I’ll try to answer your questions.

It’s difficult for me to squirrel away cash and I need the cash for the session

I throw the itemised receipts away and the way our house is setup I’m not too worried about her finding hidden gift cards or cash. There’s just stuff we each have that we don’t go near the others. Not that it’s private but zero reason to go there and even reasons to avoid.

I am planning to book without using an airline account. I have an idea of which airline I am going to use but the date is months off so I’m going to wait to buy the cards.

Thanks for the link. Good article