Frequent Flyer

I am an impulsive person - or at least it seems that way. I'm actually not as impulsive as a I may seem to others. Really, I think about decisions a lot- almost obsessively - but I don't always vocalize my thoughts, and sometimes I'm not even fully aware that I've been tossing the idea around in my head. So I know that it often makes it look like I made an impulsive decision.

Take today, for example. I just booked a flight to Milwaukee and I'm leaving at 9:30am... tomorrow. My nephew's birthday is Thursday and I'm going to surprise him.

But really, I've been thinking about this for weeks. I wanted to visit, but flights are expensive. Plus, I didn't know if I would have a job, so I didn't want to make plans too early. Unfortunately, the closer to departure, the higher the price of the flight so it quickly became cost prohibitive and I didn't think I would be able to do it.

However, I do have frequent flyer miles.

A little known travel secret - sometimes it is possible to book last minute trips for a minimum number of frequent flyer miles, especially in the middle of the week. If the flight isn't full, airlines would rather fill the seats than leave them empty.

So I'd been tossing around the idea of visiting for a while, but didn't think it was possible. Then my husband told me he was going to be out of town in a couple of weeks, and I thought, "Hmm, maybe I can go somewhere too." I started looking at flights to Milwaukee but realized the timing of the trip probably wasn't great because my nephew would be starting school. That change in schedule would be disruptive enough in his life without my visit. So I started thinking about this week again.

Last night, my husband and I started planning some other trips so I was fooling around on the travel websites. I thought about this week again, and decided to check on flights using my miles. I was shocked to see that I could book a last minute roundtrip flight for the minimum number of miles and decided that was a good enough deal for me to go. So in less than 24 hours, I'll be in Milwaukee!

I'm very lucky to have these options available to me. I love having the freedom to just pick up and go, and I love having the resources to be able to do it. I try to be responsible with money so I'd never drop $1000+ on a last minute flight unless it was absolutely necessary. But I flew a lot last year and accumulated a lot of miles and I think a trip like this is a perfect excuse to use those miles. I wouldn't be able to do this if I wasn't a housewife.

I'm so excited to give my nephew his present in person and welcome him to the world of Harry Potter!