Ok guys – it’s pep talk time! Time to get your butts in gear…
Between the blog posts, tweets, Foursquare check-ins, and Facebook status updates, it’s no secret that I love to travel, and that I try to do it as frequently as possible. For me personally, I’m grateful that I grew up in a frugal points and miles family, and I’ve been taught the importance and value of loyalty programs and frequent flyer accounts as a child (thanks, Dad!); a basic foundation been embedded in my brain at an early age.
Over the past few years, I’ve also decided to take it to the next level on my own in continuing my points and miles “education” by attending events, meeting admirable people, being active in the community, and just generally being aware of what’s going on in the travel world. I was inspired. With anything in life, if you’re not inspired, dedicated and persistent – it’s very difficult to be successful in getting what you want.
When speaking of people who “just don’t get it”, two prime examples come to mind:
Exhibit 1: The Uninspired
While I love to talk about travel 24/7 and I’m more than eager to offer tips to my friends and family when I see them, at times it feels like I’m beating a dead horse with some people – they just don’t get it. They’re attracted to the idea of traveling fabulously for close to nothing, but are blinded by the work that comes along with being points and miles savvy. Yes people, I said it – it takes work. But the work isn’t strenuous; most of the time it’s just being mindful. You don’t just wake up having a million points and miles to burn (though that would be pretty sweet). You have to be inspired.
I have a friend who constantly asks me to teach them how to be a savvy traveler. I have put a lot of effort into helping this person. Said person then takes several flights over the past few weeks. I asked them how many miles they earned from the flights. They responded saying that they never even bothered to make a frequent flyer account because they were too lazy to do so. I will not be helping said person anymore.
I chuckle a bit at a comparison I came up with. Someone who “doesn’t get it” it reminds me of someone who wants to magically wake up being a size 00 without ever thinking twice about what they’re eating or how active they are. If you want to be fit, make changes to your habits. If you want to travel without breaking the bank, make changes to your habits. It’s not that hard.
Exhibit 2: The Clueless
Then we have, my favorite – the clueless.
Here are some common ignorant remarks misconceptions I hear in regards to my travel patterns (I’m not kidding):
- “You’re SO lucky to be engaged to a man that takes you around the world!” Actually, Kevin’s the lucky one – before me, he didn’t even have a passport.
- “Are you working for the government?” Yes, did I forget to tell you that I’m also a part-time secret service agent?
- “You only travel so much because you’re a blogger and get free stuff.” ….Right… forget the term “starving artist” – Â it should be “starving blogger”.
- “Does Kevin suspect that you have a sugar daddy?” Really? You had to pull that card? Come on, I graduated college with a 4.0…
- “You have 12 credit cards? It’s not worth it to be drowning in debt for a free flight!” Yes, I have 12 credit cards and not a single ounce of debt. I also have credit score of 784 and an impressive credit limit. I pay all of my balances in full each month and I never spend more than I earn (wow, common sense?). Having multiple credit card accounts has actually improved my credit worthiness. thankyouverymuch.
- “I’d rather pay for my travel than do something illegal.” Wow.
Let’s connect:Â 
Well put! I often hear a variation of this: “I’d love to do that but my kids…(fill in the excuse here)” Needless to say, I don’t believe you have to let your passport get dusty just because you have kids!
Thanks for the laugh!
You forgot category #3, those that don’t care. Why would you want to travel the world when you could spend years saving enough credit card points for a free TV? :-P
Great post..I could tolerate the Uninspired..The clueless is another story..The clueless are the type of people that have an excuse for everything that is wrong in their life.Without passion and hardwork, we could all easily become clueless…
Oh oh, we could go on all day with these like:
“It’s just to hard!” – so your work is easy and money to buy 1st class is simple too? must be nice
“I don’t have time to do what you do” – but you do have hours and hours to watch TV? ok!
“I am not as smart as you” – maybe since you don’t get it, but I just listen to all these wise BA bloggers like Angelina and then GOOOOOO when told!
“”I’m just too lazy” – fine. Enjoy middle seat in coach. The view in the nose of the plane is the same, outside, inside, it is better!
I wish all my friends would get it. Ah well. The smart ones do and will be up front flying with me/us! – René
“How do you have time to do all this traveling?” – Go find another job
4.0 gpa, really? How about “I’ve had friends who have went from 0 to 60..” should be “have gone” :)
@The Deal Mommy, I hope I have kids to take with me one day on my mileage runs. Then I’ll raid their accounts for my first-class award tickets. :D
“It’s a losing proposition!” – ummm, ok.
@Ron: Ok I lied, I had a 3.9997… ha fixing the error now.
Graduating college with a 3.9997 GPA and being a starving artist/blogger isn’t right. I would hope that scoring two to three standard devations above the mean in any field would equate to more. Or course it probalby is an excellent explaination as to why you “get it” and other people are clueless. As Ron White says “You can’t fix stupid”..
I too am amazed all the time by the people who are envious of our hobby, care to hear me explain to them how to do it, and then never do anything about it. I guess if everyone did it though, it wouldn’t be as lucrative for the rest of us.
@ed1830: you might have to explain your comment again… because I just don’t “get it”
Sometimes it’s easier for people to complain about not knowing how to do something than to actually put some effort into learning it. Sad…
If common sense were common, then everyone would have it.
Nicely put! I’ve found it’s just not worth the hassle to spend time “educating” the types of people you describe above… and when you give up on trying, it leaves you with more time to give to those who really crave and appreciate it!
Amen! You don’t know how many times I have been lectured about how I am being irresponsible with credit just for instant gratification. They don’t hear ZERO balance and EXCELLENT credit. I think they all just want to make themselves feel better about leaving the points on the table.
I guess we could just be so much more clever and hard-working and inspired than all those friends who “just don’t get it.” or it could be that these friends, for whatever warped reasons, aren’t quite as travel-obsessed as us and may just have other interests in life that they choose to spend their time concentrating on and enjoying. Nah, you’re right. They’re all just dumber and lazier than us.
I guess thats why theres the phrase..” A sucker is born..every minute…”
I have a good analogy for you. I am a somewhat extreme couponer. When my local store had super triple coupons, I called my cousin to let her know. She said, “Oh, wow! I’ve got to get there for this!” I asked how many coupons she had, are they expired, are they filed for easy use. She said, “Oh, I don’t have any coupons.” Then, why does super triple coupons excite you? Same deal. I’ve tried for 20 years to educate her in the ways of saving money via coupons. Just can’t be bothered.
Well, excuses are so much more popular here up north in Canada:
“We only get 15k signup bonus! How the hell are we going to churn our way to first class?”
Just awesome. Thanks for writing what so many of us have been thinking.
@Chris- Touché my friend
@Scottrick: If I could have convinced BA to give Deal Kid a FF# in Utero, he would have racked up about 40k miles before he was born;) For now, it’s fun getting Delta credit card offers for my 5 year old.
@Deal Mommy: I think you have to pay for a seat, and that’s probably a bad deal. :)
Carnival used to call my toddler girl every
DOH!
… call my toddler girl every day trying to sell her a cruise. Heck, she’s 2.5 now and still doesn’t have her platinum AMEX, little slackers! She does have several FF accounts though :)
The last time, I tried explaining to my dad about the entire concept of “minimum spend” and me having to meet it within 3 months to get the bonus points, he listened attentively.
Then said, ” Just so you know…I’m not going to pay your bail”. LOL.
I have a troll for a father!
Haha, awesome read. My friends are always curious about free travel until you tell them you have to sign up for foursquare, Topguest, AND Priority Club …then check-in every day. It’s too much for some, but I think that’s good for us “points people” in the long run. It may just keep the door open for free and easy points.
As a consultant, one of my mantras is “if I care more than the client does, something’s wrong.” Give good advice once and then, if it’s ignored, let it go and move on to someone who will listen!