Benjamin Frankin Museum
Ben was a busy man. He started the nation's first newspaper, invented bifocals, the lightning rod and, in his spare time, helped author the Declaration of Independence. His museum is a must see in Philadelphia.
July 2019
Eisenhower
Air
Rich history and wild art make Philly a city worth seeing
Philadelphia is a unique American city, maybe the American-ist. Museums, parks, important buildings and great restaurants make it a must-see tourist destination, full of sites to see and contrasts to consider. It's historical and modern. Home of Ben Franklin and Rocky Balboa. Birthplace of the Constitution and the cheesesteak. Tough-nosed and charming. There's no other place quite like Philly. You should go see for yourself.
Start with a stroll through Independence National Historical Park. You'll find the Liberty Bell there, along with storied buildings from the founding of the United States, including Independence Hall. That's where delegates from the 13 colonies met to approve the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. In the buildings and grounds surrounding the Hall is where patriots plotted the Revolutionary War. In warmer months, costumed actors bring the era to life.
Independence Hall
Liberty Bell
The city remains a cauldron for bold experimentation, especially in arts and architecture. The city houses many glorious buildings designed for social policy or to house works of classic and unexpected works of art. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, created in 1876, is one of the most well regarded and oldest museums in the country. Philadelphia's Magic Gardens is an outdoor gallery exploding with wild mosaics built with bike wheels, kitchen tiles, china plates and other found materials. Then there is the "Please Touch Museum," created in 1976. It's the perfect place to take small children who are eager to put their hands on things and learn.
They eat well in Philly. Take a walking foodie tour — there are many to choose from — to really sample what the city has to offer. Reading Terminal Market is a great destination for the cook in your family, featuring exotic produce, Amish specialties, and cookware. The South 9th Street Italian Market is another top attraction for visitors and locals alike.
Point is, you don't have to be a patriot or a city slicker to enjoy what Philadelphia has to offer. It's a world-class city with a working-class reputation. Everyone loves an underdog. That's a story, like the city itself, that's as old as America.
South 9th Street Italian Market
Magic Gardens
Valley Forge National Historical Park
What to do and see in Philly
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Trying Hard Now
You know you want to do it. Go ahead. It's encouraged. Take a run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, like Rocky. You won't be the only one doing it.
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Barnes Foundation
The Barnes Foundation is an art gallery featuring a remarkable collection — including Cézanne, Degas, Matisse, Renior, Van Gogh — displayed alongside folk art from Africa and the Americas. Mixing the masters with the outsiders was shocking in the early 20th Century and remains refreshing today.
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Wissahickon Valley Park
The Wissahickon Valley Park is a trail full of historical sites and natural beauty, that follows the Forbidden Drive creek. Cars were banned from it in 1920. Since then, it has only been open to pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians — and you.
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Famous Food
The Philly cheesesteak is the city's most famous food. Which local spot cooks up the best sandwich is a matter of heated debate, but for an iconic Philly experience, visit the corner of South 9th Street and Passyunk Avenue, where rivals Geno's Steaks and Pat's King of Steaks battle for converts daily.
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Morris Arboretum
Philly offers an urban experience, like New York City or Chicago. But Pennsylvania is lush and green. Morris Arboretum is a 92-acre Victorian Garden with some of the city's — and this country's — oldest trees. It's a verdant oasis, a lovely place to get out of the city for an afternoon and catch your breath.
How to get there
Around the World on $2,000
The affordable adventures of Jason & Shelbie Toevs
GLOBETROTTING ON THE CHEAP
Jason Traveling the world does not have to be expensive. Often times, you just get suckered into the easiest thing or that one deal that kind of looks good because everything else is so insanely expensive. In 2015, we ended up traveling 158 days out of the year. Traveled the world. 24 different countries. And we did it all in business class for less than $2,000 total in airfares. It was just about using our points and finding the right flights and kind of hacking our way around the world.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY HACKING?
Jason Very simply the core to travel hacking is this: Credit card companies want you to sign up for their card. They encourage you to do this by giving you anywhere between 20k -150k points with partners like American Airlines or IHG (International Hotels Group) when you spend a minimum amount on their card. For those of us who use the credit card like a debit card and pay it off before any interest charges, we earn the bonus at no net cost. Since we are spending the money each month anyways, may as well run it through a card for points. We ended up running about 20 cards each through the bonuses.
Jason on a beach in Australia
I remember it was 11:38 at night and I looked at Shelbie and said, "You want to go to China?" I spent about 15 minutes looking up how to get visas and then we booked it.
Jason Toevs
We typically look for discounted economy tickets because they are worth re-positioning (flying from ICT to another airport for an international fare that is super cheap) for getting to the destination. Points and travel hacking have changed a lot (for the worse), and this is definitely the easiest way to get into travel hacking currently.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED TRAVELING USING THE POINTS?
Jason In 2014, we were building our house. We were getting all these points from credit card signups and things like that because we had to spend anyway. I was on Facebook and one of the guys in the travel hacking group posted 'I found business class tickets from Washington D.C. to Chicago, to Beijing and return, for $450 round trip.' It was a transformational moment. I remember it was 11:38 at night and I looked at Shelbie and said, "You want to go to China?"
I spent about 15 minutes looking up how to get visas and then we booked it. Looking back, I wish we would have booked like six of those flights. We did the American Airlines Platinum Challenge just before we jumped on those flights, and we ended having full platinum status by the time we landed in Beijing. We earned a business class trip, each, to Europe that we used later that year. All for going and enjoying China for a week and coming back.
First Stop, China
Jason Beijing was a whirlwind. It was probably our first real culture shock together. We had been to Australia together, but there was no frame of reference in China other than hoping that someone speaks a little bit of English. I think we ate Pizza Hut on the first night, and then had street food the next day. We adjusted. We saw Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City — the touristy things. We bought a suitcase and filled the entire thing full of souvenirs for less than $150, haggling our way through the cheap Chinese markets. That was a lot of fun for me.
Great Wall of China
Windmill in the Netherlands
Traveling Europe
Jason We did a driving tour around central Europe. Munich. Bavaria. Salzburg. Germany and Austria were just amazing. We did a Sound of Music bike tour. It is one of those cheap little things that you can do that costs you maybe $20. You spend all day riding around seeing the sites. Then we toured the castles. We had some friends who lived in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. We ended up staying a few days with them. The Netherlands is a very different experience. The biking culture there is incredible. We rode miles and miles looking at windmills.
Cheap Eats in Europe
Jason We stayed in Krakow, Poland, which I would absolutely suggest. Rent a car. Load up a cooler full of food because it is SO cheap in Poland. They're not in the EU. You could get food for a week, stick it in the cooler and travel around Europe. Then come back to Poland and fill up again. I think we were getting a weeks' worth of groceries for the two of us for maybe $30. And it was fresh.
Map of places traveled in the Toevs' kitchen
Salzburg, Austria
ON TRAVELING WHILE YOU'RE YOUNG
Jason In Australia, there is a cultural push for having what is called a gap year between high school and college. You essentially go and travel the world by backpack. You save up money or earn money along the way. You stay at youth hostels. You are just going on a discovery of who you are and what you believe. Then you come back and you start college. I would encourage every young person, instead of taking out debt to go to school, go travel the world. Work your way around the world for a year. Get some perspective. Find out who you really are. It was always something I wanted to do but never really got to do. It was fun that Shelbie and I could do that together in our own way.
Jason and Sheblie always fly out of Wichita
TRAVEL IS NOT OUT OF REACH
Jason We have a lot of friends that think that travel is really out of reach for them. We adamantly disagree. We believe that it is just about what we all prioritize in life. We've done spontaneous trips, we've done well planned out trips, all of them flying out of Wichita. Every single trip. We can all find a way or a reason to back out or not do something. But us? We're going.
We can all find a way or a reason to back out or not do something. But us? We're going.
Jason Toevs
Krakow, Poland
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Credits
| Editor | Valerie Wise, Wichita Airport Authority |
| Creative Agency | Greteman Group |
| Creative Director | Sonia Greteman |
| Art Director | Meghan Wolfe |
| Contributing Writer | Barry Owens |
| Photography | Visit Philadelphia, Martyn Smith, Steven L Johnson, Kimberly Vardeman, Rob Cardillo, Jason Toevs |
Eisenhower Air is published for the traveling public by the Wichita Airport Authority. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please direct them to Valerie Wise at vwise@wichita.gov. We also encourage you to share articles through social media and email. Help us spread the word about the good things happening at our airport.
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