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?         

Luck or hard work?

My father has commented that the "me" from a thousand years ago must have done many good deeds for the current "me" to be in this life.  Luck is definitely a factor, but I try in many small ways to keep the karma going. 

A surprisingly accurate palm reader in rural Colombia informed me that a spirit, perhaps of a male ancestor, looks out for me and materializes whenever I needed help.  Mike considers psychics to be a complete sham, but I would like to present some evidence of luck at play.  

• Sydney Airport (2001): My favorite purple windbreaker jacket (with a boarding pass and currency from 3 countries in the pocket) was stolen off my carry-on luggage, after I had checked-in.  I retraced all my steps looking for it, to no avail.  Shortly after take-off, a flight attendant came by and asked to verify my seat number. She notified me that I had won a free roundtrip ticket from anywhere in the world to Hong Kong, as part of Cathay Pacific's anniversary promotion.  Sweet!  They had randomly drawn 5 other seats before mine, but those were all unoccupied. I had boarded with a paper replacement ticket ($50 cost to re-issue).
• Copenhagen (1998) - my wallet was pickpocketed on the main pedestrian road when I was out shopping with my brother, Norman.  A day later, one of my local colleagues (whose business card was in the wallet) got a call from a clothing store on that street.  The thieves had dropped it there, minus all the cash save for a 5 kroner coin (enough for bus fare, how considerate).  I got all of ID and credit cards back.   
• Madrid (2000) - I was white-collar-organized-crime robbed in the lobby of the Palace Hotel, where a large man wearing an apron asked for my room number at breakfast.  When he walked past, I noticed that his clipboard had only a blank sheet on it, and not a list of guests' names. My "Prada" laptop bag was missing when I looked down.  Luckily, it had been purchased at an outdoor market in Beijing.  My real laptop was still sitting at my feet, in a sturdier bag right next to it. All the thieves got was a few folders full of receipts and a trip-insured Casio Cassiopeia.   
• Johannesburg Airport (2003) - I somehow managed to lose my wallet and ID in the airport.  Twenty minutes before boarding, I heard my name being called on the overhead speaker.  A grumpy looking German man (also a traveler) held up my driver's license next to my head to verify identity.  Apparently I had left my wallet at the VAT rebate desk.  Oops!  I gave him a big hug of thanks, and then ran of to catch my flight.  
• Manhattan Beach (2017) - I left my (only set) of car keys at a restaurant after brunch.  As a joke, Mike had filled out the comment card that day (in my name) to sign me up to for e-mails.  They e-mailed me to come to retrieve them; I brought the hostess a bottle of Veuve back as thanks.     

It's amazing that people as careful as my parents raised a daughter as careless as me. Mike, my parents, Joe, Christy and others seem to think that luck plays the major role in my life.  "Hey, I work hard, too!" is met with an eye roll from Mike. 

"If hard work was enough, all of the immigrant day laborers picking strawberries in the fields would be millionaires," was his reply.  Fair point.  "I'm an immigrant to the U.S. too, from Canada!" is met with a double eye-roll from Mike.   

Actually, the biggest factor contributing to my "luck" was my grandparents' decision to leave mainland China for Hong Kong, and my mother and father's independent decisions to go to Canada to study, where they met.  Otherwise, I'd be just some other ordinary Chinese girl scraping her way, next to 1.4 billion others.  

What do you think has contributed to your own success?  Luck or effort?

Where to next?

When I was sixteen, I wrote in my journal that I wanted to see the world and to have a lot of friends.  In my twenties, I got a job that brought me to every continent in the world, thanks to my friend Robert Nishikawa.  Going from seventy-one to a hundred countries visited is not going to be that easy - some will be seriously out-of-the way places. Here are some that come to mind, in no particular order:  Art Basel, the Northern lights, the Isle of Man motorcycle race, the wildebeest migration, Petra, Cappadocia, Mauritius, Seychelles, Galapagos Islands, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Namibia, Cambodia, Azerbaijan, Mars (!).  And of course some favorite places to visit friends and family:  Vancouver, Seattle, New York City, Toronto.  We will probably also go to Cape Canaveral to see a Falcon Heavy launch.  And hosting a Ko family reunion in Southern California.

Where have you always wanted to go? And can I come with you?  My friend Melisa has suggested going on an Oriental Express rail trip.  Kevin has suggested Bhutan.  Let's make a plan, and get out of the office.