Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Yr
the Order Kerni Whalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Let's get into it.
She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. After a wooly couple of years, we are finally back traveling, but if you're anything like us, you're likely a little out of practice.
To help you prepare for any upcoming of aks you have planned, today, we'll be discussing the most common money mistakes people make when they travel, so you can spend your hard earned coin on fun things like pinacolatas or ugly novelty fridge magnets of the Eiffel Tower.
My name is Georgia King.
You can attack me for the gift I brought you back from Europe. Wow, she didn't bring that back?
And tell you my name is Georgia King, and joining me as always is Victoria Divine VICKI d you have been traveling all over the place this year, so I'm very keen to pick your brains as to how you actually managed to save money whilst doing so. So let's get straight into it.
Who said I saved money while traveling?
I'm just assuming you're the face of she's on the money, good with finance, you know what.
I am pretty good with finance, so very good at traveling, you know. Side note, I'm also very good at traveling with only carry on luggage. Really, I know, nobody saw that coming because I'm so like, I don't know. I'll just give the air of being a little bit over the top. I get it, I get it. You guys judged me. You judged me. That's on you, not me. But it's funny because obviously traveling so much, it's an
absolute privilege. I adore travel, and some of it has been for fun, but most of it has actually been for work and when it comes to work. Like one thing, I really I don't like being away from home. It really sucks. I'm away from my pets, I'm away from my family. Like it's just funny being in a different bed. You never have as great as a sleep. You're always a
little bit angsty. I'm always worried I forgot something. So setting myself up to travel was really important, and that included decanting all of my favorite products because one thing I hate is not having access to my entire skincare routine. I know that is really lame, but when you're traveling, to keep things as consistent as possible, I feel really helps.
Whereas you know, having done Europe recently with a group of girlfriends, I feel like a lot of them will like, oh, yeah, I just brought this moisturizer for the trip because it'd fit in my bag, and I'd be like, oh, I get that just if it's a holiday. But if I'm traveling for work, I just want things to be the same. I just want my stuff. But I also don't want to spend a lot of money on the mini versions of stuff because like even with minis, like my favorite skincare,
obviously no shame here also not sponsored. Go to Skincare the bloody best. Their minis don't even come out consistently. You have to like jump on their website and try and hack them up when they do the party packs.
I didn't know they did little minis.
Ye, not often often. I do some of the most Very like you anyway, So for me, it's not just about money saving. It's also about travel hacks. But I feel like that ends up saving me money. It's all about comfort at the end of the day when traveling.
Yeah, okay, perfect already v Well, with all of that said, let's jump into the most common money mistakes that we see people making when they are traveling. The first of which is over using data while abroad.
And I know you have a.
Little bit of an anecdote because you might have done a little bit of a silly and you might have been stung with a big bill when you got home.
I did. I'm a bit shamed of this because they told me, They told me a million times. I just didn't think that they were correct. So what happened was I'd done all my research and the phone provider I'm with gives me five dollar roaming when I'm overseas Money Win, right, I get to use all my existing data which is unlimited money Win, and I then get to, you know,
just use it as normal five bucks a day. What I didn't realize is that stopover when we're flying to London in Dubai was not covered, and so I got this message being like, hey, you're on pay as you go and I was like, no, I'm not. So I jumped onto the app and my phone provider has the app that you can just do live chat with them, and I said, hey, like, I'm overseas at the moment, I'm traveling to London and you know, I've just got this message. Can you please check what plan I'm on?
Because I obviously don't want to spend too much money and they were like, no worries, let's check. Oh yep, you're on five dollar roaming and I was like, on money Win, Great, no worries. I keep getting these text messages. Should I be worried? And they're like, no, you shouldn't be worried at all. Don't know why you're getting them, but you're definitely on the five dollar roaming plan like great,
money whim. When I got home, I got a seven hundred dollar bill because turns out Dubai wasn't covered and rookie era from me. I told them I was traveling to London. I didn't say I was currently in Dubai in my messages. They let me out of it. Definitely give them a buzz and have a little chat. They
were very very kind. But please avoid that. Make sure you don't do yourself a dirty because seven hundred bucks is a lot of money and I was almost sick when I saw that, So make sure if you're traveling, maybe can sider out what your roaming plan is. I mean,
for me, five bucks a day worked out. But when we were recently in America, I know all of the My Millennial Money team there with a different phone carrier, so they went and got SIM cards and they put different SIM cards in their phone so they could have access to the internet, access to a phone for not an exorbitant amount of money. So that was a way
they did it. Obviously, most places nowadays have Wi Fi, so maybe choose to just travel with Wi Fi only and download the maps that you need and download the things to your phone so you don't have to use roaming at all. Switch off location services and push notifications because they actually use data, especially if you're limited. Airplane mode also saves a whole heap of batchery power and turn off any automatic roaming charges, so make sure that it's not automatic if you don't have a.
Super slick plan like I do Brilliant that kind of happens in the background, doesn't it with some of our apps like they do fresh.
Download the updates Like I don't want to have to go in and manually update my apps, so I always have it on. Just fix it when it needs fixing, because I don't have an issue with data on my phone, just as the plan, it's not an issue. But for exactly you could find yourself in a little pickle if your SIMS app and it's updating, gotcha?
If your sims app love that the next on our list is not accounting for conversion rates? How significant can this actually be when we're traveling and how can we prevent getting stung?
Look, I feel like this is really relatable for so many listeners because we've all been there. We'd all just look at it and go, oh, that shouldn't be too much. When we traveled to London, Holy moly, that was so expensive. And again, my privilege is absolutely showing here. I've traveled before, not my first rodeo in London, been a few times, and historically the conversion or the exchange rate was not
nearly as high as it currently is. So in my head I was like, yeah, no worries, it's probably x amount more so I thought I was doing it correctly. I was wrong, though, and it doesn't mean I was out, like we did fix it, but I was shocked because I was like, oh wait, so ten pounds there ended up being like twenty five dollars here and I was like, oh whoa, Like that's not what I expected. Last time it was like basically double yeah, and it was like slightly more when I traveled, so be on top of it.
One of the things I'm really lame. I'm basically like your mum, George, like you know this, like you know this about me. I carry a pencil case in my handbag. I carry an emergency first aid kid, like I'm that guy, just like like you know what you need a bandaid, babe, I've got you. Do you want a breath mint? I've also got that mini toothbrush. Don't hurry, pandole everything is
in my handbag. I have got you. So what I also want you to put in your handbag is on the back of the like post it note or something. I just wrote down the conversions, because as much as you have your phone, I totally get it. Whenever I opened my wallet, I wanted it right there, so I'd be like, one pound equals this. However, you don't just want one for one because I don't want to do
the maths. So I always just did the most common amounts that I thought i'd be sending, So twenty pounds equals this, ten pounds equals this, and then I could just double it in my head if I needed to. So the one pound equals two pound equals So that's
not helpful. Just do like one pound and then like ten pounds and twenty pounds and five pounds and whatever you think that you're going to most regularly use, so that it's just front of mind, because I think once you get overseas into a different culture, into a different area, kind of just slips your mind. You're like, oh, five pounds doesn't sound that expensive, George, that's like twelve dollars fifty.
I mean, it's just so much money. The other thing I would say is surprisingly obviously each to their own. I don't carry cash when I travel anymore. I really rely on you using my debit card. I think, having traveled to places like London in France, that's fine. Obviously, if you're going to more Third world countries that might not be as accessible. But the one thing I would say is do not exchange currency at the airport. They
charge a premium. Either organize it before you go. There's lots of places around the city that do it, or once you get to your location, then go into town and exchange some money there, or get it out atm It usually ends up being a little bit more cost effective than anything. At the airport. They almost always have significantly higher fees. One because of the location, they have higher rent and costs to cover, but also they're not going to give you a hot deal. They've got the
monopoly at the airport. Do you need cash, you're at the airport, what are you gonna do pay us? Okay, yeah, exactly. So it's really hard and they often can just afford to hyke up the price because they don't care. And then I would make sure that you let your bank know that you are traveling. The reason being is obviously if you've only ever been in Australia and then if
a charge comes up in London, they might go ooh fraud. Yeah, So definitely let them know that you're traveling, just so that your car doesn't get put on hold or canceled while you're broad because that can be a pickle in itself. But most banks won't charge fees when you're abroad if you let them know, so definitely give them a buzz,
see what's going on, see how it works. And I would argue that in twenty twenty two, if your bank does charge fees, go find a different one that you can have for that period of time because it's on a not worth it. One of the best ways, as I said before, to avoid overly expensive foreign exchanges actually just to withdraw money from a local ATM. Make sure you're not getting scammed. Obviously, make sure there's no like skimming devices on it. Only in a safe location, but
that's what I would be doing. Brilliant You said that you usually just have your debit card when you're traveling VD So if you're at Starbucks and you're buying a VENTI bloody caramel mochacino. Was actually buying a Venti Strawberry SI refresher, just so you know, you you're up there ordering that and you do you tap and go. Yeah, they all had tap, do you know what? I was really surprised because I had heard in America they didn't have tap. Everywhere that we went in America recently they
also had taps, so that was really easy. There was no issue at all. And the bank I bank with doesn't have any fees. They just charge you the currency conversion, so there weren't any additional fees for using the card.
Beautiful.
The thing I liked about using a debit card as well was I knew how much money was on there, so like I was just transfer an amount that I was comfortable with. So I might put two hundred or three hundred dollars on there to start with, and then just see how I went. And all my other money was left in my savings account or in a different account. It meant that I didn't have that anxiety of like, if I lose my bank card, they can take all my money. So I just had enough on there to
you know, leave and do well. And I was just keeping track of.
It perfect, okay, cool. Good to know I'm getting the next one out of the way early on in the show, because I feel like everyone listening knows that it is coming right, and that is that the third money mistake people make when traveling is not having a travel.
In Shaky, it was coming.
They took us through once again and what the key dangers of not having travel insurance are and how much money we could actually lose by not having it.
Look, well, everyone tends to think of and we did an entire episode on travel insurance, so please go back and listen to it, because I think I'm intelligent, like we're just trying our best out here. But while everyone seems to think the travel insurance is just for lost luggage or stolen laptops, what we really need it for is our ability to access healthcare abroad and to get home if something really awful happens. Or this sounds bad, but if we die and our body needs to be
returned to Australia. It's expensive, it's also morbid, but it is true. I don't want my family to have to pay for that if the worst thing in the entire world happens. For that reason, I would obviously obviously encourage people to get comprehensive travel insurance, and I really wouldn't bother with anything less than that. Is that bad to say? Like, I know that's entitled, and I know that you know
it's expensive, but travel in itself is a privilege. But we really need to be putting ourselves first, and that's really really important to me. I would forego, you know, a more expensive hotel to make sure that I was properly covered and safe. Obviously, don't go with the dodgy hotel where you're going to be unsafe and you will have to claim on your travel insurance. But you know what I mean, if you're unconvinced. Gee, King, you don't look unconvinced, But I'm just going to play the Devil's
out shit here. Imagine if you got into an accident and then you had to use years and years of your life savings which I know you have been hoarding for a very long time for medical treatment or getting evacuated from overseas, when you could have just paid a few hundred dollars at the start to cover yourself. Because this is gonna sound morbid again, because I am quite morbid. My favorite podcast is literally called morbid to go hit
them ump. I really like them. But if you die overseas, it can cost more than twenty grand to get your body home.
Which is crazy, which is crazy.
And if you don't die, get this, it's even more expensive to get you home if you're in a medical emergency.
Careful.
I had a client and also we had a money diarist ages ago. I don't know if you remember this, but money Diarist was talking about being in a whole heap of debt because she didn't have travel insurance. Her partner came off of scooter in Bali and had to be medically evacuated from Bali to Perth because that's the closest flights more than one hundred thousand dollars.
Oh my hat Mgandhi.
Travel insurance is obviously not a waste of money. It's just being smart. And I know that some people will say, oh, but it is a waste of money because I never claimed on it. Great, that's actually an investment. I want you to have insurance as the biggest waste of money in your entire life, because it means you're fine.
And it keeps you safe.
Right, there's a little angel called pastor Mama Plant Mama. I've spoken about her before on the podcast. She was recently in Greece and had appendicitis or something, so she needed emergency surgery. It was a horrible, horrible experience, but she had travel insurance.
It was covered.
It was covered.
Imagine if you didn't have it and you have to be like, wow, I need my appendix out. That's one option or the other option is like, I mean, you probably do always need it out in that situation, but you shouldn't put yourself in a position where you have to question whether or not you should seek medical treatment, right, Yeah, And that's what insurance undred percent. I think to take that a step further as well, is if that happens and you don't have travel insurance, Gee, who are you
going to ask? If you have travel insurance. You pick up the phone and you say, hey, I'm in a pickle.
What do I do? They say, where are you? You say, I'm in Indonesia. They go, great, this is the process. This is a doctor you're going to This is how it's going to work. And it's not just the insurance, it's not just the medical cover. It's the you have somebody that knows because they're travel insurers. They have done this for a living. They know everyone in the area. Doesn't matter where in the world you are, they are going to make sure that you're well looked after. They
might organize the transport. They will literally do everything to make sure you're okay. It's not about going all right, well, gee, just claim it back when you get home. They are literally there to support you as well. And to me, that gives me a whole heap of peace of mind.
Yeah.
Nice.
Also on travel insurance, remembering that we only need it when we are overseas. We don't need it for our trip tomildurum V. You know, not for the locals. V. Last on our list before we head to a little break is last minute booking. So that could be our fly it's our accommodation. Can you talk us through why prices generally go up closer to the date of our departure because.
You haven't charge desperate people a lot of money. I'm willing to pay a reason. I learned that painfully when we went to America. I have known that we were going to America for a very long time, but dragged my feet booking flights because I wasn't sure if I wanted to extend the trip or not, and you know, it was really hard, but it was much more expensive. Interestingly, Skyscanner says this is actually decatered to quote last minute business travelers who need to travel on short notice and
are willing to pay a premium to do so. And I mean that's certainly the case when it comes to major cities, but kind of rude if I want to go last minute Bali trip with the girls, like we got that last minute public holiday.
Yes, I wish we knew about that.
Wish we'd known about that recently, But that's okay. So the earlier you book your flights or know that you're in the market to book flights, the more time you're actually going to have to stay on the lookout for some promotional deals from airlines that might make some flights more affordable. Obviously, if you can be flexible with your dates or time, that is going to help you score
a deal. One hot tip that I have is always making sure that you know when school holidays are not only for you when you're traveling, but for the location you're traveling too, Because, for example, I took just to Disneyland during school holidays in America, Sily, silly girls, learn from my mistakes, babies. But it's actually a little bit less clear when it comes to accommodation. So obviously flight's
more expensive. But when I was reading up before this episode, a lot of people have had the experience that they scored cheaper deals the longer they waited. My anxiety count. Yes, as much as I might have waited to book the flights, I'd already booked the accommodation the second I booked to the conference. Obviously, if you're traveling during a peak period like summer or school holidays, things aren't going to be as flexible, So I guess that's something to keep in mind.
G King, of course, you'll have fewer options to work with because things might be booking out, especially if it is a peak travel period. I was talking to a girlfriend the other day. She was talking about coming to Melbourne yep, and the weekend she was picking was actually the GP weekend. Oh yeah, but we didn't know because
you don't pay attention to the GP. She's like, everything's booked out and so expensive, and I was like, there must be something going on, yes, so check if there's something going on a big event, leaving it to the last minute because you want a better deal, but then finding out there's a big event and the place that you're going to is actually going to shoot yourself in the foot. You're going to end up either with real dank dingy accommodation or paying a massive premium to go
on the holiday you had planned. So obviously, if you're keen, do research earlier. But if you've got a hotel or an airbnb that you're super keen on, I would absolutely suggest booking in. Also other hot tip, sometimes paying the little bit extra, like if you're on what if dot com or whatever for the room that is refundable is helpful because what you can do is call it the hotel and be like, hey, I'm very aware that prices have gone down, could you just switch me to the
lawer rate. But if you paid the super cheap option at the very start, and they're like, now it's really on repuntable. Sorry, it is what it is.
Hot tip, she's.
Slipped that one in exactly right.
We are going to take a little pause here, But on the other side, we're going to be chatting through our last few days to save money. When traveling, so stick around. I will straight back into it VD. The next most common mistake people make is not having a plan or transport organized from the airport, so Spinful felt that as well, can you folesh this one out for me?
Okay, So this one is something that really grinds my gears, especially because I don't know if you've done this recently, Georgia King, but even ubers are far more expensive from the airport. So something that I've done recently is learn about travel forums. So it might be on like trip Advisor or even just other random travel forums. Look up transport in your city and see what other people are doing and what like the cheapest or best option is.
Because I know that we benefited when we were on our euro trip, and I mean, jessic Ricci was not very impressed with me because I made her walk a bit and she is a chronic overpawer, so she had to drag her suitcase. But one of the hot tips that I learned on that travel forum was that this airport that we were flying into really expensive ubers, but if you walk to the local McDonald's and then call
an uber, it's like half the price. So I was like, we're definitely doing that absolutely well and truly, and Jess was like, do we have don and I was like, yes, drag that suitcase. That was your choice that you made. You did this to yourself, so it's really important to
do some research. Unfortunately, just like the currency exchanged kaosks at the airport, taxis basically have a monopoly at airports, like they get prime positions, So if you haven't organized driver ahead of time, it's very likely that you're going to be stung with the surcharge on the taxi or as I said before, on the Uberville. Obviously, greater demand equals higher price if you're going to places like Bali.
On a lot of these travel forums, they have recommendations of specific drivers who will pick you up if you back them, so you just message them on WhatsApp and you know you organize that. Obviously, safety is paramount, so only do it if it is tried, true and tested. Don't just book random people and hope that you're getting a good deal, because at the end of the day, one thing that I always do when I travel is make sure I have good transportation to and from the
airport because you usually have the most luggage. It's the hardest to get around, Whereas I'm very unlikely to prebook any transportation to activities and stuff because I'm like, great, I just have my handbag, Like I could jump on a train, I could get in an uber, I could get one of the scooters. Like, there's so many transportation options, but when you have luggage, it is much much harder, Right, That's good. Cool, And also we forget to budget for it.
We're like, okay, airfare's accommodation, all of this. You forgot the taxi in between. That's maybe another sixty bucks that you just didn't see coming. And what's that nice dinner out?
Yeah, it's a lot. Good point, it's a lot.
So if you're not in a rush, though, and have obviously landed a safe time of night, obviously don't be afraid to consider public transport options. Again, the group of girls I went to Europe with when not impressed with me when I was like, we are getting the tube to our hotel, but I'd organized it so that it was flawless. They were safe, they were fine, they were a little bit tired, But I was also not spending one hundred pounds to get from the airport to the
hotel that we were staying at. Sillytok, we don't do that. Look into public transport options, they are almost always at every single international airport, yes, set Melbourne.
Yeah, that's they bus which can take you to like Southern Cross Basket too hot. That might be sorting out a little train line. Look, I've heard about it.
But also can you imagine Skybus wouldn't be very happy about that, or if I owned Skybus, I wouldn't be very happy about anyway. That's obviously a more economical option, and I definitely would recommend it because if it's good enough for me, I guarantee it's good enough.
Yeah, that is true.
Let's move on to our next point, which ties into our last one quite neatly, I think, And that is a general lack of organization. So exactly like you just said, if we don't have travel planned from the airport or from our hotel, whatever it may be, that can really add to how much we have to spend when we are traveling. But also like not having your bag organized and having your money and your passport floating around frivolously.
Also you know, not being organized enough to make the most of services like shop back, like things like that.
Yeah, one hundred percent. And obviously I would love to think of myself as like the most organized disorganized person, Like I'm disorganized ninety percent of the time, but when it comes to the important things, like all right I am traveling, I will be very meticulous and organized because
it lowers my anxiety, let's be honest. So I think one thing to do is actually create a plan, because things like overweight baggage charges are so much money, and when you're not organized, you tend to overpack, and if you're overpacking, you're more likely to get that. And one thing that I always used to forget was factoring in the fact that I'm probably going to do some shopping
while I'm overseas and want to bring back stuff. So I might pack my bag perfectly and it all just fits, but like what if I find a really cute top in Spain that I want to bring home, you know, So I think it's important to always have a little
bit of flexibility on that. So I'd always advocate making sure that you sort yourself out with a plan before you go, and make sure that you are you know, being smart about it, as you said, g making use of services like shot back again, not sponsored recommendation, just genuinely a good recommendation. But booking accommodation and flights ahead of time so you can avoid surg charges and surging prices is really smart. Making sure that you are looking
up the best deal. Sometimes the best deal is actually through a travel agent. And I know that a lot of people are, oh, sure, that could be more expensive. Sometimes they have access to just better deals or can bundle things together and be like, all right, well I can give you a discount because there's five girls traveling, do you know what I mean? So I think it's always worth asking. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to
book with them. And so from my perspective, making sure that you just have appropriate travel gear is really helpful. If you're going to do Europe and you're going to go all the way through Spain and France and Morocco, and you know, obviously Morocco is not Europe, it is so Africa. And I just saying that because that's the trip I did last time or a few years ago. Yeah, bags with wheels not ideal. No, so many cobblestones, so
many cobblestones. So make sure that you are really taking into consideration what type of luggage you are taking before going to that location, because do you know what, I would have much preferred if someone had told me just take a backpack, like take one of those big backpacks and you will be fine. Wouldn't have been as sexy, would have been way more practical. Yes, So making sure that you are booking ahead and planning ahead is not only going to save you money, but also save you
stress while you are there. It's also obviously a great idea to get something like a travel wallet so you can stash your passport and your cash away and feel really safe, especially if you're traveling so low. I feel like if you fall asleep and your bag's on your lap, you're just not going to feel as secure, whereas having like a travel wallet that's actually strapped to you, with your passport and your money in it, You're just going to feel a little bit safer. I'd obviously also recommend
organizing transport to the airport to avoid ridiculous taxi prize. Obviously, drivers know you don't have another choice, so they just yeah, it is what it is. Stay stranded, my love. But it's also super exciting, so TLDR of all of that G is the more organized you can be, the more planned you can be, and the more organized, the more comparable you can make it right, the more things you can compare and work out what activities you want to
do and what activities you don't want to do. Obviously, I am a bit of a spreadsheet fiend, and I have a lot of travel spreadsheets. Maybe I need to upload them to my website or something so people can download them. But I literally plan out everything and then based on what I want to do. I also before I even work out what I want to see, I go all right, g if we're going to travel together, like,
what kind of budget do you have? We work out what that looks like, and I go, all right, Well, how about we have no spend days versus spend days. Like one day we might go to a theme park or a paid tourist attraction, but then I really force myself for the next day to find a free activity that we can do. So it might be going for a walk around the gardens or going to see something that is a free attraction or a free museum. And I feel like balancing it out that way is like
have paid days and then non paid days. Obviously there are things that you're gonna have to pay for like food and transport around the time, but tourist attractions really add up. So sometimes by going gee, it's a no spend day, it can actually be really fun to find the best free activity that you can do on that. They're always the best days, honestly, right. I feel like every time I've had a really stellar day while traveling,
it's usually been some kind of free activity. My other free hot tip apologies are going a bit roque here. Free walking tours.
Yes, they're so.
Free walking tours are so good. I usually do want every new country that I go to because usually the people running them usually if you've been on a walking tour before, ye, yeah, so usually a little bit of an eccentric, like it takes a special type of person to want to run consistently a free walking tour in the town, right, But they know so much stuff, you get so much history. Yes, you usually tip them because
you're a nice human. You're just gonna not do anything, or you might buy them a beer at the end. But I genuinely feel like they put you on the right foot great free activity while you're traveling.
Yeah, good cor v D.
I like that one. This is a quick one here. Not sure if you'll have a take on this, but I added it to the list without your permission, so let's see how it goes. So it is buying silly shit when you're on vacation. Yeah, I feel like we've all been guilty. Rut BALI get a hair braided, We buy a fluorosa wrong, we come home back to gloomy Melbourne, our hairs braided. We find that we're not wearing the sarrong as much because maybe we regret that purchase.
I feel like.
When we travel, we spend money on silly things that are not useful. When we're at home, we get carried away.
Look, I would ask you that I'm pretty good at that because I just don't like silly stuff, Like I just think about it. When I see an item, I'm like, I really don't want to have to store that. Okay, I'm different when it comes to shoes. There was always, always, always wear my wardrobe for shoes. You know what, I'll just get a new wardrobe. She'll be right, But I feel like putting a cap on it is quite helpful.
So going all right? Gee, like you definitely you can buy something, but what is going to be your souvenir? You don't have to pick the four, but you might go or I'm just going to limit myself to like one thing or two things. I also think something else that people get carried away with is gifts for people, Like why do you need to take back a gift for every single person you've ever met when you're going overseas? Like send them a postcard. Obviously it's about the thought.
So maybe just send them a postcard when you're over there and cut your losses because not everybody needs a giant inflatable statue of the Eiffel Tower, Like, honestly they don't. Well, and do you know what when people bring it back for me, I'm like, that's so thoughtful, that's so kind. But then I'm like, what am I going to do it with this Eiffel Tower keyring?
Yet?
But what am I going to do with it? Am I going to put it on my cas? Probably not, Let's be honest, it's really annoyingly shaped. I'm not going to use it.
It is painful. What about the yolo attitude that kind of ties into that vee? Because I feel like when we are away, we can have a tendency to really treat ourselves, but that can be risky and detrimental to It can be.
Really detrimental, and it can be detrimental to the overall holiday budget, but also for who you're coming home to, which is future you. So I think making sure that you stick to a really clean and clear, solid budget is a really good idea. Putting yourself in a good financial position is literally always sexy. But also understand yourself and your values before you go on holiday. Are you a yollow kind of gal or are you Georgia King and you're super frugal? Like do you know what I mean?
Like?
Which one are you? And if you are a little bit more yollow, build some yollow into your budget. Yeah, make sure it's there, but then also use it at discretion. Maybe go all right, well i'm a bit yellow. Maybe i'll go three paid activities while we're on this trip, and I'll do three, you know, or more free activities.
I think there's something really liberating when you go all right, I'm just going to dig it up this way, because instead of going and googling top ten attractions, which usually comes up with a marketing page of the top ten paid attractions in that location. You go, all right, top ten free activities in this location, and I promise it is not going to make your holiday worse. In fact, some of my best times have been having picnics in random parks while doing our own self guided walking tour
around London. I think it's really interesting as well, because I think a lot of people are like, oh my gosh, did you go do this museum and this? I'm like no, but you know what we did. We went to Marks and Spencer and we got that really cheap five pound lunch. We put it in our little backpacks. We hired those lime scooters, got around the city, stopped for a random beer in a random location at a pub that was
very London. When I found a park and had lunch, one of my favorite days and it didn't cost much at all. It's just about planning it, because I do find it really hard when I travel just to wake up and be like, oh, what do you want to do today Georgia? Usually that ends up being a paid activity because you just don't know what else to do, right, and it's easy to throw money at problems.
Yeah, that's really true, and also I feel like there's kind of a pressure when you're in you know, I mean, Paris is a bad example because of it. We all want to see the Eiffel Tower, but you do get sucked into doing those tourist attractions when it's like, exactly as you just said, the best days are the ones where you have no plans and you're seeing the city for what it is and really absorbing that genuine culture. That is a very good tip from you.
There v also gammify it. I know that sounds really lame, but we picked one thing that was inexpensive that we were going to search out in the city when we were there. So example you used in Paris as was croissants. Obviously that's not the most original idea, but literally we had this game of being like, can we find the best croissant in Paris? So each day as we were going around, like it's not an expensive addition, but we were like, all right, for brunch or for lunch or
whatever we're going to do, we're gonna find croissants. And as much as it wasn't you know, super high fine dining, it's not what we wanted. Anyway, we were like looking up random bakeries and running around the back streets of Paris trying to find these bakeries that had really good reviews and it was the best fun. But I think finding something in a location and going do you know what, We're going to find the best sankria, or we're going to find the best pea, or we're going to do
I mean, find something local. And I mean that's another foodie tip as well. Eat the local cuisine. It's going to be far cheaper than eating something that is more international.
Tell me more about your experiences with food VD and saving in that way, because that's obviously something that can get out of hand. Do you have any tips with saving when it comes to food.
I have so many food tips, like food alright, alright, sorry, sorry, sorry, So when it comes to food, obviously, don't get sucked into buying food at the tourist traps lack. I know that it's fun. And this is going to sound a little bit hypocritical because Jess and I had a game when we were it was an expensive game that we were willing to play while we were at Disneyland, and that was to eat as many things that were shaped
like Mickey as possible. Jess recorded every single one of them head over to her teknock and more trippy, piky shaped things. But that's not a good idea because ninety percent of the stuff take like trash. I just wish I had packed my own lunch, because then I would have been one incomplete control of the budget side of it. But two, I could have just picked stuff I actually wanted to eat. So I don't actually want to eat
a hot dog. I don't want that. I don't want to spend twelve dollars American on a hot dog at Disneyland. I want to take my lunch. It's not that hard. Most people carry backpacks anyway, and so from my perspective, taking lunch is very sexy. But the other thing is, I think this is a can entitled. Everyone's going to have their own opinion, and I know they do because they jumped down my throat on my Instagram when I
posted about this. Because apparently one of life's greatest luxuries is the buffet breakfast at a hotel.
Oh, yes it is.
It is, all right, So maybe we're on the same page. I think we should be skipping that. I don't want to pay for breakfast at my hotel. Every time I've ever been down to the buffet breakfast, I have two slices of toast. I'm full. I go and get a random plate with the tiny pancakes. Some of them are tella. I might eat some of the fruit, but like, I'm definitely not getting for money by any stretch of the imagination. So what I do when I land at a specific
location one I pre check with my hotel. This is so lame and makes me sound like such a nerd. So true, though, I make sure that my hotel or wherever I'm staying. I say, can you please make sure that the mini bar is empty? Like I don't want anything in the mini bar, not because I'm worried about spending money, I actually want the storage space. And then maybe you could always ask them if you want for a microwave. Most hotels actually have microwaves.
Couple of spares out the back.
They actually do, and they will pop one in your room. And the reason they have them is usually either people with back problems that need to heat up heat packs and babies that travel that need bottles heat it up if they have formula. So it's interesting, right anyway, asking for those things can save you a lot of money, but I always have breakfast at the hotel. I feel like it's a waste of money to be spending it out. I would prefer to spend most of my money on
a nicer lunch or a nicer dinner. So when we're in America recently, I literally went to I think we went to Target. Do you know Target in America has a supermarket? Attacks sure, yes, what on earth?
It is?
Elite? Like I bought so much stuff, Like I'm not a budget tip here because I definitely bought way more cereals than we needed. But we went to the local Target, and I bought a whole heap of cereal. I bought my milk, I bought a whole heap of coffee so that I could just make my coffee and have my
cereal in the morning. And every morning just and I just shared breakfast, not in I would love to stay in bed, but we weren't in the same bed or sat on the balcony and had breakfast, And to be honest, it was a really nice way to gently start the day and plan what we're planning on doing together without having to race down to breakfast or whatever.
Yeah.
But also it was really budget friendly. I mean a box of cereal and a bottle of oat milk ten out of ten.
Yeah.
Nice.
I know it's lame, but everywhere we've been I've been like, oh, can we do this? Only because like I actually prefer it. I'm angry in the morning, skies, I don't want to be searching for breakfast. I have my mid morning croissant to worry. I'm not going to miss out on the culture. Yes, I definitely need to eat a solid first. It means I'll eat less during the day, It'll be cheaper, and I can prioritize my food budget to things that actually matter to me.
Brilliant. Love that. But that takes us to my final question for the day.
From your perspective as a finance wizard, would you say that it would be a good idea to have a little bit of a buffer in our budget for shall we say, like emergency moments?
So like when you.
Definitely, I'm going to say yes, okay, okay, tell me more about that. How much how much it be in that part of our budget? Like what does that look like?
Honestly, I'd add a good extra ten to fifteen percent on top of your holiday budget doesn't mean you'll spend it might go into savings account when you get home, but you always want to feel a little bit more comfortable. There is nothing worse than going on holiday and being like, oh my gosh, I didn't realize that coffee would cost xyz. Yes,
can't research every single aspect of your experience. Yeah, you can organize and prebook hotels in accommodation and all of your transfers, and maybe you can even book like all of the activities and tickets that you might need, but you can't really budget appropriately for food, and who knows, Like you might be with a friend that's like, oh, let's stop at this little cafe. You both stop because
you're really excited and new real it's really expensive. But you also don't want to go somewhere else because you don't want to ruin the vibe at the moment, or maybe you just can't be bothered finding somewhere else because you've been walking around Paris and already done twenty three thousand steps that day. Yes, so I feel like having a little bit of a buffer gives you a little bit more peace of mind and enables you to properly enjoy your holiday. Doesn't mean we have to spend that money.
In fact, the best thing about a holiday, if you have one, is coming home with money, if you've got it. We love Yeah, we love that.
I think that is all we have time for today. But the moral of the story is get organized, plan ahead, don't buy silly florosa wrongs.
If you wrote down don't buy dumb shit, why didn't you say that?
Because this is a PG rated popka notorial to mine. If you lose a little bit of money along the way, don't worry, have fun.
That was just stay reshec did sace day. And you know what we're going to do this week. I want to put a thread in the Facebook group about all your hot travel tips, So head to there and share them with me, because you can never be too prepared for a holiday. Honestly, a little bit of holiday dreamings exactly. All right, We're done here, Georgia King, see you on Friday.
Guyyus