Retiree Kay Wallingford shares how she and her husband traveled around the U.S. and to Europe using Lyn's simple fly-free strategy. She tells us why we should start traveling as soon as possible so we can visit all the places on our bucket lists!
Want to make more family travel memories without breaking the bank? Longtime travel journalist Lyn Mettler shares her top tips to help families quickly and easily travel for less using rewards points and inspires you with ideas of where to travel on your next vacation.
Do you love to travel and
save money or do you wish
you could travel but money is
holding you back?
You're in the right place.
Welcome to the Families Fly Free
podcast where I show you
how to fly your family free
forever using my simple
Fly Free Formula.
I'm your host, Lyn Mettler.
My family of four has mastered
the art of flying free as simply
as possible since 2015.
And I want to show your family how
to do it, too.
Hey, everyone, we are
back with another one of
our Families Fly Free
member interviews.
This is one of my favorite things to
do because
I love hear members to tell you
their perspective and each member
brings something different.
And so we like to bring all
different types of people who've had
all different types of experiences.
So today we have Kay
Wallingford.
Did I say that right?
Wallingford.
That's right. That's right.
So I'm going to let you tell us a
little bit about yourself, Kay.
Okay. All right.
Happy to.
I am honored to be asked to
do this. Lyn, you have
helped me so much in my travel
life, and I
just hope that I can say something
that will be a benefit to others,
because you've really
totally changed my life as
far as travel goes,
I am happily married
for, oh,
48 years
and we have two older daughters
and they're married.
I have six grandsons.
Only boys, no girls.
I can relate as a mother of boys.
Yeah, we throw a lot Of yeah,
we throw a lot of balls and
drive a lot of trucks.
So that's.
Yeah. Wonderful, wonderful.
And I
am retired, which is,
which is wonderful.
But as far as travel,
I'm I think we probably waited
too late to start our
our traveling.
Never too late. Never did.
Well, I'm starting to run out of
time.
And because people don't realize
that their bodies change
and the knee starts giving them
trouble or
eyesight is not as good, or maybe
you have back problems, but
we are traveling as much as
we can right now and we are loving
it. And this
is going to be one of my hints
is to everybody is don't
put it off.
Amen to that.
Travel right now.
And that's one of the things that
you have done for
Ken and me, is that you have
encouraged us to go
for it and travel and
we are making the most of it and
we love it.
Oh, so I like your strategy.
I really fell in love with traveling
because one of my best friends was a
travel agent and she had been
to over 70 countries.
And I love to hear her stories.
And we talk about traveling.
And I went, Oh my gosh, I want to be
able to afford to do that.
I just and so we took
a trip to Italy.
But wow,
it was it was expensive just
to get there.
So I said, I've got to find out
another way of of
traveling. So thankfully
I have.
And my husband and I just
enjoy
well, well, I'll
get into all of that later.
But where we go and and what
we do, but
generally we, we
fly out of Austin,
we don't RV like my
parents did because Texas is
just too big.
So we like to
catch a Southwest flight and
fly to Denver and then
rent a car.
And then we like to
just travel around in that area
and then go back to Denver and
then we fly back to Austin.
Austin's not a big hub, so we can't
go to a lot of cities like, you
know, Dallas and Houston are big
hubs.
So that's generally how we like to
travel. And
it's just it's just my husband and I
that are doing most of the most of
the travel. Like I said, we are
we are retired, which is
good. We have lots of lots of
flexibility.
But but we
we don't do all the hikes like
we wished that we could.
So anyway, I travel with
the hikes.
That's where right now.
That's where we are right now.
Yeah.
But yeah. Let me put an exclamation
point on your note of travel
now, because I can't tell you how
many people email me and
say, particularly during
the pandemic, Oh, I wish we had
traveled because now we can't
we don't know if we'll ever be able
to because they have a surgery
or they might get sick or, you know,
advanced age, all of that.
So and I just feel like
you just don't ever know what's
coming around the corner.
You don't know what tomorrow's going
to bring, so you can do something
now. Do it now.
Don't put off till tomorrow what you
can do today. I have gotten burned
on that one so, so
many times. If I could just follow
that.
Anyway, that's, I think, an
important point so
well.
And really
very soon after my husband retired,
he had a heart attack.
Well, that's something that you're
not anticipating at all.
So that delayed us.
And of course, then, you know, as
you said, COVID, you just
you just don't know what the future
holds. You just need to go for it
right now.
Yeah. So any of you who are thinking
about joining in your hesitant, like
so many of our members are like, Oh,
I'm so glad I did this now.
And we have a lot of people too.
They're like, Oh, I wish I'd done
this when my kids were young, right?
So if you have young kids, do it and
then you have to have that regret.
But okay.
So tell us why you decided to join
Families Fly Free.
Okay. So like I said,
we had taken a trip to Italy
and come back and
I just realized that this was going
to take a whole lot more money than
I had planned on because I had a
lot of travel ambitions.
So I started following
a guy called The Points Guy
online and
out came terrific person.
He was he was on TV
and and it was very, very exciting.
I just couldn't understand him.
I couldn't understand how to do it.
I couldn't understand how
I was going to earn all those points
that that it took to fly, fly
free.
And so I just started searching
around on the Internet,
and I came across
a real down to earth,
personable lady
named Lyn Mettler.
And she was at that time
the Go To Travel Gal.
And I started reading some things
that you put online
and I said, you know,
I can understand, I can
understand her.
She's talking my language.
She was very personable.
And I just
I wanted to know more.
I wanted to know, you know more
about her program.
So, of course,
at that point I had a United
card and I had a Chase
Sapphire Reserve
card, but I didn't
quite know what to do.
So I had read
a lot about what you posted online.
And I talked to my husband about
another credit card and he went, Oh,
no.
You know, some some people may have
opposition, like I did with their
husband.
Very common.
My husband was the same way.
Yes. Yes.
Not to get involved in another
credit card scheme.
And I said, can I really think
this one is different?
And so we signed
up with a program and
all of a sudden Lyn Mettler said
that you wanted to have a private
consult with me, and I
went, Whoa,
this was impressive.
And so I'm getting kind of nervous
because I'm talking to you on the
telephone. And it was like I was
talking to a celebrity, you know,
I felt like I was,
you know, really had
the benefit of talking one on
one with someone who really knew
what they were doing and could give
me a lot of information.
You ask very exact questions.
You you were sincerely
interested in my success
and you knew
you had an exact plan
for how I
could start flying free.
And this just was so exciting
to me.
I couldn't I couldn't believe it.
So I encouraged
my husband to let us try
this program,
which was good.
We had gotten into some credit card
debt before, but you had
you had made sure that
we were willing to pay off the
credit card at the end of every
month, because if you don't, you're
not flying free.
Now, which was steep price
to do it.
Right, right, right.
So, you know, that's when I told my
husband so so we,
you know, promised each other that
we would stay on top of this.
And that's
that's that's how I got involved.
So now, yeah, we've flown seven
free trips
on our companion pass.
I, I applied for the Southwest
card that you encouraged me to get
and we were getting ready to have a
kitchen remodel.
So I just applied all
that money on the credit
card and we
acquired that companion
pass in like three months.
It was so fast.
Now, I wouldn't do that anymore
because you've taught me that it's
much more beneficial
to apply for just
the Southwest
card and then to apply for our
business.
Credit card.
Right. And I said, but
how can I get a a business
credit card?
So you educated me about all of
that. So when
you heard that we have a rent a
house, you said that's a business.
And I went, We can do this,
we can do this.
So that'll be my next strategy.
I like working with your program
Lyn, because you always
give me goals, new goals
to go for.
So that's that's what we're
headed for now because
our companion passed is
expiring at the end
of this year.
So we're getting ready to
reenroll and
try for it for two more
years so we can travel
travel more.
And you feel good that you
know the process to do that?
Exactly.
Exactly.
And is it is it
do you find it to be a difficult
process or time consuming?
I think that's one of my
my big S's.
I have a lot of S's.
It's simple.
It's a simple to follow
process that's laid
out by a very smart woman.
That's those are my S's.
But that's not to say I know exactly
what to do all the time.
And that's the benefit of working
with your plan, is that I can
always send a question
your way and you answer it
so quickly.
Or Cami does.
Or Lisa does one of your team
members. Right.
And even
if when I'm unsure, you're always
there to help me.
And I really, really appreciate
that.
Yeah. And I think that is an
important component to just have
the confidence that
you're not going to make a mistake
because you've got somebody
to run it by.
And like you said, we have your
interest.
We want you to be successful because
I wouldn't have a membership if
it didn't work for anybody.
Right.
I really want you to be
to be successful with this
and. Yeah, make take all these
amazing trips. So.
So let's talk about what?
What's one of your favorite parts
of membership?
If I open my email
and there's an email from Families
Fly Free, it's exciting.
You know, I just I am
motivated now
for a travel.
If I meet somebody at a party,
I go to church and I bumped and I
bump into somebody I haven't seen in
a while. They invariably say,
Well, where are you going next?
I know. Don't you get the whole kind
of like, Oh, brother.
Yeah, of course.
I love it.
And many times
they have been someplace.
And I can talk travel
all day long.
So if I get an email from
you, it is.
It's exciting.
I love your emails because
they keep me very current.
I think a lot of times people just
like to get on the Internet and they
they read a lot about, you
know, travel on on YouTubes.
Or, they'll listen to a podcast.
But that does not give
the currency that you give
to your listeners.
When I open an email from
you, I know that it's going to
be current information
and, and you keep me on top
of sales.
And I love it when you tell
me whether a sale is
good. Ah, you know,
just so, so that
makes a difference.
And of course
it's the little secrets.
That's another s simple
smart secrets.
You, you,
you give me secrets
like the best phone number to call
to get fast service.
I think that right there
that saved me so much time.
It's worth the entire membership.
That's saying something right.
And there's a huge time savings
component.
We focus on the money savings, but.
Now that's huge.
It's huge.
People don't understand that retired
people are very busy and
like to sit and wait on,
you know, somebody to answer
our phone calls.
So when my husband
saw that I could get into Southwest
Airlines as fast,
he said, this is great.
And so he's he's
totally bought into your program.
We sold him. Okay.
Good.
Yes, thank you.
He thinks I'm very smart now,
but actually, I have to tell
you. Tell him that it's that it's
Lyn.
So we're first to know about the
sales.
Oh, you always tell us the best time
to buy points.
And I don't buy a lot
of points, but if I'm just trying to
finish off something
and I'd much rather use points
of course, you know, cash.
So it's just those
those little secrets that have
surprised me.
Best days to buy a
ticket, of course, all of your
webinars,
which I can't always watch
because I'm traveling,
but
I know that I can always go back and
catch them later because
you have recorded them.
So I don't
know the surprises.
Just just keep on.
Keep on coming.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, thank you.
Are there are there webinar topics
that you found interesting?
I always like the question and
answer webinars
because that to
me, those
are those are specific
scenarios that people
are encountering, you know,
struggling with.
And invariably, I will
I will watch a webinar that
I will learn something or maybe
I heard it before, but I had
forgotten it.
So it will just kind
of set off
another way of thinking about
something
and kind of change my strategy.
You changed my strategy about
how to plan a trip.
As I said, my husband and I are
retired, so we have pretty
great flexibility.
So I book my flights
now according to the low fare
calendar and I never used
to do that.
I was still on the mentality of work
schedule.
So I would plan my trip from,
you know, Thursday till Monday.
Well, you know, that's that's not
the best, cheapest time to plan
your trips.
So I always
learn something from your from your
webinars.
Mm hmm.
Is there a surprising part of
membership, something that surprised
you?
I'm surprised that
I. I keep learning.
I, I talked to some people
who say, well, I know all of
that. And and they
really and they really don't
because airlines change
constantly and their
in their rules change constantly.
For example,
I was surprised to learn that
Southwest Airlines had just changed
the flight or the points
requirement for companion
pass from 120...
Always changing.
To 135,000.
So I am
always surprised that I
can really stay up to date
when I thought I really was up to
date. But I wasn't.
I'm far more knowledgeable
now.
And as I said, my husband thinks I'm
so, so smart about all this,
but I'm just learning from you.
Okay. Tell us about some
of the trips that you've been able
to take since you've become a
Families Fly Free member and you're
in year two, I
think. Are you in year three yet?
Yes, towards the end of
year two.
Okay. All right. So, yeah, tell us
about some of what you've been able
to do.
Okay.
We have taken seven, seven
trips on
Southwest Airlines.
We've taken another
trip that was on
another airline.
But because I had Chase Sapphire
Reserve points, I use them
for that.
That's a great way.
Like I always tell people here and
there, you can fly another airline.
You don't have to exclusively.
Southwest needs to be your main
airline. But exactly what you did
there, okay, you need to take
another airline.
And that's what we did.
We did well.
And of course, during COVID,
we, you know, you know, COVID
was good and that's bad as far as
travel because as
far as COVID, went my
husband and I just traveled in the
United States.
So we've we've taken
seven trips in just the United
States, and then
we've taken a couple of trips
overseas.
But that was just in the you know,
past last year.
COVID was good in that we
saved a lot of Chase
Sapphire Reserve points.
So, you know, that was that was
fun. But
my favorite trip was flying
roundtrip
out of Boise
because we we flew up to Boise,
Idaho, and then rented a car,
like I said, we always do, and
then drove up to Coeur d'Alene.
And then we drove back down into
Bozeman, Montana,
and then went down into Yellowstone
and to Grand Teton and
then west over to Sun Valley
and then back to Boise.
And of course.
Oh, it was it was amazing.
It was it was fabulous.
And we did that with all of our
family. At least they
they met up with us in
Yellowstone National Park.
And thanks to
your introduction for
me to
Ash Nudd, I know
all about National Parks
now and
just had a great
experience with
Grand Teton and Yellowstone.
And then we flew into
Phenix one time and I
used your notes to drive up
to Sedona.
Oh, that was wonderful.
Then we flew into Orlando.
I love to fly to Orlando because
it's always so cheap for
points. I think we I think we fly
roundtrip, like, for 10,000
points or something.
It was great.
And then we just
made a trip around
around Florida.
We drove over to Tampa, then
we went down the West Coast
all the way to Key West.
And then we went back up the East
Coast, all
the way back up and then up
back over to Orlando.
We thought we would include Disney
World on that trip, but we decided
to go back to Disneyworld on
another trip.
So, yeah, that was
that was wonderful.
And then we also flew into Maine
or actually we flew into Boston
and then we did a trip all
the way up to Acadia National
Park and then just
drove along the coast of
Maine, which was absolutely
fabulous.
We flew
into Colorado Springs
and thanks to Cami, I got
a lot of hints
for staying in the Colorado
Springs area.
Love Colorado Springs
and then drove on up to Vail.
So, so much to do there.
So pretty drought driven up
to Vail and up to Mount
Rushmore for the 4th of July
and then for Thanksgiving
last year, my daughter wanted to
have a family get together in
Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains.
So my husband and I decided
that we would fly into Nashville
since it was a nonstop
from Austin, which we love.
And then we just rented a car
and drove from Nashville on into
Gatlinburg.
And then we took our Disney World
trip the first week of December.
So we got to see all the Christmas
decorations and that
was absolutely fabulous.
Oh, and then we've we've we
decided to use a lot
of those Chase Sapphire Reserve
points because we've always wanted
to fly business class to
Europe.
So we just bit the bullet
and we flew business class
from Austin
to Munich
and got to
fly business and
went on a
like a Viking River
cruise, which was
another.
On my list.
Another another bucket
bucket list for us.
But what's interesting about that
trip, Lyn, is that that was
during the time period that so many
of the airlines were having
difficulty with cancelations.
We really wanted to be on time
when we flew into
Munich because we wanted to catch
our Viking River cruise on time.
So just to be absolutely
sure that we made
that flight and that our flights
would not be canceled, we flew
from Austin to Denver
and then we used Chase Sapphire
points to stay in a hotel for
free.
And then we stayed overnight
in the hotel.
And then we caught the nonstop
flight from Denver to
Munich the next day.
There was no worry.
And the remarkable thing about it is
that Austin surprisingly
got rain in the summer, which
usually doesn't happen.
And our flight was so
delayed we would have missed our
flight to Munich.
So I was very grateful
that we went ahead and and tried
that that option.
And that's another thing that you've
taught me is is to be
a little bit creative in your
planning.
Like I said earlier, flexibility,
you know, try things, try things
differently.
Try going on different days
and and different,
different flights.
So I appreciate that about Families
Fly Free.
Yeah. And even like sometimes like
you did breaking it into two
different legs, sometimes that can
be cheaper, you know, instead of
booking Austin all the way to
Munich.
I don't know how it worked out, but
it could have been cheaper to do
Austin to Denver and then Denver to
Munich, you know?
Uh huh.
Just different. It is just a
different way to think about it.
The right way to do it.
Right, right, right.
Yes. Well, I'm getting
better.
It's taken me a little while, but
I'm I'm still I'm still learning,
like I said earlier.
But Families Fly
Free has really changed
my attitude about flying.
You have motivated me
to think more.
More about travel to plan, more
about travel to
expand my thinking.
And that's what I love about it.
Mm hmm.
So are you able to quantify
what you think you might have saved
across all those trips?
Oh, definitely, yeah.
Because I love to tell my husband
that.
This was a very wise investment.
So I figured if I've taken seven
flights
or if if my husband
and I have taken seven, then that's
14 flights.
Right. And you always say
that it's on the average about $350
per flight.
Well, that's $4,900
right there.
And then flying business class
from Austin to Munich
was that would have been $7,000
because it's about $3500 per
person.
So I know.
Yeah, we we would.
You know, it was a lot of points
like you still paid nothing
like that. So worth we.
Paid we paid nothing.
So that has been
a cumulative savings of $11,000,
but no. $11,900
right there.
All right.
I know. Like what?
What a great return.
And and I was just writing an email
today and was telling the story of,
like, me applying for the first
card. And that same scenario you
described of we were nervous about
that. We had been in debt before.
It's just too good to be true.
And like, if I hadn't have done
that, all the things
we wouldn't have done.
We have now that I wouldn't trade
that for the world.
No, and that's what I mean.
Families Fly Free has motivated
me to believe
in myself that I.
I can do this.
And I'm not
a very confident traveler,
actually, when it comes
to booking flights and figuring
out all the websites.
And what you've taught me
is that I can do this
and that there's different ways of
thinking. So I sincerely appreciate
it. Yes.
And you've taught me that it's a
step by step process.
You I know you probably don't want
to think this, but you kind of hold
my hand and you lead
me through my
my travel.
Mm hmm.
Well, that is the whole idea of
membership, because really, nothing
else exists like this.
You know, The Points Guy is not
going to hold your hand right
now. You'll be lucky to beat
somebody on.
Responds to your comment on a post,
you know, and then it's really not
going to be very customized or
tailored to you.
And so that is I have I
just saw the need for that.
Right. And that's why I have created
this. So there is an option for
people who want it laid
out for them and it really works.
Yeah, right. And it's not, it's not
buying them. It's not getting a
bunch of credit cards.
No, no, it's just.
Well, we just have we just
have four cards right now.
And you've opened the world to us.
Yeah. So it can be as simple
as three or four cards.
Yeah, we do most of ours with three.
And if you throw in the reserve,
like you could either have preferred
or reserve take your pick.
But some people have both and that's
where the four usually comes in.
I know that that that you're
encouraging people now to
look at the Venture X
card instead of the Chase
Sapphire Reserve which we will
probably look at after we
acquire our companion pass.
Yeah. Yeah.
We just want to do it step by step.
And that's like a good point of like
things change.
Like, the best way to fly free
isn't going to stay the same
forever. So like you said, we're
current and we look at these things
that come along and go, Would
that be a simpler option?
If so, we're going to shift
to that and explain to our members
why this might be a good
choice for them, you know, to look
at.
Mm hmm. Do you have anything to
share about your experience working
with our team?
Well, I get.
Quick responses to questions.
Right?
You know, I feel like they're my
friends. Isn't that something?
I've never. I've never met them
before.
Such an awesome team.
You're all so, so
personable and.
And we're all speaking
the same language.
And I think that's that's what
really, really helps me.
Oh, you're very,
very prompt.
And I
have direct access to you.
And I'm also getting a lot
of help now in the community
from places that I want
to go, or it gives me ideas
of places to go and
giving me information.
Like I said, when I went to Colorado
Springs, Cami, you know, was
right there to help me.
And I just
I just really value that
and.
I do. And
I don't know. And now that now
there's Chris and I'm getting
to know Chris because he's the
one that sends me all the emails
that that that make my day
exciting.
Well, now I'm getting to know him,
so it's great.
As our community grows,
as we get more and more members like
that, is where our
community forum has become so much
more vibrant and active because
you have so many more people, like
you said, that can share their
experience of a particular
destination. Or maybe they live in
that destination and they can tell,
you know, don't do this to
get from the airport or you do need
a car or you can take public
transportation or this
is a good area to stay in.
This isn't, you know.
Right.
That's all very valuable.
Like, I think you can kind of get
that on TripAdvisor, but you don't
really know who you're talking to,
you know, and the membership.
I think we all want to help one
another.
Mm hmm.
There's some trust level there,
you know that you can count on.
Mm hmm. Yeah, definitely.
So what would you tell people
who are hesitant about
joining because of the cost,
because it's a significant
investment?
What would you say to them if
they're not sure if they should join
or not?
Okay. Yeah.
I thought about this for a long
time. I can I can remember
going by
a a garden and nursery
store one time.
And so hang with me here.
Okay.
And there was a sign out front that
says, Good seeds
don't cost, they pay.
And I got to thinking about
that because they wanted you
to buy their best brand
of seeds.
And I got to thinking,
you know, that applies with a lot
of things.
Good education doesn't cost,
it pays.
And when I
think about your services,
your services don't cost
me. They they pay
me.
I make I make money.
I save money.
But I actually
have more money now to
to to travel
because I'm saving money
by not paying for my airfare.
Does that make sense?
Yeah. I couldn't have said it better
myself.
I mean, it's like it's shifting your
view of looking at it
instead of looking at it as an
expense.
You look at it as an investment
that's going to pay you a return.
Right. Right.
Good. Good.
Investments don't cost.
They pay.
Right.
They will earn more
than you invested.
And that is like I don't I
would not have a business if
people if they
didn't make more money than they
invested. And that's what we have a
guarantee.
Right, that we stand by, because
that's the whole idea.
It's designed to make you money.
But the but the real benefit
here is that not only are
you saving
me money,
but you're giving me all these added
benefits of the webinars
and the emails and the information
on top of the money that I'm saving.
So it's it's it's
the whole picture that
I think people have to have
to understand.
And I do think it's for
the customer or client who,
who really wants to travel
and who
has made a conscious decision to pay
off their credit card at the end
of every month.
And I know I've heard you say that
as well.
So so when
when my husband and I decided that
it made us a lot more of a
a lot more aware of our spending
and we pay off our credit cards
not every month.
It's not even a question.
And we watch them.
In fact, I'll never forget the
first time I was watching some
webinar that you were talking about
how you pay off your credit card
at the end of the week.
Or you can even do it like every
other day.
That's what I tell people to do.
Like if you just aren't good
at, you know, at the end of the
month, you're like, Oops, I didn't
remember. I spent all that and now I
don't have that in my account
because if you do it like I don't,
you literally can't do it the same
day you charge because it hasn't
processed yet. But if you pay it the
next day, right, it's not
any different than using your debit
card because it's just coming right
out. You know, I worry about.
Do you have it at the end of the
month?
Right. Right.
And then the
other reason is that
I now that I am
an older person,
I realize that
I don't have quite as much
time as I thought I did.
I have a long list
of places that I wanted to go.
And I'm I'm beginning to run out
of time.
I always thought that
when I retired, I.
I would have lots of free
time and and I
would be able to go anywhere I
wanted to.
But I didn't realize that
my health concerns
would prevent me from going
as many places as I wanted to
are doing as many things as I
as I wanted to.
My travel agent friend had always
said, okay,
all you need to do is travel
overseas in your sixties
and travel the United States in
your seventies, or that doesn't work
because you will run out of time.
Right. And you don't know what like
what happens tomorrow, you
know?
You don't know.
Yeah. You snooze, you lose.
So it's been
it's been very important to me
to tell my children,
if you want to travel, you
need to do it now.
Take your children.
Show them the world.
Learn about other cultures.
It is a big, beautiful world
out there and do not
put it off.
I think specifically of
the trip to Florida that we took
all down the West Coast
and we went over to Sanibel Island
and we looked for seashells.
And then I
saw how that bridge was totally
wiped out with the hurricane.
And I think it's been rebuilt
by now.
But you know that that.
No, I don't think so.
I think they said that was going to
be like, I don't know,
like years in.
Oh, really?
I just I just cherish
the time that I had
looking at at Florida
before before the hurricane.
Well, another one that I have
thought about is when Notre
Dame in Paris, when they hired
we had been there, you know, a
couple of years before.
I was just like, thank goodness
we got to see that.
Like, can you imagine if that
had been completely destroyed?
That is so old
and such an amazing piece of
architecture.
Like even if it's not about
yourself, like you're saying, you
don't know what disaster is going to
happen or you know.
Exactly. I think you're leaving a
legacy, right.
Like this isn't this is beyond just
you seeing the world like you are
leaving a legacy for your kids
and for your grandkids and you're
role modeling for them.
Well, that's what they say.
That's what they say.
And I told them, I said, you know,
you got to get over to Europe pretty
fast. I mean, there's cobblestones
everywhere.
You just don't realize that they're
hard to walk on, you know, when you
get older.
So that's a, you know,
don't put it off.
You know, you may have trouble with
your knees in the future.
I guess that's the trouble with
waiting till retirement, like you
said, is then you start having
health issues. Your body starts to
have problems now.
That's right.
That's right.
Some sign up to that.
Yeah.
Okay.
Last question I would ask you is,
is it too good to be true?
Oh,
no, no, not at all.
Because I'm doing everything
that you're that you're suggesting
and and it's working.
If I could give you one specific
example. I love this.
This is a great story.
And it just it just happened.
I had I had finally learned
to look at the low fare calendar
before I planned my trip.
So I had I had
I had already planned a trip to go
to Denver,
and I had
not planned it according to the low
fare calendar.
So I listened to your webinar
and I said, Oh, I need to do that.
So I went back and I checked the
dates and I said, Wow,
if I moved this trip by one
day, I could save 11,000
points, right?
So so I went back,
I called Southwest Airlines because
I had already, you know, connected
the companion to it.
I called Southwest as to, can I
change this flight?
I just need to change it for one
day. And and it was
it was cheaper and Southwest
had made a change.
I forgot to say that they had made
a change on the fly.
So I changed it to another
day and it saved
me 11,000 points.
So then several weeks later,
I got an invitation to go to
Dallas to a surprise birthday party.
Well,
driving from Austin to Dallas is
a nightmare. There's always
construction. It's horrible.
So I looked at my husband and I
said, Why don't we just fly
to Dallas?
And he said, Oh, okay.
So I checked it, you know how
much it costs because it was on the
sale day.
It was on the sale day.
You know how much it cost?
It was 1100 points
for us to fly. And so we're going to
fly up on a Saturday.
The party is at two in the afternoon
or at night.
We won't have to drive on I-35
from Austin and Alice as well.
So on that, it's so wonderful.
Yeah.
Because that's not even you could
sneeze and earn 1100 points.
You know, I
wouldn't even notice that being the
means.
I love it. Okay.
Awesome. Is there anything else you
would want to add or share that we
didn't talk about?
Car rentals.
You know, there's.
Been other things they.
Can be, so they can be so expensive.
Like I said earlier, I met Ash.
Ash Nudd Dirt in My Shoes.
Yeah. Let's give her a shout out.
Dirt in my shoes, com.
She's all about national parks.
Yes, she has. She has planned all
of our national park trips.
Travel insurance.
You've given me great, great
information on travel insurance.
You've taught me how to use
Southwest hotels.
When I was, I can remember
what I was trying to earn points
for, but we stayed at a Kimpton
Hotel in Key West
and for three nights and got 17,000
points.
That was that was my biggest as
win.
Might as well get some points.
Might as well.
Navigating Disney World.
I used that
and now I'm onto cruise
so
that I'm going to start looking
at ways that I can
save on cruises.
So it's it's much more
than just saving on airfare.
It's it's really saving
on many,
many aspects of travel.
Yeah. And I think that's very
important because when you start to
fly free a lot, those other
expenses can add up and then
you're still in the boat of it's too
expensive. So if you don't know how
to save on everything, then you
don't really have a good plan in
place to to do that.
So that's why we try to supplement
with all the other things that we
think that you need to know as well.
And you're a good example of like
you have done all the different
types of things that we talk about
theme parks, national parks.
You're about when you were talking
about where you'd been, you'd
literally
been all four corners of the country
in the middle, you know?
I know, I know.
And I really don't think it would
have happened. Land if it wasn't for
Families Fly Free.
Well, that's awesome. And that's,
that is what we're here
trying to do.
So is make that a reality for
more people.
So listen to Kay.
Now would you tell my husband that?
We've already convinced him.
Oh, but listen to you.
Yes, listen to Kay.
Okay, she knows what she knows what
she's talking about. She, in
addition to traveling, fly free.
She recommended that.
Look, look, what a good idea that
wasn't.
Okay, all.
Right.
All right. Anything else you wanted
to share?
You know, I think I think that's
that's just about covered it really,
really well.
That was fantastic.
So all you folks start
traveling before you retire.
If you are retired, it's not too
late. Get at it.
And thanks for for joining me today
and thanks for being a member.
So we will see
everyone on the next episode.
If you're ready to fly your family
free forever, I invite
you to join my family's fly free
membership.
You'll learn how to stop paying for
airfare throughout the U.S.,
Caribbean and Europe so you can
make those priceless family
travel memories before your
kids or even your grandkids
leave home for good and you'll
learn it. Using my simple, proven
formula that's helped hundreds
of families.
Plus it's risk-free.
You either get your investment in
the membership back in free travel,
or I give you your money back.
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slash join.