What time is it?...Summer time! Even if you aren’t a teacher, student, or in a profession that allows you a summer break, you can’t deny the warming weather and hours of sunshine waiting for you at the end of a workday. Although I no longer officially have a “summer break”, I still love summer. It means weekends of relaxing at the pool, drinking margaritas, getting frozen custard (IYKYK), my birthday, and traveling! While I definitely do not only travel during summer, I know many people who do. Summer is a great time to get some traveling on the books and to go see some new places with friends, family, or even by yourself!
There is truthfully little that brings me as much joy as traveling… except maybe potatoes. The thought of seeing a new place, meeting new people, eating delicious food, and experiencing cultures that are completely different from my own is a huge draw. I love the little nerves I get right before landing in a new place and seeing how my perception of a foreign country is different from actual reality. Every single county I have been to has taught me something. Growing up, I was lucky to travel often, so I got the travel bug early on in life; however, I know that is not the story for everyone. For instance, Marc grew up on a ranch (yes, a literal ranch with cows and horses) and was never able to travel. When we first started dating and throughout college, he had to learn how to travel and that blossomed into a love much like my own. But, I know it is intimidating. Travel is a privilege. Having the opportunity and means to travel around is something that I don’t take for granted. Travel is expensive, time consuming, and even scary. Instagram influencers make it look easy, but the reality could not be further from that. Before starting this piece, I began thinking about all of the questions people have when they first start looking into travel. Hell, these are questions I still ask myself when I start to plan a trip. I started thinking of common travel questions and how I would answer them if someone asked me about our trips. While I’m no expert, I would consider myself fairly well traveled for 27. So, I wanted to put all these questions out in the open and give some ideas as to how I would answer them when starting a trip.
I hope everyone has the opportunity to plan a short vacation or trip this summer and maybe some of these tips will give you ideas!
How do you afford it?
To me, this question is one of the hardest to answer, but definitely the most common. Travel is expensive. Between airfare, accommodations, transportation, and food - not to mention any activities while at your destination - the price adds up. Travel is something you have to spend time saving for (unless you are incredibly well off) and it takes budgeting and planning. Recently though, I started to look for ways to help cover the cost of some of our trips and became fascinated with travel hacking. Travel hacking is basically the idea of using reward points and miles to book vacations for “free”. I use the term “free” in quotes because generally in order to earn points and miles you have to spend money. Some of the best ways to earn points are through credit cards and by signing up for free membership accounts with hotels and airlines. While I don’t have time in this piece to go step by step and explain all of the nuances of travel hacking, I will link my favorite resource for learning travel hacking tips - and guess what? It is a FREE (actually free) newsletter!
So, back to the basics of travel hacking. Many items included with travel can be purchased through miles and points. For instance, flights are one of the most common ways to use points and miles. What do I mean when I say points and miles? I mean points that you earn with credit card rewards or miles that you earn on airlines. Credit card points, if used correctly, can be one of the easiest ways to earn rewards. There are many credit cards that offer large sign-up bonuses for spending a certain amount of money within a certain time frame. I recently got a card that will give me 80,000 points if I spend $4,000 in 3 months. Those points, if maximized on certain flights or hotels, could be upwards of $1,000 in “free” flights, hotels, etc. One caveat to credit cards is that you should only get a credit card if you use it like a debit card - never spending more than you have and paying it off in full each payment cycle. Interest on credit cards is huge, and if you retain a balance on the card, that would defeat any points that you received with the cards. However, if you use them as you would use any other debit card for purchases you are already going to make - i.e. groceries, shopping, rent (yes, some places allow you to put rent on credit cards!), - you are basically giving up free rewards by not using a credit card.
You may be wondering, how do I use these credit card points once I have them? Well, if you use a credit card that allows you to transfer points to affiliates, you can transfer your earned points to an airline, hotel chain, etc. and use your points to book rooms and flights. Credit cards like Capital One or Chase Sapphire allow you to transfer earned points to airlines like Southwest, United, Delta and to hotel chains like Marriott or Hyatt. When signing up for a new credit card, you can check their travel affiliates to make sure points can be transferred to affiliates you like. Then, once the points are transferred to your preferred affiliate, you can search hotels/flights and book using those points!
If signing up for a credit card isn’t something that you want to do, you can also take advantage of many free memberships through travel companies. Almost every airline, hotel chain, rental car company, etc. has a free membership you can sign up for. Then, every time you fly or stay in one of their hotels you earn points that can later be redeemed for other travel. This model takes more time than credit card points and requires you to already fly a lot or stay in hotels; however, points add up over time. Personally, I never stay in a hotel, fly on an airline, or book a rental car without signing up for their free memberships - never “continue as a guest”. It is a simple way to earn points that can be redeemed later for stays or flights within that company.
Now, even with travel hacking, you will probably still need to save some money for a trip. For this, Marc and I have a specific travel account in a high yield savings account. A high yield savings account differs from a regular savings account or checking account by providing returns on your money - i.e. it isn’t just sitting in an account and doing nothing. While the interest rates vary, this year has been especially nice. Returns of 4% or greater have been seen this year, and the beauty of it? I did absolutely nothing. That means, if I had $100 in the account, I would now have $104 all while doing absolutely nothing for this money. It may seem like a small amount, but it definitely adds up over time and has very little risk.
I’d love to talk about travel hacking forever, but alas, I still have a piece to finish! So, if you want to learn more about hacking your way to “free” travel, I’d recommend clicking the link below to The Daily Drop. It is a newsletter started by my absolute favorite YouTubers, Kara and Nate. They send out a daily newsletter with killer deals and have many great actually free resources to begin your travel hacking journey.
How do you have the time?
As if money wasn’t the biggest issue, traveling also takes a ton of time. You not only have to plan travel days, but you also want to enjoy the places you spent so much money and time trying to get to. For those of us that work in corporate jobs, we are lucky if we earn 10+ days of PTO a year. I recognize some people have more and some have less, but I think collectively we can say that it is never enough. This year, I have had to be incredibly strategic on my PTO days because before 2023 began, all of my PTO days were accounted for. Yes, you read that right, I had vacations planned for every single day of PTO I had. Luckily, I always maximize my PTO by pairing it with a holiday. For example, this year I had 19 days of PTO, but by the end of the year I will have taken 24 business days off. How? Every single vacation I have is planned on a holiday weekend. For Japan, I used 7 days of PTO during Good Friday/Easter week. I had 1 day off as a company-wide holiday and ended up having 8 days out of the office. For Memorial Day, my company allowed us to have Friday and Monday off this year so I took a 4 day vacation without taking any PTO. Our next trip, Iceland, will be during the 4th of July week. Instead of taking the entire week (5 days of PTO), I will only need to take 4 since the 4th is a federal holiday…. I think you get my point with this one. Sometimes it means taking strategic vacations during Memorial day weekend or Labor Day weekend, but pairing a PTO day with an already given company holiday or federal holiday is a great way to make sure those PTO days get stretched! More bang for your buck!
How do I plan?
Traveling and planning travel is something that always makes me nervous. Where do you even begin when looking at a brand new country or place? Well, the good news is we are well beyond the days of travel guides and books. Thank you, internet. One tip I have always used is reading blogs or Reddit posts. Once I know where I want to go, I just simply Google the trip I want to take. For instance, our next trip to Iceland will be an eight day trip. I literally Googled “Eight Day Iceland Itinerary”. Then, I spent hours reading multiple blogs and websites that had great suggestions for what to do on a trip to Iceland. Generally I will read through multiple sources and start picking out items that interest me most. Many times there are some suggestions that overlap multiple blogs so I tend to see those as “must-do” items and add them to a list. From there, I create a custom Google Map with plotted points and locations for each of the places/activities I want to do. The Google Map is a great tool when navigating foreign countries. How Google knows exactly what dirt road you are walking down? One may never know. But I have found that Google Maps are great when navigating foreign countries. And if you already have your stops plotted before arrival, it is just a matter of pulling up the map and being on your way!
TikTok is also a great resource when planning trips. For Japan, I watched so many TikToks with suggestions for first time visitors. Content is so easy to get these days and people really make it easy to know what to expect. Before going to Japan, I learned exactly what forms I needed to fill out prior to entry, how to navigate the subway system, basic phrases, and must see attractions - all from TikTok!
Where do I go?
Well, that’s all up to you! The world is waiting to be discovered. Whether your destination is an hour away from your house or 15 hours across the globe, the opportunities are endless. I am a huge proponent of not waiting until retirement to travel. Save the money, use the PTO, and go on an adventure!
Shit We’re Loving: READ
Pick: The Daily Drop Daily Newsletter
I’m plugging this resource again because it is just THAT GOOD. It is truly a free newsletter that provides updated travel hacking tips and tricks that anyone can use. They have a huge blog with step by step instructions on how to begin travel hacking, what credit cards to sign up for, how to earn/transfer points and miles, and much more. I honestly start my morning by reading their daily newsletter to see what the best deals are for the day. Kara and Nate, founders of The Daily Drop, also recently launched a YouTube channel (separate from their first travel channel) which is solely dedicated to sharing amazing travel hacking deals. Just recently they stayed on a private island (yes, you read that right) for four nights for “free”! All by using miles and points! What to learn how? Read and watch by clicking the buttons below!
Show Your Support: Bee City USA
In 2023, OTF will now spotlight four charities, showing our support on a quarterly basis instead of monthly. Though this does mean we’re not highlighting as many organizations as before, this will allow for more time on the important aspect of writing, while still doing what OTF was created to do which is support writing and each other. For the new quarterly SYS organizations, OTF will donate $200 to each hand-selected charity. This Spring Quarter (April, May, June), we spotlight Bee City USA.
With Earth Day happening late April (the 22nd), and with spring being a time for absolute renewal, we chose an environmental charity to support this quarter. Bee City USA provides a framework for communities to come together to conserve native pollinators by providing them with a healthy habitat that is rich in a variety of native plants, that provides nest sites, and that is protected from pesticides. As the name suggests, the focus of Bee City USA is bees, and primarily our native species.
Since 2019, there have been more than 2,566 habitat projects (think gardens, meadows, orchards) completed, totaling over 3,800 acres.
The steps that Bee City affiliates take to conserve our native bees, including creating safe habitats and hosting community events, will also help other pollinators, including butterflies and moths, as well as the non-native honeybee. One of the most impactful actions any affiliate can take is to encourage others to think beyond the honeybee—there are more than 3,600 species of bees in this country!—and recognize the true diversity of bees that sustain our communities. For the quarter, OTF has already donated $200 to Bee City and encourages you to give and/or promote what you can.
Daily Intention:
Today I choose…
to research a new destination.
Here’s some nifty buttons for you to press, enjoy: