Joni Kinney

Renowned Advice for Solo Traveling to Help you Get Away and Recharge

April 26, 2019 By Joni Kinney Leave a Comment

People don’t always understand my husband and I because we vacation frequently without each other. One of my favorite quotes by Jason is about us and our relationship is “We live together and work together, so we vacation separately.” Now that isn’t always true, we do take some vacations together like our trip this past fall to Hawaii. However, we do a fair deal of solo traveling.

Things to Consider: Solo Traveling

There are many things you need to consider when you are solo traveling. Many of the items are the same as if you are traveling with your family, but there are some unique differences. After all, if you want to change your mind while solo traveling there’s no one to argue with you.

Solo Traveling Destination

Chose a destination for solo traveling with lots of activities to choose from. One of my favorite places to go is the state of Florida, and there is an endless supply of fun down there. Jason; he prefers to solo travel to Las Vegas. You should consider what is drawing you to the vacation spot you are picking out so you can truly take advantage and see all the things that will enhance the experience.

There are many travel destinations that seem to be made just for the solo traveler. Check out this Bucketlist.

Renowned Advice for Solo Traveling to Help you Get Away and Recharge #travel #solotravel #destinations #vacation #solovacation

Safety

Now I like to post pictures on social media of where we are and what we are doing. But I don’t post photos of where we stay or are staying until after we’ve been there. Safety is a real concern, and keeping your haven safe is a priority. Don’t tell people where you are staying, if asked about it keep your answers vague.

Technology

To really relax and recharge limit your technology usage. I’m not saying throw it all away when you are solo traveling, but truly take time to appreciate where you are. One of my favorite memories of a recent trip to Florida was driving across the state and seeing cows in pastures with Palm Trees. I’m from Wisconsin and this sight cracked me up.

Don’t get so caught up in capturing the moments, that you forget to live in them. ENJOY your vacation. This is how you relax and rejuvenate your soul.

If you enjoyed this post please check out some of our other recent articles!

International Mothers Day around the World

April 2, 2019 By Joni Kinney Leave a Comment

Celebration Dates

International Mothers Day is celebrated on the 2nd Sunday in May. Every year the date changes, but it’s always celebrated the same weekend in May. Mothers Day is celebrated around the world in different countries at different times of the year.

However many countries including Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, and Japan all celebrate on the same date. The very first Mother’s day service was observed back in 1908. That’s a whole lot of years of love for mom.

International Mothers Day is among the top 10 celebrated holidays. I mean it is probably not that surprising since we all owe our mom’s something for us being here.

Gift Ideas

If you are looking for some last minute gift ideas for International Mothers Day, here are a few of our favorite ideas!

For those mom’s who are fashion lovers check out My Amelia James
Moms who are interested in getting more organized check out Day Designer. Don’t forget to check out their freebies section!
Don’t forget about those Mom’s who are interested in learning more about CBD oil and all its benefits.
Sentimental items such as pictures always make great gifts! So check out the great selection at Mixbook.

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Motivational Quotes for Women

March 24, 2019 By Joni Kinney 4 Comments

One of my favorite things to do is to read motivational quotes for women. Reading through inspirational and thought provoking quotes helps me to realize my dreams and complete tasks. If you are a quote lover like me check out our quotes about mindset!

Quotes about Beauty

The first set of quotes I have for you are all about beauty. Beauty is often looked at as some surface beauty, but true beauty is that which isn’t immediately seen. Here are some of my favorite quotes that help women realize just how beautiful they are.

Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.
Be your own kind of beautiful.
Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.
Find Beauty in everyday things.
Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief that she is beautiful.

Quotes about Strength

Nobody is perfect. So get over the fear of doing everything perfectly.

Next up are motivational quotes for women all about strength. You don’t know your inner strength until it’s tested. To test that, you undoubtedly have been through some tough situations. Don’t negate them, use them to your advantage.

The comeback is always stronger than the setback.
I can and I will. Watch me!
Nobody is perfect. So get over the fear of doing everything perfectly.
I want to see what happens if I don’t give up.
I never knew how strong I was until I had to forgive someone who wasn’t sorry.

Motivational Quotes for Women in Business

Motivational quotes for women in business can often be seen on Instagram or Pinterest. These are the social media posts I love to read about. What are some of your favorites?

You have been assigned this mountain to show others it can be moved

Believe in yourself a little more.
You have been assigned this mountain to show others it can be moved.
Always deliver more than expected.
Quality is the best business plan.
Everyone has the key, it’s just a matter of using it.

Benefits of Flexible Points

March 20, 2019 By Joni Kinney Leave a Comment

Towards the end of every year, I always start to look at the balances of my point accounts and start also looking at what I plan to do for traveling over the next year or two. Yes, I really do mean year or two. (Check out our post on our plan for our next Hawaii vacation.) I have found that using flexible points gives us the most travel options.

When I had started to look at the first trip to Hawaii for our family, I planned it out over 2-3 years to make sure I could do as much with points as possible. There are always risks planning that far out such as points needed for the flights or hotels go up or airline carriers changing flight options. We were fortunate that the choices we did gave us some flexibility in case of those changes.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Over the last two years, I have moved to keep points in a program such as Chase Ultimate Rewards. This way my points aren’t locked up with Southwest, Delta, or Marriott. Using this program let us keep our flexible points in one place until we need them.

Using Flexible Points

For the trip to Hawaii we recently went on, I was short the miles needed for all the flights using United. They had nonstop flights that were worth us spending a little more on. By not having my points locked in, I was able to transfer from Chase to United to complete that booking.

Additionally, I was then low on points to finish the hotel booking through Marriott for the travel package for the boutique hotel. I was able to top off the account with Marriott with the points from Chase.

Benefits of Flexible Points – When things Change

During those two years, a lot of changes happened in regards to the points hobby.

Alaska Airlines lost the ability to book Delta fights.
Alaska gave the flexibility to book American, Alaska or Delta flights.

Starwoods/SPG was a considerable hotel favorite in the points hobby. Starwoods/SPG was purchased by Marriott and changed redemption rates. Additionally, they cut the ability to earn points by 1/3rd the price per dollar than previously. Rumors of other airlines being purchased, hotel groups consolidating, would force many to try to stay ahead of the game. Where having the flexible miles in something like Chase Ultimate Rewards allows transfer partners for hotels as needed with IHG (Holiday Inn), Marriott, or Hyatt (my personal favorite).

For airlines, you have many options including Southwest and United. You can always cash in Points through the travel portal at 1.25 cents per point or penny per point in statement credit. Another example of how flexibility is beneficial. Southwest recently began booking flight options to Hawaii. This gives more options besides United and Delta, and will likely continue to make travel there competitive.

The more flexibility you have, the better.

Planning a Trip to Hawaii on a budget

March 10, 2019 By Joni Kinney 2 Comments

Our last trip to Hawaii was a three-year process in the making. We could have done it quicker, but I still wanted to maintain our other trips. So how do you go about planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget?

Figure out your flights. The majority of your cost is going to be getting to Hawaii. You can find decent deals on hotels and food can be as inexpensive or as expensive as you make it in most places. But flights are always the wild card when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget. Here are our considerations for keeping costs down.

General Flight Considerations

To give you an idea of the airline costs; for the three of us to fly round trip from Chicago to Honolulu, it was 135,000 miles total. Joni and I can fly to Cancun from Chicago round trip for 20-25,000 combined usually. It is possible to get the points pretty quickly if you want to do the credit card sign up bonus game.

Southwest Airlines recently got approved for long haul flights from the West Coast to Hawaii. Their first test flight was completed with government review and they have just recently opened up flights to Hawaii. When the news initially broke about Southwest getting closer to having another carrier flying from the Continental United States, some of the other carriers started to run specials with some of the lowest costs seen in a long time.

It is believed that the increase in competition will drop the dollar amount and airline miles required for that once…or twice… in a lifetime trip. With this news, I am having to keep four different airlines as potential options.

Keep in mind what airline and what airport you want to travel out of when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget. Are you ok with a layover? Want a straight through flight? Are you willing to travel super early or want to be flying all day? With a flight this long you may want to travel during waking hours or you may want to fly mostly overnight. These are important questions you need to ask before you book your trip.

Consideration # 1 – Inter-Island Flights with Hawaiian Airlines

Joni had mentioned she wants to go to Maui along with Oahu this next trip. So when we are planning our trip to Hawaii on a budget we have to consider this additional cost. Hawaiian Airlines runs cheap flights between the islands. I have seen prices ranging from about $150 round trip or 15,000 miles between the islands per person. Hawaiian Airlines has a secure online shopping portal where I already picked up around 4,000 miles in the last 4-6 months doing shopping at a couple online stores I like. This will definitely help our budget.

The other quick options for miles if I need for these on shorter notice is through Barclays. They have a Hawaiian Airlines card where just the general offer is 50,000 miles for $1,000 in purchases over 3 months. I also over the past year have seen an offer as good as 60,000 miles after one purchase. That would be 3-4 round trips between the islands for an annual fee of $99.

Flights to Hawaii

Option #1 – United Airlines again (Chicago to Hawaii)

This is what we used last time. Right now we are mostly getting our miles using their phone mobile app making purchases at Buffalo Wild Wings and Starbucks. I already have enough in the account for one round trip ticket. I don’t think Joni would approve on me going on a solo trip for this one. I do not want to lock miles hard into United Airlines as they do not have the best options for Las Vegas.

Option #2 – Southwest

This is more likely the direction we will end up going. I do prefer Southwest over United just as a personal preference. Most of my Southwest miles that I use for my Vegas trips come from the Ultimate Rewards program now with Milwaukee having non-stop flights there.

The superior flexibility that Chase has with their Ultimate Rewards points program is that I can transfer those points to either Southwest or United. This offers us great options when we are planning trips and will certainly come in handing when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget.

Option #3 – Delta through Minneapolis

Delta is my second favorite airline. If I am not flying Southwest to Las Vegas, then most likely I am flying Delta. They have many non-stop flights all over; including some to Hawaii. Delta also has options for flights out from many of the regional airports to get to Minneapolis, Detroit or even Salt Lake City as places to connect from.

One of the new cards I have been looking at over the last 4-6 months is from American Express. Delta Miles take a long time to accrue using their branded credit card at 1 point per dollar for regular purchases. I do carry it and pay the annual fee as I am ahead just on bag fees every year and it also gets me earlier boarding.

But the American Express Gold Card gives 4 Membership Reward Points per dollar spent on Groceries and Restaurants. These points can be converted into Delta Miles. Groceries and restaurants are more substantial expenses in our household, so I am still working the math to see if the cost of the annual fee makes up for the difference.

So what is the next thing we will have to consider when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget? Hotels… stay tuned we have tips for that too!

Types of Motivation

March 7, 2019 By Joni Kinney 1 Comment

I believe there are four unique types of motivation. Most people agree there is Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in place. While that is true, there are internal and external motivators; I actually believe there are 4 motivations that truly drive people.

Motivational Types

Self Motivation
Pleasing People Motivation
Monetary Motivation
Rewards Motivated

While the bottom three are types of extrinsic, meaning they are driven by outside forces; the top item is intrinsic. So let’s talk about the bottom three types of motivation here first.

Pleasing People

Many people seek the approval of others. Trying to please people can be toxic to your relationships and hold you back from finding your true self. If you are always seeking the approval of someone else, then you can’t be who you want to be.

If this motivational type describes you here are some tips. Be honest with the people in your life and make sure you are acknowledging your needs. Stop being guilty when you tell people NO to something. It’s not going to dissolve the Earth to put yourself first once in awhile. Make it a priority, here are some self-care ideas for you!

Monetary Motivation

We all know someone who is driven by money and pretty much only money. Now I’m not talking about those who need to make money to survive and have so much debt all they can think about is money. That’s an entirely different problem.

These people will put everything on the side burner if it means they are making more money. While hurting their relationships isn’t something they intend to do, they often don’t realize they have hurt others until the relationship is past salvaging. While there are many types of motivation, I believe this can be one of the most hurtful to those you love.

If you find yourself in this grouping, make a focus to spend time with those you love to be around. Ensure you find ways to tell those around you what they mean to you.

Rewards Motivation

Now you are probably thinking this is the same as money. After all, money motivation and rewards motivated are tied close together. However, they are different.

Those who are driven and motivated by rewards, don’t care what the prize is. It could be a title, wealth, prestige, or even something small like an extra soda or attention from their boss. This type of person tends to make everything in life into some competition even if they are competing against themselves.

If you find yourself in this group, make sure you are not risking your loved ones by turning things into competitions when they shouldn’t be. These people tend to be exhausting to be around, so watch this if you fall into this type of motivation.

Self Motivation

This is one of the hardest types of motivation to conquer and what we all strive for. Self Motivated people don’t care about what others think, money, rewards or any combination.

These people are only motivated by what they think and their own beliefs. These are often some of the most successful people. By having a positive attitude, you often attract positive people to you and this helps you continue to be self-motivated.

Which of these types of motivation do you feel you resonate strongest with?