Our Travel Philosophy

Travel is a passion for us.  It comes in very high on our life’s priority list.  It comes before things like new cars, gym memberships, and house cleaning services.  We buy  lots of our furniture used (and fix it up – another passion of mine, but I digress).  We could probably afford a bigger house, but we don’t want one. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, it’s just a matter of priority.  I don’t know about you, but we do not have unlimited funds.  Therefore, we have to make choices about what we are going to do with those funds.  Travel is a choice we have made.  Organic/local food is another choice we have made.  Both of these are unnecessary & could be cut back in times of greater need.  Your list will be different than mine (and vice versa, obviously) and that is OK.  We are both right.

Our travel style is budget with some splurges thrown in for good measure. I like luxury at times, but I don’t NEED luxury.  And I don’t want to become a person who needs it either.  I don’t want my kids to end up being bratty travelers, expecting a Club Lounge and First Class plane seats.  There is a danger of that happening with young kids.  On a trip to Hawaii a couple of years ago, the only 4 award tickets available when we booked were 2 coach and 2 first class.  My daughter LOVED first class (because they gave her ice cream). And lo’ and behold, next time we flew she was complaining about the small seats and lack of ice cream. Nuh uh. Not happening.  Same thing has happened when I have heard one of my kids say with a whiny voice “where is the lounge?”  So, for us, and our parenting (and our points pocketbooks) we need to switch things up.  We often need quantity over quality (or at least fanciness) because we tend to take long trips.  We need to stretch things out and sprinkle in the other stuff when it makes sense for us. I will happily stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai (my fav) for a few nights on points and then rent an inexpensive condo for the rest of the time.  If it weren’t for this hobby, we would NEVER get to stay at the GHK and the like, so I am grateful for every opportunity.

The focus is also heavy on family travel because we are a family.  The kids almost always go where we go.  We are lucky that they have grandparents who can babysit sometimes, but the most we can handle without missing them too much is 3 days once in a while.  So we will not be flying solo (or duo?) very often.  And when we do it will be a relatively short flight or drive, because why waste time in transit?  That means that we almost always need 4 plane tickets wherever we go.  It means getting creative and planning trips using miles & points to offset much of the cost of our family trips.

Our Miles & Points Philosophy

When it comes to how we choose to use and accumulate Miles & Points, preference once again comes into play.  I admit that I don’t analyze the numbers too much.  I want a great deal, but I also want to do what I want to do.  So if I am getting less “value” for my miles than the next guy, so be it.  I don’t want to lose money, of course, but we are just a regular American family with a house, jobs, and 2.2 kids (well, 2 kids and some fish).  Sometimes we are “points rich” and “cash poor.”  I like to read other blogs, and I think it’s interesting when they obsess over whether a point is worth 1.1 cents or 1.2 cents.  But there is a reason I’m attracted to humanities instead of math/business stuff.  In the end, did we have fun? Was it a memorable experience for my kids? Did we enrich our lives, either by learning something or by attaining some much-needed relaxation? If the answer is yes, then it was worth whatever it “cost”.

Do you know what aspirational travel is? It is a term that gets thrown around a lot among people in this hobby.  It generally refers to travel that would be far out of reach for lots of people (Maldives, anyone?) unless you are a celebrity or have a reality show.  There are people who “aspire” (get it?) to travel to these places using Miles & Points to fund their lifestyles of the rich and famous (not that there’s anything wrong with that). And you know what…it can work! But in my real life reality, our aspirational trips are more like getting the 4 of us to Hawaii a second time in 2 years (yep, it’s happening) plus getting a free beach vacation somewhere close-by.  It means taking the kids (for practically free) to Universal Studios to see Harry Potter world because they are obsessed (it happened).  So our miles & points philosophy is…doing what makes us happy with our own miles & points and not to aspire to be someone else’s form of happy.

The Focus of this Blog

I think that learning about and understanding varying perspectives and lifestyles is nothing but helpful and mind-expanding.  I enjoy reading about the travelers who are exploring the globe, sleeping in tents for months at a time, flying in ultra-first class, living out of hotels, hiking to practically unknown places, and/or traveling as a full-time job.  More power to those adventurous souls.  That is not what you are getting here, people.  This is kind of like the fesitvus (for the rest of us) style of travel.  Sure, it may not be glamorous to fly Frontier or Southwest or to stay in a Country Inn & Suites.  But if we are enjoying ourselves, who cares? And I’m just happy that I can still fit into pretty much any tiny airline seat & not be too uncomfortable (now my 6’4″ husband, that’s another story…)

The focus is also (at least for now) on the newer traveler/points collector.  This hobby has changed our lives, or least made them better than they would otherwise have been without it, and I want to help others to have that same opportunity if they want to take it.  I like to learn things in a clear and direct manner, and that is what I hope to accomplish here in the teaching.  I also like to learn things by doing lots and lots (and lots) of research, so I plan to learn as much or more than I teach.

The point is, I plan on focusing on getting us from Point A to Point  B (and often C, D, and E since we tend to move around a lot on our trips), having places to sleep while we do it,  and having fun adventures along the way.  If we can get greater than 3.14159265 cents per mile while do so, then more power to us.

 

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