Yahweh’s Money®️: The Crossroads of Religion & Money

Traveling: Should You Budget Or Ball Out?

• Shay Cook & Vanessa McNelley • Season 3 • Episode 57

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Is it possible to travel luxuriously without breaking the bank? Or do budget-savvy trips offer richer experiences? Join us, Shay Cook and Vanessa McNelley, on this episode of Yahweh's Money, where we tackle the age-old debate of travel budgeting versus luxury travel. Vanessa reveals her ingenious techniques for making the most out of every dollar, from leveraging credit card points to uncovering free activities that offer priceless memories. Meanwhile, Shay shares her insights on the magnetic charm of indulging in high-end travel experiences, all while emphasizing the importance of financial wisdom as guided by Proverbs 21:20.

Our conversation takes you through the vibrant spectrum of travel—from the delights of cost-efficient adventures like free museum visits to the allure of upgrading flights and staying in luxury accommodations. We offer practical tips on balancing comfort with cost, discuss the spiritual and financial rewards of wise travel planning, and share personal stories that illustrate the joys and potential pitfalls of both travel styles. Whether you're a frugal explorer or a luxury lover, you'll find valuable insights to make every journey memorable and financially sound. Tune in and let us inspire your next adventure!

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Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!

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Shay:

Ever felt those awkward vibes when religion and money come up? You're not alone. Welcome to Yahweh's Money, the podcast where we tackle the crossroads of faith and finance. I'm Shay Cook, an accredited financial counselor, and the CEO and founder of Crusaders for Change LLC.

Vanessa:

And I'm Vanessa McNelley, accredited financial counselor and COO of Crusaders for Change. J oin us on our journey as we discuss topics like tithing saving and conquering debt through religious perspectives. Let's get started.

Shay:

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Yahweh's Money. Hey Vanessa, how are you beautiful?

Speaker 3:

I am good Shay. I'm excited about today.

Shay:

I know it's a topic that I know you love talking about traveling. You love the travel. I'm envious y'all of Vanessa and the amount of travel she does, because it's freaking amazing. She goes all over this world just jet setting and having fun, and I want to be like her when I grow up. But today's episode we're going to be talking about traveling and, should you get your budget or your ball on, I love that topic. So thank you, TJ, for that. So, hey, jet setters and globe trotters out there, welcome back to this episode. Hopefully it's exciting, as we're excited about it today and we're going to be having fun with Vanessa and I are going to be chatting about an age-old debate, which is is it better to penny pitch your way through paradise or splurge and bask in luxury? I mean, as I got older, I'm all about that luxurious life. So y'all, so we will navigate the winding excuse me roads of budget travel versus the champagne wishes of high-end holidays. Both of us truly have a lot in common when it comes to money habits, but we do travel much differently sometimes. So turn up the volume, settle in and decide which of us you're going on vacation with. Oh, I love that. That was amazing. Thank you, TJ. So Proverbs 21.20 says the wise throw up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down. Wow, so such a simple but powerful verse. This verse emphasizes the importance of wise financial planning and stewardship. In this episode, that includes budgeting for travel expenses and not being reckless when spending.

Speaker 3:

That's a lot, especially with our topic today, and I know you and I differ so much with this, whether we are going to just splurge and do and see and have nice things or do it on a budget. And you know that I'm a little different than you as far as travel and I am definitely a budget traveler. That is something that I am definitely a budget traveler. That is something that I have done my entire life and I feel like the best part of budget traveling is when you set aside money and you know you're going to travel. You can do more when you budget for it and if you do it on a budget. So instead of going on one holiday a year, you can go on two or three if you do it right, and that's the way I do it.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, there's lots of ways to travel on a budget and not even feel the impact to your wallet. I know years ago my ex-husband and I I wanted to go to Disney World and he was like, nope, don't want to do it, not going to spend the money on it. So my answer to that was if we can do it without spending a penny, can we go? And two months later we were in Disney World.

Speaker 3:

So there are ways to do this and really enjoy yourself and not feel like you're on a budget but do it very cost effectively. You know, one of those ways is credit card points, and that is something I think people usually tend to not even think about as an option. But if you have a good credit card and you use your points wisely on things that you actually want versus you know using them to I don't know, people have certain cards where you know you can use it at Marriott or you can use it at uh for Delta.

Speaker 3:

But if you find a card that lets you spend the way you want to spend. It helps you with your budget travel because you're not locked into one airline you're not locked into one hotel chain and you can use it how you want to use it.

Speaker 3:

Um, so I always save my credit card points and then I can use those for travel or for gifts for people or people or whatever. But I just got back from St Croix last week and I have a friend who lives there, so essentially my trip was free because I use my credit card points to pay for my flight and I stayed with a friend and I had a full week on a beautiful Island, and that's something that a lot of people would spend thousands upon thousands of dollars for. So utilize those points.

Shay:

I know my points. I do most use cash rewards, so usually I can get gift cards or the cash rewards card. I actually get cash back on my credit card, so that's nice. But on the other I got a couple of few credit cards that use for travel, but a lot of times I use those for Christmas gifts. So, I'll get the gift cards for that, but I have been looking. I don't put enough on my credit cards to. I don't have cause. I don't travel as much as Vanessa.

Shay:

Like I said, earlier I'm envious and envious, but I need to look more into that. So for the business, I did get like an American express that allows that you know travel benefits and points, so I'm looking forward to using that for that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, but it's a great way to, you know, to save a little extra and you know, if you do it right, travel can be Christmas gifts. It's a wonderful tip.

Shay:

Yes, exactly, so true.

Speaker 3:

So another good tip, and this is really for people who don't have children or they want to travel without their kids.

Speaker 3:

That's the other part of this is to travel off peak season and if you do that and you're really flexible with your dates, you can find some amazing deals.

Speaker 3:

If you're not locked into I have to go the second week of June, because that's what we always do or that's what work tells me I can do but if you can really just kind of pick and choose when you go, you can save so much money.

Speaker 3:

So that's something that I always do when I'm looking for for a place to go is I'll go on Google and I'll put in you know a destination where I want to fly to and then I'll look at all the dates and see the cheapest dates to fly and I can find usually pretty good deals. I mean, and I can find usually pretty good deals. I mean, we just went to, uh, to Europe uh gosh, I guess about five or six weeks ago and I was able to find, uh something that you would have loved a very luxurious uh, um first-class trip, uh on Delta one, and I got it for just a little bit more than it would have normally cost to fly economy overseas, which was amazing, and that's something I usually do not do, but it was an amazing experience and it did make travel a whole lot nicer, but that's something. If I would have chosen my dates ahead of time, that I couldn't have done. Yeah, exactly.

Shay:

I know and I would say those with grown children that you don't have to worry about a babysitter and you don't want them to go with you because they're grown out but they may still live at home. So, like mine, being able to travel off peak is always great too. I know my husband and I we went to I was at a conference in Orlando and he joined and it was a lot cheaper and it was in November, right Before Thanksgiving. So it was like right up, it was before Thanksgiving, so it was a little cheaper. But then we usually go in the summer because my husband loves hot weather and he was born in July and our anniversaries are in January, july and August. So I mean, and that's super expensive, it's super hot and tornado, hurricane weather and all that, but we just, you know, push through it. But when you can, I totally agree those off-peak sales and deals are amazing.

Speaker 3:

Exactly, and if you're a fan of theme parks, why not go when it's not hot out there?

Shay:

Exactly. Yeah, we went one year to Disney World in March because my daughter was down there for it was getting for her school and she was marching in the marching band and Disney World, which was super awesome. But it was so cheap to go in March Exactly Before spring break too, Right, right.

Speaker 3:

And I remember as a kid, my mom, sometimes, when we knew that there was going to be like a snow day or two, she has taken me out of school and been like, okay, well, we know you're going to have a couple of days at least, and she would take me to Disney and it would be like January, february, during snow times, and we would drive down about gosh about eight hours at that point times and we would drive down about gosh about eight hours at that point and we would stay and she would call every night just to see if schools were open the next day.

Shay:

So and then if?

Speaker 3:

schools were open the next day, we would just leave that next day. So, I would only miss a day of school, but that was back before they really cared about attendance.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Or did virtual school when you can't go. So that was something that we always kind of learned growing up is you know, if you want to go and you want to save money, do it when nobody else is there. Plus, honestly, I think you have a better time because they're you know, not competing with other people for all these rides.

Speaker 3:

So it was, it was wonderful doing that. So I'll tell you I've really enjoyed through my life traveling off-peak, because you do get to do so much more, because you don't have to worry about lines at museums, you don't have to worry about.

Shay:

I was about to say the crowds, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Right, exactly, it makes it so much easier. So there's so many options with this. If you do have a reward program that you use, you know one of the many things that you get when you stay at a certain hotel chain over and over again as you get upgrades to rooms, you might get, you know, priority access to certain things because of that. So those are things you can do as well. I know at one point I had to go to Mississippi for three months for work and I stayed in a hotel and I racked up points after points after points and then I used those points from my work trip to travel later on. So I was able to save some cash that way. I have another friend who she lived in a Hilton for over a year for work and I think she said she had about $50,000 roughly worth of points to use.

Speaker 3:

So it's made her life a whole lot easier too, so I know that's out of the norm. Most people don't get to do that.

Shay:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3:

But take advantage of those reward programs with those types of things. You can also go to discount websites. I know one that I love. I go to Priceline a lot. It's something I've always used and I'll compare on that website. Then I'll go to the actual website for the hotel chain and make sure that it's comparable, and then they have some deals that are kind of blind deals on there. So you don't know where you're staying, you just know the area, you know the rating. Usually you can kind of figure out what hotel it's going to be, but you can say 20, 30% just by saying, okay, I know I want to stay in a four-star hotel, you know located by the beach and it has a free breakfast and they'll give you one of those. But you just don't know until it's actually booked, and that can be kind of exciting too. I never knew that. That's a new one.

Shay:

Oh wow, it's a great way to do it.

Speaker 3:

It is a great way to do it, you know, but I think the biggest part of budget travel is you have to be able to put in some time and effort and you have to do the research. Absolutely have to do the research. So if you're not willing to sit down and compare three different websites or wait over a week's time span to book something, it's going to be a lot harder.

Vanessa:

And.

Speaker 3:

I think anybody who knows me knows that I'm very impatient with travel planning and I want to do it yesterday. But if you go ahead and just start making that plan out and then comparing over the next few days, you'll be able to save a Bunch of money.

Shay:

Yeah, but time is money, Vanessa. But I hear you. That's why we're going to talk about balling out in a little bit.

Speaker 3:

That's true, but I'm one of those people. This is fun for me, yeah so that's different.

Shay:

If it's fun for you and you get off on that kind of thing, I don't, I'll be like okay, I used to. I used to be all into the planning and all that, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

And I, you know, the other part of this too, is just planning ahead a little bit too, for, you know, are you going to need snacks, are you going to, you know, need something to eat at the airport, those types of things I've packed, you know, lunches before for the airport, and I know that's a little extreme.

Shay:

I know I do snacks.

Speaker 3:

I've packed, you know, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, those kinds of things, but if you think about it, when you get to the airport and you really have to just buy a wrap sandwich, anyway, or a water, or whatever you're saving money on things you're not really going to enjoy anyway.

Speaker 3:

Nobody really enjoys that gas station sandwich from the from the airport. It's just something to get you by. So if you can save $25, $30 at the airport and just bring something with you, that's $25, $30 you can spend on going and having a nice lunch out somewhere.

Vanessa:

That you wouldn't have been able to do so.

Speaker 3:

really, it's picking and choosing where you spend, versus saying everything I do has to be, you know, be homemade, not do anything fun. Budget travel is not that at all. It's being able to do more on less and really enjoying those moments, in my opinion.

Speaker 3:

So the good thing about traveling with this, too is a lot of places have free things you can do that are going to be just as much fun, or sometimes even more fun, than the paid for attractions. A lot of museums overseas are free to go to and you can see a lot of cool stuff when you do that. Going and exploring a city on foot that's always a free thing too.

Speaker 3:

And you never know where you're going to. Just kind of wind around and find yourself. I know, one day I was in Stuttgart, germany, just had a day to kind of do nothing and I decided just to take a stroll downtown and I found the coolest museum hidden in the courtyard of a church.

Speaker 3:

Weird little thing Free museum, free to get there. Weird little thing free museum, free to get there. And I had the most amazing day just learning about the history of the city that I was in, and it's something I would have never thought of doing. I just stumbled upon it because I was just spending a day walking around. So there's lots of things that you can do and see if you're willing to ask people hey, what's free to do here? Because, most locals are going to know, and your hotel is really going to help you out with that too.

Speaker 3:

Also, group travel. I know that's something a lot of people do. Is they travel with their friend group or they travel with their family. I'll tell you, that's not something I really enjoy.

Speaker 3:

Me neither, but you can save a lot of money if you split things two or three or ten ways so there's lots of options to do this and do it in a way that really helps you just save some cash so you can go more often. That's my thing the more I saved, more often I can go and travel and really get out there and just see what's out there. Because I feel like when you do travel in a luxurious way, you're missing. You're missing the reality of that location, you know, you're missing the beauty of the people there.

Speaker 3:

You're missing seeing how people really live day to day.

Speaker 3:

And to me that is something that I want to experience. I feel like, especially as Americans, we feel like you know, everybody lives the way we do. But when you go to some of these poor countries, you can really get out there and see how people live and I think it really makes us appreciate what we have more. And then some of these places have just amazing sites to see and when you go and you see these beautiful creations, it's hard to say how do I not believe in God?

Speaker 3:

Right Because somebody had to create this beautiful waterfall or somebody had to create these mountains or this beautiful coastline. So doing these things and really getting out there and just seeing the real raw land and the people there, I feel like it brings you back to being more present and even have those chats and conversations with God about these amazing places he's created.

Shay:

That's so true and we're going to talk about that a little later, about how we can have it all and appreciate also budget traveling and a luxury, but also being able to thank God and be grateful for the beautiful land and the beautiful creations. Because, yeah, I was in Omaha, nebraska, recently and we just walked to Iowa across a bridge that was built. Obviously the taxpayers paid for it, but I didn't have to pay for it at that time. I'm going across there and being able to, uh, see, go, literally a mile away was Iowa and like, oh man, in Iowa, I even know I lived in Omaha, I've been to Iowa before but being able to walk and see the Missouri River and, um, all these beautiful uh creations and statues and museums, and it was just a really cool experience and, like you said, it was no cost to me at that time, so that was a great experience. So, yeah, there's a lot of beauty in America and all over the world.

Shay:

That's free, right, but what about us? This likes the ball out. You know, this is more. I'm going to shame my husband in this moment. I say this is more of Nathaniel, but he always says, no, that's you, shay, I'm like whatever. So I mean I like to travel nice. I've been on the on the poorer side of traveling, where you stay in the $50 hotel and the nasty sheets and you know living that life and bringing food with you. I'm not saying that's not how Vanessa's traveling right.

Shay:

She's still living a good, healthy, travel life. It's not, you know, staying out on the street or anything like that.

Speaker 3:

How do?

Shay:

you know, Maybe I am Shay, I take my tent with me, so, but it really is. I mean, I was saying earlier, you know, time is money, but balling out and traveling, I mean it's less stress quote, unquote, if you're you know. Because obviously, if we look at the financial piece of it, people ball out on credit cards and put themselves in debt and then when they get back from the trip that they had, this luxurious, beautiful celebrity time, they're like oh my God, I can't afford to pay this back.

Shay:

Well, that's a whole nother situation that we'll talk about but less time is involved in planning, faster, it's more luxurious transportation. I mean again, my husband and I, when we travel and quote unquote I have to keep saying that ball out because we don't know we ain't staying in a bunch of five star wings and thousands upon thousands on a lot of our trips. But we plan still in that process financially. You know, we're looking at the deals still as well.

Shay:

But yes, people, some people don't. They just be like, all right, I'm going to book this trip, I'm going on this $3,000, $4,000 cruise or I'm going to this island, I'm going to stay where Beyonce and them stay, wherever they stay. I'm going to pay $10,000, $20,000 to go to Africa I've heard these conversations with people, you know, because they want the fine dining, they want the unforgettable experiences, the helicopter, you know, tours, hot air balloons. They want the safari, they want to be out there with the lions and the zebras or wherever they are. They want to be in the ocean's houses, with the little houses on the ocean, like out in Tahiti.

Shay:

Yeah little huts. You know, I've seen all of this people doing this. You know, to me a lot of those people are doing it because they want to number one, but because they're trying to, you know, flex on social media. So I'm just saying, I'm just saying people, that's what it looks like to me. So anyway, but I mean, you know, they want the amenities, the cultural immersion, I don't even know. Sometimes they want that, they want to go and stay somewhere, like they in America and another country, like Vanessa say, instead of enjoying all of the beauty of the country and segregating themselves from that. I'm thinking this sound worse than it really is, but so anyway.

Shay:

So better safety and security, which that's a big thing. You go to certain countries, you know, even in America. You know you want to be safe in an area. You know my husband always say when we stay at a really nice resort like we go to Naples or we'll go like we went to Hawaii we always to get to that resort, we're driving to the most poorest areas of that city and it's always so sad. So we always go back out in that city and spend money because we want to be able to contribute to that society or to that environment, whatever, but it can be definitely an unparalleled service and if you get right, if you're treated right, it can feel like celebrity treatment. But I'm sorry, I just ran through that, vanessa, because I was like, even though this is great for balling out, I don't know how I feel about this when I say all of this Because, even though I like to stay in luxury places, I like the budget too, but also I don't want to be having debt afterwards.

Speaker 3:

You know, that's the biggest thing I feel like there is no problem with really balling out and enjoying a trip if you can afford it and if you pay for it ahead of time.

Shay:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

That's the biggest thing I think about. This is there is nothing wrong with these things if it's truly within your budget. But I feel like so many people, they feel like this is the only way you can travel and enjoy yourself.

Shay:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Is to do it you know, five star all the way, and that's not the case. That's not the case at all. You can do it in a way that is budget friendly and still have an amazing time.

Shay:

Exactly.

Speaker 3:

But you know you're not going to have the social media pictures that you would have at a five star.

Shay:

You might. You can fake the funk. You could take a picture by a pool that you really weren't at. I mean, I don't know, you could do something like that.

Vanessa:

Hey day passes. Day passes are wonderful.

Shay:

Exactly Right, I mean. But going back to Proverbs 21, 20 says the wise right Keyword wise store up choice food and all of all but fools gulp theirs down. So I think there's a middle ground in between there, between wise and not being too foolish but having your fun and still being wise throughout that process.

Speaker 3:

Exactly.

Shay:

Yeah, but can we have it all? I kind of I mean me when I was just talking about balling out, I was kind of making a little side notes there. I mean, I'm all about experiences. As I get older and you know, you collect so many things on, you know, in the first couple of decades of your life, but when you get to forties, fifties and sixties, in my opinion it's like I don't want to be bringing home a bunch of crap, like I used to always want to get a bunch of souvenirs.

Shay:

I always put in a budget for souvenirs. I always budget for souvenirs. I budget for everything I used to have. I still have a spreadsheet. I don't use it much anymore, like I used to, but every trip we going on I planned it down to the dollar, like food, all meals, all excursions or side trips or going out into the world, whatever it looked like. And I still have that in my mind now because I've been doing it so long. But I now my souvenir budget has gone down and my experiential budget has gone up. Like I want to go out into the local economy and give money and it usually is so much cheaper anyway to spend out in a local economy, right, right, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Or even just think about eating out somewhere. You know, I have just as much or more fun going to like a kebab stand somewhere and having, you know, equivalent to a ten dollar lunch as going to a fine dining experience and sitting down with you know. In my opinion, people who are trying to be better than they really are, oh my.

Shay:

God yes.

Speaker 3:

You know, and that costing a hundred, 150, $200, $300.

Shay:

Let me tell you, I have so many experiences at these resorts and we always book at the fine dime five-star place, spend two 300 down these days and then we'll go to the local place for $20 a person and the food is always much better. The atmosphere is all much, much. I don't know, I don't know what it is. I've been to some fine dining place. I'm like, oh my God, the steak was melting in my mouth. Oh my God, it was worth $60. But that doesn't happen as often as oh, number one, giving back to the local economy. But number two, man, it just always feels so homey and it's so good and you get to be around people who really live there and that's the other part of it.

Shay:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3:

You know and you get to really experience the location you're at. You know whether it's going to Philly and having a cheesesteak you know or still haven't done that Right Right. Or going, you know, going to Puerto Rico and having you know my phone go, or whatever. So there's so many things you can do and to me that enhances your travel experience without costing you an arm and a leg.

Vanessa:

Yeah, exactly I mean gosh.

Speaker 3:

I went to a roadside stand in Puerto Rico a few years ago and the plate of food they gave me for $10, I ate on that for about four days oh wow. I mean chicken and rice and plantains, and it was all this just deliciousness, oh wow. So there are ways to do this and have the best of both worlds, like you're saying. You really can do that, exactly you, and have the best of both worlds like you're saying.

Shay:

You really can do that. You really can, yeah. And looking for all-inclusive packages or package deals, if on sale, even better. I haven't done too many of those, but when I have it was worth it. I know we went to the Dominican Republic on an all-inclusive package, so being able to be around the resort and all the food and all the drinks, everything was included. That was nice. But again, we still went out, walked out of south side of resort, walked around a local economy and got some really cool gifts and stuff out there.

Shay:

I just love going in town. That's my thing. Like anywhere I go, I don't want, I never want staying on the resort. The whole time is look, I want to go out and talk to the people, eat with the people, experience their side of it, you know, and then they like you say they'll talk to you and like where are you from and you know all that good stuff and learn about them. Even when I lived in Turkey and Germany, I was always out with the locals. Like I don't want to be around these service members all my life, like I want to be outside with the locals, yeah, but you know all inclusives are great options and you know there are all inclusives that are not thousands upon thousands of dollars.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly, you can find some really good deals with certain companies for an all-inclusive package that includes your airfare somewhere. And I always say wouldn't you rather do something like that versus like going to the beach in Florida like you do every year?

Speaker 3:

Because, honestly, you can do it for the same price or less, if you do it correctly and you can have this amazing experience that would feel like it's luxurious, but it's a whole lot less money and you're getting everything and paying for everything in one little lump sum package, and with safety issues too.

Speaker 3:

all-inclusives are another great option for that too, because there are a lot of places it's not super safe when you go outside the compound, but all inclusives, you know they have the security there and they can take you out and they know where it's safe to go. So there's a lot of you know a lot of good things you can do on more of a budget side but feel like you're a baller too. That's the other part of that, mm-hmm, exactly.

Shay:

And there are premium economy, economy flights, last minute seat upgrades, public transportation, you know, stay where somewhere, and walking distance everywhere, and boutique hotels with upscale amenities, and there's so many different options. So, like vanessa was saying earlier, even though and I was saying time is money, but even if you spend like an hour or two just doing some real good research, or if your kids are involved, delegate it to them, delegate it to your spouse. If that's not what you want, make it a family affair. If you're going by yourself, spend that time to just do that. You can find some really luxurious or luxury experiences on a budget. I would say that's probably the best of both worlds, right? You?

Speaker 3:

really can and I you know I fly a lot, and I think you do too. And if you're able to upgrade your flight for long flights to premium economy or, you know, you're able to buy a last minute seat upgrade to business. Oh my goodness, that feels like you are spending a million dollars in a lot of ways. Uh, but sometimes it can be as cheap as 50 or 60 bucks to upgrade.

Speaker 3:

And for a seven or eight hour flight, to have extra leg room and to maybe get like a couple extra snacks and a better you know dinner and maybe a couple drinks. It's worth it. It is absolutely worth it.

Speaker 3:

Another trick that I use is I will always pick a bulkhead seat if it's available in economy because it gives you more leg room and you can at least sleep with your legs propped up a little bit when you have a long flight. So there you know there are lots of options. It's just figuring out what works for you and what doesn't, and if you're able to splurge on a few things and then save some money on a few things. You know, one thing that I do that's one of those kind of compromises is I stay in hostels still, but I do not stay in shared bunk rooms. I can get a better price at a very nice, clean, modern hostel with a private bedroom and a private bath than I can at a hotel. That's on the cheaper end.

Speaker 3:

Plus, you meet a lot of people who are super nice, they're friendly, they've been there, done that, they've traveled, they know a lot of tricks. You get a free breakfast. You know those are great things. Sometimes they even have, like, free drinks in the evening or dinner. That's included. And why not sit down with people who have, you know, traveled this world and experienced things and have these amazing conversations that otherwise you know you'd be stuck with other people who are, you know, doing the same week in Tahiti that you are?

Speaker 3:

you know so there's, there's great advantages to getting out there, getting out of your comfort zone just a little bit and really being able to enjoy these times and experiences in our lives.

Shay:

Exactly and, I believe, bringing it back to God. You know God wants us to experience these things. There should be no shame in going on a budget trip or an expensive trip. You know, and of course I said, crusaders for Change are here to support you and help you meet those financial goals you know and being able to plan and find it for those goals If you really want to, even if it's a budget trip. But even if you have a short budget or a small budget or you have a big budget, we can help you figure that out. So any final thoughts?

Speaker 3:

I just say get out there and travel instead of buying, you know, whatever new gadget you need for your want, for your house. Get out there and see this world, because those things will be memories that you will remember forever and you will cherish them.

Shay:

So true, and take your phone or a camera and take pictures, because those last longer. So I always tell my daughter when we're getting rid of something, it's like we're getting rid of this, take a picture. It lasts longer. So, yeah, definitely do that. Enjoy that, and thank you for joining us today. A big thank you for listening to this episode. We hope you found today's chat about the intersection of religion and money insightful. We would love to hear your feedback. Hit that subscribe button or follow the podcast and please feel free to leave us a review?

Vanessa:

Yes, and for the latest Yahweh's M money content, visit us at www. crusaders4change. org or find us anywhere you listen to podcasts. Until next time, stay financially fit and spiritually inspired.

Shay:

And remember it's always better Yahweh's way.

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Shay Cook

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