Ramit’s 5 rules for travel

Over the years my wife and I have developed our own rules for travel. To view this email as a web page, [click here]() {NAME}, Over the years, my wife and I have developed our own rules for travel. We found ourselves traveling for months at a time to India, Japan, Thailand, Italy, Kenya, etc, and naturally we started to create our own personal rhythms for travel. These travel rules help us decide: - Which hotels are worth it, - How much to tip, and - How to avoid the usual “touristy” stuff everyone else does If you want to use money to create magical travel experiences, read on. And remember...these are my travel rules, just like my Money Rules, which make everyone mad. I want you to develop your own! --------------------------------------------------------------- Today’s newsletter is sponsored by [DeleteMe]() [DeleteMe]() DeleteMe is a subscription service that will remove your personal information that’s being sold online. Your name, your phone number, your address—all of it. This is a service I personally use. I love it and I recommend it to all of my friends and family. DeleteMe has reviewed 4,604 listings for me and removed dozens of pieces of personal info. Go to [joindeleteme.com/ramit]() for 20% off a plan for you or your entire family. To access deals for all of our amazing sponsors, go to [iwt.com/sponsors]() --------------------------------------------------------------- Ramit’s 5 travel rules continued… Rule #1: 4 nights minimum The ultimate luxury is time with the people you love. 4 nights minimum gives us time to slow down and enjoy wherever we are. A few years ago, I was staying at Aman Kyoto and I went for a walk with the general manager (I always do this at luxury hotels, which gives me a chance to ask how they run their business). I asked him what his clientele was like at Aman vs. Ritz Kyoto, where he used to be. He said at Ritz, if someone had to wait in line for 10 minutes, they might get a little irritated. After all, that’s a luxury hotel and you really shouldn’t have to wait in line. At Aman, he said, “there are no lines” because they only have a handful of rooms. And even if someone had to wait for something, they’d just say, “text me when it’s ready” because they’re typically not in a rush. On average, they stay for longer than Ritz clients. Time is the ultimate luxury. So we give ourselves 4 nights minimum. Rule #2: Business class for flights over 4 hours The short answer is I like it, I can afford it, and it removes having to make a decision. But the way I got to this rule took a long journey. When I was younger, I used to scoff at the people sitting in front of the plane. ‘Stupid people,’ I would think, ‘wasting their money paying 4x the price to get to the same destination.’ I wish I had been more curious. What kind of person would spend this kind of money on an airplane seat? Why? What would it take for me to be able to do that? Would I even enjoy it? That’s part of my Disparagement-To-Curiosity mental model, which is one of 30 that I share with you in my [Success Triggers program](). At a certain point, I could afford to fly business class and I liked it. Making this rule simply removes decision-making. If I’m flying 2 hours, I don’t really care which seat. Over 4 hours? Business class. It’s binary and simple. Note that I don’t do the same for things I don’t care about. I wouldn’t say, “get the best paint” because I don’t know anything about paint, or care. But I fly a lot and it’s important to me. I went further and documented the exact airlines and exact seats and even times that I fly so my assistant could use it in our travel protocol document. If you want to hire an assistant to delegate your life and save 20+ hours/week, get [Delegate & Done](). Rule #3: Start with a city, end with a resort I learned this on our honeymoon, which was 6 weeks long and spanned Italy, Kenya, India, and Thailand. We worked with travel planners on a complex itinerary and they taught us some clever tricks. One of them: Start with a city -- with its activities and food tours and sights -- and end with a beautiful resort where you can reflect and slow down. We took this and dialed it further: - Spending: We’ll usually cut back on hotels in cities since we’re out most of the day. There are a few exceptions, like one of my favorite hotels, Aman Tokyo, but for the most part, city hotels aren’t especially exceptional and we just need them to be functional. But for resorts, we splurge - Emotional cadence: Now we always think about the emotional journey of our travel. I’ve always done this with our programs, like Earnable and Dream Job, where my team and I are intensely aware of our students’ emotional journey (excited, nervous, daunted, skeptical, overwhelmed, first win, etc). Now we do the same for our travel, starting with the very minute we land at the airport all the way to getting home. Rule #4: Leave a $20 tip per night for housekeeping [Tip] $20/night, minimum, for housekeeping. That’s our rule. We tip so many people in life, but the talented people from housekeeping are invisible to us -- and often paid the least. Cass and I sat down during COVID and decided we wanted to tip more, especially for the people who were putting themselves at risk as delivery drivers. Let’s take an example. Say you go through [my Journal]() and you realize that part of your Rich Life is being generous. Great! Now where does that show up in your financial system? Here’s how it might work: If we mapped out tipping, say, $5,000/year, that’s $420/month, or about $100/week. That’s a LOT! For us, that means tipping generously. (Your numbers will vary.) Picking a set amount is also easy. It could be $20/night, $10/night, whatever. It’s meaningful and it alleviates decision making. We might tip more, but we never tip less. And it’s per night, since housekeeping teams change. We love being generous and we love building generosity into our travel rules. Rule #5: Add 50% to the hotel sticker price to get the true rate If I see a hotel room that costs $300/night, I calculate the actual price at $450/night. That’s because I always account for Phantom Costs, including 38% taxes, dining and drinks, and any other misc fees (massage, etc). Now you can see why I’m fanatical about accounting for Phantom Costs in your car and house, where they really add up. This helps me get a realistic picture of our spending. I never want to be negatively surprised with spending. If anything, I want to be overly conservative and end up with more money than I projected. *** A final note on my travel rules… Remember, these are MY travel rules. I never would have had these rules in my 20s, and they will be different in my 50s. If you have kids, yours will certainly be different. What I hope you take away is being extremely intentional about the things that are important to you, and ultimately developing your personal point of view. Now, my question for you: If you created your own travel rules, what would they be? [Signature] P.S. This week on the podcast: “I feel like the parent in our marriage, and I HATE it.” Check out the lastest fascinating and emotional episode [here](): ["Our parent/child dynamic has to stop"]()   You may be new to IWT. Here's all the stuff we offer [Programs]() [Podcast]() [Netflix show]() [Books]() [Check out our website for more]() Follow Ramit [ig]() [fb]() [tw]() [yt]() [pc]() Was this forwarded to you? Sign up [here](). This email was sent to [{EMAIL}](). If you no longer wish to receive these emails you may [unsubscribe]( at any time. 548 Market St #89946 San Francisco, CA 94104-5401