Speaker 1: Episode two fifty how to Save money on travel. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends Podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, rights, and liver with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill. M m mmmm. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends Podcast, Episode two hundred fifty. Hey, this is Jen,
Speaker 1: this is Jill, and we're celebrating this milestone. We love
Speaker 1: these even numbers, the two hundred to fifty. We're celebrating
Speaker 1: talking about frugal traveling, which is one of Jill's favorite topics.
Speaker 1: I love traveling, I love doing it often, and the
Speaker 1: only way to do that is to do it frugally.
Speaker 1: For me, at least, I'm not independently wealthy. In case
Speaker 1: you haven't learned, she she does wear a gold chain though,
Speaker 1: so you you may not be able to tell if
Speaker 1: you met her, but I can affirm she's not independently
Speaker 1: Sometimes I wear a golden chain. It's real gold. I
Speaker 1: didn't buy it. It was gifts, doesn't me. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: if you are interested in travel, which we know a
Speaker 1: ton of you are, because this is a very requested
Speaker 1: episode that we haven't covered in a really long time
Speaker 1: and since the pandemic when we were talking about ways
Speaker 1: to get out there frugally when you couldn't travel internationally.
Speaker 1: Now travel has opened back up, still a little different,
Speaker 1: So we're going to cover it again and cover again
Speaker 1: all the nuances in this new era of travel. But
Speaker 1: first we want to talk to you about our sponsor today.
Speaker 1: It's a real one, not a fake one. And speaking
Speaker 1: of travel, many people love to travel to Florida, were
Speaker 1: especially coming upon the time frame that people love to
Speaker 1: travel to Florida. But you also know that we were
Speaker 1: recently well parts of Florida were devastated by Hurricane Ian.
Speaker 1: It was headed for the Tampa Bay area, which is
Speaker 1: where Jen and I live, but then took a turn
Speaker 1: and really hit hard Fort Myers Naples area, which there
Speaker 1: are people who live there. It's not just a destination spot,
Speaker 1: and some people are really experiencing deep, deep loss and
Speaker 1: just still kind of picking up the pieces, And so
Speaker 1: we want to be a part of aiding and supporting
Speaker 1: are we We have friends and family who live in
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Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com slash Ian where you can donate
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Speaker 1: so you know that it's going to the people who
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Speaker 1: or if you've just given to another organization that's in
Speaker 1: um the southwest Florida area that you feel passionate about,
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Speaker 1: make sure that we can see that, and we will.
Speaker 1: We will match that for the for the rest of
Speaker 1: the day, anytime until today. Alright, So traveling, while you
Speaker 1: may not want to travel to Southwest Florida right now,
Speaker 1: give them a little time, but definitely head there, uh
Speaker 1: next year because they're definitely gonna need all your love
Speaker 1: and support via travel. But let's talk about traveling in
Speaker 1: other places. So we have a few other travel episodes
Speaker 1: that are still relevant for today. We've got episode one
Speaker 1: fifty which is travel hacking for beginners. I I love
Speaker 1: this one. It is travel hacking with credit cards for beginners.
Speaker 1: So we cover kind of the first five credit car
Speaker 1: words to get you started with travel hacking. And this
Speaker 1: is like minimalist travel hacking. It's the way like that
Speaker 1: Jill and I practice travel hacking. It's great. So episode
Speaker 1: one fifty four, sure que that one up to play
Speaker 1: after this, and then episode one nineteen we we did
Speaker 1: during the Pandemics, those stay cations we talked about frugal Um,
Speaker 1: stay cations, local travel and road trips with our friend
Speaker 1: Danielle Dezier from the Thought Card. So those are two
Speaker 1: really good ones to queue up. But we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about travel. It's a little more expansive today, Jill. How
Speaker 1: And I know you're super excited about it. Of course
Speaker 1: I am. It's just making me want to go somewhere,
Speaker 1: book a trip, do the thing. I I am already,
Speaker 1: I've as soon. I'm the person, and I'm sure that
Speaker 1: you can relate. When I'm on my vacation or coming
Speaker 1: home from that, I'm planning the next one. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's this never ending cycle. It's it's not as if
Speaker 1: you get satisfied by going on vacation. You just get
Speaker 1: back and you want more. That's my experience, assuming it's
Speaker 1: a good trip, Those really good trips just make you
Speaker 1: want more. Yeah, alright. So our first article is from
Speaker 1: map trotting dot com. It's six reasons to budget travel
Speaker 1: at least once in a lifetime. And Jill, you've done
Speaker 1: a lot of budget traveling, so what do you think
Speaker 1: about this one? I would agree I think everyone should
Speaker 1: try budget traveling, although I think most of our listeners
Speaker 1: are like, yeah, I'm not doing it for this human
Speaker 1: experience piece, I'm doing it because I have to so,
Speaker 1: or because that's the that's the level at which I
Speaker 1: value travel. Yeah, yeah, either way. But I do think
Speaker 1: that they give some good arguments for still going places
Speaker 1: even if you don't have a massive budget, and some
Speaker 1: of the added ben of fits not just oh grin
Speaker 1: and bear it. You hardly have any money, but you're
Speaker 1: trying to see the sites, but there's actual benefits to it.
Speaker 1: So it almost helps to shift our mindset in rather
Speaker 1: than be grudgingly and wishing we could do all the
Speaker 1: luxurious things, but really truly embracing it, knowing that we
Speaker 1: are getting a unique experience because of the things that
Speaker 1: we're engaging in when we aren't spending an arm and
Speaker 1: a leg on things. So I do appreciate the arguments
Speaker 1: for this, and it's almost like they're advertising to the
Speaker 1: rich and the wealthy. Hey try this other thing called
Speaker 1: busha travel, And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know this,
Speaker 1: but I think so we also get emails from people
Speaker 1: like how do you make like frugality like fun and
Speaker 1: sustainable because spending money is just more fun than being frugal,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's so like miserable being frugal, and the
Speaker 1: mind that's a it's a mindset shift, because frugality is
Speaker 1: not miss re miss like. This is not a misery
Speaker 1: loves company lifestyle. This is looking at the impact of
Speaker 1: all of our choices on our money, on the environment,
Speaker 1: on local and international economies. It's looking at the total
Speaker 1: impact of what we spend money on and choosing what
Speaker 1: we value. And like, we very much value the stuff
Speaker 1: that's in this article. So choosing a budget travel lifestyle
Speaker 1: versus luxury travel, it's not a question. We're not doing
Speaker 1: it because we don't have enough money to afford the
Speaker 1: luxury lifestyle. Though we've chosen work that you know, actually
Speaker 1: cannot afford certain luxury lifestyles. But that's by choice. It's
Speaker 1: making these intentional choices. Uh, And it's not for the
Speaker 1: sake of just being frugal just saving money. Were never
Speaker 1: about that. It's about these intentional choices. So I do
Speaker 1: like what these six tips are going to do and
Speaker 1: helping maybe people change their mindset. And if you don't
Speaker 1: drive with it, then you don't have to take it.
Speaker 1: You pick up what works for you and you lay
Speaker 1: down with doesn't. So we'll get into the first one.
Speaker 1: The first reason to try budget travel at least once
Speaker 1: in your lifetime for the map trotting map trotting, and
Speaker 1: maybe this is for also the person that like doesn't
Speaker 1: want to travel because they don't value it as much
Speaker 1: um and even if it isn't high on your values,
Speaker 1: maybe you should try it. But Number one is budget
Speaker 1: travel makes you money savvy. And they say when you
Speaker 1: travel without tracking your expenses, like we did many times before,
Speaker 1: you can't really appreciate your own money. We all know
Speaker 1: that from our normal lives, but traveling on a budget
Speaker 1: suddenly makes you realize that there are so many things
Speaker 1: that you don't actually need to spend money on. So
Speaker 1: it's like all the things that we talk about in
Speaker 1: regular life, but really amplif fide in this one to
Speaker 1: two weeks where you are spending significantly more money and
Speaker 1: it's not to make you feel guilty about spending more
Speaker 1: money than you do in your normal life. That's something
Speaker 1: that Travis and I we it very much trips him
Speaker 1: up because when we travel, we spend more money on
Speaker 1: a day to day basis, and that doesn't compute with him.
Speaker 1: He wants to spend money like we do in our
Speaker 1: normal lives. So that's something like we have to talk
Speaker 1: about like daily on our trip, but it can be
Speaker 1: really like a good source of awareness for and just
Speaker 1: like if you're training yourself during your normal life to
Speaker 1: like spend within your values, then doing this on vacation
Speaker 1: can be a really great test of that. Two. Yeah,
Speaker 1: keeping track of your spending in one small, small span
Speaker 1: of time can build habits for for your regular life.
Speaker 1: The second one on here, I appreciate it talks about
Speaker 1: how budget traveling and change your mindset. And they're talking
Speaker 1: about when we aren't spending lavishly or going into debt
Speaker 1: for the travel that we're doing, we engage in the culture.
Speaker 1: And so we're talking primarily international travel here, but we
Speaker 1: can see things about the culture and the way that
Speaker 1: the people who live there live life that can help
Speaker 1: us to form a bigger, broader worldview and perspective that
Speaker 1: we wouldn't get if we were going to the gated
Speaker 1: hotel that's on every influencers Instagram with the infinity pool,
Speaker 1: and you've just got this very curated experience that doesn't
Speaker 1: introduce you to any other type of way of life.
Speaker 1: So there's just this more internal, deeper level of learning
Speaker 1: and understanding and grow oath that can happen when when
Speaker 1: we budget travel and maybe we go places that are
Speaker 1: lesser known or lesser traveled than than these spots that
Speaker 1: we see people advertise over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: Like I I kid you not, I don't even try.
Speaker 1: I don't even follow him any travel instagrammers or bloggers,
Speaker 1: but I swear to you in these reels, I am
Speaker 1: getting the same hotel showing up over and over and
Speaker 1: over again by all these different Instagram influencers, and I'm
Speaker 1: just like, all right, well now it just kind of
Speaker 1: feels cheap, Like y'all just go to this one hotel,
Speaker 1: you take your sexy shot in the infinity pool, and
Speaker 1: then like laying in the one hammock and that's it.
Speaker 1: Like where's the variety and the creativity and the culture
Speaker 1: and and the learning and the engaging in something different
Speaker 1: like it? I don't, I'm I'm over it, And I'm
Speaker 1: here for the understanding new ways of life and meeting
Speaker 1: people that you wouldn't typically meet. And I do think
Speaker 1: budget travel demand ends that. Yeah, and it can be
Speaker 1: nerve racking you you typically like want to be comfortable
Speaker 1: and know where you're going, which is really hard in
Speaker 1: a foreign country. And so people will use Instagram and
Speaker 1: use travel agents and stuff like that to get some
Speaker 1: kind of trust or familiarity. But you can go outside
Speaker 1: of that too. So that kind of leads to number three,
Speaker 1: that budget travel makes you more adventurous and you don't
Speaker 1: have to be like a soup, like an adventure free.
Speaker 1: I am not like an adventure seeker, Like that's not me.
Speaker 1: I'm a chill seeker and so but I have found that, um,
Speaker 1: I mean doing doing stuff that's slightly outside of my
Speaker 1: comfort zone, but not that that doesn't it doesn't feel dangerous.
Speaker 1: It's just slightly outside of my comfort zone. UM is
Speaker 1: where some of my best memories are. So you can
Speaker 1: use your intuition, she said the author. She's like, well,
Speaker 1: we're not intending on taking another third class train in Thailand.
Speaker 1: It wasn't experience will never forget exactly right, So look
Speaker 1: at your options and don't. So when we went to
Speaker 1: Bali after we paid off our debt, that was like
Speaker 1: our debt pay half celebration. I wish that I had
Speaker 1: had more of this mindset with me because we really
Speaker 1: took the cheapest options, and Bolly is inexpensive in itself,
Speaker 1: and so we were just taking advantage of all these
Speaker 1: like low prices and not really thinking about, Okay, maybe
Speaker 1: we can actually use our dollar. We've chosen a place
Speaker 1: where our dollar goes farther, so maybe we can choose
Speaker 1: some more upgrades in that. We were just so used
Speaker 1: to always choosing the cheapest thing at that point. And
Speaker 1: so I really wish that I had had this like
Speaker 1: perspective of yes, let's seek adventure, but let's not like,
Speaker 1: let's not make the whole thing an adventure. Let's let's
Speaker 1: have let's like have some some adventure here and then
Speaker 1: some things that seem predictable and chill, because that can
Speaker 1: quickly translate and crossover into just risky and not well
Speaker 1: thought out. You can you can be adventurous and have
Speaker 1: it be quite planned and researched. That's that's my way
Speaker 1: of doing things. Like I do want to try new things,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna look into it and have a really
Speaker 1: good understanding of what I'm endeavoring upon. Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: just look I would scour the internet for travel bloggers
Speaker 1: writing about where you're going, because travel bloggers are going
Speaker 1: to know where all the stuff is. Just make sure
Speaker 1: the post isn't a sponsored post because then they got
Speaker 1: paid to do it. But if it's not, then you
Speaker 1: can really find some very cool things, some very like
Speaker 1: hidden gems. And sometimes you can even be like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I'm going to this place. I'm definitely going
Speaker 1: to check out you know this, maybe like by one
Speaker 1: of their digital products or something, and then they'll, you know,
Speaker 1: you'll be like, Hey, any other tips I should know
Speaker 1: about that you've picked up since you wrote the article.
Speaker 1: Maybe they will tell you. Yeah, not that you all
Speaker 1: need any more convincing. But another reason to budget travel
Speaker 1: number four is that it can spark creativity, which I
Speaker 1: would absolutely agree with. I think we've already kind of
Speaker 1: touched on this, the reality of when your budget traveling,
Speaker 1: Usually that means you're going to be engaging with the
Speaker 1: people who live there, the culture, the traditions of that area,
Speaker 1: and engaging in something that's new and different expands our
Speaker 1: brains and our understanding and can spark thinking in a
Speaker 1: different way. Without you even totally trying to do that,
Speaker 1: You're just you're engaged in something new, and so you're
Speaker 1: using different parts of your brain, which a lot of
Speaker 1: times then just lends itself to creativity, whether that's something
Speaker 1: that you can enjoy while you're there, the experience of creativity,
Speaker 1: or something you can take back with you. The writer
Speaker 1: was talking about how they it sounds like they kind
Speaker 1: of stayed for an extended time in some of these
Speaker 1: places and we're trying to work while they were traveling
Speaker 1: and engaging in new experiences and it really helped them
Speaker 1: with their business. So there you go, Jen, it'll be
Speaker 1: a business expense. We need to spark our creativity for
Speaker 1: what's next. For the frugal friends, we have to budget
Speaker 1: travel together. But there's just there's inspiration to be found,
Speaker 1: I think, is what this is saying. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: love the story that they told of trying to work
Speaker 1: while traveling. Specifically, they said, um, they started guest posting
Speaker 1: for a travel blog that they respected, but it was
Speaker 1: they required five articles a month from them, which is
Speaker 1: a little that's I would I would not take that deal.
Speaker 1: I'll just say that I wouldn't take that deal, but
Speaker 1: it forced them to. The more pressure you're under to
Speaker 1: produce content, the more creative you get with it, and
Speaker 1: that is really what I've found over five six years
Speaker 1: of creating written and audio and video content, the more
Speaker 1: you're forced to produce, the more creative you get with it.
Speaker 1: And it's the same in life like the more you
Speaker 1: are forced to get creative, the more creative you get.
Speaker 1: And so don't look at it like a job or
Speaker 1: a a burden. Uh, look at it like a challenge
Speaker 1: to get creative. And often the best content comes out
Speaker 1: of that forced creativity. Again, not something that's sustainable, but
Speaker 1: really great for seasons where you're really learning or really
Speaker 1: trying to dig into something for the first time. Five
Speaker 1: is it teaches you appreciation. So once you've traveled on
Speaker 1: a budget, even if for a short while, you'll start
Speaker 1: appreciating the things you have. Depending on your destination, you
Speaker 1: can still feel like a millionaire with your fifty dollars
Speaker 1: a day, and that is true for places. While you
Speaker 1: will spend some money to take a flight to these places,
Speaker 1: which you can offset if you're travel hacking, you can
Speaker 1: get free flights and then just use your money in
Speaker 1: these very inexpensive international locales and sooner, the article says,
Speaker 1: sooner or later, you'll start seeing things around you and
Speaker 1: feeling incredibly lucky to have the freedom to explore the world.
Speaker 1: And it's so so true that international travel has really
Speaker 1: impacted Jillani's view of what we have here and it's
Speaker 1: it's made us so much more grateful and like content
Speaker 1: um without complacency. But but yeah, it really has impacted
Speaker 1: my view of what I have, and not in a
Speaker 1: pity sort of way, but in a like these people
Speaker 1: live just like me. They don't think they should be
Speaker 1: looked down on, and they're living with a ton less
Speaker 1: so it would be rude for me to like pity them.
Speaker 1: It's really a challenge for me, like what do I
Speaker 1: think I need so much more than this? Like do
Speaker 1: I think I'm a better person that I need? Like
Speaker 1: I require so much more? So that's a challenge, like
Speaker 1: in my mindset to be like, no, I don't need
Speaker 1: all of this. Is is a gift and I don't
Speaker 1: need it, but I'm really thankful for it. Yeah, which
Speaker 1: is similar to number six set a different way, it
Speaker 1: can encourage gratefulness. I would maybe reframe this to say,
Speaker 1: I think traveling helps us with our perspective and our
Speaker 1: world view. It helps us I think, understand ourselves better
Speaker 1: where we sit in the world what geography and and
Speaker 1: upbringing and traditions and culture have formed inside of us.
Speaker 1: And I think we can only truly see that or
Speaker 1: grasp that too deeper levels when we see something that
Speaker 1: is different from what our experience has been to understand, well,
Speaker 1: then what was my experience and how did that shape me?
Speaker 1: So that, to me is the gratitude that comes out,
Speaker 1: not necessarily the the very superficial Oh look at what
Speaker 1: they live in versus what I live in. It like,
Speaker 1: that's that's not that's not a fair comparisoner, like you're saying, Jen,
Speaker 1: Like the point isn't pity or just like leot let
Speaker 1: me and I have. That's that's not the point of
Speaker 1: it shouldn't be at least like how much I have.
Speaker 1: It's more how has it formed me? And what more
Speaker 1: can I glean in my un standing and then my
Speaker 1: approach to other people by seeing other seeing different but
Speaker 1: then also seeing the same and some of the similarities.
Speaker 1: Like there's this deep connection and tie that we have
Speaker 1: with humanity, but then there's also this this distinct understanding
Speaker 1: of self that can come from it too. So I
Speaker 1: would just more so advocate for the expanded worldview that
Speaker 1: comes from travel absolutely. So we're moving on to our
Speaker 1: next article, which is um from Business Insider, and it's
Speaker 1: it's titled we asked fourteen travel experts to share their
Speaker 1: number one tip for saving money when they're on vacation.
Speaker 1: So we're not gonna go through all fourteen. We're gonna
Speaker 1: go through about half. But these are I mean, these
Speaker 1: are probably some you've heard before the others but maybe
Speaker 1: like haven't taken seriously, and to know that there's nothing
Speaker 1: new under the sun, like these are actually the biggest
Speaker 1: ways to save money on travel. There are very few
Speaker 1: ways you're going to get like a cruise vacation for
Speaker 1: a hundred dollars unless you're coming off of pandemic, you know.
Speaker 1: But those days are over, So let's dive into this one.
Speaker 1: The first one, and it's the one that I have
Speaker 1: found to be best for us, is to be flexible
Speaker 1: with your travel dates. Some dates like to leave and
Speaker 1: fly in on are just consistently less expensive. So weekdays,
Speaker 1: like honestly, traveling from Tuesday to Saturday has been a
Speaker 1: sweet spot for us that those are really inexpensive flights.
Speaker 1: And then putting on top of that, if we can
Speaker 1: going in an off season or if a deal pops up.
Speaker 1: I don't love doing the whole like looking for a
Speaker 1: deal and subscribing to the deal thing. Some people do
Speaker 1: have the flexibility in their lives to be able to
Speaker 1: take a last minute deal when it comes up. That's
Speaker 1: not me. I got a plan, but my plan typically
Speaker 1: I try to be in the off season. I'll look
Speaker 1: at um the points calendar for wherever I want to stay,
Speaker 1: and so I'm using my credit card points, um my
Speaker 1: travel reward points, and so I'll look at the points
Speaker 1: calendar because they fluctuate in peak times. It's more points
Speaker 1: per night, so I'm looking for those when is the
Speaker 1: lowest points per night. But also, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: travel to the Bahamas in September because that's peak hurricane season.
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm also not, you know, a glutton for Missouri.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to go in the off season. But
Speaker 1: I'm going to go in the smart as smart off
Speaker 1: season as possible, so like as close to shoulder as
Speaker 1: I think it's called. But but yeah, really flying on
Speaker 1: the weekday because week days, you know, whether you get
Speaker 1: there on a a Monday or tues there Wednesday won't
Speaker 1: have a big impact unless something is going on on
Speaker 1: a Friday or Saturday that you want to be there for.
Speaker 1: But yeah, those for me save the biggest amounts. Though.
Speaker 1: I also like this one. Travel places where your home
Speaker 1: currency takes you further. This one is pretty obvious, but
Speaker 1: I think when we're considering, I really want to go somewhere,
Speaker 1: but I can't afford to go to Italy right now? Okay,
Speaker 1: but is there a place that might be a little
Speaker 1: less expensive for you based on the exchange rate? And
Speaker 1: there are plenty of places like this. Obviously depends on
Speaker 1: where you're from and uh, your home currency and the
Speaker 1: exchange rate at the various locations that you want to visit,
Speaker 1: But there are plenty of places that that we can
Speaker 1: go where our dollar is going to take us further
Speaker 1: the value of it can purchase us more, and so
Speaker 1: that's definitely something to consider. Has helped me a lot
Speaker 1: with a lot of the places that I have traveled to,
Speaker 1: and I would say especially for people who safety is
Speaker 1: a high, high priority, it can even help. As this
Speaker 1: article points out that when your dollar can take you
Speaker 1: further in some of these locations that you visit, you
Speaker 1: might be able to afford some of the more quote
Speaker 1: unquote luxuries because it's affordable for you. So like hiring
Speaker 1: a private driver to do to go a long distance,
Speaker 1: you could visit a specific location or being able to
Speaker 1: be and maybe a little bit nicer of a hotel,
Speaker 1: you name it. That's a very key thing that's going
Speaker 1: to help you be able to maybe have the vacation
Speaker 1: that you want, but in a way that's more affordable
Speaker 1: for your budget. My next one, I love this one
Speaker 1: is to shop at local grocery stores. So not every
Speaker 1: meal you have you have has to be at a restaurant,
Speaker 1: and you don't have to bring all of your own
Speaker 1: food from home, all your own snacks from home. To
Speaker 1: save money, shop at these local grocery stores. They've got
Speaker 1: all of the local produce ingredients usually pre made you know, foods.
Speaker 1: It's like like Publix. And if they don't, you just
Speaker 1: like stock up on cheese. There's this beautiful picture of
Speaker 1: cheese in a grocery store on this article, and it's like,
Speaker 1: why wouldn't you want to eat all of that? And
Speaker 1: it's so much cheaper than them buying it at a
Speaker 1: ready made at a restaurant. Uh so, And yeah, and
Speaker 1: then you get this experience in the grocery store. I
Speaker 1: just remember being like, we went to the grocery store
Speaker 1: every day when we were in Barcelona, just because it
Speaker 1: was fun and it had all these fun things that
Speaker 1: we wanted to try. And it was the first first
Speaker 1: place I had san Gria was I got a bottle
Speaker 1: of san gria from the grocery store in Barcelona, drink
Speaker 1: at my hotel room. That's so fun. Yeah, I have
Speaker 1: an age I won't disclose I was legal there though.
Speaker 1: I love this tip, and I would say it's one
Speaker 1: of Ma and Eric's favorite things to do in a
Speaker 1: new place that we're visiting, because, like you're saying, Jen,
Speaker 1: you find all these new ingredients or candies that we
Speaker 1: don't have in the States, and so you can try
Speaker 1: a lot of new stuff and yeah, see what, see
Speaker 1: what the locals are buying. And like I love that tip.
Speaker 1: Two of the already prepared foods, Yeah, gosh, it's yeah.
Speaker 1: And you can do a little preparing by just googling
Speaker 1: when you're at home, like things to eat in so
Speaker 1: and so, and I'll tell you foods. You can identify
Speaker 1: them so when you see them in the grocery store,
Speaker 1: everything is not as four and you can kind of
Speaker 1: recognize some things. I like this one too. I've not
Speaker 1: tried this, so uh take I don't know, take it
Speaker 1: with a grain of salt, Try it out, report back.
Speaker 1: But consider how sitting while traveling this of course with
Speaker 1: one of the biggest expenses, just like normal life is
Speaker 1: the housing and transportation and food when you're on vacation.
Speaker 1: So similarly, you want to look at the things that
Speaker 1: are going to pack a punch when traveling, like how
Speaker 1: can I save money on lodging, and certainly how sitting
Speaker 1: would be a way to really hack that. Oftentimes it's
Speaker 1: free or they pay you. They share a site in
Speaker 1: the article Trusted house sitters dot com is one place
Speaker 1: that you might be able to find how sitting opportunities
Speaker 1: and something like that could even determine where you travel too.
Speaker 1: If you get a house sitting opportunity in a specific location,
Speaker 1: then all right, that's where we're going. So that I
Speaker 1: think that's a unique and maybe more adventurous way of going,
Speaker 1: but certainly a way that could slice and dice some
Speaker 1: of the expenses. Yes, um my last one on here.
Speaker 1: It's not actually a money saving tip, though I'm sure
Speaker 1: you can they can justify it on here, but is
Speaker 1: to bring more than one credit and debit card with
Speaker 1: you and keep them separate. So we did have an
Speaker 1: instance where we lost a card in Bali and we
Speaker 1: were able to cancel it very quickly, super easy. But
Speaker 1: we needed a way to and this is where debit
Speaker 1: cards are really important. I think we used the Charles
Speaker 1: Schwab like, we opened a Charles Schwab brokerage that we
Speaker 1: could use money like internationally get it out fee free.
Speaker 1: And that's actually the second The next tip after or
Speaker 1: maybe before is to use a card that doesn't have
Speaker 1: um international transaction fees. But so so we were able.
Speaker 1: It was really important for us to have debit cards
Speaker 1: versus credit cards. So in the States everyone takes a
Speaker 1: credit card RD but some places internationally only take cash.
Speaker 1: So you want to a budget so that you're not
Speaker 1: like and sticking to that budget so that you're not
Speaker 1: getting out cash multiple times a day, or like looking
Speaker 1: for an a t M multiple times a day, so
Speaker 1: you you get it once or twice um a week,
Speaker 1: or you know, once a day, and then you have
Speaker 1: it for the whole time you need it until you
Speaker 1: are at another a t M um, and should you
Speaker 1: lose a debit card, you have another debit card so
Speaker 1: that when you have to cancel that one, you're not
Speaker 1: stuck kind of like we were. We only had one
Speaker 1: debit card. We had, you know, several no international transaction
Speaker 1: fee credit cards, but those didn't really help us. So
Speaker 1: that is definitely just a life saving tip. It's just
Speaker 1: a great tip. And I would also say take cash
Speaker 1: as well. Have some cash so that you are not
Speaker 1: stuck and testitute in a foreign layout and try to
Speaker 1: don't don't exchange it at the airport, because the exchange
Speaker 1: rates at the airport are crazy. UM, get there, try
Speaker 1: if you can to exchange some of it in the States,
Speaker 1: if it's possible. It may not be possible because I
Speaker 1: went to Mexico recently, where I was supposed to get
Speaker 1: there during the day so that I could head somewhere
Speaker 1: and exchange my money, but my flight got delayed. I
Speaker 1: ended up getting there at like one o'clock in the
Speaker 1: morning and everything was closed anyway. I couldn't even exchange
Speaker 1: at the airport at that point, so it was a
Speaker 1: big hassle to not have any exchanged money ready to go.
Speaker 1: So if it's possible, try to do some before you
Speaker 1: go there, or or you can just like put on
Speaker 1: Facebook or you're buy nothing group, like, hey, anybody have
Speaker 1: any like pacos they're never going to use again? Like,
Speaker 1: because that's the thing. People come home with pacos and
Speaker 1: they never used them again. Yeah, I've got a lot
Speaker 1: of currency just like sitting in my safe and I'm
Speaker 1: thinking I may never use this again. That's a great idea.
Speaker 1: And somebody people forget the value of it. And he
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, I'll give this away or you could
Speaker 1: like to offer them money for it. That's fun, all right.
Speaker 1: Last thing on here is eat where the locals eat, travel,
Speaker 1: how the locals travel, and again these travel bloggers are
Speaker 1: going to have all the tips and tricks for you
Speaker 1: on this one. I think this has been some of
Speaker 1: our most fun times in traveling is looking at what's
Speaker 1: the what's the amazing restaurant that maybe your tourists aren't
Speaker 1: going to go to but the locals love. And how
Speaker 1: do the locals get around? What train lines are they taking,
Speaker 1: what buses are best? I think this is a great way.
Speaker 1: It is going to save you money, and again it's
Speaker 1: going to introduce you to some new experiences that you
Speaker 1: may never want to replicate it end, but will definitely
Speaker 1: make you some good memories. Yeah, and again this is
Speaker 1: when you can do some pre research on is how
Speaker 1: did the locals travel in blank? Or where did the
Speaker 1: locals eat in blank? Even yelp might have some reviews.
Speaker 1: If you go to the ones that doesn't have like
Speaker 1: ten reviews, you can you know, find some hidden gems
Speaker 1: that way too. Speaking of hidden gems and things that
Speaker 1: I do want to replicate, Oh, you'll always find this
Speaker 1: highlighted in my blog the week. That's right, it's time
Speaker 1: for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a
Speaker 1: baby was born and his name is Williams. Maybe you've
Speaker 1: paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're
Speaker 1: happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Bills,
Speaker 1: BUF bills, bill clin. This is the bill of the week. Hi,
Speaker 1: this is a UM calling in from Minnesota. So my
Speaker 1: bill of the week is actually probably more like a
Speaker 1: non bill. After coming I'm a teacher and after coming
Speaker 1: back from spring break this year, I found out that
Speaker 1: the school was um not charging staff for lunches. So
Speaker 1: that means that I get to eat free lunch every day,
Speaker 1: which includes uh usually an entree, a big salad bar,
Speaker 1: some roasted veggies. It's amazing. And I don't have to
Speaker 1: buy food for lunch to keep at home. I don't
Speaker 1: have to spend time preparing my lunch. I just get
Speaker 1: to go to school every day not worry about it,
Speaker 1: and I know that there's something waiting for me every day.
Speaker 1: I love it. Thanks so much, guys, and congratulations for
Speaker 1: continuing me to eat school lunch to like being about
Speaker 1: that life, because that's going to save you a lot
Speaker 1: of money. Oh, this is my dream that like we
Speaker 1: can all just hope to aspire for our many works day.
Speaker 1: They provide us lunch every day. What a dream? And
Speaker 1: you know what you deserve it? And and why do
Speaker 1: and why don't all teachers get free lunch at the school.
Speaker 1: That should be just a baked in perk of the job.
Speaker 1: You don't get many perks. So here you go, throw
Speaker 1: throw them a bone with some meat on it for once.
Speaker 1: Literally what a boat? Yeah, that would be the least
Speaker 1: they could do. So I'm glad that they are finally
Speaker 1: doing it for you. And it's just doing the Lord's work.
Speaker 1: It's so great. Lords work, so great. I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: so happy for you and somehow getting hungry only I
Speaker 1: don't have I don't have like a free prepared hot
Speaker 1: meal waiting for me um. But happy for you, Anne.
Speaker 1: And this non bill. If you all listening, happened to
Speaker 1: have a non bill? Someone's feeding you do when the
Speaker 1: lord's work, somebody's feeding you. Please let us up visit
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill. Leave us your bill,
Speaker 1: your non bill, your bill's bill, whatever billy you got,
Speaker 1: We're here for you. And now it's time for pew Alright,
Speaker 1: So Goldie's lightning run question for us this week is
Speaker 1: what is your dream vacation destination? And I I see
Speaker 1: that you're okay. You just changed yours. No no, no no,
Speaker 1: I just I narrowed it down. I really became You're
Speaker 1: focus perfect. This is perfect because you just took so
Speaker 1: mine is Greece or Italy and that's what you just deleted.
Speaker 1: So I would love to take a cruise around the Mediterranean.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, stop off at all the st That
Speaker 1: is what this is. Keep going, keep going, We're gonna
Speaker 1: have to go. We're gonna have to go in sparks creativity,
Speaker 1: ah to because you you can stay you can put
Speaker 1: your bags in one place, you don't have to lug
Speaker 1: them around to multiple hotels, and you get to go
Speaker 1: to the places and they sit you there long enough
Speaker 1: that you can drive off, like out of the crowded
Speaker 1: places and just like take a wine tasting or olive
Speaker 1: tasting or hummus or spaghetti. You should see what's really
Speaker 1: doing right now. It's really amazing. She's really getting into
Speaker 1: it and so excited. I have podcast with my arms,
Speaker 1: not just my hands, my arms. I this is my dream? Yes,
Speaker 1: can we make this a reality? Jillian? So so yes it.
Speaker 1: I also had Greece. Well you said Greece or Italy.
Speaker 1: I said Greece and Italy because because yes, yeah, I
Speaker 1: want the cruise that does. And as I was writing it,
Speaker 1: I realized, no, no, no, no no, no, no, this isn't
Speaker 1: just okay, where do you hope to go next? This
Speaker 1: is what is your dream vacation. And I'm realizing my
Speaker 1: dreamiest of dreamy dream dreams is a yacht vacation. So
Speaker 1: we need to level up, Jen your cruise to a
Speaker 1: private chartered yacht around all of the islands of Greece
Speaker 1: and visiting Italy. And we've got our own staff that
Speaker 1: we treat very well and and we at them well,
Speaker 1: and they give us all the things and the experiences
Speaker 1: on this beautiful yacht in the Mediterranean. That is that
Speaker 1: is the dreaming dream, dream dream. And also I've probably
Speaker 1: been watching too much below deck. Okay, but not the
Speaker 1: yacht can't be too small because one of the best
Speaker 1: things about being on a cruise is meeting new people
Speaker 1: and hanging out with new people and meeting new people.
Speaker 1: So I just like that. You don't want to just
Speaker 1: start with me on a yacht in the mediterraneean, actually don't.
Speaker 1: I love you and I want you to be there,
Speaker 1: but I want other people to be there to This
Speaker 1: is how. This is how Travis and I do date
Speaker 1: nights too. This is a fun fact about us. Our
Speaker 1: favorite date nights are where we are actually going out
Speaker 1: with other couples. Like that is when that is our favorite. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we just really like to hang out with the other.
Speaker 1: Way mean, we love each other, that's great. We love
Speaker 1: spending time with each other, but we spend a time
Speaker 1: with each other all the time, and so it is
Speaker 1: our escape to uh spend time with like strangers almost Okay, well,
Speaker 1: it can be a yacht that has like eight cabins
Speaker 1: and other frugal friends come with us. I would say
Speaker 1: about a couple hundred people if we got a couple
Speaker 1: because if it's too small, then the people you have
Speaker 1: to choose from are not the type of people that
Speaker 1: you want to spend time with. Right Why I'm like
Speaker 1: a yacht because listen here, when when it gets that small,
Speaker 1: you get a private chef making food to your liking.
Speaker 1: That's that's what I'm here. But I like a buffets Jill. Okay, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: there's more negotiation that's going to need to come into
Speaker 1: place here. Maybe we could just fly over together. Mostly
Speaker 1: we can catch each other. We can catch each other
Speaker 1: at the ports of come. You get off and you're
Speaker 1: like cattle horde of people all and I get carried
Speaker 1: off to the island. Yep, yep, and we're all carrying
Speaker 1: like lemon cello shooters, like a big group of thirty
Speaker 1: of us, and you're you're like dripping in gold, wearing
Speaker 1: every goal chain you own. That sounds right, that sounds right?
Speaker 1: All right here we are. I love this idea for us.
Speaker 1: That's great. Um, well, we'd love to hear what your
Speaker 1: dreamy stream vacation destination is and thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening. Many of you know we have a private
Speaker 1: community that we offer for our listeners who specifically are
Speaker 1: paying off debt, where we do money challenges um to
Speaker 1: keep you on track. We offer accountability groups to hold
Speaker 1: you accountable, so but in a positive way, not a
Speaker 1: in a mean way. And we want to congratulate one
Speaker 1: of our members in that community for a big, big win. Uh.
Speaker 1: This was from our actually I think still current whenever
Speaker 1: this comes out. Yeah, this is from our Debt Payoff Challenge,
Speaker 1: which is really an income money making challenge that we're
Speaker 1: doing right now. And it's from Katie and she says
Speaker 1: making progress. I've earned sixties seventy five from door dash
Speaker 1: so far this week, and I'm putting it towards a
Speaker 1: credit card. WHOA get it, Katie? Yes, Katie doing that
Speaker 1: little side hustle action making that money and crushing debt. Congrats. Yeah, So,
Speaker 1: thank you for listening. If you are working on paying
Speaker 1: off debt and you feel like you need a little
Speaker 1: more motivation, a little more accountability, head to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash club to see everything we offer
Speaker 1: in the Frugal Friends Club and join us there, see
Speaker 1: you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian.
Speaker 1: We're so aligned on the type of it, like where
Speaker 1: we want to go, so we want to do, but
Speaker 1: then these minor details are what throws the whole thing
Speaker 1: out of whack. We both want to go to the Mediterranean,
Speaker 1: we want to do it by boat, we want to
Speaker 1: see all the islands. Yeah, but one of us wants
Speaker 1: and one of us wants to meet strangers. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm here for the strangers to just you know, with
Speaker 1: the experience. I love how this episode about budget travel,
Speaker 1: but I'm like, my dream vacation is the most luxurious
Speaker 1: type of hear me out, Like, cruises are like a
Speaker 1: really good form of budget travel. You've got your food included,
Speaker 1: you can just head out and do your excursions. You
Speaker 1: can like. Yeah, And the great thing is is I
Speaker 1: love the budget cruise lines, Like I love Carnival, and
Speaker 1: that is the cheapest one, and I love it. I
Speaker 1: love Carnival. The good thing is is that your your
Speaker 1: dreamiest of dreams is attainable. If you want to do
Speaker 1: Italy on Carnival, I don't even know if they do that, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's that I would do that. I wouldn't do Carnival there.
Speaker 1: I would do like a smaller ship that can maneuver
Speaker 1: around the Mediitrane. I will probably never find myself on
Speaker 1: a private yacht in the Mediterranean. So you know, I'm
Speaker 1: just literally in the clouds with this concept, and you're
Speaker 1: actually on the ground thinking critically and realistically about what
Speaker 1: what could happen someday. Yeah, I mean it's not so
Speaker 1: much critical in that I just don't I'm an introvert
Speaker 1: and so if I am alone on a ship, well, okay,
Speaker 1: so this doesn't make sense. But like I am shy
Speaker 1: around strangers, and Travis is really good about like meeting
Speaker 1: new people, and so like I need that, like I
Speaker 1: need to bring him with me everywhere so that I
Speaker 1: can like fill that desire to meet new people. But
Speaker 1: if I'm if there's like no one there but the
Speaker 1: two of us, then I'm just gonna get like board,
Speaker 1: You're gonna go be going off and like to the
Speaker 1: dance club and shutting the club down, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to be sitting on a booth getting hit on by
Speaker 1: a stranger. Because that's what happened in Douth that happened,
Speaker 1: because that's a true story. I didn't you tell me
Speaker 1: this yet because you were dancing. After that, we talk
Speaker 1: back to the hotel, like eventually we saw each other again.
Speaker 1: How have I not heard this story? I it's it's
Speaker 1: it's when I've been keeping for you. I was out
Speaker 1: dancing because I love dancing, and you were sitting at
Speaker 1: a booth because you love sitting as tires. I love
Speaker 1: because I was because it was like what in the morning, Jillion,
Speaker 1: just watching everybody, okay, and then what happened? And then
Speaker 1: the club opened up for people outside of the party,
Speaker 1: and people started talking to me and wanting to be
Speaker 1: on my podcast, and I'm like, I can't. I have
Speaker 1: to go. I mean to go home and sleep to go.
Speaker 1: The club did take a shift when they opened it
Speaker 1: up to the public. I was ready to go to business.
Speaker 1: Not we are never ready to go. You were not
Speaker 1: ready to go until they turned the lights up, Jill,
Speaker 1: that was you. And typically I can hang until around midnight.
Speaker 1: Midnight is when I shut down, even on a normal day.
Speaker 1: And I wasn't feeling very well that week, so it
Speaker 1: was an interesting. Um yeah, so I can't I can't
Speaker 1: be alone with you Jill on a on a cruise,
Speaker 1: but we will be getting turned up when we are
Speaker 1: on a private chartered yacht. Will be on the boat.
Speaker 1: You can go to your cabin whenever you're ready. I can.
Speaker 1: I can trust you up eating my shrimp cocktail. And
Speaker 1: I'm going to find other people like me. When there's like,
Speaker 1: you know, two people on the boat, there's gonna be
Speaker 1: other people like me who just want to sit in
Speaker 1: the piano bar and ask the pianist to play funny
Speaker 1: songs and then laughing. All right, we'll find our radical
Speaker 1: middle vacation together. We will