Author Archives: Shelli

About Shelli

Shelli Stein is a health and fitness entrepreneur who travels the world in search of culture, food, and fun! Besides contributing to Travel with Grant, you can find her at Joy in Movement.

Happy Feet Make For Happy Travels

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Shelli. 1 Reply

There’s one essential must-have, must-take-with-me-when-I-travel item that I get tons of questions about. When I wear my Buff people look at me…….and then ask a question. But with Yoga toes, very few people actually see me using them because I’m home or in a hotel room when I use them. Whenever I talk about Yoga toes people are curious.

So let’s answer the most asked question: what’s the big deal about Yoga toes?

First let’s start with some humor. I actually had a woman ask me, “Can’t you just put marbles, or grapes, or something between your toes?” I suppose you could, but my answer to her was, “Why would you want to when you can use Yoga toes?”

Continue reading →

Travel Hacking Mistakes WE Still Make

Posted on April 24, 2018 by Shelli. 2 Replies

In life, there’s always room for improvement, that’s for sure. And that holds true for the travel hacking world that each of us creates. Talking about mistakes we make is never an easy conversation, but Grant and I had it anyway. Whether the mistakes are the once-and-we’ll-never-do-that-again type, or those reoccurring mistakes that we seem to make over and over again, shedding light on the mistakes helps us think through what we’re doing and perhaps more importantly, what those mistakes might be costing us in the way of miles and points. After admitting our mistakes and deciding to share them with you, Grant and I had a good laugh about it all. Then he went back to enjoying his chai latte and I finished off my cortado, and of course we vowed to wipe the slate clean and not make the same mistakes again.

Let’s Take a Look at Our Mistakes

Grant felt that maybe searching and booking award flights and hotels too far out is a mistake because there are often good deals if you wait to the very last minute. Continue reading →

Do you Still go to Movie Theaters?

Posted on April 21, 2018 by Shelli. 20 Replies

Do you have something special you do when you travel that gives you a greater glimpse into the local culture? I do. I go the movies! I really enjoy seeing a movie in other countries and observing their local movie theater customs. In Australia, for instance, people ate ice cream cones in the theater. So I had an ice cream cone, too. It felt really odd to eat a cone in the dark. And I made quite a mess. The first time I was ever asked to reserve a seat in a movie theater was in New Zealand. The movie goers in Portugal stay until the very end of all the movie credits. And as I mentioned here, in Lisbon I went to a theater that didn’t have any food or beverages for sale. No concession stand at all!

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I even enjoy sitting through movies in languages I don’t speak or understand. I’ve done that in Japan. In Vienna, I went to a wonderful old movie house. Those are the best. I also enjoy reading about the history of movie houses, why we go to movies at all, and in many cases how movie going culture has changed. Here’s an article I found written by a film historian and critic. It’s a fun, easy read!

Village Movie Theater in Coronado. Image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/78742693458651847/

Maybe you don’t go to movies when you travel, but do you do something that’s fun and unusual that puts you in the local scene?

Paid & Award Booking Tips

Posted on April 19, 2018 by Shelli. 1 Reply

Using our miles and points to book award flights is the reason we all spend hours upon hours of reading blogs, learning the ins and outs of airline programs, and attaching sticky notes to all our credit cards to make sure we use the right one for each purchase! But booking a flight using an award is not without its challenges. If you’ve ever used miles/points for an award ticket either for you or someone else, I’m preaching to the choir because you already know this but………there are tips I can give you that just might make your experience go a little bit more smoothly.

1. Booking one-way flights is actually a tip I received last year from a fellow blogger, and now I do it all the time. This allows for two different benefits. If you need to make a change, you only have to do it on one ticket and not on the roundtrip ticket. I find this easier to do. For me, whether I’m using an award or paying for a ticket, I now book the outbound and inbound separately. Maybe an even greater benefit is that when booking an award ticket you can use two different airlines, different alliances, and different sources of miles/points. This gets you thinking creatively, as seeing a trip as two different segments often means you’ll see possibilities you might have missed otherwise. Continue reading →

The Complete Guide to Southwest Airlines (Updated April 18)

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Shelli. 7 Replies

Update: This post was updated on April 18, 2018.

Southwest Airlines continues to be one of the most asked about topics here at Travel with Grant. We have so many posts covering all-things Southwest that we’ve created The Complete Guide to Southwest Airlines. Now you’ll have all you need to know about Southwest Airlines in one place. Of course, this guide will be a work in progress, and we’ll update it and add to it over time. We’ve organized the information under various topics so you’ll easily be able to access what you want to know about.

Southwest Fares:

Reservations and Tips for Flights: