We're not really hard-core points warriors (those who live to exploit every advantage to accumulate rewards points for traveling) but we're not ones to shy away from opportunities to collect points.
Over the years here at The World on Wheels, we've been known to cash in points for a free flight or a night in a hotel here and there but have not really made a great effort to accumulate a lot of points to cash in for a big vacation.
Until now...
The last couple of years worth of travel have involved a more concerted effort on our part to accumulate points for one of our biggest vacations yet...a multi-week blowout covering two southern states with a cruise to the Bahamas thrown into the middle just for the heck of it.
I retired from my job in March after 30 years of service (that's a picture from my retirement luncheon) and we had longed to take a long trip through the south once that happened. The original plan was to take a month, start off in Key West and slowly make our way through the southern states heading back home.
Over the years, pieces of that trip were whittled away with our adventures to Tennessee, Texas, and the Florida Keys. Plus, a month might be pushing it now, so we've cut the time down a little bit and narrowed the scope some...we'll be starting off in Atlanta and going south from there with the goal of seeing the last remaining unseen baseball stadiums in our quest to visit every Major League Baseball park.
Now, what about the points? A few years ago, our traveling evolved so that Southwest Airlines turned out to be our preferred airline so all three of us signed up for their Rapid Rewards program. All of our trips started out with the question "Does Southwest fly there?" Many times they did (but not always) so we booked them as much as possible.
The last few years, we've flown on them to Baltimore, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Fort Lauderdale, and more. A couple of years later, we have enough to cash in a free flight for the three of us to Atlanta, so our first leg of airfare is basically free (it cost me an extra $16 for taxes and fees for the flight).
Our Hilton points were enough to get us five nights at a hotel in Miami, so those will be cashed in later on this trip. In the meantime, an old Hyatt rewards account that I'd forgotten about had enough points for a couple of nights so we'll be using that in Atlanta to stay at the Hyatt Place in the northern part of the city. In between, we'll have to pay out of pocket for a couple more nights at the Hyatt, the rental car, and a few more hotel nights between Atlanta and Miami.
Lastly, we use a Costco Citi Visa card for most of our purchases which has a very generous cash reward program. In the last year, we've built up enough rewards on that to pay for the cruise to the Bahamas.
Stay tuned...we're off to Atlanta for our mosty-free, big-blowout, post-retirement vacation!
Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
Six months ago, I said goodbye to my job of 30 years as an Information Technology Specialist at the U.S Attorney's Office for the Central District of California headquartered in Los Angeles. Hopefully, I saved enough money to help live off my small pension from the Department of Justice.
So how has it been?
It's been a transition, that's for sure.
The first week or so, planning on sleeping in as long as I wanted, I couldn't sleep. Maybe my rhythms were messed up? I don't know but I was getting frustrated but, finally, after a week or so fatigue caught up to me and I slept. For the most part, since then, my sleeping routine has improved and I'm getting a good night's sleep more often than not.
Sleep schedule properly adjusted, the next thing I had to deal with, psychologically, was the feeling that I was only on vacation and would have to return to work. After awhile, it almost felt like I was going to be in trouble if I didn't report back on the job at some point.
Over time, that feeling faded but it still feels a bit like I'm getting away with something I shouldn't.
Next is the expectation that you'll have all the time in the world. It's true that I have more time for the things that are important to me but I'm just as busy, if not busier, than I was at work. I am a full-time caregiver for my adult, disabled son which requires cooking for him, feeding him, dressing him, bathing, bathrooming, and much more. My day is filled with looking after his needs, although I do usually have a couple of hours between each bout of taking care of him.
We are also getting our house and affairs together so we can achieve that other retirement dream, moving away from the city. After living in very crowded Los Angeles County, it's time to cash in our chips and go.
Another problem is, even though I have the time, most of the friends I'd like to hang out with still have to work. I'm happy to spend my free time with my wife and son, though.
Since retirement, I've cleaned out the garage, relandscaped the front yard, we've painted our bedrooms and took care of the last couple of major home improvement projects. In addition, now I can relieve my wife of some of the chores she used to take care of like doing the laundry, pitching in to cook, washing dishes, and cleaning the house.
There hasn't been many dull moments since I quit.
Traveling has been fun as we can now go whenever we want, stay as long as we want, and not have to worry about our vacation time ending. It is still an adjustment when we do travel...at the end of the vacation, I feel depressed like I used to when I'd have to go back to work. But then, I realize, I don't have to go back!
Dealing with money is taking some getting used to. Instead of getting paid every two weeks, I have to plan everything monthly as I only get paid once a month now. Our income is less than a third of what is was before retirement so we have to be more careful with our spending.
We don't have to live like monks but we have gotten rid of our second car, we're eating at home about twice as much as we used to, and look for deals when we go out.
Fate sometimes has a way of stepping in, though, as we've had to deal with unexpected expenses like emergency dental work and a major car breakdown while we were hundreds of miles from home.
All in all, though, we dealing with the challenges of retirement pretty well. Going back to the original question, is it all it's cracked up to be? Well...yes! And more than I thought it was going to be.We're blowing out our classic vinyl LP albums at The Musick Channel Garage Sale on Ebay.Find some bargains on great music today
Darryl MusickCopyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
