After a quick six hour drive to Cincinnati I relaxed in my hotel room and watched some baseball on my MLB At-Bat app. It was a lazy day for me as I am still recovering from the cross-country drive. With no major activities happening today, I will answer a question that I am asked on a daily basis.
How are you paying for this?
Virtually every fan that I have met has told me that they have also dreamed about doing the 30-stadium tour. Time is one of the big factors as to why many have not done it, as well as having family commitments. I too have wanted to do this tour since childhood and as I do not have a wife or a kid, I realized that this was the perfect time for me to actually do it.
The next biggest hurdle is the money. The scope of a tour like this is so large that it is easy to become overwhelmed. From gas to tickets to lodging there are many different avenues for the costs to get out of hand. The first thing to keep in mind is that you can plan the entire tour without spending a dime, so do not let the financial burdens keep you from trying this yourself. During the first six months of planning I did not once think about how I was going to pay for all of this. I knew that as soon as I did I would lose all momentum and give up hope.
What I listened to while driving:
By the Way, In conversation with Jeff Garlin – Episode 15 Amy Poehler
Who Charted? - Scott Aukerman
Pop My Culture - Paul F. Tompkins
As the months flew by and I began to realize that I was actually going to do this tour, the money became an issue. How was I going to pay for this? I had figured out how to save some cash on lodging (see Day #30 for more on that), but that still left the tickets, gas, food and general living that I would need to be doing for three months. At that moment I realized that I had been subconsciously preparing for this trip for over a year. I recently quit smoking. It took me 15 years to do it, but I finally did it. I had tried the gum, the patch, different medications and came incredibly close to trying hypnosis. It was the hardest thing in the world to do, but eventually thanks to the lozenges I was able to stop smoking and as of this posting have not had a cigarette in 20 months. If you are thinking “That's nice Muneesh, but what in the world does that have to do with paying for this tour?” I will answer that right now.
Part of my addiction to cigarettes was the ritual. I had a relationship with the family at the local bodega who sold me my smokes. I knew how many cigarettes it took for me to walk from my building to the subway. It was a built in part of my day. In order to maintain some semblance of normalcy, I continued to go to the corner store and take cash out of my account as if I was going to buy a pack of cigarettes. I would then go back up to my apartment, put that money in an envelope and shove it under my bed. In my brain that money was spent and I was never to touch it. I had no plans at the time to do anything with that money, it was purely part of the ritual. As I racked my brain thinking about how I was going to pay for this tour, I remembered the envelope under my bed. I reached under and started counting. It had been a year since I quit smoking. I had saved over $6,000.
I am not sure how much this tour is going to end up costing me. I have been including my daily expenses in every post for those interested. If doing this tour is a dream of yours you can absolutely make it happen. There are creative ways to save money and still travel comfortably. This is a once in a lifetime adventure that I am on and it is worth every cent I have spent thus far. If you have any questions about the specifics of the financial aspect of this tour feel free to email me at roundingthirdpodcast@gmail.com. Do not let the money intimidate you. I am not a wealthy man. I am just an ex-smoker who once had a dream.
Travel Stats
Miles Traveled: 320
Time in Car: 6 hours
Avg. Speed: 53.33 MPH
Gas Money: $0
Gas Price: N/A
Gallons Filled: 0
Sleep Time: 6 Hours 30 minutes
Bottles of Water: 4
Bathroom Stops: 1
Traffic Jams: None
Food Eaten: Seasons 52 shrimp flatbread, grapes, strawberries, blueberries
Total Money spent today $29.90
Cumulative Miles through today 14,195
Cumulative Time in car through today 254 hours 45 minutes