A little off topic (sorry) but I know you guys will be supportive...2 really strange interactions in the last few days tied to this hobby.
1) We went to Disney in Jan, Boston in May (sister wedding), Captiva in July, VirgBeach in Aug, Universal in Nov this year. Obviously using points to cover pretty much everything... So one of my coworkers asked if we're going back to Disney in Jan. and I said yes and another coworker butts in and says "Psht must be nice to travel all the time....Some of us don't have that luxury." Now mind you, this coworker and I have the same job (certainly similar pay), and my wife doesn't work so we aren't exactly rich. What they do have is a Mercedes SUV vs my Honda Civic...all about choices people. I'm not going to judge what you spend your time or money on. BUT I've always said you can have ANYTHING you want, just not EVERYTHING you want, we just have different priorities, please don't judge me for that. ALSO that's not even pointing out the fact that we obviously work very hard on this hobby too in order to do travel for free, anybody could do it if they just tried.
2) Some of you may be aware that in addition to being obsessed with Disney and Credit Cards I also run in the "early retirement/FIRE" community too. I was at lunch with a friend the other day and they were complaining about work and how terrible it is at their job. So I said, yea sometimes it's frustrating, that's why I want to save up and have the ability to work less and travel more in my 40's and 50's, maybe even cut back to 3-4 days. They proceeded to tell me how that's so irresponsible and to stop working or cut back would be ridiculous. Apparently according to them, I should keep working and donate money to charities or something. That burns me up...I don't judge how anybody spends their money EVER but I wanted to say...maybe you should stop eating out so much, quit the $5 lattes and sell your expensive car and house and donate to charity. Or maybe you should get a second job since you waste so much money so that you can give that money to charity...Ahhhh
I have intentionally chosen to live an inexpensive lifestyle in an effort to save about 50% of my income. I've "deprived" myself of so-called luxuries because of this being my goal and I'm fine with it. I guess I won't be talking money with this friend anymore...
Sorry, just a small rant but it made me feel better to type it out haha!