Ben Wilkey's Keys to a Happy Life

This is a working list inspired by the best summer of my life:

1. Surround yourself with good, positive people

2. Maximize each day - be exhausted when you finish

3. Try new things - learn new skills - find new hobbies

4. Eat healthy - take care of your body

5. Exercise

6. Read more than you watch

7. Be kind to others - look for ways to serve

8. Be happy for others - there is no need for competition

9. Be grateful for all things - good and bad

10. Life is not a race - do whatever the F you want

11. Everything is fake and nothing is real

12. Don't take anything seriously

13. Write down things you want to do and accomplish - the universe has a way of making things work out once you make it known.

14. Believe that things will work out and live like they will

15. Choose to be happy

16. Live a big life - life is too short to be little

17. Find a best friend who motivates, inspires, pushes, excites and enhances your life

The Perfect Moment in Time

Excerpt my journal on 9/1/2017...

"I had one of the best moments of my life tonight! I went golfing with Fota to Sand Hollow and it was incredible! We played 9 holes on the front of the Championship Course and it was great, but we played the back after (well 2 holes) and the 11th hole was so incredibly beautiful. It was a par 3 facing West - the sun was setting, the weather was perfect, there was no wind - no sound - it was the most peaceful feeling and moment I have ever experienced - it was a perfect moment in time. I hit a beautiful tee shot about 10 feet from the hole. It felt so relaxed and smooth. Fota had to one up me and hit a shot 9 feet from the hole haha. It was amazing. There are no words in my limited vocabulary to describe this moment, aside from the fact that I didn't want anything else in life - for that moment in time. I was perfectly content, so comfortably happy and so peacefully relaxed. It was a perfectly perfect moment that I will never forget. I am fortunate enough to have traveled around the world and see amazing things and eat at fancy restaurants - and all that goes with it - but it is interesting to note that one of the best moments of my blessed life was experienced on the 11th hole at sunset with my best friend, overlooking beautiful Southern Utah, barefoot on the grass, and a little hungry haha. I will always be grateful for this night and for Fota being with me. Oh, and there was a free firework show after! It's a good life."

Perspective in Vancouver

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to Vancouver for work. I had never been to Vancouver before, but had always wanted to go. It is so beautiful - I think it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. As I was driving my rental car to the hotel, I saw a forest on the side of the road with a pullover. I decided to just walk around and take some pictures, since the afternoon was free. I started walking on one of the trails and it kind of took my breath away. It was so lush and green. I was taking pictures, but it was too pretty almost to take pictures. The pictures weren't doing this place justice.

About 15 minutes into the trail, I saw an old man walking a dog and they had stopped to take a break. I approached the old man and said, "Excuse me, does this trail lead anywhere awesome?" He looked at me and said, "You don't think this is awesome?" kind of sarcastically, but also to teach me a lesson it seemed. I felt like an idiot and like a total ingrate. I thought about it the entire weekend and the last few weeks. I really feel like I have been living my life like that a lot lately. I have had so many awesome experiences and gone to so many amazing places, but I don't think I have fully appreciated them. I always look for the next big thing or the next trip or what I am doing tomorrow. So, I am going to try and appreciate each day and each experience more. That might sound cliche and common sense, but I am grateful to learn it.

A Special Thanks to South Korea

I just feel like I need to give a special thanks to South Korea. I have lived in South Korea for a year and a half and since traveled back three times. I remember when I first arrived and felt the overwhelming love from the people. From getting around in the subways to catching the right bus, so many people have gone out of their way to help me and make sure I was OK. I can't thank you enough. I remember multiple times eating dinner at restaurants where the cooks would make something extra for me to try or the waitresses/waiters would give me a drink on the house. I never felt like I was taken advantage of, I fully trusted everyone and had positive experiences nearly every day. Your culture is so rich and I want to thank you for sharing it with me. I had so many opportunities to visit heritage sites, learn about your culture, listen to kpop, try new food, cook new food, make homemade kimchi, try taekwondo, have chats with old people (most of the time I had now idea what was being said, but still it was nice to visit), teach English to Elementary students, teach English to adults, volunteer at churches, volunteer at orphanages, run a marathon, hike the beautiful Seoraksan Mountains, go to the spas, watch movies, watch Korean dramas, go to concerts, sing karaoke, dance, go to weddings, go to funerals, and just simply walking around the big cities and small villages - just to take in the beauty of South Korea. I have never traveled to a place I have loved so much. I have never met people I have instantaneously loved so much. I will also speak highly of South Korea and its amazing people! I hope to return soon! Know that Ben Wilkey is grateful for you, South Korea, and I love you very much!

10 days in the Mediterranean for $1,200

I traveled to the Mediterranean for 10 days and I spent a little over $1,200. When I returned, I told my friends about my trip and they couldn't believe that I spent so little. I wanted to write down how I did it, where I went, and share some tips on how to book a trip just like mine.

About me . . .

First of all, know that I am not rich and if there ever was a kid that was destined to never travel, it was me. I group up extremely shy and never had any money. I grew up in Utah and my parents thought it was a big travel to drive from Provo to Salt Lake City. That was how I was raised. So, no excuses. I hate the cliche, "If I can do it, you can do it!", but that is about is blunt as I can say it.

Where I have traveled . . .

I have traveled extensively in Asia (South Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Japan) and a little in Europe (England, Wales, Scotland, Sweden, Greece, Italy, Rome, and Spain)
In the USA, I have traveled to Alaska, Hawaii, mostly west, Texas, and a few places back east. Also, the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic (amazing), and Mexico.
(I only list that, because these are the only places I have experience booking trips to and getting around.)

Booking flights . . .

I try to use Google Flights to book my flights in the USA. It is a great place to start. They are constantly evolving and it was also how I booked my train tickets abroad too. Google is amazing.
The best times to book flights are mid-week and depending which blog post you read, it will be Tuesday or Wednesday. That has been my experience and also try checking at odd hours too. I had to book flights from Salt Lake to Las Vegas and from Los Angeles to Salt Lake and the cheapest I could find were over $200. I woke up on Wednesday morning about 2am and thought I would check and the same tickets were $126. I bought them right away! The next morning, I thought I would check and sure enough, they were back up to over $200 again. Just think, whenever it is convenient to book a flight, usually the weekends for most people (or a lazy Sunday afternoon), that is when things are the most expensive. It is the same principle as gas prices being more expensive on the weekends - when people have time to fill up. Beat the system.

Here are my go-to winners for booking flights:

Google Flights
Expedia (this is just like Priceline, Hotwire, Kayak, all the same. It is a good generic place to start.)
Travel Zoo - my friend told me about this one. they have crazy deals that are perfect for the random traveler who can leave in a moments notice.
Norwegian - the money maker. This is the best way to fly from the USA to Europe for sure. I have flown to Europe twice with Norwegian and both experiences were great.
RyanAir - About as cheap as you can get for Europe flights. For example, I flew from Athens to Santorini roundtrip for $25.
EasyJet - Another cheap airline in Europe. They have different routes than RyanAir, so both are great to use.
Allegiant Air - great for small cities in the US. I live in Logan, UT now and I have family that live in Arizona. I can fly out of a small airport in Ogden, UT (about 40 min away from Logan) and fly to Mesa, AZ and my usual price of roundtrip tickets are under $100.
Turkish Airlines - my friend just showed this site to me. I haven't used them yet, but they have great deals to Europe from major cities.

Forget Hotels - Airbnb all the way!

I used to go to Expedia to look up hotels, but last year, I tried Airbnb for the first time. I stayed in San Francisco at a Grad students house and payed $30. It was clean, I had my own room, bathroom, and living room, and she was awesome. If you haven't tried Airbnb, you have to! You can meet amazing people and save a ton of money. I stayed in Athens, Greece for 4 nights in one of the nicest apartments I have ever seen and it was only $142. Currently, I am working in Seattle now and instead of paying $600+ for the week at a hotel, I payed just over $300 and I have an amazing basement apartment all to myself. The owners of the house are amazing and we are already friends! She has essential oils circulating around the house and I like living here better than my house in Logan ha ha.

Couch Surfing is hit and miss, but it is free and I wasn't raped ha ha. I stayed with my friends at this dodgy apartment in Scotland one night through Couch Surfing. The guy was nice, but the house wreaked with cigarette smoke, but it was free. The other experience I have is with the most amazing Russian family near St. Andrews and they had lasagna on the table ready for us when we arrived. They were some of the nicest people I have ever met and I am still friends with them on facebook now. So, Couch Surfing is 50/50 for me.

Tips . . .

1. Plan trips in advance and book as soon as you can. This might be common sense, but you really can save a lot of money if you book your tickets months in advance. The ONLY EXCEPTION is Asia. I swear the tickets to South Korea are always cheaper a few weeks before you need to go, but I have flown to South Korea 4 times and they have ALWAYS been cheaper 2 weeks before I was planning to go. It is risky, but worth the risk. I payed $1,500 for a roundtrip flight from Salt Lake to Seoul and 2 weeks before I left, it was $850. The next time I booked a flight to Seoul, I waited and 2 weeks before, I booked my flight for $900. Oh. Yeah.
2. Go during the off season. My Mediterranean trip was completely during the off season. It was cold, (I am used to it from Utah, so not a big deal), but we didn't have to wait in any lines, prices were cheap, and we had plenty of time to do what we wanted.
3. When you book budget airlines (Allegiant, RyanAir, EasyJet, Norwegian) they will ask you if you want to pick a seat. DON'T PICK A SEAT! Just skip to the next page. That is just their way to make money. If you are traveling with friends or family and you want to sit together, just go to the counter in your departing terminal and ask them if you can sit together. That has worked every time for me.
4. When you book with budget airlines, pack light, because you can end up paying extra fees if you have to check your luggage last minute.
5. Be nice to the workers at the terminal. They have the power to hook you up (better seats, sit together, free luggage checks). Ask them if you can sit at the exit seats (they have the most leg room). This works most of the time.
6. I mentioned this earlier, but book flights on Tuesday or Wednesday, and check inconvenient hours.
7. Be creative with your destination cities. If it is $200 cheaper to fly to a neighboring city or country, it might be worth it for your. Chances are, there are multiple, cheaper ways to get to your destination if you are creative and explore your options.


If I think of any more tips, I will add them.

Finally . . . 

How I did it  . . .

Instead of telling you how easy it is and expecting you to just book your flights, I will show you exactly how I booked my trip.

1. Flights to Europe. I know that I wanted to go to the Mediterranean, but wasn't sure which city to fly into. I looked at Norwegian and the closest airports to me are Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Las Vegas only flies out internationally, so I couldn't buy a roundtrip ticket from Las Vegas. Instead, I found the cheapest flight was from Las Vegas to Rome ($286.23) and I booked my return from Alicante, Spain to Los Angeles ($258.26). (This goes back to my tip #7 - Be Creative. I was originally planning on flying from Los Angeles to Spain and working my way over to Greece and flying out of Athens). I already told you how I booked my flights from Salt Lake to Las Vegas and Los Angeles back to Salt Lake ($126). Those flights were found using Google Flights.

2. Transportation in Europe. Everyone says, "Oh the trains are the best way to travel in Europe!". Yes, I am sure they are, but they are also the most expensive way to travel. My dad is not rich, so I need to be a little more resourceful. However, instead of paying for a place to stay my first night, I booked an overnight train with a bed from Rome to Venice. It was clean and very comfortable. I booked that through Google and it was about $75 roundtrip from Rome to Venice.
When I returned to Rome, I flew to Athens using RyanAir and it was $45 round trip. I spent 2 days in Athens and then flew to Santorini using RyanAir for $25. The next day, I was back to Rome and flew to Barcelona, using RyanAir and that ticket was $95. I spent a day and a half in Barcelona, then took a train to Alicante, using Google to book that, and it was $30.
From Alicante, I flew to London for a quick layover and over to Los Angeles. Then, Los Angeles to Salt Lake.

3. Where did I sleep? Airbnb's!!!! I slept on the train the first two nights traveling from Rome to Venice and back. The night in Rome I did book a cheap hotel on Expedia and it was $50. Our apartment in Athens was only $142 for 4 nights! Incredible. We stayed at an Airbnb in Barcelona for 1 night ($23) and another Airbnb in Alicante for 1 night ($18).

Here is a breakdown of days, this might be easier to read:
Day 1 & 2 (lost a day). Fly from Salt Lake to Las Vegas to Sweden to Rome (met an awesome Italian lady on our flight and she drove us to the Termini in Rome to catch our train and bought us dinner! She was amazing! People are amazing!) From the Termini in Rome, we caught a night train to Venice.
Day 3. Arrived in Venice before sunrise and had the entire day, took a night train back to Rome.
Day 4. Arrived in Rome before sunrise and had all day.
Day 5. Rome. All day in Rome and flew to Athens late that night.
Day 6. Athens all day.
Day 7. Athens all day.
Day 8. Flew to Santorini for the day.
Day 9. Early flight to Rome, then to Barcelona.
Day 10. All day in Barcelona, then an evening train to Alicante.
Day 11. Flew home. (gained a day)

As you can see, we covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time, but it was AMAZING!! Enjoy the pics from the trip below:

Where I am going next . . .

Your might be curious as to where I am planning next. . .
I want to go to the UK again in May with my brothers. I looked up flights from Los Angeles to London and they were about $400 one way, so $800 total. I looked at cheaper options and found flights from LA to Sweden and they were $450 roundtrip and I found connecting flights from Sweden to London for $70 roundtrip. Let the games begin!

If you have any questions about traveling or need help planning a trip or just want someone to run an itinerary by, please let me know! Obviously, I am passionate about this and if I can help you go on a dream trip, that would be amazing!!

Safe and happy travels!