Ask HN: What's the most memorable thing you can do with $8000?
A friend's late grandmother left him about $8000 "to do something memorable". We need some help, since neither of us is familiar with the range of possible experiences outside of going to class, coming home, and doing homework. He's going to graduate in April (at age 22), though, so his time and mobility constraints will be nil.
How could he use the $8000 to the greatest fulfillment of the will?
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$4,645 + about $2k for flight gets you a 72 day trip from Nairobi to Cairo at: http://www.tourvacationstogo.com/africa_tours.cfm?npid=18428...
They have longer trips too... up to 120 days (Cairo to Capetown - http://www.tourvacationstogo.com/africa_tours.cfm?npid=15961...) for $7,170 + about $2k for Tickets.
I'd recommend a couple of months of living someplace unique, I've always been partial to the Caribbean. You could live for almost a year on $8000, and get to see places and meet people that would likely have a lasting impact.
Or, lease/rent an RV and drive across the country to experience different regions.
http://www.nols.edu/courses/locations/scandinavia/scandinavi...
Add the plane ticket for under $8000. That's a month he'll never forget.
He lives in Ontario, Canada. He's already been to Great Britain and France.
I think it would depend greatly on his particular interests. I don't think anyone can tell you, or him, what would be most memorable to him. What has he always wanted to do? Where did he dream about as a child?
The things he dreamed about as a child are likely to be petty and unmemorable given his limited exposure to the possibilities.
You don't need to know all the possibilities. You just need to know what you love.
I don't mean to be unhelpful but, "What's the most memorable thing you can do with $8000," sounds an awful lot like, "What's the right way to spend $8000," and there is no right way. There is no "most memorable thing." There is no "greatest fulfillment of the will." Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien. The best is the enemy of the good. There is no possible way to spend $8000 that someone won't consider awesome and someone else won't consider a complete waste.
Before your post, almost all of my ideas were of the form "travel to set of places X and see what you see." Now, I have ideas of the form "follow y while learning z", where y may be a band, a sports team, migratory animals, a circus, or famous trial lawyers in open court.
2. Give it to someone needy or Sponsor a kid
3. Find a startup/non profit which works in an area which resonates with his grandmom's interests and invest in them
buy a RTW (round the world) ticket.
buy some christmas gifts for kids in need.