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  • Splurging at Disney: Worth it?

    Splurging at Disney: Worth it?

    Some people might call me cheap.

    I’d call me frugal. And also very good with money.

    What this means is that while we vacation a lot (since it is something Saign and I greatly value), we vacation a bit different. I’m always looking ways to maximize fun while minimizing cost. I already wrote about how my attempt to save money led us to accidentally get Disneyland Paris annual passes. I’ve done Disney in 4 different countries, and I’ve NEVER done Disney the way I see so many do. I stay at AirBnBs or (in the case of California) my own apartment. I buy quick service meals. I don’t buy merch.

    L and I went to Disneyland Paris in January, and I decided to splurge a bit. I did three things I never imagined I’d do at a Disney Park. It was almost like I was a normal American visiting the park. (Not really, I STILL did not buy any merch). Below you’ll find our splurge activities and my opinions on if they were worth it.

    Stayed at a Disney hotel. I never in a million years thought I’d stay on property at Disney. It has always seemed like a huge waste of money to me. But Disneyland Paris had a really really good deal for their hotels for annual passholders in January. I had already booked 2 nights at a nearby AirBnB, and planned to take the subway into the park each day (one stop). When I got the email from Disney stating that they had hotel deals for passholders, I thought, “I guess I should check out the prices…” When I did, I found that it was just an extra $50 (USD) from what we were paying for our AirBnB to stay on property…as long as we stayed at the cheapest 2-star hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Santa Fe, and it was…um…a 2-star hotel. I’m SURE the AirBnB would have been nicer. The hotel came with 4 things that interested me: 1) theming, 2) character meets, 3) walkability, and 4) extra magic hour. I thought these benefits would probably be worth the extra $50. In the end, the theming (the Cars movie) was cute, but since the room was generally Motel 6 quality, I don’t think it was worth paying more for that theming. The character meets were kind of cool, but unfortunately happen after the park is open, so we had to walk 40 minutes roundtrip to meet the characters, plus wait in line, so it took up quite a bit of valuable park time and was, IMO, not worth it. The walkability was not such a perk. The train from the AirBnB is so much easier than walking from a hotel with a kiddo who is then going to have to walk around a park all day. Again, not worth it. (Though there are several hotels closer to the parks in which the walkability would be much better). BUUUUUT the big perk was the extra magic hour. People who stay in Disney hotels get to enter the parks an hour before regular guests. This was amazing. We got on rides in 10 minutes that often have 45-75 minute waits. Extra magic hour was GREAT, and definitely worth the extra $50 we paid…that was $50 TOTAL for 3 days of extra magic hour for two of us. So would I stay at a Disney hotel again? Only if I got extra magic hour for $50 or less. Otherwise, NOPE. Extra Magic Hour would not have been worth it to me if I had paid more.

      Went to a character breakfast. I went back and forth on this, and then finally decided to splurge by paying for an expensive character breakfast. In total, I believe that I paid 90 Euro for the experience (50 for myself, 40 for my kid). I knew the food would 100% not be worth 90 Euros for breakfast (When in France, it’s super easy to get a delicious pastry for under 2 Euros, there was just no way the food at an all-you-can-eat buffet would be 86 euros more delicious that a delicious pain au chocolat from a local boulangerie). But I HOPED we’d get enough attention from the characters to be worth the money. I was a bit worried about it; L isn’t one to push for attention, so I worried other kids would take all the characters’ attention. I needn’t have worried. Each character carefully made it from table to to table, making sure to take pictures, sign autographs, and play with each kid. It was wonderfully magical. We met Daisy, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Tigger, and Eeyore. L had already met all of the characters except for Tigger and Eeyore, and I STILL felt the magical experience was worth the cost. While I did very much appreciate the Mickey breakfast cake, which I ate approximately 6 slices of, the food was 100% not worth the price. But for the character time? WORTH IT!

        Went to an all-you-can-eat buffet for lunch. I carefully decided which restaurant to try, and because all I REALLY care about is dessert, I decided to go for Pym Kitchen. At DLP, Pyms is an all-you-can-eat buffet where most of the food is either tiny or large. But I was interested in it because it seemed to have the best selection of desserts. This one was 45 Euros for me, and 25 Euros for the kid. The food was…buffet food, so…meh. I mean, okay, but certainly not 45 Euros worth of okay. I did eat lots of desserts, and I appreciated that so many of them were tiny, so that I could fit more in my tummy, but do I feel I had 45 Euros worth of enjoyment of my food? No way. So the food was not worth it to me. But the experience wasn’t just mediocre from the food perspective. We were there in January. January in France. It was freaking cold outside. And despite having reservations, and showing up on time for our reservations, we were forced to stand outside in the cold for a good 15 minutes waiting for our table (and then another 5-10 minutes inside waiting). That was frustrating, but I hoped the food was worth it (but as I said, it wasn’t). Okay, but then…then…when we were done eating, we had the European how-the-heck-do-we-pay-and-get-out-of-here restaurant situation…I’m talking a good 15+ minutes of sitting there waiting and hoping our server might look our way so that I could ask to pay and get out. Now, generally France is WAAAAAAY better than most European countries when it comes to navigating the restaurant system. I don’t recall ever having to desperately wave down a server to order, pay, or anything while in France. Except at Pym Kitchen. It was like we were in Germany. (Germany is hands down the most difficult European country to get one’s check and leave IMO). I actually finally got up and went and talked to the person at the host stand to beg them to get my server so that I could pay and leave. So…we had mediocre overpriced food, a wait in the cold, AND then got trapped in the restaurant because our server would not even look towards me so that I could ask for my check. Was it worth it? Absolutely not.

          In conclusion: The character breakfast is worth it for 1x. (I would not pay that amount of money AGAIN since we’ve already experienced it). The hotels are NOT worth it unless they’re at a crazy steep discount. (I’m legit so relieved to be able to take the easy train in from our AirBnB on our next trip vs walking from that dang hotel). And my goodness, I’d prefer a quick service meal any day over our dining experience at Pym Kitchen. I guess that was a fun experiment, but I’m right back to my frugal (and superior) ways for the next trip.

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        1. Let’s Talk About the French

          Let’s Talk About the French

          Okay.

          I feel this needs to be written.

          Many, MANY Americans claim “the French are rude!” Or “They all speak English but won’t speak it to you!”

          I was 20-years-old the first time I visited France. I only experienced kindness and hospitality and empathy from the French on that trip. I truly can’t remember ANYONE being unkind to me during that trip. I also recalled that very few people I interacted with spoke English, but they would try desperately to help us and bumble through our interactions with great kindness despite the language barrier.

          I therefore, have always defended the French. I have always said, “Oh, no, I experienced a lot of kind French people trying to help and communicate with me even though I don’t speak French and they don’t speak English. I did not experience anyone being rude to me.”

          Do you know what people often said to that? They’d say “Well, that’s YOUR experience!” (Often these people had NEVER been to France, so while, yes, my experience was limited to one 7-day experience at the time, that was still a whole lot more experience than the people basing their opinion of French people off of rumor).

          Since that first visit at age 20, I had another week-long visit in 2016, and a total of 2 weeks in 2024, and now another week in 2025.

          While there are many many people who have spent way more time in France than me, I do feel that after spending more than a month in the country, I can say with some authority: The French are NOT rude.

          Now, I’m going to admit something here: I do make effort every time I travel to blend as much as I can. I speak more quietly (until I get angry; once I’m angry the American comes out and shocks and horrifies everyone around me…). I try to dress more in-line with how the locals dress. I learn the local customs and manners. In France this means that I start every conversation with “bonjour” and finish every conversation with “merci.” Do I say “hello” prior to ordering at a bakery in the US? Absolutely not! But it’s the custom in France, so it’s what I do.

          So, is there a chance that I am treated with more respect and kindness by the French because of the effort I put into blending with their culture? It’s definitely possible. Buuut I’ve also had so many examples of French people going above and beyond to show me care and kindness that it just does not make any sense to me that people would claim that French people are rude.

          I will admit, there are two things the French do pretty regularly that are completely rude to me as an American:

          Smoking anywhere they want. Seriously. You’ll be standing 2 feet behind them in line and not only do they light up, they are very inconsiderate with how and where they blow their smoke. With smoking I have found that dirty looks often make a difference, and they will sometimes move a bit farther away or stop blowing their smoke directly at me if I glare at them.

          Touching strangers in line. Most of the time waiting in line in France is okay, but every once in awhile they smash into me with their bodies while waiting in line, or if in a grocery store, they aggressively smash their shopping carts into me. When they do this, there is no apology and no recognition that touching strangers is generally uncouth. I found that glaring at people that do this seems to just encourage the behavior. They will rub up on you MORE if you dare to show displeasure with their behavior.

          So I’m willing to concede: There are two “rude” behaviors that I do regularly encounter in France that I would love to encounter less.

          Buuuuut that’s all I’ve got. Other than smoking and creepily-close-queuing, I have only ever encountered complete respect and kindness from French people. Not only that, I’ve repeatedly had French people go above and beyond to notice me and care for me.

          Here are a few stories of kindness from our most recent trip:

          We took a train from the CDG airport into the city center. I bought the proper train passes on my phone, and carefully swiped L through the turnstile at the CDG train station, and then swiped myself through the turnstile. We got off the train in the city and attempted to swipe our tickets to leave the station. I swiped L’s ticket, and she went through the turnstile. I swiped my ticket, and smashed into the barrier. The barrier didn’t open for me. I tried again. I tried again. I kept making sure I had the correct ticket, and swiping, and swiping, and no go. I looked around for someone to help. There were no train employees around to assist. I saw what looked like a counter off to the side, and showed it to L (who, again, was on the other side of the barrier). I told her I’d need to go speak to a worker over there. She was terrified and started crying (it was really far away, so I understand why she was scared). I then jumped the turnstile, which went okay, but it had a barrier on the other side of the turnstile, and when I made contact with that barrier, an alarm went off. Still no one came to help (or arrest me). I went back to swiping my ticket over and over, completely unsure of how to fix the problem, and unable to leave my 8-year-old child alone on the other side of the barrier in an unfamiliar place where she doesn’t speak the language.

          And then…a lovely Parisienne approached and said something in French. I responded in English, showing her our tickets and explaining that they wouldn’t let us through. She swiped her ticket and motioned me through the barrier. She then snuck through the handicapped barrier with her friend’s ticket. It was such an unexpected and kind gesture. She did not know me. I was just a stupid American who failed to properly use the train system. I’m SURE the locals don’t love tourists. But she saw a human in distress and chose to go out of her way to help. It was such a kind gesture. (Days later I realized that neither my nor L’s tickets had been properly activated at the airport. I’m still unclear on how either of us got through the initial barrier at the airport, or how L got through the barrier at our final station, but the reason I couldn’t get through is because our tickets was never activated).

          Story #2:

          There are lockers at the train station at Disneyland Paris. On our last day at Disneyland Paris, L and I decided to use these lockers to simplify going to our airport hotel in the evening. The only problem with the lockers is that they only take coins (no cards), and while they do have change machines in the locker area, the change machines will only take up to 10 Euro notes. I had a 20 Euro note and a 5 Euro note, and I was able to sift through all my change to come up with just enough (7 Euro) for a medium-sized locker. I then spent a good 10 minutes wrestling with our luggage and playing Tetris, trying different methods to get all of our luggage to squeeze into the medium-sized locker. If I’d had more change, I would have just paid for a larger locker, but I didn’t have the three extra Euro in coins that I would have needed to do this. I eventually was able to wrestle all of our luggage into the medium locker. Success! I slammed the locker shut and retrieved our ticket for the locker. L and I walked out of the locker room…and I immediately realized that I had locked my phone in the locker.

          I reentered the locker room, prepared to open my locker, take my phone out and all of our belongings out, lug all of our luggage back down into the main train station to buy a croissant or other item I didn’t want in order get enough change to return to the locker room and start the whole process all over again. I’d caused such a ruckus putting our luggage in in the first place, with repeated attempts to stack the items in different ways to make them fit, that the security guard immediately recognized me. In broken English, he asked me what I was doing. I explained that I’d locked my phone in my locker. He stopped me from entering my ticket into the machine to open the locker, and said, “No! You have to pay again!” He explained. He then asked me which locker was mine, and he opened it for me for free.

          Does this seem like the act of someone who is rude? I made a dumb mistake. This man went out of his way to intervene to help and show me kindness despite the fact that the error was completely mine. He didn’t have to help. He chose to help.

          There’s a whole lot of the globe left to explore, but when it comes to the places I’ve visited thus far, the French stand out as some of the most polite and considerate people I’ve ever encountered. The French are NOT rude.

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        2. A Month off of Work

          A Month off of Work

          I’ve written before about how taking a job as a flight attendant was a 6-figure pay cut for me.

          This was 100% worth it, because I went from being stressed almost all the time, to rarely ever being stressed. It’s hard to be happy when you’re stressed, so this career change was a huge boost to my happiness.

          I also had made really good financial decisions up to that point, and since I’m married and my husband was able to take over as the primary breadwinner, it was/is okay financially for me to make very little money.

          It does make my relationship towards work a little funny though. I often say “I’m in it for the layovers!” meaning, I feel I get paid so little that I’d rather work trips with good layovers than trips with more paid hours. I’ve written before about how being a flight attendant is the best job in the world, as long as you don’t need a job.

          All this to say: I have some guilt for bringing in so little money to the family, but also feel I’m paid so little that it’s not worth taking time away from my family to work. It’s a strange dynamic.

          This dynamic was made more strange when my company offered 1-3 month-long leaves for flight attendants in January, February, and March.

          There are a couple reasons I decided that taking a leave in January made sense:

          1. Travel plans. As a new hire, it’s really hard to get the days I want off from work. I had a 1-week trip to Paris planned for January, and taking a leave guaranteed I’d be able to go on my trip.
          2. Alleviation of stress for Saign. When I’m working, I’m away from home probably 45% of the time. L goes to school on the weekdays and is also reliable to be left alone in the house while Saign works, but it’s still hard for him to manage school drop-off and pick-ups and the daily care of our child with his work.
          3. Saign had a class scheduled. Saign loves teaching week-long workshops, and he had one scheduled for January. Me staying home meant he could go without us having a relative come and care for L.
          4. Home reno prep. With this big old pay cut, using our home as an asset would be a really good idea. We hope to one day turn our basement into an apartment. The only problem? It needs to be cleaned out. Staying home gave me time to work on cleaning out the basement.
          5. Monkeyshine season. January is the best time of year for a Tacoman to be home. I’ve been getting rogues every single day! (No glass yet). Many may think this is a silly thing to factor in, but I’m living a real-life Mario Brother’s life, collecting coins as a run through my town. It’s so fun!

          With all these factors in play, I took the month of January off. Do I think my family benefitted? Possibly. Did I miss working? Maybe a little. Is the basement cleaned out? Absolutely not.

          One thing did happen though: I’ve been part of the financial independence movement for over a decade now. The whole point of financial independence is to make work optional. This was just one small step for our family in remembering that we’ve reached a level of financial freedom that affords us the ability to work a little less. Saign plans to retire in 6-7 years, and when he does, I look forward to taking these one-month leaves to travel with him. I’m not sure I’ll take another month-long leave before that point, but it was pretty cool to try it out.

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        3. Working my Schedule

          Working my Schedule

          One thing that is a bit unique about being a flight attendant is that (for the most part) we’re all basically interchangeable. The company doesn’t care WHICH flight attendant works a flight, as long as a qualified flight attendant is there to do the job. What this means is that when a flight attendant receives a work schedule from their company, we know that we *may* have to work the shifts we were given, but there’s a good chance that we can swap the trips we were given for other more desirable trips, or trips that work better with our family’s schedules. I personally have NEVER worked a trip that was originally assigned to me.

          When I first started at my current company, I was constantly told by people senior to me that I needed to “work my schedule” by swapping trips, dropping trips, and doing everything I could to get a “better schedule.”

          What does this mean? Well, the answer is kind of complicated.

          Swapping trips has two options: 1) I can swap with other flight attendants. If I have a trip another flight attendant would like, and they have a trip I’d like, we can agree to exchange them. I used to post my trips for swap regularly, but I found that I was constantly getting contacted by flight attendants with bizarre swap requests (even when I had clearly posted the parameters that I would accept for a swap), and never was I contacted with a legitimate swap. Because of this experience (which kind of took a lot of mental energy from me), now I do not post any of my trips for swap unless I am somehow blessed with a Transoceanic flight, because for some reason flight attendants are more respectful about following requested parameters for these sought-after flights. 2) I can swap with Open Time. Open Time are trips that the company needs to find coverage for. At my old company, I could only swap like-for-like in Open Time, so I’d have to swap a three day trip for another three day trip leaving on the same day. My new company gives us the ability to swap trips for similar trips on different days so long as they feel it will benefit the company to allow it. This has been a wonderful change, because it sometimes means that I can swap out of weekend trips and onto week day trips.

          Dropping trips includes two options: 1) I can put my trips up on the swap board for another flight attendant to pick up. or 2) I can ask the company to take the trip from me. The problem with asking the company to take the trip from me is that they do it so last minute and only do it when they really don’t need flight attendants, so it means that I can’t easily find a more desirable trip to pick up at the late time that the company actually takes my trip from me. However, it can be helpful if I need to get out of work for appointments or other planned events where I’m not trying to work a better trip, I’m just trying not to work.

          “Working my schedule” essentially means swapping (in my case usually with Open Time) to get better trips, as well as trying to drop trips so that I have freedom in my schedule to pick up better trips that other flight attendants are trying to get rid of.

          For the first 6 months at my new company, I didn’t have much luck with working my schedule, though I tried desperately to do so. I sometimes was able to swap days around, but never could I drop a trip to pick up a better trip, and rarely was I swapping a trip for a better trip; I was usually swapping a trip for days that worked better for my family.

          Then all of a sudden, in October, I started being able to work my schedule! It started when I was having trouble sleeping one night, and I picked up my phone and looked at the swap board. I was able to pick up a London trip (very very hard to get), and was able to swap out of some of my trips into trips (in Open Time) that I liked better! I prefer trips with long layovers in cities I enjoy, and minimal airport sits, so these are the criteria I look for when looking for a “better” trip.

          Then, at the end of October, something crazy happened…I looked at my schedule on the company scheduling app, and an upcoming trip had disappeared! It was just…gone! It was a very exciting and confusing moment. Exciting because it freed me up to look for a better trip. Confusing because I’d been trying to get rid of trips and had been completely unsuccessful up until that point. I also still felt I should work, I just wanted to work a better trip. I then had to watch the Swap Board like a hawk, looking for a good trip to pick up to replace the trip that another flight attendant had picked up from me. And then…a Honolulu popped up, and I was able to go to Hawaii instead of working a 3 day trip with 3 legs a day. A working my schedule success story!

          The London trip I had picked up in the middle of the night wouldn’t work well for my family (it was happening when we planned to have exchange students in town), so I went to the swap board and found a flight attendant who wanted to trade her Paris trips for London trips. The Paris dates worked better for me AND included a 48 hour layover (the norm is 24 hours). I contacted her and she agreed to swap with me! Another working my schedule success story!

          Soon after I got home from Paris, I looked at my schedule and noticed someone had picked up my next scheduled trip – a 3 day going to places I wasn’t particularly interested in going to. Because someone picked that trip up, I then had the freedom to go to the swap board and pick up a Lihue trip. ANOTHER WORKING MY SCHEDULE SUCCESS STORY!

          I think this new found success is mostly the result of it being the off-season for flying. I don’t anticipate I’ll have the same luck in December or in the summer months. In fact, I got my December schedule and started crying when I saw it…it was that bad.

          But…I will survive December, and I’m stoked to finally be gaining some success at “working my schedule.” Unfortunately, it does require frequent frequent visits to my company’s scheduling app. But sometimes the pay-off to those visits is so very wonderful that I fear I may be developing a gambling-like addiction. But hey, if my “gambling” gets me to Hawaii instead of Indiana, can I really complain?

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        4. The Disney Mistake

          The Disney Mistake

          I made a mistake.

          What happened was this: In July I had a layover in Orlando. On this layover, I walked down to Disney Springs (to all you Southern Californians, Disney Springs is the Orlando equivalent to Downtown Disney). While I was in Disney Springs, I started feeling nostalgic. I love Disney! I had a Disneyland annual pass for 2 of the 4 years that I lived in Southern California. Loving Disney is not my fault! It is the most magical place on earth!

          Anyway, so I decided to look at annual pass prices, because nostalgia. Basically, the prices were 1) insane, and 2) irrelevant because you can’t even by an annual pass to the US parks right now, they’re full.

          A few weeks later, I got my schedule for August and was delighted to learn that I had the last week of August off! I could go on vacation! The obvious thing to do was to go someplace my airline flies direct to from Seattle that my old airline DOESN’T fly to. This meant: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Seoul, Tokyo, or Shanghai. Let me point out: HALF of those locations have a Disneyland! What’s a girl to do???

          Well, we chose France, and then things got a little out of control. First, I was accidentally looking at Disneyland ticket prices in British Pounds instead of in Euros without knowing it, so the tickets seemed nearly equivalent to Tokyo Disney prices. So I got in my head all these dreams about going to Disneyland for a few days and told my kid we were going. It was a few days later that I realized the prices were different than I thought, as I had accidentally been looking at the price in Pounds.

          So, now I realized the ticket prices were quite a bit higher than I originally thought. What to do about these unexpectedly high ticket prices??? The solution was obvious! Get an annual pass!

          Yes.

          That makes sense.

          An American with an annual pass to Disneyland Paris…

          The annual passes are SO CHEAP compared to the annual pass prices in the US. (<300 Euro for the most restricted pass), so the annual pass seemed like a great money-saving hack.

          But, I forgot to factor in a few things:

          1. Flights. I’m a flight attendant! I fly for free, right? Wrong. I fly for nearly free. But I still have to pay for taxes when I fly internationally. That’s $85 round-trip per person to get to Paris and back. Guess where I could have flown for 100% free? Orlando or Anaheim.
          2. Lodging. Guess what I don’t have? An apartment in France! I’m pretty good at finding good deals on lodging, but that’s still around $100 a night for every night we’re in France. I kind of…skipped over…this little detail.
          3. Time. It’s around 10 hours to get to Paris from Seattle. Guess what I don’t have a lot of because I’m working for a new airline? Flexibility in my schedule! Getting to France for a quick little getaway isn’t really an easy or viable option.

          But…I didn’t think about any of these little inconveniences or costs, so L and I have Disneyland Paris Annual Passes!

          And now we’re kind of locked in to Paris as our major travel destination for an entire year, because like I said: It’s really really hard for me to get time off work, and now I feel like we better make sure to go to Disneyland Paris enough to make the cost of the annual passes worth it.

          This might be one of the dumbest decisions I’ve ever made.

          But…it sure is magical hanging out at Disneyland!

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        5. How Travel Has Changed

          How Travel Has Changed

          Okay.

          My family is gearing up for a trip to France soon. As we’ve been getting ready, I’ve been prepping. Reading books, watching Youtube videos, and remembering.

          This will be my third trip to France, and each trip has taken place at wildly different times in my life, AND technology has made this trip quite different from previous trips.

          Here’s how things break down:

          First Trip Ever:

          Age: 19

          Travel companions: My roommate, Shanna, and my cousin, Jon.

          The flight: I scoured the NEWSPAPER for flight deals, and chose Paris because the airline tickets were pretty reasonable. I don’t recall if I then had to call a phone number to book, or if I booked online, but it is funny remembering that I would read the Sunday paper to help create travel plans!

          I was living in Minnesota at the time, so we had a long layover (in Canada, I believe) before our transoceanic flight to Europe. I remember that I was very very excited for the inflight movie, so I took a nap during the layover so I could stay awake during the movie! This was a terrible mistake for two reasons: 1) It meant I went from laying around in the airport to sitting still for hours on a flight. 2) This was back when one movie would be projected onto a big screen at the front of each cabin. For this flight, the chosen movie was Austin Powers. I was 100% not interested in watching Austin Powers, but was wide awake after being well-rested from my layover napping!

          Accommodations. Hostel. Except, Shanna and I took the train into the Paris with no plans at all. This was before booking hostels online was really a thing, or maybe I just didn’t feel comfortable doing that; I have no idea why we didn’t book before we went. We wandered the city with all our luggage (more on that below), and I have no idea really what we were doing to try to find a place to stay. Finally, Shanna suggested we going into a tourist office where they booked us the last two beds available in a hostel near Gare De Leon. However, I think Shanna’s bed was actually a pull out bed and our room was so crowded with other girls and their luggage, that she ended up sleeping in my top bunk with me that first night. We were able to upgrade our room as the days went by, and got nicer and nicer rooms.

          Luggage. Y’all. I took this huge framed backpack thing with enough clean clothes for an entire week. It was big and heavy. Shanna fit all of her clothes in a tiny Jansport backpack with a bit of Febreeze to refresh. Shanna did things right.

          Transportation. Train. We took the train from the airport into the city, and then bought the tourist train pass that gave us unlimited rides in Zones 1-2. This worked out perfectly as Gare de Leon was right near our hostel, and we could basically just wander the city with no fears of getting lost, because as long as we could find a Metro station, we could find our way back home. To this day, wandering around European cities is my favorite tourist pasttime in Europe, and it started with this trip to Paris and finding that there was no fear of getting lost since we had those Metro cards. It was also really fun as young Midwesterners to figure out and confidently use the train. Shanna remembered that her sister told her to always look for the final destination of a trainline, as that is how you know you’re getting on the train going in the right direction. (This is a tip that has worked out to be helpful in basically every city with a subway system).

          Food: I remember loving our hotel’s breakfast which was half a baguette, jam, and hot chocolate or coffee. I remember the hostel worker asking me if I wanted “hot choco-latte” every morning. As a result I erronously believed that “chocolate” in France was pronounced “choco-latte.” I spent that entire week going into patiserries and ask for “pain au choco-latte” as a result. Shanna tried to tell me that that is not how they said “chocolate” in French, but I definitely heard the frenchman say “choco-latte” to me every morning, so I thought it was the way to say it. It wasn’t until years later that I realized he was probably trying to say “chocolate” in English! I also remember eating a lot a lot a lot of chocolate e’clairs, and some really amazing fruit tarts. I remember being scared to go to French restaurants, because I didn’t understand the basic rules. Do you sit down? Do you wait to be seated? Do you tip? How do you read the menu? Is there a menu? HOW DOES IT WORK??? As a result, I never once ate in a French restaurant, and I remember eating lots of street food. I vaguely remember stopping at McDonald’s once, as for years I made a point of eating at McDonald’s in every country I visited, but I kept a journal during this trip, and per my journal we ate at McDonald’s many many times! It wasn’t that I wanted McDonald’s, I was just too scared to look like a fool in a French restaurant, so I ate where I knew the customs! So so sad!

          Information: I had a Fodor’s or a Frommer’s tourist book, and this is where we got information. I had also made a list of fun free things to do in Paris (gathering information from an internet search), which I printed up. There were some great walking tours in that book, but I also think I missed out on a lot because I didn’t always have information at my fingertips (I didn’t always want to carry that tourist book around with me, so we often went without information).

          Most memorable experiences: I remember loving wandering the Montmarte neighborhood! To this day, I love beautiful architecture, so I loved seeing Sacre Cour. I loved wandering the shops and seeing all the street artists out and about. Shanna and Jon both had their pictures drawn by some artists. I also remember buying some adorable Le Coq Sportif shoes, and I felt really proud that I knew my shoe size (I had sold Birkenstocks at the Minnesota State Fair the year before). I also remember looooooving a little strawberry tartlet that I got on the same afternoon that I got the shoes.

          Second Trip:

          Age: 34

          Travel Companion: My 2-month-old baby.

          The flight: I booked a flight on a budget airline using points. This was my first time flying a budget transoceaning airline. They didn’t feed us at all! And I’m stubborn, so I sat in that plane and ate all the snacks I had brought, and refused to buy a single thing on the plane! I had a very very successful time flying for the first time with a newborn.

          Accommodations: A 2-star hotel. This is when Priceline was big and had that amazing name-your-own-price tool. I loooooved using the name-your-own price tool, because when I travel, I mostly just care about location, and Priceline would let you bid on hotels in specific neighborhoods, so I was usually happy. I did NOT usually book 2-star hotels on Priceline (it was always best for saving $$ on 4-star hotels), but I was trying to save money. I hated this hotel. It was dusty, the walls were thin, and the carpet seemed waxy.

          Luggage: Remember that huge framed backpack I used to go to Paris two decades before? Well, I dusted it right off to go back! While I had learned a lesson from using the framed backpack on my first ever trip to Paris, and hadn’t used it again for travel after that trip, I pulled it out for this trip again because I had to be able to carry my baby and all her and my clothes and supplies up and down the subway stairs. This mean that I couldn’t use a rolling suitcase, and because babies do often require multiple outfits per day, I had to bring a massive amount of stuff with me. I then wore my baby on the front of me. It was ridiculous!

          Transportation: I purposely picked Paris for my first solo trip with the baby because I wanted to use public transportation (and not deal with a carseat) exclusively. However, for this trip I learned that I could buy the train pass that the locals use, if I just showed up with some small photos of myself. So, I got an unlimited ride metro card and rode around like a local!

          Food: At this point, I was much better traveled, so I did NOT eat any McDonald’s! I typically did boulangerie breakfasts, a sit-down lunch, and then street food or grocery store food for dinner. Unless I’m traveling somewhere that is incredibly cheap, one of my money-saving strategies is to have just one meal a day out at a restaurant. In the case of France, they eat so late that it worked very well to have lunch as my main “fancy” meal, as I didn’t want to eat dinner at 8pm!

          Information: At this point in time, I still hadn’t graduated to having data on my phone when abroad. I would connect to WiFi when I could, load up Google Maps before leaving the hotel and simply hope that it stayed loaded. My main plan was to eat and wander Paris, so I did some research on unique places to eat before I left the US, and used TripAdvisor once I was in Paris. Not having data on my phone meant that I could never research last-minute things and expect to learn the answer. For example, I didn’t know if there was a charge to go inside Notre Dame, so I didn’t even try. Then it burned up a few years later! I really wish I had been able to look tourist things up while i was out and about!

          Most memorable experiences: Traveling with that huge framed backpack on my back and my baby and a messenger strapped on my front was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever done. I remember trying to stay upright on the Metro train with all that baggage on me (because I feared if I sat down, I would be unable to get up, like a turtle trapped on its back), holding onto a pole while the train veered this way and that. That was the first and only time in my life that I thought, “Am I crazy?” and considered that I might possibly be completely confused about how to make good and safe choices.

          For YEARS I regretted that I hadn’t been in the Eiffel Tower during my first visit, so I made sure to get that done.

          I had a memorable and embarrassing experience when I thought the police were trying to scam me.

          The most hilarious experience was when I went to an old, old restaurant that Ernest Hemingway used to enjoy going to. I ordered the plat du jour, and they placed in front of me…tripe soup. TRIPE! Oh my word. It is 100% the grossest thing I’ve ever eaten. It was slimey, textured, chewy, and horrifying. I politely forced down as many bites as I could and left the restaurant (which interestingly had a squatty potty) as quickly as I could!

          Third trip (up and coming):

          Age: 42

          Travel Companions: Husband and school-aged child

          The flight: The plan is that we’ll fly with my carrier to France directly from Seattle. I got a bit excited about possibly flying first class there, but as time went on, first class filled up, so we’ll be in the main cabin. WiFi will likely not work for most of the trip, but we’ll have our seatback entertainment system.

          Accommodations: AirBnBs baby! I always search prices for both AirBnBs and hotels. More often than not, AirBnBs are cheaper than hotels in the areas we want to stay, and having laundry available is a huge bonus.

          Luggage: Okay. This is embarrassing. I am bringing one messenger bag and one carry-on backpack. That part is perfect and wonderful and I am usually really really good at packing reasonably. The problem? My backpack is stuffed to the gills and super heavy. Why? Disneyland Paris, yo. I don’t really know what the line is between being a regular old adult and being a Disney Adult, but I feel I’m starting to teeter towards the line. We’re planning to have 4 days at Disney, which means (of course), I needed 4 days of Disneybounding attire. This means that I’m bringing 4 full outfits that I don’t really plan to re-use! It’s really bad! But…I’m really excited to Disneybound! I think I’m becoming a Disney Adult!

          Transportation: Rental car and flights. We’re actually not spending any time in Paris (if we were, we would not have a car during that time). Train tickets are kind of expensive, so it’s actually cheaper for us to fly the longer distances (since I have airline employee flight benefits). There are trains all over France, and we could probably make the train work, but for three of us, getting a car isn’t all that expensive, and gives us a lot more flexibility. We’re getting really fancy in our old age. I think parking can be difficult in some villages, so I’m hoping we don’t end up regretting going the car route.

          Food: I will definitely still eat lots and lots of french pastries! I am looking forward to some lovely restaurant meals with my family, and with Google translate, I feel confident I will not make any tripe-related errors.

          Information: This is the main area where travel has changed drastically for us. We now have an international cell phone plan, so we’ll be able to use our phones as soon as we land in France. This has made travel 100% easier! I have done a bit of research online, but I’ll be using TripAdvisor, and googling information as needed.

          Most Memorable Experiences: TBD

          Travel has changed so much during my lifetime! It’s now easier to travel than it ever has been! Get out there and plan your next trip!

        6. My First Transoceanic Trip

          My First Transoceanic Trip

          Okay.

          When I was switching airlines, I was very very careful to say that my motivation for switching was the international flight BENEFITS. NOT the international flying.

          Why? I had no idea if I’d like working long international trips at all!

          I’ve always said that my favorite layovers are “any that are over 20 hours.” And my favorite types of trips at my previous airilnes were transcons and Hawaiis. (Transcon means “transcontinental,” or flying from one side of the country to the other). I preferred transcons and Hawaiis at my former airline because these trips typically meant one long flight, followed by 24 hours of hanging out in a cool place, followed by one long flight back home. Transcons are a beautiful work-hard/play-hard balance!

          So, while I knew that I preferred longer flights and longer layovers, I wasn’t sure if I’d like the REALLY long flights like were now available at my new airline.

          Well…two weeks ago I tried out my very first transoceanic trip. Here’s how it went:

          It started with the bane of my existence: Airport standby. (This is when you sit around at the airport ready to fly out at a moment’s notice, in case another flight attendant can’t make their flight). I was sitting in the employee lounge, generally irritated (because I hate airport standby), when I decided to click on the app my airline uses for assigning trips. It’s generally good practice to look at this app a lot, to see if there are any good trips to swap into. Anyway, when I clicked on the app, I saw that there was a London Heathrow trip that was leaving in <2 hours. Do you know what that means??? That means it’s going to someone on airport standby, because they have to give people who aren’t at the airport 2 hours to get to the airport. OMG. OMG. OMG.

          My airline has a “first in first out” rule when it comes to airport standby. What that means is that if a trip becomes available, it goes to the first person who got to the airport for airport standby. My airline also doesn’t really stack the airport with all that many standbys, so when I saw the trip, I knew it should either go to me or that it was possible that it would go to a standby who had gotten there an hour-or-so before me. As I was contemplating this, I clicked on the trip in the app…and saw…MY NAME!

          I stared at my phone in disbelief. I was going to London??? Wha???

          I called Crew Scheduling to confirm that I’d be going to London, and then spent the next hour trying to figure out how to do a good job. The problem? My new airline does position sign-ups by seniority. So…it’s hard for a newbie to prepare when I won’t know until I meet my crew what position I’ll be working. I did my best, reviewing galleys and service standards and other documents. I was most scared of something called the “Galley Position” whose job is essentially working as the kitchen organizer/prepper/master. In other words, their job is to make sure the guests get amazing quick service by making sure the food is cooked, plated, and lovely. In order to do well at the Galley Position, you have to know the order of service, the organization of the galley, and you have to stay super organized with counting meals and keeping everything in order. In other words: Things it’s really hard to do when you’ve never even been in the galley of a wide body aircraft or seen the service in real life! Because the Galley Position is so much work, it often goes to the most junior crewmember, because no one wants to do it. In other words: ME.

          So…I was scared. To get ready, I reviewed all I could about the service and the galley.

          I later realized that I had reviewed the WRONG service and galley. I thought the Galley Position is in the main cabin, when it’s in first class! My preparation did NOTHING to prepare me for the Galley Position!

          Thankfully, when I got to the briefing room and people were signing up for positions, a crewmember asked me if I’d ever worked galley. “I’ve never worked a wide body!” I exclaimed. He volunteered to take the Galley Position to protect me. The the next most junior crewmember volunteered to do it on the way back.

          I was SAFE! Safe from Galley.

          Working the flight was still a challenge, since everything was new to me, but it was also fun! When I got on, I had a hard time finding my safety equipment, and often had to clarify my role or where to find things. But, I was communicative with my crew when I needed direction or help, and they were kind and communicative back. I like doing first class service domestically, so it was no surprise that I enjoyed working the extra fancy first class on a transoceanic flight. I always show my genuine personality to passengers and am playful with them, so my sweet first class passengers all knew it was my first time working a wide body, and were understanding and kind when I made mistakes or had to ask my crew about how things worked.

          I usually don’t like working red eye flights, because the passengers fall asleep, and then it can get boring. But I didn’t get bored on the transoceanic flight because there was more to do than on a domestic flight. I like staying busy, so this worked well for me. This is how it goes: Drink and meal services in all cabins, including clean up. Then half the crew goes to crew rest, and the other half stays up to take care of passenger needs (but most passengers go to sleep during this time). During this time, I was able to keep busy by doing water and juice walks, check on passenger needs in first class, checking on lavatory supplies, and chatting with crew. After the first crew finishes crew rest, there might be another snack or meal service, or might not be, depending on the length of the flight. Then the other half of the crew goes to crew rest. When they get up from crew rest, there’s a final meal and drink service, and then you land!

          Crew rest was interesting! I got to go to a hidden little room under the main cabin where I climbed into my little bunk. I had worried I’d feel a bit trapped in the bunk, but I didn’t. The bunk has a curtain for privacy, and a reading light. I took out my contact lenses, and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited to be on my first transoceanic flight! It was still nice to have a little privacy and a little time to just be!

          After carefully making it clear that I’m at the new airline for the international flight benefits, NOT the international flying. I’m here to say, “I LOVE long international flights!” It’s so fun keeping busy. I really really enjoyed it and hope it’s not too long before I get another transoceanic flight!

          London is one of my favorite cities, and I enjoyed wandering the city as always.

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        7. What I LOVE about AirBnBs

          What I LOVE about AirBnBs

          I wrote awhile back about a truly terrible AirBnB experience in Osaka Japan. While I was in the midst of the chaos of this experience, I kept thinking, “I know I’ll use AirBnB again…” AirBnB has it’s fair share of flaws, and I do plan to write about the things that I hate about AirBnB. But I’m of the opinion that there’s a whole lot more to love about AirBnBs than to hate. Here are some of the things that I love about AirBnBs:

          1. Money saving. I don’t exclusively stay at AirBnBs. I always search for both hotels and AirBnBs in any area that I’m traveling to, and more often than not, it’s cheaper to stay at an AirBnB than at a hotel.
          2. Unique spaces. Through AirBnB I’ve stayed in a traditional cave home in Oia, stayed in a beautiful off-grid space in Mallorca, and stayed in a traditional Japanese home (okay, that one smelled musty, but it WAS an interesting experience rolling out our futon mats and moving the bamboo screens around).
          3. Multi-room spaces. Guess what? I don’t need to sleep as much as my kid does! I’ve had so many unpleasant experiences in hotels reading books on the toilet so that I could keep the room completely dark so my kid could sleep. With AirBnBs, it’s more likely that my kid can have a separate room and therefore my husband and I can move around freely after she goes to sleep.
          4. Laundry. I see you sillies with your huge suitcases for a one week trip. I prefer to travel with a carry-on sized suitcase if possible. With a kid, this gets a bit difficult because she spills and trips and gets her clothes dirty. But many AirBnBs have laundry! It’s awesome being able to just carry a backpack worth of clothes for a multi-week trip because we’ll have laundry available along the way.
          5. Getting into the goooood neighborhoods. Whenever I’m heading to a new city, I research where to stay in that city. Often time the recommended neighborhoods are super expensive for hotels, but reasonable for AirBnBs.
          6. Kitchen. One of the best ways to save money while traveling is to make sure that not all of your meals come from restaurants. With an AirBnB, we can make our own food and save a lot of money!
          7. Local help. Many AirBnB hosts will provide special information about where to go, where to eat, and what to see. They can often help set up drivers or tours if needed. In 2021, we visited a climbing area in Kalymnos, Greece in the off season. We quickly realized that because it was the off season, the restaurants in the area were all closed. No major worries, because we could cook in our AirBnB since we had a kitchen, but we did ask the host if she knew of any restaurants that would be open. She did not. Guess what she did? She asked the owners of a local restaurant if they’d open for us. They agreed! We had a private dinner in a local Greek restaurant, which simply would not have been possible without the help of our local AirBnB host.
          8. Little Extras. AirBnBs are more like to have special surprises that hotels don’t have. In Kauai over Christmas, our AirBnB host provided surfboards, boogie boards, sand toys, and snorkels. We’ve stayed at AirBnBs that provided transportation. I’ve been given little gifts like cookies, flowers, and other local gifts.

          If you’ve never tried an AirBnB before, I do think it’s worth a try; I personally would typically prefer an AirBnB over a hotel most of the time. Don’t worry though, there’s a lot of stuff that drives me CRAZY with AirBnBs…but we’ll leave that for another post!

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        8. Monkeyshine Season: The Best time of the Year!

          Monkeyshine Season: The Best time of the Year!

          Tacoma is often a very overlooked city. I’d say she’s kind of the Jan Brady of Washington State: Not as cool as big sister Seattle, and not as cute as little sister Olympia. I’ve lived in Tacoma for over a decade, and the city really has grown on me! We’re now entering the most special time of year to be a Tacoman: Monkeyshine season!

          What is Monkeyshine season? It’s the time of year when Tacoma becomes the land of treasure hunting!

          Over two decades ago, some glass artists got together and decided to create glass art to hide around the city for hunters to find and keep. This all occurred around Lunar New Year, and that particular year was the year of the monkey, thus monkeyshines were born! The artists have kept the tradition going for over two decades, and now community members have joined in by creating their own treasures to be found!

          The official monkeyshines are of two types made by local glassmakers:

          1). Orbs. These are the most sought after of the monkeyshines. They are hollow glass bulbs that are typically topped with medallion with a seal showing the animal of the year on it.

          2). Medallions. These are glass medallions that have a seal showing the animal of the year.

          These days, community members have joined in and leave “rogue” monkeyshines around town. Rogues can be anything. I’ve found keychains, marbles, toys, popsicle stick creations, stickers, coins, bookmarks, and red envelopes.

          So basically, around the time of Lunar New Year, Tacomans start combing the streets looking for treasures to bring home.

          Here are some important tips to help you in your search:

          1). Monkeyshines are always found in public spaces. If you see it in someone’s yard, it’s NOT a monkeyshine for you to take. I’ve found monkeyshines in parks, at libraries, outside businesses, and near schools.

          2). There is one big “drop” day when most glass monkeyshines are put out. I have ALWAYS found this to be on Lunar New Year. I’ve heard the big drop CAN be on other days, but I’ve never actually experienced it being on any day other than Lunar New Year.

          3). It is 100% worth looking for monkeyshines both before and after Lunar New Year. I have found two orbs total in my life. One was found several days before Lunar New Year, the other several days after. Some Tacomans claim that they all go out on the same day. They do not. MOST, but not all, go out on the same big drop day.

          4). Getting in on the fun by creating and hiding your own rogues makes Monkeyshine season so much more magical! We’ve started a tradition of making polymer clay creations that we bake to harden and then hide around our neighborhood, and it’s so very fun!

          5). The best time to hunt is in the dark. This one is very much just my opinion, but I’ve had the best luck finding monkeyshines in the dark. Hiders like to get out when people won’t see them…in the dark, so looking in the dark yields the best results in my experience.

          Etiquette Rules:

          1). Do not chase monkeyshine hiders. Ms Monkey (the queen of monkeyshines) has stated that some of her helpers have gotten scared because of hunters following them. If you see someone out and about and suspect they’re out hiding monkeyshines, just leave them be. Once they’re gone, feel free to look where you saw them go, but do not follow them.

          2). Only take one glass per year. This is to make sure that more people get to enjoy the monkeyshine fun! Some people say it should be one glass total for life. As a hard working hunter, I disagree! Every year I pour hours and hours into finding monkeyshines, often out searching in snow and cold, and always searching many days per week, and often several times per day. Despite all the effort I’ve put in, I have only one orb from my years and years of hunting, and if I find another, I’ll keep it. (I did find two orbs in the same year, so had to return one to the wild, because I am in agreement that it should be one glass per year).

          3). Rogues are fair game. I choose to implement a one-rogue-per-day rule, to give others a chance to find some, but if others choose to take multiple rogues, I won’t argue against it. We do trade-up in our family though! If L finds a better rogue, we let her take the “better” one, and then re-hide the old one.

          So, friends, get out and get hunting! It’s the best time of year to be a Tacoman! I’ve been home for the past 3 days, and found rogues every single one of them! The time to hunt has begun!

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        9. Things are Getting Weird…

          Okay.

          Hmm.

          I wasn’t sure if I was going to write about this, but…things are getting weird, and a little writing therapy sounds comforting right now.

          In April 2023, I spent $47 to fly from Tokyo to the US, and it was just so incredible. Can you imagine the high of getting to fly internationally for that cheap? I was able to do that because I’m a flight attendant. My family flew separately from me because they do have the same flight benefits on other carriers as I do as a flight attendant.

          I returned home from that trip and told Saign that I kind of wanted to try again for another airline…one in which my family would also get to fly from Tokyo to the US for just the $47 taxes.

          I thought Saign would say “absolutely not,” because training takes me away from the family, and because I wouldn’t be guaranteed a base in SEA, and because losing seniority will hurt, etc, etc, etc.

          To my surprise, Saign didn’t tell me I was crazy! He said, “Do it!” He pointed out that the whole point of this job are the flight benefits, so I might as well get the best flight benefits that I can.

          In October, I got a conditional job offer with a big airline.

          There are many reasons I think this is the right choice. Here are a few: 1) International flight benefits for my family (as discussed above). 2) I truly believe that I will be working for the best carrier in the US; the airline that I am switching to offers a great product, and since I like to do things well, it will feel really really good to me to be able to feel that I’m offering the very best to my passengers. 3) Variety. One of my favorite parts of this job is that it changes every day. New passengers. New destinations. New crews. New experiences. With a bigger airline, I’ll get more variety, and that is very appealing to me. 4) I don’t have much faith that my current airline will be growing and thriving they way that I think it needs to to stay alive and relevant in the years to come.

          Oh wait. Yesterday many of these factors got ROCKED. Yesterday, my airline announced that they are acquiring another airline. An airline that flies to Asia. An airline that flies widebodies.

          OH.

          Maybe my airline is going in a direction I like????

          I’m a little…rocked…at this point. I still think my new airline is the right choice.

          But I’m heartbroken about leaving my family for 7 weeks to go to traning.

          I’m very legitimately worried that I won’t be based in SEA at first, which means more time away from my family as I would commute by airplane to work.

          And now I’m wondering if my airline might be changing and growing in such a way that it might become the airline that I’d prefer to be with in 10 years.

          Maybe?

          Maybe not.

          At this point, I’m fairly certain I am switching airlines, but…things are weird right now.

          NOTE: Airlines have very strict social media policies, which is why I have never mentioned the name of my current nor future airline online, and I never will!

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