An audience of close to 300 travelers joined us at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis for an unhinged episode and the very-first (but not last) live recording of the podcast. The guys dish out some hot takes, take a look at the state of flight deals right now, and then share some stories of the highs and lows of travel, because travel isn’t always pretty … and sometimes, it’s downright disgusting. Plus, the guys take some questions from the audience, chastise the travelers for their airport arrivals behavior, and so much more.
An audience of close to 300 travelers joined us at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis for an unhinged episode and the very-first (but not last) live recording of the podcast. The guys dish out some hot takes, take a look at the state of flight deals right now, and then share some stories of the highs and lows of travel, because travel isn’t always pretty … and sometimes, it’s downright disgusting. Plus, the guys take some questions from the audience, chastise the travelers for their airport arrivals behavior, and so much more.
Show Notes
Thank you to Meet Minneapolis for sponsoring this special episode of the Thrifty Traveler Podcast!
Join us for the next live show in Fargo, North Dakota on Wednesday, July 29! Get your tickets now.
00:20 - TV personality Jason Matheson intros your hosts!
01:50 - When did Kyle think this show would end?
05:09 - Our live audience welcomes us back!
05:28 - Hot takes: Delta SkyMiles is climbing the ranks
09:40 - Gunnar’s airport walking solution
10:52 - Are credit cards the best or worst thing to happen to air travel?
14:35 - The current state of flight deals
22:40 - The arrivals pickup area at MSP is a disaster
24:27 - Thanks to our sponsors: MSP Airport, Sun Country Airlines, & Meet Minneapolis!
26:38 - Acknowledging our listeners who traveled to join us – including the Netherlands!
27:34 - The highs and lows of travel
28:20 - Kyle’s trip to Vietnam that started it all
33:50 - Gunnar’s $10k travel day to impress his cool, hot wife
36:48 - Kyle’s travel low: Back to Vietnam
39:35 - Gunnar desecrates the world’s most beautiful beach
45:10 - Our biggest travel pet peeves
46:42 - The biggest biz class booking mistakes
48:20 - How has travel hacking changed our personalities?
50:35 - Kyle puts Gunnar on the spot
53:55 - Thank you to our audience, listeners & sponsors!
Produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas
Audio and video recording by Jon Camp
Video editing by Kyle Thomas
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot
Hey, podcast listeners. It's Gunner here. What you're about to hear is the Thrifty Traveler podcast live show that we recorded on Friday, June 12th at the Parkway Theater. It was super fun. It got a little loose at a few points, but everyone enjoyed it so much that we're planning more. Keep an eye out for announcements about those events coming soon.
Okay, here's the show
Good evening everyone
Hi, everyone. I'm Jason Mathisen from The Jason Show, and, uh- ... and the treasurer of The Thrifty Traveler fan club. Um, I gotta tell you, I was telling Gunner and Kyle, the last time I was at this theater, and the general manager knows this, I was, uh, moderating a Q&A with a Real Housewife of New York. For our sake, I hope Gunner and Kyle get as messy as she was.
She laid on the stage right here. Oh, my God. So look forward to that from Kyle. So without further ado, this is why you're here, give it up for the host of the incredibly popular, and I'm so proud, Thrifty Traveler podcast. Give it up for Kyle Potter and Gunner Olsen.
You guys ready?
All right. This is really weird. Thank you. This is a little
different than normal, but this will be the same. Yo, welcome to a very special edition of the Thrifty Traveler podcast live at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis.
I am your host, Gunnar Olsen. Olsen, Olsen, a flight deal analyst and travel reporter here at Thrifty Traveler. And joining me as always is, uh, someone who's getting a big intro today. Are you ready for this? Yes. He is- Whatever it- He is a classically trained journalist, formerly of the Minnesota Daily and the Associated Press.
He was both a former politics reporter and a touring punk rocker. He is executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, the smartest person in travel writing. He's your favorite travel writer's favorite travel writer, and he is the availability to my points and miles. It is Kyle Potter. Kyle, welcome to the show.
How long did you workshop that one?
A very long time.
Yeah, good.
Yeah, since we announced the show. All right, today, the theme of our first ever Thrifty Traveler podcast live show is the highs and lows of travel. We have a few hot takes to get off of our chest. We're gonna do an airfare and flight deal check-in, as we love to do, and we're gonna go through some of the highest highs and the lowest lows of the travel experience, a perfect way to encapsulate all it is that we do with this show.
But first, Kyle, our people are here. Okay, our beloved listeners, our fellow sickos, uh, these self-named Thrifties. And as you know, looking at the numbers, our audience has grown so much. Our listeners have been so loyal. But was there a moment in our now 74 episode catalog where you thought, "W- we might've lost them?"
Like, this was, this was a bridge too far. We've, we've done it now.
Yeah, it was the first episode when you said, "Don't be poor." It's a, that's a bold take for a travel podcast with the name Thrifty in it.
It is unimpeachably good advice for travel. It
is. It is. Uh- You've also, I will note, coined the, the phrase, post-trip clarity.
Yeah. Uh, you have named the Trojan rule- ... about unprotected connections.
I used the phrase good old-fashioned prostitutin', and neither you nor Jason Matheson batted an eye And then Jason himself, when he was on our show last summer, called children feral And admitted to being a philanderer, on Delta he said. So I thought for a long time that we were keeping things pretty hinged, and then a couple of weeks ago, Jared, our boss, wondered aloud whether we needed insurance for the podcast in case we said something that caused a national scandal.
So we might need to rein it in. Not today.
Definitely not today. Okay. Today on the show it's hot takes, it's the state of flight deals, we're taking some listener questions, and it's the highs and lows of travel. All that and more.
Live from the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis. Welcome back to the Trippy Show.
All right, welcoming us back to the show today was our live Parkway Theater audience. Thank you to everybody who sent in a welcome back video over the past few months. We have so many. If you're still waiting to see your video, it's, it's in the catalog, all right? It's coming, I promise you. Ah, let's get into something hot and something cold, a look at the good and the bad news out there for travelers from the past week, and we will start, Kyle, as always, with something hot.
Any hot takes you've been sitting on, Kyle?
What do you think?
I know you have. I can't wait.
All right. I've been, I've been working on this one for a while, and I'm gonna admit that I don't know that I believe it myself, but I'm gonna try and make the case- Always the best ... and see if it's there. By the end of 2027, I think that Delta SkyMiles will be one of the two best mileage programs in the country
And there's, there's a big piece of this that has nothing to do with Delta, and it has everything to do with everybody else who is uniformly getting worse all the time. Award rates are going up, so are fees. All of these airlines are getting much stingier with award space, especially if you wanna book a business or a first class t- ticket.
All of these airlines and their alliances, which we talked about yesterday on the pod, they're getting so much more restrictive with who they're allowing to book, especially these fancy seats. And at the same time, underneath all of this, we're starting to see credit card programs decrease transfer ratios, like from, uh, American Express and Capital One and Citi to Emirates.
We've seen Amex to Cathay Pacific. Etihad is getting cut. Hyatt is paying the price now with this for Chase. This is the way that things are trending, and that is what makes Delta stand out right now, because not only are they holding steady with Sky Miles, I actually think that they're improving. I mean, the, the number of great economy deals that we find, like to get to Mexico or the Caribbean and back for 8,000 Sky Miles round trip, or 30,000 Sky Miles or less to Europe and back, that is still happening.
I just... Give me a second here. How many of you are Thrifty Traveler premium members in the crowd? Give a good cheer. So you guys know just how unbelievable the Delta One SkyMiles deals have been over the course of the last two or three weeks. We have never in the company's history seen anything like this.
This is so notable. SkyMiles are incredibly flexible. You can cancel any reservation within a click and get your miles back within seconds m- in most cases, and you can transfer them from Amex, which are undoubtedly the easiest points to earn at scale in the, in this crazy world of points and miles. I don't know if I made the case to myself.
I'm not quite there yet. But the, the message here for people is, if you've been ignoring SkyMiles because you've heard that they're worthless or you've been shocked at seeing, like, 500,000 SkyMiles, those days might be changing. You gotta, you gotta pay attention to this stuff, and you need to make them a part of your strategy today.
Yeah. No, I think you're absolutely right that the, uh, the shame that it was to be a SkyMiles earner and burner is definitely gone, especially from points and miles people. If you've lived here in Minneapolis for long enough, you know that you kinda have to play in the program at least a little bit. But I, I, I totally agree with you.
I see all these deals that our premium team is, is finding every day. I will ask one rebuttal, though. What do, what do you say to the per- I mean, m- my wife, sitting in the back there, she pulls up one look at Delta SkyMiles. She wants to go MSP to London, and she just picks a random date and it's coming up 500,000 SkyMiles.
You know, what do you say to the people who have, who have those scars, who have slammed their laptop shut seeing that fare pop up on their screen?
Uh, you can email ed@delta.com- ... and take it up with him. Uh, no, that's, that's tough, and that's why I'm s- I'm not saying Delta SkyMiles should be your only strategy.
I think you should, like, be willing to make them a part of your strategy going forward, because it's not gonna be the be-all, end-all probably any time, just based on the way that SkyMiles ra- SkyMiles rates fluctuate. But if you're just ignoring them, I think you're missing out on a ton of value, again, at a time when most value in other airline programs is getting undoubtedly worse.
Yeah, absolutely. Do you have more takes to fire off? Do you want me to fire off a take?
Give me, give me, give me a second- Okay ... to catch my breath, all right?
You're getting a little hot?
Yeah, a little bit. All right. Got a little worked up on that one.
Okay, I'll, I'll give one then. Yeah. I'll give one while you catch your breath.
Um, this one's a lot dumber than that one. The, the same rules should apply for phone usage at the airport as they do when you're driving, okay? Walking down the concourse with your phone out is not okay. And here's the take. Here's the take. We need to, I want literal lines painted on every airport concourse in the country, all right?
There's a fast lane, there's a slow lane, and there's the phone lane on the outside. Okay? You may not use your phone unless you are in park in the phone lane, you are at the Sky Club, or you're at the bar. No exceptions. All right? Airport walking is out of control, and we gotta clean it up. All right? And it starts with all of us here in the room.
All right? Can I get some help on this? Whoo. All right. Thank you.
I- just gonna throw this out there. Gunnar Olsen Olsen Olsen for president 2032. Do we have something here?
That's all. That's my take. What's, what's your next one now that you've caught your breath?
All right. This is ... So on, on the episode that we did earlier this year about our hottest takes, my, my hottest one by far was that, um, credit card points and airline miles are the best and worst thing for travel.
And this is, uh, like a sub-point of that. It's actually maybe a little bit bigger, that credit cards are the best and worst thing to happen to air travel, period. The good is we're here with like 300 people because of this stuff- Whoa ... and it's amazing that the things we all do, I don't wanna take away from that.
And it's also a big part of how airfare gets so cheap, because airlines make so much money on these credit card loyalty programs that it allows them to subsidize flights and sell them for less than they would otherwise have to. So I'm not saying credit cards are bad, get rid of credit cards. I'm not Dave Ramsey.
Don't throw tomatoes. But I think that this whole ecosystem has just become the dominant force, a giant sucking black hole of all things in the airline industry. It dictates everything that airlines do now based upon what airlines are merging. Alaska bought Hawaiian Airlines in large part in order to expand its loyalty program and sell more credit cards.
It's the reason why Southwest started flying to Hawaii before the pandemic. It's, it is driving absolutely everything here, to the point where there's this whole joke about how airlines are just banks with airplanes, and it is not a joke at all. These are credit card companies now, and planes are their billboards.
And so instead of focusing on how to improve the passenger experience or how to convince people to pay more for their flights in order to sell flights for more, they're just focusing on juicing credit card revenue because that is where they make all of this money, and that allows them to box out smaller, scrappy airlines that just cannot possibly compete because they can't make this kind of credit card revenue.
Airlines are multi-billion dollar machines that own the air by virtue of the federal government, and that we've bailed out repeatedly with taxpayer dollars to the tune of, like, $50 billion just within the last decade. And this constant flood of revenue from credit cards allows them to just not care about accountability at all.
And it has created this entire... I'm almost done, I promise. It has created this entire ecosystem of sites like ours, and influencers, and blogs that where this world of selling credit cards dictates everything. At the same time, where independent newsrooms have been just completely gutted of independent journalists.
So there's just nobody holding airlines accountable in the way that they should. Airlines do not need more cheerleaders. They have plenty of them. I want to p- I want everybody here to continue appreciating how much we all benefit from these systems, but I also want to hold these corporations accountable.
I think we need it.
Yeah. I mean, they're putting the money... Yeah, absolutely.
Like you said, the biggest point there, they're, they're putting the money back into American Express and Chase, and instead of putting the money back into the plane, making the experience better, and making their systems more reliable so that people aren't missing flights, people aren't misconnecting and things like that.
So I think it's just a really, really good point. Bit exi- existential for us, you know? Uh, a bit bleak- It's kinda their
brand ...
at the end, but it is a super, super hot take that I really like. Um, can we move on to something cold?
I think we should.
Okay. Uh, I wanna talk about the state of flight deals right now, and actually, I wanna ask you, is it something cold right now?
So we found out this week from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that airfare is up close to 30% year over year in May. But at the same time, and our premium members know this, we're still finding really cheap airfare, and especially points and miles flight deals right now. Are flight deals hot or cold?
I think they're heating up.
You had your own hot take while I was on vacation. Very bold move on your part, by the way, to fire that out to people while I couldn't say no. Uh, that we were heading for an airfare cliff. And I just wanna say on stage, in fr- in front of 300 of our friends, you were right for the wrong reasons. So take the W.
Take the W, Gunner. Things are getting better, but I think that things are getting better not because travelers have started to scoff at the prices and airlines have brought fares down. There might be a little bit of that. The big thing is that as of today, the average price of jet fuel in the United States is lower than it's been at any point since, like, the very first week of March, and I think that has just given airlines a lot more freedom to do more of the things that we really love, which is just find and send out flight deals.
So things are unquestionably better than they were just even a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah, for sure. All right, let's talk about where to look for the best deals right now. Um, I think there are definitely some sweet spots, some places that you should be looking. You touched on it already. The Delta 1 SkyMiles deals have been wild.
Any good examples?
Uh, h- do we have a full hour to talk about them? I mean, we're seeing things that we have never, again, in our company's history seen, like flying to Europe in Delta 1 for 97,000 SkyMiles each way, not during January and February, which is when this stuff typically pops up, but next month and August, and in some cases even in July, which means that people who couldn't find a good deal flying business class despite having 200,000 SkyMiles stashed away book something in economy, can go back and rebook that in business class.
We do not... We have never seen something this good, this big. Same goes for Seoul for just under, over 100,000. Um, Hong Kong, brand new route that started I think just earlier this week from LA for 85,000 SkyMiles each way. I mean, it just keeps coming, and w- we've been talking nonstop in the office for the last two weeks of, like, "What is going on here?
How, how are Delta SkyMiles so much better than we've seen at any point in this environment when everybody is so accustomed to seeing disgusting prices?"
Yeah, and peak summer stuff, too, Delta 1 to Europe on the nonstop from MSP to Rome. I mean, the things that just- We, uh, never saw that we'd see. So, or we never thought that we would see.
So, uh, that's a really good one. I think another sweet spot that everyone should look out for is just economy award deals, using your points and miles to fly in economy. It doesn't always have to be bougie and upfront. I think the SkyMiles deals, we'll talk about them one last time, but they speak for themselves.
We, we had this Hawaii deal this week with all the fares all over the country under 39,000 round trip. We had that Bahamas deal from 8,000 round trip and Tokyo in the 50,000s and 60,000s round trip. Um, those are amazing deals, but it, it goes further than that, and that's because airfare is going up right now.
We see, we know that it's up 30%. The points and miles rates are not coming up with it, and that's been what's really, really exciting to see. Any other deals that caught your eye?
Mm-hmm. So many.
Yeah.
We gotta move on. We gotta move on. There's, there's so... It, it, again, it doesn't mean that you're gonna go home and search for something and you're gonna find the deal of a lifetime.
That's just not how this works. But had you asked me this, had we been talking about this, like, three weeks ago, I would've probably said it's still pretty tough sledding out there. And whatever, not even, like, a- approaching a bargain you can find, jump on it, book it flexibly, rebook it if the prices eventually drop, but they probably won't.
And we're singing a different tune now, and I'm really happy about it.
Yeah, for sure. Um, let's throw a bone to booking with cash here. Um, the cash flight deals, from what I've seen, the pattern that our premium team has put out, if you're looking out into next winter right now, the cash flight deals are just about as good as, as we've ever seen them.
I mean, we saw this week that nationwide deal to Auckland, New Zealand, uh, all fares under 896 round trip, and that included, I think there were close to 160 airports on that list, uh, who could book those fares. That's an amazing deal down in New Zealand, and that's their peak season as well. That's peak summer there.
We had that JFK to Rio nonstop Delta flight in the 400s round trip. That was also for next, uh, March, so perfect, uh, spring break booking there, too. And then tons of Caribbean stuff. Uh, we keep seeing it over and over, but next winter is on sale in the 300s round trip to the Caribbean. Um, it's just, those are some regions to look at, but if you're looking out way into next winter, the airlines are pricing things right now like they normally do.
They're really not taking into account all the pain that they have right now, it seems.
Yeah, I, I think you're right. I think the prices speak for themselves. Again, those are- those prices were 30, 40-plus percent higher for most of the spring. So this is, yeah, this is encouraging. Again, we're not out of the woods yet, I don't think.
Who knows what's gonna happen out there in, in tomorrow even. But for now, things are looking up.
Let's talk about Minneapolis quickly. Um, some MSP deals while we're here with our MSP audience. Uh, any MSP deals jump out at you from, uh, the last few weeks?
I think, and I think everybody in the front row on the premium team here knows and agrees, that there is probably the single best deal in all of award travel from Minneapolis, and I cannot believe it still exists.
So you can book flights on Air France or KLM in economy to Europe for 12 to 15,000 points each way using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points. But in... Right? Hold, hold. I'll, I'll make the case even stronger. Most cities, if you book a round trip for 24 to 30,000 points, from every other city in the country, you get charged 500-plus dollars in taxes and fees.
And for whatever reason, Virgin Atlantic has not, still not attached those same fees to Minneapolis, which means you can do it for 30,000 points during the off-peak season and $176 or less round trip. We have been waiting for Virgin to close this loophole. I don't know if it's purposeful or not, but I, you, you know, th- nobody really listens to us, guys.
Come on So Virgin, if you are listening, don't.
Uh, yeah, Virgin's not listening, and also that is probably the best deal in award travel. We're so lucky to live here where we get to take advantage of it, and, uh, I hope, I hope you all do. We, I mean, we've seen some really good availability on it too, and every time our premium team sends it out, I think this will be the last one, and it just keeps kicking.
So take advantage, uh, before the clock strikes midnight on that deal.
Yeah, I would say if you're worried about me saying this and tempting Virgin to do this, we... There have probably been a couple thousand people, including many of you in this audience, who have taken advantage of this over the years just because of the premium deals we send out.
So you know what? At some point, that door is gonna close, but until it does, get it while the getting's good.
All right, a couple other MSP deals and then we'll move on. Um, there's a, some really good fares to this place called Banff, Kyle. It's in this country. It's this country just north of here. It's, uh, the nation of Canada.
They're doing really big things up there. You wouldn't even believe it. Oh.
That's, that's one, so it means reign it in.
Okay, I- I'll, I'll reign it in. I'll reign in the Canada talk. Uh, we also had a ton of good domestic deals. We saw Chicago and DC fares both under $200 round trip from MSP. So the getting is still good here.
It's a, it's a battle against Delta when we're here in, uh, MSP, but we're still finding really good stuff all the time. Kyle, do we have time for something stupid? We did-
You're, you're the... Well, I am your boss, but you're the boss when it comes to this show. Okay. So it's up to you.
We're doing something stupid then today, uh, at the end of Something Hot and Something Cold.
Um, let's talk about the arrivals area at MSP Airport. Everybody, you all need to be better about this. You may not drive to the arrivals pickup area until the person you're picking up has called you from the curb with your bags.
I don't know why some people think they can just go hang out there while the line stretches back out onto Highway 5, all right? This is an actual danger at this point, and we need to stop it. I'll give you a list of places that you can go while you wait for your family and friends to call you, all right?
There's a cell phone lot. Ever heard of it? Yeah. Yeah. Go to the cell phone lot. There's short-term parking. There's the plane spotting area, all right? Yes. We have the airport dog park, okay? Go take your dog for a walk. Mall of America, get some shopping done, okay? Fort Snelling State Park, get your steps in, right?
We have historic Fort Snelling. Get some history in. And then we have the Fort Snelling Golf Course. Go get some cuts in while you wait for your friends and family. We cannot be on the curb, folks, okay? Wait for them to call you, and then go into the airport to pick up your loved ones. That's all I have. We have to clean this up.
So I had to pull out my phone and take some pictures of you because you are in prime form.
I- I'm worked up. I'm worked up. I hate the arrivals area at MSP. You should be going to departures anyway, but sometimes we get even stuck there. Okay, I can't keep... I can't do this all night. Let's move on and take a break.
All right. So we gotta pause and thank our sponsors for this event quick. First, we have, fittingly I guess, uh, the Metropolitan Airports Commission and the Minneapolis St. Paul International- Hey, it's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's our fault. We have to do better. Airport, you're doing great. The Metropolitan Airports Commission and the Minneapolis St.
Paul International Airport, our beloved home airport. It is the best in the country, bar none, no debate.
We also wanted to shout out Sun Country Airlines, a staple on MSP runways for several decades. Uh, Sun Country recently extended their schedule out through April 2027, meaning you can now book your flights for the holidays and even spring break.
And finally, we have to give a huge thanks to our sponsor, our featured sponsor for tonight, Meet Minneapolis, champion of our hometown, for helping bring tonight's live show to the Parkway Theater.
You guys know Gunnar and I spend a lot of time talking about where we're traveling next and how to get there for less, but honestly, our hometown of Minneapolis is just one of the most underrated cities in the country for a getaway. Even not a s- so, so short getaway. It's just a two or three-hour flight from most cities in the US, which makes it an easy long weekend trip.
Yeah, and once you're here, it's, it's really different from other typical city trips. You can walk or bike along the riverfront, or you can stroll around some amazing lakes, catch a Twins game at Target Field, hear live music in the city that gave the world Prince, and then grab dinner at one of the restaurants that helped make Minneapolis one of the newest Michelin Guide cities in the country.
And the best part is that it's easy because the airport is close by. You can hop on the light rail straight into our walkable downtown that features our unique skyway system and a ton of hotels. Then get out and explore the neighborhoods, the restaurants, the music venues, and the weekend art festivals that make Minneapolis what it is.
If you're looking for trip ideas or planning your next getaway, check out minneapolis.org and follow MeetMinneapolis on Instagram and TikTok. And thanks again to MeetMinneapolis for supporting tonight's show
All right, before we get back into it, we know and can't tell you how much we appreciate how many of you traveled to be here. So give us a good cheer if you drove more than, let's call it 30 minutes to be with us tonight.
So I saw, like, a jumping jack in the back.
Yeah. I don't know what that means.
That was my mom. All right. Yeah. Uh, give an even louder cheer if you got on a plane to get here.
All right, last one. Stand up, give a big cheer if you flew from another country to be with us today
An important travel topic and this week we're taking on a topic that really has come to define our show. You won't find two bigger cheerleaders for travel than us, Kyle. I think, uh, we'd both argue there's nothing better, and giving travelers the tools to do it more for less is just what this is all about.
But that does not mean that there aren't some hiccups, some tribulations, and maybe even some mistakes along the way. I,
I think we dedicated an entire episode to that, right?
Two episodes to that. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, we will never shy away from that side of the travel experience either. So today we're gonna each give one high and one low from our travel experiences.
These can be either something specific or a broader theme, and I'll let you go first. Are you starting high or low?
Gonna start out of character and go high.
Okay.
So I would give a quick nod to the time, uh, that my wife is all too well aware of, when we booked Lufthansa first class for the first and probably only time.
Sorry, honey. Um, because I checked for availability on my phone after we landed in San Francisco for, like, the 2,000th time, and suddenly there were these two flights that would get us to Italy for our friend Jim and Dana's wedding. That was Jim and Dana, I think.
I hope it was.
Uh. Or just big fans of people named Jim and Dana. Uh, so then, uh, my wife and my friend, who is not into points and miles and probably thinks I'm demented, watched me run into the Sky Club, connect to the Wi-Fi, cancel our existing tickets, rebook in Lufthansa first class, and then buy a bottle of champagne with Sky Miles to celebrate.
Just normal, just normal human being stuff, you know? No, the, the biggest high is what is honestly the most important trip of my life. Um, I've talked before a couple of times about the first time that I went to Southeast Asia and Japan with my wife and my brother-in-law. It was about a decade ago. Um, and it's really how I caught the travel bug and started to, like, learn and really care and enjoy the thrill of putting these puzzle pieces together, of learning how to travel more for less.
And so we started in Thailand. We met Austin there. Then we made our way up to Vietnam before going to Japan, which is where Austin was, um, a English tutor. And I was scared of going to Vietnam, not because I thought it was gonna be bad, but I was sure there was no way it could live up to the hype. I think I watched, and my wife knows, I think I watched Anthony Bourdain's episode in Hanoi 20 times before we took this trip.
And I'm telling you, the only thing that's better than having no expectations going into visiting a country is having sky-high expect- expectations and surpassing them. This ... It was just electric. I mean, the scooters moving around you like schools of fish, the smells, the food. Everything. We landed there and, and honestly, in classic Vietnamese fashion, we narrowly avoided a hotel scam.
Made it to our second one and checked in safely after we got our refund. Asked our hotel concierge for a recommendation where to get bun cha, which is, like, the classic northern Vietnamese dish. It's, uh, grilled pork and noodles. W- I- It's, like, one of the top five things I've ever eaten in my life. And then after we eat that, we go to Bia Hoi, which is Vietnamese for fresh beer.
What it really means is you get glasses of beer for, like, 15 cents. And we went to a place that was not... There's Bia Hoi corner north of the main lake in the old quarter of Hanoi, but we went somewhere that was kind of west of the lake, like a mile or so away, and I'm not the whitest guy on this stage. S- spoiler alert.
Sorry to break it to you, Gunner. The, the three of us were the whitest people th- these Hanoi locals had ever seen. And so in Vietnam, there is a culture around not just drinking, but eating. If you're drinking alcohol, you're also eating, too. And so we sit down in this bar, we get these menus, and it's all in Vietnamese.
No English. This was before the days of Google Translate were, like, really reliable, and we're trying to figure out what to order and there's this guy across the table from us chain smoking and just staring. Not like in a, not like in a scary way, but in like a, "What are these people doing?" And then after watching us struggle with this for, I don't know, probably a couple of minutes, he leans over with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth, points at two things on the menu and just goes-
big thumbs up. And so then, you know, the, the waitress comes back. We point at those exact same two things. We get our food. It's all, of course, amazing, and the guy's still just staring at us, ripping his next dart. And he just goes- Big thumbs up again, and we gave him a big thumbs up
I think about that moment at least once a week. It is my single favorite travel memory. And, you know, it's, it's really easy to look back on your life and, like, see a story or connect dots that may or may not be there, but I'm telling you, if that trip were, like, 2% less cool or less special, I wouldn't be here.
That is... It changed the trajectory of my life. It changed my brain chemistry to the point where I needed to learn how to do this, and I needed then to help people learn how to do it because of just how special that was. And so I got home, and I went deeper down the rabbit hole, and I kid you not, within w- it was less than 12 months later, I was working for Thrifty Traveler.
I thought I could get through that without tearing up. Nope
I think ev- I think everybody in this room probably has a moment like that where they just saw the light on all this stuff and, and that's why... I mean, this, that story's exactly why I wanted to do the highs and lows of travel. And I'm gonna do my high now, and it's not gonna live up to that.
Um, we are both afflicted with the same thing, Kyle, in that we both have cool, hot wives.
That's true.
Yep.
Yep. Give it up for Ally and Megan, everybody.
Having, having a cool, hot wife rules, but it's also, it's also a lot of pressure, and you have to live up, and you have to be impressive a lot, like every day. And my best, my best travel highs are from impressing my cool, hot wife. Um, last time was last month in Italy. Sh- she was fully impressed, and I'll tell you what we did.
All right? We flew... This is just a, a one-day period just getting to Italy, our first full day there. We flew Aer Lingus business class from here through Dublin to Rome, 115,000 American miles that we got from our s- sign-up bonuses on the Citi A Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard. Please rename that card.
Yeah,
read that whole name.
Jesus. Um-
Could you, could you give us that again, please? Please don't.
I will not. Yeah. Uh, and then we stayed at the Palazzo Manfredi in their J suite with a Hilton free night award I got from hitting the minimum spend requirement on the Hilton Surpass card. Um, it would've been 150,000 Hilton Honors points per night.
And we got a suite upgrade from having gold status that I got just from paying the annual fee on that card as well. That whole trip would've been $8,000 for the two Aer Lingus flights and 1,800 a night for the suite. That's $10,000 of travel we would never have been able to afford, and we got it for 115,000 AA miles and $11.20 cash out of pocket and by paying an annual fee.
We have no business traveling like that. It's, it's the perfect example of the highs of travel rewards. It was, like, a super bougie treat for my wife in a year that she deserved it so much. We just had our first child. She just turned one year old last weekend. Happy birthday, Anne
Marie.
Um, and that's, you know, the highs of award travel don't have to be, like, a business class flight and staying at a hotel that we were too awkward to be in, all right?
It was too, it was too upper echelon for us to even walk in there, uh, confidently. Um, sh- she's been equally impressed by sitting on a patio outside our Airbnb in Havana having $2 mojitos for just hours and hours. She's been equally impressed at a campsite at Isle Royale National Park, and both of those things we used Capital One miles to pay for in the end.
I mean, these are small things that impress my wife, that makes my life infinitely better and easier. But those are, like, the real travel highs for me, is showing her what is possible out there for us even though, you know, traveling like that when we don't got it like that is really- ... really the greatest high that there is.
So I, I love traveling like that. It's really fun. That's my travel high.
Let's turn this thing around. Let's go low. Let's go, let's go back to familiar ground. What do you got,
baby? Um, I, I, as much as I love exploring new places, and going to new countries, and experiencing new things, one of my favorite things about travel is returning somewhere with someone I love, and showing them the places that I've been, and then digging deeper with them and doing different things.
And so, uh, I tried very briefly to do this with my wife, Ally, in 2018 when Hong Kong Airlines mistakenly sold business class fares, uh, to Vietnam for $650 instead of 6,500. Um, but I texted Ally and I said, "We can go, we can fly to Vietnam in business class for 650. You have five minutes to respond." And when my wife didn't respond, I texted my friend Jim and said, "Wanna go to Vietnam?"
Li- listen, listen. This is what you do with mistake fares, people. So, uh, Jim, and not my wife Ally, and I went, went to Vietnam that winter. Um, it was ... I- look, I didn't win the Husband of the Year award that year, okay? I get it.
Um, so we went to, we flew into Ho Chi Minh, uh, which I had never been to. We made our way north to the cen- center of the country to Hội An, and then eventually went back to Hanoi. And first stop after we check into our small boutique hotel is going to that same bun cha restaurant, that top five meal of my life.
And we eat our meal, and it's as amazing as I remember it, and then we go back to that same Bia Hoi spot for beer. And as, about as soon as we sit down on those small plastic stools, Jim and I look at each other. We're like, "Something's not feeling right." And, uh, Jim knew that I had been here before, and he goes, "How are the bathrooms?"
I said, "Yeah, it's not great." Uh, so we very quickly make our way back to our hotel, where we spent a good chunk of the next three days trading places in the bathroom. And if I could check my text history back to 2019, I guarantee you there are many, "Are you done yet?" And followed by, "Hurry!" And so then, of course, we planned the next few days around, all right, what are the odds that, like, we're gonna be walking distance to a pretty good bathroom?
But honestly, like, if that's as bad as it's ever been, that's not that bad. I can, I can deal with that. You know, what's a, what's a few days? Um, and I s- I'm still gonna eat the street food every single time.
I did not think we were gonna get poop humor from Kyle Potter today. That's, that's way beneath you.
New year, new me,
you know? That's way beneath you. All right. Um, my travel low. Okay, yeah, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna tell it. All right, so e- I'm sure everyone in here has felt some version of you go someplace so epic and beautiful that you feel, like, kinda unworthy of that place. Um, I've never felt that more than I felt at Nakupenda Beach.
It's, it's this place in Zanzibar, um, off the coast of Zanzibar. My wife and I were on our honeymoon, and it's this beach that disappears at night underneath the tides, and it just comes up during the day, and it's just a b- a beautiful white sand beach. The water is just perfect and turquoise. Nakupenda Beach is truly magical.
If you ever go to Zanzibar, you have to do it. Um, and I knew we had to go for our honeymoon, so I booked us a, a tour to go see that and Prison Island. It was, it was really cool. I'm gonna back up just a little bit. Uh, and this is getting better, but for years I had what I would call a pooping problem- ... w- in my travels.
I, I, I get a little locked up when you change my routine. Is
that a medical term?
It is.
Yeah,
it is. My sister's a
doctor. Your sister, your sister is a doctor. I think you must've gotten that from her.
Um, so I get a little locked up, like, you know, two or three days of being locked up. It's uncomfortable, but, like, you can, you can travel and have a good time.
Um- Zanzibar was very different than that. I, I was on day five- ... where it's all you can think about. And, um, we take this excursion to Nakupenda, uh, and it is, like, a full day on a boat. So you go, you're on this skiff, they take you out to Prison Island, it's called, and then they take you, like, 20 minutes by boat over to Nakupenda.
It's, like, an eight-hour tour, uh, no land in sight. So I, before, in the morning I was doing everything I could to, you know, try and get through this, and then I realized, like, all right, we just gotta lock it up for the day. And I did great. I did great for hours. On the way over to Nakupenda Beach, I started to feel like there was some movement-
but, like, totally under control. We get onto Nakupenda Beach and, like, it is, it is as perfect as advertised. I honestly forgot about it because it, it's just amazing, like, the white sand, the turquoise water, all of it. Just l- go, go look up a photo of it. It's, it's actually perfect. My wife, you know, we took some, like, beautiful photos.
They served us this, like, big seafood lunch, and we're sitting there after lunch, and she doesn't even have- To talk to me. She can just see it in my face. Like, this, like something is gonna happen. So- The, I, I set like a clock in my head. I was like, "I, I think I can hold, like, probably 45 minutes I can make it back to shore."
So I went up to our tour guide, and I was like, you know, "We've seen the beach. Looks great. Like, when, when, when are we heading back?" And she was like, "Well, just made you lunch, so I gotta clean that up, and then we got, like, 30 minutes back, and then another 10 minutes to your hotel," and, and just the realization dawning on me that this was happening here.
And it, it doesn't take you long to look around a, a sandbar in the middle of the Indian Ocean to see that there is no shelter. There's nowhere to hide. And so I looked out into the water and, and I waded out into the beautiful turquoise waters- ... of the Indian Ocean. And I was, I was being careful. Like, I was looking, where are the swimmers, you know?
Like, let's get- Where are the currents going? I was watching to make sure... I was being considerate. And I, I'm out there, and um, I just experienced, like, two to three straight minutes of what I can only call a reckoning- ... for, for what I had done to my body for the last five days. Um, and you know, it's, it's happening all around you 'cause you're in the water.
The reckoning is lapping up on shore. And my, my my poor wife is sitting there, head down. There are other tourists around. Like, she's not talking to anybody. Just completely disgusted. The honeymoon of her dreams. And, uh, yeah, we, we, I went, I did the extremely shameful and disgusting saltwater clean off and then-
walked back onto shore and, uh, Megan didn't speak to me for the rest of that tour. We, uh, took the skiff back. We were supposed to have another little section of the tour where we, like, went and saw Stone Town Zanzibar, which is very, very cool and I was like, "You know what? We're just gonna, we're gonna take the option on the last part of the tour.
We're just gonna head back. Uh, this day is ruined." And it's, it's one thing to feel unworthy of a place that you're, that you've been, and it's another thing to completely desecrate it- ... in, in the most embarrassing way possible. And that is, uh, the lowest low of my travel career.
I,
I'm not gonna, like, rub your nose in it, pardon the pun. Um, I just feel, like, really, really clean right now.
We both came up with pooping things for our lows
I did not have that on
my- That's amazing ...
on my card.
That's so good. Um, shall we help some listeners?
I don't know if they want your help, buddy.
All right.
When many of you bought tickets or reached out about the show, you sent us some awes- awesome questions of things that you wanted answered today. For this episode, we have Bradley, Jennifer, and Vikash. They asked their questions, and we're gonna bring them up. If you could please come up to the microphone.
Bradley.
Bradley, can you go first? You're up.
Hello, hello. I'm Bradley. Um, love the podcast, guys. Amazing. Um, my question for you is, what are your biggest pet peeves that tourists do when you're in your travel destination?
Bradley, thank you for flying in from LA. Awesome. Um, if I could sum up my biggest pet peeve in an um- umbrella, I would say Americans being American loudly in foreign countries- Same
would be the biggest one.
Same.
I have, I, I was thinking the exact same thing. Americans complaining loudly abroad is just as simple as I can put that. You are allowed to have a bad time on vacation. I've had a bad time on vacation.
Which we just heard. We-
But, but you did not-
It's been like 10 minutes.
You did not hear me at the buffet at the Park Hyatt Zanzibar recounting this story and regaling staff about it, okay?
You may not be rude to staff because you're having a bad time on vacation. You're not allowed to complain openly. Just complain in private in your room at the end like an adult, okay? You don't have to do this. Americans complaining loudly abroad. We have the same answer. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thank you, Bradley.
That was awesome. Thank you.
Hello. I'm Jennifer. I had to write this down. It's, uh, what do you think is the biggest mistake people make trying to find and book business class, and what is the number one thing you want to impress on your thrifties before they do it?
Thank you. Thanks, Jennifer. You
take it.
Um, I think it's just that the, the thing I'd wanna impress upon people the most is that earning the points is not enough, and it's something a lot of people in this room probably know, but it's the hardest thing to get across to people who don't love points and miles or aren't in this every single day.
Availability is the most important thing. It is more than 70% of what it takes to book a business class flight. Earning the points is one thing, but I've heard from so many people who are like, "You know, I've got 300,000 points. Why can't I book that seat? I saw somebody flying A&A the room. I have the points.
Why can't I do it?" And it's really hard to explain availability to people, and I just... You know, the, the patience that it requires for it, and, like, you have to have tools at your disposal. That's just the biggest thing I always try to impress upon people.
I just, it-- You can't say enough about flexibility if flying business class is your priority.
So the biggest mindset change, if that is what you wanna do, the biggest mindset change you can make is to start planning your travels based upon the deal, when that availability comes in, when a premium deal hits your inbox if you're a premium member, and then building a trip around that versus trying to, like, square peg, round hole.
And you're gonna be able to do it until you can't, and then it's gonna be frustrating and you hit a wall. And so if you just kind of open your mind to starting your trip planning process a little bit differently, you're gonna have a lot more wins. Yay.
Awesome question, Jennifer. Thank you.
Hey there, Kyle and Gunner. I'm Vikash. I've flown in all the way from Buffalo, New York to put you guys on the spot. All right, um, so here's my question. Um, so for better or for worse, um, how do you think our game that we sometimes call travel hacking, points maxing, you know, what have you, how do you think that has changed your personality?
I am, uh, I'm both way more fun and way less fun at parties. Uh, I come from a hard news background, so when I was, you know, uh, covering and being a journalist for things like, uh, shootings, not really chill to talk about at parties. People don't love that. Uh, people love talking about travels and where you've been.
Um, I am also way worse at parties because, I don't know if you guys heard, I just got back from Italy. Yeah. If anybody wants to talk some more about it, I'm willing to talk about it. Uh, but I am just perpetually that guy who just got back from Italy. So I think I get a lot of eye rolls, a lot of people who finish their drink really quickly, say, "I'm gonna go get a refill.
Nice talking to you." Um, so I think I'm both better and worse at parties. I think that's what it's done for my personality.
I would agree with Gunner. He's both better and worse at parties. I think that, um, I think it has made me more detail-oriented, because you have to be. Um, you know, we have built some amazing tools to help with this, but you still gotta remember stuff.
You still gotta remember to go to your spreadsheet or our tool and track things, and that was not my strong point. And I can feel my wife saying it's kinda still not- ... but I'm getting better, and I think that that is a big part of it, 'cause y- there's so much to stay on top of if you have five credit cards, or two, let alone a dozen or more.
I think you just have to be on top of the details, and I'm glad that that has helped, 'cause I needed it.
Really, really good questions. Thank you so much, uh, for everybody out there.
For everybody out there in listener world, if you want us to answer your questions on the show or if you have any feedback for us, hit us up at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We might feature your question on next week's show. And to close the show, as always, we go on the spot, and Kyle pulled rank and said he is putting me on the spot this week.
What do you got, Kyle?
You threw a little curveball with your travel low So this is putting me on the spot. So before I ask you this question, I'm gonna allow you, if you choose, to just answer this as a yes or a no. Was that story in Zanzibar the last time you pooped your pants?
No, it was not.
I, I poop my pants annually like all adults do
You can lie to yourselves if you want. I know what's happening. I know what's happening out there. Uh, no, the last time I pooped my pants was at the Minnesota State Fair last year. Yep Thank you ...
the great Minnesota get-together.
Yeah. Um, we, uh, I, I actually went with my mom and my daughter, um, my infant daughter, who did not poop her pants-
i- in that same outing somehow. Uh, but we, uh, we went to the fair. We went to, uh, Java Jive. We ha- my, uh, my coworker Nick and his, uh, coffee shop there at the state fair, our favorite place to go. I went to say hi to Nick. He wasn't there. He bigwigged me. He was, he was out doing important things. Uh, but I got myself, uh, a, just a way-too-big iced Americano, and I was on some cold medicine that day.
And, uh, I didn't make it. I didn't make it.
I just wanna- So- I just wanna point out I did give you the world's biggest out to just say, "No, it was not," and move on
Yeah, I guess we don't need to go into all the details, but I left-
We'll save it for a future episode.
I left a pair of undies at the state fair.
Uh, this was early in the outing too, so we finished the day and... But that was the last time. Um, but you know, the best time is always the next time, Kyle. Oh, y-
That is your motto. So-
You gotta push yourself ...
g- when this, after this happened, we had just started work at our new office, and you came in and you just, like, mentioned this in passing.
And we were, like, six months into the pod. I was like, "Oh, we're getting, like, really comfortable. Gunner feels like he can tell me these things." And then l- a couple of hours later, we're in a meeting with, like, nine people, and he loudly shares this as his personal news. And then repeatedly tells other people this.
And so then we do our Christmas party every year, and Megan and Emory came. And so I just brought it up to, um, brought it up to Megan, like, "I think your husband just, like, somehow really likes talking about how often he poops his pants." And she just goes, "Yeah, he does this a lot." Uh and then proceeded to tell me about a different time that you pooped your pants, which was not either of the two that we covered.
So there's more to come.
We'll, we'll have to do a bonus pod.
Um- You can do that one when I'm gone.
We'll, we'll go year by, year by year. Uh, okay, that is it. To everyone out there in listener world, we're so sorry we missed you tonight at the Parkway Theater. We hope to catch you at the next live show. Yes, there will be more.
An announcement on that is coming extremely soon. If you are tuned in to this week's, uh, special live show, thank you so much for listening to the Thrifty Traveler podcast. Rate us five stars on your podcast platform of choice, and like and subscribe to the show on YouTube. Send this episode to someone you know who needs a vacation.
If you have feedback for us, send me a note at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We would love to hear from you. Kyle, tell us about the podcast team.
First, we need to thank, uh, the Metropolitan Airport Commission and the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport. Sun Country Airlines. Meet Minneapolis. And obviously, the legendary, historic, amazing Parkway Theater for helping us put on this show.
This episode was recorded by John Camp. It was produced and edited by our amazing producer, Sylvia Thomas
When you guys catch this out on YouTube, it will have been edited by Kyle Thomas
And wherever Cat is, can you stand up and wave a hand? Well, Kat is hearing this and waving. Kat is our amazing community marketing manager who planned and organized the heck out of this amazing event. Give Kat a huge round of applause.
Few more. Shout out to our entire Thrifty Traveler team that's here tonight. Can you guys stand up please so everybody can see you?
There's Kat. There's Kat. Woo-hoo Uh, these are the people that are helping you travel more for less. And to our team members all over the world who couldn't make it tonight, thank you for everything you do to make this company great as well. And to our live audience at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis, thank you so much for coming and making this a reality for us.
We have a live Q&A coming in like five or six minutes. The bar closes at 8:15, so consider this your last call, and we're gonna talk to you again shortly