The Frug: Live Lean. Work Lean. Travel Lean.

This Street is Closed. Travels During a Pandemic 2021 Version.

How 2021 will change the way we travel and dine out forever.

By Brad Beckstrom

For 2021, I’ve decided to dust myself off, climb back on my horse, and start sharing my ideas again. I’ve got a pretty good backlog of things I’d like to write about, sticking with my themes of living lean, working lean, and traveling lean.

Speaking of getting back on the horse, we decided to take our first pandemic journey of 2021. For my wife Kelly’s birthday I surprised her with a four day, three night getaway to Miami. Frontier Airlines has been bombarding my browser with ads for $50 round-trip direct flight to Florida. It’s funny, I usually ignore these ads because when I click on them the flight ends up being $350 roundtrip by the time you hit purchase.

Frugal, Frugal

But, the $50 round-trip price for a direct flight fascinated me. Usually cheap flights involve long layovers, crappy connections, and out-of-the-way airports. I went through the process with Frontier and, lo and behold, was able to book 2 frugal round-trip tickets for a total of $108.94. It’s like making it to the last level of a game avoiding all those upgrades. It pays to have a few days flexibility when booking with discount airlines.

Of course, I knew Frontier would charge for any baggage. They allow for one personal item, which is not to be confused with a carry-on. Check the size on the personal item. Generally a (small) backpack, messenger bag, or purse will get through without a problem. For checked bags or carry on bags, it’s a $41 fee each way. They give you up to a 50 pound limit so we just put both our luggage (all 46 lbs. worth) in a single large bag and checked it.

Pandemic Travel

I figured this flight would be fairly crowded based on the price. It turned out the plane was crowded but not overly so, and on the way home it was only about 60% full. The airport and parking garage were empty.

I’ll be honest, I probably wouldn’t be comfortable flying if my wife and I had not already had the virus back last March and both had positive tests for antibodies. We still took every precaution and wore N95 masks. Obviously no food or beverage service was available unless you wanted to buy a small bottle of water for $3.99.

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Words That Matter

09/20 by The Frug Leave a Comment

I read a lot, and not just for pleasure. If I can get a clearer understanding of an important word or term from a book then it’s worth the time invested. I’ll occasionally share a word and the book that gave me that improved understanding. Maybe with a quote or two.

Tyranny, An autocratic form of rule in which one individual exercised power without any legal restraint. In antiquity, the word tyrant was not necessarily pejorative and signified the holder of absolute political power. In its modern usage, the word tyranny is usually pejorative and connotes the illegitimate possession or use of such power.

More about the book. On Goodreads

The Frug

Personal Independence through Living Lean, Working Lean, and Traveling Lean
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook , Flickr , or Instagram

The Case for Getting Outside.

06/20 by The Frug Leave a Comment

Space is there if you look for it.

By Brad Beckstrom.

It seems like a lifetime ago but last spring I was in Tokyo, Japan. It was mid-March and cherry blossoms were just starting to bloom.

Tokyo is a crazy, crowded city. I had mentally prepared myself for the arrival and train transports from the airport to Shinjuku station, the world’s busiest rail terminal. It lived up to its reputation, especially since I arrived around 8 PM. With some help from Google maps, I was able to make the transition without any issues.

My hotel was a few blocks away from the train station and I passed through the wildly busy Shinjuku intersection. I was just part of the horde with my rolling bag en route to my hotel, just across from the Park Hyatt hotel that Bill Murray made famous in the movie “Lost In Translation.”

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The School of Life

04/20 by The Frug Leave a Comment

How in the world do I homeschool a high school senior who is headed off to college?!

*Quarantine Global HQ and School of Life classroom.*

By Brad Beckstrom

Our youngest son is a senior in high school. On March 13, 2020, his senior year ended. Like most schools around the world, his classes ended due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. His school district is fortunate in that it’s well-funded and all the students have laptops. However, not everyone has the Wi-Fi speed needed to utilize some of the cumbersome online tools and video conferencing. The school district has decided to provide remedial material for students to improve their grades through three semesters. There will be no final semester, no finals. And seniors will have their grades locked in through the first three semesters unless they opt to improve them through remedial work.

We all know that sort of sucks, especially for a high school senior headed off to college. With no fourth-quarter grades and remedial work optional for A students, I didn’t see much being done over the next few months.

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Happy Friday from The Frug’s Basement Bar

04/20 by The Frug Leave a Comment

Sharing some Frugal beer finds and a few other things.

Well, it’s been a long week for everybody. And I think it’s Friday so it’s time for sampling a few new frugal beers. Today I’m trying a couple of affordable favorites from Aldi and Trader Joe’s.

Happy Friday from the Frug’s basement bar. 17th in the series. Today I’m trying a couple beers. The first is Wernesgrüner from a brewery founded in Saxony Germany in 1436. It’s available exclusively at Aldi stores for the (well below import) price of $5.99 a 6 pack. It’s a very balanced easy to drink Pilsner with a nice finish and depth of flavor. The second is Boatswain American IPA. A smooth IPA with a malty sweetness and caramel and spice notes at Trader Joe’s for the very non-IPA like price of $4.99 a six pack. Sharing #beer #Art #Travel #Photography #Traderjoesfinds #aldifinds and some places I’ve traveled.

In case you’ve just found this beer art, for the past few years I’ve been having some fun with old coasters, postcards, matches, photographs, and other various items I find in my travels. I tend to accumulate these things from different bars, restaurants, and hotels that I stumble upon. I’ve always enjoyed the creative effort that goes into some of the simplest things, like the logo for a new craft beer or an unusual coaster or postcard.

I keep a small stack of these items in my office. When they get to a certain height, I spread them out with some old photographs and other random things on a card table and photograph them with an iPhone. Since these are essentially Friday happy hour images, I’ve always added a nice cold beer which I enjoy at the end of the photoshoot. So far, there are now 17 in the series and you can see them here on Flickr, or occasionally popping up on my Instagram feed.

This year I’m adding a new twist. Lately I’ve been finding some good quality imported and craft beers at our nearby ALDI and Trader Joe’s stores where we do most of our shopping. I’ll also be trying out a few local brews supporting craft breweries that are near by.

Cheers,

The Frug

Financial Independence through Living Lean, Working Lean, and Traveling Lean Follow me on Twitter, Facebook , Flickr , or Instagram