Nice to Meet You!
Hi! My name is Rachel, and I am a lover of all things travel, organization, and planning from Dallas, Texas.
I planned my first trip when I was 14 years old, which was a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral (yes, my parents shockingly let their teenager make actual decision about our annual family vacations!).
I discovered that, for me, researching new destinations and dreaming about future travel made actually visiting even more special. From that point on, I filled countless binders with vacation ideas, reviews, notes, and potential itineraries.
To follow my passion, I left my corporate job and pursued travel full-time… NOPE! I work a 9-5 job at Southwest Airlines which I love, have limited vacation time, and follow a budget – but that doesn’t stop me from adventuring around the world! It just takes a little bit of planning.
It is a privilege to be able to explore God’s spectacular creation – sometimes with my husband, sometimes with friends or family, sometimes on my own, and I am thrilled to be able to share what I have learned through my adventures (and mistakes!) with you.
Travel philosophy
I have two simple goals for every trip I take:
1. Have the most fun
2. Don’t break the bank
Because I have a set number of days off of work each year, I try to pack as much fun as I can into my trips. It’s impossible to do this without spending time discovering my destinations in advance and having a pretty good idea of not only what I want to see and do once I get there, but also where things are, how to get from point to point, whether I need reservations, and the list goes on.
On the financial side, I have always been conscious of the balance between experiences and cost. They key is prioritizing what’s most important to me so I can stick to my budget – I’ll spring for a quality AirBNB or a fun resort rather than a hostel with no question, but I have skipped lunch multiple times when I knew I could eat for free later when I got back on the cruise ship!
Fun Facts
First time on an airplane:
I was just three weeks old! I flew to Texas for Thanksgiving to meet my grandparents.
Top three trips (so far!):
1. Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Parks in Wyoming
2. Cruise to Greece and Italy
3. Banff National Park in Canada (next time, I’d love to go up to Jasper as well!)
Favorite travel memory:
Watching the Hubbard Glacier calving (gigantic chunks of ice breaking off and falling into the sea) was pretty phenomenal. I visited Alaska on a smaller cruise ship, which allowed us to get much closer to the glacier than the megaships are able to. We even got to walk out on the bow of the ships (which is almost never allowed) for amazing 360-degree views of this powerful force of nature.
Worst travel experience: Despite any amount of planning, sometimes issues still arise. Without fail, I always get lost at least a few times trying to find my way around foreign cities on public transportation, and I have spent multiple hours on more than one occasion trying to get on the correct train or find the right bus stop.
But the most frustrating has to be taking an overnight train ride from Vienna to Rome. We were packed into a tiny train car with terribly uncomfortable seats (all of the sleeper cars were sold out) for 12 hours, attempting (and failing) to sleep… while also trying to avoid touching the strangers who were shoved in there with us and worrying about whether someone was going to steal our luggage if we did fall asleep!
Plus, the tickets were expensive – we probably wasted a couple hundred dollars and a LOT of time by taking this route instead of just booking a cheap flight!
Ultimate dream destination:I would spend a month or so traveling around New Zealand, hopefully doing a lot of hiking. And if I have already flown all that way, I might as well head over to French Polynesia or Fiji for a little relaxation!
My Background
I went to college in 2008 (at Baylor University in Waco, TX) when the US was headed into a recession, so I majored in accounting because I knew that field would give me a good chance of landing a stable job. I interned at Southwest Airlines, started my career at a public accounting firm, and returned to Southwest’s audit department a couple of years later.
Now, I work with the team that sources the hotels and transportation for Southwest’s Flight Attendants and Pilots while they are out on their trips, and it’s such an interesting world to be a part of! I have no plans to quit my job, and for many people, leaving their 9-to-5 to travel more isn’t realistic. I love showing others that it’s possible to take trips and have amazing experiences regardless of work schedules.
