March 2020 was the last time most people were able to travel, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and it caused an abrupt end to my 2020 travel plans as well.
It was a trip I’d been looking forward to since September 2019, when I first heard about the new EconoMe Conference on the What’s Up Next podcast. I’d met Diania Merriam, the founder, at FinCon that same week, and was excited to see how her creation would turn out. I knew most of the speakers, either from past FinCons or on Twitter, so I was excited to see my friends, if nothing else.
As time passed, the event grew larger. While she’d hoped for around 700 attendees, over 250 showed up, from all over the country, although most of the contingent was from the Midwest.
I stayed in the Hyatt Regency downtown Cincinnati, for 8,000 Ultimate Rewards points per night, transferred to World of Hyatt. My flights were a basic cash purchase from Allegiant, since I needed to fly out right after work on Friday afternoon, and back on Sunday to go to work Monday morning.
On the morning of Econome, I woke up early due to excitement about the event. After getting up and getting ready, I decided to set out on foot, and walk towards the campus. I searched for available Uber or Lyft rides, but they were all 25-28 minutes away, and I figured I would keep walking closer to campus and check again later. By the time I found myself halfway(?) up Bellevue Hill, I was almost out of breath, sweating profusely, and by the way, it was only 35° outside. I’m definitely a flat-lander.
The event was all day on Saturday March 7th, on the University of Cincinnati campus. We had a morning reception/coffee break to get to know other Economeists, buy FI-related books from the campus bookstore, and get settled in for a fun day of FI talks and breakout sessions.
After a rousing welcome from Diania, the first speaker was Julien Saunders, from rich & Regular, and then Natalie Torres-Haddad from Financial Savvy Latina.
Travis Hornsby from Student Loan Planner gave an awesome talk about the different strategies to achieve FI, even while carrying student loan debt. Rose Lounsbury is a minimalism coach and talked us through finding our own “enough”.
Then we had a lunch break, so we all scurried away to get some food and refuel for the afternoon activities. I got to go to lunch with my Twitter/Instagram friends Kelly Gagnon and Brenda Olmos, plus Emilie Cleaver (from the rebranded WiseMindMoney, now EmilieCleaver.com) and 4-5 other attendees.
When we got back to campus, it was time for break-out sessions, with many of my friends going to see Playing with FIRE documentary (which I’ve seen 10 times), so I opted to go to the Travel Hacking session, which some people mistakenly believed I was leading 😊
The travel hacking session went really well, even though most of us were at different levels of experience with the hobby. Most of my experience was with Chase cards, although I had a few mistake cards in my history from opening up a Delta Gold card with a really low sign-up bonus, and the former SPG card from Amex being devalued down to not worthy of being used. Kelly had recently opened several cards, for both personal and business use, which allowed her to earn the Southwest Companion Pass (even at the increased 125,000 point requirement) that she is not going to get to use due to Covid. BJ Beard is a long-time service member who has taken advantage of the ability to get high-end premium credit cards with all annual fees waived for active-duty service members. He knew a lot about Amex Platinum and other premium cards, including some fabulous redemptions that have taken him and his wife around the world.
After the breakout sessions, Jillian Johnsrud gave a talk, followed by Michael Robinson from Uncommon Dream. I got to hang out with Jillian and Michael when they both presented at CampFI SE in 2019, so it was great to see them both on stage again. After Michael was Lynn Frair, who talked about the 8 types of Capital. Jackie Cummings Koski is a recent early retiree, quitting forever in December 2019, and she walked us through her numbers and her journey to get there. And the one and only Doc G from What’s Up Next/Earn and Invest podcast wrapped up the show with 3 vignettes, including a final Rap performance. I told you, he rapped up the conference. 😊
Afterwards, we had some time to hang out and talk with the speakers, but then we all shuffled off to dinner. I was able to go out with my friends Jillian, Peter Gallant and AJ Wolfe, who I became friends with at Jillian’s Adventures to FI retreat. We almost met up with Cheryl Anne Woehr and Lucy (a Brit working in DC) and we had pizza at a non-profit shop that helps developmentally disabled adults learn job skills. It took quite a while to get our food, but it tasted pretty good and we were all happy to support the cause.
After dinner, we rushed back to the Woodward Theater, a refurbished theater from the 1920s for the EconoMe after-party.
I realized quickly that I’ve become an old man, because I was exhausted from carrying my backpack all day (it had my laptop and podcast mic, in case either became useful at the conference), along with a change of clothes, and from standing on my feet for hours. I grabbed an Uber back to the hotel, where I crashed and couldn’t get out of bed for nearly 12 hours. Fortunately, I was aware this was the night of ‘Spring Forward’ on our clocks, and I had a 4:30PM flight, so I requested a late checkout when I’d arrived Friday night.
After checking out around noon on Sunday, I explored the Cincinnati waterfront on foot. I walked past the Bengals and Reds stadiums, then grabbed a quick appetizer at the Yard House nearby. After that, I walked across the John Roebling Suspension Bridge across the Ohio River into Covington, Kentucky. I wandered around for a while, grabbed a late lunch at LaRosa’s Pizza (which I’d enjoyed as a kid at King’s Island), then grabbed another Lyft back to the CVG airport.
After some mild harassment from TSA, I made my way to the Club at CVG, where I eventually ran into 3 names previously mentioned: Cheryl Anne, Lucy and Travis. My flight was on time, but Cheryl Anne and Lucy had a several hour delay getting back to DC. In fact, I landed in Florida before they even began boarding their delayed flight.
I had another great time, but it came at the expense of some worry. Covid-19 was really beginning to spread throughout the US, and my flights were at least ¼-1/3 empty in both directions. I was super thankful that we were able to have such an awesome gathering of FI folks, where I finally met amazing friends like Brenda, Jackie, Rose, and others. But it is sad to look back and think that only 7.5 weeks ago, we were still able to meet and hang out with friends from around the country, and who knows when it will be safe to do that again.