Who Are You On Vacation?

Does your life feel like a vacation?

If you don’t love your life…

…you’re not living the way you were meant to.

Did you know that when your life reflects the personality of your soul, you become more magnetic and manifest good things much easier?

Yet most people suffer through their lives waiting for a time to escape.

This is the conversation Anna Tsui (Bestselling author of Shadow Magic and creator of The Intuitive Business School) and I went in-depth on today, and it's such a magical, deep, enriching conversation.

Anna Tsui, has spent the last few years developing a process that helps people connect to the genius of their personal essence.

That is, the true personality of their soul.

As it turns out, it’s very similar to the energy we feel when we are on vacation!

She shared her discovery with me in this conversation, and she's also created a program where we get to take a deep immersion experience into our soul. Then—this is the best part—it's going to re-create your life as a vacation!

No plane ticket required.

For more details, just go here: https://www.annatsui.com/vaca

If you want to read and see photos of the Sicily trip Anna and I talked about, just go to the links below:

Pt 1: https://www.katychenmazzara.com/blog/ah-sicily-amunninni-aa-moo-nin-nee

Pt 2: https://www.katychenmazzara.com/blog/sicily-part2

Pt 3 (when Anna & I met): https://www.katychenmazzara.com/blog/sicily-part3

I share costs of the trip as well, and if you are taking a plane and going somewhere this Fall, I have some tips to keep your travel costs under control.

First, although studies have shown that experiences make us happier and richer, it's still important to still look at whether this is a vacation to splurge on or not. When my husband, his family, and I went to Sicily, we did NOT splurge, even though it also wasn't cheap. However, when my husband and I went to London and Paris for our 10 year wedding anniversary last year, we did splurge with business class, lie down flat, seats and 4-5 star hotels.

I also remember backpacking around Europe in my early 20s with a high school friend, and he brought his own jar of peanut butter, so that he didn't have to eat out for every meal. Instead, he would just buy a baguette and spread his peanut butter!

When you're traveling with others, it's important to be upfront about what you can and can't afford, so that there aren't any arguments or hard feelings about who spent what.

Also, know what you're willing and not willing to splurge on! I have a friend who goes to Paris every year and stays at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, which runs about $2K per night, when I just looked it up for mid-November. For her, she can't even think about staying anywhere else!

For me, I want a clean, nice place, but I don't necessarily need the Four Seasons, although if I won the lottery, I may splurge once to see what it's like to stay there.

Recently, I met a friend who has an apartment in Paris, and since she comes to Los Angeles often, we've talked about swapping her apartment for my back guest house, which is about the same square footage. Win-win, I say!

These days, finding a nice place on Airbnb, VRBO, or another home stay site may be a more cost-effective option.

Although I don't need to stay at the Four Seasons, I do love the experience of a really good meal, so I've splurged a couple of times on Michelin starred restaurants.

If you can pinpoint what is truly important to you, then you can save in the areas where it's not as important and splurge when it is important.

If splurging at high-priced restaurants isn't your thing, then I would suggest staying at a home where you have a refrigerator and stove, then going to a local farmer's markets or even grocery stores and cooking yourself a home cooked meal. If you'd rather not cook while on vacation, then look for local, small mom and pop places. The last time my husband and I were in Paris, we found a small Japanese restaurant that was delicious and only cost us about 20 Euros total.

Now besides our anniversary trip, I usually don't love to spend my own money on business or first class tickets. I like the luxury of sleeping in a lie-flat seat, but I really don't think it's worth the price, which is usually double, triple or even quadruple the amount, depending on the time of year you travel and what airline it is.

If you do want the luxury, then I would suggest discount airlines that offer this service such as Jet Blue Mint or La Compagnie.

Otherwise, start using your points! If you know a trip is coming up in a few months, or even better, a few years, get a credit card that will give you the maximum amount of points and maybe even bonuses if you use their travel service, meaning you get maybe 20% more for your points.

Finally, travel is usually one of purchases that you don't regret. You're making memories, and getting out of your own bubble to experience the world. However, you also don't have to break the bank to pay for your next vacation. In the same way that you would plan when to take your two or three week vacation (if you're outside of the U.S., this may be a month or two), I want you to start to think strategically about how you want to pay for this trip. You could start saving for it, or if you know you're about to spend a lot of money doing something, I would suggest using some point hacking to get you to your destination, without a lot coming out of your own pockets.

With Love & Gratitude,