If you know me on any consistent level, you know that I “get around”. Ummm not SEXUALLY, but in the context of TRAVELING. Whether it’s local/regional restaurants, or traveling from state to state, I get around. I mean having a food/lifestyle blog kinda REQUIRES that.
So recently, I was asked to start a “Travel Group”. I made a FB post about it and received decent feedback. Now I’m going to be 100% honest with you, I really have ZERO intentions on starting a Travel Group. I just made the post to see how many people, who I know will NOT go anywhere, were going to respond. It was basically for my own “entertainment” (which is pretty much every fb status I make actually), but to my surprise, a few RELIABLE people actually responded. Now that DIDN’T change my mind on starting a Travel Group, for it just wasn’t enough reliable people to make it worth while. But it DID “spark” me to give people a blueprint on HOW I’m able to travel so much.
Here it goes…
So in 2018, I had to “game plan” of traveling somewhere every OTHER month. Along the way I lost focus (and my travel partner), but picked it back up in 2019. Aside from my “food journeys” in Northeast Ohio (Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Warren etc etc…) and Pittsburgh, this year I’ve traveled to Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Denver, Raleigh, Miami Beach, and Las Vegas.
The “game plan” goes as follows. Like I said, I planned on traveling somewhere every OTHER month. So when the time came, I’d get on all the “discount airline” sites (Frontier, Allegiant, Spirit) and find the cheapest flight going out of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, or Akron. Then REGARDLESS what flight was the cheapest, I’d go to that city. I’d normally end up with flights that were less than $100 round trip. The cheapest I got was $36. These flights would typically be on weekdays, which is fine by me, but occasionally I would get the cheapest price on a weekend.
Typically I’ll stay only 2-3 days, and try to take time around when I’m OFF from work, so that I use minimal vacation time. Most people have no idea where I work, since I NEVER talk about a job, or just think that I somehow DON’T work. Those who know me well, know that I actually have TWO jobs. Fortunately one I can take off pretty much WHENEVER I want, whether I have vacation time or not (which I have PLENTY, because I usually just have them NOT pay me when I take off). The other job, I try to schedule my trips around my days off, so the PTO days are minimal.
When it comes to “room & board”, if you haven’t realized by now I know A LOT of people, so I’m able to stay with a friend. If that’s NOT an option, I do this. I have a Capital One Venture card. Now the ONLY reason I got this credit card was for travel. Firstly the card comes with a with a sign-up bonus of 50,000 miles that you can transfer to an airline partner. But that’s NOT the reason I got it. Thanks to a partnership with Hotels.com that runs through January 2020, when you use the Capital One Venture card to book and pay for hotels using the special link Hotels.com/venture, you’ll earn 10X miles. Coupled with the fact that Hotels.com gives you a FREE night, for every 10 nights books, that’s essentially 24% cash back. Now there are other factors that make it 24%, but this is becoming too drawn out and nerdy so I cut it short. But trust me, I’ve done the “math” *wink*
Now some of you are probably still thinking that you CAN’T afford this. But ask yourself this, do you have cable? And how much is you cable bill? I DON’T have cable. I haven’t watched TV(or listened to radio) on any type of regular basis since the 90’s, which I’m SURE contributes to me thinking “differently” than most people, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic… Anyways, subtract that cable bill, and you’ll definitely be able to afford that flight every OTHER month, with money to SPARE. Plus when I’m on these mini vacations, I don’t typically spend any more money than I would normally spend if I had done something locally.
I actually NEED to “get around” for my mental health. I thoroughly enjoy researching hotels to stay, restaurants to eat, and out of the norm activities to do in a city. Like my recent “obsession” has been Speakeasy’s. You know, hidden bars, like the prohibition days. They’re “littered” all over the country. I’m becoming the KING of hidden bars 🙂
I won’t lie, the more I write, the more I’m thinking of actually starting a Travel Group. Especially after showing you guys how to do it without spending a fortune. I had ZERO intentions on doing a Travel Group at the start of this blog, I might be at 10% now. But it’s a start, right? *kanye shrug*
If 9/11 taught you anything, it should have taught you that you NEVER KNOW what’s going to happen from day to day. There are people who have seen the original World Trade Center, and because of 9/11 they NEVER will. If you have the opportunity to do something, DO IT. You’re going to be TIRED either way, so you might as well experience life. Most people make up excuses NOT to do things, I make up excuses TO do things. Get familiar…
