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Order Kernie Whoalbury 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.
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She's on the Money. She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Georgia King and joining me as always is the Lovely Victoria Divine V. How are we.
I'm well, I'm always still jarred when you say, oh, the Lovely Victoria Devine, I'm like, well, that's showbiz because before you were like, oh, get better, V. And I was like, oh, I'm not sick, and you were like, no, you just need to get better. Like I feel like there's this offline bullying versus online, like vine so lovely, like, don't lie, George, don't like it.
It's all eyes, guys. Let's get into it with travel back on the cards. We want to unpack something today that, in your opinion, v is even more important than remembering to pack your toothbrush or your undies.
Because you can buy those things when you get there.
Well, that's exactly right, exactly. We are talking, of course, about travel insurance. It might sound a little dry, we'll admit it, but we were amazed by how many people messaged us through with questions after we spoke about insurance over on the sotom Instagram page when you were preparing for your trip.
So many personal dms from people being like, oh, what one did you go with? How did it work? What does this mean? And girl, I didn't just do my research. I saved all the PDS's and then control FT and like looked through all of them to make sure that every single one had a policy. And I made a spreadsheet because that's the best way to track anything, and that's how I picked my policy. And the She's on the Money team are already reaping the benefits.
And hopefully today you will too, sweet listener, So today we will be answering a number of the questions that popped up from you guys, including how you can access what do you actually need when you're heading away, what's just a waste of money a bit of a rip off, and what is just downright I'm helpful.
There's a lot of things in insurance that you think would be important that actually aren't. Georgia King, what do you think the most important thing is when it comes to travel insurance?
Ooh, a top of my head, I would say, you know things that you can break or easily lose. I'm thinking your bag, your phone, your laptop. We've all dropped phones when abroad and then they haven't worked.
Alex Devine start your friend. We were standing in an airport in Nice and she dropped her Apple Watch and the fate. Yeah, she's obsessed with it, like she cannot take one step without that Apple Watch. But once you've got a track over, the entire face of the Apple Watch shattered, and I think I saw her soul leave her body. And then she was in a really bad mood for the rest of the day. So I just
avoided her. It was a good sister. I was just like subtly bullying her about it, But yeah, she had no watch for the rest of the trip.
How did she know what the time was?
How did she know how many steps she'd taken? How did she knows been closed? But that's actually not the most important thing when it comes to travel insurance. I feel like we all get super caught up on the extras, especially because they're the shiny things that get put on the marketing material on the websites. Right they're like, oh my god, up to ten thousand dollars worth of luggage cover and you're like, oh, that's great, no problems. But at the end of the day, if you lose your laptop,
real unfortunate money loss, but you can replace. What if you broke your leg in the middle of Thailand and you literally needed surgery. What's she going to do, George, Oh god, I've trade my laptop for the flight that you need to take back to Australia to get that done, because you can't just jump on a plane and come home. There's so many different levels of thought that need to
go into this when it comes to insurance. And we've had money dirists before, Like remember the money dirist where her husband was in Bali and had a scooter accident and had to be medivacked back to Australia for surgery, and it's now put them in a position where they're in more than one hundred thousand dollars worth of debt because of this, That, my friend, is why we have travel insurance. It's not because we are like, oh my god,
we might lose our laptop while we're away. Like, yes, those things are important to ensure if you absolutely cannot afford to lose them. And I'd argue, if there's something you can't afford to lose, please don't take it. But the only insurance we should ever get, and this is probably financial advice by I think I'll get away with it is comprehensive, Like, please don't just get third party. You need to protect yourself as much as everybody else.
If you're getting anything less than that, I do genuinely think it's a bit of a waste of money, Like I don't care if you damage someone's property. I get it, like there's obviously going to be a financial implication, But it blows my mind that people don't protect themselves, like you're so willing gee to put yourself in a position where you're like, oh, my three thousand dollar laptop need to ensure it, And I go, yeah, great, good idea, Georgia.
What if you come home and you can't work ever again?
Dear God?
But like, why aren't we ensuring our own person our own ability to generate income, our own ability to be self sufficient, Like if something really bad happens. I know, this is really dramatic, And this is why I'm so passionate about insurance, Like you're done, Like we need so many things in place to make sure that you're okay, and travel insurance is one of those things that I
do think you should be spending the money on. And I've had a conversation with a few people in my DMS recently where like, oh my god, yeah, I'm going away. I looked at travel insurance and it's too expensive. I'm like, well, ah, I feel like this is such an entitled position to be in, but like, if you can't afford insurance, probably don't go. Yes, it's like a forge. And don't get me wrong, insurance is now a little bit more expensive than it used to be because of COVID and because
of everything else going on in the world. I get it, but that's an investment. It's not just about the cheap flights. It's like, all right, well what is this actually going to cost me to go on my trip to Bali?
Right? Okay, so super interesting there because I feel like for me, I definitely, as I said, I'll just be like my lappie that'll probably get smashed, probably get that covered. But I would never be like, well I could die.
And it's not because travel is so much more risky, right, it's because you don't have the private health or even the health system that we have in Australia covering you.
Yeah.
So with this speed, just before we get into the thick of things, would you say travel insurance is necessary for like an eight hour trip to mil Dura, No, going to Europe or something like that, Like, how do you know what's necessary?
No?
No, So I would be considering travel insurance if you're planning on leaving the country, which means you're leaving our medical system. I wouldn't be considering it if you're going to meal Dura for the weekend or you're off to a Chuka for a girl's weekend. Like, it's just not what it is for. Like travel insurance is to cover you while you are out of our country and don't have access to Medicare or the health insurance that you
actually have on your person at the moment. Right, So it's all about making sure that you're okay while you're out of Australia's hands.
Perfect, Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Just before VU said that the only insurance we should get is comprehensive insurance.
Entitled opinion, I totally understand that. But we are putting you in the best possible position when I say that, right, Like, my job is to make sure you are okay, because I'd love to think I'm like your finance mum. Yeah, big sister, big sister, Yeah, big sister. That makes me feel younger. Yeah, but like I'm your finance big sister. I want the best for you. So that's the advice I have.
Right, So what actually is TORD? But what Yeah, so tell me what it is? Yeah, okay.
So comprehensive travel insurance is the highest level of cover you can get. Obviously there's a lot of When you go to a travel insurance website and you start doing your comparisons, they'll be like, here's the entry level, here's this, and this. You don't need like the Kreme de la Creme like covers fifty million dollars worth of xys it. What you need is to make sure that you and your third party is covered. And it means that it's not just covering you having an accident and the costs
that are incurred by the other person. So each company has lots of different nuances. So what you are looking for is twenty four to seven medical cover So injury or illness including hospital, states, surgery, dental is a really important one to make sure it's there because what if you come head first off a scooter, g your leith are going to need that service, prescription drugs, which can
be incredibly expensive overseas, and doctor's visits. The other thing that I think is really important is medical evacuation and repatriation. So you might go, what the hell, Victoria, like, what are you talking about? That is not what I was thinking when I thought travel insurance. But that is to get you home something really bad happens to you, and like we all knock onward, we don't want that to
ever happen. But if something happens, I can get you home, and that to me is the most important thing because I have heard and I guess this is the beauty of being in She's on the money, and you know, running a community of financial advisors where you know, if people are in a pickle, they do tend to come to me and go, V what would you do? How would you do this? I've seen it so many times.
They're like my brother, my cousin, my sister, my aunt is stuck overseas because they had this thing happen to them and now they can't fly home, or they have to stay overseas for eight weeks because they can't get on an actual commercial flight. They would need a medical evac to get them home and that can't happen because it's one hundred thousand dollars. So I think that if something happens to you, getting home, from my perspective, is
one of the biggest priorities, and that's really expensive. The next is personal liability, so if something happens, you're insruant for that. Cancelation cover is really important, but maybe not the most important thing for me. When I was looking at travel insurance recently, because as you know, ge Jess and I just got back from Europe, cancelation cover for me was important because we had so many connecting flights and if a middle flight got canceled, like, what are
we doing to do? Just missed the next one? I wanted cover for that. But I also wanted to make sure we had COVID cover, yeah, which most travel insurance policies are absolutely excluding at the moment because it's too hard. I found one, so we've got that. But we can then be covered for family emergencies. So something happens and you absolutely need to go home. Great, covered for that.
But then it's also about things like the bells and whistles, which I would say are the things that are not necessary but really nice to have, like lost or damage luggage cover. Great, really important to be covered for that. But my priority is making sure your body is okay Georgia. And then alternative transport costs, which I think is kind of important as well, because we just want to make sure that we're not stung with thousands of dollars of costs while we're overseas.
Really, you mentioned their V I feel like your main point was that medical evacuation and repatriation is the most important thing. So let's get into the nitty gritty now, because there are so many things when you're fit and healthy that you just don't think about. We really do take our health for granted.
And I feel like as an Australian, we really take our health for granted. Further, like, did you know we are the most underinsured country in the world because like we're just Aussies. We just trust it be right? Should be right, mate, Like we literally have the lowest level of insurance across the entire world because of our trusting nature and our medical system is so good that we
are like, oh, should be right. It doesn't matter, Like, yeah, you're right, don't have private health insurance, but like I'll just go to the hospital. Like it's one of those things that it blows my mind as a financial advisor that we are so underprepared, But it's a really nice reflection at the same time of how trusting we are.
Yeah, crazy for sure. So on that note, what would you say are some of the most difficult and expensive things that we might up against when we're overseas that we would want insurance to cover us for.
So, as I said before, emergency medical evacuation to make sure you can either get from your current location to a suitable hospital or to get from your current location back home. Ambulance and emergency hospital stuff, so medical surgical hospital costs need to all be included. Overseas. It's really expensive. I mean it's different in every state and territory here in Australia, but ambulance cover in Australia is also really expensive if you don't have ambo cover, so definitely look
into that. The next is the cost of your return to Australia if it's earlier than planned, and if this is medically necessary. So we say stuff like this and you go, yeah, but I could just pay for a flight, It's fine. I had a client who did their back like broke their back, had gone to surgery, was in the UK. The doctor said, no problems, like all done, dusted. Thankfully they had travel insurance so all their surgery was covered.
They got it fused, We're good to go. But the doctor then said, you cannot travel for six months and if you do, and when you do, you need to travel in business class because you need a lay flatbed. You cannot sit up in a chair for the entire duration of a flight. Have you saent how expensive business class flights are at the moment seventeen thousand dollars to get her home.
Oh my god.
And that's just out of pocket, that's not covered, that's not anything. So this is why we care. It's not because oh my gosh, Ve that'll never happen. Yeah, I hope it never happens. But for those of you who it does happen to, this is so important, Like I can't stress enough. I feel like it's the one thing that people like, oh did you sort out travel insurance? You go, oh, forgot, don't worry about it next trip, hah,
Like it's not a haha situation. The next thing as well, g is to allow you to return to Australia and for someone to stay with you and travel home with you if you're not from Australia and you need help, and then emergency assistants so for example, keeping your friends and family back home updated obviously with your permission, telephone interpreting and translation, and if you're in hospital in a non English speaking country, this is way more important than
you think it is. And then gee, what happens if you have kids, like we need to return those kids back to Australia to be looked after. If something really serious has happened to you, and then also sourcing emergency prescription drugs like sometimes that is far harder than you think it is. And I know that I'm being really dramatic, but it happens, and it happens more often than we would like to think it does.
Keeping on with the dramatic theme, b what happens if I'm overseas and I pass away?
This happens. Yeah, this happens and you will get home. That's okay, But it does happen, and it's really upsetting. But I guess such is life in a way, and that's why we have travel insurance to make sure we're okay. But if you do pass away while you are traveling overseas, travel insurance is going to make sure that you can either have your body or your ashes return to Australia.
That could cost up to twenty thousand dollars for your family if you don't have that, or if your family decides to have a funeral or a burial in the country which you passed away, that will be covered as well. So I think it's interesting to think about a bit morbid, but it's a big part of travel insurance. It really is, because that could cost your family thousands.
Yeah, and you don't want to lump that on them when they're already grieving your loss. All right, on that morbid note, VD, let's take a little break more.
Let's best podcast. That's not She's on the money, I'm obsessed. Haven't checked that out? Do that in your break also come back to us. Of course after this, we're going to talk more about travel insurance, COVID and all of those spicy things.
What more could you want?
Maybe their podcast better this time?
All right, very straight back into it. We had a number of questions about COVID, which makes a lot of sense, and you said it before that not a lot of insurers do cover it.
What's yeah, because it's so prevalent, right, and it kind of makes sense for them to go, all right, well, if you're going to travel, you know, COVID exists, you know, it's been around for a while. That's a risk that you have to wear, so it pays if you're planning on getting travel insurance and want to be covered for that. To take that into consideration, several insurers have literally now been like, either we're not doing travel insurance for the
meantime because it's too much risk on them. We are going to limit cover, so we're going to exclude anything related to COVID, or if they do have COVID included in their policy, there's a really strict guideline as how that can be used or abused. Essentially, so some policies only cover medical and repatriation costs if you get COVID overseas, while other policies actually provide limited cover for cancelation costs and medical costs and repatriation costs and stuff like that.
So I think it's important to take this into consideration as to how important this is for you. Because having this conversation with Jess and you know, the girls before we went on our holiday, I was like, well, what happens if one of us get COVID? Obviously we have to isolate and do what that country needs us to do.
How would that work? So we'd thought about it a lot, but it was real important for me on a expensive, let's be honest Europe trip with a group of girls, to be covered so that we weren't completely out if one of us did. I mean, we're crazy. So we traveled with like a box of fifty rapid tests because we were like, we aren't going to take any risks. Jess coughed one day and I was like, rapit, get it go, and like we were all just testing to
make sure that we were okay. I think we're also really over the top with it because we're traveling with someone who was pregnant, so I was like, there is no chance I'm going to even be party to giving a baby COVID, Like not a chance. But it's really important to understand that there will be costs if you get COVID overseas, and they could be big, they could be small. It could be you know, having to extend your accommodation so that you can stay in the one
place and isolate. Could be Uber Eats deliveries because you can't just like cook in a hotel room, right like where are you going to get food? Are you going to get Uber Eats or are you going to get room service? Or how is this going to work? It could be cancelation, so like loss of you know, that boat to where you are going to go on that you now can't go on. So there's a lot to it, but it's worth considering if it's important to you or not.
Are there cooling off periods for COVID cancelation cover.
Yes, and it is best to buy your travel insurance at the same time as you book your trip. So some insurers only cover cancelation if you test positive to COVID and their policy was purchased twenty one days before your scheduled departure date, which you go, oh, my gosh, wouldn't everyone do that? No, Georgia King, because Jess and I and the girls, we decided to go on our holiday with less than twenty one days to books, so like we were covered by that. Thankfully we didn't get COVID.
My wait, goodness. Do cancelation policies usually cover extra expenses for like quarantine costs?
Yes, yes they do, but there are a fair few exclusions and limits to look out for in your policy, and not all policies are created equally, so you do need to have a look, especially when it comes to COVID cover. Not all cancelation policies cover cancelation or extra expenses for quarantine if you're deemed a close contact overseas, which I thought it was really important. I was like, well, what if one of the girls get COVID, that's going to impact the rest of the trip, like how does
this work? And many policies cover the cancelation and extra expenses to as little as twenty five hundred dollars combined. So in my situation, combined was the active word there. That wouldn't have worked for us. So we were like, well, twenty five hundred dollars across five girls for needing to be in quarantine for a week. That's going to do
basically nothing. And then travel insurance policies are very unlikely to cover cancelation if you're unable to travel due to general traveler restrictions, so stuff like lockdown at home or at your planned destination. So it's literally only if you have it, if that makes sense, because you shouldn't be booking a holiday if you're in lockdown.
Yeah, yeah, for sure, I.
Feel like that's very sad holiday.
Just a little PSA from me as well. It's really important to remember that even though the ban on international travel for vaxed Australians has been lifted, transit and destination countries still may apply restrictions on your entries, such as quarantine on entry.
Yeah, it was really interesting. Obviously, we will make sure that those are linked in our show notes. But your vaccination status does impact or can impact your travel insurance cover which is important to note because you know, if you've chosen not to be vaccinated, that's you know, something
you would need to take into consideration. But also traveling around the different countries was really interesting as well, because you need to get your international COVID certificate, so we had to download that and I had that on my phone and I had a PDF version of that. People did check it, but there were also different rules and regulations. So for example, George, we went from London to France and we had to have had a second booster within three months, and if it was more than three months,
we had to have a full PCR test beforehand. So there was actually a lot of logistics that went into changing country and traveling because some of us had had our booster and one of us was triple vax, but it had happened like four months ago, so therefore we needed to organize a PCR and that's actually quite an expensive process when you're in the middle of London and you need it in four hours, so it's worth considering and making sure you're there. But then also the plane
I can't remember if they checked. I don't think they checked, but they definitely made sure that everybody on the plane was you know, hand sanitizing and wearing their masks for the entire time. But once you were there, you definitely didn't feel it. So it sounds very dramatic, and I
know that, you know, it's actually really important. I know the entire ses on the Money team is vaxed and very pro vaxed, so we're not having this conversation, but I think it's important to understand what those hurdles were. Even for us as fully triple vaxed people trying to get into another country, it was, you know, a fair few hurdles to get over and prove and they were scanning our vaxed certificates and checking them and doing temperatures
at the airport. So I think it's to be honest, I'm really glad they're taking it seriously because it's for our safety.
Yeah, one hundred percent. It can be quite overwhelming as well. So we're going to link Smart Traveler into our show notes, which kind of it tells you where I think one hundred seventy seven countries. It tells you what you need to do to get into them, so that makes it much and.
Travel tip right, check Smart Traveler before you literally cook anything anywhere, like it is the go to website, Like this is not sponsored, it's just good practice, like check that before you even check flight prices, because they'll tell you whether you can or can't travel, or if there's any safety warnings or there's a tsunami that's happened that you haven't been provy to, like it's so important.
So COVID has definitely thrown spanner, a spanner, couple of spanners, big spanners into the work speed. What are your top tips for figuring out what we.
Need when it comes to travelingsurance, Like when it comes to you looking after yourself for COVID, because I've had COVID, can you give you some hot tip green Coottie's Cordial Green Cotty's Cordial ten out of ten if you know, you know the sparkling version, Chef's Kiss. But the one
thing I would do is do your research. So the first thing I would do is again head to Smart Traveler, have a look what is the Smart Traveler advice level for the countries that you are traveling to and can we make sure that your travel insurance policy covers you for those things. If not, you're going to have a very clear gap.
Right.
So I remember traveling way back when Tabali, like it was around the time that there was a tsunami. It happened a couple of years ago, and they said, in my travel insurance policy, we won't cover you if this happens because it's essentially a global event and it was way too big for the travel insurance company to cover.
And I was like, oh, interesting, but that will really quickly show you the gaps of whether it's worth the risk or not worth the risk, and it will let you know whether it's a good idea to travel there or not. So g on smart traveler. If your destination that you're going to is an advice level three, it will mean that you need to reconsider travel. And not all travel insurers are going to cover that because they're like, don't be dumb and go to a travel destination that's
going to put you at significant risk. I can get behind that policy kind of makes sense absolutely, But then also does your destination require proof that you're insured for COVID nineteen medical related spencers? So interestingly, if you wanted to go to Singapore, you actually have to make sure that you have COVID nineteen travel insurance and a minimum coverage amount of thirty thousand Singapore dollars. Like would you have known that if you hadn't gone to a smart
travel No. But then also you might have just gone, all right, I'm just going to get some cheap travel insurance. You would have got to their border and they would have been like, yeat home, my friend, because you were covered. The next is are you covered for the full duration of your trip? And can you extend your cover if you're overseas for longer than planned due to a canceled flight.
So I don't know if this is travel hack or just me being anxious, but I always book my travel insurance to start the night before and end the night after I get back, because I just don't like the idea that, you know, if my flight was delayed and something happened and I was in an airport, like this is victory Divine's thought pattern, Like she's an anxious girl.
But that helps you, right, yes, So.
Like my anxiety is channeled into bettering the community. So if I got back at like, for example, I can tell you exactly I was meant to get back on Saturday morning at like six am or something, so I actually made sure that six am on Sunday might cover finished because I was like, I just don't want there to be any wiggle room of me being in the wrong here if something did happen. So, yeah, that's anxiety,
gal love it trying to help you out. And then also any stopovers on the way to your destination covered, Like if there's a restriction on the amount of time that you can be in a stopover location, that needs to be taken into consideration, and what happens if you remain stuck in that location for an extended period of time. Speaking of stopover destinations and being triggered Georgia King, what lets play a quick little guessing game of how much
money did stopping over in Dubai in international roaming fees? Oh, I'm so I did my research. My phone network allows five dollars roaming overseas, and I'm like, money, weed, now do five bucks? I have nailed this. Get to use my existing data for only five bucks a day. I'm not even gonna think about it. Get to Dubai. Turn on my phone to tell my mom, Hey, Mom, this is sick. I'm in Dubai and my phone starts racking up seven hundred maybe one hundred dollars in two hours
in Dubai, seven hundred dollars. Because this very charitable individual was like, don't worry, Alex, don't worry Steph, don't worry Rose.
It's a lot of.
Got five dollar roaming tether to my phone. So they all used my intenet. I used Maintenet, and now I have a seven hundred dollar phone bill, which is a money loss, and I'm currently talking to them about trying to get out of that because that was not communicated to me. But maybe that's my stupidity. I should have known I can't be perfect in every way. A doll well, I look this up and then, to be honest, I
think I've got this loophole right. So sorry, if you're all my phone provider and you're listening to this, halfway through, they send you a checht message and they say you're one hundred dollars over, and I was like, no, I've got five dollar roaming like that makes no sense. And my phone provider has a app, so I like logged onto the app and sent them a message and said, hey, like, I just got this text message saying that I'm one hundred dollars over like I'm on five dollar roaming. Can
you please confirm? And they replied and said, yeah, just confirming you are on five dollar roaming. So I thought that was an error, not that I had one hundred dollar bill. So I think that that loophole of them confirming that kept using it just assuming then maybe that's how they measure it. Like, I don't know what this turns out. I'm just really silly. Oh girl, girl, that was not covered or my travel insurance Georgia King.
See, we're learning from your mistakes. Was there anything else you wanted to cover off here?
There's obviously a lot of different tips and tricks, and I might actually whack together a little blog post so that they're all there, because I feel like I've done
their research and you guys should benefit from that. But the other thing I want to point out is if you're a cruise and you're going to go on a cruise, you need to be extra careful because a lot of travel inturers might not offer COVID nineteen for multi night cruises, which I thought was a bit wild, but something worthy of consideration because I think at this point in time, a lot of people going, oh, cruise seems really easy, but also like a bacon for cultivating COVID.
Yeah, we'll remember at the start Princess Swan or something, I don't know, the Ruby Princess.
They have such interesting cruise ship names.
Absolutely, they're very sexy.
When we were in Monaco. When we were in Monaco, there was this woman walking around for the flag and the plethora of Americans behind her, and her flag said celebrity cruisers, and I was like, Oh, those people don't look like celebrities, but they named cruises real weird names.
Absolutely. I love a good cruise. Happy to have the boats. Have you been on a cruise? Yeah, with mom and dad when I was like eighteen, I was like, Mango Dakari please. I felt like such a spoiled little beach that was abst it was so good.
Was it included?
Yeah?
It was like my money cares week.
It was the best on a cruise. Looking at our producers, she says, no, but it is.
It's very much an older demographic.
Soon, Yeah, we can make a fun back to travel insurance question. Jking on tour lots of people be.
On the IG wanted to know if their credit card company offers them default insurance when they travel. Is that a thing?
It is a thing, and it's a really nice perk, and it can, from my perspective, be a really nice perk for the cost of your travel. So, say you booked your flights on your credit card. Usually then your credit card's like, wow, that entitles you to get free travel insurance from us. But the thing I would be really wary of is what's included and what's not included, because it's usually a very low cost group insurance policy
that is probably not covering the things you need. And too many times people just go, oh my god, but I booked on my credit card, It's fine, I have automatic insurance. I'm like, did you even look at the policy? Do you even know what's included? I'm sure there are some credit card companies that have great travel insurance policies,
but from my perspective, they're just not enough. They just don't cover enough of the stuff that I would want you personally covered for, and a lot of their priority is on, you know, making you feel good about booking your flights through your credit card. So it would cover loss of income if you missed your flights, or it might cover like loss of luggage or something. But they're not talking about expatriation, right, and that to me is
the important part. Like, I just want to make sure that your body is safe and you get home in full, regardless of whether your laptop comes home with you or not.
Sure, speaking of danger, danger danger driving cars overseas, often you're on the other side of the road. It's not that easy. Sure is there?
Yes, there is? But did you know you also needed an international drivers permit? So in addition to having your driver's license, you need an international driver's permit. And I promise they're really easy to get if you aren't on your pea plates. If you actually have a full license, you just go through RACV or RACQ or whatever it is in your state. Just literally google IDP or International
drivers Permit. But you actually need to have your Australian license and a complimentary international drivers permit to make sure that you are safe. And I say this not because you can't just go to France and hire a car. You can, but will your travel insurance cover you if you don't have your permit? Probably not so it's important to understand that the same thing happens. Like, you know how many Australians go to Bali. They're like, I just got a scooter, Like, of course they're going to lease
a scooter to you. Are you actually covered on your travel insurance?
No?
And that's what we saw in that money diary ages ago, where her husband had a scooter accident wasn't covered because he didn't have a driver's license to drive that. So that is heartbreaking to think that. You're like, oh, I'm just on holiday, it'll be fine. But if you apply for your international driving permit, it's actually really easy. You can do it all online. I say that because I
did it before I left. We didn't end up hiring a car, but I didn't want to be stuck for choice because like the idea of hiring a vintage French car to drive down the vintage French Riviera was very appealing. But when we got there and realized how expensive it was, I was like, I will catch that train. That is not an option. But in my head it was good and I think it only cost me about forty five dollars,
so that's a bit of a money win. I think it lasts for a fair while as well, so it's like you need to get one every time.
Yeah.
Yeah, so that's pretty good. And technically it's also a requirement for renting cars in lots of other countries. But I know, and this is why I've like disclaimed it. I know people are probably going to rent you the car anyway because they want the sale. So it's about actually protecting you, not necessarily looking at what that car rental company will accept or not. It's actually about are you safe. That's the actual answer for me.
There's also something about age in that. I remember when I was in Italy with my mates and I was twenty four but my mate was twenty five. It was much more affordable insurance wise for her to be driving the car.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think it's because you were really young and irresponsible. Actually, just saw your name come up and nearly chop her. Not heard about her, no, sir, no sir. But yeah, over twenty five. I think it's over twenty five or over twenty six, because the same thing happens in Australia, like once you're off your pea plates and you have a full driver's license and you're over the age of twenty five, you're much better when
it comes to like driving. Apparently you're safer. It's the reason why I could tell my sister she couldn't drive my car until she was over the age of twenty five. Now she is. I'm a bit disappointed.
Because I've got no can't use that anymore.
I can't use that anymore, brilliant.
Before we wrap for the day, VD, do you have any last tips you want to lay on the ladies.
So the one thing that I think people are going to think I'm a loser for, but you know what you want to do. You want to travel with your loser friend because they're the one keeping you in track. They're the one with the spreadsheet that I will share on my website at some point soon, so you can download and use it. But create a little drop box and put a copy of your driver's license, your passport, your driver's permit, or your credit cards or your travel
pop it in there. I know it doesn't sound the safest, so probably spread them out so that they're not just in one location. For a robber. I often email myself those documents so that I know they're sitting in my emails, but that means if anything goes missing, you actually have a copy of it on hand. And too many times with pickpockets and stuff like that overseas, like it's not just going to be you forgetting it, it might literally just get stolen from you while you're on the metro.
So I think having a copy of that is going to mean everything's so much easier. Like if you need to cancel a credit card, you can just call up and cancel it. If you need to get a new passport, you can just go to the embassy and be like, this is a copy of my passport. Can you please help me organize this? It makes their job easier, your job easier. And also, George, when I am traveling, I actually put my passport in the safe and I made some nice purchases and they were like, do you want
the tax back on that? And I was like yes, and they were like, we need your passport and I was like, oh, it's in the safe and I was like, wait, I've got it on job box. Who So that was really helpful. I didn't actually have to carry my passport around go shopping day, which makes me feel a little bit. Then those are my hot tips. That's all I've got. If you think that's all our travel content done forever, you're wrong, because I'm going to stretch this europe trip out as much as possible.
Brilliant, Thanks B. I feel like moral of the story is we need to make sure we have comprehensive insurance and that we're covered for repatriation and medical evacuation. Yes.
Absolutely, it sounds like I'm being a really dramatic nanner, but like I promise you, those are the things that your friends and family are going to thank you for if something does happen.
Yeah, for sure. All right, let's leave it. They're boring but important stuff. Let's get into it. The advice shed on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied
upon to make an investment or a financial decision. And we promise Victoria divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives of Infocused Securities Australia Proprietary Limited ABN four seven zer A nine seven seven nine seven zero four nine as two three six five two.
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That would be so nice, it'd be so nice, So nice, it would be so nice.
All right, see your Friday, guys, Bye, guys.
See then,