Pride 🏳️‍🌈

Limited-edition pride-themed gear and a look at sunk costs, opportunity costs, and the concept that "free" isn't really free

Kelsey Reaves
June 02, 2023

Get ready for an influx of my most treasured sass emojis 💅 because it’s that time of year when the stars align giving us the two most magical occasions: Gemini szn ♊ AND Pride month 🏳️‍🌈.

To celebrate Pride, some travel brands put their bedazzled thinking cap on and launched limited-edition products for the month of June.

Roam Luggage designed a Pride-themed carry-on, and Bombas dropped a plethora of rainbow-colored socks and undies that help support the LGBTQIA+ community with every purchase.

The North Face even partnered with drag queen Pattie Gonia to launch their “coming out…in nature” campaign. And if you haven’t yet met this backpacking queen, do yourself a favor and check out their TikTok here.

Whether you decide to attend a Pride parade or celebrate from the comforts of home, I hope you’re able to throw on your favorite rainbow crop top and honor LGBTQIA+ culture and support equal rights for everyone.

Happy Pride 🥳

Hey, this is Kelsey, founder of SiteSee. I’ll send an email like this every Friday where I’ll share my musings from my travels, the latest research undertaken by our travel writers, as well as recommendations for travel products, interesting podcasts, good reads, and more.

Besides the feeling of sitting in class uncomfortably hungover in college, I don’t remember much from my Economics 101 class except these three concepts:

Sunk cost
Opportunity cost
“Free” isn’t really free

Sunk cost refers to money that has already been spent and cannot be recovered. Opportunity cost is the value of what you are willing to pass on as the result of making a decision.

Call me a nerd but I love seeing these concepts play out in real life.

For example, I upgraded my travel credit card to an AMEX Platinum several years ago for one reason and one reason only: to get access to the AMEX airport lounges for their free food and beverages.

While there are other perks that come with the AMEX Platinum card (like Priority Pass access, a $200 airline fee credit, etc.) if you just consider how much I’m paying for access to the AMEX lounges, you realize that “free” isn’t really free.

I visit the AMEX lounge roughly 12 times a year. The annual fee for the credit card is $695, so if you do some simple math, you can estimate that each lounge visit is costing me about $58.

That’s one hell of an expensive sandwich and coffee.

But now let’s factor in the motive behind why I go to the lounge.

Often when I’m traveling through the airport, I have to finish up a deliverable for a client or jump on a Zoom call. The opportunity cost of not having the AMEX card which gives me lounge access is saving the $58 and sitting out in the terminal, fighting for an outlet and searching for the least questionably stained seat.

To me, having the comfort of a quiet space to focus and get work done is well worth the $58. Plus, I’ve already spent the money so it really no longer factors into the current present moment. Hence, it’s a sunk cost.

And even though it implies a negative connotation, I actually love the concept of sunk costs because it’s allowed me to be able to move faster at things such as business ventures or even small decisions like where to go to dinner. If a business venture doesn’t work, I’m better at failing fast and moving on to my next project. If a restaurant is shitty, then instead of complaining, I’ll make myself a late-night PB&J and make a mental note to never go back to that restaurant.

TL;DR - sunk costs have taught me to take the lesson and move on. Nothing good happens from dwelling on a past decision.

So now please excuse me as I close my laptop to enjoy my “free” $58 cup of coffee.

Just a heads up that there will be no email next Friday as I’ll most likely be treating a sunburn while on my annual family vacation. I’ll see you back here on June 16th.

But to keep you busy in the meantime, our writers put together a handful of great reads that went live this last week:

Thanks so much for reading, and if you found something useful or interesting in this email, mind forwarding this newsletter to a friend (or having them subscribe here)?

Otherwise, thanks again and feel free to reply here. I open and respond to everything.

Onwards,

Kelsey