Hi all! Today’s blog post is a bit of a serious topic, but it’s one that I think is really important. A couple of weeks ago, there was a hot air balloon accident at Teotihuacan — which left 12 people with (thankfully!) non-life-threatening injuries. Flying in a Teotihuacan hot air balloon outside Mexico City is one of my favorite travel experiences I’ve ever done, but I feel it’s important to stay transparent about accidents that can happen when it comes to the topics I write about on here.

Over the last three years, there have been three experiences I’ve written about which have required updates for full transparency about accidents: the hot air balloons at Teotihuacan, and the cable cars/teleféricos in Medellin and Quito. While I made the updates to the individual posts at the time of the incidents, I wanted to mention them here as well. So… here’s the full scoop on each of the three situations. [Read more…]

One year ago, we were on our first visit back to Kansas City after moving to Spain. And then our HVAC system broke.

After getting a few quotes for replacement, we decided we’d make the best of a bad situation and open a new credit card. We’d been considering the CapitalOne Venture X for a while, and spending $10,088 on the new HVAC would allow us to instantly achieve the opening bonus of 75,000 miles. So we took the plunge.

Now, one year later, the CapitalOne Venture X card has become our main credit card for all of our joint finances. But is it worth the $395 annual fee? Keep reading for my verdict. [Read more…]

While I mentioned a few weeks ago that our days flying Southwest Airlines are probably over for good, my husband Matt had more to say, especially when it comes to our Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards. So here’s Matt’s second-ever guest post for The Girl Who Goes. Let us know what you think! – Cathy

Hi all! So, just to start off — yes, Cathy and I both have our own Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards. Cathy has the Rapid Rewards Plus, and I have the Priority, which have annual fees of $69 and $149 (an increase from $99 in 2024).

While we are no strangers to credit cards with annual fees, usually we feel as though we are actually getting more benefit than what the fee costs. Priority Pass lounge access alone with our CapitalOne Venture X card has made long travel days significantly more tolerable.

With our Rapid Rewards cards racking up points — as well as the generous opening points bonuses — we were making good use of the points… until we weren’t. The reasons below are why we decided to cancel our Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards.

Southwest Airlines Baggage Policy Changing on May 28

At the time of writing this, you still get two free checked bags with Southwest — but you can kiss that perk goodbye on May 28, 2025.

While both of us are big believers in carry-on only travel, we have definitely used this perk in the past. When I’ve gone to Denver to go snowboarding with friends, this was a cheap way to be able to pack all of my clothing in my carry-on, and be able to bring my snowboard at no additional cost.

We also used this perk when we were our way down to Quito, Ecuador for two and a half months, when we were each actually checking a large bag. At the time we lived full-time in Kansas City, and flights to South America aren’t exactly easy to come by. Last I looked, MCI only had international flights to Mexico and once per week there is a flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica — which is news to me! So we used Southwest Rapid Rewards points to help us “reposition” both ourselves (and our FREE checked bags), to Fort Lauderdale/Miami. This let us book a much cheaper, direct flight to Quito.

(Keep this “repositioning” in mind, because it will come up again later.)

To be honest, the change to the checked bag policy wasn’t the make-or-break decision for us. But this announcement, along with Southwest’s other recent changes, has definitely helped push us over the line toward canceling.

No More Southwest Rapid Rewards Points

From our days as traveling consultants, we had soooo many Rapid Rewards points. We both even had the Southwest Companion Pass at some point. This meant that not only could we travel anywhere Southwest went, but that we could bring our “companion” for free!

Using these perks, I traveled all around the U.S. with a friend, and eventually with Cathy after she returned from teaching English in Spain.

While still at that same job, I eventually changed clients which meant Southwest was no longer the most convenient option, or sometimes it wasn’t an option at all to get to the places I needed to go. I later left that job for greener pastures (see: anywhere NOT soul-sucking), which also meant that I was no longer racking up Rapid Rewards points.

But I kept using the points.

Sometimes they were used solely to reposition ourselves, and other times we would use them specifically to go explore a new city, visit friends, or attend weddings. And over the course of a couple years of this, we easily burned through them.

And although the Southwest Credit Card does give you some “anniversary points,” 7,500 points isn’t worth as much as it used to be. Turns out inflation has been hitting the miles and points game too.

So while I still have a few thousand points in my Southwest Airlines account, it isn’t really enough to keep me around.

Repositioning Flights with Southwest Airlines

What is a repositioning flight?

This little trick saved us hundreds of dollars each trip we would take to Europe! First, we would fly from KC to a larger hub city like Chicago, New York, or Houston. Then we would transfer airports to catch our long-haul flight abroad.

Is the headache of transferring airports worth saving a few hundred dollars? For us, it was. But we also learned the hard way which cities where it was more headache than it was worth (looking at you Houston).

But this strategic point spending is also how we burned through the last of our Rapid Rewards points. Specifically getting to and from Europe as we came to apply for Spain’s digital nomad visa.

We also learned over many trips that as much as we hated transferring airports in Houston (from Hobby to IAH), we actually enjoyed flying from Texas to Europe more — because it would allow us a bit more time to sleep on the plane compared to when we fly from Chicago or Boston. And while we still very much experience jet lag, the extra hour or two of sleep help make the rest of the journey more tolerable.

Now knowing we LIKE flying out of Houston but LOATHE transferring airports there — it means we no longer reposition there, but rather just book our entire journey on one ticket with, with a connection in Texas.

Living Abroad with a Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card

It turns out that when you spend most of your time outside of the U.S., points and benefits that are only redeemable inside the U.S. tend to lose their usefulness.

And herein lies the biggest reason we are canceling our Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards.

While I do have the Southwest Priority Card, which has no foreign transaction fees — turns out our Capital One Venture X card and our Chase Sapphire Preferred cards also have this benefit, and many more that we can actually use while living abroad.

Compared to all of the others, this one feels the most simple and obvious. Southwest doesn’t operate in Europe, nor do they have any partners here. Simple as that.

To be honest, even if we still lived in the U.S., there’s are other reasons why I would still probably cancel the Southwest Credit Card. For example…

• How they aren’t really the low-cost airline they used to be
• How the points keep getting devalued (don’t they all)
• How there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of us achieving status with them ever again

At the end of the day — not being able to really use the benefits was what made canceling the Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card a no-brainer for us.

What Credit Card Should I Switch To?

This is the big question. After canceling my Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card, I still need a separate credit card to use as my business card. Which means up next is examining sign-up bonuses, annual fees, points transferability, and overall usability, among other things.

If you’ve got any recommendations for a good credit card to switch to — leave a comment below! Be sure to tell us why you love it. And feel free to share your referral links. 😉

-Matt

 

This site contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you.– Cathy

Earlier this week, I got an email from Southwest Airlines. I haven’t flown with them much in the last few years since I live in Spain now. I also rarely open emails from brands. (Yes, this is why I have 22,461 unread emails in my inbox, a fact that drives Matt crazy.) But something about its subject line — “Catherine, Southwest policy changes you need to know” — caught my eye. So I opened it.

The email, which announced the ending of Southwest’s two-free-checked-bag policy among other undesirable changes, felt something like a death knell for an airline that I used to love. In fact, I used have an article here called “Top 3 Reasons I’ll Always Fly Southwest Airlines,” originally published as one of my first blogs in 2017, which I’ve now archived. Unfortunately, after all that’s changed — the things that used to make Southwest stand out to me — almost none of it applies anymore. [Read more…]

I’ve had this blog topic sitting in my “drafts” folder for more than six months, and now’s finally the time to write about it! However, the review I’ll be writing is much different from the one I was planning on. If you’ve ever heard of TrustedHousesitters, an app that promises to connect homeowners in need of a house/petsitter with travelers who are looking for a free place to stay, it may sound like a match made in heaven.

I imagined how Matt and I could travel around Europe after moving to Spain, and we could spend time with people’s pets and watch their houses while also getting free lodging. I mean, what’s not to like?

But it may be too good to be true. Here’s what prospective sitters on TrustedHousesitters should know. [Read more…]