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Travel Save or Splurge? What We Spend Money On When Traveling · Travel Mug Podcast

• 0:00
  Jenn: Hey everyone.
• 0:00
  Jenn: Welcome back to the travel mug podcast today.
• 0:05
  Jenn: We're gonna chat about everyone's favorite topic money.
• 0:09
  Meggan: I have to disagree.
• 0:10
  Meggan: Mine might be food, but we'll go, we'll say for today's purposes, it's money,
• 0:15
  Jenn: "money", favorite topic.
• 0:17
  Jenn: So obviously when it comes to travel, money can be a really big topic of conversation.
• 0:22
  Jenn: You know, we follow a lot of people online who are travel enthusiasts and some stay in hostels and eat street food.
• 0:31
  Jenn: And only take public transportation and some are staying in like the best and fanciest hotels and eating in Michelin star restaurants.
• 0:39
  Jenn: And there's a lot of us who are kind of in the, in between these, most of us are probably in the, in
• 0:45
  Meggan: yeah.
• 0:46
  Jenn: So there's a lot of things that you can save on and a lot of things that you can splurge on.
• 0:50
  Jenn: If you wanted to talk more about money, like saving for travel and traveling on a budget, you can scroll all the way back to our second episode.
• 1:02
  Meggan: You can hear us little baby, Jenn and Meggan talk on our podcast
• 1:06
  Jenn: was a long time ago.
• 1:08
  Meggan: Mm-hmm,
• 1:09
  Jenn: talk all about that.
• 1:09
  Jenn: And I think that it has still has a lot of great information.
• 1:13
  Jenn: In that episode as well
• 1:16
  Meggan: yes.
• 1:17
  Jenn: Yes.
• 1:17
  Jenn: But today, today, we're gonna talk about kind of like the four major categories where you can splurge or save, which are accommodations, transportation, food, and entertainment, like things to do.
• 1:31
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 1:31
  Jenn: So we're gonna chat about what we, what we've done in the past, what we usually do, what we might like to do in the future.
• 1:39
  Jenn: And obviously like splurge and save are like relative terms.
• 1:44
  Jenn: Everybody sort of has like a different idea of what splurging and what budget or saving actually is, but we're just sharing our experiences with travel.
• 1:55
  Jenn: And I think it's gonna be a fun episode to chat about all these different things!
• 2:00
  Meggan: I think so too.
• 2:01
  Meggan: And I think that's a good, a good thing to say as well.
• 2:03
  Meggan: Like it's different for everyone.
• 2:05
  Meggan: Obviously, if you have tons of money, splurge and save looks very different than if you're just a, you know, an average traveler or if you're a budget traveler, like if there's such a, a realm, but yeah.
• 2:14
  Meggan: Like this is what it kind of looks like for us.
• 2:16
  Meggan: And I think a great place to start is one of my favorite topics as well, which is accommodations, like, where am I sleeping?
• 2:22
  Jenn: Mm-hmm
• 2:23
  Meggan: so for us, we, sometimes splurge.
• 2:26
  Meggan: And literally sometimes save.
• 2:28
  Meggan: There is no one or the other, but it usually Def depends on a few factors.
• 2:32
  Meggan: There's a couple of things that we kind of contemplate.
• 2:35
  Meggan: So of course, how long are we gonna be there?
• 2:37
  Meggan: Where is our accommodation located in accordance with what we actually wanna see and do
• 2:42
  Jenn: mm-hmm
• 2:42
  Meggan: and if it's a longer trip, how many other places have we splurged on already?
• 2:47
  Jenn: Right.
• 2:49
  Meggan: Like, is it time for us to like chill for a minute and like pick a less expensive place.
• 2:55
  Meggan: And also what's available in the area for accommodation choices.
• 2:58
  Meggan: And if we do wanna stay there, are we going to have to settle?
• 3:02
  Meggan: So, maybe if we haven't splurge, you know, and we wanna like upgrade it a little, what's actually in the place we're going to be.
• 3:09
  Meggan: So I have to say over the years for us, we've gotten very good at picking places and as much as possible, knowing what we're getting based on reviews from multiple sources, trusting Google maps in terms of location, and really just doing our due diligence.
• 3:26
  Meggan: Is this where we wanna spend our time.
• 3:28
  Meggan: Is this where we wanna spend our money?
• 3:30
  Jenn: Mm-hmm
• 3:30
  Meggan: if it's a stopover, this is kind of the caveat for us.
• 3:34
  Meggan: We aren't usually going to splurge.
• 3:36
  Meggan: That's like a one night, like, let's say we're driving back from the us and we don't wanna do the whole drive or we're gonna stay in Bangor.
• 3:44
  Meggan: Well, we're not gonna splurge in Bangor, um, But we usually don't go cheap unless it's a killer deal either.
• 3:52
  Meggan: So usually we're somewhere in the middle of splurge and save if it is a stopover.
• 3:57
  Meggan: So we're all over the map, but I guess, I guess there's just a lot of depending factors that we consider when we decide which we're gonna do.
• 4:04
  Meggan: What about you?
• 4:05
  Jenn: Yeah, I think I'm sort of similar.
• 4:07
  Jenn: So usually the first thing I would look at is what we want to do.
• 4:12
  Jenn: and what is in the area?
• 4:13
  Jenn: Like what can we stay close?
• 4:16
  Jenn: Like taking into account transportation and like the stuff that we wanna do.
• 4:20
  Jenn: And then I look at the prices, and I love the hotels.com map because it shows you the map and the price.
• 4:28
  Jenn: Like average price per night of the hotel.
• 4:30
  Jenn: So it's easy to like compare.
• 4:33
  Jenn: And I find that really helpful.
• 4:35
  Jenn: In general, I'd say we're much more of a save versus a splurge.
• 4:39
  Jenn: I don't know if we've ever splurged on an accommodation.
• 4:44
  Jenn: Like we really, sometimes we've paid more maybe than I wanted to, but it was more to get like the amenities or the location that I wanted, not because I wanted to stay in a nice hotel and we tend to not spend a lot of time in the hotels.
• 5:01
  Jenn: So I feel like for us, it's not worth the splurge because we just don't get our money's worth, I guess, in my opinion.
• 5:11
  Meggan: Right.
• 5:11
  Meggan: Um,
• 5:12
  Jenn: And I would not ever like spend more just to get a view.
• 5:17
  Jenn: I think like that's just not something that I've done because we don't spend much time in the room.
• 5:21
  Jenn: I will say that I have a bit of a dream to splurge at Disney world.
• 5:25
  Jenn: So Disney has different levels of accommodations.
• 5:29
  Jenn: The lowest being the value resorts, which is where we have always stayed and the highest being the deluxe resort, which are fancier, but also closer to the parks and with added perks.
• 5:41
  Jenn: So someday we'll splurge on a deluxe accommodation at Disney.
• 5:46
  Jenn: I don't know.
• 5:47
  Jenn: I don't know when, but
• 5:49
  Meggan: right, right.
• 5:50
  Jenn: Someday we will.
• 5:51
  Jenn: Yeah, I think I'm a bit of a balance leaning towards save.
• 5:54
  Jenn: I have been in the past, like a 100% save and booked, like the cheapest thing, which has definitely led to some really inconvenient places to stay.
• 6:04
  Jenn: So I, I don't necessarily always go for the cheapest cheapest, but.
• 6:08
  Meggan: Right.
• 6:09
  Meggan: And I would, I agree with a lot of that, the only two things I would say differently is where I would pay for a view is down south.
• 6:16
  Meggan: So I would pay for an ocean view versus like a courtyard view or a garden view.
• 6:22
  Jenn: Right.
• 6:23
  Meggan: So that's definitely somewhere like me.
• 6:25
  Meggan: If I had to pick like a dream place to sleep, it's overlooking the ocean.
• 6:30
  Meggan: So that for me is definitely worth it.
• 6:32
  Meggan: And I would say.
• 6:33
  Meggan: The place we've probably splurge the most because you're right.
• 6:37
  Meggan: Like on our last European vacation, we weren't in our room a lot.
• 6:40
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 6:40
  Meggan: But where we are is Airbnbs on weekends away.
• 6:45
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 6:45
  Meggan: But that's where we've seen in the past to have splurge is places where we know we're gonna go and spend our time during that weekend.
• 6:53
  Meggan: So that's cuz I agree.
• 6:54
  Meggan: There's you also have to, to think how long am I gonna be in my room?
• 6:59
  Meggan: So I think that's a great point as well.
• 7:01
  Meggan: And I think weekends away is where that varies.
• 7:04
  Jenn: Mm-hmm yeah.
• 7:05
  Jenn: We don't like, we don't tend to do a lot of those trips, so it's not something that like enters into my mind, I guess.
• 7:12
  Meggan: Right.
• 7:12
  Jenn: But yeah, that's definitely a good point taking into account the type of trip that, that you want to have.
• 7:18
  Meggan: Yeah, no, for sure.
• 7:19
  Meggan: So I think next, you know, how are we getting from place to place?
• 7:23
  Meggan: So, transportation, I think is, is a big consideration.
• 7:27
  Meggan: Rental cars is something we do often when we go to Europe.
• 7:30
  Meggan: So not obviously in north America, but when, when we go to Europe we usually go middle of the road.
• 7:35
  Meggan: I have to be honest, not as much because of prices as compared to the space we need for luggage.
• 7:40
  Meggan: That's why we don't go super small in terms of the car rental.
• 7:44
  Meggan: Cause I, I have to figure out how to pack less, but that's another story.
• 7:49
  Meggan: So smallish to mid-size is usually where we end up for rentals.
• 7:53
  Meggan: That's usually in mid-size price as well.
• 7:55
  Meggan: To be honest, last trip we did splurge.
• 7:58
  Meggan: I didn't even get the car that I wanted.
• 8:01
  Meggan: So that soured it for me.
• 8:03
  Meggan: So in the future, we will likely just go back to smallish or midsize for a regular price.
• 8:08
  Meggan: The thing about rentals is that the insurance is usually what gets you usually regardless of the size.
• 8:13
  Meggan: It's something that you always have to keep in mind is gonna be an additional cost.
• 8:18
  Meggan: And we used to just rely on our credit card for insurance.
• 8:21
  Meggan: But the last few times we have paid extra, bought the peace of mind and just got all the insurances.
• 8:28
  Meggan: As far as like flying, we've never splurged on first or business class.
• 8:33
  Meggan: And I haven't had the chance to on a train yet.
• 8:35
  Meggan: Like I've never taken a train ride that offered me that option.
• 8:40
  Meggan: I would likely splurge on a train before a plane, because of course it would be cheaper, you know, it.
• 8:46
  Meggan: Jenn: Yeah.
• 8:47
  Meggan: I, to assume first class on a train is cheaper than first class on a plane, but my goodness, I do hope like just once in my life we have enough disposable money to go on a long flight in first class.
• 8:59
  Meggan: And like, as sad as it might sound, that is definitely on my bucket list is to like lay down on a plane.
• 9:04
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 9:05
  Meggan: I just like crave to be comfortable.
• 9:07
  Meggan: And so I do hope like that's a splurge.
• 9:10
  Meggan: I hope at least once in our life, we get to do people out there listening with money are probably giggling.
• 9:15
  Meggan: But , that's definitely, it is what it's.
• 9:19
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 9:19
  Meggan: That's definitely on my list.
• 9:21
  Meggan: What about you and transportation?
• 9:23
  Jenn: yes.
• 9:24
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 9:24
  Jenn: The Kendall Jenners of the world are like, oh, I just took a 40 minute flight and I could have driven there.
• 9:32
  Meggan: Kylie's Kylie's going to target
• 9:34
  Jenn: target.
• 9:34
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 9:35
  Jenn: Transportation is usually a save for us.
• 9:38
  Jenn: We do a lot of walking.
• 9:40
  Jenn: We do a lot of public transportation.
• 9:43
  Jenn: Like when we're in cities like New York, London, and Paris, we did a lot of public transportation.
• 9:47
  Jenn: If you listen to my Scotland episode, you know, all about our car rental fail.
• 9:52
  Jenn: So that has soured me on car rentals right now, but I'm sure rent a car again, but.
• 9:59
  Jenn: Yeah, that made me not wanna rent a car for a while, but we did go pretty cheap.
• 10:04
  Jenn: We got upgraded for free.
• 10:06
  Jenn: I think I said in the episode, because of all of our issues, but of course it just came with a bigger vehicle that was more expensive to put gas into.
• 10:15
  Jenn: So I don't know if that really yeah.
• 10:17
  Jenn: So for flights I will pay more to get a direct flight.
• 10:23
  Jenn: I won't always go with like the cheapest.
• 10:25
  Jenn: But I've never splurged on actually I have splurged on a business class ticket.
• 10:30
  Jenn: I like did one of those bid to upgrade things.
• 10:35
  Meggan: Okay.
• 10:36
  Jenn: And I got it, but then I had to change my flight.
• 10:39
  Jenn: It was when I was coming home from thunder bay to Halifax and I came home early.
• 10:45
  Jenn: And so I bid to upgrade and then I had to change my flight and it did not carry over to my new flight.
• 10:51
  Jenn: And then I lost that money because it's not refundable, so,
• 10:55
  Meggan: oh, wow.
• 10:56
  Jenn: So if you bid to upgrade your flight It's not refundable.
• 11:00
  Jenn: If you have to change your flight, it's just,
• 11:02
  Meggan: and maybe you could tell us like what bid to upgrade is I don't even know about this.
• 11:05
  Jenn: Okay.
• 11:06
  Jenn: So I get, I think it was either an email or maybe in like the WestJet app and you can just place a bid to upgrade.
• 11:13
  Jenn: And
• 11:13
  Meggan: literally?
• 11:14
  Jenn: Literally, like you can put in a number and if they accept it, then you pay it and you get put in business class.
• 11:20
  Jenn: And if they don't accept it, then you keep your same seat.
• 11:23
  Meggan: Okay.
• 11:23
  Jenn: So.
• 11:23
  Jenn: I don't think it's always a good deal.
• 11:26
  Jenn: I think that you could bid more than the amount that it would've been on top of your ticket and get it.
• 11:34
  Jenn: So I think you have to be really careful about how much you're bidding and if it's worth it.
• 11:39
  Jenn: But yeah, I, I did that and it was, I mean, it was my fault.
• 11:43
  Jenn: I knew it was non-refundable.
• 11:45
  Jenn: And I wasn't expecting to have to change my flight to come home early, but it is what it is.
• 11:49
  Jenn: Like, it's not WestJet's fault.
• 11:51
  Jenn: I read the fine print.
• 11:53
  Meggan: Right, right, right.
• 11:54
  Jenn: But I have not actually ever sat in business class or first class, but I have technically paid for it one time.
• 12:02
  Meggan: right.
• 12:02
  Meggan: That's an, that's an unfortunate story.
• 12:04
  Jenn: It was, uh, when we eventually do like a long haul flight, like going to like Hawaii or Australia or anywhere in Asia, I definitely plan to splurge on a lay down seat.
• 12:16
  Jenn: I'm just gonna build it right into my like trip budget, because I cannot imagine sitting in a regular airplane seat for like 10 hours.
• 12:27
  Jenn: I just,
• 12:27
  Meggan: yeah, I think that's a good idea.
• 12:28
  Meggan: Like, as you were saying it I'm like, okay, if we ever plan our next trip to be X, Y, or Z, like the places I probably not Hawaii, but Australia or Asia, we do have interest to go to.
• 12:40
  Meggan: It's a, we would probably up our travel, like savings per week.
• 12:44
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 12:45
  Meggan: That's a great idea because I would wanna build that into, because I couldn't, I couldn't handle it for me, but I more couldn't handle him.
• 12:54
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 12:54
  Meggan: So I, I can't, I can't and don't get me wrong.
• 12:57
  Meggan: I wouldn't be comfortable either, but he doesn't do well flying in terms of like comfort level.
• 13:01
  Meggan: So that would be a, that's a good idea.
• 13:04
  Meggan: Build that in,
• 13:05
  Jenn: build that in.
• 13:06
  Jenn: Just, just do it.
• 13:07
  Jenn: Just, I just can't imagine it would be so no uncomfortable.
• 13:12
  Meggan: It would be a nightmare.
• 13:13
  Meggan: Nightmare.
• 13:14
  Meggan: All right.
• 13:15
  Meggan: Well, we've finally got into our favorite topic, so tell me about food,
• 13:18
  Jenn: let's talk about food.
• 13:20
  Jenn: So I have had a very tumultuous relationship with food and travel.
• 13:28
  Jenn: So I used to be like a very 100% save.
• 13:33
  Jenn: And I think it's based on the way that I was traveled.
• 13:39
  Jenn: Like the way I traveled growing up with my parents was definitely a save on food.
• 13:45
  Jenn: Eat the street hot dogs type of like, that was the food.
• 13:49
  Jenn: You know, eating from grocery stores, that sort of thing.
• 13:53
  Jenn: And I still do this from time to time, but going to Scotland, I was like, I am not going to worry about food.
• 14:03
  Jenn: Like, I'm just going to eat when I'm hungry.
• 14:07
  Jenn: We're gonna pick the restaurants that look good to us.
• 14:10
  Jenn: We're not huge, like fancy, Michelin star restauranty people anyways.
• 14:15
  Jenn: So that's not the experiences that we're seeking out, but like regular everyday restaurants, locally owned restaurants.
• 14:23
  Jenn: I didn't want to be worried about it and I didn't want to be hungry.
• 14:28
  Jenn: um, And I think,
• 14:30
  Meggan: and those are, those are good things.
• 14:32
  Meggan: Not worry about.
• 14:33
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 14:34
  Jenn: It, our last trips before Scotland were Disney and Disney, we would buy the dining plan, which they're not currently offering right now, which is really annoying, but it was basically like you prepaid for the meals, sometimes it worked out for to a better deal.
• 14:48
  Jenn: Sometimes it.
• 14:49
  Jenn: You broke even, but you basically got like a sit down restaurant, a quick service, like fast foodie type meal a day and two snacks per day.
• 15:00
  Jenn: And you could use them whenever you wanted, you know, you could use 10 snacks one day and no snacks like that sort of thing.
• 15:06
  Jenn: It was very flexible.
• 15:08
  Jenn: And for me, it kind of like liberated me to not be, to not have to look at the prices on the menus because I would and worry about them.
• 15:17
  Jenn: You could just choose whatever you like,
• 15:19
  Meggan: right
• 15:20
  Jenn: and have as many snacks.
• 15:21
  Jenn: And we always ended up with snacks left over at the end of the trip.
• 15:24
  Jenn: You're buying different like prepackaged snacks to take home because it's like, oh, I got 5 snacks left.
• 15:30
  Jenn: For me, that was a really nice way to, to Budget for the food.
• 15:34
  Jenn: It was prepaid in advance.
• 15:36
  Jenn: But yeah, like on our honeymoon, we hard ate out and I like constantly worried about how much we were spending on the food.
• 15:42
  Jenn: And it really took away from that experience.
• 15:45
  Jenn: And I feel like we didn't get to try different or new foods that maybe we would've really enjoyed or like, it just, it definitely took it away.
• 15:55
  Jenn: So yeah, that, that's my story with food.
• 15:59
  Meggan: Feel like over the course of this podcast, you've had a bit of like an evolution in general.
• 16:04
  Jenn: I probably have.
• 16:05
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 16:06
  Meggan: yeah.
• 16:07
  Meggan: Like I think in terms of like this last trip of Scotland too, like your itinerary was a little looser and, you know, choosing the foods that would make you happy when you were actually hungry, I think is like, you know, I think that's a good move forward because you know, it's part of the trip and it is part of the experience.
• 16:25
  Meggan: So that's awesome.
• 16:27
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 16:27
  Jenn: I think obviously in this season of our lives, like we're able to spend more on travel than we were before.
• 16:36
  Jenn: So like holistically budget wise, that money is there for us, but Yeah, I think I've just gotten older and wiser, I guess.
• 16:44
  Jenn: and
• 16:45
  Meggan: I love that.
• 16:46
  Meggan: I'm about to turn 32.
• 16:49
  Meggan: So you know, so wise over here, but older and wiser and less of a miser ,there you go.
• 16:56
  Jenn: Perfect.
• 16:57
  Jenn: What about your travel food experiences?
• 17:02
  Meggan: Yes.
• 17:02
  Meggan: I love the foods.
• 17:03
  Meggan: Like don't get me wrong.
• 17:04
  Meggan: The foods are my fave, but we don't splurge on food.
• 17:08
  Meggan: So.
• 17:08
  Meggan: We have bought a few expensive meals in our time.
• 17:11
  Meggan: Like, don't get me wrong.
• 17:13
  Meggan: But it isn't where we usually spend our money.
• 17:15
  Meggan: I have to say like, I love food and Peter just likes food.
• 17:19
  Jenn: Right
• 17:19
  Meggan: like he doesn't, he enjoys it, but he doesn't like, love it and I love it.
• 17:26
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 17:26
  Meggan: But it also helps me not.
• 17:28
  Meggan: Eat, all the things that I would be eating regularly.
• 17:31
  Meggan: So it's not a bad thing.
• 17:33
  Meggan: Now, if we're in an expensive country and choose to eat in a restaurant, let's say it's gonna be expensive by nature.
• 17:40
  Meggan: So let, as an example, the fondu in Switzerland was something I wanted to do regardless.
• 17:46
  Meggan: I was gonna do it.
• 17:48
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 17:48
  Meggan: But of course it's gonna be expensive because of where we were.
• 17:51
  Meggan: I just don't wanna be hangry.
• 17:52
  Meggan: That's my really big key.
• 17:54
  Meggan: I get kind of shaky and low blood sugary when I haven't eaten.
• 17:59
  Meggan: So honestly for me, whether it's a grocery store sandwich or something from a restaurant I'm good to go, we certainly aren't opposed to like fine dining.
• 18:08
  Meggan: But I also find with fine dining, you often pay for the experience and small portions of food.
• 18:14
  Meggan: And I find that upsetting.
• 18:16
  Jenn: Yeah
• 18:16
  . Meggan: Like.
• 18:17
  . Meggan: I appreciate you have a lovely restaurant.
• 18:20
  . Meggan: And if I'm gonna spend a lot of money, I don't want like a teeny tiny bit of food that just bugs me when you have to leave and eat somewhere else.
• 18:28
  Jenn: yeah.
• 18:29
  Jenn: That's not a good experience.
• 18:30
  Meggan: No, so like, honestly, I don't get me wrong.
• 18:33
  Meggan: It's not all quantity over quality, but I like a good mix of both.
• 18:38
  Meggan: So S splurging on food, not so much.
• 18:40
  Meggan: I just like to be full.
• 18:42
  Meggan: Not hangry.
• 18:43
  Jenn: Yeah, for sure.
• 18:44
  Jenn: I same.
• 18:45
  Jenn: I also get kind of like hangry, but in Scotland, when we went with my best friend and her husband, they are like really big foodies especially my best friend's husband.
• 18:56
  Jenn: And so it was really cool because he chose some of our.
• 18:59
  Jenn: Restaurants.
• 19:00
  Jenn: Oh, cool.
• 19:00
  Jenn: And so like, I got a different experience than I would've gotten if I was just picking the restaurants and it was really fun and very enjoyable and absolutely delicious.
• 19:10
  Jenn: So no,
• 19:11
  Meggan: and experiencing stuff that people love through them is fun too.
• 19:16
  Meggan: And if you get to like, enjoy in that and like witness said, that's a different experience, like you said, all into yourself itself.
• 19:23
  Jenn: It was, it was really fun.
• 19:24
  Jenn: I highly recommend traveling with a foodie once in your life.
• 19:27
  Jenn: and let them choose the food.
• 19:33
  Jenn: All right.
• 19:33
  Jenn: Let's move on to experiences because we've been a lot of saving and not a lot of splurging
• 19:40
  Meggan: a lot of middle of the road.
• 19:44
  Jenn: Yes.
• 19:44
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 19:45
  Meggan: So we don't cobble over the price of an experience.
• 19:48
  Meggan: I'm gonna say that right off the bat.
• 19:49
  Meggan: If it's something we really wanna do now, there have been a few places where there's been like opportunity to take like a helicopter ride over like a valley or mountains or the grand canyon or something, which would be cool.
• 20:01
  Meggan: Don't get me wrong.
• 20:02
  Meggan: And maybe someday, but usually once we learn the price, we're like, mm, not today.
• 20:06
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 20:07
  Meggan: But for regular experiences, we often just go for it.
• 20:10
  Meggan: I mean, I can't think of anything really that we really wanted to do that wasn't outrageous where we decided against it, especially somewhere we're never gonna be again or likely won't be again.
• 20:22
  Jenn: Right.
• 20:22
  Meggan: We have our travel savings and this is the kind of stuff, and it's exactly why we have it.
• 20:28
  Meggan: Like we plan for those things and we wanna experience them.
• 20:31
  Meggan: We don't wanna have to scrape by and pick and choose if we don't have to, I know it's not everyone's circumstance, but traveling is really important to us.
• 20:40
  Meggan: So it's also something though that isn't magically pull the money outta the air.
• 20:45
  Meggan: Like we plan for it.
• 20:47
  Meggan: We plan for the experiences to make our trip sort of the best that we can and within moderation of our lifestyle, of course.
• 20:54
  Meggan: But that's what we plan for.
• 20:57
  Meggan: So no, like we don't quabble over experiences really at all.
• 21:01
  Meggan: What about you guys?
• 21:02
  Jenn: I think we're the same.
• 21:04
  Jenn: Like it's something.
• 21:05
  Jenn: Experiences are something that we've like Al almost always splurged on, or at least not saved on.
• 21:11
  Jenn: like, same as you.
• 21:12
  Jenn: Like, if it's something that we really wanna do, basically we, we find a way to make it happen.
• 21:17
  Jenn: If it's something that like looks fun, but we're not like super keen on, or we don't feel like it's worth the price, then we will skip it just thinking we did we went through like security to go up the CN tower, and then we got to like the kiosks where you pay.
• 21:34
  Jenn: And we were like no, I don't wanna pay.
• 21:37
  Jenn: It's like 40 something dollars a person.
• 21:40
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 21:40
  Jenn: And I'm like, I just don't feel like it's worth it.
• 21:43
  Jenn: And then, you know, how long are you really gonna be up the CN tower?
• 21:47
  Jenn: Like to me, I was like, this is not worth it.
• 21:48
  Jenn: And we ended up probably spending less money, definitely spending less money on going to a baseball game that filled our entire afternoon and was super fun.
• 21:56
  Jenn: So,
• 21:57
  Meggan: right.
• 21:57
  Jenn: I think for us, it's kind of weighing that like balance of the cost and what the experience is, and if we really wanna do it, or if we're just looking for things to do, to
• 22:08
  Meggan: like fill that makes sense.
• 22:10
  Jenn: I mean, we've definitely sparked on things we've done, like a Chelsea FFC football match in.
• 22:16
  Jenn: London, my husband's favorite team.
• 22:18
  Jenn: It was not cheap, but we planned our entire trip around going off to this.
• 22:23
  Jenn: Right.
• 22:24
  Jenn: So like, it was really important.
• 22:26
  Jenn: The Jacobite train that we took in Scotland was definitely a bit of a splurge for us.
• 22:31
  Jenn: It was mostly worth it.
• 22:33
  Jenn: Wouldn't do it again.
• 22:35
  Jenn: but like something like the Chelsea match, I would a hundred percent splurge on that.
• 22:39
  Jenn: I, and do it again.
• 22:40
  Jenn: We've also done some extra things at Disney.
• 22:42
  Jenn: There's like Halloween and Christmas parties, which are like an extra cost and are really, really fun.
• 22:48
  Jenn: And we did like a backstage tour once where we got to go like in the, behind the scenes kind of stuff underground under the castle.
• 22:57
  Jenn: It's very, very cool.
• 22:59
  Jenn: So yeah, I would say for us, like to me, experiences are what make the travel memories and it's why we travel.
• 23:08
  Jenn: It's why I wanna go different places outside of like Nova Scotia, cuz I wanna see to do something different.
• 23:15
  Jenn: So it's definitely where I would spend splurge more than any other category.
• 23:21
  Meggan: Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense.
• 23:22
  Meggan: And I mean, why else are we going?
• 23:24
  Meggan: If it isn't to experience where we're going.
• 23:26
  Meggan: So, you know, within reason yeah.
• 23:29
  Meggan: Let's do it.
• 23:29
  Meggan: And then, and then you make some choices along the way.
• 23:32
  Meggan: If you come across things that you didn't plan for, like, and you're exactly right.
• 23:36
  Meggan: Am I just looking for something to do or is this super cool?
• 23:39
  Meggan: Like.
• 23:40
  Meggan: Definitely a splurge that stands out for me, that was very off the cuff was when we did the falconry in Ireland.
• 23:48
  Meggan: Like that was not cheap by any means, but it was like one of the best afternoons of my whole life and it wasn't even planned.
• 23:55
  Meggan: So you really never know.
• 23:57
  Meggan: And if you, if you have planned properly financially then, then those are the things you can fit in.
• 24:03
  Meggan: And that's what we try to do as much as possible.
• 24:06
  Jenn: Yes.
• 24:08
  Jenn: Oh, mm-hmm all right, so we have some fun.
• 24:12
  Jenn: Would you rather questions for each other.
• 24:16
  Jenn: Uh, Just something a little fun.
• 24:18
  Jenn: I'm gonna ask you the first question.
• 24:21
  Jenn: Meggan, would you rather eat cheaply like grocery store and fast food and be able to splurge on amazing accommodations.
• 24:33
  Jenn: or eat in all of the restaurants you want and have to stay in very budget, friendly hotels that not like seedy scary hotels, just like budget friendly, maybe outside of the area that you wanna be in
• 24:50
  Meggan: I mean, food and accommodations are both important.
• 24:55
  Meggan: Food.
• 24:56
  Meggan: I love more than accommodations, but I'm going to say I would probably choose grocery store, fast food and be able to splurge on amazing accommodations, cuz like I can eat a bag of chips and be happy if, if I need to, you know what I'm saying?
• 25:11
  Meggan: So.
• 25:12
  Meggan: So, yeah, I would probably choose that one.
• 25:15
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 25:16
  Meggan: What about you?
• 25:17
  Jenn: I mean, depending on where you're going, the, the street or FAF food may be like amazing.
• 25:23
  Jenn: I mean, you never know, but
• 25:26
  Meggan: we're gonna pretend it.
• 25:27
  Jenn: I think for me, I would actually choose the opposite.
• 25:30
  Jenn: I would choose to stay in a budget hotel a little bit outside of where I wanna be to be able to eat in all the amazing restaurants that I wanted to.
• 25:39
  Meggan: I love that we're different people.
• 25:41
  Jenn: I know
• 25:42
  Meggan: variety is the spice of life girlfriend for is.
• 25:45
  Jenn: Sure it is.
• 25:47
  Meggan: All right.
• 25:47
  Meggan: So for you now, would you rather splurge in an expensive castle stay just outside of a town or stay in a more budget location in the middle of town?
• 26:01
  Meggan: So you got your fancy castle on the outskirt.
• 26:03
  Meggan: You got your more budget again, not scary, but budget location in the middle of town.
• 26:08
  Meggan: Now the caveats are, you can easily get into town from the castle.
• 26:12
  Meggan: It's a castle.
• 26:13
  Meggan: Let's say they have like a bus you can take.
• 26:16
  Meggan: That's like every 15 minutes.
• 26:18
  Jenn: Okay.
• 26:19
  Meggan: But it is a town you really wanna see.
• 26:24
  Jenn: All right.
• 26:24
  Jenn: So for this one, for the opposite of the last answer I just gave you, I'm gonna say in town, because I, I like to go back to my accommodations in the middle of the day.
• 26:37
  Meggan: Yes.
• 26:37
  Jenn: That's something we do a lot and I don't want it to be extremely inconvenient to get there.
• 26:46
  Jenn: If it's a longer trip, I'm definitely staying in the city.
• 26:51
  Jenn: If it's a shorter trip, maybe I'm gonna stay in the castle.
• 26:55
  Jenn: But again, I don't really care that much about my accommodations and what they look like.
• 27:00
  Jenn: So I'm gonna final answer.
• 27:03
  Jenn: Stay in the city in my budget friendly.
• 27:07
  Meggan: All right.
• 27:08
  Meggan: All right.
• 27:09
  Meggan: I really could go either way with this one.
• 27:11
  Meggan: I am so not opposed to either option.
• 27:14
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 27:14
  Meggan: If you posted my arm behind my back, I'd pick the castle.
• 27:17
  Meggan: I'm apparently bougie.
• 27:18
  Meggan: I would pick the castle.
• 27:20
  Jenn: I mean, the castle would be really cool.
• 27:21
  Jenn: And when we were planning our trip to Scotland, everybody's like, oh, like you must be gonna stay in a castle.
• 27:26
  Jenn: And I was like, no, we did not
• 27:29
  Meggan: We did in Ireland.
• 27:30
  Meggan: And I, I did love every second of it,
• 27:32
  Jenn: but that think someday I'll do that.
• 27:34
  Jenn: But.
• 27:34
  Jenn: Not not cool.
• 27:36
  Jenn: All right.
• 27:37
  Jenn: Next, would you rather, would you rather fly first class, but you have two stops or fly direct in economy?
• 27:49
  Jenn: Let's pretend that the flight is six hours or more, and let's discuss if the flight is overnight.
• 27:58
  Jenn: If that changes your answer.
• 28:00
  Meggan: Now I have a couple of questions here.
• 28:02
  Meggan: Okay.
• 28:04
  Meggan: Are my stops.
• 28:05
  Meggan: Am I changing plane in, is the next plane also first class?
• 28:08
  Meggan: Like, am I first class all way.
• 28:10
  Jenn: First class, all every plane you're on is first class,
• 28:14
  Meggan: but there's two stops.
• 28:18
  Jenn: Not even one, two stops.
• 28:20
  Meggan: Does it involve Pearson?
• 28:22
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 28:23
  Jenn: That's a whole other topic.
• 28:27
  Meggan: We'll get to that.
• 28:28
  Meggan: Oh God, this one is very tough.
• 28:30
  Meggan: I'm gonna have to choose.
• 28:32
  Meggan: Ugh.
• 28:32
  Meggan: It could change tomorrow.
• 28:34
  Meggan: Like no one can hold me to this, but I'm gonna choose first class if it's overnight.
• 28:39
  Jenn: Yep.
• 28:40
  Meggan: If it's not overnight, I will do economy direct my final answers.
• 28:47
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 28:47
  Jenn: I think, I think we're the same there.
• 28:50
  Jenn: Yeah, I think so.
• 28:51
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 28:52
  Jenn: I think, I mean, six hours is a long time.
• 28:56
  Jenn: During the day.
• 28:57
  Jenn: It's not that bad.
• 28:58
  Meggan: no, like that's almost, that's almost Glace Bay for crying out loud.
• 29:02
  Meggan: Like I could do that, but overnight I would, I would choose the comfort.
• 29:07
  Jenn: Yeah, that's fair.
• 29:09
  Jenn: Same, samsies on that one.
• 29:11
  Meggan: We lovely.
• 29:13
  Meggan: So for our last one for you, would you rather stay in a shared accommodation with a group people, you know, to save money?
• 29:22
  Meggan: So you're traveling, let's say six of you, whatever the case might be, or still traveling with the group, but pay extra to have like an entire space to yourself, like your own accommodation, separate from the group, but you're paying more.
• 29:36
  Jenn: Okay, I would, I would.
• 29:42
  Jenn: Hmm, shared accommodation.
• 29:44
  Jenn: So I've done this.
• 29:45
  Jenn: I've done shared accommodation.
• 29:47
  Jenn: When we went to Disney in 2019, we went with two friends and so there was two couples and we stayed in the same hotel room, which was regular hotel room at a Disney value resort with two beds and one bathroom.
• 30:01
  Meggan: Right.
• 30:02
  Jenn: We were hardly in the room.
• 30:03
  Jenn: It worked out perfectly fine.
• 30:06
  Jenn: It was okay.
• 30:07
  Jenn: Honestly, it really, really was.
• 30:09
  Jenn: Would I do it again?
• 30:11
  Jenn: No, like right.
• 30:13
  Jenn: We, it was what we did for all of us to be able to afford to go together.
• 30:18
  Jenn: And I do not regret it at all.
• 30:21
  Jenn: I would probably not choose to do it again.
• 30:25
  Jenn: I would do a shared accommodation with separate sleeping spaces, no problems,
• 30:30
  Meggan: right.
• 30:31
  Jenn: And I actually prefer a shared accommodation with separate sleeping spaces.
• 30:35
  Jenn: If I'm traveling with a group because when you're not already together getting together in the mornings or whatever.
• 30:44
  Jenn: Annoying, like nobody's ready at the same time.
• 30:48
  Jenn: And one of you has to drive and if one of you's picking the other up, it's it.
• 30:51
  Jenn: I find it way too much stress for myself.
• 30:55
  Meggan: Right.
• 30:56
  Jenn: So I'm gonna go share accommodations as long as I can have a, a separate sleeping space with the door.
• 31:03
  Meggan: I like that.
• 31:04
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 31:04
  Meggan: Well, yeah.
• 31:05
  Meggan: I think I'd, I think I'd agree.
• 31:07
  Meggan: So like, if it's people I wanna be traveling with otherwise, why I'm traveling with them really?
• 31:12
  Meggan: I think it would be more fun to be like in an apartment.
• 31:15
  Meggan: Yes.
• 31:16
  Meggan: But my, my caveat would be.
• 31:18
  Meggan: Separate bathrooms because otherwise you are still waiting for people.
• 31:23
  Meggan: Yes, for sure.
• 31:24
  Meggan: Because everybody can't get ready at the same time.
• 31:26
  Meggan: If there's like one bathroom or even two, if there's six people or whatever the case might be.
• 31:31
  Meggan: So I'm not opposed to it either.
• 31:34
  Meggan: As long as the circumstances were right.
• 31:36
  Meggan: Now for a long period of time, I'd have to say I'd probably pay right to have an entire space to myself.
• 31:44
  Meggan: Because after just so long, regardless of who you are, I wanna be away from you.
• 31:50
  Meggan: So.
• 31:51
  Meggan: I really think that if it was an elongated period of time, I would just pay.
• 31:55
  Jenn: Yeah, no, that's fair.
• 31:57
  Jenn: I would, I would hope that at least you're close to each other, so
• 32:01
  Meggan: yes.
• 32:01
  Meggan: Like I'm not gonna stay across town.
• 32:03
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 32:04
  Meggan: I won't shun you completely, I just might stay like one place over.
• 32:08
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 32:08
  Meggan: You know,
• 32:08
  Jenn: that's totally fair.
• 32:09
  Jenn: It is totally fair.
• 32:10
  Jenn: And I mean, I haven't had.
• 32:12
  Jenn: A ton of experience with group travel.
• 32:15
  Jenn: I mean, those are the only times like Scotland and Disney in 2019 was really the only time that we've really traveled with friends besides.
• 32:24
  Jenn: Going to visit when our friends used to live in New York, but we would, a lot of times do our own thing and then meet up with them later cuz they were, they were nighttime people and we were daytime peoples our schedules.
• 32:34
  Jenn: That's a whole other thing to consider, right?
• 32:36
  Jenn: Like it is, I, we can, we said this before we can do a whole episode on group travel.
• 32:41
  Jenn: So we'll have to do that.
• 32:42
  Meggan: So yeah, like I think this has been fun and it's very interesting to sort of see like what's important to people.
• 32:48
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 32:48
  Meggan: And like, I think all of the things that we I've even said too, like, I can be flexible depending on the situation as well.
• 32:55
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 32:55
  Meggan: It really just depends, but if those were my choices, you know, if I got to choose, I think what I said today, I would probably be in applicable.
• 33:01
  Meggan: But I mean, it's an interesting topic.
• 33:03
  Meggan: I can't wait to hear if people interact, like what they've got to say as well.
• 33:07
  Jenn: Yes.
• 33:07
  Jenn: Yes.
• 33:08
  Jenn: Let us know what your splurging on what you're saving on.
• 33:12
  Jenn: And I can't wait to continue with the conversation.
• 33:14
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• 33:21
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• 33:29
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• 33:32
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• 33:33
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• 33:35
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• 33:36
  Jenn: Apple podcast, Spotify, share the show with a travel loving pal and we will talk to you again soon.
• 33:45
  Jenn: Bye everyone.
• 33:46
  Jenn: Bye.