Harris Financial Coaching Blog

Sometimes travel is not just about getting there. It is about how you feel while you are getting there. That was the biggest difference for me on our Amtrak trip from Chicago to Memphis and then on to New Orleans. For three people, we paid about $1,700 total, which came out to about $566 per person. For that price, we booked two Amtrak roomettes instead of trying to squeeze everyone into one space. That was not a small expense, so the real question is fair. Was it worth it?

Some trips are planned around transportation, hotels, restaurants, and a few attractions. Then some trips end up giving you more than you expected. Memphis was one stop on our Amtrak City of New Orleans journey from Chicago to New Orleans, but it became one of the most meaningful parts of the trip. We arrived by train, walked through places filled with music and history, and left with a deeper understanding of why Memphis is not a city you should pass through.

Train travel has a way of slowing you down before you even reach the destination. For this trip, we started in Chicago and took Amtrak’s City of New Orleans route to Memphis. This was the first leg of our journey before continuing on to New Orleans two days later. Since there were three of us, we booked two roomettes instead of one bedroom. This ride was a reminder that comfort, cost, space, and expectations all matter when deciding what type of travel experience is worth

Sometimes convenience is worth paying for. Other times, convenience becomes another subscription quietly pulling money from your account. That is why I wanted to try CookUnity for myself and look at it through two lenses: the food experience and the budget impact. In this video, I unboxed my first CookUnity order, which included 16 vegan meals delivered fresh to my door.

My daughter and I decided to unplug. No screens. No noise. No deadlines. Just us, the trail, the trees, and enough space to breathe. Sometimes we do not realize how much we are carrying until everything gets quiet. Sometimes peace begins when we pause long enough to notice what is already around us. In Japan, this practice is called shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing.

Sometimes the best part of a trip is not the big-ticket attraction. It is the place you wander into for food, then end up staying because every corner has something different to see. That was Ponce City Market for us in Atlanta. We visited three times during our three-day trip because it was close to everything and gave us a little bit of everything: food, desserts, local shops, rooftop views, vintage finds, and easy access to the Atlanta BeltLine.