Hey, Gnomies!

Greetings from Greece! 🇬🇷 We're currently eating our weight in olives and feta cheese in Crete and having an all-around amazing time.

It's been a while since we've popped into your inbox, hasn't it?

Life got pretty busy over the last year as my responsibilities at Bridge TEFL grew. I became Marketing Manager, started leading a team, and suddenly had a lot less time and energy for Grateful Gnomads. That chapter has now come to an end, and I'm excited to have more time to share our adventures and reconnect with you all.

Speaking of which, how are you? What have you been up to? Seriously, hit reply and tell me! I'd love to hear what's going on in your world.

So, what have we been up to?

It’s been a pretty big year full of changes for us!

For starters, I turned 40, which has been weirdly wonderful.

And because I apparently don't know how to celebrate a birthday without turning it into a month-long festival, February was WILD! We went on Jam Cruise, danced our faces off at EDC Mexico in Mexico City, and then welcomed family and friends to Puerto Vallarta to celebrate my actual birthday.

Not a bad way to kick off a new decade! I've got some thoughts about turning 40 that I might share in a future email.

But perhaps the biggest change of all? We got our own apartment in Puerto Vallarta! It’s the first long-term lease we’ve signed in 12 years. That’s right, we’re digital nomads with a home base now.

Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean we’ve “settled down.” It just means we have a place to come home to between adventures, and we’re pretty excited about that.

A whirlwind of travel, music, and good times

April was a pretty crazy month too. We kicked things off by seeing Phish at Sphere in Las Vegas (what an experience!) before I hopped across the pond to the UK to attend IATEFL in Brighton, where I represented Bridge and gave a talk about Teacherpreneurship. I spent a couple of days exploring London before returning to Mexico, meeting Sasha in Mexico City for a weekend, and then heading to Cabo for Goose's Viva El Gonzo festival.

In June, Sasha went back to Mexico City for the World Cup opening match. He didn't actually go to the game (those ticket prices were INSANE), but he had a blast partying in the streets after Mexico won. What an exciting World Cup that was!

At the end of June, we headed back to the U.S. to visit family and friends and, of course, go to concerts. We caught Phish at Deer Creek and two of their five Madison Square Garden shows, saw King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard SIX times in Colorado and NYC, and squeezed in plenty of smaller shows in Asheville.

Then, on Labor Day, we hopped across the pond to Ireland.

We spent four days in Dublin, five in Killarney, and three in Galway before heading to Amsterdam for a long weekend. There, we stayed on a houseboat (yes, really!), rode bikes around the city, checked out the Graffiti Museum and Fabrique des Lumières, and went to a rave at the legendary Melkweg.

From Amsterdam, we flew to Athens, where we spent 11 days pretending to live in the Greek capital while also doing all the touristy things.

Then it was off to Crete, where we've been for nearly three weeks!

Our $12 luxury hotel adventure

While on Crete, we scored one of our biggest travel hacking wins yet.

We stayed at two incredible luxury hotels, InterContinental Crete and Elounda Mare, for four nights (two at each) for a grand total of… $12!

And that’s not all. We also got $100 to spend on food and drinks at EACH hotel, early check-in, late checkout, and a free upgrade to a suite at Elounda Mare.

Seriously, we felt like royalty!

How did we pull this off? Mostly thanks to the perks that come with my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. It’s an expensive premium card, but we’ve been getting a ton of value out of it.

More on that in a minute…

After our little luxury getaway, we spent a week in Heraklion, where Sasha surprised me with an overnight trip to Santorini.

And holy moly, is that place worth the hype!

He found a room right among the famous blue domes (one of the most Instagrammed spots in Greece) for half off. And as luck would have it, some friends from North Carolina happened to be staying in a windmill just a five-minute walk away.

Talk about serendipity!

Which brings us to now. We’re in Chania, a beautiful city on the western side of Crete, wrapping up our 2026 European adventure.

It’s been an emotionally exhausting period on top of all the travel, so we’ve been taking it pretty easy. Lots of walks along the coast, a little hiking, some local festivities, and plenty of time to simply enjoy being here.

What's next? More music and a little more luxury!

We're heading back to the U.S. soon, but we've already got another mini adventure lined up.

One of the other perks of my Chase Sapphire Reserve is two $150 StubHub credits. Now, I normally avoid StubHub like the plague, but I'm determined to get my money's worth out of this card!

So I used one of those credits to snag a ticket to see Johnny Blue Skies (aka Sturgill Simpson) in Atlanta this Sunday, in a suite with food, beer, and wine included!

Sasha got jealous, upgraded his Chase Sapphire Preferred to the Reserve, and scored himself a ticket, too.

We're turning it into a two-day getaway, complete with another luxury hotel in Buckhead, another $100 hotel dining credit, and dinner at Canoe using our OpenTable credit.

If you're curious about how we make these kinds of trips happen without blowing our budget, Sasha just wrote a new blog post comparing the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Capital One Venture X. We break down how we've used both cards to save money on some pretty incredible travel experiences.

Read: Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Capital One Venture X →​

Now, let's talk about YOU!

Whew! That was a lot, wasn’t it? And believe it or not, that’s the condensed version!

I’ve missed sharing our adventures with you, and I’m excited to get back to creating content for Grateful Gnomads.

But I don’t want to just tell you what we’re doing. I want to help YOU get out there and experience more of this amazing world, whether that’s traveling more often, finding ways to make travel more affordable, planning a trip around your favorite band, or even figuring out how to work remotely and travel longer.

So tell me: What would you like to hear more about? What can we help you with?

And if you just want to say hi and tell us what you’ve been up to, we’d love that, too.

Thanks for sticking around, Gnomies. Here’s to more adventures, more music, and making the most of our time on this big, beautiful planet.

Until next time!

Cheers,
Rachel (& Sasha) | gratefulgnomads.com

Some links may be affiliate links, earning us a commission if you purchase at no extra cost to you! We're super grateful for the support as it helps us keep the lights on ;)

In case you missed it, our latest blog posts and videos...

Capital One Venture X vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve: Which Card Do We Actually Use? Ever wonder how we afford to travel so much? Travel hacking is a big part of it! We break down two of our favorite travel credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Capital One Venture X, and share how we've used their perks and points to score free flights, fancy hotels, and more money for concerts. Plus, which one do we actually prefer? Click here to read it

Taste the Sphere: Phish Returns to Las Vegas There's nothing quite like seeing Phish at Sphere in Las Vegas! We've been to our fair share of Vegas shows over the years, so Sasha put together a guide with our tips for getting tickets, choosing seats, finding the best pre- and post-show parties, and our favorite places to eat, drink, and explore. Because there's a lot more to a Vegas run than just the concerts! Click here to read it!

Above the Waves: Inside the Magic of Jam Cruise After 20+ years of talking about going on Jam Cruise, we FINALLY made it happen! Five nights of incredible live music, late-night dance parties, tropical islands, and hanging out with old and new friends. It was everything we'd hoped for and more! Sasha shares the highlights of our first Jam Cruise, how we managed to pull it off without completely breaking the bank, and some tips for anyone thinking about hopping aboard. Click here to read it