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Travel Hacks Uncovered: From Raw-Dogging Flights to Airline Perks & Pet Peeves
3 Plays22 days ago
Buckle up, States of Discovery listeners—this one’s all about the ride, not just the destination. In this 30-minute episode, we dive headfirst into the quirks, hacks, and downright bizarre realities of modern travel. Ever heard of “raw-dogging” a flight? Wonder why 8 AM mimosas feel perfectly normal in an airport? Or if that shiny travel credit card actually pays for itself? We’ve got you covered.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
- The Traveler’s Mindset: The ultimate do’s and don’ts, plus pet peeves that can make or break your trip (armrest hogs, we’re looking at you).
- In-Flight Habits & Etiquette: From screen-free flyers to the worst snacks you can bring onboard.
- The Psychology of Air Travel: Why airports feel like lawless wonderlands and how altitude affects that glass of wine.
- Deals, Perks & Memberships: Frontier’s “All You Can Fly” pass, loyalty programs, and whether premium credit cards like AmEx Platinum are worth the hype.
- Quickfire Travel Hacks: Packing hacks, price-drop alerts, and the apps every savvy traveler should have.
Whether you’re a seasoned globetrotter or someone who just wants to make their next trip less stressful, this episode is packed with tips, laughs, and insights to help you travel smarter.
🎧 Tune in, and don’t forget to share your weirdest travel hack or biggest travel pet peeve with us—we might feature it in an upcoming episode!
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Transcript
Inappropriate Travel Behaviors
00:00:06
Speaker
But I also think it goes outside of traditional rules too. Like the people who are doing things during travel that are just heinous. Like taking their shoes off barefooted and putting them in between armrests up on the seat touching me. No, please don't. That is too much.
00:00:23
Speaker
No.
Introduction to 'States of Discovery' Podcast
00:00:32
Speaker
Hello and welcome to States of Discovery, the travel podcast by Only in Your State that's dedicated to fueling curiosity and travel one episode a time. I'm one of your co-hosts, Sarah Hedleston, and with me is my fabulous co-host, Marissa Roman, who is a travel extraordinaire, editor, expert, so on and so forth. Welcome. Oh, cannot beat that intro. Hello, Sarah. How are you doing? oh I'm great.
00:00:57
Speaker
That's my job. I'm done. I'll go with her. The end. Easiest edit ever. Love it. Yeah, so welcome everyone.
Exploring Curiosities: Tattoos, Halloween, and Travel
00:01:05
Speaker
Hopefully you are not a first-time listener, but if you are, we are from Only in Your State. We have a podcast that ah we like to talk about stuff that fuels our curiosity. Sarah and I are both very curious people and We just want to dive into certain topics. We've talked about tattoo culture before. We've talked about Halloween before.
00:01:26
Speaker
Pizza. Dive bars. Dive bars, yeah. You name it, we're covering it. And today we are talking about, oh, surprise, surprise, travel. Gasp.
00:01:37
Speaker
Yes.
Travel Insights and Personal Anecdotes
00:01:40
Speaker
Well, you know, what's interesting is we we always cover some aspects of travel within our podcast episodes, but this is actually just going to be about travel itself, travel insights, travel hacks.
00:01:52
Speaker
We are not just talking about a destination in this episode. We're talking about how we get there, ways to get there, different tips and tricks and fun personal anecdotes about travel. Yeah, and I think it goes beyond the typical of like, you know, make sure to pack your bag.
00:02:10
Speaker
It's really, truly digging into it. If you've traveled little, a significant amount, I feel like you're going to vibe with what we're going to talk about today because i feel like a lot of us had these shared thoughts or ideas or even inclinations as we as we travel. So I'm excited to talk about it.
00:02:27
Speaker
Yeah, me too. There's definitely something very exciting about the idea of sharing personal travel hacks and like talking with somebody about their travel hacks. Just because for me, traveling is very stressful. I get a lot of anxiety when it comes to air travel in particular. So when I have things that can help that in any way, it's really, really beneficial for me.
00:02:51
Speaker
i don't know about you. Yes, I am also an anxious flyer. I love to travel, but I'm very anxious, which is the the worst combination in the world. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's I don't mind it, but I feel like having these travel hacks and tips, it lets me if I'm in a disassociative state and I'm panicking, I'm at least airport and I know I have my passport and I'm good to go.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
Travel Tips for Smooth Journeys
00:03:13
Speaker
OK, so let's just kind of jump in because we're going to be discussing a couple of things today, which ah hopefully our listeners will find it beneficial to their own travel. But we're going to be discussing things like travel credit cards. Are they worth it?
00:03:29
Speaker
You know, this concept, ah these trends, TikTok trends of flying raw dog. to this new trend of airport divorce. I don't know if you've heard this one, but I'm stoked to talk that. No, I'm excited. Tell me more. I mean, not yet.
00:03:42
Speaker
ah wait. um And then, yeah, we're going be talking just about like different travel etiquette and quirky hacks and things. Maybe our own personal stories about how we get by in today's travel age. But yeah, let's dive into a couple of things. Just first and foremost, for you personally, Sarah, what makes travel smoother? What makes it less stressful for you when you have, let's say, a fly day?
Challenges of Early Flights
00:04:12
Speaker
I'm going to have to say making sure I did my prep the night before. So even if I'm not fully packed, I have everything laid out, everything ready to go. I'm not panicking. So that way, you know, you arrive at the airport, you're in the TSA line. You're like, oh, my God, where did I put my wallet? Where did I put X, Y, and Z?
00:04:28
Speaker
Just being ready. I feel like that's the biggest thing is being prepared. Also struggling to get a good night's sleep. I don't know about you, but whenever I book the 6 a.m. flight, I think I'm so brilliant. And then I'm waking up at 4 a.m. hate my life.
00:04:40
Speaker
But yeah, I think just like going into it, like being ready, like having my um having my armor on and ready to go. What about you? Yeah, I'm with you 100%. Preparedness all the way.
00:04:51
Speaker
i too, always regret the
The Chaos of a Missed Flight
00:04:53
Speaker
6 a.m. flight. And actually tomorrow i have a flight that have to be at the airport at 6 so Well, it's because like I never sleep well the night before.
00:05:02
Speaker
And then I'm always terrified I'm going to miss my alarm, which never happens. And I feel like once you miss a flight one time, you're just forever scarred. And then how many times have you missed a flight?
00:05:15
Speaker
on What happened? What was the reason? ah it was a bachelor at party in columbia that ah we house meeting up with at miami airport some co-workers that became friends we're traveling meeting people in columbia we sat down at a bar to catch up we had't seen each other in a while We got to, we were supposed to be boarding at let's say, 3.30. We got to the gate at 3.15.
00:05:42
Speaker
They boarded early and and were taken off. but They're like, sorry, you're late. And we were showing them our boarding tickets. We're like, no, we, you know, like, this is supposed to be boarding at this time. And they're like, well, we called your names and we didn't hear from you. And they left us.
00:05:56
Speaker
When does that ever happen? Right. Oh, my. It turned into the crazy. We ended up in three or four cities in Colombia before getting to the main city. It was wild. But one lesson learned.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah. I only i nearly missed one flight. I was in Madrid. i was sitting by my gate, but sitting like there is a little i don't know if you've been in Missouri Airport, but it's kind of open kind of like JFK, like has similar vibes.
00:06:20
Speaker
So I was very near my gate. There wasn't anything in between. But there was this tiny little divider and I was sitting you on the other side just like reading and getting stressed out and whatever. They were calling my name multiple times. And it wasn't until I got up thinking like, wow, is this flight ever going on a board? I'm like, oh oh, they're looking for me.
00:06:37
Speaker
my goodness. The entire time. And then it's just like, they're probably thinking like this American, what is she Did you miss The flight? No, thankfully not. I was the last person on board though.
00:06:48
Speaker
So I had the walk of shame all the way back to my seat. ah It's always so fun. Yeah. But yeah, so I think being prepared, making sure you get
The Importance of Headphones on Flights
00:06:57
Speaker
to the flight. But what else? I feel like to reduce stress is also knowing like maybe how to behave on these flights. So you're not like committing a faux pas, like being Sarah, who's ignoring people calling for her. But so let's talk about those, like the do's and don'ts.
00:07:11
Speaker
What should you be doing? <unk> Let's say specifically for air travel. I know that, you know, road trips, train trips, that's a little bit different. But what do you think are like the go-to things you need to do in preparation for an air of air travel and then while you're on the plane? I think number one that I've come across is like you have to remember your headphones, your plug-in headphones if you have like TVs in the seats or just headphones for your mobile device because I can't tell you now how many times I'm sitting on the plane while people are boarding listening to someone else's device or like, yeah. not And it drives me nuts. I feel like that's etiquette 101. I don't want to listen to your TikToks.
00:07:47
Speaker
I don't want to listen to, you know, like. I don't even do that in the same home with a person. I'm like, oh, can you hear this? I'm sorry. you know yes Yeah. It always blows my mind. Or like people that are on the phone and on speakerphone and talking so loudly on a plane. i just, that is to me a probably the biggest faux pas.
00:08:06
Speaker
What about you? I think that, yeah, the the talking and the the um listening to things that you're not supposed to be listening to would drive me nuts because it's like having like a drippy faucet or like something in the background that you just cannot filter out. I would say the things that get on my nerves the most is...
Impatience and Inconvenience in Airports
00:08:23
Speaker
people's impatience and how it shows up. So yeah whenever they start boarding, rushing the gate, you know it's not your boarding zone. It's not even close, but you're crowding the gate, making it difficult for everyone else. And they're doing a little inching thing up as if that's going to save them any time. Newsflash, it will not.
00:08:41
Speaker
And also, whenever you're departing the plane, you pull up, It dings people on buckle. Why are people in the back standing up? They're getting all around me. I'm like, sir, you're not going anywhere and you're blocking my way. You're elbowing me in the face because I'm sitting patiently. so yeah, I think those are the two biggest things that kind of grinds my gears in terms of getting on and off planes just in general.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's, I think it's also a testament to you and I being rule followers because it's just like the natural order of things. And probably I think too, that that makes me, that just leads back to traveling and making it more so smooth is just following the rules that are already there.
00:09:20
Speaker
Because if if we're all following the rules, if we're all staying in our seats, if we're all, you know, not lining up at the gate, if we're, cause we're all going to get on the plane, you know?
00:09:32
Speaker
it's It's going to happen. If we're all at the gate, we're going to get on the plane. So why and why would you try to, you know, just like get on faster? Unless it maybe isn't an anxiety thing for some people. I don't know.
00:09:45
Speaker
I don't get it. yeah It reminds me of, you know, just people who don't know how to walk in crowds or around people. like If you're a speed walker, I am. you you You bust a move. You get through. But the people who are just like up on your back that just want to keep pushing, you're not getting anywhere.
00:10:01
Speaker
Like I said, rule follower, don't yell at me. I'll cry. um i just want to do the right thing. um but But I also think it goes outside of traditional rules, too. Like the people who are doing things during travel that are just heinous, like and taking their shoes off barefooted and putting them in between armrests, up on the seat, touching me.
00:10:20
Speaker
No, please don't. That is too much. No, no. It's funny because I do love going ah like on Instagram and seeing people complaining about certain travel, you know, like etiquette issues yeah and he and and just reading the comments of what some people, you know, just like i Kristen Kish, for example, from Top Chef was just went on this whole story about how there was a window that was in front of her. It was like half in the front seat, half in in her seat.
00:10:50
Speaker
She kept opening it and the person kept shutting it And it's like, you know, stuff like that where it's just it's you think about it, you know, just etiquette is so important. But yeah, are there are there any other like do's and don'ts for etiquette that that you want to share? I think the last one is um just knowing like your personal space and being aware of others and how what you do could impact someone. So like putting the seat back.
00:11:12
Speaker
I know you're able to. But that is, to me, especially on non-long-haul flights where maybe you want to try and get comfortable. If you're reclining into someone's space, they could have food, they could have drinks, and you're just like essentially minimizing what they can do.
00:11:26
Speaker
And also the people who like get up and use the chairs as leverage and then they're jostling you around. Like i understand some people might need assistance getting up, but can also be like terrifying if you're half asleep and someone yanks your headrest back.
00:11:39
Speaker
Yeah. So just like staying aware of a personal space. Don't manspread. Like I'm the person who's like trying to like take up zero space. I don't want to exist for other people. and yeah And you have people who just like take over the entire row. So yeah, and I had that.
00:11:54
Speaker
ah That happened to me just recently coming back from California, which was, you know, five and a half hour flight, give or take. yeah And I was sitting next to this gentleman who was in the window seat.
00:12:04
Speaker
He was very nice in the beginning. He was offering, well, he's offering me pistachios, unshelled pistachios out of his bag and and like trying to share mixed nuts with me, which i thought was very generous, but also a hard no.
00:12:20
Speaker
Right. But then he decided to spread out on that seat, take the armrest and then take his bags of snacks and move them into my leg space. And I was just like, so I wasn't passive aggressive. I just literally took my foot and moved all his stuff back over to his side.
00:12:38
Speaker
But I'm just like, man, it's so crazy how people just have a very different perspective. Because like you, i don't want to take up too much space. And then there are some people that are both armrests out, both legs out.
00:12:49
Speaker
and It's wild. Yeah. Whenever I'm in a flight and it's not necessary. So, you know, due to passenger size or seat size, it isn't necessary. Where I am touching them from knee to shoulder, stop.
00:13:02
Speaker
Yeah. Please. I don't want any of that. No, that's a good point. In addition to maybe the do's and don'ts, don't be a jerk. Stay aware. Yeah. Let's talk about some of the more interesting things that are going around the internet nowadays in terms of what people are doing on flights. Because I want to talk about this phenomenon that that we've been hearing about.
00:13:21
Speaker
Yes. raw dogging on flights. Yeah.
Flying Without Distractions: A Meditation
00:13:25
Speaker
Okay. Let's dive into it. Also, kudos to internet for the naming. Way to go. Making news anchors say it, making us say That's great.
00:13:33
Speaker
So what is it, Marissa? And why are people doing it? Please explain. Yes. Okay. long story short, this concept is people that are flying without distractions. And I use that term distractions loosely because some people find these distractions very comforting. But we're talking about people that are flying with no headphones, no music no movies, no music, no books, no podcast, food, water, nothing. That's the thing that gets mean. No water, sustenance.
00:14:01
Speaker
Yes. And this is a personal choice, which blows my mind because, wow, why? But yeah, it's people are saying that they're treating it like it's a meditation or a test of patience.
00:14:12
Speaker
Some people are trying to use it as like a mental endurance challenge or a way to be fully present on the flight. And They're filming themselves doing it and just like checking in on social media, as does everyone with their life choices.
00:14:29
Speaker
Not me. Yeah. But then other people are like, this is borderline masochistic. Why are you doing this? What's the point? Do you walk away from it being a better person or are you just trying to be superior to other people? Mm hmm. I'll tell you what, whenever there is the stretch of time after COVID, whenever it was safe to travel, people were vaccinated, but they weren't quite serving drinks and food yet. I was struggling to fly because I like to relax because I'm anxious.
00:14:59
Speaker
And if I'm not able to get maybe ah a little adult beverage on a flight and I was just like white knuckling the armrest the entire time for that like year and a half, I was not a happy person. So this doesn't sound enjoyable to me.
00:15:11
Speaker
And it does make me think of, I don't know if you're a fan, but on Seinfeld, the OG raw dogger was David Putty. And there was a whole bit about him sitting next to Elaine, not doing anything on a flight, just staring into the back of the headrest.
00:15:24
Speaker
And she not believe it. I cannot believe it. Interesting. Is this the origin story of this concept that people ran with it? Wow. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I don't think I'm ever going to attempt this. I don't see ah need to because like you, i enjoy ah an adult beverage on a flight.
00:15:44
Speaker
I enjoy a book. I enjoy watching a movie or I'll just sometimes put on white noise because I hate flying. And so I'll just I'll check out during takeoff and landing. And I don't think I you know, like i i also don't want to listen to again, people's phones and what they're watching, or if there's a baby crying, like, I don't think you have to like, sit there and suffer when you have choices. Not one of the best quotes about this I saw was, I think it was in the the Forbes article that I read about it. And it was in a nutshell, if the challenge requires you to sacrifice your basic needs, it's not worth it. And that was from Angela Williams, a psychotherapist and mindset coach. And I'm like, 10 out of 10. Yeah, if I'm suffering, why would I do this? Like, sure, you can practice mindfulness.
00:16:27
Speaker
But for me, someone who's an anxious flyer, that's just going to increase my anxiety. i want to be able to put very loud music in my headphones, shut my eyes, have my little drink and just do nothing. I'm the kind of person that when I'm extremely stressed, if you approach me or I have to interact with you, that just ups my stress. I just need to like zone out, be zen in my own way. And that's not ah not getting water or food yeah for an entire flight.
00:16:54
Speaker
Yeah. OK.
Couples Separating at Airports: A Stress Reduction Technique
00:16:56
Speaker
segwaying into another trend lately, which I find to be very interesting, airport divorce. So why don't you dive into what is airport divorce and what you think about it?
00:17:08
Speaker
Marissa, I'm going to be honest with you. I have no idea what it is. I take a guess? Can I take a guess and you tell me what it is? Because, okay. Airport divorce. Is it you, a person, separating yourself from your normal personality within an airport because it's so outside of your norm that you are now a different persona?
00:17:27
Speaker
Wow. No, but that's great. I love that. Well, dang. All right. Maybe we should coin a phrase and dive into that because that is a whole other psychological. You're absolutely right.
00:17:39
Speaker
Separating from yourself in an airport. that Yeah. Maybe. Do i need to like, you can't patent an idea, right? Well, anyway, we'll get back to it. We'll get famous for this one. So it's similar um airport divorce. it's It's where couples will separate temporarily at the airport after passing through security before. In order to reduce stress, allow each partner the experience of the airport separately to preserve planned autonomy.
00:18:10
Speaker
And ah to preventing conflicts from arising from having different needs as two people in an airport. But Marissa, who is watching my bag when I go potty?
00:18:22
Speaker
Okay, I get it. Sure. If it works for you, but if im I travel alone a lot, and that's the one thing when I'm schlepping all of my stuff into a bathroom, I'm like, yeah dear God, could someone just please watch this for me?
00:18:34
Speaker
Yeah. No. I mean, not to say you should use this person you're traveling with as just a watchdog for your bags, but I don't know. Would you do that? Do you do it? Is it airport divorce or thing? I feel like it's...
00:18:45
Speaker
Look, I've flown with a lot of different people in my lifetime and I can see why this would be a thing. Because I feel like when you're choosing someone to fly with the same way you're choosing a partner in life, you really have to have like ah certain things in common.
00:19:02
Speaker
right And like I've flown with people before that they will let everyone board the flight even after they've been called and be the last person on so that they're not struggling to wait in line to get a seat to, you know, whatever. like that.
00:19:16
Speaker
No, I hated that. And. So I guess, yeah, like it's I understand the concept of it, especially if, you know, like one person wants to go shop.
00:19:27
Speaker
One person wants to go sit and read quietly. One person wants to grab a coffee. Another person wants to grab a beer. Like I can understand why this would work. But I also just like enjoy flying with, you know, certain people. And we have similar things in common to where we don't need to separate.
00:19:45
Speaker
Well, especially if this is specifically referencing like people in a relationship and you're like, OK, it's airport ah autonomy. Bye. don't know. Like I understand that being attached at the hip. And if I want to go, i don't know, get a drink and they want to buy a book.
00:19:58
Speaker
So what? but That's great. But also I feel there's like this united front and stability that if I'm with a travel partner and I chose my travel partner, like I i don't see why I would want to separate from them.
00:20:11
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. um Interesting. Okay. Well, I think my idea is better. um i also and know Maybe we're not quite ready to talk about it, but I also want to talk about it since we're already speaking about how you act in an airport. Can we talk about the quantum mechanics of time in an airport or whatever it it is? Because it is bizarre.
00:20:33
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. okay Let's talk about it. Awesome. All right.
Timelessness in Airports: Rules Don't Apply
00:20:37
Speaker
So airport time, how it doesn't exist, how it bends all rules, how you can be in multiple time zones, and no time zones at once. You're in no man's land.
00:20:45
Speaker
It's truly, you know, like it's one of those things where you can rock up to a bar at 7 a.m. And if they're serving mimosas, you're like, you know what? That sounds great. Doesn't matter.
00:20:56
Speaker
People are drinking coffee. I can get what I want. I'm an adult. Yeah, I that concept of I love walking through the airport very, very early and seeing people like at a bar having a mimosa or Bloody Mary.
00:21:07
Speaker
I always think to myself, are they going on vacation? Are they coming back? You know, what what is there? What are they doing in life that right now they just get to sit and decompress?
00:21:19
Speaker
And they don't give a damn about societal expectations. Absolutely. and I think, I mean, that's me for one. Like whenever I have an early flight, I'm really looking like, okay what time does a bar open? I need to relax. Not to say that, like I said, during the COVID times, whenever you didn't have it and you didn't want to like order food out and they were closed, I didn't do it. And it was fine.
00:21:40
Speaker
I was nervous. But I like to at least relax. Even if in my normal day to day, would I ever wake up and be like, you know what I should do? Crack open a Prosecco right now. so i do think, though, it ties back into the concept of like, you might be going through time zones. You're not in any real time zone. You might be leaving.
00:22:01
Speaker
To your point, you might be coming back. It doesn't matter. What schedule are you on? So it's a no judgment zone. I mean, aside from if you're buying hard boiled eggs and tuna fish to eat on the flight, then I absolutely will judge you.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's definitely fair. But. I think to your point, it's there's something about flying for a lot of people that the rules of life kind of go out the window.
00:22:25
Speaker
Like to your point of would you wake up and just open a bottle of Prosecco? No. But if you're at an airport and you're you have nothing but time on your hands to wait for this flight, you're like, you know what would be nice? A mimosa.
00:22:40
Speaker
And you do it. That concept of just like the rules of life are they do not exist in airports. You can be eating ah you know, platter of fried chicken at five in the morning and it's just like all bets are off. There's no it's just like, yeah, this alternate universe of travel that's just so different from day to day life.
00:23:01
Speaker
And I'll say that it's also very similar to dive bars in a way where striking up a conversation with someone you're sitting next to happens a lot. Yeah. Definitely in the airport bars, but even like sitting at the gate because if something happens or they they just want to confer with you or they have questions or there's a comment. I think it's really interesting how people interact with each other and even on the plane. So like if there's turbulence, the people would chatter together or they'll be like, oh, you know, how are you feeling? And one one time, I don't know if I spoke about this already, but I got on a flight.
00:23:31
Speaker
Did talk about to you about the Iberia flight before? and don't think so. So I was ah was flying Iberian, which is a Spanish airway, and I've flown it before and I was very confident. Like, this is great.
00:23:42
Speaker
Know it already. But I get on the plane. You can tell it's very, very old. So old, in fact, when I sit down, there is an ashtray in the seat in front of me. Back from the time where you could smoke on a plane. wow And it was very small, very strange. And even the people around me, we were all Googling, like, what is this airline? What's the make and model? You could see everyone doing it. It didn't matter what language you spoke. They were just like looking at each other's phones and giving each other shrugs of like, are we going to last?
00:24:09
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, it was a terrifying flight. Just in psychology, it was actually fine. ah shouldn't judge a book by its cover or its ashtray, apparently. Yeah. Yeah, it was ah it was like this camaraderie, you see. And even like on the on the recent flights where, um you know, some of the ah clear air turbulence that people are experiencing and now with smartphones are filming it.
00:24:32
Speaker
And you can see people just kind of like checking in with each other across the plane, which is really interesting. Yeah, I do that too. I'll check in with the, if there's turbulence, I'll i'll like look for the, you know, The the flight attendant? Yeah, flight attendants.
00:24:46
Speaker
And I'll just see, oh I'll like gauge their concerns. Yeah. And nine times out of 10, they're just like, ho hum. This is normal. Totally.
00:24:56
Speaker
Whatever. And yeah, but that is yeah, that is very fascinating. I think. um Yeah. But so in that same vein, we're talking about, you know, air travel a lot.
Maximizing Airline Perks and Deals
00:25:08
Speaker
Just to kind of segue into like airline deals, perks, memberships. I don't know if you want. I know we we were going to talk a little bit about credit card hacks and maximizing points and stuff like that. And this whole culture now of airport lounges that I feel like our generation, younger generations are kind of.
00:25:28
Speaker
obsessed with. And I have also fallen prey to the concept of an airport lounge. And but yeah, let's so let's talk about these all you can travel deal deal like the one that Frontier just came out with 2025 2026 fly as much as possible on low price ah thoughts feelings. So it really intrigues me.
00:25:48
Speaker
um I think that this is something to where if you want to get best bang for your buck, you want to fly a lot and you're flexible to do so, that's awesome. But for me, as I was digging into some of these offers, it's like, well, do I want a book within 24 hours of this flight? Because I think, you know, that that frontier or you can fly the go wild deal. It's like, yes, it is a great deal to go be able to fly for one flat rate, but there's always fine print.
00:26:11
Speaker
Yeah. Even with like the credit cards, the lounges, the travel hacks, I think it's important if you want to get into that world, you have to like read the fine print, understand the rules and regulations. Otherwise, you're just going to be dumping money into something you're not going to use.
00:26:24
Speaker
100%. know that's kind of a ah bummer take on it, but um no it's realist. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's very important is to do research because look, this I had no idea about this frontier fly as much as possible that it had to be same day travel.
00:26:38
Speaker
or it had to be, you know, like, yeah, within a short time window, or you're paying for it, like you would normally. Yeah. So really, somebody like me, who likes to plan ahead, or you who finds comfort and preparation, before you travel, this would be like a no deal.
00:26:55
Speaker
Because yeah how stressful if you're, you have a plan, you have a pet sitter, you have everything covered. But then you go to travel that day, you can't find any flights. It's That's a whole other added level of stress that, you know.
00:27:09
Speaker
I will say, Frontier, if we're wrong about this, feel free to reach out at podcast at onlyinyourstate.com and, you know, let us experience this go wild deal and we' ah we'll sing a different tune. Yeah.
00:27:20
Speaker
But truly, that being said, like, even though there are like trendy things going around, I think that you should talk about the research you've done on like the credit card memberships that actually do pan out and are important and can like really benefit you.
00:27:33
Speaker
Yeah. So, I am a huge nerd when it comes to needing to research things proudly. So I travel a lot. You know, my i have a bunch of family all across the country and I try to see them as much as possible.
00:27:46
Speaker
We work for Only in Your State, which is a travel publication. So we're traveling. Sarah and I travel a lot. And I started looking into these credit cards that you can, A, gain a bunch of points for traveling. e American Express, for example, they have ah access to these lounges. I would always walk by these lounges in the airport, and I'm like, man,
00:28:09
Speaker
Wouldn't it be nice instead of spending but anywhere between $35 to $75 if I travel alone, if I travel with my partner on airport snacks, meals, coffee, drinks, to just go into this lounge and have a free meal. I can sit in comfort, meal, drinks, bada bing, bada boom.
00:28:27
Speaker
it It ended up American Express, the travel fee, $695 for the year. Yeah. Sounds crazy if you think about it. I did the math. You get a lot of perks with it.
00:28:39
Speaker
Just alone, you get $20 a month towards entertain digital entertainment. So whether that's Peacock or Hulu, right there you have $240 that you're saving because you get a credit on your American Express.
00:28:50
Speaker
You also get $15 a month in Uber. So Uber Eats, Uber Rides. So right there, that's $180 a year. If you're saving, you know, if I'm flying six flights a year, $35, $75 airport snacks, drinks, coffee, at that $35, the lower price point, that's $210. So that means all of this, basically, of what I'm already spending in life, I'm just paying towards American Express, then it works out and I get so many more perks on top of that.
00:29:16
Speaker
I think that, I mean, whenever you were first telling me about this, my jaw felt like it was on the floor because I had no idea how helpful it would be. Because what I've experienced is that I've had some of these expensive credit cards that you pay for to get access to or you need like a certain limit in like your bank account, whatever. and I'm like, I'm not seeing the return on it. Like, sure, you can get miles, you can get cash, but I'm like, what else? But this honestly seems like a good deal. And in all my research before this episode, I kept seeing it come up of like, if this is like your first entry point into like hacking your travel, if you want a max minute, do that A-Max Platinum. Like, this is the first way to do it.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah. And i don't I didn't realize that the youth are interested in in lounges. To me, I am because I'm a crotchety old person now. And I'm like, I don't want to sit at this bar or at the seat. I just want to relax and be able to eat and drink and whatever.
00:30:06
Speaker
And I remember recently i was flying through somewhere that had a like a chase lounge. And I'm like, oh, great. I have the chase card. I can get in or at least I can pay like a fee to get in. and didn't have the right one.
00:30:17
Speaker
was a pleb, you know, and I thought like, OK, I have the rung below. Like maybe it's just 75. It was like $300. I'm like, that's I'm not no. there's and'm like be's no i'm not no Interesting. But with this card that you're talking about, like not only is it certain lunch, it's like the priority lounges at like every airport, right? Like there's like a batch of lounges you can get into that's not just specifically for this one.
00:30:41
Speaker
Correct. Yeah. You could get into the priority pass lounges. um Yeah. If you go to the website, the American Express website under the platinum cards, they'll give you access to all the lounges that they have available to you. and Actually, today i read that American Express is launching a feature that you can go use their app, which you have already if you're, you know, a card member. And you can actually reserve, see the wait time for the lounges to get in and out.
00:31:13
Speaker
Let's say you're traveling during a busy time. Yeah. And you could add yourself to a wait list and stuff like that. So I think that's also a very neat perk. But yeah, coming from like I have a JetBlue credit card because I love JetBlue and because I live near Fort Lauderdale. So it's just that's the easy airline for me. I always think they do such a great job. Their planes are clean. Yeah.
00:31:33
Speaker
um So JetBlue is my preferred method of flying. And then now with this platinum card, I feel like I'm covered in terms of just like maximizing travel rewards. And I usually am able to get a couple of free flights a year from JetBlue alone, which...
00:31:49
Speaker
yeah I missed that blue. When I lived in l LA, that's what I typically flew back to Ohio. It even had that specific, well, was Ohio or? One of the routes I was on had the mint where it was like the, I haven't yet flown mint, but it looked great. And it had the little like snack area. And I just felt so jealous. remember,
00:32:09
Speaker
One of the mint flights I was on, i think it was like Blake Griffin was on it, um just an NBA player. And I remember I'm like, i should just go up there because there's nothing stopping me. I see him.
00:32:19
Speaker
Like, can I ask for his snacks? Like, anyway, one thing I do want to call out, too, in addition to the lounges, whenever I see the airports that have the sleep pods, that is the most genius thing because there's been so many times where I've arrived at an airport and I assume that I can just sleep or take a nap?
00:32:38
Speaker
Absolutely not. Especially even if I'm like wrapped up in my luggage and I do the thing where it's like I'm laying on the luggage so no one could pop probably take it. Whenever airports have the sleep rooms, that is just next level.
00:32:49
Speaker
Yeah, agree. I think that's what I like, too, about lounges is just sometimes you have that opportunity to whether they have like, yeah, the relaxation rooms or showers that you could shower. i mean, there's yeah, it really just depends on how you how often you fly, whether you find value in this. But yeah, I think it's important to do your research first, always.
00:33:13
Speaker
Yes. And one thing I did want to say, like, this is somewhat unrelated and I should have brought it up earlier. Oopsie. That's OK. We're on a journey together. So as if you are in a lounge or, you know, specifically to drink, I think I should also call attention to that your body functions differently in the air than it does on the ground. so I think the saying is like one drink in the air is like what, two or three on the ground or something like that. And that's because your blood ox levels are different and the way that your body processes alcohol is different. So fair warning, if you have this Amex Platinum and you're getting a little tipsy before the flight, once you get on the plane, you might feel a little bit differently. So watch out. Also, if you're taking like prescribed medication, don't mix. That's not a good idea. if you're anti-anxiety, then stick with one or the other. Otherwise, it's going be not so great. 100%.
00:33:58
Speaker
hundred percent Yes, I think that's very fair to say. Yeah. so with that said, do you have any final hacks, final takeaways, anything that you do, you know, anything packing wise that helps you anything that, you know like getting certain travel alerts?
00:34:19
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Anything that you can just give quickly. Okay. Three quick hits. yeah One, packing tips. For me, rolling your clothes really does help. um And putting, like, socks in your shoes, just trying to, like, minimize space. That has helped me a lot. And also, I have done the hack where I brought a pillow.
00:34:36
Speaker
The last time I went to the UK, I brought a pillow case. stuffed it with all of my under things, my scarves, all of the like non-essential like big items and just use it as a pillow. And it wasn't even technically carry-on or a personal item. They disregarded it.
00:34:50
Speaker
So I was able to have that much more space in my bag. So that absolutely works. Cool. Try it. So neck pillow, standard pillow. I think I just got an Ikea pillowcase and filled it. So that's one. Also price alerts. Yes, I have, I actually have dateless price alerts set up for multiple cities. So if I just want to keep an eye on like When's the next flight to London below $500 or going out to Tucson or LA?
00:35:14
Speaker
Set those up. I have them through Google. You can do airfare watchdog. There's a lot of great ways to like just monitor what the flight prices are. um Then one final thing for me is that if you don't have a strategy and you don't want to min max it, if you don't care about the hacks, that's absolutely okay.
00:35:30
Speaker
To be honest, I am very much kind of in that camp. Like, I want to try and be smart, but I'm not. I feel like are like there's like, I know there's miles on the on the table that I'm leaving and maybe like access and perks and things like that. But also, I try not to like get too much FOMO about it because I'm just, I care about being able to travel and doing it peacefully. And maybe I'll get better in the future, but if not, oh well.
00:35:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's very well said because... Not everyone wants to, ah you know, have like used points or it's ah it might be a headache. It might give people more anxiety to have all of these like travel hacks that they're like, oh, I have to do this. I forgot this. I forgot.
00:36:09
Speaker
You know, like if if you just have a preferred way of traveling and it's working for you, let's say just keep it up. Yeah. And sometimes people who let's say if you want to I'm sorry, I'm stomping all over your tips.
00:36:21
Speaker
No. But that's enough for Marissa. It's it's the Sarah show now. No. But I will say that a simple one is stick with a preferred airline, like how you you know use JetBlue and you like it. But I will admit that if you are you know budget conscious, sometimes you just can't because you want to find the cheapest flight for where you're going.
00:36:40
Speaker
And sometimes that means switching airlines a lot. So I can understand how it can be difficult to build up you know membership or what's it called? Points? Points? Yes, that. For an airline, if you're having to switch to due to pricing.
00:36:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. I think it's also just something that's coming as I get older. To me, it's simplicity and decision making that provides me peace.
Combating Flight Anxiety with Visualization
00:37:03
Speaker
Knowing that I have, you know, like if I'm using my JetBlue credit card for groceries, for dining out, for, you know, and that's automatically I'm getting points.
00:37:12
Speaker
That means that it's going to make my traveling a lot cheaper. So, and then I don't have to make as many decisions, but. Yeah. Yeah. I think my biggest hack, I would say, it involves anxiety because I did i went through a period of time where i was very, very anxious to fly. I don't know what happened. I don't know what changed. It wasn't anything that I experienced. It just automatically i was like, wow, I was having difficulty. I there was i used to watch this video um Mel Robbins.
00:37:38
Speaker
She would talk about anxiety over flying. And what she does is she would sit on the plane and picture the end result. Her landing, her getting home, her seeing her dog.
00:37:50
Speaker
She said just like manifesting those ideas in her head, those so scenarios of the end result will help you in order to process the experience of having something to look forward to.
00:38:05
Speaker
um And that always worked for me. And yeah. I mean, I do that through so many things in life. I feel i fear that sometimes it's maladaptive daydreaming, but that's neither here nor there. Like whenever I'm getting a tattoo, I'm like, you know what? This is going to look so cool. I'm miserable right now. But think about the end result.
00:38:22
Speaker
Yeah. I also went through a fear of flying phase, so much so that I was on a fear of flying forum back whenever, you know, forums are still popular. And I was like taking classes essentially of like from a pilot and you could ask him questions of like, why is this happening? Why is that? And they would answer. And it's like,
00:38:39
Speaker
It was so nice to hear about, you know, what turbulence actually is and how the laws of physics are actually on your side, you know, and like learning about Bernoulli's principle and like what's actually happening made you feel a lot less or made me feel a lot less anxious about it.
00:38:55
Speaker
I mean, it also helped turning 21 and being able to order alcohol. Yeah, you know, 100%. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. No, this was fun. I like talking about traveling and like, you know,
00:39:06
Speaker
And we didn't even get to to cars or trains. That's right. We just got to the planes out of the planes, trains, and automobiles. So now we got to got to do another one. Maybe we should. Should we do a series?
00:39:18
Speaker
um my gosh, we should. Because we both have so much experience with road trip travel. So maybe that should be our next one. That is a whole other set of. Yeah. Let me tell you. should.
00:39:29
Speaker
Iteration number two. Yeah. and down for that. Okay. Well, you have your own tips, write in to podcast.onlyinyourstate.com and let us know what they are.
00:39:39
Speaker
Yeah. I would really love to hear from people and their own travel hacks, tips. Gosh, I would love to learn more about like points and I'm sure I'm only like scratching the surface here, but yeah. Anybody that wants to share even your, just your weird travel hacks, like let's hear it right in. Oh yeah.
00:39:57
Speaker
Love to hear from you. Yeah. Let us know. And if you can teach us about how to be less less anxious on a flight, always love those tips. Like yeah whenever the rounds are making of the plane is in jello on TikTok.
00:40:10
Speaker
Love that. Help the visualization. That was really helpful for me. Yeah. all right, everyone. Thanks for listening. And until next time.
00:40:37
Speaker
Only in Your State is an award-winning travel publisher that uncovers hidden gems and local favorites across the U.S. We have a presence in all 50 states with a passionate following of fellow travelers looking to get out and explore.
00:40:49
Speaker
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