As my life gets busier, it’s becoming increasingly hard to travel as frequently as I’d like.  And while I know I still travel a lot more than the average, it’s still something that no matter how hard it gets to find the time, I make time for it because what travel brings to my life goes beyond what I would have without it.  Nick and I have had perhaps the craziest and busiest few months recently than we ever have, between insane work hours and responsibilities, family dramas and just general life stuff, we’ve found ourselves completely exhausted, both physically and emotionally.  And during those crazy times, it was travels on the horizon that kept me sane.  Travel for me is spiritual, it’s a mental escape from daily life that I often find I need at various points throughout the year.  And while travel is amazing for all sorts of reasons, these 5 reasons I make time to travel still ring true even as my life gets busier and busier.  Even though it’s time and money that sometimes seems frivolous, travel is still what makes my life whole day after day and here’s why.

1. It makes me more creative.

Being in a creative field, I’m constantly being asked to come up with new ideas.  When you’re in the thick of the craziness and you’re being asked to come up with one more creative idea, I draw on my travels for inspiration.  Travel, beyond anything else, is a constant source of creativity for me that is often hard to pull out of daily life.

2. It’s an education.

I truly believe that as we age, we must keep learning.  We must keep looking for new information and educating ourselves however we can.  Travel is an education, in a way that nothing else can quite teach you.  Travel will open your eyes and make you look at the world completely differently than you ever have before.

3. It’s a stress reliever.

For me personally, travel is a huge stress reliever.  Once I’m on that airplane headed somewhere far away, suddenly my whole outlook changes.  Whatever stress I have going on in my daily life, suddenly when I’m wandering the streets of Paris or driving through the stunning countryside of Iceland, everything else just melts away.

4. It makes us look at things we miss in everyday life.

In daily life, we often don’t have time to stop and really take in what’s around us like we should.  We’re busy trying to make a living, work everything into not enough time in the day and we don’t spend the time really taking in everything.  Travel allows us the time and flexibility to really take in the world around us, to really see what’s in front of us and that makes our bodies and minds slow down and be healthier emotionally.

5. It makes me a better person.

Travel, no doubt, makes me a better person.  With every trip, big or small, I come home with a new perspective, a new lesson learned, a new way of looking at things around me.  Seeing the world will forever change you, for the better.

While we’re on our road trip to Yellowstone this week, I thought it was the perfect time for a series I’ve been wanting to do for a long time!  I get asked a lot of questions, by people in my personal life and by followers of Land of Marvels, about how I’ve managed to work full time and travel as much as I do.  And while I do share a lot on Land of Marvels, sometimes some of the back story is left out.  So all this week, I’m answering some of the topics that I get asked a lot and topics from behind the scenes in my life of how you might be able to travel frequently as well.   All week, I’m sharing some of my tips and tricks to how I travel so much and some behind the scenes info as well!  

One thing that I think is a big misconception about my life and all those other bloggers out there that just share part of their lives online is that everything is amazing all the time, that our houses are always beautiful and our travel always perfect and our relationships immaculate.  Well guess what?  They’re not any of those above.

Part of traveling a lot means there is a lot more time than not spent working long hours at my computer to make the money I need to live the life I want.  It often means sacrificing things that aren’t as important as my love for travel.  It means working crazy hard for my firm in Hawaii, often on super crazy short deadlines.  It means hustling in my own business and making my clients happy and doing everything for a project myself, even when I’m figuring it out along the way.  It means teaching my students in a few classes a term and being available to them, even when I don’t really have the time to do it.  It means taking the good with the bad in my daily life to be able to live the life I really want.

And even when we travel, that doesn’t mean that every trip is perfect.  In fact, I try really hard here on Land of Marvels to be honest about our negative experiences too, even when people think I’m crazy for not liking Santorini or being critical of nice hotels.

The lesson is this: life isn’t perfect, and neither is travel.  But that’s the beauty of both too.  Without the less than amazing experiences, we wouldn’t have the feeling of true happiness and joy when the amazing ones come along.  In short, just know that my life is far from perfect and so are my travels but that doesn’t make them any less amazing.  We must always learn to take the good with the bad and do the best we can in any circumstance that arises.  Being able to do that, will ensure that while your life may not always be perfect but in the end, it’s still a beautiful life.

While we’re on our road trip to Yellowstone this week, I thought it was the perfect time for a series I’ve been wanting to do for a long time!  I get asked a lot of questions, by people in my personal life and by followers of Land of Marvels, about how I’ve managed to work full time and travel as much as I do.  And while I do share a lot on Land of Marvels, sometimes some of the back story is left out.  So all this week, I’m answering some of the topics that I get asked a lot and topics from behind the scenes in my life of how you might be able to travel frequently as well.   All week, I’m sharing some of my tips and tricks to how I travel so much and some behind the scenes info as well!  

In my daily life, I get a lot of comments from people scoffing at how much we travel and how busy we are.  And in truth, I never understand it.  We are crazy busy and still travel a ton, yes.  But we also enjoy it and work really hard to make it happen, so when people don’t understand or make comments about it, I’ve come to realize that one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned is that no matter what anyone thinks, we all should live the life we really want.

I want to travel.  And if someone doesn’t understand that or it’s different than what they want, who cares?

At the end of the day, I think we all need to be more open minded to each other and to how we each want to live.  I don’t personally want kids, but that doesn’t mean I scoff at friends of mine who do.  It doesn’t mean that I want their life or that they want mine.  Live how you want and work as hard as you can to get to the life that means the most to you.  If you want kids, great.  If you want to travel, great.  If you want to work like crazy to advance your career, great.  No matter what each of us wants, it doesn’t matter in the least what anyone else thinks as long as you’re following your heart and working hard to make it happen.

So if you’re struggling with trying to fit in and do what you think you should, don’t.  Live the way you want to.  Make good choices and go after your dreams and don’t look back!

While we’re on our road trip to Yellowstone this week, I thought it was the perfect time for a series I’ve been wanting to do for a long time!  I get asked a lot of questions, by people in my personal life and by followers of Land of Marvels, about how I’ve managed to work full time and travel as much as I do.  And while I do share a lot on Land of Marvels, sometimes some of the back story is left out.  So all this week, I’m answering some of the topics that I get asked a lot and topics from behind the scenes in my life of how you might be able to travel frequently as well.   All week, I’m sharing some of my tips and tricks to how I travel so much and some behind the scenes info as well!  

I know a lot of people wonder how we afford to travel so much or spend money on things like nice hotels and such while we travel, but in truth, other than our income from multiple jobs and working really hard in our careers, we’re also really good about picking priorities both when we travel and when we’re at home to make it a reality.

When we’re home, we actually don’t spend a ton of money on things that other people do.  We don’t drink very much so hardly spend any money on alcohol which can really add up.  And while we occasionally spend money on our townhouse (hello bathroom remodel we just finished), normally though, not a ton of money is going out on furniture or things like that since we’ve moved.  In general, we actually live pretty frugally and below our means so we have extra money to spend on travel.

When traveling, we have specific priorities that we like to spend money on.  Everyone is different on this and when we’ve traveled with other people, it becomes very clear just how different everyone is on this.  For me personally, as a designer, I like a nice, well designed modern hotel when we travel.  It’s just something that I’m more than willing to spend money on (though the majority of the time, I’m either working with a hotel through my blog or I’m booking on points and free hotel stays, but that’s another story).  We also really like good food, so that’s another thing we’re willing to spend money on when we travel.

But here’s the thing about priorities, the way to make it work is to pick what to spend money on and then not spending money on other things.  For example, we’re not tour people.  We don’t spend money on tours.  We use public transportation or walk when traveling.  We choose what we want to see and don’t spend money on things we don’t care about.  In the end, even spending a little more on a hotel or good food equals out with what we’re not spending money on.

The trick to affording travel, in your every day life and when you’re traveling, is to pick a priority.  What’s important to you?  What’s not?  And then go from there!

While we’re on our road trip to Yellowstone this week, I thought it was the perfect time for a series I’ve been wanting to do for a long time!  I get asked a lot of questions, by people in my personal life and by followers of Land of Marvels, about how I’ve managed to work full time and travel as much as I do.  And while I do share a lot on Land of Marvels, sometimes some of the back story is left out.  So all this week, I’m answering some of the topics that I get asked a lot and topics from behind the scenes in my life of how you might be able to travel frequently as well.   All week, I’m sharing some of my tips and tricks to how I travel so much and some behind the scenes info as well!  

It’s no secret that travel costs money and sometimes a lot of it.  And while we save a ton of money every year for travel (a lot of it coming from multiple sources of income and working multiple jobs), we actually don’t spend nearly as much on travel now as we did when we first started traveling a lot.  That might seem weird, considering how much we travel, but in truth, most of our personal trips are booked on points and miles and very little money.

The points and miles world is complicated but if you can master it, it will save you thousands of dollars a year on travel!  The first step is figuring out how it works and what personally works for you.  Everybody uses points and miles differently, so figuring out what works for you is super important.  Personally, I travel a ton for work which is a write off on taxes, so all those flights to Hawaii a year really build up in my Alaska Air miles account.  I also spend a ton on credit cards for work since I’m purchasing large amounts of furniture for clients and getting paid back for it, so for me personally, my work is a huge supplement to our points accounts every year.  I realize that might not be for everyone, but that’s not to say that you can’t find your own way to accrue a lot of points!

There are basically two ways to utilize points and miles for travel.  The first is through actual airline loyalty accounts.  We’re loyal to Alaska Air when we travel in the US and we try as best we can to utilize their partner airlines when we travel abroad.  We also bank any miles flown outside the US on non-Alaska partners with Delta.  By sticking to just 2 airlines for specific purposes you can make sure your miles accounts accrue faster.  I’m also elite with Alaska Air because I fly so frequently, so that means that my mileage is basically doubled for every Alaska flight I take which adds up really quickly.

The second way to accrue miles and points is through credit cards.  My 2 favorites are the Chase Sapphire card and the Alaska Airlines card (I have the personal and business card).  Both are fantastic and both offer unique perks.  I’ve done a few posts on that in the past so you can read those if you’re interested.  But long story short, this is how I accrue miles really fast.  I use these cards for all my business purchases and any travel purchases I make.  Knowing the perks of each card is really important and using them regularly will help you accrue miles fast.

In short, we usually book at least half, if not more, of our trips on points and miles and then pay small amounts of cash to supplement any remaining bookings.  For example, in July, we’re headed to Provence for five days (at peak travel season) and we spent very minimal money on the whole trip, the majority of it being booked on points and miles.  I have a post coming on this trip shortly before we leave in a month, but in short, when you can get a hang of the points and miles game, it’s incredibly beneficial for your wallet!

While we’re on our road trip to Yellowstone this week, I thought it was the perfect time for a series I’ve been wanting to do for a long time!  I get asked a lot of questions, by people in my personal life and by followers of Land of Marvels, about how I’ve managed to work full time and travel as much as I do.  And while I do share a lot on Land of Marvels, sometimes some of the back story is left out.  So all this week, I’m answering some of the topics that I get asked a lot and topics from behind the scenes in my life of how you might be able to travel frequently as well.   All week, I’m sharing some of my tips and tricks to how I travel so much and some behind the scenes info as well!  

For our first topic this week behind the traveler, one of the things that many people, even in my personal life, don’t realize is that Nick and I didn’t just travel like we do now always.  Working up to our schedule of frequent travel has been a process and something we’ve planned out very meticulously over the years to get where we are now.  And if you want to travel more frequently like we do, it’s important to know the backstory of how we got here.

We’ve been together almost 12 years and married for almost 7 later this year.  In that time together, we started out as normal college kids when we met and didn’t do hardly any traveling together until after we graduated from college.  And even then, it was mostly just traveling to see each other since I was in Hawaii and Nick was in Oregon and we did long distance for a couple years.  Our first opportunity to start traveling really came after we got married and headed to London and Paris for our honeymoon.  It was Nick’s first time in Europe and my first time back there since I had traveled there as a kid.  Needless to say, it struck a chord with both of us and we’ve been traveling ever since.

After our honeymoon, we returned to Portland and worked really hard in our jobs to keep saving money for future travel.  We knew we wanted to start traveling more, but it definitely didn’t happen overnight.  We lived for a long time in a little tiny one bedroom apartment so that we could save money for travel.  We passed up on other things in our lives so that we could travel instead.  And ultimately we started doing one overseas trip a year for a couple years.  Over time, we moved up in our jobs, started making more money and instead of spending it on a bigger apartment or other things, we started traveling more.

Over the years, we ended up on our schedule that we generally stick to now, which is a couple overseas trips a year (sometimes more depending on schedule/events) and smaller USA trips every other month, (sometimes monthly depending on schedule).  We’ve been able to work up to a schedule that works for us both financially and for time off of work.  But what you don’t always see here on Land of Marvels are the many years that we worked extremely hard to get where we are today and I think that’s often a misconception that should be cleared up.  We didn’t get here overnight, it’s taken a lot of time to work up to our schedule of travel and to be able to live a lifestyle we like.

So in the end, if you’re wanting to travel more with a full time job (of multiple jobs like us), it’s definitely possible!  But it won’t come overnight and there will be sacrifices along the way.  I guess what I would say though is that at the end of the day, the time and sacrifices we’ve made have come back to us ten-fold for what we’ve gained by seeing the world!