My Travels and How I Do It
In the last 7 months I've been to New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Diego, Mexico, Philippines, Las Vegas and British Columbia. Some of the questions I get from friends are, "Don’t you work anymore? How do you do it? It must cost you a fortune? How do you get so much time off from work?" So this posting is to clear up some facts about my travels and how I go about doing it. I'm also going to break down the places I listed in the opening sentence and let you know how I went about going there.
As far as my work is concerned I do have job like I'm sure most of us do. Trust me when I say I'm no mutli-millionaire and that I simply make an honest living like the rest of us. It might seem as if I live an extravagant life but I'm nowhere close to that kind of lifestyle. If I did I wouldn’t be flying coach to all my destinations. And for those of you who had seen my place know that I live in a rather dull duplex.
In the last past 3 years the longest I've taken off from work using my own personal vacation is one full week. I know what you guys are thinking. You guys are probably saying, "Well that's just impossible because he's been to Thailand and Taiwan for about 2 weeks and the Philippines as well."
Yes I been to those places for more than a week but the fact of the matter is that I was able to go to those places due to a mandatory shutdown at work. One of the perks of working for academia is that every December we shut down for the holidays for about 2 weeks. These are vacation that is automatically approved by my employer without having to use my own PTO. And every since my brother and I have gotten older my family hasn't been very festive during the holidays like we used to. So instead of sitting around for 2 weeks and not doing anything I take the time to travel. Which I did in 2006 when I went to Thailand and Taiwan and this past holiday when I went to the Philippines.
The one full week I taken off was last September when I went back east. I went to visit a friend that I hadn't seen in several years. He's one of those associates that you keep in touch via email but you rarely see. He lives in New Jersey and when you go out there how can you not see the Big Apple as well? It just also happens that he lives 60 minutes away from Philadelphia so we were able to squeeze that in during my visit. And since I'm visiting a friend I had the privilege of staying with him as well, which saved me a lot of cash as far as lodging is concerned.
Let me switch the topic for a bit and talk about money for a second. Going back about 2-3 years I used to go out just about every weekend. I'm talking Friday and Saturday nights and sometimes even Thursday nights just to kick off the weekend a bit early. My buddies and I used to hit up the bars and clubs and spend a fortune on food and even more on drinks. I used to run up tabs on the average anywhere between $60-$100 a night depending on where we went.
Although those were good times I have to admit the dollar amount I was spending was adding up very quickly. Just to be generous let's say I was spending $60 per night and strictly going out on Friday and Saturday nights. Now I'm the smartest person in math but normally there are four weekends in a month. Meaning I went out eight times that month and spent $60 per night. That comes out to $480 a month that I was spending on going out locally. Not just that but I got really tired of seeing the same faces over and over again every time I went out regardless of where I went.
Okay, back to my travels. So now we all know how much I used to spend when I used to go out consistently. Let's now break down my trip to San Diego, Las Vegas and British Columbia. Basically, I'm assuming that we all know how much plane tickets cost to go to these places, which obviously varies by our location. Well, where I live it costs me approximately $120 to fly to San Diego, $160 to Las Vegas and $320 to fly to British Columbia. Compare that to what I used to spend on going out and I still have money left over in my pockets. Not only that but also these flights are so short for me that going to these places can be a weekend trip. I leave early Friday afternoon and come back late Sunday night with the exception of British Columbia, which I might have to make into a 3 day weekend. And again it helps that I save money on lodging since I have either friends or family that live in those locations.
The last trip I'm going to break down is my trip to Mexico last November. I already mentioned that my family isn't big on holidays anymore since I've gotten older. So over Thanksgiving break of 2007 my cousin and I went to Cancun and spent Thanksgiving there. I was able to trade in my miles with American Airlines and get a free roundtrip flight out of them. Not only was I traveling my cousin but my friend went with us as well. We all split one very mediocre hotel room dividing the cost between us three.
There you have it. This is how I'm able to travel as frequently as I do. Again, it doesn't cost me a fortune and at times I'm able to save money compared to what I used to do. The key is to go places where the currency is weaker than the dollar bill and go places where you know someone. If you have the opportunity to go somewhere and stay with a friend take advantage. However, return the favor by taking them out for dinner and drinks. And I always have a open door policy at my place whenever my friends want to visit. BTW - as far as going out...every now and then I'll get out to the local bars and still act a fool.
As far as my work is concerned I do have job like I'm sure most of us do. Trust me when I say I'm no mutli-millionaire and that I simply make an honest living like the rest of us. It might seem as if I live an extravagant life but I'm nowhere close to that kind of lifestyle. If I did I wouldn’t be flying coach to all my destinations. And for those of you who had seen my place know that I live in a rather dull duplex.
In the last past 3 years the longest I've taken off from work using my own personal vacation is one full week. I know what you guys are thinking. You guys are probably saying, "Well that's just impossible because he's been to Thailand and Taiwan for about 2 weeks and the Philippines as well."
Yes I been to those places for more than a week but the fact of the matter is that I was able to go to those places due to a mandatory shutdown at work. One of the perks of working for academia is that every December we shut down for the holidays for about 2 weeks. These are vacation that is automatically approved by my employer without having to use my own PTO. And every since my brother and I have gotten older my family hasn't been very festive during the holidays like we used to. So instead of sitting around for 2 weeks and not doing anything I take the time to travel. Which I did in 2006 when I went to Thailand and Taiwan and this past holiday when I went to the Philippines.
The one full week I taken off was last September when I went back east. I went to visit a friend that I hadn't seen in several years. He's one of those associates that you keep in touch via email but you rarely see. He lives in New Jersey and when you go out there how can you not see the Big Apple as well? It just also happens that he lives 60 minutes away from Philadelphia so we were able to squeeze that in during my visit. And since I'm visiting a friend I had the privilege of staying with him as well, which saved me a lot of cash as far as lodging is concerned.
Let me switch the topic for a bit and talk about money for a second. Going back about 2-3 years I used to go out just about every weekend. I'm talking Friday and Saturday nights and sometimes even Thursday nights just to kick off the weekend a bit early. My buddies and I used to hit up the bars and clubs and spend a fortune on food and even more on drinks. I used to run up tabs on the average anywhere between $60-$100 a night depending on where we went.
Although those were good times I have to admit the dollar amount I was spending was adding up very quickly. Just to be generous let's say I was spending $60 per night and strictly going out on Friday and Saturday nights. Now I'm the smartest person in math but normally there are four weekends in a month. Meaning I went out eight times that month and spent $60 per night. That comes out to $480 a month that I was spending on going out locally. Not just that but I got really tired of seeing the same faces over and over again every time I went out regardless of where I went.
Okay, back to my travels. So now we all know how much I used to spend when I used to go out consistently. Let's now break down my trip to San Diego, Las Vegas and British Columbia. Basically, I'm assuming that we all know how much plane tickets cost to go to these places, which obviously varies by our location. Well, where I live it costs me approximately $120 to fly to San Diego, $160 to Las Vegas and $320 to fly to British Columbia. Compare that to what I used to spend on going out and I still have money left over in my pockets. Not only that but also these flights are so short for me that going to these places can be a weekend trip. I leave early Friday afternoon and come back late Sunday night with the exception of British Columbia, which I might have to make into a 3 day weekend. And again it helps that I save money on lodging since I have either friends or family that live in those locations.
The last trip I'm going to break down is my trip to Mexico last November. I already mentioned that my family isn't big on holidays anymore since I've gotten older. So over Thanksgiving break of 2007 my cousin and I went to Cancun and spent Thanksgiving there. I was able to trade in my miles with American Airlines and get a free roundtrip flight out of them. Not only was I traveling my cousin but my friend went with us as well. We all split one very mediocre hotel room dividing the cost between us three.
There you have it. This is how I'm able to travel as frequently as I do. Again, it doesn't cost me a fortune and at times I'm able to save money compared to what I used to do. The key is to go places where the currency is weaker than the dollar bill and go places where you know someone. If you have the opportunity to go somewhere and stay with a friend take advantage. However, return the favor by taking them out for dinner and drinks. And I always have a open door policy at my place whenever my friends want to visit. BTW - as far as going out...every now and then I'll get out to the local bars and still act a fool.