1- Elisabeth is hosting her monthlong Walking Club again! It’s called the “Cool Bloggers Walking Club” but you definitely do not have to have a blog to participate.
(Though I’m all for a resurgence of blogs!)
I never formally participated before because I felt like I was already outside almost every day running. Well . . . that is not true anymore, and I really do feel better when I spend even a short time in nature walking. So, I’m in.
Scene from today’s walk:
2- If you are interested in learning more about earning points towards travel, Kathleen’s series is a TREASURE TROVE. I was catching up on the aforementioned walk so it reminded me to share it here.
Her podcast, The Reframe, is here, and episode 66 – 70 are all about travel hacking, from signup bonuses to category multipliers to shopping portals and more. Travel is one of our largest spending categories and I am really late to this party but I am IN.
Fun fact: If I met any sign-up bonuses on prior cards . . . it was purely by accident. But now I get it. I just signed up for the Citi Strata Premier (because I am all about points that transfer to AA, the airline we fly 90% of the time) and you had better bet I have a system in place to ensure I meet that sign up bonus.
PS: One thing I wholeheartedly appreciate about Kathleen is that she is not asking you to use her links or anything to sign up for any credit cards or offers (nor am I, BTW!) so it’s very real and unbiased information. I suspect that the information she is sharing is every bit as valuable as some of the paid programs out there.
3- My Hobonichi might get here before 2026?
It has moved from Indianapolis to Memphis – that seems like a good sign, right? And this “clearance in progress” notice is new. Let’s go, little box – you can do it!
4- October goals . . . are TBD. Will share in a future post! My professional goals will be heavily weighted to working towards my book launch. I am ready to hire some help (specifically to help me book podcasts because it is pretty clear that I’m not going to have the bandwidth to reach out to a whole bunch of shows on my own). If you know of someone who is amazing at doing this, definitely let me know!
Honesty, all of the goals that came to mind were professional when I started to brainstorm. But I would like some personal ones as well, so I’ll reflect on that today.
(The month IS however chock full of fun I am anticipating — so that’s good!)
Also, the news continues to be . . . a LOT LOT LOT. Thinking of anyone reading this who is a federal worker or connected to one — very much hoping things get sorted out soon! On a related note, I donated to NPR today (I really like and appreciate their reporting), so that felt good.
11 Comments
I didn’t know you were joining (though obviously I was going to cajole you to walk with me when you’re visiting Nova Scotia). Yay!!!!
I love seeing Sophie’s kangaroo pictures in Australia (I do NOT see any of those in my local walks), and now I can add palm trees to the “exotic” list. There are precisely zero of those in my town.
I award myself a GIANT demerit for not doing more with travel hacking. Kathleen is absolutely incredible at this!
palm trees are . . . not exotic here 🙂 they are literally everywhere. also mangos, coconuts, avocado trees very common.
you get points through your husband’s travels though I hope!?!? please tell me you are at least maximizing the use of those! my parents are quite frugal and my dad traveled a ton for work so you would think they would have been masterminds at this, but admitted later on that he never really figured out frequent flier type stuff until very very late in the game. ahhhh such a waste!
Yes, we do get a LOT of points because of his travelling. Not so much for hotels, though. We don’t seem to manage to maximize that.
We never pay full price for fares; usually we just have to pay taxes and fees. And we all get free lounge access which saves a lot of money too for all the food we get while travelling, especially if we end up having a long layover or delay. We have a personal and corporate card that give Aeroplan points which is the main points program that makes sense for him in Canada. So, for example, when he books an Air Canada flight on his corporate card he’ll get Aeroplan points for the money spent AND Aeroplan points on the actual flight.
I always feel like I’m so far behind on this game, but it is also a lot more difficult in Canada (and living in a small, rural location, not something like Toronto or Vancouver).
I have a free, no-fee dividend Visa, though, so at least I should be upping my game!
Yay for intentional time outside! I cannot believe how much of a saga it continues to be to get your planner! I hope it arrives soon!
Wow, so the lesson is, if you’re ordering something internationally, don’t get any wildlife designs on it??? It seems ridiculous! I hope you get it soon.
I’m joining the walking club! I’m counting running days and also Stairmaster workouts. I want to incorporate more walking as cross training, so this is perfect.
Yep… THE NEWS!! Watching from the other side of the world… What is going ON in your country?? It’s like watching democracy unravel in real time 😠Devastating to watch, for you and for the global implications…
Not sure if this covers getting a SW Companion Pass, but I did that two years ago and highly recommend it. We traveled a ton from PHL to family in FL with one of the kids flying for free in those two years. Very easy to get if you open a business card for your business, but Oct – Dec is the time to do it if you want to maximize the benefit!
And this would probably be a good year to go for the Southwest companion pass (or for both you and Josh to do it) because you’re planning a Hawaii trip. It’s not so great if you want to do international travel but with your flights to Hawaii plus your PHL trips and and any other domestic travel you might do, could be great savings. We are also pretty big into AA because my husband flies a lot for work and always does AA (we don’t live in an AA hub but our airport isn’t a hub of any airline, so he just kind of chose an airline and went all in on it). He has the AA Platinum Select, we both have the AA Aviator Red, and I am planning on both of us opening Citi Strata Premieres in the next several months.
Southwest is just rarely a good option for us – not a lot of flights to our area! Plus the companion would be fine but if we still had to pay full price for 4/5 tickets that’s less exciting 🙂
I have the platinum select already and love it bc I’ve been able to reach platinum status with loyalty points mostly from this card. i heard the aviator is getting phased out but maybe I should nab that SUB before it goes away!
just looked and there are no southwest flights to maui from any of the south florida locations with less than 2 stops – 1 stop is all I can handle!! once upon a time they actually did used to fly nonstop FLL to Bozeman and if they ever bring that back I will absolutely use that route!
Bummer, yeah–two stops is definitely not a good option and seems very risky these days with travel delays. Unfortunately I think the aviator red has already gone away (9/30) but I’m not 100% sure. We both just got it in the nick of time and it was easy to meet the SUB because you only have to make one purchase, plus the annual fee was waived for the first year. I did just see that the AA business card has an elevated offer right now, and since you have a small business that could be worth looking into as well 🙂