After 18 months at home, who else is ready to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!?!?!
Travel is so incredibly important to me, and it has been extremely difficult on my mental health to stay home during the pandemic. In fact, I’ve been so tired of staring at my apartment that I literally started taking items down off the walls and selling them at my local consignment shop, ha!
But I’m vaccinated and ready to hit the road, the rails, and the friendly skies—anywhere that’ll have me!
However, as a someone who is self-employed, I also need to be mindful of my spending and make every dollar count. So, I’m always on the lookout for a deal, especially when it comes to travel.
If you know what it’s like to yearn for the open road but have all the feelings about your finances, I’ve got you covered.
Here are a few of my favorite budget-friendly travel resources:
Chase Sapphire: This is BY FAR the best travel card out there, and that’s not just my opinion but the opinion of many travel pros. The awesome thing about Chase Ultimate Reward points is they can be used for all kinds of travel and entertainment deals, not just flights or hotels. Additionally, when you redeem through their site, your points have up to 25% greater value. And the offer right now is fantastic, so don’t miss it!
TrustedHousesitters: Like pets? If so, you can stay in someone’s home for free and watch their pets while they’re away. I’ve done this a few times for both staycations and cross-country adventures, and I look forward to a global sit at some point.
TravelZoo: They have an awesome newsletter each Wednesday that will send you the top 20 travel deals from your destination. There are some incredible deals, and this is where I found the travel company I used to go to England, Ireland, and Scotland.
Travel Pirates: Another great weekly newsletter with a sense of humor to consider, and they also have trip flight and destination giveaways a couple of times each year.
Secret Flying:There are some unbelievable flight deals on this website, and they also post “error fares” which are mistakes the airlines make. If you’re interested in error fares, I suggest getting Twitter notifications so that you can find out about them immediately and take advantage of them quickly before the airline corrects them. This is how I got my $250 airfare to Barcelona—that I bought it in just 10 minutes!
There are, of course, many other wonderful travel tools out there, but if I could only share a few with you, these are at the top of my list.
By the way, if you have multiple travel reward programs to track, I recommend using AwardWallet to keep all the details and points handy and be able to update them at once. I have 19 different accounts including airlines, hotels, rental cars, and Amtrak and this makes it easy to see everything at once.
I hope I’ve inspired you to get out there as soon as you feel safe. There are certainly deals to be had!
If you’ve ever had a conversation with me, you know I love recommending resources of all kinds. From podcasts to books to products to events—and everything in-between—if I know something that would interest you or that I think you should know about, I feel compelled to share it!
In fact, I have a Resource List on my business website for this very reason. But my clients are primarily nonprofits, social enterprises, and other cause-focused organizations. While this is, of course, awesome, I also know about a lot of resources that aren’t a great fit for them as well. And those items don’t live in any organized place like my business Resource List.
So, for the sake of my other solopreneurs and small business friends (and my sanity), I thought I’d go ahead and include them all here for easy access.
Note: There are obviously a lot of other options besides what I’ve listed below, but these are the ones I refer again and again, as well as have personal experience with. And anything with a * means it’s one of my favorites!
And if you are a nonprofit, social enterprise, or other cause-focused organization, you can find more great resources for your business on Signify’s site! 😉
What am I missing? What would help you? What do you need?
PS: If this has been helpful, would you mind sharing it with another solopreneur or small business owner?
Some links are affiliate links, which means I get a little somethin’ somethin’ for telling you about them. However, I only promote things I know and love!
I was excited to visit the MLK Memorial in DC last fall.
One of my favorite passages of scripture is 2 Corinthians 5:11-21, particularly the part about God giving us the “ministry of reconciliation.” To me, that is central to the work of social justice. It is a mantle I have taken up, and carry with me. And it is what comforts me when I’m weary of how people have harmed each other over and over again, but feel the need to take a step forward anyway.
I once heard someone define justice as “God’s way of putting things right,” and I liked that. It makes the word both a noun and a verb, and I believe that’s how we need to treat it to make any real progress.
11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.21 God made him who had no sin to be sinfor us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (NIV)
These verses have rung loudly in my ears the past few days as we heard yet again about the tragic shooting of two African American men, compiled with the devastating addition of the attack on police officers in Dallas. Both are heartbreaking situations that never should have happened. But the question remains, what are we going to do about it?
I honestly think many people just don’t know what to do. It’s not that they don’t care, but they feel stuck in their response. Or maybe they feel conflicted in what to say, or how to react, or where to turn, or simply how not to offend. I’ve felt some of that myself, and I address it a bit here in this guest blog post.
So, if you can relate, I’d like to provide you with just a few resources that I hope will be helpful.
The first, of course and as always, is to pray. My friend Latasha started a terrific organization called Be The Bridge, which promotes racial unity and reconciliation through conversations and the Church. I suggest looking through her resources and site. But her first piece of advice for anyone is to pray. Pray for the situation. Pray for your personal response. Most of us live in our own bubbles, complete with people who look and think like us. So, pray for opportunities to make new friends or have these conversations with old friends. I think these are requests God would love to honor.
Another thing Latasha suggests is reading books by people who look and think different than you. Additionally, follow these kinds of people on social media, or go to the places they hang out.
Continuing along these lines, here is a fantastic conversation by Latasha and IF:Gathering founder, Jennie Allen, that took place on Friday. I highly recommend this 45-minutes as its just an honest sit-down between two friends.
This is a great article by Relevant Magazine for understanding the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Check out this article by Kristen Howerton, who is white, which explains the concept of “white privilege.”
There are also many terrific books and movies as well. Two books I’ve read in the last year are The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander and Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. And I gotta say, the latter is one of the hardest and most beautiful books I’ve ever read. As far as movies, there are well-known ones like Life is Beautiful and American History X. Here are a bunch more, and it wouldn’t take much research to find others, or you can ask me for more. I have lots to catch up on in this area too, and have books piling up in my Audible Wish List.
Pardon the bleeping, but this The Daily Show clip does make some good points while also bringing some humor to the situation. It’s always good to infuse some humor when you can.
There are lots and lots more, but if you need a starting place, hopefully this will provide you with one.
But here’s your disclaimer: I’m telling you now that this can be a messy process. I know that sounds scary, but it doesn’t have to be. If you’re getting outside your comfort zone, which you should in many aspects of life, just remind yourself that you’re doing it to become a better person and more educated. Most often, the people who don’t look like you will be really grateful that you’re making an effort to see life through their lens. And grace will be extended on both sides. Just make a new friend. You’ve done that before. You don’t have initially start with a race conversation. In fact, they might appreciate that too. 🙂
Sadly, I have seen bigotry in action. I have witnessed an actual segregated community south of Atlanta, complete with the literal “other side of the tracks.” I have heard friend’s stories of how they were discriminated against. And even if you missed these things, you’ve probably heard jokes that come at someone else’s expense. We cannot keep pretending these are ok. We cannot keep silent. This kind of harmful thinking often starts in small ways. And therefore, small actions can create change.
When you know these people, not just know of them, you should want to fight for them.
It’s hard work. It’s ugly work. It’s messy work. But it work that matters. And if you follow Christ, you have also been given the ministry of reconciliation. So, what are you going to do about it?
“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be… This is the inter-related structure of reality.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail
UPDATE on 7/12/16
I’ve also just watched these two online sermons from this past Sunday, and they’re additional great examples to watch about how the Church can address the issue.
If you’ve ever had a conversation with me, you know I love recommending resources of all kinds. From podcasts to books to products to events—and everything in-between—if I know something that would interest you or that I think you should know about, I feel compelled to share it!
Mental Post-Its 