The Santa Monica Series
A collection of anecdotes, stories, and ramblings on my experiences balancing travel and work, written while I wait for traffic to die down in Santa Monica, CA.
Sleep = Flights?
So where were we last time?
Oh yea, I was sitting by a campfire trying to strike the perfect balance in toasting a marshmallow a wonderful golden brown, while keeping the inside oozing fluffy marshmallowy goodness.
I failed…
As I watched my dreams of a tasty s’more go up in flames, literally, I pondered those questions from my last post
You know, the ones that keep you up at night
It only took 24 years, but I was finally able to articulate many of the why’s that drove me as a person. And I came to realize how well all of those why’s fit into travelling.
Like I said last time, my reasons probably aren’t going to be your reasons, and that’s okay. Otherwise, we wouldn’t all be the wonderful, unique snowflakes our mothers told us we were.
I figured out why I wanted to travel, neat-o.
But the desire to be a traveler is not enough.
There are literally a million reasons and obstacles stopping you from traveling. From money and time to an intense fear of airlines post the United incident
….
too soon?
Reading this will help with the money and time thing, not sure I can really speak to the whole United thing.
Traveling is expensive, there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
For someone coming out of school with a fair amount of student debt, I wasn’t ready to be dropping a few Benjamins on flights.
By no means am I strapped for cash, in fact I consider myself extremely fortunate and blessed for the things I have.
But I didn’t have the free cash on hand to spend recklessly on trips either.
So how was I going to travel?
I looked at it three different ways. Either I was going to need more money for trips, spend less on said trips, or become Olivia Munn’s trophy husband.
Given her history dating guys like Aaron Rodgers, I figure I’ve got a pretty decent shot. So what if he’s got a Super Bowl ring? I played football in high school and my mom told me I was the best one out there. Would love to see Aaron do something like this.
Puh-tay-toe, po-tah-to.
Many of you may be saying “no duh” you need to spend less money or have more of it. I agree it is fairly obvious, but it structures how we can address the problem of money well.
Spending Less (To Get There)
1. Travel Sites / Mailing Lists
For all of those who’ve avoided technology like the plague, be it using travel sites or freaking out when your son purchases pizza through the Domino’s app; it’s time to step out from under the rock and step into the light.
My father freaked out the first time I bought pizza online with his credit card because he was certain he was going to have his identity hacked by “pizza bandits”
…I don’t know who you are or what you want from me and my family “pizza bandits”, but please do not steal my father’s identity.
Assuming there are no travel bandits, one of the cheapest ways I’ve gotten flights are certain travel sites. I’ve written about my favorites below
Skyscanner — Compare, contrast, and filter flights from multiple airlines quickly. My favorite future, visually compare costs of flights from one day to another if you put in a time span as opposed to specific dates. It’s like the guy who shows up to the bar with a bar chart talking about his favorite bars, way more info than you probably need but you never know.
Google Flights — It’s similar to Skyscanner but with a neat future showing costs to different destinations on a single map, perfect for when you’re “feeling lucky.”
Scott’s Cheap Flights — This is arguably my favorite mailing list to be on besides Cat Facts. The guy is the Houdini of finding ridiculously low fares. The only caveat; you have to book pretty far out, the time window is pretty short, and you don’t’ really dictate where you go; the flight costs do.
There’s something funny about embracing that kind of spontaneity in life though, it’s when I’ve had the most memorable experiences.
Right off the bat I want to emphasize I do not receive endorsements from any of the businesses in this article. I mention them because I genuinely believe they add value to my life and I hope they can add value to your life as well.
However, if Domino’s were thinking about throwing some dough over my way, let’s just say, I wouldn’t be too sauced about it.
Did you see what I did there… ???
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I don’t have very many friends
Side note: I’ve purposely foregone hidden city ticketing ex: skiplagged, practices like this are at your own discretion
2. Flying is for birds
As wonderful as it is sitting in extremely cramped seats next to a guy who has inexplicably lost the ability to close his mouth when he chews,
or a hellish baby who has decided to make it her personal mission to make you question whether or not you’ll ever have children;
it turns out there are other modes of transportation as well.
Not only do these means exist, but often times they are cheaper than ever getting on a plane.
I think now a days flying has become slightly exaggerated as the means of transportation. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most expensive means of transportation.
When I lived in NYC, I made a pact with myself to spend one weekend a month with my mama bear. And when I started I would catch this stupid flight where I’d spend more time in security than I would actually flying.
It wasn’t until a friend mentioned I should look at Wanderu* that I realized there were other options outside of a plane and my skateboard to travel, in fact, there were a lot more.
I mean of course I had ridden on buses and trains before, but I never really considered them as options for leisure travel.
Before I knew it, I was saving money, traveling way more comfortably, and not losing any work time by taking the midnight train.
Before I was blind, but now I see.
*Wanderu is a great site that helps you find bus and train options.
3. Checking Bags is for chumps
I mean that in the nicest way possible, but yea, checking bags is for chumps. Unless you’re doing it because there is a very full flight and there won’t be overhead room. Then you’re just being a good person.
Almost everyone has the tendency to over pack, myself included.
Maybe it’s because we think we need to have a new outfit each day of the trip, I promise the only person who’ll ever know is you. Everyone is way too worried about themselves to worry about you wearing the same shirt two days in a row.
If people do notice and call you out, they’re pricks anyhow,
unless it’s after a stride of pride, in which case, hilarious.
Maybe it’s because we’re worried we’ll be underprepared for that unexpected potato sack race we’ll have to take part of, and the thought of leaving your potato sack at home leaves you crying into your pillow at night.
Or maybe it’s because we want options on our trips.
Be it having new outfits, not being adequately prepared, or having options, there is one thing that can solve all of these problems.
Pack less…
Seriously…
Pack less.
When you pack less, you don’t have time to think about new outfits, you just get by with what you have.
When you pack less, if something is necessary, you’ll find a way to make it work when you’re there.
When you pack less, you eliminate the possibility of options, and in turn never think about it. Out of sight, out of mind.
I’ve spent 75% of the last two years living out of a single suitcase. Before that I spent two and a half months’ road tripping across the US with just two duffel bags.
In that time, the one thing I’ve been consistently surprised by is what you actually need vs how much you believe you need.
Make your life easier.
Pack less.
4. Be Flexible
When I say be flexible I mean, be flexible in what days you decide to travel, and what times you travel during those days.
In a perfect world we’d all be able to get off work at 5pm, hop on a flight by 6pm, be at our destination by 8pm, be at a romantic dinner with Olivia Munn by 9pm, and get married and live the rest of our lives happily ever after by 11PM.
Maybe just me, the point is, the world isn’t perfect, and we can’t always get the flights we want. Be they too expensive or just not available. Thus, the importance of being flexible.
I can’t tell you the number of redeyes I’ve taken or flights I’ve woken up for at 330AM to save a few bucks. And by a few bucks I mean I’ve saved over $150 on a flight from LA to ATL by taking the redeye as opposed to taking a flight right after work.
Yes. These aren’t optimal by any means, I know.
But neither is traveling, not everything works out when you travel.
Sometimes you get stung by a stingray surfing and can’t do anything for the rest of the day, sometimes you wake up for a sunrise in Antigua to find that the sky is full of clouds, and sometimes you eat that questionable street taco in Tijuana and spend the subsequent 24 hours holding the toilet for dear life playing the wonderful game of “Guess which hole blows chunks next”
With the money I saved from taking two redeyes, I was able to get a flight to see my friends in Denver. I turned two flights into three, and all I had to sacrifice was a few hours of sleep!
Next up is choosing what day to travel, from what I’ve found Fridays and Sundays have always been pretty bad. Obviously, there are times when you simply can’t avoid traveling on those days.
However, if you can I would highly recommend traveling on other days. In a later post I’ll talk about working remotely so you can leave on cheaper days, but for now I’ll leave it at this; avoid high traffic days like the plague.
Not only do they make your airport experiences worse, but your flight costs go way up. As I sit here typing this I looked up a flight from LA to Belize and the difference between traveling on Friday and Thursday is $120.
The wonderful tool I used to do this: Skyscanner.
All right this has gone on long enough. My friends are telling me to quit being a nerd and go out with them, and frankly, this may be the longest thing I’ve ever written in my life.
We’ve talked a bit on the sacrifices that help you spend less getting there, and probably a few personal details about me you never wanted to know. Next week (bold faced lie, it took me over a month to write this second post), I’m hoping to talk about some of the things I’ve done to have more money to spend on traveling.
Some have been
…questionable
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These are hilarious to me, watching someone write about themselves in the third person. Sy Rashid is a former child who hops on the occasional flight and works on launching a wine brand in CA. Curious to see the shenanigans he’s been getting himself into? Follow him on Instagram (Instagram.com/shy.radish) to track his adventures, juggling work, life, travel, & the occasional Korean Bulgogi taco
