Travel More For Less

You can’t “budget” your way to a better trip if you don’t know where the money leaks actually happen. We sit down with Australia-based author, travel writer, and travel coach Linda King to unpack a practical approach to budget travel that feels empowering, not restrictive: save with intention so you can travel more often and for longer stretches.

We get tactical on the big pre-trip wins, including smarter research, price monitoring, and why paying upfront can sometimes unlock better rates and extras. Then we move into real-world daily strategies that keep your travel budget intact, like free activities, free walking tours, and the simple meal math that adds up fast: breakfast included, supermarket meal deals, and choosing when to splurge on restaurants. If you’ve ever come home to a painful post-trip bill, this conversation is built to prevent it.

Next, we dive into points and miles and credit card rewards without the hype. Linda explains how to choose loyalty programs, learn partner options, and build a redemption strategy that fits your routes. We also talk about the non-negotiables that make travel hacking work: understand annual fees, use the card enough to justify it, and always pay in full so interest doesn’t erase your rewards. We even address those “point multiplier” offers and why doing your own research usually wins.

Finally, we explore AI travel planning, solo travel confidence, and what mindful travel and sustainable travel look like in practice, from better prompts to “leave no trace” habits. Subscribe, share this with a travel buddy, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show.

Linda King's Website: https://www.thesmarttravelista.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thesmartravelista

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Thesmartravelista

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmartravelista/

The Smart Travelista Guide Series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F5NHMYGQ

Antics Abroad Series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GRV1YT5F 

Download full-color PDFs of my book at prices below Amazon paperbacks. Visit my store at https://shop.jimsantosbooks.com 

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"Wherever We May Roam: Finding Your Travel Style" - On Amazon

Transcript

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The Money Saving Travel Mindset

Jim 0:00

It starts with a deceptively simple idea. The more money you save on travel, the more you can travel. Welcome to Wherever We May Roam, the new face of Travels with Jim and Rita. This podcast is about discovering your own travel style to explore the world. I'm Jim Santos, and along with my wife Rita, we spent more than 16 years traveling. Sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes for a few months, and sometimes a whole lot longer. And what we've learned is this: there's no right or wrong way to travel. Some people take extended getaways, some roam part-time, some work from the road, and some make travel a full-time lifestyle. This podcast is about helping you figure out what works for you and how to make it happen in the real world. So whether you're planning your next trip or thinking about something bigger, we're glad you're here. Let's get started. Welcome everybody, I'm Jim Santos, joined by my wife and travel companion Rita, and this is Wherever We May Roam. Today we're traveling virtually all the way to Australia to talk with Linda King. She's an author, travel writer, travel blogger, and travel coach. Linda is also the founder of The Smart Travelista, which was created out of love of travel and saving money. Her mission is to travel the world for less. She has eight books out in the Travelista series and five in the Antics from Abroad series. The latest of which is entitled Hot Mess. Linda, welcome to wherever we may roam.

Linda King 1:38

Thank you, Jim and itaR. Lovely to be with you today. Same here.

Jim 1:42

Yeah, I really appreciate it. Whenever we have guests from halfway around the world, I know you have to get up early and we have to stay up late.

Rita 1:49

Right. Yes.

From Banking Back To Travel

Jim 1:52

Now, Linda, you have kind of an unusual background. Uh I understand you had an MBA and uh were a banker at one point.

Linda King 1:58

Jim, I started in the travel industry and then I went into banking just to pivot. I moved from originally from Sydney in Australia, and then I moved down to Melbourne, and the jobs, the job that I was in wasn't down there. So I decided to challenge myself and go into banking. But as the travel industry always does, it dragged me back again. So yeah, so I've got both sort of experiences, but I think more in depth in the travel, having been in that longer.

Jim 2:24

Okay, yeah. So you started in travel, then went into banking and back to travel. Exactly. Yeah. That makes a little more sense.

Rita 2:29

Well, travel is much more exciting than banking, right?

Linda King 2:32

Oh, absolutely. Travel is where it, you know, where all the action is. Banking, I mean, look, nothing against the bankers, but banking is good because it actually teaches you a lot about money. I've always been intrigued with money, as everyone would be on the earth. But yeah, it I thought, you know, when I did the travel and the and also did sort of the money management, they both interlinked, especially as a traveller.

Jim 2:55

Yeah, I guess the MBA and the bank experience really helped with trying to save money while you're traveling.

Linda King 2:59

Absolutely. Yeah. The MBA's really helpful and helpful in the business, I would say, because it's given me a really good grounding. But yeah, travel definitely and the banking, they're probably skills that that I take for granted that I've got, you know, that expertise that potentially other people don't have. So that was sort of one of the reasons I started the Smart Travelista, because I had the epiphany that people didn't actually know what I knew. So it was a way of sort of drawing all that experience into one and and sharing so people can travel the world like I do.

Jim 3:30

No,

Budget Wins Before And During Travel

Jim 3:31

we really uh resonate with your thought that the more money you save, the more you can travel. Uh, what are some of your favorite ways to save money on travel?

Linda King 3:38

A lot of it can be, Jim, before travel or or while you're traveling. So before travel, you know, I do obviously a lot of online booking because I was a travel agent. So I know how to do that. But there's a lot of savings that can be made before you actually even take off on that trip. And it's how good your research and monitoring of the different, you know, if you're going out peak season, you're going to get a really expensive holiday. But it's just about how you monitor all that. What do you put in place so you know when those cheap deals are on? What do you do? Like one thing that I would say is people should pay in up front. So you book that that trip, don't put it on credit card and then pay it, say, for instance, like a hotel and pay it when you get there. You're better off paying it in full before you leave because sometimes with advanced bookings, you can actually get a really cheap price and a little bit of the added extras thrown in as well. And same with the flight. So it's about paying all that because then you you know it's all paid for, you know what your budget is, and it's going to help you when you're actually on that trip. I would say also when you're there. So once you've done all that, and then that's great, once you're there, seek out free activities. So there's free walking tours in a lot of places now in the world, um, at different destinations. And also, what do you do with your meals? Do you have cooked meals every meal? Because that can blow the budget out basically. Is there ways that you can save money by potentially booking a hotel where they've got the full buffet breakfast included? So that's one saving. You might want to have a meal at the end of the day, you know, a restaurant or cafe meal, what can you do through the day where you can maybe get a meal deal from a supermarket? And it's just those little incremental things that you do that will save money on your budget. But if you know, if you really love eating out on every meal, can you find some other place in your budget, travel budget, where you can economize a little bit more so you can then justify that extra spending? So it's just about what you do before you you go, and then when you're there, what little incremental things can you do? That means that you'll go back and you won't have a massive bill to pay. And that all that money that you've saved then goes towards the kitty for the next trip that you're planning to go on.

Jim 5:52

Yeah, I think we try to meet a a balance of those.

Linda King 5:54

We do.

Jim 5:55

Yeah. We found that lunches are generally less expensive than dinners. So you can enjoy some some good food at lunch rather than at dinner.

Rita 6:02

And we like to have our our breakfast and we usually get an apartment or a condo if we can. Oh, great. So that we can do some cooking, but not all.

Jim 6:13

Yep. And our last trip to England and Ireland, we uh became big fans of Tesco. We did. Stopping and picking up uh almost prepared meals that you just needed to cook in the microwave around the stove.

Rita 6:22

Right. That was great for our evening meal because we could be out all day and ha just grab a small bite for lunch and then come home for a bigger meal.

Linda King 6:31

Yeah, you're doing the right things, absolutely. I do the same. Tesco, wait roast, I'm in there.

Jim 6:38

Yeah, yeah. But we also found in Ireland a lot of the uh gas stations had really good food inside them.

Rita 6:44

Right. We we weren't lucky to hit many of them, but some did.

Jim 6:48

It's not like the you know three-day old hot dog spinning on the rollers that you see in in U.S. gas stations. It's is actually good. A meal, yeah.

Rita 6:57

It is. It's like a like a little mini buffet. So it that can work out as well.

Jim 7:02

Now you

Points Strategy Without Credit Card Debt

Jim 7:03

mentioned credit cards. Our last trip to Europe, we were able to get to Lisbon from Knoxville here using points completely free. And coming back from Ireland, we only spent $300.

Rita 7:13

Right.

Jim 7:14

What are some of your strategies for building up points and miles? And I know there's airline points and there's credit card points. So uh how do you keep that all straight and really maximize it?

Linda King 7:23

You've got to understand or or find out what programs you want to be a part of. So, you know, it might be one airline loyalty program or it might be a few. So, yes, the credit cards are sort of attached, but they're separate as well. You can get rewards with them. So, what I would say to anyone that really wants to get the most value out of their points and and building the points would be to firstly join the program or programs. Then what I would say is you need to really deep dive into the actual programs. You need to understand what they're offering. And, you know, that can be partner programs. Uh, what ways are they allowing you to build points? You know, sometimes you've got other ways of building points other than flying. So in Australia, we're really lucky. Our supermarkets are attached to the airline loyalty programs. So you can imagine we're going out every week getting grocery shopping. That is one way we can build points. Right. And that's an easy, that's an easy way, right? So yeah, it's just about understanding going on the X Airline. There are other airlines that I might travel on. That's a really good program. That's a big tick for that program. What other things can I do on the ground that don't involve flying? When you understand the program, you've joined it, you understand it, you've then got to build a strategy. So my strategy, for instance, is because I'm in Australia and I'm so far away from everywhere in the world, my strategy for redemption will be to get that free flight is I've got to go somewhere really long haul. So people have got to under understand that the longer haul you go, the better value you're getting with those miles or those frequent flyer points. Also, look at what your financial situation is. So, yes, if you want to get a credit card, a lot of the credit cards are really great and they are attached to the airline mile and frequent flyer programs. But what I would say is you need to understand that you're paying an annual fee with that credit card. And if you don't use that credit card, then you're paying that fee for nothing. So if you're going to use that credit card and you're going to transfer points from there to your airline mile program, you need to make sure that you're putting everything on it. But then also when the statement comes in, pay that in full because you are really diluting the points and the program that you're attached to if you're paying annual fees on the credit card and also if you're going into debt for that trip.

Rita 9:43

Yeah, that would be a nightmare.

Jim 9:44

Yeah, that's been our strategy for years is use credit cards for everything to get the points.

Rita 9:49

And pay it off every month.

Jim 9:51

Every month, so there's no interest charge.

Rita 9:53

And you just keep accumulating your points until you decide when to use them or how you want to use them.

Jim 9:58

Here our one of our cards gives us four times points for grocery store stops. So we're definitely with you on that.

Linda King 10:05

Five points for eating out.

Jim 10:07

Five points eating in some restaurants.

Linda King 10:09

That's amazing. You've got a good one there. Yeah, that's that would be the way to go. Just continue doing it like that. And you'll see the points build up quickly, and then it's like you just got to decide where you want to go.

Jim 10:20

Now, what about those businesses that offer to multiply your points or you know, you take your points and instead of sending needing 50,000 for this flight, we can get it for 5,000.

Rita 10:29

Yeah, we see that all the time, but we've never been successful with that.

Linda King 11:16

We don't have so much of that in Australia, but and I know what you're talking about. I think there's always got to be a catch with some of these things. Are you paying them a fee? Like you can do this on your own without paying extra fees. You know, if someone's advertising that they can help you do this, there's always got to be a catch. There's gonna be a fee attached to that.

Rita 11:36

Yeah.

Linda King 11:36

Paying a fee versus doing a few hours research, I think I'd do the research because it's gonna one cost me less. And two, I'm gonna understand it better. So if you sort of give that off to someone else, you're not learning about that. And then if you've got a question, then you've got to pay them. So it's it's sort of like a an avenue for them to continually get money off you.

Rita 11:58

Yeah.

Linda King 11:58

Whereas if you under understood it yourself, yeah, you don't need that assistance. But I mean, each to their own, I suppose.

Jim 12:04

Yeah, I noticed on your website, uh thesmartravelista.com, that you really value the use of tech in travel as well. We've started using AI ourselves for research and and trip planning. Have you found it useful?

Linda King 12:16

I've actually written a book about this, but it's really good for travel planning and inspiration. Someone might not have any idea where they want to go, but they know that they've got, say, a week off work. You could put put in there, and I'm not what I would say with any of the AIs, whether it's Chat JPT Claude or any of the others, it's about how specific you get with the prompts that you put in there. So if you give it general questions, you're gonna get general answers. But what you can do is you can

AI Trip Planning With Better Prompts

Linda King 12:44

be specific and say, hello, chat or whoever it is, I have seven days to go on a vacation. I like beaches, this is this and this. What destinations in the world do you suggest for me? And also, can you give me a seven-day itinerary? So it's about how specific you get in what you ask. But what I would say it's phenomenal. Some people that have come to me for assistance and and sort of coaching have said said that once they get there, they start asking chat as well. So when they're on the ground, they will ask, you know, where is this place? What can I do here? And so they're basically some people are doing their whole trip planning based on using AI. That's a great thing to do. But what I would say, for me, it's one of the tools that you can use. I wouldn't rely on it as your total tool, because as with anything in life, they it can get it wrong. And if it gets it wrong, then that could cost you financially. So what I would say, as you would do anytime you're doing sort of price matching or whatever you're doing, whether that be a product that you buy, whether that's travel, I would use it as one of my tools and then maybe cross-check somewhere else. But yeah, it's a great tool. I like using it. I love it. I think it's really re-revolutionized our life in so many ways. I know there's two camps with AI. There's people that really don't like it and are maybe really not for it, but and then there's other people that are. I understand both sides. For me, as a business owner, it saves me time. So I love it. You know, it helps me out quite quite a bit. And I think that's a great positive thing about AI, that it is a time saving, it's efficiency. If we think about it, our brains aren't as quick as AI. Within seconds, it comes up with multiple options within a few split seconds. I don't think we're that good, even on our best days. No, right, right. But it's just about understanding. And again, you know, as you can tell by me, I'm a bit of a researcher. I research everything. I did a lot of research when it came out and understood the risks in involved with it. So it's, you know, you don't want to put sensitive information in there. You don't want to, especially me as a writer, I don't want to put what I've written, even for it to edit it. Like I do, I've got other programs and and other people that help me with that. But you've got to understand that whatever you put in it is out into the universe, then it's out into the internet. It's just about protecting yourself when you use it. But yeah, it's a great tool. I think it's really helpful. Um, it's like having an unpaid virtual assistant.

Jim 15:18

Yeah, I think the important thing is to remember that it is a tool.

Linda King 15:20

Right.

Jim 15:21

And just like a power saw in the hands of someone who knows how to use it can be very useful. It can be very dangerous if somebody doesn't know how to use it.

Linda King 15:29

Yeah, that's fabulous.

Jim 15:30

Well, Linda, let's talk about your your books for a little bit, because you've got quite a few of them. You've got the uh Travelista series, and then there's a Antics from Abroad series. The latest one I think is called Hot Mess.

Linda King 15:41

Yes, Hot Mess.

Jim 15:42

Tell us a little bit about the two series, how they're how they're different.

Linda King 15:45

Yeah, so the Smart Travelista guides drawing on a lot of my travel expertise. So the way that these started, well, actually, they started before the pandemic. So when the pandemic hit, obviously we had a lot of downtime. And I'd always been wanting to formalize some of my travel expertise. So that this book series came first, and I started writing about topics that I was getting asked a lot of questions by others about.

Guidebooks Versus Hot Mess Stories

Linda King 16:10

So how to book travel online, Chat GP, I was getting questions about how to, you know, build the airline miles and fly for free. So all of these things are were, I suppose, trending at the time, but also with a lot of questions that were I was being asked. And, you know, whenever you feel like there's a gap in the market, that was when I was bringing out a book to sort of give people information on that. So yeah, that's the travelista guides. There's nine in the series. One is that comes free when anyone joins up with my new weekly newsletter, which is something that is close to my heart and maybe to your heart, reader, bargain shopping. Especially now. And then the Annex from Abroad is a little bit different. So this is about the entertaining and sometimes shocking travel situations that I've found myself in as I've been traveling abroad. So, you know, we love for things to go perfectly. We try and plan for them to go perfectly, but sometimes they don't go perfect. And this is what all the Annex from Abroad books are about. They're not in any chronological order, they're just themed on the subtitle, whether that be hot mess or absolute chaos or any of the other ones. But yeah, what can I say about hot mess? Hot mess is a hot mess. Some people love the stories, others are like, oh, maybe it's hit too close to home for some people. Like they've found themselves probably in similar situations and they're like, yep, I know what she's talking about. I've been in there as well. So yeah, but no, they've been really popular. Um and they're still quite popular. But between the two, the smart travelista guides are more around the travel chips and the travel advice. I sort of do unofficial coaching through the books, the Smart Travelista guides, where I'm saying that, you know, if you're a solo traveler, these are the things I do to make sure I'm safe when I'm traveling. This is how I keep healthy. So they're all about those sort of topics. But if you're looking to escape into entertaining and sometimes shocking stories about what's happened to me overseas, then that's your your book series as well.

Rita 18:08

Yeah, we have a uh we have several of those incidences as well.

Jim 18:13

There's some things you just have to laugh about. Yeah.

Linda King 18:15

We laugh a lot. That's it. You can afterwards, I think. Sometimes when you're in the situation, laughter's probably not the first thing you think about, but but yeah, yeah, definitely after. I mean, when I read those stories, when I write them, I it makes me laugh. So it's definitely gonna make other people laugh.

Rita 18:32

Right. We we tend to uh when we've really messed up, uh, look for the nearest pub and go have a beer. Yeah, that always works.

Jim 18:38

Now you mentioned solo travel. That that is something that seems to be on the rise lately. We keep uh hearing from more and more people who are looking at doing solo travel or or trying to help others to do that. Do you have a lot of information then available for people who are interested in solo travel?

Linda King 18:52

Yeah, I've written a book about solo travel and I try and blog also about it. But yeah, it's certainly something that people are doing a lot of and it is trending actually. You're totally correct there. It's it's not a about age either. I think a lot of younger women are doing it as well as all the way up to, you know, really older women. So I get a lot of questions from women that have never done their first trip and they're very, I'd say, scared and

Solo Travel Confidence In Baby Steps

Linda King 19:18

they really don't know how to approach it. But that yearning to travel is is strong and they want to do it. My advice for anyone that wants to do solo travel is just about starting off small. So you might have a big long haul trip that you're gonna go on, and that's gonna be real like your official big solo trip. Can you do something? Can you go somewhere close to where you live? Go away for a few days, do everything on your own, make your own decisions, right? Go out to that restaurant by yourself.

Rita 19:46

Yeah, exactly.

Linda King 19:47

And and then just build baby steps, just build the confidence up. And then what it'll do for you is it'll give you that resilience and strength, and you'll say, okay, well, something went a little bit wrong there, but I've I fixed it up well.

Rita 19:59

Right.

Linda King 20:00

And then what'll happen is that person will not be so daunted when they go on that big trip. I think going further afield tends to scare people because they think, well, I'm further away from home. It isn't really that, it's just that you haven't got that experience and you haven't done your first trip. So make your first solo trip something somewhere close, then officially you've got that out of the way. That next trip's really gonna be your second solo trip. It's not gonna be your first.

Rita 20:25

Right.

Linda King 20:26

And it's gonna give you confidence. And look, it's easy for me to say this. I've been doing it for you know quite a while. But I was also a first-time solo traveler, and I did exactly what I'm saying. I went somewhere close by. I had to go my first trip was to London and Europe.

Jim 20:42

That that's not too close to you though.

Linda King 20:44

No, and that's like 24 hours in a plane, pretty much.

Rita 20:47

Yeah.

Linda King 20:48

And so I did something close by to where it to Sydney where I was living, and I did that for a few days, and then I navigated all those things that you do on that first trip. And then when I went to England and Europe, did things go wrong? Yeah, things always go wrong, but I knew how to deal with it. So it's just about trying to do that first trip quickly, whether it be locally or somewhere close by, and then you're just getting that experience, and then you're you've got to be better better off on that other longer trip.

Rita 21:17

Builds confidence.

Jim 21:19

Now you're also a travel coach. Is it just coaching through conversations with people or do you actually go on travel with people?

Linda King 21:27

Having been a travel agent, it's sort of a bit of a murky territory. I can't make bookings for people, but I can give them advice on how to do it. So a lot of what people come to me for is yes, travel advice. They don't know how to do something. So if they come into coaching with me, and I've got a few different streams. So I've got solo, I've got how to use AI, how to book travel online, and also how to do the airline miles and some other other streams. And it's just about whatever that topic is that they're needing help with. If they want to know how to book online, I show them how to do that. I don't do it for them, but I give them the confidence and the skills and and the knowledge so they can do that on their own. I can screen share, I can do all these sorts of things. It's interesting that you you you ask about the coaching. I was unofficially coaching my nephew the other week. He wanted to fly somewhere within Australia and he hasn't really booked his own travel before. He's done it through travel agents. He goes, you know, I can't work out how to do this. I got on the laptop while he was talking and did it for him within about, you know, two minutes. Right. And then it was just about, this is what you need to do. So write this down for next time. Probably not going to write it down. He's going to come to me and say, Oh, can you, aunty Linda, can you do it for me again?

Rita 22:42

Yeah.

Linda King 22:42

But that's sort of the the coach. So if someone was, for instance, you know, a first-time solo traveler, it'd be how I could help them through my experience get themselves ready for that next trip. What is it that they need to be aware of? Because when you're a solo traveler, you might not be aware of so many things. Like you mentioned before, Jim, about Chat JPT. It was giving things that you hadn't even thought about, right? When you brought up something, there's certain things about solo travel that some people might not have even thought about. And so that's sort of where I come in and we go through step by step how to do these things. And a good situation for me is once I've coached them in that stream, they're going to be able to do it for themselves. They're not going to need me anymore, right? If I've done coaching well enough, they might come to me about another stream, but they're not going to need me in that aspect. If I've done my job well as a coach, to actually tell them everything they need to do and imparted those skills on with them so that they've got the confidence to do it for themselves.

Jim 23:40

Notice also on your website, in addition to the the blog with a lot of useful information, you've got the books that you have on Amazon and we'll have links to all that in the show notes here. And notice that you also have a YouTube channel.

Linda King 23:50

Yes, I love the YouTube. And I've just actually started TikTok as well. But yeah, YouTube is great. I have been putting up some videos earlier on with some of the travel tips. I've actually started getting into the shorts because I think people love to be entertained and informed about destinations. So that's a lot of what I do on there. I've had a lot of animal interactions while I've been traveling. I've also had, you know, seen some beautiful places in the world. So on the YouTube channel, I share all that. I've got kangaroos living across from me, um, just where I live in in Melbourne. So the kangaroos feature on the YouTube channel too. They know me now. They I think animals must be able to smell us. And they go, oh, she she's okay. I don't, we don't understand what she's doing with this thing that she's holding, but she's all right. Um I take a lot of videos when I travel and I want to share what how beautiful every part of this world is and entertain people, obviously, as well. So yeah, there is a little few little travel tips which I must get back into. But I've been sort of sidetracked with other things. But yeah, definitely if people want to be entertained and see some lovely places in the world, then sign up for the YouTube as well. Every week there's another video up, whether it's an animal, you know, and something that's happened. I think one of my most popular videos was I was in seeing some orangutans in Malaysia. And obviously you can feed them as well with the guides there. One big male orangutan was not happy with me and because I didn't give him any food and he started spitting in my face. Nice. Nice, yeah. So I've always got the camera on because you just don't know when those really good videos are going to be presented to you, you know. So yeah, I do a lot of that when I'm traveling.

Jim 25:33

But that beauty of the world that you were talking about, that's something that really drives us too, because you know, you see beautiful things and you think, wow, this really tops it. And then the next trip you're on, you you see something else.

Rita 25:44

Yeah.

Linda King 25:45

I think that all the time. I think I've seen the most beautiful place, but then there's another place that tops it. Yeah, yeah, I I would agree with that.

Jim 25:52

Yeah, so you keep wondering what you're missing.

Rita 25:54

I hate to repeat my trip. You know, I I want to go to someplace different.

Jim 25:59

Now, one of the things we notice on your website as we're looking through it, one of your recent blogs is on saving money in Iceland. Now Iceland's becoming very popular. I saw it was on the list of one of the biggest growing uh tourist uh places. But we'll be on a cruise next June that circles the island. Do you have any suggestions for us on things to see while we're there? Oh yes.

Rita 26:19

I love Iceland. Yeah, it's very expensive.

Linda King 26:23

Yeah, it is expensive actually, but I've I went to scan some other parts of Scandinavia and I was quite shocked that there's other places more expensive, like Denmark.

Rita 26:31

Oh yeah.

Linda King 26:32

Yeah, Denmark's more expensive than Iceland, which being Iceland, I would have thought because it's more remote that that would

Iceland Tips For Cooler Trips

Linda King 26:37

have been more expensive. But yeah, Denmark surprised me. It actually was uh more expensive than Sweden. And I thought Sweden was so it depends, I suppose, on the exchange rate at the time, because they're not in the euro, they've got their own but Iceland, yeah. Oh, look, there's so much to see there. I think probably you're gonna go in a circle, that's an absolute must. You'll see Geyser, which is the hot springs of the hot water is bubbling and it comes shoots up. Also Gulf Loss. Like I've seen waterfalls, and that at the moment is one of the most magnificent ones I've seen. And also, if you love wellness and spa retreats, you must go to the Blue Lagoon. It's the most magnificent spa I've ever been to. The water is blue. So, what it is, it's a mixture of minerals and lava and some of the volcanic minerals mixed together. And what you do is you go in there, they give you a robe, they give you, they've got like little masks, bars. So you go up to the bar and they give you a mask in your hand, you put it on your face, and then you use the water to get it off. And then also there's like a little bar there where then they give you like really healthy juices and all that sort of stuff. I felt like I was 10 years younger when I walked out of there. It was just so magnificent. And you can also get cosmetic products. I didn't actually get them because they were quite expensive. And I would say if you're trying to save money, I actually wrote an article about that as well. Um the really good places to eat there. Um I've read it. It's good. Yeah, it's great.

Jim 28:12

You got a fan.

Linda King 28:13

Yeah. Great. And and I've done a lot of those on the Scandinavian countries because they and and any other place, like I've went to French Polynesia, Tahiti, that's a bit of an expensive place too. And how do you save money? You still want to eat the good food, but you just, you know, obviously don't want to blow your money, your budget just on eating. And, you know, we're lucky we've got some places like Asia that are very cheap. You could have like a five-course meal there and it would cost you for what one meal, one course would cost. But then you've got these other places that are a bit more expensive, but it's not about going, well, that's too expensive for me. I'm not going there. It's just how do you economize and still make it a good trip, you know? Mm-hmm.

Jim 28:54

Yeah, our cruise is stopping at all those places that you mentioned as being more expensive. So we'll definitely be going through your blog.

Linda King 29:00

And I was just going to say the reason I think they're becoming popular is because of the the heat that we're experiencing in a lot of in summertime. I think people are searching for cooler destinations. And I think that's why Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland are becoming very popular because people are wanting to cool down. They some people are some of the sometimes the heat is okay if it's a a certain sort of heat, but it's becoming so overwhelming. It is. For some people, they need to, they're looking for cooler places to go to. And that's, I think, part of the reason it's trending and people are going there.

Jim 29:34

Now, there's a couple of phrases you hear frequently in the travel world now. Mindful travel and sustainable travel. What do those mean to you and how do you recommend achieving them?

Linda King 29:44

Great questions. Mindful travel for me is about being present. So it's about sometimes when we travel, we have a list of destinations and attractions that we're running to. Oh, we've got to get there, get there, get there, get there. And we've got a list that we're going through. Are we really experiencing the place?

Rita 30:02

No.

Linda King 30:03

Over planning. In my opinion, I don't think we're really getting and immersing ourselves in that culture and being mindful in that respect. So for me, mindfulness is about slowing down a little

Mindful Travel And Sustainable Choices

Linda King 30:14

bit, still seeing the things that we need to see, but it's about when we go to that place, what can we smell? What can we see? What can we hear? And and using all our senses in that. And then from that, building a picture of the place, we're talking to people, we're interacting with people. So for instance, if you were to go to Iceland and you're running around seeing all the attractions, you didn't have any interactions with anyone because you just didn't have the time. If someone told asked you when you went back what what that trip was like, you could tell them about the beautiful places you saw, but could you actually tell them about how that culture is, what it was actually saying there? You could, you could probably do that, but not authentically.

Rita 30:56

You you can if you eat in places that the locals eat and, you know, stop and kind of smell the roses there for a while. It seems like best our best interactions have been in like, you know, where you you have the food markets in most European cities. They'll also have benches and tables that you can sit there and eat, and all the locals talk to you.

Jim 31:19

Right. I don't think we'll be taking excursions from the cruise ship. We'll just go out and get an Uber or a bolt or something and or walk. Or walk and go downtown and just kind of wander around ourselves. Yeah. Well, how about the sustainable travel?

Linda King 31:33

Yeah, sustainable travel, again, it's it's something that's become more important, I think, because of the way the environment and and you know global warming. And again, other people have got different opinions about the global warming. Some think it's, you know, something that's evolutionary, like it happens quite often through our evolution, or that we are doing. But with sustainable travel, it's just about what we can do as travelers. So one thing that I try and do in all my travels is leave no trace. So by leaving no trace, I am trying not to use plastic bottles. I've got my refillable bottle with me. If I had rubbish with me, I would take it with me because I've just visited that really beautiful place and I don't want to leave it messy, you know? And and also you're going somewhere, don't do damage to the environment. I mean, a lot of these things are common sense really. And it's just about protecting what you're visiting because then available for other people to see. And I think, you know, over tourism is another thing that happens to a lot of places. To be more sustainable is going to help with that as well. So it's just about how we try and be more resourceful, I suppose, and not help to create more rubbish than is necessary. And then it's just about also respecting other communities, like the communities that you're you're visiting, also. A lot of the time, our tourism is part of their livelihood. So we've got to be respectful of them and, you know, try and be as sustainable as we can. So being someone that recycles, you know, what I another thing that I do whenever I go on the really long haul trips is I do carbon credits so I can pay a little bit extra, either in points or in airfare, so that part of the money that I pay then goes back into sustainable project that the airliner are involved in. So, you know, obviously me traveling from Australia is using a lot of energy flying that way. So, what can I do that's actually going to help to be more sustainable? So there's a lot of ways that we can do that.

Jim 33:28

We've been chatting with Linda King, author, travel writer, blogger, travel coach, and so much more. You can find out more on her website, thesmarttravelista.com, and we'll have links to the website, YouTube, and her Amazon page in the show notes. Linda, thanks for joining us on Wherever We May Roam.

Linda King 33:45

Thank you, Jim and Rita. It's been a pleasure talking to you, and I hope you have a good rest of your day.

Jim 33:50

Now before we go, we'd like to keep you up to date on our own travel planning for our spring mega trip coming up in 2027. We've already reported to you that we scored our one-way tickets to Madrid for just sixty-four dollars and sixty-four cents using points on our AMEX card. We've also now booked our six nights in Madrid, opting for a one-bedroom Airbnb. It cost us six hundred and eighty-two dollars all in, that's fees, taxes, etc. So about $130 a night. Now we're pretty pleased with that, because it has a full kitchen, which will save us at least $100, since we can have breakfast at home, bring back leftovers, and and so on. It also has a washer and a drying rack, so we can do our laundry

Madrid Booking Update And Wrap Up

Jim 34:30

before we leave. Which from past experience we know will save us at least twenty euros or more from using a laundromat. It's on the top floor, but it has an elevator. We can store our bags there before check-in. And that's important because our flight arrives at 9 a.m. and check-in is not until 3 p.m. The cheapest decent hotel we could find in the same area would have been slightly less daily rate, but no laundry, no breakfast, etc. So adding breakfast at the hotel would have jacked the cost up over $800. So again, we're very pleased with that price and the location where we're right in the heart of the city. We're only a few blocks from the big San Fernando Mercado. We're near a subway and bus stations. It's on a lovely tree lined street. We really feel good about our first few steps in what will be an 84-day adventure. Now we'll keep you up to date on our planning, as so many people wonder how you put together this kind of long-term travel. So stay tuned for further updates. Now we've talked a lot about the transformative power of travel, but how about its ability to help overcome trauma? Next week we'll take a look at that in a conversation with author Shannon Lampkin. Until then, remember we travel not to escape life, but so that life does not escape us. If you've been thinking about traveling longer or just traveling better, we hope this episode gave you a few more ideas. Remember, there's no right or wrong way to explore the world. Only the way that works for you. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow the podcast. And if you have a moment, leave a quick review. It really helps more people find us. And if you want to go deeper, you can check out my book, Wherever We May Roam, Finding Your Travel Style, where I walk through all of this in more detail. You can search for it on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback, and Audiobook, or just use the link on our podcast page. If you have any questions, a topic you would like discussed, or would like to be on our show, email us at Jim@ JimSantosbooks.com. Thanks for listening, and as always, safe travels wherever you may roam.