Fancy and Frugal

After undergrad at the University of North Carolina, I spent half of the summer working as an accounting temp to save money for a trip to Europe with my best childhood friend Heather, and one of her college friends, Snehalie.  Somehow I thought that lugging around a heavy backpack, wearing the same clothes most days, a Eurail pass, eating mostly bread and staying youth hostels would be a good time.  It wasn't!  It was hard!  It was 1993 and before the ease of the internet.  The last hostel we stayed in had bed bugs, which took my legs months to recover from. I vowed to come back to Europe once I was no longer a broke college student.

That pretty much took until 1998 to happen, but my plan worked!  Joining Coca-Cola meant international business class flights, 5-star hotels, and food and weekend travel per diem.  On most Mondays, my colleagues and I would ask a company travel agent to book our weekend travel plans.  It was engaging to work with twenty-somethings from so many different countries; I would have done the job for free, but luckily I didn't have to.  I observed the experienced auditors, and learned how to live the good life.  3 years passed by quickly, and then it was over.  Keeping up the globetrotting lifestyle afterwards on my own dime was a rude awakening, but having lived happily in hotel rooms and only 2 suitcases for years prepared me for studio apartment life in New York City. 

These days, I I'm always on the lookout for deals, and most of my travels are at least partially free, either from Starwood hotel points and/or frequent flier tickets.  When we visit my 95-year old grandmother in Hong Kong, Mike and I usually stay at the trendy W Hong Kong, on points.  The hotel often upgrades our room and leaves us handwritten notes and treats (as if we were actual paying customers).  In times of trouble, like the recent blackout in Atlanta, or when I got deported trying to enter Poland, the nearest SPG hotel is my proxy for home.      

Fancy and frugal is my life philosophy, and nothing beats "free".  Where do you go to look for deals?