November 27, 2024 • 39 mins
Ever had your perfectly planned vacation unravel before your eyes? Join us for a laugh as we recount our most memorable travel blunders, from mis-booked flights to unexpected RV adventures. There's a lesson in every tale, and we'll share how we've learned to navigate everything from early morning flights and pet boarding to flexible trip plans that prevent road stress. Our stories of spontaneous detours and uncertain departure times remind us that sometimes the best trips aren't bound by a rigid schedule.
Think you're a packing genius? We've got some stories that might make you rethink your strategy! Listen as we compare our packing styles—my tendency to cram the kitchen sink into my suitcase versus my partner's last-minute dash. Whether it's booking hotels for the wrong date or forgetting a razor on a cruise, these travel mishaps are as relatable as they are hilarious. Through these humorous anecdotes, we highlight the very human side of travel preparation and how even the best-laid plans can go hilariously awry.
Air travel brings its own set of challenges, and we've got plenty of stories to share. Ever faced a flight diversion that left you in the wrong city? Or realized too late that your budget didn't account for a spontaneous shopping spree at Disney? We'll discuss the ins and outs of navigating airline policies, managing travel budgets, and the importance of preparing for tipping service staff. As we wrap up, we invite you to reflect on your own travel mishaps and share your tips for smoother adventures. Whether you're a meticulous planner or a spontaneous traveler, there's something for everyone in this journey through the ups and downs of travel planning.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ryan (00:00):
We have all been there, whether it's a missed flight or
forgetting to pack somethingessential.
Today, we're sharing some ofour biggest travel mistakes
we've made over the years and,more importantly, how you can
avoid them.
Welcome back, I'm Ryan.
Lauren (00:22):
I'm Lauren, and this is the Miller's Emotion Podcast.
Ryan (00:24):
And yes, you heard that right, we have made mistakes
sometimes.
Lauren (00:28):
I know, contrary to popular belief, they thought we
were perfect.
Ryan (00:31):
I mean, I'm pretty dang close.
So in this episode we thoughtit'd be kind of fun to talk
about some of our travelmistakes and maybe how we think
we could avoid them in thefuture, Kind of one of those
learn through our-our-mistakessituational shows, if that makes
any sense.
So in this episode we're goingto break this down kind of on
(00:53):
how you do travel days.
I will tell you there'll be RVstuff, There'll be a lot of RV
stuff.
There'll be flights.
I'm sure there'll be somecruise stuff.
We may even come up with somenew ways to figure out how we
messed up.
Lauren (01:05):
Spaceships.
Ryan (01:06):
Spaceships.
I was thinking horse trailers,but spaceships works too Okay.
So with that very first kind ofidea is like where have we made
some of our mistakes in?
Like the pre-trip or like theplanning stages?
Do you have any?
Lauren (01:22):
I don't know that they're mistakes, but remember
like we have to drop the dogsoff at boarding sometimes.
Ryan (01:27):
Yeah, most times.
Lauren (01:28):
Oh yeah, the 6 am flight is fantastic, until you have to
take the dogs to boarding on aFriday while you're supposed to
be at work.
Ryan (01:36):
We haven't.
Lauren (01:37):
The dogs have made it every time they have, we've
always made do, but sometimesjust those little oversights
like that.
Always may do, but sometimesjust those little oversights
like that.
Ryan (01:43):
Well, and the interesting thing about that is yeah, but at
the same time too, like I'msure, our most recent flight
will get brought up somewhere inthis, which it really wasn't
our mistake, right, but it was aoh crap situation.
You still have to budget for it.
Well, you have to budget for it.
And then, on top of that, Ithink the other side is like
it's always a give and take, nomatter what you do, and so, like
(02:06):
, if we don't take the six orone of the first flights out,
you run the risk of later onbeing delayed or whatever else,
and so do you want to take thedogs the day before, do you want
to take them day of and riskall that other stuff?
And so it's always a tradeoff.
Lauren (02:20):
In that sense, I would say one of our first mistakes
from the rv side was not tripplanning correctly, absolutely,
because that creates stresswhile you're on the road and
that's not a place where anybodyneeds to be stressed no, and
we've had stuff happen whilewe're in the progress of which
we'll bring up in a differentsection.
Ryan (02:41):
but and I'm talking about like, so I'll use when I was
coming back from this Indianatrip the most recent time and
obviously some stuff happenedthat caused that to be a little
funky, but I didn't know when Iwas leaving during the day.
I knew I was leaving that day,I just didn't know if it'd be
like noon or 8 PM.
Lauren (02:58):
And for clarification, you didn't have control over
that decision necessarily.
Ryan (03:02):
No, that was just depending on whenever Alliance
was done with the rig and I justwanted to go.
So instead of just staying thenight no matter what which was
probably what a normal personwould do I wanted to go ahead
and get on the road and get atleast a little bit of a head
start to see what I can knockout the next day.
But with that I didn'tnecessarily.
When I do that kind of thing, Iput a lot of stops in the RV
(03:22):
life and luckily I got to myfirst one.
But you know not, assumingassuming you're going to be able
to make it no matter what to astop is probably a little naive
in the RV life.
Lauren (03:36):
Very true yeah.
Ryan (03:38):
And the only other one I would say too, is when we very
first started out was trying toplan.
Every teeny, weeny little thingstops, rest, stops like I'll
have to go to the bathroom atthe 320-mile mark.
Lauren (03:52):
We quickly learned that that is not how that works.
Ryan (03:54):
No, it's not, and I think, having some flexibility.
Now there is the whole, youknow, making sure your rig fits
under the bridges, that you'renot taking any routes that
you're uncomfortable with or putyou in a position because of
the size of your rv, but havinga little bit of flexibility.
So, like even now, we have twodifferent versions of when we
travel.
We have when lauren's with meand when lauren's not with me.
(04:16):
When lauren's with me, we do awhole lot of more along the
lines of we have our big stopsand then you, along the way,
fill our small ones based on ourneed.
Hey, we need fuel, hey, we needto potty, we want to eat
something, that kind of stuff,dogs need to get out and then
you kind of find those reststops, pit stops, restaurants,
(04:37):
whatever, and then we pull overwhen you're not with me and
sometimes I have the dog,sometimes I don't.
That's not like.
It's not as easy for me to juststart researching cracker
barrels whilst I'm driving, norshould I.
Lauren (04:51):
Right, exactly.
Ryan (04:53):
And so in that scenario I probably over plan a little bit,
but I don't know how far I'mgoing to get.
So I'll pick three to fivecracker barrels and just light
them up, and then, if I'm goodto go for another, however long
between the two, I'll just hitbypass and I'll keep going.
Lauren (05:06):
but at least I know now, fuel I don't do that with, I
only really do that with, likethe big overnight stops, that
kind of stuff well, and the fuelis really important because
there are some stretches ofhighways that we've been on
where there's not a fuel stopfor a significant distance
looking at you oklahoma yes, soyou have to be prepared for that
and also remember to factor inthat sometimes if your truck
(05:29):
says, hey, a hundred miles toempty, it may be calculating
that from when you were nottowing.
Yeah, we actually did run intothat that we got on the road one
time and it was like, oh okay,we have this much and we had a
hundred mile buffer and we usedour hundred mile buffer and that
was terrifying and we had zerooption.
Unfortunately, I mean, besidescalling like triple a yeah, um,
(05:53):
but there was literally notanother fuel stop yeah, you know
something else too, that we'vemade some.
Ryan (06:02):
Well, okay, this isn't a us thing, at least yet, thank
God.
Lauren (06:05):
Knock on wood.
Ryan (06:06):
So booking the wrong flight.
Okay, we haven't done that, butI don't know if you my dad did.
Lauren (06:15):
Your dad has, and I don't know if you remember this
or not.
You booked a hotel for me onetime when I was out of town by
myself.
Ryan (06:21):
Oh for the wrong night.
I did do that and booked thewrong night Because it town by
myself.
Oh for the wrong night I did dothat the wrong night, because
it was a fast book kind of athing.
Yes, and I wasn't paying asmuch attention as I probably
should have been.
She was at.
You're at a horse show, right?
Lauren (06:31):
I was and I show up after a very long day.
I'm like I have a reservation.
Ryan (06:35):
They're like no, you don't you have one for tomorrow,
though, oops.
So yeah, my bad, um.
So, lauren's, perfect, I'm notmoral of the story but my dad.
So when when I still go to pgashow every year, but I worked in
the industry, I was there a lotmore and my dad used to come
down and go and and like goingand that kind of stuff, and so
(06:58):
he he booked a flight.
Well, he booked it for 9 pm,not 9 am, he 9 am and that's the
only day he could go.
So he was going to land, I wasgoing to pick him up from the
airport, we were going to go,and then I was going to take him
to the hotel my mom was goingto, I guess Uber or something
Shocker.
They went and played at Disneywhile I had to go into the show.
Lauren (07:17):
I can imagine that.
Ryan (07:18):
Yeah, but yeah, I got that phone call at about 7.15 as I'm
getting ready about to head outthe door to go to the show in
the morning section of it, andhe's like, hey, we messed up.
But then they didn't want tofly at nine o'clock at night.
So I don't honestly rememberwhat they did.
I think they just booked theflight for the next day and they
he's got status with Americansso they kind of just worked with
(07:40):
them on it, but yeah, so it canhappen.
Lauren (07:45):
It sure can, and he for record, his dad is a very like
type a person spreadsheets andschedules and all kinds of
things, so this was verysurprising yeah, all right,
moving on moving on have youever had any packing mistakes?
so surprisingly, mine are prettyfew.
I would say I can, I can makedo with quite a bit, and we had
(08:09):
you just say I can make do withquite a bit I sure did um.
So what I usually do isoverpack.
I pack most of the closet and Ijust kind of figure it out when
I get there right and we havevery different packing styles.
I like to pack in pure panic.
Ryan (08:26):
Hey babe, we're leaving in 10 minutes.
I'll pack in five.
Lauren (08:28):
Okay, that's good.
Did we do laundry?
Because that's the way my brainworks, and so that's where I
kind of think on my feet thebest, whereas if I were to pack
a day or two before guaranteedI'm going to miss something.
Ryan (08:40):
Yeah, and I mean I understand if you have anxiety
anxiety why people would packmultiple days in advance.
Or if you're going for a reallylong time, like if you're
spending a month in Italy, whichI wouldn't mind doing that I
understand.
Maybe planning a little furtherout and kind of building some
time to remember what you forgotto put in there, that kind of
stuff.
I'm very much so, though, likeI plan my packing time.
Lauren (09:04):
You sure do.
Ryan (09:05):
If that makes sense, and so sometimes it's the day of I
like to fly in the morning, sotypically it's before I go to
bed the night before I have tobe packed minus toiletries
because I need to use them still, and then it's just chunking in
there Because and this is wheremy mistake comes in I always
forget something in my toiletrybag.
Lauren (09:24):
Always Without fail, there where my mistake comes in.
Ryan (09:27):
I always forget something in my toiletry bag, always.
There was also one time youforgot your belt I did.
I forgot my at a show.
I remember I had to go towalmart and buy a dang belt on
my way into the show.
One year I forgot all of myunderwear when on one trip that
was fun.
Um.
Don't ask what I did um, butinevitably I will always forget
something in my bag, though theworst one.
I hardly ever forget mycontacts, cause I can pre-pack
(09:49):
those, cause I wear daily usecontacts, but it's pretty common
to forget my glasses.
Lauren (09:55):
Sure is.
Ryan (09:56):
And if you wear contacts you know somewhere about that
eight hour line your eyes gettired and a little dehydrated
and you just need to take themout and let your eyes breathe a
little bit.
And I had to push my eyesreally far or be blind as a bat.
So I always forget something inmy toiletries.
I think on the cruise we didwith your mom and Amy I forgot
(10:16):
my razor.
Lauren (10:18):
Oh yeah, you did.
Ryan (10:19):
Yeah, it's always something in the toiletry bag,
because that's the last thing Ipack and I'm not awake yet.
This is why, when I fly in themorning, I like to pack in the
evening, when I'm more awake,because I'm going to get up, I'm
going to use it.
And I used my razor thatmorning and I told myself when
you're done with it, I shave inthe shower, put it, stick it out
in the sink so you remember totake it.
(10:41):
And I didn't.
Lauren (10:48):
I didn't think about it because I wasn't awake and I put
it back on the hook in thebathroom and there it sat and we
spent like eight dollars fortwo really bad bick razors on
the cruise ship.
They were so bad.
Whenever I pack I usually lookat my closet and I think, okay,
did I grab something from everysingle section of my closet?
And people are like, well,that's a little overboard.
Ryan (11:01):
I just told you we're going to Bahamas.
We don't need the toboggan.
Lauren (11:04):
Well, but you know, literally we were going
somewhere like that and I waslike, ooh, flannel pajama pants
and he's like I don't think youneed those.
I'm like, yeah, but what if?
What if?
Ryan (11:20):
So obviously I'm the overpacker.
Well, and you like to get cozy?
Lauren (11:23):
I do.
Ryan (11:23):
I love it freezing like almost frostbite temperature in
the room.
Lauren (11:27):
Which means I need more layers.
Ryan (11:29):
Right, and so I do understand that to a point.
So have you ever forgottenanything so important?
You can't take the trip.
Lauren (11:40):
I haven't have you no.
Ryan (11:41):
I haven't.
That's why I'm asking you.
I mean, I've heard stories.
Lauren (11:44):
I've had many battles with TSA, but I have not we're
going to talk about that in aminute.
But I have not forgottenanything that stopped me from
being able to go on the trip.
Ryan (11:53):
So I know the answer to this, but for sake of
conversation I'm going to ask itanyway.
So I always travel with mypassport.
Lauren (12:01):
Right, always, always.
Ryan (12:03):
So, regardless if I'm getting on a cruise ship going
international, flying domestic,my IDs are in my pocket, my
wallet, and I take my passportwith me as well.
You don't.
Lauren (12:13):
Do you want to tell them why you do that?
Ryan (12:16):
I was going to ask why you don't, but okay.
Lauren (12:19):
Because I don't feel that it's necessary and it's
another thing that I might couldlose or accidentally leave in
the safe.
Ryan (12:27):
Why Okay?
Lauren (12:29):
Yeah.
Ryan (12:29):
Mine stays in my bag.
I don't ever take it out.
Lauren (12:31):
I know, but then what if something happened to your bag?
What if the airlines lost it?
What if all these things?
Ryan (12:38):
What if you lose your wallet and your driver's license
?
Lauren (12:40):
Because, like those are in my purse and so then am I
going to have my my passport andmy photo id in my purse and
then if somebody steals my purse, I'm just so sol.
Ryan (12:49):
But this comes back to the .
That's why it's in my bag andnot I'm not my pocket.
Now that's different.
For guys.
I will say you're not going tofit your passport in your wallet
it is and um on multipleoccasions.
Lauren (12:59):
He has one of those teeny tiny wallets I've lost
that dang thing so many timesit's like once a week y'all.
Okay, it's not that bad.
Ryan (13:05):
So I was a couple years ago.
I was in wisconsin visiting myfolks and we were going to the
airport.
Well, the morning of I had likea midday flight and we went to
breakfast and came back and Iwas going to grab my bag and
whatever else I had left.
I could not find my wallet andI did not have my passport in
that scenario Right, and maybeit was three or four years ago
(13:27):
now that I'm thinking of it, butthat thing caused me to carry
my passport with me at all times, because it ended up just
falling in like the most remotecrack in their Ford SUV I don't
remember the name of it Up inWisconsin that they have, like
now I know, to check the holebetween the carpet and the
plastic of the center console.
(13:48):
But we got to a point where Iwas an hour and a half away from
having to take off and Icouldn't find my wallet, which
means you're not traveling.
Right.
You have to have a picture ID, agovernment-issued photo ID, to
get through TSA.
So that was a big like alwaysgonna take my passport.
Lauren (14:05):
Plus, you never know when you just gotta fly
international on a whim likejust gotta hop on out there,
because we're good about thatand I also think like you have a
teeny, tiny wallet and I have awallet the size of my face, and
so if I lose it like that's aproblem your wallet is a small
purse it.
It actually is.
It comes with a strap.
You can do that does it really.
Ryan (14:25):
Yeah, didn't know that so, but yeah, that's why I always
travel with it that way.
Now, obviously, if we're doingsomething international, hope
you have it, but I wouldn't Ifyou flipped it the other way.
If I was going to flyinternational, would I not take
my driver's license?
Lauren (14:40):
Well, no, because you're going to take your wallet
regardless, so you wouldn't gothe extra step to take your
license out.
Ryan (14:45):
But I do that.
I take things out of my walletI don't need.
Lauren (14:49):
Oh, another key difference we're learning a lot
about each other.
Ryan (14:52):
And so that's.
But I like to have the doublejust in case something were to
happen.
Now I can still come home,because I'd rather come home
than not personally, have wemade any on-the-road RV mistakes
?
And yes, that's my phone, HiStacey still.
Lauren (15:17):
Like major mistakes.
No, I don't think that we'vemade any big ones.
I think there's been a coupleof times where I think that we
overshot what we could do.
Ryan (15:27):
Or I did something stupid because I was very asleep.
Lauren (15:29):
Yeah, that did happen too.
Ryan (15:31):
That's happened a couple of times.
Have you noticed there's atheme, not that event?
If he's, not awake.
Lauren (15:35):
Mistakes happen.
Ryan (15:36):
That's why I don't like to travel that way.
I want a minute to wake up, orI want to be as ready as I
possibly can be the night before.
Lauren (15:43):
Okay, so tell them what happened.
Ryan (15:46):
The horse show one right, yeah.
Okay, making sure on the samepage.
So we had.
We were in Gulfport.
This was our first major tripin our first RV we.
This was the kickoff full timefor us.
We didn't intend it to be, butit became that way because we
put all of our, not all of.
We put a lot of our and just aspoiler.
(16:09):
We came back and realized, likewhy are we putting our stuff
back in?
The house is going to sell likeit's closing in two weeks.
Like it makes no sense to unpack, to repack, and I don't know
that we ever slept another nightin the house.
Lauren (16:20):
Right, I'm with you.
Ryan (16:21):
And so we're down in Gulfport.
We're in a it's a horse showscenario.
So we're in a field witheverybody else.
There are hookups.
I had everything ready to go,except for electrical.
So water was unhooked, sewerwas unhooked.
We were good to go and we leftat do you remember what time?
Lauren (16:40):
I know it was early, I just don't remember what time so
this was also a time when weeach drove a separate trailer
right anytime we go to a horseshow.
Ryan (16:48):
Lauren has to drive the horse trailer and I take the rv
and the dogs.
Lauren (16:51):
So Julie and I believe wanted to be my friend, julie, I
had her horse with me and Ibelieve we wanted to be on the
road by 5 am.
So for frame of reference that.
So I told you you could dowhatever you need to do, but we
need to, julie and I needed tobe on the road by about five.
Ryan (17:07):
Well, and that became one of those like well, I have your,
your stuff, so it doesn't makeany sense to not.
So I think we all got up atfour and I went ahead and got
hooked up if I wasn't alreadyhooked up tonight before, I
don't remember that part and Idid my normal walk arounds.
But again, this was trip numero.
It wasn't our first trip, but itwas our first big trip it was I
(17:27):
think it was like the second orthird trip total, and I did my
walk arounds and I I'm going toleave the power cord to the very
last minute because we're goingto be on the road so long today
.
I didn't want the batteries torun down too far because we had
a residential fridge.
We were going to be driving inthe dark for the first three-ish
hours, and so that was aconscious decision.
I pull the slides in, get thedogs in in the truck.
(17:50):
I'm ready to go.
Completely forgot about thepower cord and I don't remember
how I realized it was dragging Idon't either I think I saw it
out of like one of my mirrors orsomething.
I was like what is that?
and I just stopped in the road,and when I say road, I mean like
I didn't make it far, I nevereven made it off the property no
(18:10):
um, I realize now it's a bigproperty, but I couldn't have
been more than a couple hundredyards away from where we were,
and luckily it's mostly grassand a little bit of gravel, so
it wasn't like I had torn thepower cord up massively, because
if you drive down the road thatway, that rubber is going to
burn off as it drags, and so,yeah, I just almost pulled their
(18:33):
pedestal out of the ground.
Luckily I didn't do any damageto the pedestal.
All we did was bend one of ourprongs a little bit the neutral
prong on our 50 amp and thatbent back reasonably.
We did eventually have toreplace it, I'm sure because of
that, but it lasted a little bit.
Lauren (18:47):
But yeah, other than that I don't think there's been
anything major on the road.
Ryan (18:52):
What about air travel and everything else?
We can go on for days abouttravel mistakes this way.
Lauren (19:00):
Again, I don't think that we've made major mistakes
in that.
Usually we try to plan prettywell so that we have buffers.
I guess you could say thatwe're not flying in at 10
o'clock the night before we'resupposed to be at work.
Ryan (19:13):
Right.
Lauren (19:14):
You know things like that.
We're really not timing it thatclose because, surprise, the
airline industry is not knownfor that sort of thing.
Ryan (19:21):
Well, I think the biggest mistake we've made in air travel
has been trusting the airlinescompletely.
Lauren (19:28):
Exactly, and that's kind of what I'm trying to say is
you almost have to like defendyourself in a way.
Ryan (19:33):
Well and like even so, delays happen.
We that we kind of understand,and I don't I build that into
trips, but not massively.
Lauren (19:44):
Right.
Ryan (19:44):
And there are some times that that build in is one of
those.
I was going to cut it close,but I'm accepting it Right, like
I understand that there's adecent chance that might not
happen, as long as everything,as long as everything stays on
schedule, it will.
But if we're 20 minutes latewe're kind of sol flying is.
I'm one of those crazy peoplethat actually likes flying to a
(20:06):
point yeah, you are um, I likethe experience.
I now I don't love the back ofthe plane coach seats.
My purr-purr-purr doesn't fit.
So having a little bit of spaceis key for me to make me
happy-happy.
But I still enjoy it and even Iget a little tired of kind of
(20:29):
sometimes how they mess with you.
And this travel mistake which Idid a whole podcast over this.
So I'm not going to go into aton of detail.
Maybe let Lauren vent, if shewants to, a little bit.
But essentially we got divertedto Kansas City from Milwaukee
trying to get to Dallas.
For whatever reason whether itbe weather, whether it be the
pilots timing out on theirservice time we could not take
(20:51):
back off from kansas city andmake our way down the dfw, so we
got stuck overnight until thepilots could come back on.
In that happening we trustedthe gate agent with yes, we'll
get a refund for this because itwas diverted, because, in his
words, by law, we're required topay you.
Well, either he lied blatantlythrough his teeth or didn't
(21:14):
understand the policy and orrule at all.
So, or someone at corporatesucks.
Lauren (21:22):
I mean, there's three scenarios here, that's what I'm
trying to figure out because Istill have an email conversation
going about this because hisinterpretation was that,
technically, the weather patternhad ceased Right, our flight
plan was not diverted because ofactive weather.
Ryan (21:40):
Yeah, it was diverted because of air traffic Is what
he was saying.
Lauren (21:43):
American is saying there was air traffic because there
had been weather.
Ryan (21:48):
Right.
Lauren (21:48):
And so we're trying to find the nuance to that as we
speak.
Ryan (21:52):
Well, and in that podcast I said I was actively talking to
them.
That has ended and Lauren hastaken over now because Ryan was
going to murder people.
Lauren (22:01):
No, he's not.
Please don't say that, not tothe public.
But no, it is.
It's.
Sometimes, you know, you talkto somebody else, you phrase it
a different way, you get adifferent answer.
Ryan (22:10):
Yeah, so, other than that, I think the only other and this
, I don't know how this would beconsidered a travel day mistake
.
Um, I mean, we've done littlethings like wish I had brought a
neck pillow yeah um, gotten tothe airport a little too early,
a little too late, all the kindof basic stuff not eaten before
we got on a plane and wish youhad five hours later tried to
take to take a pocket knifethrough TSA.
(22:31):
Forgot about that one.
The usual, I will say that we Ilearned my lesson.
So the first real big trip Iplanned for Lauren and I I mean,
we did some small stuff, butthe first big one was really our
honeymoon and we got marriedand we didn't end that party
(22:52):
till about what time it was 10the party ended at 10 yeah for
some reason, I don't remembergetting the hotel before
midnight I don't know what totell you, dear so it was late by
the time we got there.
Well, and it was our wedding day.
We were both spent, right,we're done, and so me and my
optimum wisdom was like we'regonna leave the next morning.
This will be fun.
(23:12):
It's like a carryover to theparty.
Well, when you've only gottenlike five hours of sleep and
you're coming down off the highof a wedding, getting up the
next morning and of course Iwanted to get breakfast because,
heaven forbid, we miss a meal,that was probably a mistake.
I wish and I've said that acouple of times that's the only
thing I would have changedeither stay another night, book
a later flight, whatever.
(23:34):
But even coming back from ourhoneymoon, we had a similar
scenario where we got delayed inthe Orlando airport for six
hours five hours, something likethat.
Lauren (23:42):
I really wonder why I don't like to fly.
Ryan (23:45):
Well, and so here's the funny part this only happens
when you're with me.
Lauren (23:48):
It does, it only happens .
And do you remember how manyhours we were delayed?
Ryan (23:52):
Out of Orlando, Mm-hmm.
What in like five or six?
Lauren (23:55):
Thirteen, we went through TSA three separate
occasions.
Ryan (24:01):
So Orlando's airport does not have a.
They have food options pastsecurity, but it's all like fast
food, think Wendy's.
I think the cleanest thing theyhad was like a Qdoba or
something like that back thenand so all of the like sit down
like the Chili's, and the realrestaurants were on the wrong
side of security if you'retrying to fly.
So if we wanted to leave theterminal and go back and get
(24:21):
food, we had to go back throughsecurity again.
Lauren (24:23):
So the first time we went through security then we
found out the flight had beendelayed Each time.
It had been delayed enough forus to say, oh okay, let's go one
sit down at a restaurant andtwo budget for the time to get
back through security.
Ryan (24:37):
We got a lot of queso that day.
Lauren (24:38):
We sure did, and margaritas.
Ryan (24:41):
And this was before we had pre-check too.
I will say that.
So whatever the line was iswhat we had to do.
Lauren (24:46):
And it's Orlando where it's kind of a come all
situation.
Ryan (24:49):
Yeah, it's all one big security line, unfortunately
there for all terminals, soyou're kind of stuck with what
you got.
So I will say too that that wasa later flight.
It really wasn't that late of aflight.
Lauren (25:04):
It wasn't.
Ryan (25:04):
It was kind of, let's say, because we were delayed 13
hours, we got back that day.
Lauren (25:07):
We got back that day, but remember the airport was
closed Once we got back.
Ryan (25:15):
You couldn't get your.
There was something we couldn'tget that was like locked up.
Our bags made it back.
Lauren (25:19):
okay, we were dropped off at the airport so we didn't
have like a valet car oranything your parents picked us
up at the airport and there wassomething that was locked up in
the baggage jail that we had tolike.
Hunt somebody down to go pickup.
Ryan (25:29):
I wonder if one of our bags made it before we did, or
for some reason it probably gotonto another flight or an
earlier flight or something,because we got back late enough
that the airport was essentiallyshut down.
Well, I've had that happen wheremy bags end up on an earlier
flight, because when you have aroute that's traveled heavily,
there might be a flight everyhour to hour 45 minutes, and if
you get there two hours prior,there's a chance your bag could
(25:49):
accidentally end up on theearlier flight.
So maybe that's what happenedand they didn't know what to do
with it, so they locked it up.
Lauren (25:58):
And I do remember that, because we just wanted to leave
at that point and there was aflight that we were on where
they lost our luggage.
You remember that and we livelike an hour away from the
airport and they actually had tobring it out to us at our house
.
Ryan (26:05):
Yeah, they tried not to, I do remember that they tried not
to Wasn, wasn't that vegas?
Was it or no, it wasn't vegas,it was something.
But yeah, they.
So if you're, if the airlineloses your luggage, and I will
say it takes a lot for them tolegitimately just full-on lose
it and not find it it'smisplaced for the first bit, it
ended up on the wrong plane,whatever, which, by the way, tip
(26:27):
air tags I have them in ourcheck bags now and that's a
little peace of mind because Ican see where they are.
So at least I know, have an ideaof where they are in the world.
Lauren (26:36):
Yet another thing that's only happened to us, not to
Ryan by himself.
Ryan (26:39):
Well, I don't, in all fairness, I don't check my bags
that much when you're not withme, true, and so typically, when
you're with me, we're taking aslightly bigger trip, so we're
gone either longer or we'regoing somewhere that requires
more stuff, because that's kindof how we fly, yeah, and so we
end up having to check a coupleof bags, like week-long cruises,
but we have to fly to them,that kind of stuff.
So, yeah, in that scenario,unfortunately, you have to kind
(27:00):
of find your bag, but I justluckily now I've got a trip
coming up that you're not comingthat I do have to check a bag.
Lauren (27:05):
So fingers crossed.
That's right, so I guess thatcould be.
Ryan (27:08):
another tip too is that if you are having to check a bag,
make sure that you have, like,some of your necessities with
you just in case, to at leastkind of get through the night or
a couple hours or be okay withwhat you have on, I guess is the
other side, you know like youhave your glasses on you in case
, for some reason, you have totake your contacts out, or right
if you have medicines to take,make sure you have them which is
(27:28):
typically not great on themedicines portion of that, but I
I always put a couple of, so Iwill in my toiletry bag.
it goes in wherever my clothesare and I do put enough contacts
to make it through the trip.
Plus, one day, just in case.
Now, I also put two sets ofcontacts in my carry-on camera
(27:50):
bag, whatever you want to callit.
carry-on camera bag, whateveryou want to call it, because
well, I've had it happen before,because airplanes are so dry in
the cabin while you're flyingthat my contacts have come out
while I'm flying, and so Itypically will put my glasses
and a couple of extra pair ofcontacts in my carry-on just in
case, there you go.
So okay, Last but definitelynot least, have we ever made any
(28:11):
budgeting or money mistakeswhen it comes to traveling?
Lauren (28:15):
All right, nothing major .
Ryan (28:17):
I'm going to send this over to our CPA.
Lauren (28:19):
To the accountant.
I think that this is one ofthose like our eyes are bigger
than our stomach kind ofsituation.
Most of the time we're like, oh, we're going to go on a ski
trip, it's only going to be like$1,000.
Ryan (28:31):
Oh yeah, that was the room for two nights.
Lauren (28:36):
And so I think that's kind of what happens most of the
time is that.
Ryan (28:40):
Under budget.
Lauren (28:42):
I was going to say overspend sir.
Ryan (28:46):
Tomato tomato.
Lauren (28:47):
Exactly.
And now you know how thishappens.
You know we budget and we'relike, oh yeah, I guess we do
have to eat.
Ryan (28:58):
Well and food can get expensive in some places when
you start talking about likeDisney and ski towns and Hawaii
these places where food is justoverpriced.
It's a chunk.
Lauren (29:10):
It sure is.
And our honeymoon in Disney.
I bought an extraordinaryamount of stuffed animals, which
required the purchase ofanother bag to get them home.
Ryan (29:18):
We had to buy a $40 duffel bag that said Disney on the
side that I don't know thatwe've ever used again.
Lauren (29:23):
I think I used it.
Ryan (29:24):
I just don't know for what .
Just to say that I used it Gymbag.
Lauren (29:27):
Maybe.
So I think that, as far asbudgeting goes, we just yeah,
we've probably missed the markmore times than we've hit it.
Ryan (29:34):
I like cake, to be honest.
Lauren (29:36):
We like food.
Ryan (29:38):
And apparently stuffed animals.
Lauren (29:40):
That was a one-time thing.
I didn't do that anywhere else.
Ryan (29:42):
Yeah, because you realized I had to see what you did at
some point.
Lauren (29:45):
Do you remember how you found them?
Ryan (29:47):
No, I'd hid them behind the couch.
I do remember that.
I remember I found them All thebags.
Lauren (29:51):
And I didn't want all the bags out in the middle of it
because it was gettingcluttered, so I put them behind
the couch.
Ryan (30:02):
Well, not only them being behind the couch.
So we spoiler.
We went to disney for ourhoneymoon and we had a really
nice room that had a littlesitting area and then it had the
bed off to the other side andwe were there for almost a week
and so you had been slowlycollecting these things and I
don't know if it became an outof sight, out of mind situation.
Lauren (30:14):
A little bit did it okay , or if it was fully intentional
no, it was a little out ofsight, out of mind, so the
things that you're like that one.
Ryan (30:22):
Yet I just need to put it in my bag.
At some point you just kind ofshove over.
There was like a wet bar kindof a thing, and over by the
couch there was like you couldstick some stuff over there in
the corner.
Well, that's where things thatlike dirty clothes weren't over
there, it was.
Just it became a catch-all forthings we need to pack and I
don't remember how I found it,but yeah, let's just say we
(30:42):
started.
I'm pulling that stuff out ofthe bags like the day, like
we're getting ready to pack tohead back right and it's like
what and why did what is allthis?
Lauren (30:50):
we were together the whole time.
You saw every bit of that.
Ryan (30:53):
The other thing that disney's amazing about is, at
the time I don't know if you canstill do this or not you can
ship that stuff back to yourroom.
Lauren (30:59):
Oh, absolutely, and that's what happened.
Ryan (31:01):
And you'd forget.
Lauren (31:02):
Yeah, a little bit.
So the other thing as far asbudgeting goes is know when you
need to take cash and whenyou're going to use your card,
Because for some internationalthings, for security you're
going to use your card orwhatever, but sometimes you do
need to have cash on hand and sojust understand kind of how
much and what things.
Ryan (31:19):
Well, and I'll say this is the one thing that I get into a
little bit of a pickle forsometimes that when you're not
with me because you typicallyhave, because you pay some of
the horse world you typicallyhave a little bit of cash on you
.
Yeah, for the most part Notalways, but for the most part I
never have cash on me, never, Ijust don't carry it, remember
(31:40):
teeny weeny wallet situation.
Lauren (31:40):
That's right, there's nowhere for money.
Ryan (31:41):
Remember my big old wallet got to pay all the horse people
yeah so for me, I've been in ascenario where I really should
have tipped a couple of bucks toa guy because of something like
oh, I have no money, whoops.
So I've thought about that nowand when we do travel, we will
get some smaller bills out andtake care of that.
Like we have a cruise coming upin march and the cruise line
(32:04):
we're going on you don't prepayyour tips and so spoiler in a
little bit you're gonna realizeI'm going on another cruise even
sooner and I've thought aboutthat because I looked at it.
I'm like there's no prepaidtips anywhere on here, which
means you have to tip there.
So can I put it on thestateroom cart, can I not?
Lauren (32:23):
Which ends up being my credit card.
Ryan (32:25):
I don't think so.
Lauren (32:26):
I don't think you can put it on your card.
Ryan (32:27):
And so that becomes one of those.
Well, I don't want to stiff theguy that takes care of me all
week either, and so it's likeokay, well, how much do I need?
You should tip that person.
I think you should tip that.
I know that people don't Shameon them.
I think you should.
I'm not saying, give them 20bucks, but give them a couple of
(32:49):
bucks.
They help you with your bag.
They're nice, they chat.
They give you a bottle of water.
Give them a buck.
Lauren (32:53):
Well, and even like all-inclusive resorts or
something, if you go get a drink.
Yeah, it's paid for, but it'sstill nice to tip the bartender
or the waiter or something alittle bit here and there.
Ryan (33:02):
Exactly.
Lauren (33:02):
Just have that sort of stuff on hand.
Ryan (33:04):
Yep.
So okay, same point as money,but I think one of the biggest
mistakes we made when it came toit's not really budgeting, but
when we came to money and travelis not maximizing points and
miles.
Lauren (33:18):
And that is very true.
Ryan (33:20):
For the longest time.
That might as well have beenGreek to us.
Lauren (33:25):
So do you remember that we actually did start doing that
when we first got married, topay for part of the honeymoon?
Ryan (33:32):
Yeah, I do, but it wasn't the way that we do it now.
Lauren (33:36):
No, it was totally different, and so we have
learned an awful lot.
Ryan (33:40):
We actually got a Disney card.
We did so, essentially, what wewere doing is earning credit
yes to disney um, and we usedthat to help pay for my stuffed
animals yeah, all the stuffedanimals we had mickey, everybody
, um, and so we that right it.
It became like a cash backthing, but specifically towards
(34:02):
Disney.
Lauren (34:02):
Right, because we knew we were going there.
Ryan (34:04):
Now, obviously, when I'm saying that, like we yes, you
did that and that was just moreof a we were you were still in
college or just out of college,were you?
Lauren (34:15):
out of college.
Still Just no, I was like amonth shy of graduating.
Yeah, that's right.
Ryan (34:19):
So you were done but not graduated.
I was like a month shy ofgraduating, yeah, that's right.
So you were done, but notgraduated, right?
And so I mean, let's be honest,we didn't have any money.
Lauren (34:25):
We was broke y'all.
Ryan (34:26):
And very nicely, from my parents.
Our honeymoon was a gift fromthem.
Now the actual travel portion,everything once we got there,
all on us, and so we tried tofind ways to maximize and make
our dollar.
I don't know, maximize, makeour dollar go further?
Yeah, exactly, it's probablythe right way to say that.
Lauren (34:45):
And we're still desperately trying to do that
because to me.
Ryan (34:48):
Well, now we're doing it because we're just cheap.
Lauren (34:49):
Well, and now it's a game.
Ryan (34:51):
It is.
So.
That's the problem.
It's become entertaining forboth of us to be completely
honest with you, because youlike the how can I get more
miles to maximize that portionof it, and I like the how can I
redeem them in a better way toget more bang.
For my point I was going to saya dollar, but it's not a dollar
, it's a point.
Lauren (35:09):
It is.
Ryan (35:10):
And so now we use everything from you name it.
But we accumulate points and,to be completely honest, we
haven't paid full price for someaspect of travel now in quite a
while.
Now it doesn't work oneverything.
No.
It works on a lot.
But like we have a couple ofcruises coming up and I believe
(35:30):
our flights were paid for withpoints and our pre-hotel stays
were paid with points, thecruises you can do but the value
is not there to do it, it's notso you just pay for those.
But we've talked about taking ahandful of trips.
In fact we've been, we're goingto do a whole upcoming trips
and kind of bucket list thingsthat we want to do here coming
up soon and a big one is goingto be hawaii.
Lauren (35:51):
That trip should be almost completely paid for on
points and miles and that was agoal we set out a while back was
to finagle it well, Well andwe've been able to do it a
couple of times.
Ryan (36:03):
We've lost it a couple of times because stuff got more
expensive, which made morepoints, and then COVID was a
thing.
But now we're there to where wecan actually kind of plan that
out and get an idea and put iton the books actually and go.
So anyway, I would say pointsand miles and if you do want to
learn more about points andmiles, we've partnered with the
Daily Drop, which is a fun thing.
From Karen Nate started it Justkind of how to maximize.
(36:25):
It's how we learned how to do alot of that stuff.
So we have a link in the showdescription down below.
If you're curious about some ofour favorite credit cards that
we use to accumulate thosethings or just want to learn
more about it in general,there's a link for both those
things as well, and I really dothink that not using those
benefits and like planning withthose tools, I think that's a
big mistake.
Lauren (36:46):
But I'm also going to say the CPA accountant in me
that I don't actually have adegree.
I just do this for funsies.
Believe it or not.
If you're carrying a creditcard balance, that is not worth
it.
This is for people who pay offtheir credit cards and are, you
know, in that financial group?
Ryan (37:03):
I normally start those talks with we are not preaching,
carry a balance.
They have some fiscalresponsibility If you can't keep
a credit card at a reasonablyclose to zero balance and I get
that it's a moving target.
Lauren (37:15):
so it's never truly zero worth that Right?
Ryan (37:17):
Well, you can charge all you want.
You can get those points untilyou pay it off.
So let's be honest.
You can put $10,000 on a creditcard.
You can buy a truck with acredit card in some scenarios,
but they're not giving you apoint until you give them money
for that thing.
Lauren (37:31):
So, so, yes, I'm off my soapbox.
Just wanted to say that.
Ryan (37:34):
No, and that's a good soapbox to be on, because fiscal
responsibility is important.
Now, if we could just get ourcountry to figure that out, like
the government.
Okay, I am very curious.
I would like to hear if youhave any big foopas.
If you may, so, do us a favorin the show notes down below or
on social media, shoot us amessage, tag us in something, or
(37:55):
you can send us a text message.
In the next episode, we'regoing to be talking about some
of the trips that we're going tobe taking in 2024, as well as
some bigger things that we havemaybe slightly further on the
horizon.
That's not actually planned yet, and if there's some good ones
from this show in that textmessage or the DMs, I'm going to
(38:16):
read them.
Lauren, just gave me a look.
It's a podcast.
Lauren (38:17):
You're talking to the microphone.
I'll let you interpret.
Ryan (38:21):
Yeah, you didn't need the mic for that, so shoot us those.
Let us know what your biggestmistakes are.
If you have any tip to avoidmistakes, we will pass those
along.
Also, one last littlehousekeeping thing If you could
do us a favor, whatever you'redoing on your favorite podcast
platform, if you could hit thatlittle follow button, whether
it's on Apple, spotify orwhatever one Also rating and
(38:43):
actually writing out a reviewwould be massively helpful,
because that's how the algorithmon the podcast side likes to
push everything out.
So, thank you guys, so much.
Anything you want to add?
Lauren (38:53):
Nope, I'm good.
Ryan (38:55):
Ready to go on a trip?
She's not ready to go on a trip.
So, thank you guys, so much forlistening, listening, and we
will catch you next week.
Bye you.
We have all been there, whether it's a missed flight or
forgetting to pack somethingessential.
Today, we're sharing some ofour biggest travel mistakes
we've made over the years and,more importantly, how you can
avoid them.
Welcome back, I'm Ryan.
Lauren (00:22):
I'm Lauren, and this is the Miller's Emotion Podcast.
Ryan (00:24):
And yes, you heard that right, we have made mistakes
sometimes.
Lauren (00:28):
I know, contrary to popular belief, they thought we
were perfect.
Ryan (00:31):
I mean, I'm pretty dang close.
So in this episode we thoughtit'd be kind of fun to talk
about some of our travelmistakes and maybe how we think
we could avoid them in thefuture, Kind of one of those
learn through our-our-mistakessituational shows, if that makes
any sense.
So in this episode we're goingto break this down kind of on
(00:53):
how you do travel days.
I will tell you there'll be RVstuff, There'll be a lot of RV
stuff.
There'll be flights.
I'm sure there'll be somecruise stuff.
We may even come up with somenew ways to figure out how we
messed up.
Lauren (01:05):
Spaceships.
Ryan (01:06):
Spaceships.
I was thinking horse trailers,but spaceships works too Okay.
So with that very first kind ofidea is like where have we made
some of our mistakes in?
Like the pre-trip or like theplanning stages?
Do you have any?
Lauren (01:22):
I don't know that they're mistakes, but remember
like we have to drop the dogsoff at boarding sometimes.
Ryan (01:27):
Yeah, most times.
Lauren (01:28):
Oh yeah, the 6 am flight is fantastic, until you have to
take the dogs to boarding on aFriday while you're supposed to
be at work.
Ryan (01:36):
We haven't.
Lauren (01:37):
The dogs have made it every time they have, we've
always made do, but sometimesjust those little oversights
like that.
Always may do, but sometimesjust those little oversights
like that.
Ryan (01:43):
Well, and the interesting thing about that is yeah, but at
the same time too, like I'msure, our most recent flight
will get brought up somewhere inthis, which it really wasn't
our mistake, right, but it was aoh crap situation.
You still have to budget for it.
Well, you have to budget for it.
And then, on top of that, Ithink the other side is like
it's always a give and take, nomatter what you do, and so, like
(02:06):
, if we don't take the six orone of the first flights out,
you run the risk of later onbeing delayed or whatever else,
and so do you want to take thedogs the day before, do you want
to take them day of and riskall that other stuff?
And so it's always a tradeoff.
Lauren (02:20):
In that sense, I would say one of our first mistakes
from the rv side was not tripplanning correctly, absolutely,
because that creates stresswhile you're on the road and
that's not a place where anybodyneeds to be stressed no, and
we've had stuff happen whilewe're in the progress of which
we'll bring up in a differentsection.
Ryan (02:41):
but and I'm talking about like, so I'll use when I was
coming back from this Indianatrip the most recent time and
obviously some stuff happenedthat caused that to be a little
funky, but I didn't know when Iwas leaving during the day.
I knew I was leaving that day,I just didn't know if it'd be
like noon or 8 PM.
Lauren (02:58):
And for clarification, you didn't have control over
that decision necessarily.
Ryan (03:02):
No, that was just depending on whenever Alliance
was done with the rig and I justwanted to go.
So instead of just staying thenight no matter what which was
probably what a normal personwould do I wanted to go ahead
and get on the road and get atleast a little bit of a head
start to see what I can knockout the next day.
But with that I didn'tnecessarily.
When I do that kind of thing, Iput a lot of stops in the RV
(03:22):
life and luckily I got to myfirst one.
But you know not, assumingassuming you're going to be able
to make it no matter what to astop is probably a little naive
in the RV life.
Lauren (03:36):
Very true yeah.
Ryan (03:38):
And the only other one I would say too, is when we very
first started out was trying toplan.
Every teeny, weeny little thingstops, rest, stops like I'll
have to go to the bathroom atthe 320-mile mark.
Lauren (03:52):
We quickly learned that that is not how that works.
Ryan (03:54):
No, it's not, and I think, having some flexibility.
Now there is the whole, youknow, making sure your rig fits
under the bridges, that you'renot taking any routes that
you're uncomfortable with or putyou in a position because of
the size of your rv, but havinga little bit of flexibility.
So, like even now, we have twodifferent versions of when we
travel.
We have when lauren's with meand when lauren's not with me.
(04:16):
When lauren's with me, we do awhole lot of more along the
lines of we have our big stopsand then you, along the way,
fill our small ones based on ourneed.
Hey, we need fuel, hey, we needto potty, we want to eat
something, that kind of stuff,dogs need to get out and then
you kind of find those reststops, pit stops, restaurants,
(04:37):
whatever, and then we pull overwhen you're not with me and
sometimes I have the dog,sometimes I don't.
That's not like.
It's not as easy for me to juststart researching cracker
barrels whilst I'm driving, norshould I.
Lauren (04:51):
Right, exactly.
Ryan (04:53):
And so in that scenario I probably over plan a little bit,
but I don't know how far I'mgoing to get.
So I'll pick three to fivecracker barrels and just light
them up, and then, if I'm goodto go for another, however long
between the two, I'll just hitbypass and I'll keep going.
Lauren (05:06):
but at least I know now, fuel I don't do that with, I
only really do that with, likethe big overnight stops, that
kind of stuff well, and the fuelis really important because
there are some stretches ofhighways that we've been on
where there's not a fuel stopfor a significant distance
looking at you oklahoma yes, soyou have to be prepared for that
and also remember to factor inthat sometimes if your truck
(05:29):
says, hey, a hundred miles toempty, it may be calculating
that from when you were nottowing.
Yeah, we actually did run intothat that we got on the road one
time and it was like, oh okay,we have this much and we had a
hundred mile buffer and we usedour hundred mile buffer and that
was terrifying and we had zerooption.
Unfortunately, I mean, besidescalling like triple a yeah, um,
(05:53):
but there was literally notanother fuel stop yeah, you know
something else too, that we'vemade some.
Ryan (06:02):
Well, okay, this isn't a us thing, at least yet, thank
God.
Lauren (06:05):
Knock on wood.
Ryan (06:06):
So booking the wrong flight.
Okay, we haven't done that, butI don't know if you my dad did.
Lauren (06:15):
Your dad has, and I don't know if you remember this
or not.
You booked a hotel for me onetime when I was out of town by
myself.
Ryan (06:21):
Oh for the wrong night.
I did do that and booked thewrong night Because it town by
myself.
Oh for the wrong night I did dothat the wrong night, because
it was a fast book kind of athing.
Yes, and I wasn't paying asmuch attention as I probably
should have been.
She was at.
You're at a horse show, right?
Lauren (06:31):
I was and I show up after a very long day.
I'm like I have a reservation.
Ryan (06:35):
They're like no, you don't you have one for tomorrow,
though, oops.
So yeah, my bad, um.
So, lauren's, perfect, I'm notmoral of the story but my dad.
So when when I still go to pgashow every year, but I worked in
the industry, I was there a lotmore and my dad used to come
down and go and and like goingand that kind of stuff, and so
(06:58):
he he booked a flight.
Well, he booked it for 9 pm,not 9 am, he 9 am and that's the
only day he could go.
So he was going to land, I wasgoing to pick him up from the
airport, we were going to go,and then I was going to take him
to the hotel my mom was goingto, I guess Uber or something
Shocker.
They went and played at Disneywhile I had to go into the show.
Lauren (07:17):
I can imagine that.
Ryan (07:18):
Yeah, but yeah, I got that phone call at about 7.15 as I'm
getting ready about to head outthe door to go to the show in
the morning section of it, andhe's like, hey, we messed up.
But then they didn't want tofly at nine o'clock at night.
So I don't honestly rememberwhat they did.
I think they just booked theflight for the next day and they
he's got status with Americansso they kind of just worked with
(07:40):
them on it, but yeah, so it canhappen.
Lauren (07:45):
It sure can, and he for record, his dad is a very like
type a person spreadsheets andschedules and all kinds of
things, so this was verysurprising yeah, all right,
moving on moving on have youever had any packing mistakes?
so surprisingly, mine are prettyfew.
I would say I can, I can makedo with quite a bit, and we had
(08:09):
you just say I can make do withquite a bit I sure did um.
So what I usually do isoverpack.
I pack most of the closet and Ijust kind of figure it out when
I get there right and we havevery different packing styles.
I like to pack in pure panic.
Ryan (08:26):
Hey babe, we're leaving in 10 minutes.
I'll pack in five.
Lauren (08:28):
Okay, that's good.
Did we do laundry?
Because that's the way my brainworks, and so that's where I
kind of think on my feet thebest, whereas if I were to pack
a day or two before guaranteedI'm going to miss something.
Ryan (08:40):
Yeah, and I mean I understand if you have anxiety
anxiety why people would packmultiple days in advance.
Or if you're going for a reallylong time, like if you're
spending a month in Italy, whichI wouldn't mind doing that I
understand.
Maybe planning a little furtherout and kind of building some
time to remember what you forgotto put in there, that kind of
stuff.
I'm very much so, though, likeI plan my packing time.
Lauren (09:04):
You sure do.
Ryan (09:05):
If that makes sense, and so sometimes it's the day of I
like to fly in the morning, sotypically it's before I go to
bed the night before I have tobe packed minus toiletries
because I need to use them still, and then it's just chunking in
there Because and this is wheremy mistake comes in I always
forget something in my toiletrybag.
Lauren (09:24):
Always Without fail, there where my mistake comes in.
Ryan (09:27):
I always forget something in my toiletry bag, always.
There was also one time youforgot your belt I did.
I forgot my at a show.
I remember I had to go towalmart and buy a dang belt on
my way into the show.
One year I forgot all of myunderwear when on one trip that
was fun.
Um.
Don't ask what I did um, butinevitably I will always forget
something in my bag, though theworst one.
I hardly ever forget mycontacts, cause I can pre-pack
(09:49):
those, cause I wear daily usecontacts, but it's pretty common
to forget my glasses.
Lauren (09:55):
Sure is.
Ryan (09:56):
And if you wear contacts you know somewhere about that
eight hour line your eyes gettired and a little dehydrated
and you just need to take themout and let your eyes breathe a
little bit.
And I had to push my eyesreally far or be blind as a bat.
So I always forget something inmy toiletries.
I think on the cruise we didwith your mom and Amy I forgot
(10:16):
my razor.
Lauren (10:18):
Oh yeah, you did.
Ryan (10:19):
Yeah, it's always something in the toiletry bag,
because that's the last thing Ipack and I'm not awake yet.
This is why, when I fly in themorning, I like to pack in the
evening, when I'm more awake,because I'm going to get up, I'm
going to use it.
And I used my razor thatmorning and I told myself when
you're done with it, I shave inthe shower, put it, stick it out
in the sink so you remember totake it.
(10:41):
And I didn't.
Lauren (10:48):
I didn't think about it because I wasn't awake and I put
it back on the hook in thebathroom and there it sat and we
spent like eight dollars fortwo really bad bick razors on
the cruise ship.
They were so bad.
Whenever I pack I usually lookat my closet and I think, okay,
did I grab something from everysingle section of my closet?
And people are like, well,that's a little overboard.
Ryan (11:01):
I just told you we're going to Bahamas.
We don't need the toboggan.
Lauren (11:04):
Well, but you know, literally we were going
somewhere like that and I waslike, ooh, flannel pajama pants
and he's like I don't think youneed those.
I'm like, yeah, but what if?
What if?
Ryan (11:20):
So obviously I'm the overpacker.
Well, and you like to get cozy?
Lauren (11:23):
I do.
Ryan (11:23):
I love it freezing like almost frostbite temperature in
the room.
Lauren (11:27):
Which means I need more layers.
Ryan (11:29):
Right, and so I do understand that to a point.
So have you ever forgottenanything so important?
You can't take the trip.
Lauren (11:40):
I haven't have you no.
Ryan (11:41):
I haven't.
That's why I'm asking you.
I mean, I've heard stories.
Lauren (11:44):
I've had many battles with TSA, but I have not we're
going to talk about that in aminute.
But I have not forgottenanything that stopped me from
being able to go on the trip.
Ryan (11:53):
So I know the answer to this, but for sake of
conversation I'm going to ask itanyway.
So I always travel with mypassport.
Lauren (12:01):
Right, always, always.
Ryan (12:03):
So, regardless if I'm getting on a cruise ship going
international, flying domestic,my IDs are in my pocket, my
wallet, and I take my passportwith me as well.
You don't.
Lauren (12:13):
Do you want to tell them why you do that?
Ryan (12:16):
I was going to ask why you don't, but okay.
Lauren (12:19):
Because I don't feel that it's necessary and it's
another thing that I might couldlose or accidentally leave in
the safe.
Ryan (12:27):
Why Okay?
Lauren (12:29):
Yeah.
Ryan (12:29):
Mine stays in my bag.
I don't ever take it out.
Lauren (12:31):
I know, but then what if something happened to your bag?
What if the airlines lost it?
What if all these things?
Ryan (12:38):
What if you lose your wallet and your driver's license
?
Lauren (12:40):
Because, like those are in my purse and so then am I
going to have my my passport andmy photo id in my purse and
then if somebody steals my purse, I'm just so sol.
Ryan (12:49):
But this comes back to the .
That's why it's in my bag andnot I'm not my pocket.
Now that's different.
For guys.
I will say you're not going tofit your passport in your wallet
it is and um on multipleoccasions.
Lauren (12:59):
He has one of those teeny tiny wallets I've lost
that dang thing so many timesit's like once a week y'all.
Okay, it's not that bad.
Ryan (13:05):
So I was a couple years ago.
I was in wisconsin visiting myfolks and we were going to the
airport.
Well, the morning of I had likea midday flight and we went to
breakfast and came back and Iwas going to grab my bag and
whatever else I had left.
I could not find my wallet andI did not have my passport in
that scenario Right, and maybeit was three or four years ago
(13:27):
now that I'm thinking of it, butthat thing caused me to carry
my passport with me at all times, because it ended up just
falling in like the most remotecrack in their Ford SUV I don't
remember the name of it Up inWisconsin that they have, like
now I know, to check the holebetween the carpet and the
plastic of the center console.
(13:48):
But we got to a point where Iwas an hour and a half away from
having to take off and Icouldn't find my wallet, which
means you're not traveling.
Right.
You have to have a picture ID, agovernment-issued photo ID, to
get through TSA.
So that was a big like alwaysgonna take my passport.
Lauren (14:05):
Plus, you never know when you just gotta fly
international on a whim likejust gotta hop on out there,
because we're good about thatand I also think like you have a
teeny, tiny wallet and I have awallet the size of my face, and
so if I lose it like that's aproblem your wallet is a small
purse it.
It actually is.
It comes with a strap.
You can do that does it really.
Ryan (14:25):
Yeah, didn't know that so, but yeah, that's why I always
travel with it that way.
Now, obviously, if we're doingsomething international, hope
you have it, but I wouldn't Ifyou flipped it the other way.
If I was going to flyinternational, would I not take
my driver's license?
Lauren (14:40):
Well, no, because you're going to take your wallet
regardless, so you wouldn't gothe extra step to take your
license out.
Ryan (14:45):
But I do that.
I take things out of my walletI don't need.
Lauren (14:49):
Oh, another key difference we're learning a lot
about each other.
Ryan (14:52):
And so that's.
But I like to have the doublejust in case something were to
happen.
Now I can still come home,because I'd rather come home
than not personally, have wemade any on-the-road RV mistakes
?
And yes, that's my phone, HiStacey still.
Lauren (15:17):
Like major mistakes.
No, I don't think that we'vemade any big ones.
I think there's been a coupleof times where I think that we
overshot what we could do.
Ryan (15:27):
Or I did something stupid because I was very asleep.
Lauren (15:29):
Yeah, that did happen too.
Ryan (15:31):
That's happened a couple of times.
Have you noticed there's atheme, not that event?
If he's, not awake.
Lauren (15:35):
Mistakes happen.
Ryan (15:36):
That's why I don't like to travel that way.
I want a minute to wake up, orI want to be as ready as I
possibly can be the night before.
Lauren (15:43):
Okay, so tell them what happened.
Ryan (15:46):
The horse show one right, yeah.
Okay, making sure on the samepage.
So we had.
We were in Gulfport.
This was our first major tripin our first RV we.
This was the kickoff full timefor us.
We didn't intend it to be, butit became that way because we
put all of our, not all of.
We put a lot of our and just aspoiler.
(16:09):
We came back and realized, likewhy are we putting our stuff
back in?
The house is going to sell likeit's closing in two weeks.
Like it makes no sense to unpack, to repack, and I don't know
that we ever slept another nightin the house.
Lauren (16:20):
Right, I'm with you.
Ryan (16:21):
And so we're down in Gulfport.
We're in a it's a horse showscenario.
So we're in a field witheverybody else.
There are hookups.
I had everything ready to go,except for electrical.
So water was unhooked, sewerwas unhooked.
We were good to go and we leftat do you remember what time?
Lauren (16:40):
I know it was early, I just don't remember what time so
this was also a time when weeach drove a separate trailer
right anytime we go to a horseshow.
Ryan (16:48):
Lauren has to drive the horse trailer and I take the rv
and the dogs.
Lauren (16:51):
So Julie and I believe wanted to be my friend, julie, I
had her horse with me and Ibelieve we wanted to be on the
road by 5 am.
So for frame of reference that.
So I told you you could dowhatever you need to do, but we
need to, julie and I needed tobe on the road by about five.
Ryan (17:07):
Well, and that became one of those like well, I have your,
your stuff, so it doesn't makeany sense to not.
So I think we all got up atfour and I went ahead and got
hooked up if I wasn't alreadyhooked up tonight before, I
don't remember that part and Idid my normal walk arounds.
But again, this was trip numero.
It wasn't our first trip, but itwas our first big trip it was I
(17:27):
think it was like the second orthird trip total, and I did my
walk arounds and I I'm going toleave the power cord to the very
last minute because we're goingto be on the road so long today
.
I didn't want the batteries torun down too far because we had
a residential fridge.
We were going to be driving inthe dark for the first three-ish
hours, and so that was aconscious decision.
I pull the slides in, get thedogs in in the truck.
(17:50):
I'm ready to go.
Completely forgot about thepower cord and I don't remember
how I realized it was dragging Idon't either I think I saw it
out of like one of my mirrors orsomething.
I was like what is that?
and I just stopped in the road,and when I say road, I mean like
I didn't make it far, I nevereven made it off the property no
(18:10):
um, I realize now it's a bigproperty, but I couldn't have
been more than a couple hundredyards away from where we were,
and luckily it's mostly grassand a little bit of gravel, so
it wasn't like I had torn thepower cord up massively, because
if you drive down the road thatway, that rubber is going to
burn off as it drags, and so,yeah, I just almost pulled their
(18:33):
pedestal out of the ground.
Luckily I didn't do any damageto the pedestal.
All we did was bend one of ourprongs a little bit the neutral
prong on our 50 amp and thatbent back reasonably.
We did eventually have toreplace it, I'm sure because of
that, but it lasted a little bit.
Lauren (18:47):
But yeah, other than that I don't think there's been
anything major on the road.
Ryan (18:52):
What about air travel and everything else?
We can go on for days abouttravel mistakes this way.
Lauren (19:00):
Again, I don't think that we've made major mistakes
in that.
Usually we try to plan prettywell so that we have buffers.
I guess you could say thatwe're not flying in at 10
o'clock the night before we'resupposed to be at work.
Ryan (19:13):
Right.
Lauren (19:14):
You know things like that.
We're really not timing it thatclose because, surprise, the
airline industry is not knownfor that sort of thing.
Ryan (19:21):
Well, I think the biggest mistake we've made in air travel
has been trusting the airlinescompletely.
Lauren (19:28):
Exactly, and that's kind of what I'm trying to say is
you almost have to like defendyourself in a way.
Ryan (19:33):
Well and like even so, delays happen.
We that we kind of understand,and I don't I build that into
trips, but not massively.
Lauren (19:44):
Right.
Ryan (19:44):
And there are some times that that build in is one of
those.
I was going to cut it close,but I'm accepting it Right, like
I understand that there's adecent chance that might not
happen, as long as everything,as long as everything stays on
schedule, it will.
But if we're 20 minutes latewe're kind of sol flying is.
I'm one of those crazy peoplethat actually likes flying to a
(20:06):
point yeah, you are um, I likethe experience.
I now I don't love the back ofthe plane coach seats.
My purr-purr-purr doesn't fit.
So having a little bit of spaceis key for me to make me
happy-happy.
But I still enjoy it and even Iget a little tired of kind of
(20:29):
sometimes how they mess with you.
And this travel mistake which Idid a whole podcast over this.
So I'm not going to go into aton of detail.
Maybe let Lauren vent, if shewants to, a little bit.
But essentially we got divertedto Kansas City from Milwaukee
trying to get to Dallas.
For whatever reason whether itbe weather, whether it be the
pilots timing out on theirservice time we could not take
(20:51):
back off from kansas city andmake our way down the dfw, so we
got stuck overnight until thepilots could come back on.
In that happening we trustedthe gate agent with yes, we'll
get a refund for this because itwas diverted, because, in his
words, by law, we're required topay you.
Well, either he lied blatantlythrough his teeth or didn't
(21:14):
understand the policy and orrule at all.
So, or someone at corporatesucks.
Lauren (21:22):
I mean, there's three scenarios here, that's what I'm
trying to figure out because Istill have an email conversation
going about this because hisinterpretation was that,
technically, the weather patternhad ceased Right, our flight
plan was not diverted because ofactive weather.
Ryan (21:40):
Yeah, it was diverted because of air traffic Is what
he was saying.
Lauren (21:43):
American is saying there was air traffic because there
had been weather.
Ryan (21:48):
Right.
Lauren (21:48):
And so we're trying to find the nuance to that as we
speak.
Ryan (21:52):
Well, and in that podcast I said I was actively talking to
them.
That has ended and Lauren hastaken over now because Ryan was
going to murder people.
Lauren (22:01):
No, he's not.
Please don't say that, not tothe public.
But no, it is.
It's.
Sometimes, you know, you talkto somebody else, you phrase it
a different way, you get adifferent answer.
Ryan (22:10):
Yeah, so, other than that, I think the only other and this
, I don't know how this would beconsidered a travel day mistake
.
Um, I mean, we've done littlethings like wish I had brought a
neck pillow yeah um, gotten tothe airport a little too early,
a little too late, all the kindof basic stuff not eaten before
we got on a plane and wish youhad five hours later tried to
take to take a pocket knifethrough TSA.
(22:31):
Forgot about that one.
The usual, I will say that we Ilearned my lesson.
So the first real big trip Iplanned for Lauren and I I mean,
we did some small stuff, butthe first big one was really our
honeymoon and we got marriedand we didn't end that party
(22:52):
till about what time it was 10the party ended at 10 yeah for
some reason, I don't remembergetting the hotel before
midnight I don't know what totell you, dear so it was late by
the time we got there.
Well, and it was our wedding day.
We were both spent, right,we're done, and so me and my
optimum wisdom was like we'regonna leave the next morning.
This will be fun.
(23:12):
It's like a carryover to theparty.
Well, when you've only gottenlike five hours of sleep and
you're coming down off the highof a wedding, getting up the
next morning and of course Iwanted to get breakfast because,
heaven forbid, we miss a meal,that was probably a mistake.
I wish and I've said that acouple of times that's the only
thing I would have changedeither stay another night, book
a later flight, whatever.
(23:34):
But even coming back from ourhoneymoon, we had a similar
scenario where we got delayed inthe Orlando airport for six
hours five hours, something likethat.
Lauren (23:42):
I really wonder why I don't like to fly.
Ryan (23:45):
Well, and so here's the funny part this only happens
when you're with me.
Lauren (23:48):
It does, it only happens .
And do you remember how manyhours we were delayed?
Ryan (23:52):
Out of Orlando, Mm-hmm.
What in like five or six?
Lauren (23:55):
Thirteen, we went through TSA three separate
occasions.
Ryan (24:01):
So Orlando's airport does not have a.
They have food options pastsecurity, but it's all like fast
food, think Wendy's.
I think the cleanest thing theyhad was like a Qdoba or
something like that back thenand so all of the like sit down
like the Chili's, and the realrestaurants were on the wrong
side of security if you'retrying to fly.
So if we wanted to leave theterminal and go back and get
(24:21):
food, we had to go back throughsecurity again.
Lauren (24:23):
So the first time we went through security then we
found out the flight had beendelayed Each time.
It had been delayed enough forus to say, oh okay, let's go one
sit down at a restaurant andtwo budget for the time to get
back through security.
Ryan (24:37):
We got a lot of queso that day.
Lauren (24:38):
We sure did, and margaritas.
Ryan (24:41):
And this was before we had pre-check too.
I will say that.
So whatever the line was iswhat we had to do.
Lauren (24:46):
And it's Orlando where it's kind of a come all
situation.
Ryan (24:49):
Yeah, it's all one big security line, unfortunately
there for all terminals, soyou're kind of stuck with what
you got.
So I will say too that that wasa later flight.
It really wasn't that late of aflight.
Lauren (25:04):
It wasn't.
Ryan (25:04):
It was kind of, let's say, because we were delayed 13
hours, we got back that day.
Lauren (25:07):
We got back that day, but remember the airport was
closed Once we got back.
Ryan (25:15):
You couldn't get your.
There was something we couldn'tget that was like locked up.
Our bags made it back.
Lauren (25:19):
okay, we were dropped off at the airport so we didn't
have like a valet car oranything your parents picked us
up at the airport and there wassomething that was locked up in
the baggage jail that we had tolike.
Hunt somebody down to go pickup.
Ryan (25:29):
I wonder if one of our bags made it before we did, or
for some reason it probably gotonto another flight or an
earlier flight or something,because we got back late enough
that the airport was essentiallyshut down.
Well, I've had that happen wheremy bags end up on an earlier
flight, because when you have aroute that's traveled heavily,
there might be a flight everyhour to hour 45 minutes, and if
you get there two hours prior,there's a chance your bag could
(25:49):
accidentally end up on theearlier flight.
So maybe that's what happenedand they didn't know what to do
with it, so they locked it up.
Lauren (25:58):
And I do remember that, because we just wanted to leave
at that point and there was aflight that we were on where
they lost our luggage.
You remember that and we livelike an hour away from the
airport and they actually had tobring it out to us at our house
.
Ryan (26:05):
Yeah, they tried not to, I do remember that they tried not
to Wasn, wasn't that vegas?
Was it or no, it wasn't vegas,it was something.
But yeah, they.
So if you're, if the airlineloses your luggage, and I will
say it takes a lot for them tolegitimately just full-on lose
it and not find it it'smisplaced for the first bit, it
ended up on the wrong plane,whatever, which, by the way, tip
(26:27):
air tags I have them in ourcheck bags now and that's a
little peace of mind because Ican see where they are.
So at least I know, have an ideaof where they are in the world.
Lauren (26:36):
Yet another thing that's only happened to us, not to
Ryan by himself.
Ryan (26:39):
Well, I don't, in all fairness, I don't check my bags
that much when you're not withme, true, and so typically, when
you're with me, we're taking aslightly bigger trip, so we're
gone either longer or we'regoing somewhere that requires
more stuff, because that's kindof how we fly, yeah, and so we
end up having to check a coupleof bags, like week-long cruises,
but we have to fly to them,that kind of stuff.
So, yeah, in that scenario,unfortunately, you have to kind
(27:00):
of find your bag, but I justluckily now I've got a trip
coming up that you're not comingthat I do have to check a bag.
Lauren (27:05):
So fingers crossed.
That's right, so I guess thatcould be.
Ryan (27:08):
another tip too is that if you are having to check a bag,
make sure that you have, like,some of your necessities with
you just in case, to at leastkind of get through the night or
a couple hours or be okay withwhat you have on, I guess is the
other side, you know like youhave your glasses on you in case
, for some reason, you have totake your contacts out, or right
if you have medicines to take,make sure you have them which is
(27:28):
typically not great on themedicines portion of that, but I
I always put a couple of, so Iwill in my toiletry bag.
it goes in wherever my clothesare and I do put enough contacts
to make it through the trip.
Plus, one day, just in case.
Now, I also put two sets ofcontacts in my carry-on camera
(27:50):
bag, whatever you want to callit.
carry-on camera bag, whateveryou want to call it, because
well, I've had it happen before,because airplanes are so dry in
the cabin while you're flyingthat my contacts have come out
while I'm flying, and so Itypically will put my glasses
and a couple of extra pair ofcontacts in my carry-on just in
case, there you go.
So okay, Last but definitelynot least, have we ever made any
(28:11):
budgeting or money mistakeswhen it comes to traveling?
Lauren (28:15):
All right, nothing major .
Ryan (28:17):
I'm going to send this over to our CPA.
Lauren (28:19):
To the accountant.
I think that this is one ofthose like our eyes are bigger
than our stomach kind ofsituation.
Most of the time we're like, oh, we're going to go on a ski
trip, it's only going to be like$1,000.
Ryan (28:31):
Oh yeah, that was the room for two nights.
Lauren (28:36):
And so I think that's kind of what happens most of the
time is that.
Ryan (28:40):
Under budget.
Lauren (28:42):
I was going to say overspend sir.
Ryan (28:46):
Tomato tomato.
Lauren (28:47):
Exactly.
And now you know how thishappens.
You know we budget and we'relike, oh yeah, I guess we do
have to eat.
Ryan (28:58):
Well and food can get expensive in some places when
you start talking about likeDisney and ski towns and Hawaii
these places where food is justoverpriced.
It's a chunk.
Lauren (29:10):
It sure is.
And our honeymoon in Disney.
I bought an extraordinaryamount of stuffed animals, which
required the purchase ofanother bag to get them home.
Ryan (29:18):
We had to buy a $40 duffel bag that said Disney on the
side that I don't know thatwe've ever used again.
Lauren (29:23):
I think I used it.
Ryan (29:24):
I just don't know for what .
Just to say that I used it Gymbag.
Lauren (29:27):
Maybe.
So I think that, as far asbudgeting goes, we just yeah,
we've probably missed the markmore times than we've hit it.
Ryan (29:34):
I like cake, to be honest.
Lauren (29:36):
We like food.
Ryan (29:38):
And apparently stuffed animals.
Lauren (29:40):
That was a one-time thing.
I didn't do that anywhere else.
Ryan (29:42):
Yeah, because you realized I had to see what you did at
some point.
Lauren (29:45):
Do you remember how you found them?
Ryan (29:47):
No, I'd hid them behind the couch.
I do remember that.
I remember I found them All thebags.
Lauren (29:51):
And I didn't want all the bags out in the middle of it
because it was gettingcluttered, so I put them behind
the couch.
Ryan (30:02):
Well, not only them being behind the couch.
So we spoiler.
We went to disney for ourhoneymoon and we had a really
nice room that had a littlesitting area and then it had the
bed off to the other side andwe were there for almost a week
and so you had been slowlycollecting these things and I
don't know if it became an outof sight, out of mind situation.
Lauren (30:14):
A little bit did it okay , or if it was fully intentional
no, it was a little out ofsight, out of mind, so the
things that you're like that one.
Ryan (30:22):
Yet I just need to put it in my bag.
At some point you just kind ofshove over.
There was like a wet bar kindof a thing, and over by the
couch there was like you couldstick some stuff over there in
the corner.
Well, that's where things thatlike dirty clothes weren't over
there, it was.
Just it became a catch-all forthings we need to pack and I
don't remember how I found it,but yeah, let's just say we
(30:42):
started.
I'm pulling that stuff out ofthe bags like the day, like
we're getting ready to pack tohead back right and it's like
what and why did what is allthis?
Lauren (30:50):
we were together the whole time.
You saw every bit of that.
Ryan (30:53):
The other thing that disney's amazing about is, at
the time I don't know if you canstill do this or not you can
ship that stuff back to yourroom.
Lauren (30:59):
Oh, absolutely, and that's what happened.
Ryan (31:01):
And you'd forget.
Lauren (31:02):
Yeah, a little bit.
So the other thing as far asbudgeting goes is know when you
need to take cash and whenyou're going to use your card,
Because for some internationalthings, for security you're
going to use your card orwhatever, but sometimes you do
need to have cash on hand and sojust understand kind of how
much and what things.
Ryan (31:19):
Well, and I'll say this is the one thing that I get into a
little bit of a pickle forsometimes that when you're not
with me because you typicallyhave, because you pay some of
the horse world you typicallyhave a little bit of cash on you
.
Yeah, for the most part Notalways, but for the most part I
never have cash on me, never, Ijust don't carry it, remember
(31:40):
teeny weeny wallet situation.
Lauren (31:40):
That's right, there's nowhere for money.
Ryan (31:41):
Remember my big old wallet got to pay all the horse people
yeah so for me, I've been in ascenario where I really should
have tipped a couple of bucks toa guy because of something like
oh, I have no money, whoops.
So I've thought about that nowand when we do travel, we will
get some smaller bills out andtake care of that.
Like we have a cruise coming upin march and the cruise line
(32:04):
we're going on you don't prepayyour tips and so spoiler in a
little bit you're gonna realizeI'm going on another cruise even
sooner and I've thought aboutthat because I looked at it.
I'm like there's no prepaidtips anywhere on here, which
means you have to tip there.
So can I put it on thestateroom cart, can I not?
Lauren (32:23):
Which ends up being my credit card.
Ryan (32:25):
I don't think so.
Lauren (32:26):
I don't think you can put it on your card.
Ryan (32:27):
And so that becomes one of those.
Well, I don't want to stiff theguy that takes care of me all
week either, and so it's likeokay, well, how much do I need?
You should tip that person.
I think you should tip that.
I know that people don't Shameon them.
I think you should.
I'm not saying, give them 20bucks, but give them a couple of
(32:49):
bucks.
They help you with your bag.
They're nice, they chat.
They give you a bottle of water.
Give them a buck.
Lauren (32:53):
Well, and even like all-inclusive resorts or
something, if you go get a drink.
Yeah, it's paid for, but it'sstill nice to tip the bartender
or the waiter or something alittle bit here and there.
Ryan (33:02):
Exactly.
Lauren (33:02):
Just have that sort of stuff on hand.
Ryan (33:04):
Yep.
So okay, same point as money,but I think one of the biggest
mistakes we made when it came toit's not really budgeting, but
when we came to money and travelis not maximizing points and
miles.
Lauren (33:18):
And that is very true.
Ryan (33:20):
For the longest time.
That might as well have beenGreek to us.
Lauren (33:25):
So do you remember that we actually did start doing that
when we first got married, topay for part of the honeymoon?
Ryan (33:32):
Yeah, I do, but it wasn't the way that we do it now.
Lauren (33:36):
No, it was totally different, and so we have
learned an awful lot.
Ryan (33:40):
We actually got a Disney card.
We did so, essentially, what wewere doing is earning credit
yes to disney um, and we usedthat to help pay for my stuffed
animals yeah, all the stuffedanimals we had mickey, everybody
, um, and so we that right it.
It became like a cash backthing, but specifically towards
(34:02):
Disney.
Lauren (34:02):
Right, because we knew we were going there.
Ryan (34:04):
Now, obviously, when I'm saying that, like we yes, you
did that and that was just moreof a we were you were still in
college or just out of college,were you?
Lauren (34:15):
out of college.
Still Just no, I was like amonth shy of graduating.
Yeah, that's right.
Ryan (34:19):
So you were done but not graduated.
I was like a month shy ofgraduating, yeah, that's right.
So you were done, but notgraduated, right?
And so I mean, let's be honest,we didn't have any money.
Lauren (34:25):
We was broke y'all.
Ryan (34:26):
And very nicely, from my parents.
Our honeymoon was a gift fromthem.
Now the actual travel portion,everything once we got there,
all on us, and so we tried tofind ways to maximize and make
our dollar.
I don't know, maximize, makeour dollar go further?
Yeah, exactly, it's probablythe right way to say that.
Lauren (34:45):
And we're still desperately trying to do that
because to me.
Ryan (34:48):
Well, now we're doing it because we're just cheap.
Lauren (34:49):
Well, and now it's a game.
Ryan (34:51):
It is.
So.
That's the problem.
It's become entertaining forboth of us to be completely
honest with you, because youlike the how can I get more
miles to maximize that portionof it, and I like the how can I
redeem them in a better way toget more bang.
For my point I was going to saya dollar, but it's not a dollar
, it's a point.
Lauren (35:09):
It is.
Ryan (35:10):
And so now we use everything from you name it.
But we accumulate points and,to be completely honest, we
haven't paid full price for someaspect of travel now in quite a
while.
Now it doesn't work oneverything.
No.
It works on a lot.
But like we have a couple ofcruises coming up and I believe
(35:30):
our flights were paid for withpoints and our pre-hotel stays
were paid with points, thecruises you can do but the value
is not there to do it, it's notso you just pay for those.
But we've talked about taking ahandful of trips.
In fact we've been, we're goingto do a whole upcoming trips
and kind of bucket list thingsthat we want to do here coming
up soon and a big one is goingto be hawaii.
Lauren (35:51):
That trip should be almost completely paid for on
points and miles and that was agoal we set out a while back was
to finagle it well, Well andwe've been able to do it a
couple of times.
Ryan (36:03):
We've lost it a couple of times because stuff got more
expensive, which made morepoints, and then COVID was a
thing.
But now we're there to where wecan actually kind of plan that
out and get an idea and put iton the books actually and go.
So anyway, I would say pointsand miles and if you do want to
learn more about points andmiles, we've partnered with the
Daily Drop, which is a fun thing.
From Karen Nate started it Justkind of how to maximize.
(36:25):
It's how we learned how to do alot of that stuff.
So we have a link in the showdescription down below.
If you're curious about some ofour favorite credit cards that
we use to accumulate thosethings or just want to learn
more about it in general,there's a link for both those
things as well, and I really dothink that not using those
benefits and like planning withthose tools, I think that's a
big mistake.
Lauren (36:46):
But I'm also going to say the CPA accountant in me
that I don't actually have adegree.
I just do this for funsies.
Believe it or not.
If you're carrying a creditcard balance, that is not worth
it.
This is for people who pay offtheir credit cards and are, you
know, in that financial group?
Ryan (37:03):
I normally start those talks with we are not preaching,
carry a balance.
They have some fiscalresponsibility If you can't keep
a credit card at a reasonablyclose to zero balance and I get
that it's a moving target.
Lauren (37:15):
so it's never truly zero worth that Right?
Ryan (37:17):
Well, you can charge all you want.
You can get those points untilyou pay it off.
So let's be honest.
You can put $10,000 on a creditcard.
You can buy a truck with acredit card in some scenarios,
but they're not giving you apoint until you give them money
for that thing.
Lauren (37:31):
So, so, yes, I'm off my soapbox.
Just wanted to say that.
Ryan (37:34):
No, and that's a good soapbox to be on, because fiscal
responsibility is important.
Now, if we could just get ourcountry to figure that out, like
the government.
Okay, I am very curious.
I would like to hear if youhave any big foopas.
If you may, so, do us a favorin the show notes down below or
on social media, shoot us amessage, tag us in something, or
(37:55):
you can send us a text message.
In the next episode, we'regoing to be talking about some
of the trips that we're going tobe taking in 2024, as well as
some bigger things that we havemaybe slightly further on the
horizon.
That's not actually planned yet, and if there's some good ones
from this show in that textmessage or the DMs, I'm going to
(38:16):
read them.
Lauren, just gave me a look.
It's a podcast.
Lauren (38:17):
You're talking to the microphone.
I'll let you interpret.
Ryan (38:21):
Yeah, you didn't need the mic for that, so shoot us those.
Let us know what your biggestmistakes are.
If you have any tip to avoidmistakes, we will pass those
along.
Also, one last littlehousekeeping thing If you could
do us a favor, whatever you'redoing on your favorite podcast
platform, if you could hit thatlittle follow button, whether
it's on Apple, spotify orwhatever one Also rating and
(38:43):
actually writing out a reviewwould be massively helpful,
because that's how the algorithmon the podcast side likes to
push everything out.
So, thank you guys, so much.
Anything you want to add?
Lauren (38:53):
Nope, I'm good.
Ryan (38:55):
Ready to go on a trip?
She's not ready to go on a trip.
So, thank you guys, so much forlistening, listening, and we
will catch you next week.
Bye you.
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