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S1E61 planning-for-travel-during-the-pandemic-and-saving-money-doing-so

Natalia Sobery27min

Gina Henry

00:00

Do we want that touch of travel? And I think a lot of people miss that greatly that human connection. And that's one major reason why we travel. So what I'm starting to tell a lot of my clients and friends is think about, okay, you get excited about planning a trip, right. So let's start planning our trips right now. So let's use this time wisely. The idea is take advantage of what's going on right now, we're kind of stuck.

Steve Fast

00:31

The pandemic has shut the door on a lot of our regular activities, dining out shopping and so much more have been altered, if not completely shut down at times. And safety restrictions have also cast a shadow across many special events too, like a long awaited vacation, or a visit to relatives out of state. This is random acts of knowledge presented by Heartland Community College. I'm your host, Steve fast. Today we're talking about travel, and what we can do, what we can plan to do, and how to use the current restrictions to our advantage. I'll mention that this podcast is just a snapshot in time, you should always check the latest in travel safety measures and restrictions before you get on a plane, train or other public transportation or head to another area where conditions might be different. But hopefully, we will be able to travel without COVID worries, at least sometime in the future. So let's talk to today's expert about what we can do. In the meantime,

Gina Henry

01:27

hello, I'm Gina Henry, I own a company called Go Global Inc. and my whole goal is to help people travel and see the world and be cultural and be able to go anywhere, anytime and do it safely. Especially right now with COVID. That's really, really important. And so all of my research right now is on how to make your travels free, but also how to make them safe.

Steve Fast

01:50

While we're talking at a time as you alluded to, and most people have been limiting their travel because of the pandemic. But I think that gives people a real desire to reflect on how great travel can be. And hopefully, we'll all get back to a more normal situation where people can feel comfortable traveling and kind of going travel without too many worries. What are some of your suggestions for people that do want to do a little traveling now, as you say safely,

Gina Henry

02:19

I think right now people are probably looking at their like local bubble of where they can go. And that way they can have more control over their environment. And you know, the RV sales have boomed car travel, where you maybe go stay in a hotel or a resort and you're there for a week at a time. The idea is that you have more control over your local environment is really key. And you know, family vacations are really booming right now in the US. And that's really excellent. There are certain things that you can do as you travel. And we all know, you know, wash your hands, keep your social distancing. Wear your mask, but I think what a lot of people aren't realizing is that there's even more you can do to protect yourself, for example, a lot of people in the wash your hands, they don't realize under their fingernails, what you have. And so when I travel internationally, and I do a lot of third world travel, I always tell my clients and friends to bring like a nail brush or an old toothbrush and scrub under your fingernails, you know, that is an extra level of health and safety, carry the sanitation products with you. But you know, 60% plus alcohol that you can spray on the doorknob of your hotel room or spray on the remote control of your TV, in the hotel room or on the faucets, handles, things like that there are lots of things that you can do to keep yourself extra healthy and safe. And so you know, staying longer in one place, more domestic travel, that's good. There are websites now and more and more countries internationally, they're starting to open up. So I'm really excited about that. My goal is to see the entire planet, I've been to all 50 states and 98 different countries. And as soon as we're able to travel safely, I'm back out the door traveling, I lived three months a year in Thailand. And I spent a lot of time in South America. So you know, my goal is to get back out there. So the idea is right now just think about your local area, your local bubble, where you can go on travel, and be safe. Even getting around groups of family. You don't know where they've been what they've been doing. I know do you wear masks? Don't you wear masks? I mean, I think that's very important to wear the masks. I think keeping your hands clean, social distancing. All of that is very important. But we want that touch of travel. And I think a lot of people miss that greatly that human connection. And that's one major reason why we travel. So what I'm starting to tell a lot of my clients and friends is think about okay, you get excited about planning a trip, right? So let's start planning our trips right now. So there are a lot of things that you can do right now. For example with reward credit cards, where you get that 50,000 reward bonus point for signing up for a reward credit card with like United or American Airlines or southwest. And the idea is that now you're going to have a free airline ticket down the road, it might be in six months, it might be in nine months. The idea is do those things right now that you can do to be preparing yourself for the future. I think it's also very important right now to be taking care of yourself, your health, get out there and exercise. I'm sure by now we all have clean closets. We all now have all the projects that we've put in postponing for years, we've all got those completed, you know, we've had all this time off to kind of get caught up on stuff. But the idea is really get your immune system very, very healthy, which is good for any kind of trip. You know, I've had clients over the years travel with me that, you know, they'll fly on an international flight that takes 24 hours to get to that country. And because of the recycled air on the flight, you now have a sinus infection. Okay, so let's really focus in on our immune system, and vitamins and exercise, and just really being healthy. There's so many things we can be doing right now to prepare for our future travels. That's important too. I have a lot of clients who want to teach English. And so right now they're spending their time online getting certified to teach English. And on top of that, what they can do is they can start making money by teaching English online. English is the world's business language, the world's travel language, there are so many ways you can help other people around the world. And one project I have is a volunteer teach English program in Thailand and another one in Peru. And I mean, the joy you get from helping those kids in preschool and elementary school, helping them with learning English, and knowing how that can really help their future is reading gratifying. And so that's been a real good project of mine. So there's so many ways that you can be preparing yourself right now, for your future travels. So let's use this time wisely. I know a lot of people are bored. They're, you know, feel stuck. They don't have connection with, you know, family and friends physically. I mean, it's wonderful with Zoom, and all of these online programs and Facebook, that we can be in touch with people and have that connection. Can you imagine what this would be like without all that? I mean, this, this is wonderful that we have this technology. And they're saying that we're making such major leaps with technology. And even my parents who are 88 years old, they're making major leaps with technology. I mean, who would ever think that would ever happen, right? So it's really exciting. So the idea is take advantage of what's going on right now. We're kind of stuck, you know, things are opening up, the Bahamas were opened and they closed and they're open. Again, Bermuda is open, we can travel to Mexico. I mean, there are a lot of countries around the world now that are opening up to American tourism. So that's exciting. But the situation is when you get there and you have to take the COVID test, or you have to bring a test results with you when you arrive within the last 72 hours you had a test or you negative, then you have another test on location to go to quarantine everybody on your flight, having to go to quarantine have one person on your flight test positive. And these are all situations that the airlines and governments are trying to figure out how to make work. And so there's some good websites that you can look at. There's so many things you can do to be preparing right now. So let's get excited about our future travels. And let's prepare right now.

Steve Fast

08:43

Yeah, now's a good time to do a lot of planning if you can't necessarily travel or the situation is something that you're unsure about. You mentioned those tests, maybe some people didn't consider that they didn't realize what the rules are in other areas. I think it's always good to look, if you're doing domestic travel to figure out if an area is surging, you might want to replan that trip.

Gina Henry

09:04

Even local states now have different regulations on if you're traveling from a state that has more COVID cases and you're traveling to a state that has less they're restricting you and forcing quarantines and if you're self quarantined, and you're at a lovely resort, maybe that's not such a bad vacation.

Steve Fast

09:24

It'd be nice to have a little tropical vacation, clothes resort. Maybe if you know it's a lot better to quarantine there. And in the quarantine,

Gina Henry

09:33

just make sure you travel with people you really like exactly.

Steve Fast

09:36

I want to talk a little bit about how you have conducted your travel in the past. You said you've been to all 50 states in over 90 countries. And the focus on what you teach using your skill and talent to travel is something you've done yourself. So tell us a little bit how many of these trips that you've made have been on the cheap basically, if not free.

Gina Henry

09:58

I tried to make Have all of them either free or an educational experience. And so sometimes volunteering, you pay a little bit, but you, I think, get much more out of it than what you put into it. I mean, always, when I fly, I'm flying free on my reward points. So if I have to pay, you know, $7 tax on my plane ticket to fly in a round trip to India, okay, that's pretty affordable, right? You know, use your reward credit cards wisely. I never want to promote debt for anyone. But every dollar I spend goes on to my reward credit card. So I get at least one point, if not five, or 10 points per dollar. And that adds up to free airline tickets, hotel nights, a lot of them give you cash back. And then you can use that cash to pay for your plane ticket or your hotels. But the idea is to use discipline of using these reward credit cards, because they're giving us all of these beautiful reward situations. So you know, I haven't paid for a plane ticket and probably 17 years, you know, every once in a while, you'll see a really cheap promotional air ticket price. And at that point, you say, Okay, I'm gonna pay for that plane tickets, not worth wasting my points. But the idea is that if you're planning a big trip, often your airline ticket is probably a pretty big part of that airline budget or that vacation budget. So if you can get that trip free, that airline ticket free, then you're off to go on that trip. And for a lot of this, once we booked the airline ticket, that means we really are going right? Airlines have a cancellation policy, you know, certain amount won't be refunded. So that's a pretty big moment in our life when we commit to that plane ticket. So you know, if you have that plane ticket free, and you booked it, you know, there are penalties for cancellation, you now physically No, you actually have a vacation plan. Now you're ready to fill in the blanks and plan everything else. And so a lot of my you know, travel has been free with the airline tickets, a lot of free hotel nights, things like that. And my goal is to see the entire planet, there are certain places I love going back to. And I need to go there every year because I know it's home. For me, Thailand is my second home. So I need to go there every year. But there are other places that I want to see. And I might go back several times. But I want to see every place in the world. So you kind of have to pull up that map and start deciding where you want to go. And so right now there are a lot of places like Tunisia is wide open for tourism. Turkey is open for tourism. I mean, there are a lot of places around the world that you might not have been to that you would like to see that are open. There's so many places in the United States to go see, this is the perfect time to be doing that. It's interesting to hear about RV sales right now, don't expect to get a discount on an RV. They're all going full price. The sales are just so such big time. And so that's exciting to see more Americans traveling and seeing their own country.

Steve Fast

13:04

When you talk about organizing points that you might get from various airlines or hotel chains. Do you have any good tips for kind of keeping all that together? Because so many different companies, whether they be an airline or a hotel chain, have partnerships. And I think sometimes maybe you could spread out all those points, and not quite get enough to get one trip.

Gina Henry

13:28

Good point. That's a very good point to make. Because oftentimes people are scattered all over the place. And we do that a lot in our life with everything that we do. So the idea is I always focus in on three things, focus on three reward programs, get all of your points built up into those three accounts, so you're not spread too thin, and that you can actually use them. So for example, my three favorite reward programs, I fly a lot with United Airlines. And actually I usually fly with their partners, not united. Eva Airlines is a Taiwanese airline, and they're one of United's partners. And that's how I fly usually to Thailand. They have a flight from Houston to Taiwan to Bangkok, that's very affordable. And once you get on that foreign airline, you feel like out of Houston, you're already traveling internationally. And so it's the same points as fine with, you know, a united airline. And so it really has a win win as far as getting that international touch. So I use United Airlines, which Chase Bank is their credit card. So if you get the Chase Bank United credit card, that's good. Right now they're waiving the annual fee. The first year they're giving you 50,000 reward points for getting the card. And if you were flying to Peru, which I go every year down to Peru to see Machu Picchu. It's actually magnificent. The Inca runs in Peru, and I usually take a group every year. And the idea is that to go to Peru is only 40,000 reward points. So simply by getting that one reward Your credit card, you now have a free plane ticket to go to Peru. Another reward credit card I like is the Citibank American Airlines credit card, they're waiving the annual fee right now for the first year. And I just get these cards for the first year, I get the signup bonus of 50,000 points you have to do is spend usually of $3,000, in the first three months of getting your card. So every dollar you spend in like the first three months, put that on the card, sometimes I prepaid my auto insurance for the next six months, and I will charge that on the card, I'll pay my health insurance for the next three months, and I'll put that on the card. And there are ways that you can make sure you earn that $3,000 spend in the first three months, a lot of

Steve Fast

15:43

things you might just be doing anyway, you know, you're always going to buy that insurance, you're always going to be paying certain bills. So that's a way to

Gina Henry

15:51

you're not spending more money to get that free plane ticket, you're just spending the money you already spend in a very smart way so that you build up these points. And of course, you pay off the credit card bill every single month, no interest, no late fees, all of that. And there's a lot of ways you can put these cards on auto pay so that you avoid all those fees.

Steve Fast

16:15

So talk a little bit about what draws you back to an area you mentioned that you see Thailand, as a second home, what is it about that area that really connects with you that makes you want to come back there again and again,

Gina Henry

16:28

the people, and I think that's one real big reason why we travel is the culture the people that we need. I mean, what and Thailand, they call it the land of smiles. And I'm a person who smiles a lot. So in some countries, when you travel, you smile, they look at you like you're kind of weird, you know, they're not really a smiley society. In Thailand, they are and they smile right back, and they're so happy to see you. They so much want to please you. And I will say because the cost of living is 1/3 of that of the US, I can live very well there, which is why they're I think right now in Chiang Mai, Thailand, there are over 2000 foreigners living there. And it's very affordable 1/3 of the cost of the US. And that includes a one hour massage per day, which is $7 per hour. So it's very comfortable. But the people are so warm and happy. And interestingly, Thailand was the first country that was hit by COVID. They had one case, and immediately they shut their borders to the Chinese. And even during Chinese New Year in China. And in China, Chinese New Year's back in January, they shut their borders to the Chinese coming in, which is big business for them. And they shut their borders. And so they've had like 59 deaths total, in all of this time period. And the last seven weeks in Chiang Mai, Thailand, they've not had one single COVID patients. And one thing they're looking at is well why. And part of that is in Thailand, they're not big at hugging you and kissing you and shaking hands. They do the why, where they hold their hands together, and they greet each other and they're not touching. And they're used to wearing masks. Anytime you have a cold in Thailand, you wear a mask because you don't want to infect other people. And so this is a very common cultural aspect to them. And they've been able to handle this COVID situation beautifully. And they're going to open up to tourism. And I'm really excited about that. Because that's where I want to spend, you know, three to four months of my life every year, I only go during the cool dry season, which is November to February, the hot season, hot rainy season, probably you don't want to go then. But the cool dry season November to February is good. So anyway, their culture is very excellent as far as the health aspect of everything, but they just go out of their way to please you. They're just the kindest people, even if they don't know you, they will help you. If they don't speak English, they will find one of their children who does plus the food is great. Plus the massage and the shopping is wonderful. The handicrafts are beautiful. The culture is magnificent. But I think one big reason people travel is for the culture. Like I was Rick Steves, we were on an interview a while back he was talking about one reason he travels is for that contact you have with the local culture. And that is so important, I think with travel. And you can have that in Thailand, and you can have it safely. So there are so many places in the world to go and visit but I think the people, for me is the big reason.

Steve Fast

19:41

So you mentioned teaching as something that people might want to think about as a way to get an experience in another country. If you are a young person, that's something where you actually might have a little bit more flexibility to adjust your life and perhaps you've not settled in with family that might keep you in might have children in that is a time when you can't travel. But if you know a lot of students are like me when I was young, and I might not have had those things, but I didn't have any money. So what are some things that young people can do that maybe not even working with a credit card, or working with something where they are establishing their credit line? What are things that they can do to look for opportunities that can allow for travel,

Gina Henry

20:24

there are a lot of programs out there for students for young people, not necessarily students under the age of 26, are under the age of 35. And so there are a lot of things that they can do. And they're usually work programs, or volunteer programs that won't cost them anything that will give them lots of good experience. But I would say teaching English online is a good way to make money right here at home, whether you're a young person or any age, there are a lot of websites you can look@tefl.com is one website where you can go to get certified. Getting online certified is a big thing right now, because we can't really go to the classroom and take this online, this certification in class. So online is the way to do it. But there are so many people around the world that are online now because they can't go anywhere. And they're online for their education. And so teaching English online is a big thing and is paying quite well. So if you get paid, you know, 20 or $30 per hour for online teaching English, that's a good setup for you. I have a lot of people in my clientele that are seniors, and they want to give back. And that's one reason why I do the volunteer teacher English program in Thailand and in Peru, so that I can take them to the small towns, where the they have English teachers, but the local English teachers barely speak English. So we're there to help with pronunciation, we're there to help with motivation and confidence. And these kids just love us to debt, which is just adorable. And so you know, being on location is a big thing. But we can even work with them online remotely. So we have things set up now with all of my schools, where we can still help them remotely. So I'm very happy about that. It's not the same as being in person. But just think about all the things you can do with English online. Another opportunity for ways to travel for aid that have worked really well for me over the years, are to affiliate with tour companies. And so right now one of the companies I'm affiliated with is an Australian company called intrepid tours, and they do really culturally oriented tours all over the world. And if you get, for example, eight people to go on one of their trips, your land portion is free. So most of us have friends who want to travel. And if we get our friends to go on the trip, generally what you can do is negotiate a rate that so those eight people pay, you know, a few $100 less than what they would pay to go on just a regular tour with that company. So they're getting a discount, you're going free because you're organizing it, they call us tour coordinators, I'm doing a trip in late March next year to Egypt. And I'm doing another tour of Argentina and Brazil and September, I manage my own tours as well to Peru and Thailand. But if I don't have the guides and the logistics and things like that, it's so much easier to affiliate with a tour company. And you can go to any tour company, and they have an affiliation program. If you go to a website called specialty travel.com, you'll see lists of tons of tour companies. And you can look at the tour company website, click on affiliate, and then they'll show you how you become an affiliate. And there's one company I've worked with for a while e f tours. And E is an Edward F is in Frank tours. If you get six people to go on one of their trips, you go free. And they're famous for advertising to high school teachers, because often they have students and parents that want to go travel in the summertime, you know most teachers are underpaid. And so they give the teacher a free trip to go on that vacation. So it could be to Europe, it could be the land, it could be the air as well. And so it's a completely free trip there teacher. So EF tours has opened that up to anybody who can do this. And tour companies are doing that because travel agents are gone now. They're working more directly to the public. And one really cool thing I'm seeing with all of this big boom in technology is that all of these companies are trying to work directly with us on how to help us with whatever we want. So in the tour and hospitality industry, there's a lot of back and forth of how can we can improve what we're doing. The resorts are doing this with the deals they're offering us. I mean, it's really quite exciting to see all of the positive aspects of COVID.

Steve Fast

24:58

So one of the things I wanted to add ask you about, some people just maybe want to plan for a big trip, maybe they've never taken one internationally, and now is a great time to do it. You could even just use that period of time to save a little bit of money or to investigate some of the things we've talked about today. But you don't know, really, when it's going to be safe to go to certain places. Because there are a lot of question marks, things are opening up a bit here and there now, but planning, I think is something that we can do over a big period of time. So what is the most important first step somebody should take? If they are planning on traveling internationally for the first time,

Gina Henry

25:39

I think deciding where you want to go is a big, big issue. And back to that website, specialty travel.com. I mean, their their purpose is to, you know, lead you to tour companies that will take you places, but if you look at these tour company websites and their pictures, and their itineraries, you get some good ideas of where you might want to go. I mean, some people are also just comfortable going wherever the best deals are. And so you know, you can look@kayak.com all the airline websites, you will usually have packages like United American and southwest will have packages on their website that they'll promote places to go things like that mean, the library. I love browsing through the guidebooks section in the library and looking at pictures of deciding where it is I want to go. Probably the biggest question is, where do you want to go. And if you're just flexible on the best deals, then I would say go to the airline websites, see what deals are offering look@kayak.com They have some good deals, they're one of my favorite browsers for discounts, like airfarewatchdog is a good one to look at to for deals on airfare. The my whole goal is to always have reward points, so my plane ticket is free. So all I'm going to have to pay for is on location, whatever the cost is at the resort or the land package that I'm paying for on location and you know, pull your map out and this is a great time to be planning.

Steve Fast

27:09

Well Gina, thanks so much for joining us today and talking about travel and how we can get some good tips to do it affordably.

Gina Henry

27:15

Thank you. Wonderful to be here. Thank you.

Steve Fast

27:20

Gina Henry is the owner of Go Global incorporated and teaches about travel in continuing education classes at Heartland Community College. If you are interested in more interviews about lifestyle topics, health, wellness, history, and more. Subscribe to random acts of knowledge on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you found this one. Thanks for listening

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