Transcript of Podcast #12: Travel Deals
In Attendance: Aimee Jiang (she/her) & Sukriti Kapur (she/her)
Aimee: Hello, everyone welcome to another episode of the GIC podcast. I say this pretty frequently, but this is one of my favorite topics. I love to travel, and I think it’s very important to get a good deal when you’re traveling, especially when you’re a grad student or recently graduated. It is expensive, but we all deserve to take the time out to do something for ourselves. And so I’m really excited today to talk about travel deals and we’ll definitely talk about credit cards, travel points, things like that. Maybe some cheap places to go to in the local area. My name is Amy Jiang. I’m the International Student Support Officer for Graduate Division, and I am joined today by Sukriti. And I’ll have you introduce yourself.
Sukriti: Hi, everyone. Thanks for having me, Aimee. I’m Sukriti. I’m a third year, I’ve finished my third year now, so I’m a rising fourth year. Well, that sounds scary. I’m a rising fourth year in the Department of Chemistry. So my work is in atmospheric chemistry, and I work on the health effects of aerosoles, basically studying the active oxygen species and their potential to cause damage to the human body in different ambient environments. So I’ve been for work to Alaska and I’m working on projects with local communities around here. So that’s a little about me. And I’m excited to talk to you today about all the travel deals that I have used or know of briefly.
Aimee: Yeah, I think time flies when you’re in grad school. I remember finishing my first year and being like, I think I just started it, It feels so quick. So I’m sure heading into your fourth year is probably surprising. And yeah, you’ve gotten to travel for some of your research. And that is one thing that a lot of students end up doing is, it might be research related, or maybe going to a conference or gathering together with the group that’s also doing your research in some form. And, and so I think, finding good deals on a student budget is really important for more business or professional development. But it’s alsofor fun. So we’ll talk about kind of the mix of that. I know I always try and find the deals when I travel for work, even though I’m not paying out of my pocket maybe in some of these cases. I still want to be mindful of the way that I purchase things.
Sukriti: Exactly
Aimee: So I think the first thing that we’ll jump into is, where can I find good student travel deals?
Sukriti: So my go to website that I recently found out is called Student Universe and they will have some flights that the usual airline websites will not and that is specifically for students or you know, anyone in academia, although they don’t check so anyone can essentially go through them. And a lot of times the flights that you will not see say Southwest. I was trying to book a flight recently, and Southwest Airlines did not have the same flight that these guys had, and I was able to book through them. They have like, I think the starting maybe 10% discount in the beginning, but also the flights are, significantly cheaper for any location that you want. So I’ve made the mistake of booking last minute for some conferences, and that wasn’t the smartest, but I was still able to find a decent deal here. But I think there’s only one catch that, If you have to cancel or reschedule, you have to contact them, and not the airline. So that might get a little you know, like too much effort, but otherwise, I feel like they were pretty good. So that’s my first go to place. Otherwise I’ll use booking.com, or just the regular airline like websites and that’s what’s fine for me. But I don’t know if you have more websites that you refer to.
Aimee: I usually start with Google flights. I know it’s not like specific for like discounts for students or academics. But I usually just start with Google flights because I feel like you get a good variety of who’s flying to the location.
Sukriti: You can map it out. That’s a good start too.
Aimee: Exactly and I feel like that’s helpful. I know I flew to Washington D.C., recently, and there’s like a tiny airport actually in Central Washington, D.C. or at least the closer. And then there’s another one that’s like half hour away, and then another one that’s an hour away, and I’d never been before, so I was so confused when I was searching on like Southwest or Delta, or American, like just trying to search on big sites, just to try and find a good deal. And then I was reminded by my husband to check Google flights. And I was like, oh, I can see the different airports, and then calculate like, how much would it take me to get from the train into Washington, D.C., from this airport like, how much is that going to add, is it to worth the hassle for the time? And it was like $400 cheaper, and it was $2 to take the train. So it was like, well, obviously, that’s where it a little additional time.
Sukriti: Perfect!
Aimee: So yeah, I think that the mapping on like Google flights is helpful. Some airlines don’t pop up. I fly Southwest pretty frequently, and they usually don’t pop up on Google flights Sometimes they’ll show you the flight, but it won’t show you the price, so that you have to go to their website. And sometimes the price on Google flights is not what you find on the website. It’s cheaper or more expensive. but I would say, yeah, those are kind of
Sukriti: even Sky Scanner is pretty good in that sense. If you’re trying to find an international deal or something just flying out it, it will get help you get a sense of all the options that you have.
Aimee: Yeah and I I think there’s also I follow because I’m constantly looking for both like deals, or how to get more points or deals on getting more points. I follow these 2 youtubers, Kara and Nate, and they travel a lot and they’ve traveled internationally and kind of domestically within the U.S. And they created an email called The Daily Drop. And I subscribe to that email and they send all sorts of things about like credit cards that some people might be eligible for, sometimes it’s tips on like when to book. And so I’ve signed up for them, because I I really enjoy reading through, sometimes they give suggestions on places to go that maybe wouldn’t have been something I thought about before, or like tips on taking everything in a carry on. Cause some of these cheaper airlines will charge you a lot of money for baggage or even for a carry on so like, how can you fit it into a personal item? So they give really good tips on that. So sometimes Youtube will help me find a good place. But yeah, I follow the Daily Drop because I really, yeah, I really enjoy some of, their funny, too. They make it fun to think about travel hacking.
Sukriti: That’s nice, I had no idea.
Aimee: So that’s another suggestion is like finding some of those places or emails that, subscribe to emails that might be able to help you with that. I don’t know of any other big companies that give discounts for students in particular, on flights at least. But sometimes you can find student discounts on different types of transportation.
Sukriti: I think just to, just to add to that like, of course, credit cardsand all. And I’m gonna sign up for this website. It is a smart idea to start a new credit line, if you want to, before any big travel or any big purchase. And I learned that over time. But because credit score was not a thing back home, and you don’t have to worry about these things. But if you wanna improve your credit score and spend a lot of money on a single card. It’s always a good idea to get a new credit card before you know you’re gonna fly or spend a lot of money. I was able to rack up so many points on my card when I went to Alaska just because they had, like 3% cash back on every Lyft ride you took or flights. And I recently got the Chase Sapphire, which is one of the best cards for travel deals because I was like, okay, I need to fly to see my partner very frequently. And he was like, okay, we can just put like the the flights of this card, and then you know, see how we want to do the finances on that. But it’s a pretty good card they have, like 2 times the reward points. They have some annual fee, but again, if I’m racking up these points, and I can reuse them for like hotel bookings or something else, I think it’s worth it. And so, even for leisure, or like, you know, things like that, I think it’s a good idea to start a credit card and like, get one like, look it up, which one works best for you and just use that.
Aimee: Yeah and some of them have lounge access.
Sukriti: Yeah.
Aimee: When I got a credit card with lounge access I was like, this is for my husband, it’s not for me. But when I fly without him I still go to the lounge because it’s quiet, there’s places to plug in, I can work, I can fill up my water bottle for free without having to like pay for really expensive airport water, or get some snacks for free from the lounge so, if you can get it credit credit, it definitely helps with some of those really big layovers. One of my recommendations to people when they’re coming to Irvine is Santa Ana is a much easier airport to fly into and get to UCI. But it’s not an international airport. So if you can land and have a good long lay over somewhere else in the U.S., and then fly into Santa Ana. You’re gonna find it much easier to get to campus. So I always recommend that. So if you have a credit card that has, like a lounge access being able to fly somewhere, and maybe, maybe it’s a quick time that you get through customs before your next flight, and now you have a couple of hours, and you’re like, now, what am I gonna do? Well, you can go sit in the lounge and relax and enjoy some snacks or food. So I think that that’s definitely something that I would consider if you’re like, I want to build up credit. I’m gonna be in the U.S., maybe for a while, I’m gonna travel for work, or I’m gonna travel for, you know, going home and coming back, I want to have better time at the airport for sure.
Sukriti: Definitely
Aimee: Yeah, so definitely things that I would recommend. And you can yeah, like you said. Some of them have really good points, like 2 times purchases, gives you a bunch of points that you can use for maybe upgrading yourself on a really long flight to business class, so you can relax a little bit or buying a trip that you didn’t expect to be able to do. Last year we got to go see my brother in law with points like we paid for our flight to the points, and we weren’t expecting to have the ability to afford to go. But it was a good deal one day, and we could use our points for that. And it was like, okay, this is why we have travel points.
Sukriti: That’s nice yeah
Aimee: So definitely recommend it and we should have a podcast at some point on credit scores like what’s the importance, we’ve talked about in a couple of other podcasts or we will depend on when they get when they get posted. One like buying a car things like that. So you definitely want to look into doing something to build up a credit score. And the better your credit score is, the more likely you are to be eligible for some of the higher travel credit cards. So definitely things to look into. It’s changed a lot of the ways that I travel. It used to freak me out to travel long travel trips, but having lounge access and being able to get through the airport a little easier. I feel much come much more comfortable with traveling, and I enjoyed a lot more. So definitely, it was good option. So we talked about travel deals kind of where to start and looking for some good deals. But there are some cheaper airlines for travel. So what are some of the pros and cons of of some of these cheaper airlines? And are there any specific ones you would recommend?
Sukriti: I think I, the cheapest I’ve flown is Southwest, which is also not the cheapest, but I know Spirit is one of the cheaper ones. I think I’m not sure, I don’t think Jet Blue is cheap. There’s another one that I cannot recall.
Aimee: Frontier
Sukriti: Yes, right!
Aimee: Yeah, Frontier
Sukriti: Frontier and Spirit are the ones that I’ve heard of. I have never used their services. But I think the biggest pro is that they’re cheap, and you’re in grad school, you’re always trying to find the best deals for travel that are cheap and don’t burn a hole in your pocket, and that’s all of us. But I think the con is that they will cancel any time, they will allow only one backpack and not even a cabin bag. So you know, one personal item or one cabin bag is not allowed just like they’ll tell you if you one backpack, and that’s it. But I have had friends who have like taken these flights to Vegas or North California somewhere San Francisco, and it’s worked out for them. But again, I would not suggest taking these for any professional events like, if you’re going for a conference, if you’re going for a job, situation, or anything. I would say you should avoid them, because if they cancel last minute you don’t want to like look for last minute stuff and then get stressed more than you already are. So I think for personal travel, If you know, if in the chance that this flight gets canceled you can find another one that’s fine. One of my friends regularly use a Spirit to like fly to SF (San Fransico) or Vegas, for that matter, and he’s not faced so much of the problem. But I’ve had friends who’ve complained that Spirit canceled, and then they’ll put you on another flight, that’s like hours later. So you’re stuck in the airport.
Aimee: Yeah
Sukriti: But that’s mostly their benefit is that you’ll get like a $50 or $60 trips to nearby places, but you have to be mentally prepared, of what if they cancel it?
Aimee: Yeah and they charge you for everything. Selecting your seat. So if you’re traveling with a group, and you all want to sit together. You you have to pay for it. They charge you for water like they don’t have any free drinks. That is one of the things Southwest is generally cheaper than most other flights, like Delta, American, Alaska, it’s usually one of the cheaper ones. Southwest has 2 free baggage items, plus we can have like.
Sukriti: That’s the best part
Aimee: I love that part. I fly southpest all the time for that, because I over pack regularly, and if you’re traveling for a conference with a bunch of materials, you want those usually in your carry on, so then, where do you put all your clothes if you’re trying to travel light. So I always recommend Southwest for that. And then yeah, I’ve flown Spirit and Frontier. I think it was like $39 for me to fly to Vegas one time to to visit family and but yeah, it was like trying to shove everything for a 5 day weekend into a backpack, was like well doing laundry at your house, because I only can bring a very small amount of things. And I haven’t had them cancel on me, but they did cancel on my husband one time. Santa Ana airport is a great small little airport. It’s not open very late, because they don’t want planes flying over the neighborhoods past 10o’clock. And so his flight got delayed to 9:55 and they basically cancelled it because they were like, if we can’t take off before 10, we can’t take off and so he had to travel the next day to, he was going to New York with them. So he ended up paying for a really expensive last minute flight. So yeah, they definitely have issues but I think if you’re going for a little short trip, they’re usually pretty good, but you can expect usually some some delays and older planes, not being able to sit together, those are definitely some of the negatives but for a last minute trip to some place nearby like you said, like Northern California, Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix. They’re pretty affordable for those places. One of the other things I think that people don’t generally like to fly them for is because their flights aren’t direct, Southwest or any of these other. They do little small jumps. So I’ll fly up to Washington, and I have to stop in North, Northern California and then go from Northern California to Washington. So it lengthens the amount of travel time which can be kind of annoying, especially if you’re going across the U.S. Like all the way to New York on Southwest, there’s at least going to be 2 stops. So those are things to think about. The direct flights are going to be closer to where you currently live, but but you get 2 free bags, so I enjoyed them for that.
Sukriti: I think a lot of times if you book Southwest from LAX, you can save travel time. Like it will have maybe one stop instead of 2. Only is challenges for you to get from here to LAX and if you’re traveling in a group and you get a cab, the cost kind of gets split up.
Aimee: So yeah, definitely, I always look when I’m flying anywhere, especially with Southwest out of Southern California. I look at San Diego, which, with traffic, sometimes takes the same amount of time as getting to LAX, LAX, Long Beach, Burbank, and San Ana. So Long Beach and Burbank also fly Southwest.
Sukriti: Yeah, there’s also the Ontario airport.
Aimee: Oh, yeah, I was gonna say, I’m missing somebody. Ontario. Yeah. So those ones are, Santa Ana is going to be the closest. But the other ones are also really great options for Southwest in particular, to kind of just look around at prices. I mean, you can check into your incoming airport, too, and I’ve flown up to Northern California, even if I’m going to San Francisco. Sometimes I’ve flown into Oakland or Sacramento, and just like rented a car and finished the rest of the drive, because sometimes it’s been that much cheaper than flying directly into certain airports.
Sukriti: Well, that makes sense. yeah, I think the other airports are less crowded than LAX. So there are like options for you to find cheaper flights and not have to worry about getting to LAX and dealing with all of that mess.
Aimee: Exactly, and San Diego, from what I remember, is an international airport. So you may be able to find some international flights are a little cheaper out of there. I have had friends that have done like a Southwest flight up to maybe like Seattle or San Francisco, and then stayed overnight, and then like a day trip up there and then flown internationally because it was significantly cheaper than doing a flight out of LAX. So look around, I think that’s a big one, too, is could I do a whole trip in New York and have a a day there, and have taken a cheaper airplane to the East coast, and then take in a flight from a New York airport into Europe, or wherever else I’m looking to go, so I think, don’t just look at direct flights. Think about other things you might want to do if you’re looking around. We’ve talked a lot about air travel. We’ve talked about renting cars in some of our podcasts. I do a lot of road trips like renting maybe more gas efficient car than I have. We rented a Tesla recently and charged it late at night, and saved quite a bit of money, charging it at different times day of the day at a Supercharger, and drove out to Las Vegas. But we do have a rail system here in the U.S. it is different than many other countries, it’s not always the most convenient but how does our rail system differ from other places? I know Amtrak is kind of the the main kind of train that we use here.
Sukriti: Yeah, so I come from a city that has an extensive network, extensive public transport. We had buses, we had 3 wheelers on the street like you would just stop a vehicle and ask them to take you places, you have cabs. We had a very, very extensive metro system and so this was pretty much the one of the biggest culture shocks that I got here, because, and I also had a car back home, and the driving was on the other side, so I was like, okay, like, you know, what, what could be the worst thing, I’ll just like, use the public transport, I’ll you know, make less air emissions, and just not pollute as much. But then I come here, and the minimum, you have to walk to get something is 20 min. And I was like, okay, well, time to learn driving again. So I did not have a car for the first 2 years of grad school, or one and a half year because I was busy settling in, sorting my license, practicing driving, and then purchasing a car, all of which takes time. But I think about the Amtrak, I’ve used our services a bunch of times, and they haven’t disappointed. So some of my friends have had complaints that they, you know, be delayed or canceled, not canceled, but just be the delayed. And I did not face that problem in the period of time that I used them. So with Amtrak, I’ve travelled to San Diego for a day trip that was great. There are fix timings, you can cook it on the app, and then I was a member, so they would like, you know, like I, it’s everything’s on the app, it’s super convenient. And then they also have services where they’ll take you with the train and then take you like, they put you on a bus and then take you to your destination. So I’ve visited Solvang once, that we that was a nice, I think, overnight stay that we did just get to Santa Barbara, and then they, like a bus, will be waiting for you to take you to Solvang. And then that’s how you get back. And the Irvine Amtrak station is maybe like a 15 min drive from campus. So that’s convenient to and then I have family who lives like north of L.A. So they were like really helpful. When I got here they picked me up from the airport and dropped me, but like I cannot expect them to come, drive 2 and a half hours every time I want to see them, or they want to see me. So usually during my break, I’ll take the Amtrak for like the early morning, or like late evening, once I’m done with work. And my aunt and uncle could usually pick me up from the train station, which is again 10 min away for them. And then I can just come back after the weekends down or as much as I want to stay for. So I’ve honestly had a pretty good experience with Amtrak, it’s pretty clean, they have a a cafeteria, and you can get your food and stuff and it’s comfortable. And I’ve heard if you go from here to North California, they have very well scenic views, because they go really close to the PCH, or like just on, like next to the ocean. So I’ve heard those are great views. But apart from that, I’ve not really used Amtrak services outside of you know California, to be precise. I don’t know, I think they have deals outside of California.
Aimee: Yeah, I used them recently when we went to Washington, D.C., for my conference. I wanted to, I’d never been to the East Coast before I grew up in the U.S., but I spent a lot of my time traveling around the West Coast by car, doing a lot of road trips growing up and camping and so I’d never been to New York, and it was like a couple of $100 flight from Washington, D.C., to New York, which is crazy because it was like an hour. It was really not that much, but we were able to get $15 Amtrak tickets from Washington, D.C. to New York City and that was is, that’s crazy deal like normally, that ticket was like 50 to 100, so we got it at like the perfect time. The late night one, so it was like, okay, you know, that’s why it’s cheap, because no one’s using it. And our our Amtrak was delayed, I think an hour, hour and a half, and it was already late at night, so we were kind of frustrated in that space. But, but yeah, I, I would say it’s everywhere. So if you’re going to a conference in a big city, and you’re like I’d like to see another city nearby, or I have family nearby. I recommend Amtrak. I do think they have good deals and and much like a lot of the airlines, if you sign up and get like loyalty to them, which we can talk about a little bit, too. Amtrak will give you points when you travel with them, and then you can maybe use those for upgrades or even tickets in the future. I know I have a lot of friends that do the LA to Irvine sometimes for work. I’ve got friends that live in LA and take Amtrak out for work. So I think there definitely are some, some really good options, and I think sometimes they have student deals and discounts, so you can always check and see if they have anything available at the time.
Sukriti: Exactly, yeah, UCI at some point was given like 3 Amtrak or Metrolink tickets. And if you book by a certain date you could like book for anywhere. I never used those, but I know, because I tried to, and I had nowhere to go. And I was like hmm let’s keep on that. But yeah, about that traveling to nearby cities. I think that’s very helpful, and it reminded me. Last year I was in Baltimore for work, and then me and my friend took the train to D.C., for the day, and then again on the weekend. So it was nice, it was a 3 hour train ride, it’s done before you know it, and it’s a good way to travel more and not have to like go back on the other coast. like, take an extra flight.
Aimee: Exactly. That’s what we were like, when our when also we’re gonna want to fly all the way to New York, we might as well do it now. So if you’re, if you’re over in a conference, and there’s something couple of hour Amtrak ride. The I think the benefit is, you don’t have to go to the airport, the big hassle of that. You could definitely take more luggage. We had, each of us had 2 suitcases, plus a backpack, plus a bag of groceries, so, that we had stocked up on snacks, when we were in Washington, D.C. So I I think, yeah, being able to bring a little bit more, be able to bring your own water like those kinds of things.
Sukriti: That’s definitely useful because, how I like to travel as if I’m going some place for work, I can always extend it over the weekend and you know, travel to a nearby place. So I’ve done D.C. that way, I was in North Carolina last time, but I didn’t. I didn’t stay for longer, but this year I’m going to Portland for work, and I was like, okay, I’ll definitely take 2 more days and go around the National Parks there. I think that’s very helpful and usually, if your tickets being reimbursed, it won’t really matter if you book a return for Friday versus Sunday. So that’s something you should speak to your PI with. But yeah.
Aimee: Usually what they’ve done for me with work, because very similarly, I traveled to Washington, D.C., for a work conference, and so I just had to show them that the ticket from New York on a Saturday was cheaper than flying back from Washington, D.C. on a Friday and so they were like, as long as it’s cheaper then we’ll reimburse you, for whenever you return. So I think that’s mostly how people do it, but you definitely want to check in before you start booking things.
Sukriti: Yeah, yeah definitely
Aimee: So yeah, Amtrak, always a great option, we talked in another, podcast like, I said before, about renting a car, so you can always rent a car and and do little drives to, but Amtrak is nice, as most of you that are used to public transportation know, not having to think and just being able to sit down and relax and do your own thing is really nice, especially if you’ve been busy at a conference, and you just want to zone out and not have to think about anything.
Sukriti: And if you’re like, completely new to the U.S., like I was, I think, and if you don’t have friends who have cars who are taking you around, there are places around that you can take day trips to like Solvang wwas one, and then there’s San Juan Capistrano, which is a nice little town, it’s good like brunch spots, and they have the mission there, and you can, you know, go in the morning, come back. I’m sure they have options, or even San Diego, so, or LA, and that’s how you can travel and a lot of me and my friends, did that when we didn’t have cars and yeah, and you don’t feel like you’re landlocked. And there are options, even though they are limited, bu there are options.
Aimee: And we will have a podcast on some of the ways to to use the Amtrak system, for like local things, like getting around to Irvine and Southern California. But I agree, I think, just for a little short day trips. Solvang is adorable. It’s such a cute little place I haven’t been in a while, so you’re making me want to go back. But yeah, I think the Amtrak ride there is, like you said, right on the ocean and the one down to San Diego is pretty close to the ocean as well. That is one thing Amtrak is known for is a lot of really beautiful drives. So even if you’re like, oh, it’s gonna take me an extra 2 days to go to Denver on Amtrak, or whatever, because it is extended time. It’s gonna be slower than flying. Is it going to be beautiful though? Are you gonna want to just relax for a while? Kind of see some of the U.S., that maybe you wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to see. That definitely is another option. Some people in the U.S., will take an Amtrak route just for seeing the sites along the way, and then they will fly back. They don’t even. They’re not even heading towards a specific destination. So that’s always an option to get out and see some of the beautiful landscapes that we have here. So Amtrak, we talked about flying on some of those cheaper airlines, but they sometimes send out good deals? Are there any airlines that you think that have good deals and like, ow could you sign up to to learn more about those and get more emails from them?
Sukriti: I think we’ve discussed this as we were talking about it. But I’ve heard you rave about Southwest a lot, and even though I haven’t signed up for their deals, I always just sign in as guest and pay and leave but I think I really like them just because they have the 2 bag policy. They’re more reliable than any like of the Spirit or Frontier, and they are cheaper. So that’s really nice. And I think you can sign up for Southwest credit cards or the newsletter, I’m not sure if they have one.
Aimee: Mmhmm they do.
Sukriti: Okay, perfect. So you would have that and then what else? How else can you sign up for those? Again, the the newsletter that you were talking about, that website looks pretty good.
Aimee: Yeah, there’s some Instagram accounts and stuff, too. I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I see them sometimes. So if you’re on social media, following certain airlines that you fly frequently, I know a bunch of my friends follow Southwest or also get the emails from them and they had a big deal on flights like 40% off flights to popular destinations and kind of the off season. So a bunch of my friends bought tickets to Hawaii and October because it was cheaper. And so I’m going to Maui in October because they had cheaper flights. It was like, yeah, it was 40% off. It was a crazy good deal. So southwest does that a lot? But some of the other airlines do, too. So if you’ve, you know, kind of flown something more frequently. Maybe you really like Delta signing up and creating an account so that they email you when there’s good deals and you rack up points for the miles that you fly with them that you can use for things in the future. I think those are always a good deals. A lot of times, they will have them around the holidays, too. They’ll have like a like around Thanksgiving in the U.S. There’s always deals on everything, and flights are flights and travel, or some of those too. So, keeping an eye out for just fun things you can do.
Sukriti: I was in Yellowstone this last weekend. It was such a good place. Oh, my God!
Aimee: Beautiful but stinks! Some some of the ponds really stink, but they’re beautiful.
Sukriti: It’s really good. I’m like this. I could stay here, forever. But yeah. So me and my friends were looking at flights from LAX. This was Delta, and then we didn’t book them for a long time but then, when we got to booking, the flights were expensive. So one of my friends was smart enough to look up Ontario airport and that’s how we like, it was 3 of us flying from here so we could split the cab fares. But yeah, I think it’s super nice and then all that deals and everything you talk about, there are people on Youtube once Instagram, all these websites that will find you good travel deals.
Aimee: Yeah, absolutely
Sukriti: Sorry i’m a little distracted. I got an email about being selected for a big fellowship. So I’m just telling
Aimee: Very exciting! Congratulations! That’s, now you have to celebrate by buying a a trip on Amtrak to go somewhere, or on a Southwest flight, there you go.
Sukriti: I just wasmessaging my PI on the side of like do youhave time to meet? And I see he’s marked on the email already, so I’m like, okay, he’ll know it.
Aimee: Very exciting. Yeah. I think one of the things that I’ve mentioned in a couple of podcasts is grad school can be really hard. You can get denied for a lot of things. It could be really stressful. You have moments of celebration. It is very important to not just be on campus all the time. When I hear students that are like, Oh, I’ve never really left Irvine. I’m like, what? What? What have you been doing? And it sounds so trapped. But I get it’s hard and public transportation isn’t great, but I do encourage people to try and get out every once in awhile and do something new and adventurous. It doesn’t mean you have to go with the big group of people. You could go take a quiet Amtrak to San Diego on your own, and enjoy the beaches that are a little different than our kind of beaches here and then come back. And it would be a nice, just relaxing trip for you.
Sukriti: Yeah. So I think I personally like traveling a lot like I’ve done a lot of travel growing up, also, my mom works like for the railway system in India. So she had, like free travel tickets every year for the whole family, and that just meant we would travel a lot. And so I think I get the travel bug from her. So everywhere I am, I think it’s just, I want to go out explore. And while a lot of people don’t necessarily enjoy that, or ike that, I don’t blame them because I think, as much as you should see a place, it’s just different people like different things, and some of my friends are more, you know, like for me, it’s more like, Okay, am I willing to spend this much money for that experience? And it’s mostly like, yes. But for some people it’s not the same, and they don’t have a good group of friends that they want to travel with, because everyone has different habits, and I think a good way to know people is see how they travel. Even my closest friends like I’ll get annoyed with them if I travel with them at times but yeah, overall, I think it’s good, even if you don’t have a car, go on exploring places because grad school can get tough. And if you have like an idea that you know, okay, I’m gonna take a break or travel. If you like traveling. It’s going to be super nice, and you can get back refreshed, because last year I traveled a lot for work for, personal stuff, and so the whole year I was living from trip to trip. My first trips done next one is there. So I just need to be like working for one more month to more months. That’s how like it just kept me going better. And this year I hadn’t taken a trip for like the first 6 months and I was like, Okay, I’m ready to fly, please.
Aimee: Yeah. Yeah. And I think you know you talked a little bit about it, budget can be really hard. So that’s purpose of this conversation is to help those of you that want to travel or see some of the U.S., that maybe you haven’t gotten to see before, or if your first time here, it’s a very big country. There’s lots of different things to see and there’s things for anyone. Right? You have big cities. You have more rural areas with lots of farms. You have a lot of National Parks, we’re gonna record one today, actually on National Parks and California State Park. So there’s a lot of really amazing things to see in the U.S. So, taking the time out to do so, I would encourage. If you’re not much of a traveler, try to find one thing that you’re interested in seeing here whether it’s Washington, D.C., the capital, seeing where the President lives or New York City, is a pretty big travel destination for a lot of people. So it can be alongside work or research or conferences, or it can just be a break because you need a break, so I always encourage you to take take care of yourself. while you’re in grad school. I think that was everything. Any last thoughts on travel deals or traveling in general.
Sukriti: Not anything that I can remember of the top of my head, but just to summarize for everyone. Sign up for newsletters, look up bloggers on Instagram or Youtube, and you’ll find good deals, sign up for credit cards before trips. Then websites like Southwest will have their own newsletter, and offers that they have. I think they had like $40 flights at some point that they were advertising. Then student universe is one good one that works for me. Amtrak is pretty good if you don’t want to fly, but you said you want to take the weekend to nearby places and I think, most importantly, take a break, grad school is tough. So don’t push yourself too much. If you feel like you need to get out of Irvine. Get out of Irvine.
Aimee: Yeah, definitely. Irvine is a beautiful town,
Sukriti: It is.
Aimee: But sometimes you just to leave it. And and that’s great to do so and and explore around. So well, thank you for joining me today again. I love talking about travel, and we’re going to have to chat offline sometime about all the places you’ve seen, because I haven’t been to Yellowstone in awhile and I need to know what it’s like now.
Sukriti: It’s beautiful. I’m happy to share pictures for the Instagram blog also, if you want.
Aimee: Yes, absolutely. Well thank you. Everyone for joining us. We hope this is helpful, and that you take our advice and get out and explore.
Sukriti: Yeah, thank you.