This handbook has been a great project for me. Hopefully it will benefit those of you that are new to this hobby, feel overwhelmed with all the info in the blog, or just need a starting point or reference guide.

I tried to cover all the frugal travel techniques I use, in one place, in language that is easily understood. I also included a few examples of past successes to demonstrate how easy this hobby can be.

The Kindle version is available now at Amazon.com and the paperback edition should be ready in two weeks. I look forward to your feedback.

Travel Day to Michigan on a United Multi Segment Itinerary

Savannah to Washington Dulles to Dayton, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois to Traverse City, Michigan and hopefully a cooler summer. Friday it was 96 degrees on Hilton Head Island with a heat index of 110 degrees.

We’ll be hanging “up north” until just after Labor Day so Katy can get back to the Emergency Room and I can hang out with my Michigan buddies for two months. If anybody is visiting TC drop me an email and I’ll buy the coffee.

So why the crazy routing? Two reasons. Price and Bump possibilities. It was almost $100 more for a flight with less segments and this is all short RJ travel. RJ’s need to remove passengers in hot weather and we have the possibility of catching a bump or two on the way north. For us, Travel Day is Travel Day and if we can pick up a bump or two, why not. The tickets were bought with bump voucher funds anyway. We might as well try to replace them.

The bump possibilities are staring us in the face on the IAD to DAY segment. Completely sold out and offering no more tickets for sale. We are volunteering the minute we get to the Savannah airport. We are checking one set of golf clubs which may or may not put a wrench in the bump. If they need only one, I’ll send Katy along first and she can grab my clubs when she gets to TVC. If they need us both, we will ask them to unload the clubs and put them on the 10AM flight direct to Chicago and we’ll both skip going to Dayton. If that works out, we’ll still catch the original flight ORD to Traverse City with a few vouchers in our pocket. Our key to success is getting on the list when we first check in at the SAV airport as the layover in Dulles is very short..

And as a third possibility, I’m shipping my golf clubs north on the flights. They are an older set of Pings and if they happen to get lost along the way, well, new clubs for the old guy. Wishful thinking, I know, but a guy can hope can’t he?

Blog posts will be “Michigan style” until September. Let’s all hope my spelling improves when I get out of the heat.