ABOUT US
It all started in Albany, New York. Yes, Albany. Neal and I were both broke young medical students who met at a bar. Both of us were California transplants working our way back to the best coast—I mean west coast—but had years left of schooling when we met. The lack of time and shoestring budgets didn’t really allow for much international travel, and to be honest, we didn’t have a huge travel itch at that time of our lives.
My travel pedigree was made up of family vacations to India, Hawaii, and a few Caribbean cruises.
Neal’s backstory was quite similar, though he did get to backpack through Europe after college for two months. That trip really showed him what the world has to offer. Despite having to sleep in hostels every night, and having to skip meals in order to buy beer, he realized that travel truly can be a life changing experience.
Our first trip together was to Paris—it was my first time in Europe, and for the next eight days, we walked, ate, and drank our way through the city. I fell in love with the City of Lights. I loved the breezy, carefree, say-yes-to-anything person I became. I came home refreshed, revitalized, and couldn’t wait to plan our next adventure.
In the three years that followed, we traveled through four continents that included kayaking through the fjords in New Zealand, wine tasting in Bordeaux, and attempting to surf in Costa Rica. We wanted the fun to keep going, but we knew we would have to learn to optimize how we traveled because we made peanuts as residents. After endless hours of research, we knew that using the right credit card under the right circumstances could help us achieve our goals. Literally the same day we finished our residency training, we hopped on a plane to spend a month traveling in style across southeast asia by using a combination of credit card points and savings.
After finishing residency, Neal and I consciously decided that travel would be a priority in our time off. Kids were never really on my radar, and he never pushed it. We wholeheartedly embraced our DINK (dual income no kids) lifestyle: taking six weeks off a year to travel internationally. We finally had the time and money to explore the world, and we took full advantage of it. Planning our next trip became a high for both of us. We chased the thrill of finding amazing credit card points deals for flights, discovering incredible properties to stay in, and getting reservations at some of the world’s best restaurants. We got to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat and watch the sun set in the Serengeti. We were able to walk through the Valley of the Kings and float in the Dead Sea. We celebrated the winter holidays at Christmas markets all over Europe. So, when we decided to have a kid, I was so worried that our adventures would end.
People always jokingly told us that our travel days were over. We have so many friends like us that, after having kids, haven’t really traveled since. It’s too hard, they say. It’s just parenting somewhere else, they say. They won’t remember it anyway, they say. Well, I refuse to let that be my new reality. Yes, it’ll be hard. Yes, there will probably be some bad days. And yes, Jai may not remember it. But we will. I want to reframe traveling with a kid from being hard and daunting to being approachable, exhilarating, and fun, quite frankly. We’d love to take you along for the ride.
