We had the great pleasure of enjoying Christmas in July this last summer by visiting ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ in the West Bank. For me, it was the highlight of our two weeks in the Holy Land. Since we are now just a week from Christmas, it would be a perfect time to share some of our experiences there. Visiting the city is pretty … Continue reading FIRE Travel – O Little Town of Bethlehem
It’s hard for me to keep up with all of the promises I made myself when I early retired from MegaCorp a few years ago. Just shy of fifty years old, I wanted to make sure if I wasn’t working at the office every day, I wouldn’t just be piddling my time away at home and driving my wife crazy. One of the first things … Continue reading Fifty States Quest – The Country Is Waiting
I published our FIRE Travel Framework a couple years ago and thought I would send out a link to it again today, as we have taken our big trips for 2018. Our budgeting for travel has worked out very well. We have been taking trips 4x a year – or roughly once a season since we stopped working: Sunny Winter Trips: Disney World, Los Cabos, … Continue reading Travel Framework Update – Bonus Trips
I received what I call an ‘excessive velocity tax’ – more commonly known as a speeding ticket – a couple of weeks ago on a charity road rally to Chicago and back. I wasn’t really ripping down the road when I was pulled over (above picture). In fact, both my navigator and I felt that we were merely moving at the speed of traffic. Nonetheless, … Continue reading Cost of a Speeding Ticket – Worth It?
Before the summer is out, I wanted to share some of the highlights from our trip to Jerusalem & the Holy Land. This (along with our trip to Japan) is the biggest trip we’ve taken since we early retired. We tagged on a fun side trip to ancient Petra in Jordan. In many ways, this was perhaps the most enlightening trip we have ever taken … Continue reading FIRE Travel – Divided Jerusalem and Ancient Petra
With Memorial Day over, we are now officially into summer travel season. We have a couple of fun trips planned for this summer – to the Holy Land & Petra in July and Toronto, Canada in August. We generally plan our trips out 3-9 months in advance depending on how adventurous the trip is. Like last summer, I’ll post some additional destination guides to places … Continue reading Summer Travel – Rudy Maxa Thoughts
If you ask my wife what her favorite kind of music is, she will say “LIVE music”. More than the genre, any music performed in person sounds so much sweeter and powerful. We’re on our second trip of the year with a stop in Music City USA – Nashville, Tennessee. If country music isn’t what you usually listen too – and it isn’t for us … Continue reading FIRE Travel – Nashville, Music City
They say on a large, international flight – maybe only one passenger in first class is paying full fare. The rest are on award tickets, big corporate discounts, or upgraded from regular seats because of their frequent flyer status. I had first-class flights as an executive perk for many years at MegaCorp, but rarely had myself actually ticketed that way when I traveled. I was … Continue reading Easy Credit Card Travel Hacking Success
This weekend, the final four NFL teams will face off to see who will meet in Super Bowl LII. Despite the decline in TV ratings – which experts attribute more to key markets shifting with team fortunes than perceived lack of patriotism – the Super Bowl remains the most visible & celebrated sporting event of the year. We live in Minnesota’s Twin Cities of Minneapolis … Continue reading Would You Vacation At The Super Bowl?
We’re back to “No Responsibility January” at the Fire Station. Last year I noted that January has become a pretty chill month for us with me not working, my son off from college, and my wife no longer working her part-part time job. While it seems like the rest of the world is back to school or work – we’re just goofing off. With time … Continue reading “No Responsibility January” & Travel Planning for 2018
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