Episode three eighty six, Best vacation Destination Dupes aka more Affordable with Jen on a jet Plane.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here your hosts Jen and Jill.
Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and I am not on a jet plane. I am here with Jill And we just had a conversation with Jen on a jet plane. But spoiler, she was also not on a jet plane. She was also actually in St. Petersburg, just not in the same room as us. Figure that confused yet, Yeah, figure that out. But we had a really great conversation with our friend Jen,
who has traveled all around the world. It's what she does for a living, and we are sharing some of her favorite affordable places to travel.
Yeah, she's incredible. She travels constantly and her whole job is giving people tips and what to expect when traveling. And even though her primary goal in life isn't to always be saving money because it's within her value system to be traveling, but she's got some really awesome tips on how you can go to some of these places for a more affordable rate or alternatives to some of these places that we think we want to go just because we.
Don't know about where else we can go.
So she's an incredible one to chat with, and we will do that shortly. But first, this episode is brought to you by inside Jokes. We love it when we're a part of them, and we're uncomfortable when we have no idea what everyone else is laughing about. If you don't have many inside jokes with friends, or if you do and you want more, get on the inside of the friend letter and share it with your friend friends.
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You had to be there, Yeah, you had to be there inside the cheese cave.
Oh, if you don't know what Jen's talking about, the other gener will tell you.
Yeah, you haven't. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you haven't listened to today's episode yet or taken our friend letter vacation dupes pole because we asked you, guys, where would you like to vacation this summer, and all of you surprisingly said cheese caves. I'm just kidding. Most of you said national parks, mountains, trees please, And then the second biggest answer was cheese caves.
She's telling inside jokes right now, is what's happening. Yeah, so sorry, folks, but soon you will be on the inside. Anywhere with a beach was the second place. So we definitely included some international destinations in our conversation, but we kept a lot of it domestic while integrating some of the feel of Europe, which was probably your big with the biggest like international destination request, but how you can kind of get that feel with some domestic locations. But yeah,
we kept a lot of our conversation domestic. But if you do want to travel internationally, still listen to the episode. There are gosh including like a Italy dupe in Guatemala.
That one was mind blowing. So today's episode is great. I think a lot of you are going to love it. It's going to be one I think that you come back to again and again to get affordable travel ideas. Jen does so much research. I love following her on social media because she goes places that aren't stereotypical. She goes to all kinds of domestic locations, international and things that you just wouldn't see from a normal travel blogger
or somebody trying to be a travel blogger. She is a lawyer, termed full turned full time travel blogger, influencer, and author, and you can see her her research background shines through with just how thoroughly she helps people travel on a budget. So if you love traveling, which we know that a lot of you do, episode three twelve is a good one to queue up after this if you're looking for specific ways to travel on a budget.
That one I was not there for. It was our friend Chloe who travels full times digital nomad, and that one's about traveling full time on a budget. And then episode two fifty how to save money on travel. That's where we go into the needy, gritty how to save on hotels, flights, all of that. Today is all about the destination.
It's not about the journey.
It is not about the journey. Today's about a destination.
Well, let's get into the journey with Jen.
Now, Jen, welcome to Frugal Friends. We are super excited to this. We just wrapped up our mega survey for Frugal Friends and we asked our listeners what do you love to spend money on? Like, what are the things you'll say no to? The impulse purchases in order to get more of this and hands down travel. It was no competition and so everyone's gonna love this episode. So thank you so much for being here.
Absolutely, I definitely am a big fan of all things travel and it's and I spend the majority of my money on, so I'm happy to talk.
More about it.
You are so fun to follow on Instagram. Jen on a jet plane. If you're not doing it, y'all need to. And I especially love the way that you really break down the spots that you're going to for someone who might want to do it but they don't know what to expect. You are the pinnacle of giving people here's what to expect and kind of breaking down that barrier
to entry that some people might have. So with all of that said, with all of the various countries and destinations that you are constantly bebopping around to and sharing your expert tips and advice, we want to know kind of some of your favorite spots that are lesser known and talked about, and particularly you know, you hear all these people I'm going to Paris, I'm going to the Islands of Greece, I'm going to and posting all these
beautiful photos. But yet there's so many other destinations world and we're curious, like, where else should we be considering that might even be more affordable, possibly not as many tourists there. So so start us off. It could be international and domestic.
Yeah, let's start. Want to go to France. Yeah, yeah, So let's start like our favorite your favorite dupes that are international, Let's start there.
Yeah.
So, I think that France is a big one for a lot of people. It's a dream destination. People want to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris, they want to go to the South of France. And I love France and I definitely recommend it. I think it's something that can be done more and more easily now with the advent of budget airlines. So airlines like French Bee airlines like play Air, they get you to and from these locations for maybe four hundred dollars round trip per person.
They're more of a no frills airlines. You add things on ala carte as you decide that you want, you know, checked baggage, seats, all of the above. And so I think that France is a great destination to aim for and a lot of people get so intimidated by not necessarily being able to plan that big trip that because
of that, they don't travel at all. And so I think a great way to start when you're somebody that's aiming to get overseas is to start traveling domestically, just you know, get out there and see more of the US, because we have so much to offer here in the US. So one hack that I've found for France specifically is New York State, which is very similar along you know, geographically located, and they have a wine trail in the Finger Lakes where you can get wine that has outrant
France in international awards. You can get delicious cheese again with you know, been to the Wegman's cheese caves there, and they have an a French cheese expert. There's a word for like cheese expert, like somaliir for whe caves.
No, I've never heard of a cheese caves. Yes, okay, okay, go on, yep.
So you're Traditionally in France a lot of cheese is prepared in caves because of the temperature, the atmosphere. It's just really good for you know, maturing these cheeses. And in in New York State, there's definitely been a lot of replication of that because in New York you actually have they're the third highest dairy producing state in the US, and so they make a lot of cheese and they
have these local artisanal cheeses. They have Wegmans that has you know, gone so far as to try to replicate the cave effect in their laboratories where they're making all of this really delicious cheese. And so it's a big cheese place that pairs really nicely with the wine there. And so already I feel like you have that field of France. In the summer, it's a beautiful time to visit.
You can find these really lovely lavender fields that are not going to be necessarily, you know, like the South of France where they're endless in many ways, but they're really gorgeous and you know, you can get your pictures amongst lavender fields that looks like you're in the middle of the South of France. So like King Fisher lavender field is one in Scaniatales in Upstate New York, they have lavender fields there and they have the mirror boat
in an spa. They actually have a monet replica of the Givanci the gardens and so you can walk through these French gardens. So it's really a beautiful place to go. You know, you can get fresh honey. It's just like really lovely if you want to have that experience. Similarly, in Washington State they have during April they have tulip fields that are you know, very much reminiscent of the
tulip fields in the Netherlands. If you're somebody that can't make it abroad for something like that, you can see these are bulbs that have been flown over so they are you know the same bulbs that are grown over there, and they have fields and fields of tulips very similar to what you would see in the Netherlands. So there's ways that you can get a lot of those you know, things that you're looking for in France in the US.
Jen, we're jaw dropped.
I never here. I am actively like searching as you're saying, and I'm like looking at cheese caves and lavender fees.
We don't even need to go on with this episode. We all know where we're going. See all you frugal friends in Upstate New York. Yeah, this is amazing, I think. Yeah, we can just see so much propaganda, for lack of a better word, of all these other places we have to be going, we should be going, and we're missing some of the things that are right in front of us that can be less expensive, maybe zero to get to, and just as beautiful and stuff.
My gosh, if Upstate New York wasn't great enough by having the Bills, is their football team the cheese caves you can have? They have? This place has a cave intern program and it just says love cheese. Our cave intern program offers a front row seat to expert orphanage for enthusiasts. You could man if you're not in the cheese cave in Upstate New York. This is really a business trip that we should be taking just for science to see the bills.
Yes, it's amazing, and yes, I think that that's the case. We underestimate, you know, how much there is to see. The US is a beautiful place that people from all over the world come to visit. There's so many, you know, different bucket list things that you can do here. You know, salt flats that you can see, ice caves that you can see, things that people are going their places to see you can see in the US. So I think
that's the first point. But if you are looking to get abroad, there are a lot of destinations that can be a more affordable alternative to the most popular destinations. I think one of the ones that I love to point out is how affordable it is to go to Guatemala for people especially that want to have that feel of Italy. Like Lake Como is very comparable to Lake Atitlan.
There's actually a hotel there on the water that people take videos of because it looks so much like like, you know, that kind of Mediterranean architecture right by the water, that kind of feel and so and the difference is that it's much more affordable you're looking at, you know, maybe one hundred dollars a night versus several hundred dollars you know.
Things in general.
And that's you know, for that really popular property because you can get a property for thirty bucks a night, maybe less or so, depending on where you are in Guatemala, and they have so many amazing things there. You can do your own cacao chocolate making, so you can learn about the process, and they have some of the best in the world there, so you can have your fancy desserts and feel like you're getting that culinary experience as well, but you're doing it at a fraction of the cost.
You can get this, you know, experience with volcanoes. If you wanted to see Vesuvius, you could hike and actually see an erupting, live active volcano, spend the night. So that's you know, something you can do.
You can eat.
Pizza cooked on an active volcano. That was an activity that I did.
You're blowing our minds.
Yes, I thought I knew I thought I knew things about the world.
Yeah, so if you know you can have that little piece of Italy, you can have so you hike to the top of this volcano. It's the only place in the world where you can have pizza cooked on the volcano. And it's a gentleman that you know. It was a restauranteur and a chef, and he figured out that you can cook with the heat of the volcano. They figured it out original with marshmallows. And for years tourists had been you know, toasting marshmallows when they reached the top
of the volcano. But this man want to step further and actually made like a little peisa oven in the volcano so that you can go and you have your table that's built out of stone on the volcano and it's brought out to you and made fresh for you there after your hike, and so you have these epic views.
And so I think that.
That's and that the entire day, you know, cost me, because two other people came on the tour, cost me about ninety dollars for the hike, the piisa, you know, transportation, everything included. So it could be much more affordable to do these things in these alternative destinations.
How risky did it feel to be that close to an active volcano?
It fell not risky for these girls in these pictures look at that enjoying their pizza. Yeah, pizza.
It felt definitely like an adventure, and I think that's the fun part. And also they're so well versed because there are communities that live there on the base of the volcano. Because you learn that actually the volcanic land is very fertile, and so even though maybe there's you know, eruptions that are disruptive and burn things down, they'll still continue to live there because it's so hard to find land that.
You know, it's just so good for the crops.
You can grow pretty much anything there, and so communities will build and congregate and have you know, hundreds of years history around these volcanoes, and so they know the warning signs, they know, you know, ahead of time what to expect. They have a plan on where to go, and Uh, it's definitely it's a little bit scary to hear, you know, it's it's erupted recently. It erupts pretty frequently. But again, you feel like it's not today fingers crossed.
You know.
I didn't know that and that you could anticipate it until Kai brought home a book on volcanoes and we've been reading it like it's a short you know kids book, but they say what it is like before a volcano, and sometimes there will be tremors for like a couple months leading up to it, so I kind of know it's coming, yeah, having but this is Pecaia volcano. Writing it down in Lake Adeline, I'm okay, I have it. All the spellings will be in the show notes.
I'm so excited. So alternative to Italy, Guatemala never would have considered never. So you are also talking about some European towns. Can you give us some other dupes for if we just want that European feel?
Yeah, I think that there's a lot of cities in the US that are European inspired and where you can feel immersed Again, I don't think you have to necessarily leave the country to feel like you're getting a really cool vacation. So Helen, Georgia is one such place where you can step in and feel like you're in this you know, German town. Levenworth, Washington is another one. They're known a lot for their kind of winter and ski chalets and that kind of.
Feel to it.
Even Saint Augustine, Florida has really wonderful history. They have, you know, Spanish castles and Spanish architecture, and so you can really get a feel for that Spanish vibe even
if you are still in Florida. So I think that there's a lot of different European inspired cities in the US that you can see, And in general, if you still just really want to get to Europe, I definitely recommend looking at those budget airlines that I've mentioned, so Play Air, Tap, Portugal, French Bee, all of these different airlines can get you to Europe from major hubs, and it doesn't necessarily.
Have to be East Coast.
You can fly from La San Francisco for very affordable and then once you get to Europe it very easy to hop around. I've, you know, flown from Athens to Santorini for twenty five dollars on Ryan Air. So if you get a ticket to one of these places, you can kind of figure out how to get to your final destination once you're in the general vicinity. And in general, Eastern Europe is always going to be more affordable than
Western Europe. So these other kind of countries that now have been seeing a lot more tourists, like Croatia has become very popular now and it's a very big destination after Game of Thrones as a nearby you know, like Montenegro, Albania, things like that are still places that you can visit
for very affordable. You can find meals for like a five dollars lunch kind of thing, you know, thirty dollars a night, hotels pretty regularly, you know, while they're still relatively untapped, and in general off season, if you really want to go to Italy because you love Italy and you want to go there and nobody, you don't want anything to deter you. It's your dream. Same with Paris.
You know, there's a reason these destinations are popular. I think off season's a great time to consider visiting them. I've been in Milan in January and it's significantly more affordable. Everything for the most part is still been much easier
to get tickets. I was able to see the Last Supper, which is something that you know, tickets sell out months in advance, to be able to see that painting on the fresco on the walls, and so that's something that in the off season, it's easier to find tickets, it's
easier to find accommodations. You can pay much less to get there, and so if you really want to go to these destinations, you know you have that dream, you know, maybe Paris in January is a good idea for you, and you can warm up with a delicious hot chocolate. You know, they have really thick hot chocolate in Italy that just basically you have to eat it with a spoon.
It's that thing. So you know, you'll.
Fell I can deal with being a little cold.
Yeah, yeah.
Eric and I did a vacation to Paris and Spain, so France and Spain in November, which was a little bit off season, but it really didn't limit us from doing anything. We were still able to get on a boat down the Seine, we were able to walk a ton of places. We just bundled up and it almost It made it really cozy and fun. So I would definitely recommend considering off season as well.
If you had to choose one place to go in Eastern Europe that you would deem affordable, where would you where'd you pack up and go?
Right now, I want to get back to you on that because I have an upcoming cruise with Viking where I'm going to be doing like six countries in two weeks, and so I think after that I'll have a much better.
Idea of which one I prefer.
Right now, I have limited and that's part of the reason why I'm partnering with them to do that cruise, because I've been that's like the Czech Republic that was really lovely, and a couple other places as well.
But I really want to see more.
Before I can make a full opinion on Eastern Europe, because I think there's.
A lot I'm missing.
Okay, Viking Cruise, say no more, It's fine. That's how I want to see Europe is on a cruise ship because I can see, I can hop around the cities. I don't have to carry my luggage from hotel to hotel. It's just right on the water. Got a hotel right on the water. Literally, That's how I want to travel.
Yeah.
So I had partnered with them before for Christmas on the Rhine. So we had done a Christmas market cruise where we had gone down the Rhine River and seen a lot of markets in Germany, Switzerland and then ended in the Netherlands. And so this we're going to be going down through the capitals of Eastern Europe. So like Budapest and Mania and like a bunch of other places.
So I think it's going to be amazing. But I agree with you that cruisers are great because they're done for you and they're usually pretty reliable, and that they are the price that you've been quoted, like, you know already what's included in it, what meals are included, what you know how much extra it's going to cost to that excursion. In Viking, with fighting in particular, they have, you know, a guide in every port, so you have at least the one hour walking activity included and every
time that you're out a new city. So I agree. I think that's a great way to see everything and kind of know your price ahead of time. It's not necessarily the best for solo travelers, so I think better for families. And to your point, Joe Quickly, I actually think that Thanksgiving is also a great hack because while it is a holiday in the US, and you know, domestic flights are really expensive, that's a great time to
go abroad. It's not a holiday anywhere else, and it's you know, those flights are much cheaper, and if you wanted to take a family trip, you could do Thanksgiving in a different way.
Yeah, I didn't think about that. I just want to follow up. I googled Leavenworth for their because I'm not a big fan of Helen Georgia, but I do I want to see more like European stuff in the United States. Levenworth has a reindeer farm. I just want everyone to know that February nineteenth through eleventh is calving season, so after April twelfth you can go meet baby reindeer.
Cute.
I just want everyone to know if you're near Levenworth, is this Washington, Yes, yes, please go see the baby reindeer.
Okay, jen h Now let's talk about I mean, you've already covered a lot of spots in the States, but for those who want a city, and maybe even New York City is top of the list. What would you recommend? Maybe not even a.
Dupe for it, but how to do new dupe? Dupe me? Yes, what are your best tips?
Yeah?
Absolutely? I love New York because I think that you can get to New York City from pretty much every major airport. It's an easy airport to access. I actually use New York as a hack to find cheap flights, Like if I know I'm looking to go somewhere internationally, I'll maybe search instead for New York to Tokyo versus like you know, Tampa to Tokyo, because I can get the more affordable rate from New York and get to
New York for like one hundred bucks round trip. So I love New York yes as a hub, especially when doing major international trips. And I never rule out deals from New York because they have really great deals from there. But in general, I just got back from doing a week there again in January, which is a good time to go. Everything is open. New York is busy. There's so much growing on so many people that the weather doesn't really impact you in the way it maybe does
where where you're out in nature. Because it's busy, it's a city scape, you know, there's a lot happening. And I was able to see Harry Potter and The Curse Child on Broadway. I saw that using today Ticks. It's an app and it takes a spelled ti X and it basically gives you these half off tickets, you know or more on Broadway.
So I found.
Tickets as low as sixty seven dollars. I had a seat that was kind of front row right at the balcony. So mine was ninety seven, but I paid less than one hundred dollars for a Broadway show, which was amazing. I was able to meet the actors afterwards, like really wonderful. Well, yeah, they come out onto the street, they take pictures with you, they signed your playbill. So I had a very you know,
authentic Broadway experience and it felt really fun. And I was able to treat myself to that for what felt like a very reasonable price, definitely much less than it would have been if I bought it, you know, retail. And I also another kind of luxury hack I have in New York is I fly when I come into the airport, because most airports will take you about an hour to get into the city center from where I.
Saw this, Jen, I saw this on your social media.
Yeah, so.
Like JFK, like Wordia New York, like they take a while, you have to call and haal the ride share.
It takes a while to get in. So I actually have a hack. I fly with.
Blade and so when you fly with them, and my very first ride was one hundred and forty five dollars because I had a fifty dollars Cubon off my first ride, and now at this point I've referred them so much that I have different affiliate credits built up and so I'm able to use that. When I arrived to get airport transport from you know JFK Newark or like Guardia into Manhattan, it takes me five minutes and I fly via helicopter.
I think you're burying the lead. You're burying the lead. You take a helicopter from the air report into the city like career, that's you don't take an uber, you take a.
Helicopter, correct a private helicopter.
And your first time was one hundred and fifty bucks, which how much would it how much would a cab be into the city from.
About one maybe ninety dollars, Yeah, and it could be more on rush hour.
So that was what made my first.
Video go viral because I had a screenshot of a rush hour uber quote that was like two hundred dollars, and so I was like, actually saved fifty dollars by coming in via airplane via helicopter.
And so.
Essentially it's like a shared helicopter service. And that's girl math, by the way, but it's like a shared helicopter service where you have up to six passengers on there. But most of the time it's not going to be packed because I come in on like, you know, first thing in the morning, and I'm not coming in like on Christmas Day. So all the times I've used it, I've only had one other time where there's someone in there
with me. Otherwise just me and the pilot. And so what happens is they pick you up from the airport in their private like Escalade, Cadillac, I don't know, fancy black vehicle because I don't know cars, but it's the fancy kinds, and they open the door for you. They take your luggage and everything, and then they escort you. They drive you to the heliport like area which is adjacent to the airport, and then you have your luggage that they take onto the helicopter. You know, you walk
on the runway area tarmac area to the helicopter. They let you in and then it's all luxurious. It's like leather seats, you know, you have your really nice headphones you have to wear so that you don't hear the ambiance when you're taking off, and then when you're actually I think it's coming in from Newark, you actually go over the Statue of Liberty. So it also kind of doubles as a helicopter tour of the city and it's you get really amazing.
Views, transfer and experience.
I shook.
Yeah when you see it that way too. It's a two for one and kind of like five for one. That's all you need. Yeah, that's beautiful.
Yeah, you're six to add on to it when you finish.
They also have free drinks.
No, you're like, oh, welcome, yes, so it's like, yes, welcome to Manhattan. You just have your cop I usually do like a vodka pineapple juice, and they give it to you in this like little to go cup thing. So you also get your souvenir cup that you're taking with you. So it's like a million things in one and it's just so pleasant.
Oh that's so wild. You know, you're reminding me. I have done helicopter rides two times, not as a transfer from an airport. This is an incredible tip that Yeah, I can't wait to hear our listeners take advantage of this. But you can find them for relatively inexpensive. It seems like such a cool, luxurious thing to experience and fly over a city. But I've done it with Eric a couple of times in various places, and they've been so affordable compared to what I would have previously thought it
would be. And then, especially when you're talking about ubers and lyfts out of the airport in New York City, it's like, this is actually more affordable than getting a ride. You are giving us so many good things. I don't know if you have any more to say about New York City, but we were also chatting about other cities or destinations within the US kennities second tier destinations. Curious to hear some of your top ones here you would.
Talk second tier cities for summer travel.
Yeah, so when we.
Say that, we mean just like kind of cities that are maybe not the capital city, maybe not the one that's super well known, like these cities that everyone knows San Francisco, San Diego, New York City, Orlando, you know, versus maybe some counterparts that you weren't aware of. Like I love Madison, Wisconsin. You know, while we're on the topic, I have keys.
On my mind.
They're an amazing city. If you're fan of architecture, you can see Frankloyd Rights Taliessen there, but also a lot of other architecture pieces by Frankloyd, right like Unity Church in the city itself. So it's a really fun place for you to geek out about American architecture, which I'm a big fan of. It's a college town, so they have really great museums, they great food, and I love college towns.
For that reason because they're diverse.
They usually have a lot going on, Like there's not a slow period, there's usually always something happening. Another great example of that is Tempe Arizona, so they're home to ASU, but they're a great place there. You fly into Phoenix. They're twenty minutes outside of Phoenix, but there's so many
beautiful things you can do there. They have a desert botanical garden where they had a Bootero exhibit, which was at the time of his passing last September, he was the highest paid Latin American artist in the world, so they have his pieces there currently. You know, amidst the garden, they've had some Chouli pieces before, so they do beautiful integration of like art and the outdoors. Again, I'm a big nerd and so I just love that these things
are available. And again because they're always busy, you can go year round. Tempees warm year round, like Arizona's high at any point in time, So if you wanted to get away from the winter, like, that's a great place to go. They have a lot of good hiking. I like light adventure, So I like adventure where you can feel like you're getting a lot of things, like getting out of nature, like you were being active, you got your steps in, but also like your life was not at risk and there was never men.
That is my kind of adventure as well.
And you know for travelers that's not always the case. But for me, I'm like, I just really I want to feel okay about this, and so some really cool things I've done, you know, in that regard Outer Banks, North Carolina, they have the Home of Flight where the Wright brothers discovered flight, and you can go hang gliding on the sand dunes like they did when they were
seeing the concepts cool. And I would never hang glide like off a cliff, right because again I preserve my life, but sand dunes, like the sander natural cushion, You're never going like more than ten feet off the air, like it's like a ten second thing, like.
It feels super safe.
But you're like, I went hang gliding on sand dunes today like the Ripe Brothers. You know, Wow, I just did a partnership with Yosemite National Park and we were able to see the giant Sequoia trees there, which are
the tallest trees. So, you know, if you wanted to see this and the family of Redwoods and experience something outside of the most popular places in Yosemite, a place like Mariposa Grove is beautiful and they have so many, you know, different entrances to the park that you can kind of go around a different way if you know that the main ways are a little.
Bit more crowded.
So you have a lot of fun, beautiful natural escapes that you can have here in the US with cities that maybe would surprise you.
Yeah, you're giving us so much.
I just want to talk to you for days, not even hours, but I don't think that that's gonna be possible for us right now.
You've given I both like leaned back, but we're like taking it all in.
We're just gonna be talking about all of our future plans. But you know what else is a really good thing to talk about, and I am also excited about that.
I think now officially we're gonna have to take a work trip for research for this.
Uh huh.
The bill of the week.
That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's bills, butfalo bills. Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week.
Jen.
Every week we yell at our listeners and our guests to share with us their bill of the week. And maybe it's a buffalo bill that you went on a cheese cave tour. I don't know. It could be anything. We'd love to hear yours.
Yeah, So I thought an interesting one to share is one that I've actually been really excited about paying every month, Like I have a bill I've actually been looking forward to pay.
So I recently joined.
Class Pass, and I still have my LA Fitness Pass, and I still, you know, have kind of like my gym Pass, but I love the class Pass lets me try different studios in the area. So like, if I want to try this yoga class, I don't have to sign up for this yoga membership. Same thing with a bar class that they have like six month memberships, and I don't go to bar classes.
That often, so it allows me to be you know, mix and match.
But when I really love about it, that I realize that they have because I was a member years ago and this is a new feature that I've fallen in love with, is that they have wellness so you can have like facials and beauty treatments for these passes. So I've been able to get like I went to the blow dry bar here in Saint Pete and it costs like seventy dollars to get my hair blow dried and
get a deep conditioning treatment. And that same thing cost me like twenty credits, which was like the equivalent of less than fifty dollars a month through class past, so I've been saving a lot of money. Yes, so I was able to get my hair blown out for a conference where I felt like really affordable, and I was able to do a facial, so I did like a hydrofacial, which would have been like one hundred and fifty dollars. Again for enough credits that I had from one month,
so it was saving a lot of money. And it's a way that I can actually like feel good about treating myself to these things versus like, you know, they're really unaffordable or they are a group on so I'm only getting this discount for the first time, Like this is something where I can continue to go back to
the same place. Yeah, So I'm like really excited about it, just because I splurge on travel and things like that, but I want to splurge more on myself, and so things like getting my nails done, I never do it because I'm just like, you know, I could be buying other things.
Usually travels more my priority.
But I love that with this, I feel like if I have credits again, it feels different with redeeming the credits versus like paying money outright. And so I feel like I have the credits every month anyway, if I don't make it to that yoga class of that bar class, I still have my only fitness membership and I can use those credits for a beauty treatment and that makes me so excited.
We love a bill that we don't mind paying, and especially one where it aligns with our values and where it can be saving money on the things that we want to be spending on. This is really awesome. I amn't considered class past four. All of it's different things that you can get through it. It's not just one thing. It's not just a gym membership. It's all of these things so cool that it makes sense for you and all the things that you're able to do as a result of it. We love it when we can spend
freely on the things that we value. If you all listening want to submit a bill, if it's about a bill, you don't mind paying a bill that's getting you all the luxuries for less than you would typically spend on it full price.
Or your name is Bill.
You're a regular old Buffalo bill out here, Buffalo.
Bill in the off season. For you, call.
It and to us, we'd love to hear from call it, Google, Friends, podcast, dot Com, slash Bill, leave us your boot.
What else are you doing? Buffalo Bills aren't playing right now?
And now it's time for.
Round pooh. All right, So for today's vulnerability round, I think what destinations are you currently eyeing for future travels? So, Jen, you mentioned your Viking crews but do you have anything else, any affordable destinations you're looking at?
Yeah, so I always plan a big trip for my birthday. This past year's trip was not affordable at all, but because like the opposite of affordable, that's okay. This coming year, I've already picked my new destination and so I'm going to be heading to Vietnam for my birthday my next birthday.
Oooh and how like what are you like why Vietnam? Like what drew you there?
I'm going to get an entire custom made wardrobe. So and you can do so in Vietnam because they have so many amazing specialty fabric stores and people that you know. You go and they take your measurements and then they make you this clothing that is fit to you.
It's beautiful for you.
People men go there to get their suits done because it comes out much more affordable. And so I want to go and get like a whole new wardrobe made in Vietnam, and like, go and get it so that it fits me versus me feeling like I have to get this tailored or I have to fit into these pants that don't really you.
Know, wild, You're the coolest you. I want to be you grow up.
You know so much, you're just doing it all.
Wow, custom Wardrobe.
You know that there's so many things I want to say about this, because so Jenny and I recently got our colors done, and that felt luxurious but also money saving in many ways. We've been going to these consignment stores and thrift stores and finding quality clothing reused at an affordable price, but within our colors, so we're not just collecting stuff and hoarding clothing, but we can know that it looks good on us, that these colors are
going to accentuate our features. But now that that's done, I have been thinking about fit of clothing and what looks best on my body, and I can take some guesses at it, but I'm not an expert at this. I don't totally know what exact style looks good on me. I know you've been talking about that Gen two kind of post babies and kind of coming into a new style and also realizing that most of what I pick up at the store, especially my pants, don't fit me the way that I want to, and my sewing skills
aren't good enough. And maybe that's something I could learn to do, is tailor my own clothing. But wouldn't it just be so nice as someone else to tailor it and to tell you what looks good on you?
I love this?
So are you going to send an entire suitcase back of the clothing that you purchase there?
Yeah?
So usually if I know that that's the case, and I expect that I'm going to be doing some shopping, I will pack an extra bag and then my roller carry on bag will end up getting checked.
You've mentioned so many things today that I'm so glad that I already follow you on Instagram now just can't wait to see, like how this all shakes out. We're gonna live vicariously through you. That'll be our ultimate dupe on how we save money but we still have fun.
We follow Jen on a jet plane. We do, especially if you are a Harry Potter fan. You absolutely need to follow Jen on a jet plane because you have done. We'll do a follow up with your coolest Harry Potter things after this lightning round. I think we're not done here yet. Oh wow, we'll do a thirty second lightning round after.
Okay, wow, Okay, your turn, Okay.
My turn. Okay, So this year, not this winter, but next winter. We want to take the boys to see snow, specifically Kai because Atlas still doesn't know what's going on in the world. But we were already thinking about Upstate New York because I have a friend in Buffalo and Travis has friends in Upstate New York. And now I'm thinking about Cheese Caves. So that is a is a possibility. Uh, I am. We're going to Cancun over the summer. That
is something we already have booked. Jen and I. We are not our spouses, a work retreat, yeah, me and my work wife. Yeah. And then I'm doing a cruise with my sister in law.
Oh, I didn't know about that.
Yeah, it's yeah, okay, okay, okay, too quick. You don't have to run everything by me.
Wow.
Okay, it's a fun story how it happened. I'll tell it later, Okay.
I will say, if you're going to cancuon during the summer months like June to August, you can swim with whale sharks, So I would look into that.
And does that under your your qualifications of light adventure?
Yes?
So they okay, okay, it says sharks, but they're actually whales.
They just they're just massive up.
Okay, okay, okay, yes, yes, yes, I'm not the type of person who needs that.
I can look at them. I'm not the one who needs to be like, get me up close to them, let me touch them.
They're not.
Them.
Yeah, that's the hivic.
You're just in the You shouldn't touch whale sharks.
They're massive.
I don't know if I could do it.
It's just getting in the water with them. It's a really cool experience and it's hard to find. They're really like in the Philippines, like you have to follow their migration patterns, and so since you're already there during the time when they're there, it's.
Already been with their jill all videotape you jen.
It's just throwing it out there. If you also want to do light adventure.
In the area, they have where you can scuba dive the Underwater Museum, but you don't need a full patty dive certific Yeah, so you can get certified the day off because it's a mini dive. It's like really sure, it's really you know, not that deep. So you can get certified within like two to three hours, and then you go and you do this dive around the statues and then you come back up. No whale sharks include it.
I saw that in another kid's book that we read to Kai. I learned so much from children's books.
I know.
Yeah, you become smarter. Yeah, I become smarter by listening to Jena and a jet plane. Okay, So for me, actually, I'm going to throw it out to you, Jen to tell me where I should go. I've got a couple on my list, thinking of Columbia being I in that one up seems to have some of the really cool architecture in your cobble stone streets. Affordability, Mexico City. I cannot tell you the amount of people who have said, because you know, we've been to a lot of the
coastal cities throughout Mexico, but never Mexico City. But at least five people have said, you got to get to Mexico City. So that's on the list. In Portugal, So where should I go?
Where should she go?
I love all three of those. Are you looking to go by yourself or with family?
Me and my husband, it's coming up on our twelve year anniversary, so probably one of these spots for our anniversary.
And you what time of year you go April, that's a good time of year to travel.
Yeah, you should just go wherever has the cheapest hotels, where has the cheaps Oh well, and flights those that's oh yeah, okay too.
I think Yeah, from Florida, you're going to be able to find really affordable flights to Mexico and Colombia. But I think April and Portugal could be really beautiful too, if you want that kind of romantic, kind of memorable getaway because you want to do something different.
But I don't think that there.
I think you have good destinations in all three of those and the option to make it romantic and really beautiful and memorable no matter where you go. So it really just depends on what memory do you want to make, Like do you want to be eating tapos and going to the Freedom Museum in Mexico City, or do you want to be climbing on those stairs and seeing like the colorful city of Gape in Colombia. Or do you want to go to like CenTra Castle and like listen
to Fidele music in Portugal? What are you most excited about and go from that? But they're all great destinations, so I don't think you have, you can't go wrong.
Beautiful, Jen, You're an incredible person. Thanks for being here with us. I know people want more. I know we've already told them where to go, but give us more information.
Where can people make sure they're.
Following you and hear all of your amazing expert tips on travel.
Absolutely so you can find me at gen on a Jetplane on all social media channels gen on a Jetplane dot com. I believe that you have a link for flight alert programs that you can sign up for if you wanted to get notified of flight deals. So that's something that I have for anybody that wants to sign up for that and just kind of be in the know. So maybe you can find that three hundred dollars round trip flight to Portugal. And yeah, that's pretty much it.
And you can find my books on Amazon, Jen Ruis, but come hang out, find me on any of these socials or platforms, and I'm happy to keep sharing more tips.
Yes, thank you so much.
Jen.
I mean, I've never done so much research on cheese caves in such a short amount of time.
It's all you've been doing. It's literally all I've been doing. And I say, you can't truly multitask. You can't truly do two things at once. So I do think what you've been primarily doing is researching cheese caves, and I was interviewing on a jet plane.
That's rude.
Sometimes the true hurts that.
What is the point in having a co hosted podcast if you can't hand it off to your co host? You google cheese saves. I'm here.
I learned a lot from chant on a jet plane, and you learn a lot about cheese caves. Anything stand out to you that you now want to lay upon us.
I want to want to go take a work trip to see the Buffalo Bills and then go drink wine in a cheese cave.
That would be beautiful.
I think we need those experiences together when we are doing that. You're gonna thank me for doing this while you interviewed Jen. I'm not mad about it.
I'm just stating how it happens.
You're stating the behind the scenes how it went for everyone. So thank you so much for listening to Jill's interview with Jen. Many of you know we have a newsletter called the Friend Letter. We just told you about it just an hour ago, and it's where we give you tips three times a week, freebies, those travel hacks that are going to help you get to these destinations, all kinds of stuff, and we love reading your sweet emails. When you reply to the friend letter, it goes to
our inbox. So if you have mean things to say, I see those, and if you have really that's actually not happened yet, but but it will probably hear about saying it should it should happen should when they hear how you know how lacks I take my job. But we receive this really sweet email before that was exposed from Monica and she says, Hi, did I do the
no spend challenge? No, but I did try to not spend as much as I can see why I was impulse buying stuff emotions, pay off one credit card, put stuff on it again, but will be paid off again next paycheck, and make extra payments to my other credit card, along with opening a high yield savings account thanks to your emails. Part of why I can pay off one card and plan to open one with ally. So the c I t is my emergency fund I while other
while the other I'm I can't even read. Thanks for the pod, Monica.
Oh Monica, that's mine.
I'm so sorry. I'm the person relaying the information.
You know, there's a spectrum when it comes to doing these challenges, and there isn't like exactly one way of doing it. So I am encouraged to hear that. Just hearing us talk about our woes and successes through it and seeing other people within the group do it or within our community, really yeah, is inspiring you to at least take a closer, more intentional look at your spending. And having opened a high heeled savings account and pay down credit cards. Those are big moves to have done
in the month of January. So well, don and thank you for thinking to share that with us. We love hearing from you. We love the kind emails, we love the reviews. We love it when you sign up for our friend letter so that you can keep getting more from us, so that you can take a part of our polls and respond to us and give us helpful information on how to give you better content. It's also we're so grateful.
Yes, absolutely, And I think if you're not sure if your no spend challenge was successful, I think a lot more people think they fail than truly do fail. I think The marker of success is that you learned something about your spending, and now after the challenge, you're doing something to improve it. What you've learned about that's the true measure of success. It's not what happened during the thirty days, it's what you do after the thirty days. So take heart, be encouraged.
It's not about the journey, it's about the destiny for sure.
See you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Jen.
We don't usually invite our guests on the after show because it's a little unhinged, but we know you can hang. And I want to know more about Harry Potter around the world. I want to know. I want to know the coolest things, because yes, you've done in Harry Potter World at Universal. You even did it in Japan. You said, yes, just tell me the coolest Harry Potter things you've done.
Yeah, which the Japan one was pretty cool because you could see the shows and performances in half English and half Japanese, and so I just thought it was so fun to see that. And they have a cool black lake around their Hogwarts there that looks very authentic black lake.
Yeah, I don't know how.
They make it super dark, but it's just it's a black lake and so it feels very Hogwarts.
You know.
But aside from Universal Studios Japan, I would say the coolest, most authentic Harry Potter experiences I've had have been like riding the Hogwarts Express, the real life Hogwarts Express. It's called the Jacobite steam train and it's in Scotland and it goes over the viaduct and that's that famous scene where you see the train on the way to Hogwarts, and so the viaduct Ben Finnian Viaduct has become super famous and people go there to see the train and
take pictures of the train passing. But you can also ride the train itself if you get tickets super far and in fans they have different cabins, so they have like your regular economy seats, they have your first class cabins, which is where Harry Potter and his friends sat in the cabins when they were filming. And they take you to a fishing town a leg and then you come back. It's a seven hour experience. It's like three hours there, three hours back, an hour of lunch, so a full
day and I don't recall sitting much. They have the little like trolley that goes through and it has like chocolate frogs and Birdie box, every flavor beans and.
All that stuff.
So it was a really fun experience, so both riding the train and then getting the iconic view of it passing by, and both of that is in Scotland, and Scotland had a bunch of different Harry Potter locations in general.
Like I took a whole week long road trip.
I went to the site of Hagrid's Hut where they filmed you know, Hagrids.
The hut itself.
Isn't there, but you can see where it was, and you can see the lake in the background, so you recognize the scenery different film sites like waterfalls and you know, just everywhere around Scotland. I went and actually took a broomstick flying lesson in the Hogwarts courtyard. And this was technically in in England at that point, so in on with England, and so it's at on Wick Castle and you go and it's seasonal, but from like April to
October or so they have it open. The train is also seasonal, and so you go and you you know, have your broomstick and you take a lesson out in the courtyard with twenty other people and you're all going around riding your broomsticks. And it's where they filmed the first flying lesson. So that was a lot of fun.
What does this look like? People running around with brooms between their legs. Tell me that's what it looks like.
That is exactly what it looks like.
And and you have to make a noise because that's part of the magic that you make it.
Yes, every everybody has to have.
Their unique noise, and so like one instructor noise.
Yeah, I love it, your own magic noise. How do you make your room?
Gor I honestly I don't recall it so in the moment, but like different examples of noises, and we're like it would be like or like or like boom boom or like, I don't know, just any kind of noise you want to chill.
What's your magic noise? Mine is pute pute.
That's perfect.
Your play.
And I also love not this is like turning into a whole other like tip section, but as an alternative to like Universal Studios, which is very expensive. Universal is actually more expensive than Disney World and actually going to these spots, so you're having the experience similar to some of the experience as you would get in an amusement park, but also the international travel and some of the additional just life activities and cool things to do beyond just
going to an amusement park in the middle AFFORDA. I love it.
Jen. Are you excited for Epic Universe for the new expansion?
I am. I hadn't heard much about it.
Oh, there's a They are adding another Harry Potter world. It's the I don't know much about Harry Potter, but it's another thing that people are excited about. Who are excited about Harry Potter.
Cool. So yeah, well, okay, Jen, we've taken all of your time.
Thanks for joining us.
Through a last little bit.
Thank you for humor some people with your magic sound. Thank you.
I loved your sounds. Guys, I think you would have been naturals. Yes,