Is that full-time job getting in the way
of you being able to travel?
Do you feel like you just don't have
enough time to see the world?
Let's talk about some ways
how you can travel more
when you're short on time.
[music]
Hey guys, it's Kim
with workhardtravelwell.com.
If you're new here, do me a favor
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because you don't want to miss
any future videos
on how you can travel more
and see the world.
You're a busy professional,
you may be short on PTO, paid time off,
personal days,
you may even just be short on time
because you have responsibilities
and need to get back home to attend
to things related to your business,
your family, what have you not,
any of your obligations
that you have back home.
These are some ways
that you can travel more
and see the world.
I have experience in talking about this
is because I have been able
to maximize my PTO.
What I mean by that is I take
every advantage of my paid time off
to book a trip,
whether it be close and small,
or whether it be far and across the world.
According to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics,
Americans have anywhere from 15 to 20
paid time off days or vacation days.
I even polled my Instagram followers
of over 12,000 on Work Hard
Travel Well on Instagram,
what their paid time off was,
and a lot of people answer various ranges,
anywhere from what I just said,
some even said 10 days.
Of course,
you have your holiday pay as well,
so you have to factor that in.
This video is really going to set up
the talking points
for a lot of the related videos
you're going to see on this channel
in regards to traveling.
As a full-time professional,
I want to use my money that I've earned
from my hard work to travel,
and that's why I have the name
of this YouTube channel as well as
my blog is Work Hard Travel Well.
Well-traveled because I'm able
to fund my travels through my hard work,
so that's the story behind the tagline.
How can you travel
when you're limited by time,
you're limited by paid time off,
and with a short amount of time?
Before the pandemic,
I was able to travel to seven countries
and at least five US cities
while only having 18 paid time off days,
and also only five holidays.
We don't get that many holiday.
If I can do that, I am sure that
you can see the world
with a short amount of time.
There are ways that you can travel more
when you're short on time.
First things, you want to set your goals
up for that year.
I have started doing vision boards
and I've put on my boards
where I want to go.
I put goals in place
so that when the cheap flight
does come about,
I know if that fits in my goal.
If you know where you want to go,
you want to estimate how much
it's going to cost to get there,
so you have a rough idea
of planning in place of,
"I need to plan this amount of money
to save up each month,"
so that you can travel to these destina--
research, so right now,
you need to know where it's safe to travel to,
what countries or destinations,
and is it a quarantine when you arrive,
so you can factor that in?
What tests you need to take before you go?
When you're coming back to the US as of now,
at the time of this video,
you need a test before you even
board the plane
from an international destination
to get back into the US.
I have a video on those details,
if you're not familiar with that,
I'll show it in the right-hand corner
of this video.
You need to know all of these things
so that you can maximize your time.
If you don't plan
and then you get to this destination,
and then it requires you to have
a seven-day quarantine,
then you've ate up
most of your vacation time,
so you end up using more vacation time
or more paid time off than you wanted to.
That's why it's important to plan,
and that will help you be able
to travel more.
This one is an easy one,
using weekends and holidays
to make the trip even longer.
For example, I was able
to go to DC and Philly,
and I covered that with a weekend
on top of Labor Day weekend,
so I was able to visit both of those cities
and have a nice four-day weekend.
I arrived late in the evening,
so I wouldn't have to use that Friday
to take time off
and came back early the next--
When I returned,
I took an early morning flight,
so I could get back in time for work.
If you don't have a lot of time to take off,
you can always stay local.
You can plan a nearby trip.
I know I'm in Atlanta and if I go up 400 North,
I can see some really great waterfalls.
Stay local by going to a nearby state
and making a three-day weekend out of it
or whatever you can do.
Don't think that just because I'm talking
about being able to travel more
and see the world that you have
to actually see, go across the world.
You can see what's available around you,
and that will help you to be able
to travel more.
This next tip is my favorite.
I know I talk about it a lot in other videos,
and even though I am in a relationship
and I talk about vacations too,
and I even have a free Travel Bae
or Travel Buddy application
that you can download so that
you can vet people to go on trips with.
I believe that you shouldn't wait on people.
Everyone's schedule
might not line up with yours.
We're all working professionals,
busy professionals,
and have our own obligations.
So, don't wait on people to travel with,
travel solo.
The countries that I talked about
where I was able to visit
seven countries in one year,
most of those countries,
I visited by myself.
I'm not going to wait on people to travel with
because I actually cannot roll over
my vacation days, my paid time off.
I have to use it or lose it.
Imagine if I would have set
on those days waiting for someone
to travel with me
and I lost out on vacation days.
Imagine, this was before the pandemic,
if I had waited on someone to travel with
and I didn't travel solo,
I would be kicking myself right now
because travel has changed so much
right now due to COVID.
I'm glad that I traveled solo
and you can do the same thing, too.
If you're not comfortable solo-traveling,
start small.
Start with going out to dinner
or taking yourself somewhere solo
where you wouldn't normally invite someone.
Take a road trip by yourself.
When I lived in Charlotte,
I actually got up and decided
I wanted to invite people.
I did invite people like, hey,
it was last minute, it was near a holiday,
and no one could go.
I gassed up my car,
I booked a hotel that same day,
and I drove to DC.
I had a great time, [chuckles]
so I encourage you to travel solo.
I have a few videos about traveling solo.
I've been to Colombia, traveling solo.
I've been to South Africa,
I've been to Zimbabwe, Zambia.
I've been to Dubai.
I've been to a lot of places solo.
That's why I talk about solo travel so much
because we all have different amount
of paid time off.
We have busy schedules
and you just have to do
what's right for you,
so you don't have any regrets,
and so that you can be able
to travel more.
I think another way that you can be able
to travel more when you don't have
a lot of time is to fly direct,
or as least stops as possible.
I know that cheap flight may be tempting,
but when you look at
how much travel time is involved,
it might take you 24 hours
and you might end up burning
a vacation day on top of that.
If you can travel direct,
I encourage you to do so,
it helps save time.
That trip when I went to South Africa,
normally, to save money,
you could fly through-- for me,
I could fly through New York or DC,
but I chose to take
a direct flight to Johannesburg.
Instead of it taking 24 hours,
it took 16 hours,
so that's a whole eight hours
and I was able to leave Friday evening,
so I didn't use a vacation day.
Although, I should have
because I was freaking out
about being gone so long
and trying to make sure I stay within
a certain amount of weight
for all the various flights I was going to be
taking once I got over there.
I left Friday evening
and got to South Africa
Saturday afternoon.
I encourage you, if you can,
to fly direct and when it makes sense.
If you're fine with stopping
at different destinations
so that you can see things
on your layover or stopover,
that's also an option.
If you cannot afford a direct flight
because direct flights
are usually more expensive,
be flexible and be on the lookout
for cheap travel deals.
You can actually use Skyscanner
or Google Flights
to look up flight travel deals.
There are things like Scott's Cheap Flights.
I'm actually subscribed
to their email notification,
so I put in my home airport
and I get flight deals out of my home airport.
I'll include links to all of the things
that I'm talking about in the description
of this video.
Make sure that you are flexible
in that sense,
because they're going to have
certain dates for these travel deals.
Pay attention to how long it's going
to take to get there, any fine print.
Be sure to look at before you book it,
just a quick check.
When is the best time
to visit this destination?
Because, it could be a flight deal
that's during a time that's not really ideal,
like going in a winter of a destination
when you want to see their summer.
Another way to travel more
when you're short on time
is to combine work and travel.
In the past, I've had a job
where I was able to travel
around the southeast of the US.
I would always either get
to the destination early
or add on an extra day so that
I can see that destination.
If you're someone that travels for work,
you can combine work and travel.
Right now, there's also lot of flexibility
on where you can work from.
Another way we can travel more
is work from anywhere.
Make sure it's in guidelines.
I know we have VPNs,
but there's ways for companies to find out
if you're supposed to be based
in the US or whatever.
Make sure you check those things out.
Make sure you check on,
consider time zone differences.
I'd hate to be on the West Coast
working an East Coast job
and having to get up at 5:00 AM,
but just check those things
when you're considering
working from anywhere.
There are a lot of countries that allow you
to have a work visa
and making it more friendly for people
to be able to work from those countries.
Let me know if you want
more information on that.
On the subject of jobs,
another way to travel more is to get a job
that actually includes travel.
As travel returns to normal,
the first months, those people
that are going to normal are people
that travel for work.
So, find a job that includes travel
so that you can travel more.
This next one is my favorite,
and it's having multi-city itineraries
so that you can travel more.
My favorite thing is when I'm scheduling
paid time off to go and travel,
if I'm flying eight-plus hours,
maybe even six, I want to see what else
is around there so that I can make
the most of that time off.
I could travel deeper and explore
a destination for a week at a time,
but that's not how I travel.
I travel fast, [chuckles]
I sleep when I basically get back
to the hotel room that evening,
or I sleep on the plane.
I'm always like this.
I got to see it while I can.
I've done this numerous times,
especially when I'm going to Europe.
They have fast trains over there
that go 150 plus miles per hour,
so you can get to a destination like this.
[chuckles]
For example, when I went to Italy,
I did not just go to three cities.
I went to eight cities in Italy in nine days
by using their train system to get around.
When I went to Barcelona,
I tacked on a flight from Barcelona
to Nice, France, and visited Nice, France,
but you know what?
Monte Carlo was there in Nice, France,
so I went to Monte Carlo as well.
When I visited Toronto,
I actually rented a car
and went from Toronto to Niagara Falls.
You see the trend here,
making sure you make multi-city itineraries.
Part of the reason I was able to visit
seven countries
with only 18 vacation days
is because I combined--
I went to London, Paris,
and Brussels in one trip.
In one trip, I went to South Africa, Zambia,
and Zimbabwe in one trip.
When I was in Colombia,
I went to three cities within Colombia
and combined Cartagena, Medellín,
and Guatapé.
I have a lot of videos regarding
all these destinations that I talked about.
Be sure to check out for related videos
in the description of this video.
That's what I mean
by making multi-city itineraries.
That comes from doing your research
about what's available,
knowing about the local airlines.
Is it quicker to just do a trip via train,
or car, or either airline?
Another way to travel more
is to be able to use points and miles
to help get that cost down
of your trip or even make it free.
That way, traveling more is not about
just being short on time,
it could be about your budget.
The way that you'd be able to travel more
is to make it so that you can travel a lot
but you don't have to spend
as much money so that
you can continue to travel more.
Of all the trips that I talked about,
I always use hotel points to make
my trips either free or get the cost down
by using points and cash.
Even though we're not traveling right now,
there's simple ways you can earn points
and miles by grocery shopping,
things like that.
I have an article on how to earn points
and miles without traveling,
so check the description for that,
but point and miles is invaluable.
I encourage you, if you haven't signed up
for some of your favorite hotel partners
and airlines so that you can earn points.
If you have a preferred airline,
a hotel, look into credit card offers
and bonuses for signing up
for those credit cards,
because they can get you a lot.
I know with Hilton right now they have
a hundred thousand points
for signing up for their Amex,
which doesn't have an annual fee.
When I signed up for Amex,
I only got 120,000,
and I have a $95 annual fee.
Both cards you have to spend
a certain amount,
but that no-fee for 100,000 points
is pretty good.
I also included my referral links
for some of the travel credit cards
that I recommend.
I stretch my points by using points and cash.
I may pay for one night
and then the rest of the night will be free.
Another great thing about
using points and miles is status.
You can get certain statuses,
like with my Hilton, I am a Gold member,
so I automatically get breakfast,
and that cuts down
on some of your travel costs
by not having to worry about breakfast.
Some hotels have breakfast included.
I know the Westin,
they have breakfast included
and a happy hour.
If you play your cards right,
you have two meals for the day.
[chuckles]
I encourage you to sign up
for points and miles.
Don’t just lose out on that.
Pay attention to the bonuses,
and pay attention to different offers
they send you.
Don't forget about rental cars.
I know we just talked about
a lot of times hotels and airlines,
but sign up for loyalty programs
and earn miles on rental cars, too,
so when you're taking,
like when I mentioned the road trip
I took from Toronto.
While we're on the subject of points
and travel discounts,
if you work for a corporation
or a company that has a Salesforce,
anything like that,
you should look into the discounts
that are available to you as an employee
of that company.
[?] at work,
that's a good place to start,
but you also have corporate codes
that are available to you depending
on which company you work for
that you can get.
That's another way.
As you're saving money,
this allows you to be able to travel more
because you're not blowing it all
on one trip.
You're spreading it out.
These are the ways that I recommend
for being able to travel more.
Let me know in the comments
if I've missed any or some of the ways
that you travel more.
If this video has helped you,
leave me a comment and buy me a coffee,
which really goes to contributing
to my storage space
and all of the technology that goes
behind recording these videos,
or you can check out my apparel store.
I have a travel-themed apparel store
that you can check out,
and right now I have an offer
where you can get free shipping.
Again, my name is Kim
with workhardtravelwell.com.
Thanks for checking out this video,
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