Travel Is Cheaper Than Divorce
"Travel is cheaper than divorce, I should know. My wife and I were at the door to it." - David Packer
In this podcast I share some of the places, experiences and moments that changed the dynamics of not only my marriage but also the relationship with my kids. Travel was a big key of growing together, becoming stronger as a family and truly saving my marriage with my wife.
I share with you, how you can gain and travel using points and other rewards programs to see and explore some of the most amazing places in the world. In this podcast I share some of the lessons both good and bad, that have guided me and my family as we have navigated the growth and expansion of a family unit.
TRAVEL IS POSSIBLE... when you do it smart. In this podcast I give the tips and tricks I have used and the secrets I teach others of using rewards & point programs to maximize the dollars you are already spending to create some unforgettable memories with your family.
Travel Is Cheaper Than Divorce
Transformative Journeys Without the Hefty Price Tag
Feeling disconnected from your family? Imagine transforming those strained relationships through the joy of travel. In our latest podcast episode, we reveal how a visit to my wife's grandparents taught us an unforgettable lesson: comfort and connection triumph over material possessions. We unravel the secrets of experiencing luxury travel without breaking the bank, sharing personal stories of first-class journeys to Hawaii and Costa Rica achieved with points rather than cash. Get ready to rethink your travel approach and discover how these enriching experiences can lead to a mindset of abundance and well-being, ultimately nurturing healthier family dynamics.
Explore how travel can become a powerful avenue for strengthening bonds with your spouse. Consider the intriguing possibility that shared adventures could be more fulfilling—and far less costly—than drastic alternatives like divorce. We delve into the concept of travel as a revitalizing, cost-effective way to forge stronger connections with loved ones. Our discussion encourages you to view travel not merely as a journey but as a remarkable opportunity to create lasting memories and unite your family. Stay tuned as we continue our exploration of travel's incredible potential to bring families closer together.
You are listening to. Travel is Cheaper than Divorce. This podcast for all those who may be struggling with their spouse or their children and the relationship with them. We help give you tips and tricks by using travel as the means to be able to help your relationships with your family. I will provide those tricks and other ways to help travel with little or no cost. So let's get into it.
Speaker 1:Did you ever go to your grandma's house and then you tried to just play around in her house and she would get so concerned about her stuff, so concerned about her stuff. It's funny. I never had this experience until I got married, because my grandparents weren't necessarily like that. My wife's grandparents were, but at this point we were adults, but we had kids right, so they had this is my wife's grandparents, so they're great, they're great, great. No, not great, great, but great grandchildren, which are my children. They wouldn't even let them go in a certain part of the house because they're so worried about their stuff. That is so unfortunate. By the way, it made my kids feel like they couldn't be comfortable in that house, which is unfortunate for them because we didn't really visit them that often anymore. If they're going to make our kids feel that way all because of stuff. And it's not a room. It wasn't a room that was like a bedroom or anything. By the way, I want to make that clear it's like their living living room, so it's like this whole other open air room anyway.
Speaker 1:I think that, um, I think we worry about that too much. Right, we can't have nice stuff. Right, we can't have nice stuff because we have kids. We can't have nice cars. We can't have nice luxury travel. We can't have nice stuff because we have kids. We can't have nice cars. We can't have nice luxury travel. We can't have any of these things Because we have kids or because of whatever. Right, or because of money. When I teach people that they can travel in luxury, particularly for little or no cost, it almost blows their mind. Because that concept of I can't have nice things or luxury travel unless I'm a uh, you know, I I make half a million dollars a year. When I blow their mind, I know it blew my mind.
Speaker 1:I remember the very first time that I stood on or sat in I should say first class on an airplane, and not only this. This was first class to Hawaii. So not only are we on an airplane, flying first class, but we're flying to one of the most beautiful destinations, in my opinion, in the US I've been to so far. For those in very beautiful destinations like they're better in Hawaii. Maybe I haven't been everywhere yet, but right now, as far as I've been, hawaii is one of the most beautiful places I've been, and so I remember stepping on the airplane and boarding the airplane, of course, before everybody else, and being offered pre-flight drinks and all sorts of things like that. I remember sitting there in these first class seats and they were very nice. Because I've been since then, I've been on a couple first class and, uh, I think that was still probably one of the nicest I've ever been on with my first one. It's nice, um, you know, since then I've learned more about how to look up.
Speaker 1:There are websites out there and there's some things I can teach and I do teach. There are websites out there. It will tell you what the seats are like on the airplane. Particularly, they have every single airplane and airline mapped out so you can see exactly how far they go down, how far between, what the legroom is and so forth. Really good, because I do some research on that before I book nowadays, but anyway. So I I remember.
Speaker 1:I remember sitting on these seats and being on this plane and and and it was. It was super amazing. But what I was thinking I was thinking at the time and see, it's a whole shift in mentality. See, when you travel in luxury, it shifts your entire mentality and makes you feel better, like you are wealthy in a way. You know there is a book that was written years ago called Think and Grow Rich, and this certainly helps you think rich, because you're sitting in first class flying to Hawaii in some pretty nice seats, being fed. This particular first class over to Hawaii was some of the best food I've ever had to, on an airplane or not. Honestly, it was really good food, which is surprising for an airplane again, because airlines aren't exactly known for their food. They're getting better because people are demanding it, which you know, which is nice.
Speaker 1:But I remember sitting there thinking, not thinking, but just feeling like I'm pretty wealthy and I wasn't, by the way, at the time. In fact, at that time I think I was making less as a household. My wife she's been more of a stay at home mom for a long time. I think at that time we're actually making less than six figures. And yeah, I was flying first class to Hawaii and I paid fully in points and I paid so low in points. And this is one of the strategies, again that I use for people is that I um, I was able to book those first class tickets for the same price as coach tickets. As coach tickets and I mean in points at this point, because I didn't actually pay cash for them it's kind of amazing thing really. And then you're sitting there and you don't have to think about how you pay for it. That's pretty irrelevant, but you just need to think, you just need to feel into that. This is the life that I can have and you. And it really does change things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, another reason to travel. Right, it changes things, it changes your mentality if you're sitting in a first class seat. And then, when my wife and I again, when my wife and I traveled to Costa Rica one year, we were in the what is, in my opinion, the nicest seats we've ever been in, and they were what they're called lay flat seats. We literally laid flat, flat, like a bed on an airplane. It hardly felt like we were on an airplane. It was wonderful and it made you feel like, yes, I can have nice things. But that feeling doesn't end when you get off the airplane. You're like I can have these nice things. It goes on to your life, it makes you feel more confident, and all of this again for little to no cost. Again, it's a mentality shift, a complete mentality shift.
Speaker 1:I mean this podcast is about how it can save your family and save your marriage. What a better way to save your marriage and your family? By making more money, making more confident decisions in your career. Because you feel more confident, because you just felt you just flew to and from Hawaii in first class, or to and from Costa Rica in business class, which is like first class international, which is usually nicer, by the way, than domestic first class, just as an FYI on the side, little tidbits here or there in this, in this podcast. That's why traveling, that's why when I, when I teach people to travel for little or no cost, it's not little or no cost, the end period, it's little or no cost in luxury. In luxury, because it changes you, it changes people.
Speaker 1:Another another, another story that I have is when I was flying back from hawaii one time. This time we took the kids with us and um, and people disagree on this point. This is how I feel about it and my kids were old enough. That's why I probably feel different than some. But my kids at that time oh gosh, I got to remember probably 16, 15, 13, and say eight maybe at the time. So they're old enough, except for maybe the eight year old, but they're with their siblings. My wife and I flew in first class and we had them back in what is considered like a comfort plus type type thing. They would have been back in far coach, except we did want, we didn't want to keep them close.
Speaker 1:And some people will say, well, that's terrible, you did your kids. Why are you flying first class? Because, frankly, I feel like I earned that privilege. I did earn that privilege and my kids? They can also do the same thing In their life. They can earn their way up, essentially, to that spot, but for them, I wasn't going to have them have the business class because I didn't honestly want to spend the points. Because one of the things you'll hear me say, if you ever become a client of mine in this other points business that I have, is that points are currency. They really are currency, they have value, and so sometimes it's better for you to pay cash than points, and that's a different story. It all depends on the value of the points that you're dealing with at the time. But, yes, you can have nice things. You can have nice things for little to no cost and it makes you feel like you can have nice things at home, you know, without going into debt, of course, but it makes you feel more confident. You step off that plane People see one of the things I'll tell you that you walk past these people in first class when you're walking your way to coach, or maybe comfort plus, which is basically just coach plus.
Speaker 1:You call maybe comfort plus, which is basically just coach plus. You call it comfort plus, it's just coach plus, right? Um, you walk past these people in first class like, wow, they must have a lot of money. I almost guarantee you half of those people book those seats with points. So basically, half those people didn't spend cash on those first class seats. Almost guaranteed, when I sit in first class, you'll never.
Speaker 1:I have never, never, literally, the entire time I've been traveling, I've traveled a lot. You can imagine I have never paid cash for a first class seat Ever, ever, or much too expensive. I'd rather play points ever. Or much too expensive. I'd rather play points, because I generally generally not always, but generally pay the same price as a coach ticket in points for first class seat. So when you walk by, those people are like, well, those guys must have money, do they, though, do they? And, frankly, some of those people are upgraded for free because they have status with the airline. So some of them have actually literally bought a coach ticket and they are put in first class. Have you ever seen a first class seat on an airline empty? No, they don't leave first class seats empty, and the reason they don't is because they want to treat certain people who have status with the airline most of the time Well by upgrading them from coach to first class. They want their first class seats filled because then people get the taste of first class. Maybe they'll buy a first class ticket.
Speaker 1:Never buy I shouldn't say never almost never buy a first class ticket with cash. I say almost because there's always an exception to a rule, but there's the word exception in there. It's an exception to the rule. Your spouse will look at you differently too, by the way. You're booking first class tickets for you and, yeah, I paid hardly any. I paid. I paid zero cash money, but I paid the equivalent of a coach ticket in points for these seats. Hmm, and they feel different. They feel different, they look at you different.
Speaker 1:So the tagline of this podcast, you know it's definitely cheaper, because what if you spend no money on travel? Divorce is very expensive. From what I understand Never been divorced personally, but I saw my mom and dad go through it it's much more expensive than paying nothing for a first class ticket or getting upgraded, like again, I'm recording in a studio that's not in my city right now. So I had to travel here and I paid for a standard hotel room and I got upgraded to a suite when I got here. How does that make you feel? Same thing just got upgraded. I didn't pay for a suite. I have one. I paid for a normal, normal hotel room. How does that make you feel? So?
Speaker 1:My point is is this you can have nice things, you just don't know how to do it. And you can have nice things spending the same amount of money you're spending now, not changing anything in your life, not changing really anything in your life except for just tweaking little things here or there. And then when you get to that point, when you're on the first class tickets and in the suites in the hotel, then how does it make you feel? It makes you feel like a million bucks and then you're going to I don't know, I'm not going to say you're going to make a million bucks, Maybe you will, but you certainly feel better and have more confidence and more of a step. That people and people who walk past you and going to coach and and they're like, wow, those guys have money and that's not really true, as I just mentioned, but but that's how they feel and they get that towards you. It's just more of that feeling you carry with you, more confidence in your step, and then you look different to your spouse because you have more confidence in your step. I mean, I mean it really changes quite a bit. It's actually. It's actually it changes so much in your life. So I mean not just the first class thing, not just the upgrade hotel thing, but also just traveling in general changes your life, when you're able to see beautiful things you couldn't see around you.
Speaker 1:Now. I live in a pretty, pretty beautiful place, in my opinion. No, I don't live on the coast, I actually live in the interior of the country, but it's a very beautiful place, very beautiful place Red rocks, and it's just gorgeous. It's a very gorgeous place. My wife and I like to hike and so we hike a lot there. It's just beautiful. It's just a beautiful place we live and yet we want to travel all the time to other beautiful places and experience other beautiful things.
Speaker 1:It is really truly a different experience. It's a different way of traveling, and that's really what I teach is all about is everything is a different way of doing things. It's a different feeling, it's a different way to travel. I mean, if you take your spouse on these adventures in the manner I've just spoken of, then you'll definitely say to yourself, you'll definitely say to yourself, that this traveling is definitely cheaper than divorce. You have been listening to Travel is Cheaper Than Divorce with David Packer. Please let us know what you think about this episode or any other comments you might have, by visiting our website at wwwtravelpointdadcom. Please join us for our next episode, where we continue to explore how travel can help bring your family together.