Do you love to travel, but feel like you can’t afford it? Do you wonder how some people seem to travel all the time, while you’re stuck at home? If so, this podcast episode is for you. In this episode, I’m going to share with you how I travel so often, and how I make it work with my budget, my career, and my lifestyle. You’ll learn how I rent out my apartment in New York City, how I work remotely and earn extra income, and how I use credit card rewards to save money on flights and hotels. You’ll also get some tips and tricks on how to plan your trips, how to pack light, and how to enjoy the best experiences in each destination. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or a beginner, this episode will inspire you to get out of your comfort zone and explore the world. So tune in and discover how you can travel more often and more affordably.
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Youtube Shortsleeve Travel with Kat Shortsleeve
Do you love to travel, but feel like you can’t afford it? Do you wonder how some people seem to travel all the time, while you’re stuck at home? If so, this podcast episode is for you. In this episode, I’m going to share with you how I travel so often, and how I make it work with my budget, my career, and my lifestyle. You’ll learn how I rent out my apartment in New York City, how I work remotely and earn extra income, and how I use credit card rewards to save money on flights and hotels. You’ll also get some tips and tricks on how to plan your trips, how to pack light, and how to enjoy the best experiences in each destination. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or a beginner, this episode will inspire you to get out of your comfort zone and explore the world. So tune in and discover how you can travel more often and more affordably.
Instagram @katshortsleeve
Tik Tok @katshortsleeve
Youtube Shortsleeve Travel with Kat Shortsleeve
Welcome back to the short sleeve travel podcast. I'm your host, Kat Shortsleeve. Join me each week as we embark on a journey to help you achieve your wildest travel dreams. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or brand new to the adventure, I'll guide you in exploring the world on your terms, no matter your situation or experience. I'll show you how to fill in your life with as much travel as you desire. Today, we're going to do a deep dive on the number one question I get from everyone. My parents, my siblings, my sister's friends, even my friends. Everyone always asks, How do you travel so often? And what I realize is, I think about travel differently. It's not just a hobby to me, it's the core and it's the focal point of my life, and it honestly has been for a really long time. I've organized my life to be centered on travel. I'm incredibly grateful for the strong family foundation that I have that allows me to have access to great education where I've learned about the world. I've learned how to travel and most importantly, in my opinion, I've learned about personal finance. But what you should know before I dive into all this is that I have paid for 100 percent of all of the trips that I've gone on. My parents don't finance it or help it, help me with it in any way, shape or form. Recently, I completed my MBA at Columbia Business School. And yes, I'm paying 100 percent for that education and I do have student loans. I know a lot of people say it's risky and it's not smart to travel when you have student loans, but I found a way to make it work for me. It's not going to be for everyone, but this is my experience. And if it helps even one person to get out there and to travel and to experience another culture, then that's a success in my book. In this episode, we're going to unravel some of my secrets, from renting my apartment in New York City while I'm traveling, to working remotely and managing side jobs, as well as maximizing credit card benefits. I've got some tricks up my sleeve that will change the way you think about travel, so let's get into it. To begin, I've always rented my apartment in New York City when I've been traveling, and I work really hard at this. It's a huge priority of mine, and I've actually never had a single vacant night. Either I'm in there, or someone is renting it, and someone's always using the apartment. And so, while I'm glad I'm making money off of it, I'm also grateful that it's being maximized and actually used. 9am on Saturday when I walk out with my suitcases. I clean the place to be completely spotless and I hand the keys to my sublet who's probably walking in for either that weekend, for one week, for two weeks. And currently I have someone subletting my apartment for multiple months at a time. A lot of people want to know how I find people to rent my apartment. So the way that I do it is I tap into my network in New York City. I have a lot of my friends from college in New York City as well as my friends from Columbia Business School. And then of course that extends from there to friends of friends and... What I do is I'll post in a WhatsApp group or a Slack group that I'm a part of. Either it's specifically for sublets and people looking for housing, or I'll just post in a group about a birthday party that I went to a few months ago, and 40 people were invited to that birthday party, and the WhatsApp group hasn't been used since then, but I know all those people live in New York, or most of them do, and they might have someone who's interested in renting a place. I've even posted on behalf of other people in New York City who are looking to find subletters and they've heard that I'm doing this just like this for my podcast or just for meeting me and they'll say, hey, I have this great apartment. It's a studio on this block and this block. Here's the rent and a few photos. Would you mind posting it? And I'm so happy to do that and help other people to get their places rented as well. Personally, I like to stay within the Columbia Business School WhatsApp and Slack groups because I have more of a connection to those people and they're not as But at the same time, I have a really good friend who goes on Facebook and there are multiple Facebook groups for sublets and housing in New York City. And I know that they have this all over the world because when I've gone to Bali or I've gone to France, or even when I'm home in Boston. I've also looked at these groups when I'm finding places to sublet and places to rent, and it's oftentimes a lot cheaper than looking on Airbnb. Facebook groups, Airbnb, and other apps aren't my first place to start, but another recommendation is to find out what the Airbnb of whatever destination it is that you're going to is, the Airbnb of that place. So, the Airbnb of France, I know that there's this app, I can get the name for you guys, there's this app where... That's what they use in France, and it's a lot cheaper than going through Airbnb or VRBO. While the people who rent my apartment are always friends of friends or there's some remote connection between us, I do like to make sure that my belongings are stored away and safe. So I keep my pots and pans out there and available. And, of course, the bed and the furniture and the dresser, all of that's there and open for them to use. They can use my blender and my air fryer, anything that they want and help themselves to. I really haven't had an issue with that because I've always had friends of friends staying there. But, what I do with my clothes is I have two closets in my studio apartment. And I'll take all of my clothes and shoes and my towels and my sheets and cram them into this one closet, getting very organized and making sure it's all tucked away in there. And I have a lock on the outside of the door. And so I just lock that up and then the extra closet and my dresser is there for my subletters. And even for the person who's renting for a few months from me, it's plenty of space for him at the moment and it works pretty well. I do like to write a contract. Before I have anyone sublet and it's very simple. If you'd like to see it, just let me know But I have a friend who from college who recently graduated from law school and I showed her the contract It probably took 30 seconds to read It's a simple two page document and it just kind of covers some of my bases and make sure that we're on the same page and so there aren't any issues or difficulties and Luckily, I haven't had any difficulties come up, but I could imagine something in the future potentially, you know It's it's an expensive place to be and it's a liability. So it's important to make sure you At least do something Before living in my studio in New York, I actually used to live in a two bedroom apartment with a roommate and I never rented that room in that apartment and thus I was not really able to travel much at all because it's very difficult to rent a room in an apartment with about, and that's less desirable for other people. Also that apartment was less expensive, but it was less desirable and obviously easier to rent. And now I found this studio and it's slightly more expensive, but it's more desirable and much easier to rent. And so I'm able to travel more. And while it's risky at the beginning to set it up and to think about doing that, for me, I've noticed that it just makes everything a lot more seamless. I'm not sure if you know this, but in many cities you can actually put your rent on your credit card. And so that's another way that you can make some money back on your rent. When it comes to the financial side of subletting my apartment, Something I'd like to point out is, let's say my apartment is 50 a night for me to stay there. But when I'm traveling, I could stay in a hostel for 18 a night. That's how I'm able to make some money off my apartment. And also, I am able to charge a bit more on my apartment for rent and utilities because it is so desirable. And so it's a way to make passive income while I'm traveling. Another thing that people don't really think about and don't take into account is Over this past year, with the amount of travel I've done, I've spent many nights on planes taking red eyes. Actually, I think about this year, I've taken ten total. And so, of course you're paying for the flight, but you're already going to be traveling. And so, if I have a long haul flight, rather than booking it to travel in the morning all day long, and then get to a hotel to sleep, I know this is a little crazy, and people won't agree with this, but When you're just trying to make it all happen on a budget, you're kind of willing to do anything. And so what I'll do is I'll take a red eye and that saves me another night in a hotel. And that's a savings. So about 10 nights over this past year I've spent on flights and luckily I'm able to sleep on planes and it works pretty well for me. The second piece of my travel finance puzzle is that I work remotely while I'm traveling. This helps me to create a steady income day in and day out, whether I'm at home, on the road, or wherever I am. And I actually work every single day, so I do work seven days a week most of the time. Two years ago, I spent six weeks traveling through Paris, along the French Riviera, and all the way through Italy. And I worked every single day of that trip. And so on Instagram and social media, it looked like I was just jet setting and having the best time and not working. I was actually working, but of course you're not going to be showing that on social media. You like to show, it's the highlight reel of course. I want to get into a little bit about my career journey, including telling you about the full time jobs and the side hustles that I've done. And so after graduating from college, I worked in wealth management for four years. I was first based in the Boston office commuting every single day. And then I was learning the best practices there for business development. and wealth management and kind of getting my feet under me. After that, I transferred to the Singapore team and I was set to move to Singapore. And the reason why I wanted to move to the Singapore office is because I've always had this travel bug and I thought that that would be a great launching point for about five years for me to work from that office and then be able to travel on the weekends. And just explore more of the world. But unfortunately, my flight was set to take off on March 2nd of 2020. And of course, Singapore's borders were closed at that point. And so my flight could not take off and I didn't make it to Singapore. And we went into the pandemic and I started working remotely and working from home. We actually did not have the off had the Apologies. We actually did not have the option to work from the office for a very, very long time. Um, actually for a year and a half. I'm very grateful for my time working in wealth management because I learned so much about personal finance. Of course, I was learning it at work, but I just developed such a passion for personal finance because I realized. If I was making money and I was making a salary, I had power at that point and there's more that I could do with my money than just go spend it on the weekend and I could save and it was, it was an opportunity for me. I taught myself on the side, I'd watched YouTube videos, I learned how to, and I opened my first retirement account in a Roth IRA and I learned a lot about credit cards during my first few years in wealth management. I'll get into the power of credit cards and how I've really used those to my benefit over the past few years, just amplifying my travel. I had a special opportunity during the pandemic because my team, it didn't matter to them where we were working. It just mattered that we were getting our job done and our deliverables were very clearly laid out. And so you just got your work done and it didn't really matter. What hour of the day you did it or where you were doing it from. And so during the pandemic, my sister and I, we moved out to Colorado and I worked from there. And that was a great launching point for me to be able to explore out west where I had actually never really been before. And I explored so many new states, tried so many new hobbies, and we spent a lot of the winter skiing. We spent the summer hiking. It was an incredible opportunity, and it was really eye opening. Okay, now let's talk about side jobs. I have had a lot of these because I just always feel the need to earn some extra income and I've never said no to a job when it's been presented to me. I have just always thought I will figure this out, figure out a way to make it happen. So let me go through some of those side jobs that I had because maybe it'd be helpful for you to learn about. Um, I had a ton of different side jobs when I was in college because my parents were of course not going to pay for any travels that I was going to be doing. And I went to Georgetown, a very international school in Washington DC, but I was from Boston. And so actually on a flight from DC to Boston, when I was coming home for Thanksgiving, I was seated next to someone and I was telling him. He was a bit older, um, a parent's age probably. I was telling him that I was looking for a summer internship and, and some job that I could do for the summer, but then also maintain through the rest of the fall and the rest of the school year to make some additional money. He connected me with someone who was not the right opportunity, but that person then connected me with someone else. And I got this great job working remotely as a non profit consultant. So what I did, I would do anything that they really needed me to do. I helped them apply for grants, something that I knew absolutely nothing about, but I just learned how to do on the job. I advised them on marketing and helped them with their media presence. Something that I did know a lot about at the time, but of course just needed to learn how to be more professional in that space. I would send emails, I created flyers, really anything that they wanted me to do, I would help them to do. That was my very first more corporate job, and luckily it was remote so I got to continue it during the rest of the school year. The second in semester internship that I held was for an entrepreneur. And he had gone to the college I went to and I just found his company online. I was looking up recent graduates who had started companies and I sent him a cold email saying if he needed any part time help, I was willing and excited about what he was creating and about his mission. And he called me that day and said, absolutely, I can pay you 200 a week and you have to do XXX. And basically I was marketing the brand on campus and. I realized I was in a very unique position where I had access to all of these students and people want access to those students as well for marketing and to promote their companies or their brand. And so I capitalized on that. Similarly, I also worked for the New York Times at one point in college for, I think, three semesters and that was 1, 500. And all I had to do was to get students on campus to subscribe to the New York Times. And it was about 1, 500. 1 a week. It was exactly 1 a week for students to have the New York Times and a lot of kids at school wanted to have that. So that was an easy job. And I think that I got that job because I had been working for the entrepreneur. And so, once I had a little bit of experience and a little bit more confidence, I was able to be making a bit more money. And I could support myself. Another job I had in college was I worked at the alumni house on campus. And what I would do is I would call alums and I would basically ask them for money and try to fundraise for the school and that helped me build sales skills. I wasn't the best at that but I made 300 a week just sitting there and making phone calls and while the phone was dialing I would do homework. I brought my Spanish flashcards in there with me and would just flip through them and everyone else would do the same. This is unusual, but I also wrote a book when I was in college. This began as part of a class. One of our professors wanted us to write manuscripts. And this was in the business school, and we were studying entrepreneurship. And he thought, if you become an expert on one topic, and you can teach someone else about it. That's creating a lot of value and over the summer, those of us who wanted to continue writing the manuscripts and to finish it actually as a book were able to and so it went on to Amazon and it became a bestseller and it was a little foot in the door and that brought some money in and actually I still have some royalties coming in from that slowly. It just seems to keep trickling in. People think it's crazy to write a book, but as long as you can structure your thoughts and if you have a lot to say, which I think everyone has a lot to say, then you can write a book too. And you can self publish, you can find a local publishing company, you can cold email a bunch of publishing companies and ask them if they're interested in your topic. It's a lot easier than you think. Another internship that I had is I interned for a congressman's campaign. I'm actually not sure that this was even a paid experience. It might have been 20 every time you go. And I had to spend a lot of hours there. I do remember that wasn't the best internship, but it was experience and it could help me get an even higher paying job later. I think that any working experience is good experience and being in D. C. it was something that was definitely special to be able to do and capitalize on the opportunity while living in Washington D. C. for four years. Also I do want to note I did not do all of these things at once, often two of them would overlap but I didn't do it all at once. Get some experience, but these things weren't really my passion and so I would move on from them after a few semesters of doing it. But something I did do consistently throughout college is I babysat, and that brought in about 400 per month. I could do homework once the kids went to bed, and I would study, and sometimes I would take the kids to museums in D. C. And, you know, would I rather be at a darty with all of my friends on a Saturday? Yes, of course. But I had three other days in the week to maximize social time, and this helped me. To continue to be really productive and use my time wisely, but then also provided me with so many opportunities because I had some cash in my pocket. If you are a student in high school or in college or graduate school, you can do so many different things to make money. You can sell study guides. Even if you just sell it for 5 and then you find 10 people. Or I don't know, maybe there are 50 people taking that class and they all are interested in your study guide. You've put in time and effort. You're going to study anyways, and you should monetize that if you can. What I did in college too is I tutored people. I was very good at Spanish, and so I would tutor people who hadn't ever studied Spanish before. And then this last idea is one that I actually really, really love, so Helping college kids get connected with cleaning services. Absolutely. Anyone can do this So this is what you do. You create a little flyer and it says looking for a cleaning service Let me connect you once a week once a month not once a week That's a little bit too much once a month have this cleaner come call me you put your phone number down and then you also Go around and you find cleaners either you go online or you put up another flyer that says looking for a cleaner and All you're going to do is, let's say, the cleaner can clean a house for 100, then I will charge the students 150 to make a little something just for connecting the two. That's just a very easy business model that you can set up, and you don't have to do anything. You could post about it in your WhatsApp group, you could post about it on your college Facebook group, and say, anyone looking for a cleaner, let me know, and then you can go find the cleaners and make the connection. Even just doing that once for proof of concept to s to show yourself, you can be an entrepreneur and it's not that difficult. It's pretty cool, and it's very empowering. People do say, how did you have the time to do all these different things? Like I said, I just did one or two during each semester, but where there's a will, there's a way. And sure, my grades might have slipped, you know, I didn't graduate from college with a 4. 0, but... That wasn't my goal. That wasn't my priority. I wanted to be able to travel during my spring break to Asia That was my goal And so I saved up three thousand dollars to do it and I did that trip with my three best friends and we split everything So we were in Cambodia and we split a hotel room. That's a hundred dollars for the night a beautiful hotel room lovely includes breakfast the next morning and juices on arrival everything and You know, it's 25 each so it kind of it makes it all possible but You still want to do well in school, and I did want to do well in school, and I did well enough, but I didn't come out with a 4 0. I could talk about side jobs and side hustles absolutely forever. There are a million ways to make money. Even just start by doing something for someone else. Maybe you're not paid at first, but eventually you'll find a way to figure it out. Reach out to me if you have any questions about this, or if you need some help brainstorming. Okay, we've got to move on. The third piece of this entire puzzle is maximizing credit card benefits. So I preach credit card benefits to my family, my friends, and even random girls that I'm meeting when I'm traveling. I have been very known to preach credit cards and the benefits and how to use them because you need to manage it wisely. And what I do is I treat my credit card like a debit card. So I only buy the things that I'm able to afford and I make sure I pay it in full every single month because the credit cards I'm going to be talking about, the APR is 30%. And don't get overwhelmed. APR means annual percentage rate. So this is a measure used to represent the cost of borrowing money over the course of a year. So let's say. For example, on my credit card, my APR is 30 percent which is very high because it's a powerful credit card and this means that the annual interest rate or the cost associated with the financial product is 30 percent so let me give you an example if you have a balance of 1, 000 from month to month you'll be charged 300 in interest that you have to pay additional interest Over the course of the year, assuming that you don't make any payments during that time. So that's overwhelming to think about, but the APR that I've paid and I've used my credit card for years is 0%. Because like I said, I don't carry a balance and I just act like it's a debit card. Now, the card that I use is called the Chase Reserve, and this is different from the Preferred. So the Chase Reserve is a very powerful credit card, and it is a deterrent to a lot of people when they see the number one thing that you'll see when you look this up is the card costs 550 a year, but listen to this and hear me out because I know that's overwhelming and I don't want to pay that much for a credit card either. Right off the top, 300 comes off. If you spend 300 on travel, which can be gas for your car, a hotel, a flight, simple things. And if you travel even once, of course that will cover it. But 300 right off the top, so the actual card cost per year is 250. And while that's also overwhelming to think about, paying 250 just to have this card. The benefits that you will get from it, if you use this card for all of your purchases, will be tenfold. You will make so much more money back, and it's such a savings if you manage it wisely, which I can teach you how to do. First of all, you receive a substantial sign up bonus in points when you meet the minimum spending requirement within the first few months. So you have to spend... A few thousand dollars within the first few months, but then you get all of these free points, which translates to literally free cash, free money. Either you can get it as cash back or you can apply it to travel. I like to apply it to travel because often you're maximizing your potential, but When I got my credit card for the very first time, I actually was not going to meet the minimum spending requirement. And so, what I did is when I went out to dinner with my friends, I put my card down for a dinner for four people. And that helped me get closer. And then I called my mom and I said, Hey, Could I put the oil bill on our credit card this month and you could zelle me some money which Again, I'm so grateful that I have people in my life where I'm able to do those things But you know, maybe a co worker would be willing to help you out You go out and you get lunch with them You can put your card down and they can send you the money or give you cash and that can help you get closer to the minimum spending requirements My favorite thing to talk about are the benefits associated with this card, because this translates straight into cash for me, and it can for you too. So the airport lounge access. You get complimentary access to priority pass lounges at airports around the world. You have access to the Chase Sapphire lounge. You, there's actually even a Chase Sapphire Lounge in downtown Manhattan. Not even in an airport right now. It's actually so cool. I walked by it just the other day. It looks like a St. Bart's or St. Tropez lounge. It's unreal. Um, also, if anyone has seen the Boston Logan Airport Chase Lounge, it's insane. You have craft cocktails and chefs and all this food. And you have access to all of this completely for free. So the cocktail's free. You order a full meal there, it's completely free. Over this past year, I spent 45 days traveling, and this translates into 45 days of free meals. I don't know any other way that you can eat for an entire day for free. But what I do is I load up, I'll bring in my bag, I'll crack open a sparkling water in the lounge, and carry it with me, get on the flight, and maybe I have a yogurt with me too, or sometimes I bring a sandwich. So, I'll go to the lounge early, eat one meal, and then take these few things with me, and that saves me a ton of money. The lounges have been getting better and better, especially with Chase. I don't know what is going on with them right now, but the lounges have high quality food, chef inspired dishes, premium cocktails. You'll have comfortable seating and private workspace. Some even have shower facilities, spa services. I've seen one with wine tastings before, family friendly amenities. It's really unbelievable. And I know the lounges in the US, they actually don't have all of these perks. It's not very often that you see this. But in Europe and Asia, you see this a ton, which is where I spend a lot of my time traveling for work and for fun. Something I'm dying to do is I really want to get into a business class lounge. I've never done that before. But I have heard that there are free massages. Um, some crazy things like facials all for free and I'm not there yet, but of course that is a goal for sure With this credit card, you also receive annual travel credit that can be used for various travel related expenses, such as airline fees or airport lounge access, and that is automatically applied. You don't have to do anything. You just swipe your credit card and it's automatic. This next one is a true first world problem, but. I could not live without Global Entry and TSA PreCheck because I travel so often, and once you get used to it, you get really used to it. So, you get a statement credit for the application fee when you apply for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. That costs 100. So, personally, I've never paid for it. It's always come with my credit card, and it's automatically applied. It's incredible. So, think about the 250 fee that you pay. And then you have some travel credit, and then you have this TSA credit, you're down to 150 a year. And the magnitude of what you're going to get back in points is going to far exceed that. I love that there are no foreign transaction fees, that's really important. Also, mind you, this is not sponsored by Chase whatsoever, I wish, but I just am obsessed with the card because it's helped me do everything that I've done. You can transfer. Some of your reward points is a one to one ratio to different airlines, different hotel loyalty programs, and you can maximize your value. So it's cheaper to book that way. Make sure you're checking. It's cheaper to book that way than booking on Booking. com or VRBO or something like that. Um, a lot of people don't realize that booking. com is a travel agent and so of course they're taking a percentage. So rather than just clicking book, maybe check the website, check other websites and see if you can get it a little bit cheaper elsewhere. Cross check, it's important to do that. This next part is crucial for me. So, The credit card has comprehensive travel insurance coverage. So if your trip is cancelled, interrupted, your flight's delayed, or the airline loses your bag, they will reimburse you, but then they will also pay you. So if your baggage is lost, it's something like 200, 300 per day that you're able to spend on meals, hotels, whatever you want. You could go buy just a new workout clothes. I mean, the benefits are really crazy. You get rental car benefits. They have insurance. So, when I go get a rental car, I don't need to get the extra insurance. It's already included on my credit card. Just another cost savings. And recently I've been doing a lot of rental cars. You get purchase protection. So, let's say you buy a laptop and it breaks the next day and you didn't get the insurance. Or it breaks 110 days later. You'll have protection with your credit card and you're able to file a claim and get that money back. It's incredible. Okay, this is a little bit too much about credit cards, but I really like this topic and I'm really interested in it. So um, what I do want to point out is with this credit card, you earn on like everyday spending. So you're earning on travel and dining, but also everyday purchases. So I swipe this if I'm buying a single pair of socks or I'm buying an expensive 500 flight. I use it on everything and you just accumulate rewards over and over and over. Okay, we have to move on. So, when it comes to eating while I'm traveling, I am not a huge foodie, I'm going to be honest. And it makes my traveling a little bit less expensive and more manageable. So, often times I I go to grocery stores and I like to eat healthy, so this helps me to eat healthier while I'm traveling. Of course there are indulgences and exceptions to the rules where I'm traveling with friends and we'll go out to a beautiful dinner or something like that. When I'm traveling alone, you're really not going to catch me at a very expensive lunch place or An expensive dinner place because I don't value that experience. I would rather save my money on a true experience of where I am. Of course, if I had all the money in the world, I'd love to sit down for nice meals, but I don't and I need to save my money for what's important. And so, I'll go to the grocery store and what I pick up is I'll grab an apple, a banana, a sandwich probably, some packaged food that they have. I always get a yogurt. So I definitely do breakfast there. I might even get a coffee out at a cafe, but I like to make my own coffee too. I'll just take the um, the powdered coffee and mix that with hot water. And that's like 10 cents or 5 cents even for a coffee. And I bring that with me. And just go to these grocery stores and grab, I don't know, a bag of grapes, a banana. I'll grab a pasta salad. I love pasta salads. I do a lot of that. But of course, at the same time, if I'm in Italy, I'm going to look up the best gelato place and spend six euros on a nice indulgent gelato. Or if there's a place where I've heard in Italy, they have the best pizza. I. I might go to that restaurant, but rather than sitting down and having a glass of wine and paying for the service and all of that, I'll get the pizza for takeout, and it'll be 20 euros, and I don't have to deal with a huge bill. When I was in France, I wanted to have escargot, and I was alone. And having escargot I think is an experience, and so I did want to go sit and enjoy that. But you know what I did, is I grabbed a baguette on my way. It was... It's a dollar fifty or a euro fifty and I filled up a little bit before I went and got escargot and I think I stopped honestly at a grocery store and probably grabbed a yogurt and a pasta salad on my way home. An exception that does come to mind is when I was in Japan. You have to sit and have sushi in my opinion. That's an experience. And so while it is food Yes, it's also an experience and it's truly unique And so I went and I did that and I indulged on that and then I'll eat at the grocery store or find some cheap Place the next day or later that day a cheap way to eat when you're traveling is to grab street vendor food. So in Mexico, most recently, I, I remember I grabbed a bunch of street tacos and it was about 7 for three or four tacos and all of these sides and guacamole and it was great and I ate that multiple days in a row and I think I ate for really, really cheap on that trip. You can even have crazy luxury experiences when you're traveling. For inexpensive. So when I was in Thailand with my friends, we had Michelin star Pad Thai and It was this little hole in the wall restaurant one of our favorite places to this day that we've ever been and it was about 15 Great experience. I Think the cheapest Michelin star restaurant that you can go to is in Hong Kong or to the cheapest one I know about it's called It's called Tim Ho Wan and it's dim sum dishes that range from 3 to 9 per plate. One meal for one person typically will cost you from 10 to 18. So it's very affordable and that's a Michelin star experience. The best food experience you could possibly have. Another place that I love to tell people about is, there's this famous chicken rice and noodle stop at a hawker center in Singapore. You can get a plate of their famous Michelin star soy sauce chicken rice noodle dish, and it costs, I think it's 2. 50, maybe 3 maximum. It's incredible. Moving on to accommodation strategies. My preference, of course, would be to stay in a fun, trendy hotel. But, I'm trying to do this all on a shoestring budget most of the time. So, I have stayed in many, many hostels across Europe, across Asia, and... And it's wasteful, I feel, when I'm traveling alone, especially to stay in a hotel, when all I need is a place to rest my head that is safe, and I'll just stay in a hostel, and it can be very, very cheap. Somewhere around 10 to 18, honestly. Even cheaper, too. There are hostels everywhere throughout Europe, and I know it's not common in the U. S., but... And so sometimes people's parents get a little afraid that they're staying in a hostel, but it's so common in Europe It's the best way to meet people. I highly recommend it one time my eight friends and I were traveling through Madrid and we got an entire hostel with bunk beds to ourselves because there were eight of us and That was in Barcelona. And then another time when we were in Munich my best friend and I we actually ended up This was not the plan, but we ended up sharing a twin bed in a bunk bed, and we told the front desk. We said, hey, one of us doesn't have the accommodation we thought we would, and they said, okay, no worries, you're really gonna bunk together? And we said, yep, and it was just five euros extra. When I am staying at more expensive lodging, it will be... Probably a partnership or I've reached out to them to do some type of collaboration or I'm sharing the cost with my friends or I don't really have an option. Maybe it's a bachelorette trip and you know, I need to save up and Spend on indulgences like that for my friends and you know, it's just a part of life for me at least right now and the most important thing that I always think about when I'm looking at where to stay is finding something safe and Affordable And it's always possible to do. If you need help finding a place to stay, reach out to me. I can help you. But another huge tip I like to recommend is I always look for Where is the airport in the city that I'm traveling to? So, how do I get from the airport using public transportation to the downtown? And once I'm downtown, I'll look where that train will drop me off and I'll look for safe, affordable hostels or hotels right around there. So I don't have the added cost of getting in an Uber and traveling to that hotel. I can just walk maybe a few blocks with my suitcase or my backpack and get to the, to the accommodation. I Truly swear by these different tips and tricks and it's how I've made travel so possible for myself if You have any questions about this, please. Let me know I would love feedback so I can answer some of your questions in the next episode, but thank you all for listening and thank you for hanging out. I really appreciate all of you who do come listen and if you enjoyed this, you can subscribe to the Short Sleeve Travel Podcast. I have new episodes coming out each week and you can also follow me on any platform, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube. All at K A T Shortsleeve, that's Katshortsleeve, if you want to see what I'm up to. You can also email me at katshortsleeve at gmail dot com. I can't wait for next week. Thank you for being here and see you soon!