and culture. But i developed very good sense of danger when I was on my tour...and red lights went off in my head when that first car rolled down its window.
roughstuff
greywolf
03-07-04, 09:02 PM
You done well , thinking about it after its always easy to say "I should have done 'this or that' " Hindsight is always clear , try & put it to one side or it will ruin more than one ride if you keep re-playing it over in your mind.
all the best , chill out,think of dolphins ect & keep riding
greywolf :beer:
SD Fixed
03-08-04, 12:50 PM
The daily verbal abuse and occasional projectile I can deal with, but I've never had such a direct confrontation before.
Having re read the story, I have to laugh about the time I rode out to Campo, and someone who apparently didn't like the fact I was on the road threw a gator bottle at me. Now, it was plastic, and some what harmless.
But it wasn't full, and that @#$ me off. At least they could have thrown something usefull, eh?
Matadon
03-09-04, 01:05 PM
A handgun most certainly would not have helped the situation; I'm a big advocate for personal firearm ownership, as well as for concealed weapons, but it is true that the only times one's firearm should be unholstered are at the range, in front of the gun safe, and immediately prior to being fired at those who would deprive you of proper cardiovascular function.
Brandishing a firearm is a good way to get shot by people who lack a sense of humor.
Chris, as far as your situation goes, I'd advise taking some ju-jitsu classes; actually, any general grappling art will probably do. It won't turn you into Bruce Lee, but even after six months of JJ study, you will have a very important edge against many potential attackers, and at least the know-how of how to get away when they try and hold you there. I wouldn't advise carrying a knife unless you learn how to use one in hand-to-hand combat, because you can easily lose the weapon or injure/kill yourself with it if you don't know what you are doing.
a2psyklnut
03-09-04, 02:08 PM
Chris, glad you survived relatively unscathed.
Reading your story, I think of the multiple number of times that people have throw or yelled at me on my bike. Then I sit up and the offender realizes my size. This is the ONLY good thing about being 250 lbs +. Hunched over on a bike, I look relatively small. Sit up, shoulders back and you immediately know I'm a BIG BOY!
I think the suggestion of JJ or any grappling courses would do ALL of us some good. You should start a self defense for cyclist course, you'd make millions and travel the world!