Inside Marcy's Mind
Having hosted the Aging aint for Sissie's podcast for two years, I wanted to expand what I could discuss. This podcast will touch on the fun of aging and whatever has crossed my mind! Please join me as I walk through life! #retirement #travel #fun #aginggracefully Link in my bio! Listen now!
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#aginggracefully
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Inside Marcy's Mind
Inside the Traveler's Mind
Life throws curveballs, but how we respond defines us. After developing a painful blood clot following back-to-back flights, I've learned valuable lessons about travel safety that I'm eager to share. The experience was particularly frightening given my ongoing cancer journey and inability to take standard blood thinners. Despite these challenges, I'm continuing with radiation treatments and maintaining my signature optimistic outlook.
My passion for travel remains undimmed. Years of exploration have taught me systems that maximize experiences while minimizing hassles and expenses. I've perfected the art of packing for two-week trips using only carry-on luggage through careful color coordination, strategic clothing selection, and organizational tools like packing cubes. This approach isn't just about convenience—it's about preserving your energy and mobility for the experiences that matter.
Airline loyalty has transformed my travel experience in ways most budget travelers never discover. Even modest status levels unlock perks that elevate inexpensive tickets into comfortable journeys: priority boarding, free checked bags, preferred seating, and dedicated customer service during disruptions. Similar principles apply to rental cars and accommodations, where knowing which options to select can yield significant savings without sacrificing quality.
Chicago serves as my beautiful home base between adventures—a city of architectural wonders, engineering marvels, and culinary delights that often surprises visitors with its beaches, riverside scenery, and vibrant energy. As I look toward future travels and potential retirement considerations, I'm guided by the principle that smart financial decisions today create more opportunities for exploration tomorrow.
Whether you're navigating health challenges, planning your next getaway, or simply looking to travel more efficiently, remember that preparation and positivity make all the difference. Share your own travel tips or questions with me—I'd love to hear how you balance adventure with practicality in your journeys!
Hello and welcome to Inside Marci's Mind. My name is Marci Becketh and I'm your host. Well, I have been gone for a hot minute and I do apologize. Life sometimes gets in the way and having cancer I've had some ups and downs and things happen. But I flew to California to help out my oldest child and I got a blood clot in my leg. Now for most people that's not too big of a deal. They take some pills and they take some blood thinners. I can't do any of that. So I am on a watch and see program with my blood clot and they're very painful. Blood clot and they're very painful and it really exhausted me and it's taken a lot out of me for the last couple of weeks and it's been extraordinarily painful. I don't know if all of them are painful. Mine has been very painful. Hallelujah, yesterday the pain subsided but it kind of scared me because the chances of it breaking off and going to my lung and having nothing to slow it down are always a possibility. But as you know me, I do not dwell on the negative, I dwell on the positive. So it's in my lower leg which has a lot less chance of that happening. So so far, so good. It hasn't been painful for a couple of days now and I don't have any lung issues or breathing issues. So yay, yay, yay.
Speaker 1:I did start radiation this week. So I have 21 days of radiation, 16 regular days and five double days at the end, and then the next part of the journey is supposedly 12 more weeks of chemotherapy, but that is yet to be seen. I'm going to need to talk to doctors and kind of work that one out and see how I feel about that. So that's what I'm doing. I'm feeling great. Today I got a cortisone shot in my shoulder because my shoulder had been bugging me, so I'm feeling good there. Kids are doing well, Craig and I are doing well Today. Life is good and I know, if you know, it doesn't always land that way, so we have to enjoy the good days when we have them.
Speaker 1:I just got back from radiation. The radiation itself takes 10 to 15 minutes. It is the getting there, the getting back in the city of Chicago. It's only four miles as the crow flies across the city, but it's across the city and getting there is not a problem. It's literally coming home. That seems to be the problem. So I'm home.
Speaker 1:It is now three, 38 here in Chicago and, uh, it's a little cloudy but it's a lot warmer. We're in the sixties, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Tomorrow is supposed to go into the seventies and next. Then we get cool over the weekend, then we, but there's no forties in sight. We have still had 40 degree mornings and those seem to be gone and next week will be warm. I'm ready to bitch about it being warm. I'm sick of bitching about it being cold.
Speaker 1:So I've had some great lunches with friends. Craig and I went to a good dinner on Memorial Day at Roberts on the River. We're going to try out a new place. Sunday night Sophia's Steaks had just opened up in her neighborhood. You know, good food is not hard to find here in the city of Chicago. It is a fact, and it has been a beautiful spring here as far as all the trees and everything blossoming and the flowers.
Speaker 1:You know, if you've never been to Chicago, I'm telling you you are missing out. In all of my travels around the world. This is one of the most beautiful cities on the planet and you hear all the oogie boogie stories. Every city has oogie boogie stories. If you're downtown and you're in the right places, there's no oogie boogie stories. It's just a beautiful place to live the architecture, the river, the lake, the beaches are open. Next week it'll be good to go to the beach. This week a little cold, but our beaches are open. And if you're wondering, yeah, we do have beautiful beaches, prettier than California. I'm going to tell you that right now. And I'm only three blocks away from the beach. So if I was three blocks away from the beach in California, I'd be paying well over millions of dollars to live where I do and here. That is not a fact.
Speaker 1:I was a little disappointed. I don't know about you. I know insurance things are going crazy. I have a great deal on my car insurance but my homeowner's insurance doubled and we've had no claims. We live in a one-bedroom condo and I'm a little shocked. I need to call and figure that one out. You know, sometimes we just take our bills for granted.
Speaker 1:I did hear that electricity is going to be going up this summer. Um, sad to hear that. Uh, our bills and all of us are paying enough as it is. So, figure out. We are in a condo, but we were able to buy into a solar farm, so part of my electricity comes from. A solar farm is where I'm charged from, and then I have another company that sells me electricity at a guaranteed rate of 16 cents a kilowatt hour, no matter the time or day. So I was able to do that in my condo. So look and see what's available to you as you're going into this.
Speaker 1:Don't don't just take it on the chin. The same thing with my homeowner's insurance. I've got to call them. Figure out why everything got so expensive. I've never paid over like $35 a month for condo insurance and now it's 75. So I'm I'm a little confused on that, but I am going to call again. Don't just take these things. Electricity is going to go up. Find a way to make it better for you.
Speaker 1:Um, I know when I lived in California there were certain times a day to do laundry and that kind of thing. I think this year, if you've never had to do it, you're going to have to think about it. So that's kind of a bummer going into the summer here. This year's gas rates were really high. I actually had a bill a couple of months at 175 for a one-bedroom condo. I had average and been paying in the winter. Here we pay more in the winter than we do in the summer, unlike californ, it was the other way around. Let's see what else is happening here. Nothing else too exciting, just life is just moving along and that's okay. Oh, I know because of my dang blood clot.
Speaker 1:The one thing I was looking forward to this year was going to my great nephew Christopher's high school graduation and in Arizona and the last week that's what that was supposed to be and I didn't get to go and it broke my heart and I totally had FOMO. I'm glad the week's over because I had so much FOMO missing the graduation, the party, the family, everything and Made me very sad. But, chris, I will be there for your college graduation and Marcy will be there with bells on. You know that, and I'm kind of excited because he's going to college in Colorado, he's going to the School of the Minds in Golden and my son, alec, works in Golden, so hopefully they'll get to get together sometimes and enjoy each other's company as Chris grows up in his college years. So that's that, doing a couple of Bible studies, um, and and really just looking forward to going into the summer months.
Speaker 1:We have a trip in for 4th of July again to go to our friend's beach house in Newport. I'm going to stay a little longer, see some friends. We're going to be able. Kyle is in a new apartment in Torrance and working for the city of Torrance doing all kinds of things, and Craig and I I've seen the apartment because when I was there I was helping Kyle look for apartments. That's one of the reasons I flew to California and Craig will get to see it. So it's a Torrance is a beautiful, beautiful beach town. I just tell you has a great feeling to it. So it's a great place for Kyle to have landed. She had a couple of friends. He sorry, kyle is transgender male. I still get my pronouns messed up. He was living with some friends there when he moved out of a bad situation and these friends happen to live in Torrance and I think it's a great place that Kyle has landed. So that's what's happening in my life. I hope your life is going well. Today we're going to.
Speaker 1:You know that's a travel season, so I'm just going to kind of a hodgepodge of just talking about how I travel, how I do things, talking about packing flights, cars, hotels, the whole thing getting your best deals. Packing flights, cars, hotels, the whole thing getting your best deals. My feeling is, I like to travel as much as possible and spend as little as possible. That way I can travel more. That's how I look at it. So I don't know how you look at it, but packing is a big deal. I pack, only carry on. I can do it for up to two weeks and I'm going to talk to you a little bit about how I do that. I did get a new suitcase when I flew to California. I'll talk about that too. So hang in there and we're going to talk about travel, traveling, traveling, traveling. I love to travel. I have traveled since I worked for Clairol. Then I met Craig Craig travels. We've traveled as a family. We travel a lot.
Speaker 1:This year my wings have been a little clipped because of the cancer. I normally would have traveled a few more times in the winter and I didn't get to do that this year, but I'm doing it up again. So let's talk about blood clots for a moment. They're real. The older you get, the more susceptible you are. If you have cancer, I have found out, you are more susceptible to getting a blood clot.
Speaker 1:Move your legs, get up and move on that flight. I always sit on the aisle and I don't know. I thought I moved enough on these flights and I didn't, and I'm sad. I am going to be wearing compression socks. I don't care what time of year it is, I will always be wearing compression socks when I fly, I don't care how short or long that flight is. I did the pumpy pumpies of my legs, I did those things, but I did not wear compression socks, and that I will do from now on, and I'm going to have to absolutely flying with a blood clot in July. So hopefully by then it will have dissolved some and it won't be as big a deal.
Speaker 1:But blood clots are no joke. You get them from flying. They said I really shouldn't have gotten one for a four hour flight. However, I did two. I did four flights back to back. I was only home a week from when I came from California when I flew again. So you know, just be careful and think about it. I didn't and I should have All right Packing.
Speaker 1:How do you pack for a flight? Well, first of all, overpacking is just horrendous. I don't know what goes through people's mind when they're packing and they think they need all these things. You really need to think about your trip Now. I use an app called Packit P-A-C-K-I-T. I tell it where I'm going, how many nights, it looks at the weather and it tells me how many underwears, how many shorts, and you can adjust it. I've added, I've also customized my packing lists. You could do that for things that I always take. I use it as my guide. So that's one thing that I do.
Speaker 1:The second thing that I do is I pick a color palette. So black and white is always in there, and then I choose one color to be my accent color. So I don't take a ton of colors, I don't take a ton of things, but black and white are the base. And then from there, you add a jean, you add a short or a couple pairs of shorts, and then I'll choose a color that goes with it. So it may be Navy it.
Speaker 1:I only have certain colors in my wardrobe as well. When I moved here and I had to downsize my closet from a room to a very small closet, I decided that black and white would be my staples and I would only buy things in colors that look good on me. In other words, like I'm wearing a sweatshirt today that's kind of in a mint light, mint green, and it um it. Sorry. I got a message that came across the computer. It got my mind off it today. Everybody was going oh, it makes your eyes so beautiful. I pick colors that people have complimented me, and so those are for me all hues of pink and then all hues of green through blues, and that's the only accent color I buy in my wardrobe. Um and so then I'll choose whether it's going to be the greens and blues or the pinks that I use as my accent color.
Speaker 1:Packing, and that's how I do it. I keep it very clean and neat. Lay it out on the bed, look at it. I use packing cubes. I use one cube for tops, one cube for bottoms. I use a cube for pajamas, undergarments. I use one small cube for bathing suit and cover up and I don't wear socks. So unless it's cold, I don't take socks. But if I did, those would go in with the underwear and the pajamas and those cubes go in and I'm organized. I, if you're on a tour and you're in one place every night, you can just take your cubes out and you know what you've got.
Speaker 1:I pack minimal jewelry. If we're doing something special, I will have the jewelry for that. Shoes wise two pairs, no more. I have travel slippers that roll up. They're great. I have travel slippers and I always pack a lounging outfit so you may have pajamas but if, like my girlfriend Lynn, goes down and gets coffee, we always have kind of a loungewear set that you could go down and get coffee with or you could sit out on a balcony where you're going to be viewed, that type of thing. Always pack a loungewear, which would be a baggy pair of pants and a baggy top, nothing but that's cute. I have a cute one that's all in white and I love it and that's kind of how I pack. And if you're packing more than that, it's a waste of your strength, your time.
Speaker 1:Um, when I don't travel with Craig, I do have to check my suitcase. Because of bad shoulders, I can't lift it up over me and because I look like I'm a burly, hulky woman, no one will ever help me. So I do check my luggage, but I can clearly not. I always pack as if I'm carrying on, and that includes size of toiletries et cetera. I also was getting a little heavy handed on my toiletries.
Speaker 1:This last trip to California I cut that way back and I was much happier. I did buy a new suitcase. I had gone to the hard sided suitcase and my. I had a favorite suitcase and I'll tell you my story.
Speaker 1:Lynn and I were at the Marriott um going to Disneyland. This was when I was still living in California for a couple of days and we stayed at the Marriott. I was right after COVID and we were going to the park for the day. So we brought our suitcases down to give them to the suitcase guy I forget what you call them, anyways, because it was COVID. They weren't doing that. So they said you have to put it in your car. We said fine. So we go out to the valet and we asked to have our cars brought up and the girl goes oh no problem, I'll just put them in your cars for you, and we give her the numbers of our tickets and she goes off. Well, she put my suitcase in someone else's car and when they brought my car around I had no suitcase. My suitcase never came back, had my phone number, my address, on it. I don't know whose car it went in, but it was my favorite suitcase.
Speaker 1:I've never been able to find one that exact size. It was just a little bigger, but big enough to go and carry on. So I've bought a couple suitcases since then, not happy. I realize my suitcases have to have a gusset. If you don't know what a gusset is, that extra zipper that pops it open just a little bit more. But I decided to go back to a soft sided suitcase that only packed in one way, not on both sides, and comes together. Much happier with that. Craig went with me because Craig has great spatial awareness. We found it at Marshall's. It's a Samsonite. I'm super happy with it. I used it on my trip to California. I think it's going to be great.
Speaker 1:We are going to Ireland in October and especially when you're doing a tour, people do not pack a ton of stuff. You are in charge of that suitcase in Europe. Cobblestones, all that. When they get them out, you got to haul them around. Keep yourself light and tight. Okay, light and tight, that's the word for packing light and tight. So there's my packing rant and if you're not doing that, shame on you, cause you're the one that's got to ruin your shoulders and everything schlepping that stuff around. And again, when I fly with Craig, then he can put it over and I can take it right on. I also have a second suitcase that fits right on top of it. It goes under the seat in front of me and you can get a shit ton excuse my language in that one, and I love it. Got it on Amazon. It's got rolly wheels, so if I check my bag then I can just roll this one. It's great. Anyways, look at it for under seat, under seat luggage that has wheels, and you'll find it. It's great. So, flights how are you getting your flights? I am going to tell you my number one rule Be consistent with an airline.
Speaker 1:Having status matters and, whether you know it or not, I am a Craig is platinum executive for life on American because he's flown over 4 million miles. He doesn't have to work at status. I do. I just renewed my status. How you get status is by flying miles, and the more miles you fly, the better your status gets. Well, even just gold status on American gives you a lot. Number one Now, craig, you know how.
Speaker 1:You want to know how people get those exit aisles. They have status, otherwise you pay for them. So if you don't want to pay for it, you get it through status. Now, craig, being at the level he is, those are available to him whenever he buys a ticket so for a flight together, he gets us right in the exit row and we are always both of us are always put on the list for first class because of status. Then I, unfortunately, 24 hours before flight, I can if there are exit rows available, I can get into them. This last time, 24 hours before I got my exit row, I was the only person in it flying from California to Chicago. It was awesome.
Speaker 1:The other thing about status is your suitcases come off first. You get to go in instead of if you want to check a bag like I do, you don't have to do it yourself. You can go in the status line. It's faster, they have people dedicated. If you have missed a flight, if there is flight delays, you have a special desk that you call and you get help better than everybody else. So whatever airline you choose, stick with it. It matters.
Speaker 1:And you know what's really funny is I. I fly to Arizona a lot and I was using Southwest thinking, oh, it's the cheapest. Let me tell you, I get flights on American. That's when I finally started getting status. Was I just buy everything on American, craig and I? American is a hub out of Chicago and we just stick with American, stick with an airline, it pays off. So that's my first thing.
Speaker 1:Oh, and here's the other thing. So you know how there's a really crappy cheapy ticket, like on American. They're the ones that say you can't bring any luggage on, you're the last to board. Well, if you have status and you buy that ticket, all your status, I get a free. Oh, that's the other thing. My bag is free to check because I have status. I know that word status is probably getting annoying. Anyways, because I have privileges on American, I get to check my bag for free.
Speaker 1:Number one. Number two I can buy that crappy $200 ticket and I still get on first because I'm always in group three and I can still get my free bag. So there's another reason to stick with an airline. Then you can get those cheap tickets and still get on first and have a free bag. So, nonetheless, that's my suggestion on buying your flight stick with an airline. Um, or if you're, if you're one of those people that doesn't care about that, you just want the cheapest flight all the time. Go to Google Flights and they will match, they will look, they check. You can put in a route that you want to take and they'll let you know when the price goes down. So Google Flights is my suggestion for cheap flights.
Speaker 1:Cars Now here's an interesting thing Ever since COVID, car rentals are off the chain. They can be extremely expensive. Now, once again, when I travel with Craig, he still has his Marriott perks on his Hertz, so he gets really cheap cars. I don't. So I really look around. Sometimes I go with budget, sometimes I go with hers. I look on Priceline, I look at Costco. Another place for traveling is Costco. Costco travels great. American Express travel is great. Both of those I've used for big trips. But Costco for car rentals look on there too. Costco for hotels, hotels, also Pricelinecom. We are lucky enough to have Marriott friends and family back in our life. Our friend is back working for Marriott and that gets me usually a pretty doggone good deal.
Speaker 1:But I will look around, don't just take. If you can't find, call the hotel directly. These are just some little little tips and tricks. But cars, I'm telling you Okay. So here's the deal.
Speaker 1:If you're not afraid to drive an electric car, a lot of times budgetals. I think I had a car for nine days from budget and it said oh, like dealer's choice, budget's choice, and I knew it was going to be an electric car, but I drive an electric car so it doesn't bother me. $145 cheapest Unbelievable. Plus I didn't an electric car, so it doesn't bother me. 145 dollars, cheapest unbelievable. Plus I have to buy gas. So if you're not afraid and it says like dealer's choice basically it's, you know, manager's choice, it's going to be an electric car and if you're not afraid of them, then my suggestion is that you sorry phone call coming through, that you take it. So look at those kinds of things.
Speaker 1:Hotels again, you're going to want to look around. You want to check. Don't take, you know, don't take it at face value. Look and see if you can get a better deal. Hotelscom Once you book so many, you get a free night. So again, that's being a good person.
Speaker 1:I have status now on Marriott. I'm silver. I've had it now four years. I just got renewed to 2026. So again, that matters. You know why it matters. I get extended checkout, no questions asked. They really can't tell me. No, again, it's silver.
Speaker 1:I'm at the perks level. But I get a lot of perks free wifi. I always get free wifi, no matter what the hotel is. What else? Quite, a few things. So I think I get a discount at the restaurants. I'm not sure. There's several things, but again, that's because I am loyal to Marriott brands. Now, if you look at your big hotels like Sheraton's, marriott's those they have a lot of brands under their umbrella now it is unbelievable. Marriott's those they have a lot of brands under their umbrella Now it is unbelievable. Marriott, I think, has bought up most everything. So even when I'm doing a road trip, I'll pick a Marriott um, like Fairfield in or that kind of thing, um, so that I those nights go towards my status.
Speaker 1:And again, loyalty matters. I'm loyal, okay, so this was a huge mistake I made. So I flew into LAX, into California, do not make this mistake. I got my car rental through American Airlines because they gave me a whole bunch of extra miles. Again, look at things. They offered me a good deal on a budget car and it gave me miles because I didn't book it through budget. I didn't think that they used my budget fast pass that I have. That means I get to skip the line and go right to my car. I waited an hour and 15 minutes in the new. So LAX used to have like all their lots all around. Well, finally they're into the new century where there's one lot with all the rental car places like Arizona's had forever, like they're so far behind. Anyhow, anywho, I waited an hour and 15 minutes. When I got there she goes why didn't you just go to fast track? I was like, oh, next time I will go to fast track, and I would rather have them tell me, oh, we can't take you, and then put me in the big line. But them tell me, oh, we can't take you, and then put me in the big line. But, um, but I did book my car through American airlines again because I wanted miles. They gave me a whole ton of extra miles. So, look, book Craig. And I booked our cruise last a couple of years ago through American airlines, so we got miles.
Speaker 1:Just be smart when you sit down to plan a trip. Take your time, don't wing it. It matters, because for every dollar you save on this trip, it's a dollar for another trip. That's my feeling. Do I like to travel nicely? Absolutely, I do so. Craig has privileges at the American Airlines Club. He has a credit card that gives me privileges, so I don't have to have him anymore. Our American Airlines credit card allows me into the clubs. So that's that on traveling.
Speaker 1:I hope you have a wonderful summer with your travels. Right now I have my trip to California for 4th of July and Craig is going to leave on Sunday. I'm going to stay till Thursday and visit family and friends and I'm looking forward to it. I don't know. And then I always go in August. I always go to Arizona for my nephew, david, and I will be doing that. Craig and I are. We were supposed to be looking at properties when we went and maybe Craig will go with me this time so we can look at some properties. I am hot on the trail of buying something in Arizona. I'm I need some place to go in the winter.
Speaker 1:And then, when Craig finally retires, we're going to have to figure out what works best for us financially so that we can continue to travel and live our great life and spend as little as possible. And in downtown Chicago that is not necessarily the case. We have a thousand dollars homeowners association, $500 property taxes. So even with our place paid off, it's $1,500 a month. Not sure that's the smartest way to spend our retirement dollars, but we'll see. Maybe we can have two places. That would be lovely, all right. Well, happy travels, happy trails. Hang in there. And I'm going to give you another fun fact. I know you love them.
Speaker 1:Okay, here's some fun facts about Chicago. Chicago is known as the Windy City and for the fact is, it's not about the wind. Although it is windy here, it was basically back in the days of the politicians. They were very winded, but we are the Windy City. It's the home to the first skyscraper, the first television televised presidential debate and the first Ferris wheel. The first Ferris wheel is very interesting because it was created for the World's Fair that was here, and if you look up the World's Fair in Chicago, it was an amazing thing. Chicago's river flows backwards and it does because sewage back in the day, when sewage used to flow through the river, they didn't want it going into the lake, so they created it flowing backwards, which pushed all of our sewage to the Mississippi River and to. But it still flows backwards. So when you go from the river into the lake, you have to go through a lock and be risen or dropped, depending on which way you're going.
Speaker 1:Deep dish pizza was invented here and a fun fact about deep dish pizza anybody that's never had Chicago deep dish pizza thinks it's very doughy. It is not Everywhere in the world that calls it Chicago pizza, except for in Chicago. They make those thick crusts. It is not a thick crust pizza, it is a deep dish pizza, which means the sides are tall, it's got a thin crust on the bottom and it's full of goodies, so just get that straight. The city also has a rich history as a transportation hub and a major center for innovation. So there are some fun facts you can look up about Chicago. You can learn a little bit more Love living here, looking forward to our 100 days of summer, which is right on its way. We're right on the heels of summer and looking forward to it. Hope everything's going well with you and remember, go out there and do something positive.
