Summary 

What if the reset you’ve been craving doesn’t come from a new planner or perfectly aligned schedule… but from a plane ticket? In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Courtney Downes, a full-time ER doc and the founder of Prescription to Travel MD. We talk about something a little different than our usual programming—travel, especially solo travel. If you're a high-achieving woman who’s been putting off rest or waiting for the “right time” to go on that dream trip, this conversation is for you.

We’re diving into what holds so many of us back from traveling (hint: it’s not just logistics), and how creating intentional pauses in your life can be one of the most powerful things you do—not just for yourself, but for everyone around you.

Dr. Courtney Downes is an Emergency Medicine physician, avid traveler, and the founder of Prescription to Travel MD. Through her podcast, platform, and personalized strategy sessions, she helps physicians and busy professionals—maximize rewards, prevent burnout, and make meaningful travel more accessible. When she’s not working in the ER or traveling with her family, she’s teaching others how to stop leaving points on the table and start booking luxury travel without the luxury price tag.

Dr. Courtney Downes’s Links:

Website: https://prescriptiontotravelmd.com/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prescriptiontotravelmd/

Join us at The Unstoppable Retreat: https://www.burnstressloseweight.com/retreat

Learn more about the group: https://www.burnstressloseweight.com/group 

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

• The two most common types of guilt that stop women from traveling—and how to work through them
• Why rest doesn’t need to be earned (and how that belief may be holding you back)
• How travel creates the emotional and creative space for bigger dreams
• The ripple effect solo travel can have on your family, career, and self-concept
• How to turn everyday spending into luxury travel experiences using points and CME funds

Listen to the Full Episode:

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Featured on the Show:

• Get all The Unstoppable Retreat details by clicking here.
• Want to work with me? Learn about The Burn Stress, Lose Weight Group by clicking here. 
• Follow Dr. Courtney Downes on Instagram by clicking here. 

Download the full transcript here.

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  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Hey friends. Welcome back to the Burn Stress, Lose Weight podcast. Today we are taking a little departure from our usual programming that we do on this podcast where we talk a lot about burning stress, having science and strategy on your side to feel better as a busy professional, navigating the real life that you have. And that includes summer vacations and trips and your busy work weeks. And of course, we talk a lot about hitting your goal weight. No matter where you are in the world, no matter how busy you are, no matter how much time you have, it is possible to feel better inside out. That is what we do on this podcast. But recently I got introduced to a new friend who I really wanted to bring on the podcast to talk about a slightly different topic than we usually do, which is travel. Particularly because it is the summer season and I know that travel is on our mind, not just during summer, but during vacations and all throughout the year. I really wanted to bring Dr. Courtney Downes on the podcast. We were recently introduced by a mutual friend and we just hit it off, and I really wanted to have her on to share her perspectives and a lot of her thoughts around why traveling and solo traveling. If you're a busy, professional working mom, how and why? It can sometimes create a really amazing experience for you. If you have never traveled alone or if you find yourself waiting to travel, then this episode will be for you and you're going to hear us mention a retreat that I am actually hosting. I have not talked about it ever on this podcast, I mentioned it briefly to my email list a little while ago, and it's mostly because it's almost completely sold out, but we do actually have two to three more tickets left. So if you have ever been wanting to experience a retreat, a small group coaching experience where you feel truly. Like a collapsed timeline on feeling better with your mindset and maybe some of the dreams that you have been having. Then you can hear all about my retreat that I'm hosting. It is happening this October in Cabo, Mexico from October 2nd to October 5th. You can get all of the details over at burnstressloseweight.com/retreat. Again, it is mostly sold out, which is why I have never mentioned it on this podcast, but also we were able to snap up a couple more rooms. So if you do want. To take what we're talking about on this podcast and bring it into your real life, and you want to meet me in person and have some coaching and rest and restoration time in your calendar, something that you can look forward to, then I highly encourage you to head over there, learn all about exactly what we're going to be doing over the course of those few days together, and the experience that you can have and all the details it'll all be over at burnstressloseweight.com/retreat if you're at all interested and whether or not you. That a retreat is in your future. I did want to talk about why maybe you might want to consider travel in your future in a way that really prioritizes you having some time for yourself. So without further ado, I'm going to let Dr. Courtney Downes completely introduce herself, how she went from being a physician in the ER to really doing a lot of this work, which is talking about travel. And we're gonna get into it with Dr. Courtney, let's go. Hey, unstoppable friend you're listening to the Burn Stress, Lose Weight podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Priyanka Venugopal, a physician turned a stress and weight loss coach for professional working moms and the founder of the Burn Stress, Lose Weight, Feel Unstoppable small group coaching program. This podcast is going to inspire change at the root for you on and off the scale. I've lost a little over 60 pounds while being a busy physician mom with two young kids and an unpredictable schedule. And along my journey, which was full of many, many imperfect moments, I have learned how to skip past the fads and the gimmicks. I am on this mission now to share with you how you can have real strategy and mindset skills to really have more of the life you want, that you have worked so hard for. Let's get into it. Hello, welcome back to the podcast. Today I have a beautiful and very lovely guest. This is Dr. Courtney Downes. Courtney is going to introduce herself in just a moment, but I'm so glad that we met. We just met very, very recently. We were put in touch with a mutual friend, Dr. Devin Gimble. If you don't know, point me to first class is her jam. She talks about credit card points and travel. As you know, busy women need to know how to do and because of her we connected. And just hearing your story of going from just physician life to now, a lot of what you do is talking about travel and why it's so important. Just bit me with the bug, especially this season because we are in summer, it is a time that I think a lot of professional women are thinking about resting and traveling, but maybe when they're resting, they're not fully resting. So I'd love to know a little bit about you. Tell us who you are and how you got into the space of travel.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: Thank you so much for that very kind introduction and thanks to Devin for introducing us and making this connection happen. I am Dr. Courtney Downes. I'm a full-time emergency medicine physician and I am the founder of Prescription to Travel MD. So Prescription to Travel MD is my platform that was really just created to inspire and equip busy healthcare professionals. And I think the pivotal moment for me was the loss of my dad unexpectedly. He was probably the hardest working man I knew. He worked two full-time jobs for like most of his life. And I think that for me just changed everything. And I think travel has been a part of my adult life, such a, a meaningful part of it for so long. But you always. Find that you're too busy. There's work and there's school and there's the kids, and there are all these things that kind of get in the way and you just keep pushing things off to the back burner and you know, I'll, maybe next summer we'll go, or you know, maybe next year we'll plan to do that thing. And I decided at that point that, you know, I was gonna stop pushing things off and I was just gonna make time for things then and now. And so I know that there are a lot of people who share my sentiments and I really just want to encourage everyone to be able to do the same.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Do you feel like when you kinda saw your dad's journey, was it, did he not get to travel as much as he would've wanted or like what was it about watching his journey and then it inspiring you to say, I don't want to keep putting off seeing the world. I don't want to keep putting off having these experiences for myself. Like what was it about that experience that led you to feel that way?

  Dr. Courtney Downes: I think he lived a good life. He traveled as much as he wanted to. Travel was never like a really big thing for him. Even like growing up, probably my favorite vacation was us going to Maui. And that was probably the farthest I'd ever gone away from home. He won Employee of the year for one of his jobs and it was just for like him and my mom and they decided, you know, we're gonna make this a family trip. And we all went together and I think that was probably one of my favorite travel memories. And so, you know, he did the things and even when we would go and travel, he'd like, you know what? You guys go. I'll stay home. So travel wasn't a big thing for him, but I'm like, you know what? After you're gonna retire next year and we're gonna plan this big party for you in Mexico. And he would kind of laugh it off, but he, you know, he was kind of getting into it. Okay. And you know, Mexico never happened, the party never happened. But I think more than anything, it just made me realize how fleeting time is. And you may not get that next moment. And not to sound like morbid, like, okay, I'm gonna die tomorrow so I should like do everything I need to do now, but just be intentional about what you wanna do. So maybe traveling around the world isn't for you, and that's okay. Maybe traveling to the next state is your jam. Or just seeing the national parks or just getting out of your environment, getting out of your element to find time to rest and find perspective and to relax. That's the biggest thing.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I think you're bringing up such a good point because there's kind of two different mindsets we can come into with having life experiences. One is this like fear-based. Pressure of like, I better do it today. If I don't today, then I might not get to do it tomorrow. And that doesn't feel so great either. I think puts so much pressure, and again, perfectionists have a tendency of slapping on some pressure onto even fun experiences. But what you're talking about is having a mindset shift to we keep waiting and waiting and what if we just stopped waiting and learn how to fold in some of these experiences into our life right now? I know you've talked with so many women about travel. Why do you think most women put it off or. Think that maybe now is not the right time to travel or it's not the right political climate, or it's not the right, like there's so many reasons. What have you seen coming up in your conversations with women that you've talked to?

  Dr. Courtney Downes: Well, I think there are so many different things and everyone's situation is different, right? But a big thing is that we take on so much responsibility and we often put our goals and our needs behind that of everyone else's. You're always taught, you know, you put your patients first, you put work first. You put your family first. Which are all very important. And tho all those things should be taken care of, right? We don't take that lightly, but you have to take care of yourself too. At some point you have to say, you know, my needs are important too. And if you don't pour into yourself, you can't keep pouring into everyone else. And I think that's a big thing that we're putting out other people's needs in front of our own. I think there's the mom guilt or just. The guilt of maybe you don't have kids, but there's a guilt. There's other responsibility that needs to be taken care of right before you plan that trip or before you go on your next vacation. Maybe you're running a business full-time and you can't just leave the business because who else is gonna run it? The perfectionism, right? Where we feel like no one else can do as good of a job as we can. Very guilty.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: So guilty of that, like letting it go, letting somebody else handle something that maybe you could do better. And I'm like, yeah, but I could do it better.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: Yeah, and maybe you can, maybe you can, but delegate that responsibility and you know the vacation you've been putting off for five years because you're trying to make your business grow and you don't have the finances, or you don't have the time, or you don't have the employees that you feel are capable of handling the same task. Find it. Go and take that trip.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: This idea, I find guilt to be such an interesting and really fascinating emotion because guilt is something, I don't think that I ever really felt strong guilt that I am not allowed to do something, but I felt like I learned the feeling of guilt at a really young age. Like if you are doing something that is just for you, if you didn't earn it somehow. Like you have to work for your reward. You have to either get the A plus before you can be treated well or take a break from studying or something fun, right? If you do something that you're supposed to do, then you get the ice cream cone. Like a lot of this reward attached to earning my reward, I feel like. That is actually where I learned guilt. Like if I felt like I subjectively super subjective. Yeah. If I didn't hit the mark on something and I didn't earn it, then I don't deserve it. Yeah. And that is where, for me, that's where guilt would come in. I also see guilt coming in with just women, especially with a lot of working moms that feel like, oh, I should be spending my free time, my extra money that I have finances on my children, on my home, on my aging parents, on my family, before I ever get to spend that time or money on myself. So these are the two flavors of guilt I have seen and personally experienced. How about you? Have you ever navigated guilt and like what's been your guilt journey?

  Dr. Courtney Downes: Yeah, I totally identify with everything you just said. I think once you start doing things for yourselves and you see that guilt kind of melting away, you realize that. Your rest is not earned. It's something that everyone should be entitled to. You know, I think about like a recent trip I just took, so it was a little indulgent. We had planned a trip to France and I decided that I was gonna book myself a last minute trip to Paris to go and see Beyonce, and I found myself a business class flight. I booked it on points, you know. Like a week before I was getting ready to leave, I find myself tickets to the Beyonce concert for like a hundred dollars. So I bought myself. Wow. And they were amazing tickets actually. But I sat on the fence for so long and I'm like, well, I'm already leaving now. I'm gonna add on an extra couple of days. And you know, my sister's gone. So it's my husband and my mom who are now gonna have to bear the burden of like watching my kids for, you know, those extra days while I'm gone. And do I really need to spend these like extra points for like a flight just for myself? And that's a hotel just for me where I could be paying for a hotel stay for like my whole family. Do I really need to just do this just for myself and my mom's. Like, just go. And I think her saying that partly helps, but it was also just giving myself permission to say, you know what? I can do this. And I didn't have to earn this. Like this is something I wanna do for myself and, and I'm gonna do it. And I did it. And it was the most amazing experience. No regret, regrets coming.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I'm coming with you. That sounds. So good. I actually wanted to go to the Beyonce concert, and I'm in the DC area and I could not get tickets. And it's like, it was like right down here, right down the road. I would've come to Paris with you.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: That's where I'm from. Yeah. Oh my gosh. And that's the thing, there was a concert in Vegas too, but I'm like, mm-hmm. I was like, tickets are really like a hundred dollars. And I, I was just like, oh, you know, I just kind of looked and I was like, let me just see. And I was like, they have $47  floor tickets. Wow. And I was like, that's cheaper than like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, I did it and I'm, and I'm so glad I did.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I think, you know, you're touching on this one point of. Being able to give yourself permission to have certain experiences and a huge one that I had to navigate. I'm kind of curious for you is definitely the leaving the kids with the husband situation and especially before I became an entrepreneur, when I was just in full-time practice, I didn't travel very much. You know, taking trips and going to conferences or summits or retreats was just a not a part of my work life. And so when I did start to, number one, want to travel and travel by myself without my kids or my family, I did have this thought in my mind, which is. I don't want to overburden my husband. The guilt was really more asking him like, Hey, so I wanna go on this trip. How do you feel about watching the kids and I actually ended up having a really transparent and very just forthcoming conversation with him, which is, I don't want to apologize. For some of my dreams and desires, and I want the same for you. And so one of the conversations that me and him had was, Hey, I want you to take trips and travel and do things just because you're a human. That's not just a dad and a husband. You're a human that wants to have an experience just for you. And I want us to kind of find a way to make it work where we both. Get that not as a transaction or like a tit for tat situation, but I want this for both of us where we are both coming back into this marriage and into our family feeling like we are taken care of and we are revived. I dunno, somehow that also really helped with. That guilty feeling. 'cause I'm like, this is not just me. Like we are both getting to have these life experiences.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: Right. And I think that's very real. And so same discussions happen in my house with my husband and myself. He works full time, he's a hospitalist, so he works a lot more than I do emergency medicine. Yeah. Allows for a little more flexibility. And I think over the past couple of years I've been just like. I'm going. And my kids were smaller, so it was a lot easier, you know, a couple years ago to just take them with me. Mm-hmm. And so whenever I would go to conferences or you know, courses, it's me, my kids, my mom, and my sister. So I'm going, I'm going to the conference and they get to experience Chicago or wherever. Mm-hmm. You know, whatever city that I'm in. So I think that helped him a little bit because then he also had some space. 'cause it's like now the kids are gone, wife's gone like, hey. You know, it's a free for all. But as I've been doing more and more and the kids are getting older, it's harder to have them missing as much school. And it's expensive because I'm doing more, you know, it's just me going and I lean heavily on my mom and my sister and my husband. I think it helps having this business, you know, because I can say, okay, well this is part of the business. This is part of me growing my brand. And I think he can relate to that. And then I think it also gives him permission to do what he wants to do. So he's big into like his truck and off-roading. And so he'll go and he'll go away for a weekend and do his off-roading thing. And I think he doesn't feel like the guilt behind like, okay, I wanna get away and do something for myself now. So I think he probably feels like he misses out on a lot of things because I, again, I do go more off than he does sometimes. It's. A time when he can't go, and I think he misses being around his family. Mm-hmm. So that part is a little difficult to navigate, but I also know that he knows that I'm not going because I'm trying to get away from him, but Right. And you know, and I'm not trying to shun my responsibilities, but. This is something I need to do for me and it's something I want him to be able to do for himself as well.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: So, yeah, and I don't know whether you've experienced this, but my husband has even said like, when I've come back, usually when I have gone to a retreat or some type of a, like a group coaching type of an experience, I come back a little different. Not like I'm not myself, I'm still myself, but something changes for me creatively. I'm in a very different mindset and a different creative space. Like energetically, something is just a little bit more leveled up, right? I think we can collapse the timeline on transformation when it's live and in person. Like when you're actually talking to other humans, not behind a Zoom screen, right? There's something really magical about connecting with other kind of like-minded women and. Humans, and I think that our families get to benefit from that. Like I feel like my husband gets to benefit from me coming back with interesting ideas and creative things. I think it's one of those things that I have found, at least for me, has had a ripple effect in me showing up as a mom, how I am with him, how I show up in my work, and I kind of wonder whether somehow we forget about that piece when we're. Kind of kicking this down the road.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: I think we absolutely do. You know, you do show up differently when you come back home and you know, your, your spouse, your partner sees that, but your kids see that too. My kids are like big into travel and mm-hmm. They were like, when's our next trip? You know, and they're like, oh, what are you doing on the podcast? And, you know, so they're seeing me doing all these things, and those things are important. Those things matter. So those are like the little tangential effects of you going away and, and doing these things that, that your family's gonna see and they're gonna benefit from.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Totally. I actually used to feel like, oh my gosh, my kids are gonna miss me Now they're nine and six. But I, I think especially a couple of years ago when I first started traveling, I felt like, Ooh, they might miss me. That would also like trigger a little bit of the guilty feeling. Yeah. And I realized that actually that is again, something that they were learning. They were learning to miss me rather than like, I am with them all the time. Literally all the time. Literally all the time. I'm with them all the time, and I say this like I love them, and also I think that we forget about that. It's like, I don't need to be with them 24/7. It's okay. Yeah, something, there's something about like when I used to initially leave, I'm like, oh no, I felt this. Oh no. Feeling like, oh no, they might miss me. And I'm like, yeah, they might miss me. It's okay. I'll be right back.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: They'll miss you and they'll be fine. My son asked me a couple days ago, he's like, when are you and t Bri gonna go away again? So we can go back to Camp Min? Yeah. They have like such different experiences.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: They're fine. I was actually just talking to a good friend of mine because she's been actually struggling with this exact thing. She's like, I want to go, but I feel kind of bad about leaving my kids. Yeah. And I was telling her, and this is not necessarily. Available across the board if you are a single parent or if you don't have the support structure that we're talking about. This can be a challenge, but I find that my kids have. Such different experiences with my husband when I'm not around. Yeah. Just like when my husband happens to travel for work, me and my kids, like I make it different and special. Like we have such a different experience during those weeks and I just, I don't know, I find like there's a win there actually for them as well. Yes. That they're not actually missing out.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: And I realize it's a privilege to have the support that I have to be able to take these long vacations, you know, extended weeks at a time. But if you do have that option just go, your kids will be fine. Yeah, you'll be fine. And they'll be better for it.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: And I think that one thing we were talking about, I was on your podcast recently and we were talking about this idea of what we want to model for our kids. If we want our children to feel powerful in their choices as grownups, to not let guilt or fear or these emotions that sometimes hold us back from claiming our dreams. If we want our children to claim their wildest dreams and their passions. Then we have to go first. And I think that the truth is, it is a little scary and it can take some courage, but we get to model that, which to me is the best part.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Setting the example and you're building your kids up in the way that you want them to lead their lives.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Yeah. What would you say in the last couple of years has been your most fun solo trip? That you're so glad you took that. Maybe you hesitated on not the like other than the Beyonce one that you were considering not going on, but you're so glad you went because you kind of came back just a little bit different.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: Yeah. That was actually like the first like solo like trip that I took, like internationally. But a couple of years ago, the first trip that I'd taken solo as a grownup with kids and, and the husband was a trip to Ville, did on points, which was. Even more amazing. It was my birthday weekend and I decided, you know, I'm gonna go and spend a couple days in, in Arizona at this, at this place that I, you know, I'd heard of. It's a spa and I can kind of get away. And I think I was still kind of grieving, um, the loss of my dad and all these things. So I'm like, you know, I need to get away. And then I booked two days and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna add on a third day. And I told my husband, he is like, yeah, it'll be fine. Just go and it'll be great. And again, having a supportive spouse certainly changes everything, right? But I went, so I'm big on using points for travel. As you know, Ville is one of the Hyatt properties, so I was able to book it using my chase points. And so I paid $0 for a stay, which would've been close to four to $5,000, and spent almost $200 to get from Las Vegas to Tucson round trip, everything was included. It was all inclusive. They give you spa credit. So I spent three luxurious days lounging by the pool and getting massages and aerial yoga and all these experience that I wouldn't have had if I had just decided that I wasn't gonna go and. I think it's scary to travel by yourself sometimes. I think in the back of your mind you're going like, am I gonna look like awkward? Like sitting there, right? You know, on this trip I'm, yeah, yeah. Am I gonna look lonely? And you go and you realize, no, like being alone doesn't mean being lonely. And sometimes you need that space to kind of just reset yourself and discover things about yourself that you didn't know existed, and you'll meet other people who are there, who are also like doing the solo thing that you can choose to engage with or not, depending on, you know, I'm a little bit of an introvert. When it comes to most things. But I'm also, I like people, I like interacting with people. So you'll find other people who are there just kind of hanging out in their bathrobe, sipping a glass of wine at the bar because it's, you know, the miracle way.

   

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Yeah. But it was, yeah, you don't need to have a buddy.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: You can actually go alone, which is amazing. You don't, you don't need a buddy. And if you wanna go with the buddy, that's great too, but just know that you don't need someone to go because. You have no one else to answer to, right? You're not obligated to do anything. You're not obligated to not do anything. So whatever you wanna do, the ball's in your court.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: And there's something also about, whenever I have traveled alone, which I really do love, I actually feel so much, it gives me the space to feel the gratitude. For all of the things that I actually do have in my life, and I know that this does sound a little bit frivolous, like, oh, you have to leave your life to feel grateful for it. But sometimes when we're in the day to day, it becomes mundane. You don't even realize this amazing life that you have worked very, very hard to create. You're working really hard in your career, you're. Earning an income to be able to pay for your home and for your children, for your family. Because we get so busy in the hustle of working, I think we forget about just taking a moment to pause and having gratitude for what we have created. Right. And I have noticed from the moment that I leave my house in a taxi or Uber and I get to the airplane before I even get to my destination, I am already feeling grateful for my life. Yeah. In a way that somehow either I forget or maybe just being in the. Day-to-day work of it, I just don't access. But I feel this level of gratitude that I just am not able to access when I'm here and it starts the second I leave, it's the second I walk out the door. I'm like, I feel so grateful for my life that I'm taking a break from right now.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: And I think you definitely have to have that mindset switch. To think about being grateful for what you already have. When you step outside of your every day and you step away from like the hustle life that you've been living, it definitely changes things and it gives you a chance to actually say, you know what? I am grateful. Like I get to be here. I get to be, you know, sitting in this airplane seat, going to this new destination. I get to be in this space. Like, look at all the beauty that God has created. I get to be here. Mm-hmm. I get to enjoy all of this. Whereas when you're at home and you're working day to day, you don't. Necessarily take the time, unless you're intentional about it. You don't take the time to be thankful for, Hey, I have this roof over my head and I get to come to work every day, and I get to take care of people. I get to have my kids greet me at the door when I walk in. Again, if you're intentional about it, you will find those things. But there is something that happens when you leave your current situation and you leave your environment and you step into a new one.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: So, yeah, I just feel like the second I leave, I have all these creative ideas that come to me. I think what it's for me is the day-to-day responsibilities that I typically have and hold are on pause. Yeah. And so it's interesting because now my brain gets freed up because I don't have those day-to-day responsibilities, which many of them I love to do and I enjoy doing, and I don't even have a complaint about it. But something about not having to do those things. Actually frees my brain. I think that brain power goes into feeling better on the inside, accessing the gratitude for the life I have, letting myself be more creative, envisioning a different future. I find that whenever I do travel, I start to dream bigger dreams not, and this is not just about for myself, for my family, for my business. For my community, like I start to be able to think about how could I contribute more? How could I contribute differently? What kind of impact might I be able to have? To me, that is that ripple effect, right? Of just like, yeah, having a brain space to do that.

   

  Dr. Courtney Downes: I feel like our brains work the instead. Yes. Part of it is like you get your to-do list done, or at least, I don't know, my to-do list is never ending and it's always like, okay, all these boxes I didn't check, but I'm gonna do the things that I know need to be done before I leave, and then I'm gonna go and I'm gonna have myself a good time. And I'm gonna have that space to be able to dream big and to think about all the things that I want to see in my life. So, yeah, I love that.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Okay, so one thing you did mention that I want to really touch on is the points. So, you know, a lot of these trips, they can be expensive and you, especially if you're spending cash or you're putting things on credit cards, how did you get into the space of understanding? 'cause it has been overwhelming for me. Thank you to my friend Devin who helps me with these things. But I'm curious, how did you start to learn about credit card points and understand how you can leverage your spend into like really amazing travel experiences.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: So I've kind of dabbled in credit cards in the points game for a while, but not really intentionally and you know, using like the Capital One points erase from, you know, all these points that I'd saved probably not the best redemption, but I think when myself and my husband started having these conversations about, yeah, you wanna travel more, and it, it's like, okay, well I have to be able to travel more again. That mom guilt comes in. It's like, okay, well this is money that I could be spending on like a family vacation versus. Money that I can spend on my own vacation. So I'm like, well, how can I do this so that way I can do both? How can I do all the things? And I think that kind of led me down the, let me find out a little bit more about how I can use these points effectively. And then, you know, finding out, oh, I can book business class flights using points. No way I would've ever flown business class. I'm an economy girl, you know, as long as I can get from point A to point B, I'm there, you know? Yeah. But realizing that I can do all these amazing things that there's no way I'd ever pay cash for, even if you do have the cash, because you're. There are other things I've got, you know, kids 529 that I've gotta be contributing to. And you know, I've got retirement that I wanna save for and, you know, maybe I don't wanna work until I'm like, you know, 65. So all these things that come into play. But I can use points, I can put my spend that I'm already buying on credit cards and they're gonna give me money that I can use to book travel. Okay. Right. And I think that was like a light bulb moment and then I went down the rabbit hole and haven't looked back since.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Yeah, I think that there's actually, it's so interesting when we start to think about if we wanted to leverage our spend, and this is, I think the other thing that's kind of coming to mind is even CME, if you're a medical professional and you have CME, it doesn't always have to go for boring medical conferences like CME can go towards so many amazing retreats and experiences that women can go to and to have with CME, even HSA and FSA, like if there's a program like there's. Funds that you can actually leverage and use to have experiences. And I love the credit card pointing. That's been my latest entry into the world of understanding that, wait a second, I have very normal business expenses. Have very normal food. I go to the grocery store to pay for food for the family. Like I have a lot of expenses just being a busy professional and we can leverage that into these experiences, which I just think is wild. Right.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: And I'm a huge proponent of using like CME. To be able to create these experiences because again, you think that you have CME money and I should go buy the stethoscope, or I need new scrubs, or I'm gonna buy, you know, back in the day, the textbook, I don't even, I was like, I don't even know if anyone even uses textbooks anymore. So know I'm gonna go buy this Ali Emergency Medicine textbook that's just gonna like sit on the, you know, desk and collect dust. But you can use your CME dollars to book. These amazing vacations. So like in couple weeks we're actually going to Kauai for a CME trip. So one, you're using your credit card to pay for these expenses. These expenses are being, yeah, you get the points and then you get the reimbursement from your employer. Some people have dedicated CME time off, so you're not cutting into your PTO, but instead, you know, you get a week off. That you can use to learn something. And most of the time these like CME experiences are in destinations people wanna go to, right? So we've done a couple of trips to Hawaii. Once we finally realized that we didn't have to buy scrubs or stethoscopes, we started booking these trips. We went to Disney World, you know, half price on tickets, like cheaper than we've ever paid for any type of Disney World ticket, half price on the room. So you can stay on property and not feel like this is like. Eating away at all of my savings, you know? So you get to have these amazing experiences all in the name of education.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Yeah. And this is like an untapped resource. Yeah. And at least when I started first learning about it, I had this kind of idea like, this is too good to be true. Like how can I access credit card points? Like the points are just sitting there. I know that this sounds so silly when I'm saying it out loud 'cause I know that it is not too good to be true, like you actually are spending to earn these points. But there is a part of me that felt like, wait. We can do what? Yeah. And what you're talking about is actually being able to have these experiences with spend you're already making, which I think is just the coolest part about the entire thing.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: Yes. It's kind of scary sometimes and the credit card points thing can sound a little scammy and you're like, no, they like a catch to it. Right. And I think it's also the fear of not wanting to end up in credit card debt, because that was a big fear for me starting out. Like between college and med school. I had credit cards, accumulated a lot of debt because you know you're paying the minimum. When I finished. Residency, the first thing I did is pay off all my credit cards. So now I carry no credit card balance, but I'm just learning how to use my credit card instead of my debit card and do it responsibly. So that way, again, I'm not racking up debt and I'm getting trips. You're getting the points. Yeah. That or spend, that I would use anyway. And you, and you have to be intentional about it, right? You have to know that you're gonna pay off your credit cards every month. You have to know that you're not gonna buy things unnecessarily, which I think the deeper in the game you are, you may end up buying things that you didn't mean to, but the farther along you go, the more intentional you become about it. Like, do I really want to pay this annual fee? Is it worth it for this amount of points? In some cases, the answer may be yes, in some cases not so much, but do I really need to go buy this like LifeLock security program that I don't need just so I can get the points? So, you know, you do have to be intentional about it. But it's just these incredible experiences if you know how to do it right.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: So do you feel like now with what you're doing, especially with your podcast, like what is your mission now for women? Is it like just for them to know that they can travel, that they should be traveling? Like why is it so amazing for their life? Or like what is your personal mission now?

  Dr. Courtney Downes: Yeah, so the podcast is designed so that way people can find out about different opportunities. So I had you on the podcast to talk about your upcoming retreat in Cabo. These are things that people don't find out about, they don't hear about. If I'm Googling retreats in Cabo, you may not come up on search engine necessarily. I will not. Yeah, definitely will not. Yeah. Right. But I still want people to know that these things exist. And there are certain companies that will have things that are listed all the time, and you can always find a CME conference or course or retreat to attend, but you may not find something that's necessarily aligned with what you wanna do. So maybe it's adventure and maybe it's wellness and. Maybe you're looking for a luxury experience, or maybe you wanna go to Morocco. You know you wanna go by yourself, but you wanna be surrounded by people who are like-minded. Or maybe it's a trip to Tuscany or Uganda or wherever it may be. There are people who actually are putting these things together, but you wouldn't know about them. And so I do have a Facebook group Prescription to Travel MD uh, the doctor's lounge where different people and sometimes myself, will post about different retreats and courses and conferences that are ongoing, so that way you don't have to go searching far and wide to find them. It's right there and you know, these are a lot of times physicians who are putting these things together. Sometimes they're retreats that are designed for physicians, but also other healthcare professionals or. People who are not in healthcare, but just busy professionals who want more out of life. Once you find these things, if it's education related, even if you don't get reimbursement from your employer, you can sometimes write these things off. So it can be a tax write off because it's, you know, education and personal development. So you really just have to know that these things exist. And so my purpose is to. Make sure that people know that these things are options for them. Make sure that people know that points is a great option. And for people who are skeptical and kind of on the fence to know that, hey, these are the resources, this is how I know that this actually works. And you know, and get to know that like, yeah, like I'm a normal person, I'm a physician, I have higher expenses than normal. I've got licensing fees and malpractice insurance and all these things to contend with. So my spend may be higher than normal, but even if you're like a normal person who doesn't have those things, you can still play the points game and you can still do it very well. Uh, I love that.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Yeah. I think it's like, just like even knowing that these are available, you just do a Google search. A lot of these things get buried or they don't come up, but like, you want to be able to have an experience that you can trust and like having, right. It's not just like a random thing you find on the internet, right. Something that you know. At least when you have a trust factor with someone that you have either heard on this podcast or someone that you can feel that trust level with. And you might feel more safe to go into an experience, especially if you've never done an experience like that before. So I love that. So you have a Facebook group, and how do people find you on your podcast? How can they find you and look you up?

  Dr. Courtney Downes: Yeah, so Prescription to Travel MD. I have a podcast, apple, Spotify on YouTube as well, and you can find me in the Facebook group Prescription to Travel MD. The Doctor's Lounge is specifically for doctor's, dentists, you know, but there's also a Prescription to Travel MD Facebook group that's for anyone who's interested in learning more about points and travel, and wants to be kept up to date on all the things. Instagram, you can find me on there, like living my best travel life, and I often post tips and tricks to help. Get you to your next destination. I have a website. If you're on the fence about earning points and miles, you don't know where to get started. I offer free credit card consultations so people can reach out to me and I can get them set up with, you know, their first credit card based on their specific needs, because everyone's needs are gonna be different, right? I also offer point strategy consultation. So if anyone's, maybe you're sitting on a million American Express points and you don't know what to do with them, I'm there to help. Figure out how to get you to your next destination. So if you wanna book a call, it's a 15 minute complimentary discovery call and I can help you book that next trip. Maybe it's flights to Singapore. Mm-hmm. You know, you wanna book an over the water bungalow on the Maldives like I've got you covered.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: So, or you wanna come to Cabo. This is gonna be so good. Friends, you have to go and find Courtney. Find her podcast, find her Facebook group. And I hope that this conversation just a little bug bit you that you don't have to put off travel and time for yourself despite how busy your life is. And I don't mean in your mind like I know your life is actually very, very busy and there's so much happening here and abroad and in the world, and you turn on the news and there is so much. I also know that there's always, always going to be so much so if you felt bit by the buck, I want you to feel inspired that maybe traveling or going on a trip doesn't have to wait for so long. And just starting a little bit, starting small, and get Courtney, follow Courtney for more on how to do it. Thank you so much, Courtney, for coming on the podcast. It was so great to have you.

  Dr. Courtney Downes: It was so great talking with you. Yes. And if you're just sitting on the fence and you're not sure if you, where you wanna go? If you what you wanna do. Yeah. Follow along on Instagram or on Facebook or reach out to me. I know a lot of people aren't necessarily on social media, and that's okay too. So I'm always available by email and I can leave that for you in the show notes as well, just so you can reach out and we can help get you to your next destination.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I love it. We'll drop all of Courtney's links in the show notes and I'll see you all next week. Bye. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Dr. Courtney Downes. It was so lovely talking, not just with her about her experiences, but you can see that just the two of us, and if the two of us have similar experiences around having some guilt around leaving, pushing it off, waiting until later, not wanting to be a burden to your family or to your partner, if you're leaving for your other responsibilities, if we experience it, that means it's not just in your head. That means that humans across the board experience a lot of the same thoughts. But at the same time, at least what both of us have experienced is sometimes prioritizing, taking real, meaningful pauses, having rest, leaving your typical day-to-day environment really can infuse you with a different kind of energy, with a personal transformation that you have been wanting. If you feel like you keep on pushing yourself off. Pushing your wellness off, pushing off a dream that you have had for yourself and it keeps getting pushed off, then travel can sometimes be one of the most beautiful ways to unlock what that is. And if you know that maybe this is something you want in your future, then I want to let you know about the Unstoppable retreat. Again, I have not talked about it on the podcast at all because we just have two or three tickets left at the time that this podcast is airing. And if you want to go find out. All about it. It is happening in October, the second to the fifth in Cabo, Mexico. It's going to be truly amazing. It is an all inclusive experience. We're going to have mornings where we are coaching and workshopping. It is not at all about weight loss. It is purely about you unlocking the best version of you and just coming back into your real life feeling restored. So in addition to the morning coaching and workshopping sessions that we're going to have every day, we have afternoons that are really built for rest and conversation and relaxation your way, there's going to be a daily spa credit that you get. And after this retreat, I've gone through so many live experiences, retreats and coaching experiences and summits and conferences. I've taken a fine tooth comb over my favorite parts of live experiences, and one of them is to have an integration kind of post retreat integration experience. So for the Unstoppable Retreat, we're going to be having some post retreat integration coaching calls so that the takeaways and the ahas and the transformations that you unlock while we are together, you actually have support after the retreat to not just go back to business as usual, but to build it back into your life in a very real way. That is my mission for this retreat. I have been wanting to host a live event for a very, very, very long time, and I have held back on it because. It just felt like I needed to wait for some reason, because I'm a perfectionist, as many of you are, I felt like I wanted it to be just right, and when I found this specific location is an adults only all inclusive with amazing Michelin star restaurants and food I had to do it, and I knew that there were other women that have been wanting this experience that you want connection and community. You want to be with like-minded women. This is going to be the group for you. So if you are considering it at all, if you want to know more about it, then head over to burnstressloseweight.com/retreat all of the nuts and bolts are listed there. The investment for the entire experience is listed there, and there's going to be a button that says. To claim your ticket, it will take you to a form. It just asks you to answer a couple of questions. It lets me get to know whether this is going to be the best experience for you. We'll have a quick conversation and then you can snap up your seat again, there's just a couple of spots left. If it's something you want to do, I suggest you don't wait, and I hope that you get to traveling a little bit earlier than maybe you planned on. Have an amazing week, my friend, and I will see you next week. Bye. Thanks for spending this time with me on the Burn Stress, Lose Weight podcast today. I hope. That you are leaving today's podcast episode feeling a little lighter and more inspired than when we started. It turns out that you don't need to have a stress-free life to hit your goals on and off the scale, but when you feel more empowered to respond to your real life stresses with true strategy. We will game change how we show up and how we hit our goals. If you wanna take what you are learning here on the podcast and put it into real life implementation, it might be time for us to work together in the Burn Stress, Lose Weight Feel Unstoppable group coaching program. Head over to burnstressloseweight.com, and you can learn all of the details, the nuts, the bolts, when the next group is starting, and exactly how you can join. Okay, friend, I'll see you next time.