The Girl Who Goes

independent, intentional travel

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A Review of the Sunrise Cog Train to Pikes Peak, Colorado

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Earlier this month, Matt and I went to Colorado Springs for about four days — one of our friends was having her wedding there, so it was the perfect excuse to squeeze in some domestic travel as we wrap up our time in the U.S. this fall. And when we told friends we were going to Colorado Springs, they had two questions: “Are you going to feed the giraffes at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo?” and “Are you going to take the Cog Train to Pikes Peak?

While I had been to Pikes Peak on my two prior visits to Colorado Springs, both times I’d driven up to the summit by car. But we’re all about unique experiences, so we decided to check out the cog train to Pikes Peak. [Read more…]

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Trip Review: Colorado Springs, Colorado

garden of the gods colorado springs

This past weekend, one of our good friends and former co-workers got married out in Colorado Springs! When she sent us the save-the-date, we were so excited that it was only two weeks after our wedding reception — it was easy to decide to stay in the U.S. at least until after her wedding. And it had been a few years since our last visit to Colorado, so we figured we might as well make a trip of it. So on Thursday afternoon, we flew to Denver, and we returned to KC on Monday night.

We had about three and a half full days in Colorado Springs, and we sure packed a lot in! Of course, we did some of the “typical” Colorado Springs things like going to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and Garden of the Gods, but I feel like we also had a few less-common experiences that really made our trip special. [Read more…]

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A Review of LEVEL Airlines: Boston to Barcelona

level airlines review

Over the years, I’ve flown between the U.S. and Spain on a few different airlines. Usually, I fly with Iberia, American, or Norwegian. But for our most recent trip, we tried an airline I had never even heard of before — LEVEL Airlines.

Usually, we try to travel during the off-peak seasons to find cheaper tickets, but we had a few reasons for needing to be in Europe this August-October. Not only were we applying for our Spain digital nomad visa and checking out our destination wedding venue a year in advance, but we also wanted to get engagement photos taken in Porto, Portugal. We accepted the fact that we were going to have to pay more for plane tickets than we’re used to.

However, we found LEVEL Airlines to be about on par with what we typically pay when flying between the U.S. and Europe. From Boston to Barcelona, it was $540.50 per person. We did have to use Southwest points to get us to Boston from Kansas City, but it was worth it for the cheap flight on to Spain.

Here’s what you need to know about LEVEL Airlines and my review of my experience. [Read more…]

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The Best & Worst Cities To Change Airports for Cheaper Flights

change airports - chicago

When we travel internationally — whether it’s to Europe, Central or South America, Asia, or elsewhere — we often find and book the cheapest flights from bigger cities to our destination. From Kansas City, where we live, there just aren’t as many cost-effective options. Typically, we use Southwest points we accrued in our former lives as corporate consultants to help us get from KC to our destination city.

Our favorite place to transfer is Boston (like we did for this Europe trip we’re on right now) because Boston only has one airport and we only have to change terminals, but a lot of big hub cities have multiple airports. And Southwest typically flies into the smaller airport of the two. Which means we have to plan the transfer into our travel day. Depending on the airports and cities, this can range from a minor pain to a major one.

The four cities we’ve transferred airports on a travel day are Chicago, Fort Lauderdale/Miami, New York City, and Houston. Here’s a review of what it’s like to change airports using public transportation in those four cities, ranked from best to worst, with ratings based on a few factors. [Read more…]

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How To Transfer from Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL) to Miami Airport (MIA)

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The Tri-Rail Train helps you transfer from Fort Lauderdale to Miami airport.

Somehow, more than five years after quitting my corporate job that helped me rack up hundreds of thousands of Southwest Airlines points, I still have points left. And I’m still using them to my advantage. You might know by now that we typically use the Southwest points to fly for free from Kansas City to a bigger cities with better direct flights. So when we went to Costa Rica in April, we flew from Kansas City to Fort Lauderdale for free, and then booked our actual flight to San José from Miami.

But we did have to transfer airports: from Fort Lauderdale to Miami. With more airlines offering layovers at different airports in the same city/region these days, it’s important to know how to get from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, or vice versa, most efficiently.

So here’s what you need to know about transferring airports between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. [Read more…]

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A Review of SAS Airlines: Chicago to Copenhagen to London

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In February, I set off “across the pond” for the second time this year to visit London with my friend Hanna. We all know that flying to Europe isn’t cheap, so when it was time to look for flights, I tried to find the best flight for the best price.

In this case, it meant selecting Chicago as my origin because that’s always cheaper than flying from Kansas City, where I live. Using Southwest points to fly from KC to a larger city is one trick we use pretty frequently to get cheaper flights. And when I found a round-trip flight from Chicago to London — with a layover in Copenhagen — on SAS Airlines, it was a price I couldn’t pass up: just $400.

It was my first time ever flying with SAS Airlines, and it wasn’t an airline I knew much about. So if you’re thinking about taking a trip with them, here’s my review of SAS Airlines. [Read more…]

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A Review of Porter Airlines: Boston, USA to Quebec City, Canada

porter airlines plane

As I’ve mentioned here before, Matt and I have recently delved into the world of travel credit cards. No, we aren’t going into debt just to get free flights. (I don’t recommend anyone do that, obviously.) But we have used our credit cards to enhance our travel strategy. For example, with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card — our new go-to — we can get 5x points on any travel we book through the Chase travel portal.

When it was time to book our flights for my 30th birthday trip to Quebec City, Canada, we used a couple of our tried-and-true travel strategies in conjunction: fly from Kansas City to Boston on Southwest points, then book a separate flight from Boston to Quebec City. The whole thing ended up a lot cheaper than if we’d booked from KC to QC on one ticket. And, of course, we booked the Boston to QC flight using Chase travel.

But the big surprise was for the cheapest flight option we found: a company called Porter Airlines. [Read more…]

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All About the 4T Trail in Portland, Oregon

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Part of the 4T Trail experience

One summer, Matt and I flew up to the Pacific Northwest for a trip with a group of his college friends. After a few days in the mountains near Cougar, WA, we headed to Portland to hike the 4T Trail. I’d never heard of it before (not surprising) but Matt’s friends who live in Washington, Josh and Mackenzie, had done it before. So they took us to do it.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 4T Trail in Portland. [Read more…]

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Trip Review: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

milwaukee skyline

This post is just a tad bit overdue, but a glimmer of hope about moving back to Spain is giving me new motivation to write again. 🙂 At the beginning of August, Matt and I took a road trip from Kansas City to Milwaukee. We went to a wedding about an hour outside of Chicago, but we didn’t want to just turn around and drive home. So we decided to spend a few days in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — because Matt’s sister lives there! So we had a free place to stay.

Also, one of my new friends that I met during my summer soccer league, Anna, just moved to KC from Milwaukee! We met up for coffee and she gave me a bunch of tips and places to see before we went, which was super helpful. We weren’t there for very long, but I feel like we still packed a lot into our visit. [Read more…]

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5 Breweries in St. Louis That Aren’t Budweiser

breweries in st. louis - feature

Hi! It’s me, Cathy. I recognize it has been a pretty long time since I last wrote anything. That’s just because I didn’t have anything to write about 😬 Times like this, I really miss my old life in Spain where there was always something to write about… and I admire my past commitment to posting something new every 10 days…

Anyway, more travel is in my immediate future! Later this month, Matt and I are driving up to Milwaukee for a few days. And then when we get back, we’re flying up to spend a week in Washington/Oregon with one of his college friends! So, more to come. But for now, we’re here to talk about breweries across the state from us in St. Louis, Missouri. [Read more…]