Travel – Physician In Numbers

What I Took Away From WCICON 24

I have just returned from WCICON24 (The White Coat Investor Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference) in Orlando.

I have been wanting to go to this conference since the first one was announced in 2018, and was super-excited to finally go this year. It didn’t hurt that I was worn out and looking forward to some time away from all the craziness at home.

I tried writing down a pearl from each lecture. It wasn’t always the point of the talk, and towards the end of the meeting, I skipped a few. I thought I might share them with you.

I added a few other thoughts about the meeting as well.

Hotels.com Has Become One Key

In the past month, I have been seeing a number of e-mails in my inbox about One Key. Apparently, this is a new rewards program that is lumping the rewards for Hotels.com, Expedia, and VRBO all together.

As a moderately enthusiastic user of Hotels.com for over a decade, I thought it might be a good idea to see what all of these changes mean for an occasional traveler.

I’m Off

Waves hitting rocks off the shore, with plenty of spume.

–to a much-anticipated vacation by the sea.

A Look Back At 2022

Happy New Year!

Before I start thinking about hopes and plans for 2023, I do want to reflect a bit on the year that has just ended. It ended with tough times, but I don’t want that to be the only thing I remember about the year.

A winged angel, with pink dress, blue overdress, and a white scarf. — This angel should be bringing tidings of joy.

The Flip Side Of Money And Medicine

I think about money and medicine a lot, and write about them often here. My writing usually focuses on the practice of medicine and saving money.

This post is a little different.

The past week or so has been spent away from home, watching other people practice medicine on my Dad, while I spend money like water.

While I deal with all the challenges this week has presented, I have had the opportunity to reflect on how my pursuit of FI (financial independence) has helped–or not–during this time.

Thoughts On My First Trip Abroad Since The Pandemic

It’s been a long few years.

Mr. PiN and I love to travel. Even after discovering FIRE (or, at least, the concept of cutting costs and saving more, to be able to leave paid work early), we traveled.

However, our last trip abroad was in 2018. We were getting close to paying off the mortgage, and we agreed to cut back on travel for a year to finish the job. 2020 was to be the year that we started traveling again; we all know how that turned out.

We have recently returned from our first trip out of the country since the pandemic started, and I thought I would share a few reflections.

Lessons From A Somewhat Sucky Staycation

I just took another staycation.

Mr. PiN and I went back and forth several times about staying home versus trying to get away; our desire to travel was up against an unreliable car and unreliable planes. We finally decided to stay put once I scheduled several medical appointments. I elected to call it a self-care staycation.

To be honest, it hasn’t been the best vacation I ever took. Since I am likely to be taking more staycations in the future, I thought I had better take away some lessons (again), and remember to use them next time I decide to stay home.

I hope that these may be useful to you as well.

Comparing Shoulder Season and High Season Travel

As you may recall, last summer Mr. PiN and I went to Maine (aka Vacationland) for the first time last year. We had a blast.

Since COVID is still affecting travel this year, we decided to go back, and see if it was just as nice as the first time.

The short answer: yes.

The other answer: it wasn’t quite the same.

The biggest differences related to visiting in the shoulder season, rather than high season.

For our international travels (back before COVID), we loved traveling in shoulder season. We were unconstrained by the school holiday calendar, and could find cheaper flights to destinations that had great weather and fewer crowds.

This year we found that shoulder season in Maine had some of the same advantages, and a few more drawbacks. I thought I would go through some of them.

Take More Vacations: A Book Summary. Part 1.

I have been thinking more and more about travel recently, though I am not sure the time is quite yet right for me. (The thought of being unable to enter the country if I have a positive COVID test–and thus missing work–is a real challenge).

While cruising the Internet, I found this book by the founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights. I was intrigued, and decided to get it from my local library.

Cover of book, with a plane silhoutted against the sun, rising between two palm trees — Goodreads link to Take More Vacations. Not an affiliate link.

Mr. Keyes was previously a journalist, and his prose is easy to read. His book is peppered with anecdotes about people looking for deals. Not unsurprisingly, a number of them find success using his website.

He has a number of tips for finding cheaper flights, some of which I have used before, and some of which were new to me. I’ve decided to take notes on the book, to refer to after I return it. It’s entertaining enough I might decide to add it to my permanent shelves, but in the meantime, here are the highlights of the first 4 chapters.

Building A Travel Bucket List

While on vacation with my husband, taking our usual daily walk, I asked him to think about something that has been on my mind for a while.

We are still young (-ish) and healthy, but we are getting reminders of our mortality regularly: his mother’s passing, his father’s decline, my mother’s surgery.

In the past few months, my parents have lost several friends and acquaintances that I had known for decades, and one of my local friends lost her mom.

Some of my patients are showing signs of decline as well. They aren’t quite family, but I still find it quite stressful.

I’m starting to feel a little pressure to make sure that I actually make it to some of the places that I always figured I would get to…someday.