She's On The Money - Travel Savings Hacks

Episode Date: July 19, 2022

After long last travel is back on! But with the exchange rate poor and fuel prices high, travel may be out of reach for most of us. So we want to give you some travel saving hacks on today’s episode. From the cheapest time to book flights, to rentable routers and more…you name it, the girls have the downlow!ICYMI, listen back to our full episode on Travel Insurance from last week too!Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.The advice shared 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 financial decision. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are Authorised Representatives of Infocus Securities Australia Proprietary Limited ABN 47 097 797 049 AFSL - AFSL 236523.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri 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 Awadjeri 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. In 2019, Australian residents undertook 11.3 million outbound international trips and they stayed abroad for an average of two weeks. Yeah, I feel like that changed a little bit after that, but it did. These are numbers which in 2022 seem unfathomable after two years of being in and out of lockdowns with no international travel on the cards at all. Fortunately, the pandemic is over. Am I right, guys? She's back, baby. That's not true. That is not true. The pandemic is not over, but we are over it. So we are moving on content-wise. While the world opening back up is incredible, what is less incredible is the rising cost of living we're all facing right now.

With the exchange rate poor and the fuel prices sky high, for many of us, travel may feel just a little bit out of reach right now. To make sure your long-awaited holiday plans actually happen, today we're going to be running through a few handy hacks to help make your travel plans that little bit cheaper. My name is Georgia King and joining me as always is Victoria Devine and V, if I'm not mistaken, little birdie told me you've freshly returned from a little overseas trip. I don't believe a little birdie. I believe our group chat that I was consistently like, look, I'm in the international waters. Look, it's me overseas. A lot of content was online.

I feel like that was telling you that I was overseas. But yeah, I feel really, really grateful to have been able to travel overseas. Obviously, after such a tumultuous period of time, it is not an option for everybody. So I guess let's start out there and go, you know what, the last couple of years have been, let's call it the dumpster fire it was. That's right. And there are some people who are going to be listening to this that are like, V, that is so far off an option that I have right now. And that is totally okay. But it's nice to talk about. It's a conversation that we all want to have. I've just gotten back and I feel like I am, let's say the savings queen, Jessica Ricci. She threw me under a bus while we were in Paris because we, while I

was in Paris, oh my gosh, get this, this is so bougie. And like, I promise you, it was just coincident. We didn't travel there for this. We had a hen's day for me because I'm getting married in November, which I don't think I've told you guys the date as in November before, but I'm getting married in November and my best friend or one of my best friends, Steph, is pregnant. and so it's not going to be possible for us to have a hen stay closer to the date because she's going to have a newborn and I just really want her there another one of my best friends Rose lives in London at the moment so it was just it seemed all perfect when we were on holiday to like do this day together anyway we're having this bougie day we planned it all out we're like in

Paris guys this is the fanciest thing I've done in my life and we looked on Uber to like get to our next venue of where we're going and I was like absolutely not absolutely not we are not getting in an uber that is like four times the price not happening and they're like Victoria not on your hand today and I was like yeah nah nah we can either get a scooter because the lime scooters are everywhere in Paris or we can go on metro and they were like Victoria like we'll just get in an uber like it'll be much easier like yep you're all dressed up and I was like nah so we got on the metro so we went on the train on my hen stay I was dressed as him I had my white dress I had my veil there is a wedding dress weren't you no it was like it was a dress I already had

like a one that I'd bought ages ago that was really expensive that I needed to get more cost per wear out of so when the girls were like we're gonna have a hen stay you have to wear white I was like this is perfect also I'm the queen of a white dress so I had a plethora of options anyway I wore that it was a bit expensive but also I did look really bougie I had my hair and makeup done I had this like massive veil on and I was just like going through the turnstile at the metro because I was like I am not going to be paying uber search not only not in Paris on a budget yeah always the exchange rate is absolutely horrendous so cocktails were already costing us an absolute bomb I'd prefer to have another drink and go on the train and I made some people laugh so that was exactly

would have made those days. That was good. So that's my travel hack. Have a hen's party in Paris. Incredible. Money win. Opt for PT. I would have loved to have seen you on a scooter. But anyway, we'll talk about this after the show. I've got a video of it because newfound love, scooters. Like I am obsessed. Like the electric scooters everywhere. I've got the Lime app on my phone now. Already used them in Melbourne. I love them. It's so practical. You get to be outside. You get to have a fun experience. It's really cheap. Like what's there to lose? They're It's terrifying. No, they're not.

So we're in London, right, George? And it was the first time that we were going to scoot. One of my best friends, Rose, lives in London. And she was like, oh my gosh, like the public transport here takes ages because traffic's messed up. We can grab scooters. And all of the girls were like, yeah, like that sounds like a really fun experience. And Jess was a bit like, oh, I don't know.

I've never been on a scooter and I'm a bit apprehensive. And we're like, that's fine. We'll just like go on back streets and go slow. And when you first get these scoots, they like have a speed limit so that you're not going really fast. right so we told her all of this rose rose lied rose was like yeah okay do a little scoot go around in a circle i'm in london i don't know where i am i'm just trusting my friend straight into piccadilly circus for jessica ricky on a scooter the busiest joint in town the busiest

joint in town she's on a scooter screeching she's alive she got a cocktail she was fine she's better for the experience but my friends that's why we have travel insurance because you can't trust roads. Lovely little anecdotes to kick us off, but let's get into it, V. Where do we start in terms of saving hacks for overseas travel? So I feel like there are different levels of savings hacks. There's like the basics, then there's like the mediocre, then there's like the big juicy savings hacks. So we're going to start off with like the bare basics, right? And we're going to build up from there. So like the basics, when it comes to making sure that you're getting a cost-effective holiday would be making sure that you know school holiday dates, right?

Because it's obviously going to peak anytime there are school holiday dates because that's when most people want to travel because a lot of people have kids and they need to time their holidays around that. So for someone like me, I don't have kids. So before we went away, I made sure that I wasn't traveling during a peak period. The other benefit of that is obviously less traffic when you're over there. So if you're going to Bali or you're going to a very popular holiday destination, I actually love the idea that I know it's not Australian school holidays because then I know it's not going to be filled full of a plethora of kids because I think we've all been somewhere at some point, even if it's just like the Maya Christmas windows and you're

like, oh God, I forgot what it was like to have so many people in one location because it's school holidays, right? So that would be my first, make sure you're traveling in off-peak periods if possible. The next one is phone roaming, which if you listened to our travel insurance episode, you know I got stung with it. TLDR, if you're with the same phone carrier that I am with, roaming, included everywhere except the UAE, which is how I ended up with a $700 phone bill. Thankfully, they've sorted me out. I'm out of it. We're all good. But make sure that you understand your phone roaming options. So for me,

my phone roaming options were $5 a day if you're out of the country. A couple of the girls I was traveling with were with different carriers, so they were either $10 a day or pay as you go. So just understand that because I'm actually so reliant on my phone. And that sounds really bad because when you're on holiday, you want to be disconnected. But the one thing that made me feel really safe was knowing, all right, well, we're going to go for a walk. But I also know I've got Google Maps on my phone and I can get straight home if I need to. I also found, so I traveled with a Wisecard, which is another travel hack and like a next level, very good outcome if you are, you know looking for an overseas bank with good exchange rates I found them really good but I had

my wise card on my phone because you can get it same day which was like a bit of a money win again not sponsored I've never actually even spoken to them properly they just are a really good service and I used my wise card when I was over there but I would make sure that you understand what that means for you and how much data you actually need because some people will be like oh just turn data off. And I was like, that's not an option for me. Like I genuinely get anxiety when I'm in a place that I don't know. And knowing that my phone was on me and I could just open it and could just use Google Translate, which gee, have you seen that? No. Sorry, I shook my head. This is a podcast. What am I doing? What are you doing, G King? So while I was away, Rose, she's like featuring in

this episode very heavily because she gave me a lot of tips and tricks. Rose introduced me to Google Translate, which you might go, great, no problems. Like I can type my text in there. Georgia King, no. You open the camera and hold it over whatever text you're trying to translate and it translates on the screen into English. Whether that is a menu or a stop sign, it doesn't matter. It literally will pop up and put the text over the top. So I'll be like, I'll have that. No problems. Thank you so much. But also when you translate, you can speak directly into this in English and then press translate to French and it tells your Uber driver what you need to tell them in their native tongue. And then they say it back in French and it tells me in English what he

just said. That is incredible. Like no texting out little messages and handing him the phone and being like, do you get this? Like it was free. George King. How good's Google, hey? How good is Google? Sponsor us because I am your biggest fan. But literally that's, that's, is that a money saving hack? I don't know if it's a money saving hack. It's just I think probably a hack. Having Google Translate and having my phone there accessible and knowing I can use it without being stressed about the cash side of it was to me really important. It might not be as important to you, so make up your own mind. There's also an option in a lot of countries. So it's becoming more popular in places like Europe and Japan, but rentable mobile routers. So you can just like have

a pocket Wi-Fi thing. So you would tender to that. Another hack, which if you're traveling for a week, it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to do. So if you're traveling for a longer period of time, so for example, Rache, who is on our team, she's head of events here at She's On The Money, she is headed off nine weeks in Europe without me, kind of rude, but okay. It might make more sense for her to just buy her own pocket Wi-Fi router to use while she's abroad so that she doesn't have to change her mobile number and do the whole new SIM card thing, which can be a little bit of a headache. But typically you reserve one, you pick it up at the airport, or you can have it delivered to your hotel. They're a super low cost way to make sure you don't get stung with

international roaming fees if that's something you need access to. So kind of cool. I mean, we did a whole episode on comprehensive travel insurance. So go back to that. But my top tip there is get comprehensive travel insurance non-negotiable. And then Georgia King, the other tip, not sponsored, just a really big fan of Shopback. This is not their episode, but it could be their episode get shop back honestly when we were booking our holiday they had so many deals on like booking.com or direct with our airline so make sure that you're getting money back on these things because every transaction I made I was making sure to click shop back and I was like oh my gosh like I'm literally getting more cash back just by having this on my browser

again not sponsored I mean they're probably going to be pretty happy with this little shout out because I'm literally their biggest fan but I think that's the one thing I didn't expect Like obviously I shop on the Iconic all the time. I tell you about this. I get my cash back. I have a supreme time. But when it popped up for places like booking.com, I was like, hold up. Like you're saying I can get like 5% cash back on my holiday. Money win. Absolutely money win. Amazing. And using platforms like Shopback is so much better than using platforms like Afterpay, you know? Yeah. But I mean, they're completely different and it frustrates me because I feel like I'm seeing a lot of people in our community put holidays on buy now, pay later platforms. And it

just, I just think it's the wrong mentality. Like, please don't get me wrong. It is a privilege. It's kind of a reward. It's not a given. Gee, I think that being in this privileged position of having just gotten back from a holiday and, you know, I'd been thinking about this, you know, I say flippantly, ha ha ha, we booked a last minute holiday. But the reason we did that was because through COVID, I had holidays that were booked that got cancelled. And thankfully, I had good refund policy. So I've had this cash sitting to the side that I've literally had earmarked as this is a holiday at some point somehow with my girlfriends. And then once Steph ended up pregnant, which is like the most exciting thing to happen to me in my entire life, we were like, oh, we

probably should organize this soon because if we don't, that's just not going to be a reality for us in the future. So we planned this pretty last minute, but it was also something that had been set aside. And I think nowadays, especially with the rising costs of living and how much the world is costing us and how much stress we're all under and how much trauma, honestly, all of us have been through over the last two, nearly three years, we all go, we deserve a holiday. And you totally do. But I also look at it and go, does future you deserve the financial implications that are going to be put on you by making that decision? And it's so easy to make that decision to go, oh, well, I'll just go on holiday and deal with it later. It's like, but is that actually putting

you in the best possible position? Like I know this whole YOLO mentality exists and I'm a very big believer in experiences over, you know, big long-term financial goals happening sooner. Like I totally get that everybody's on a different page, but personally I would much prefer to have the ability to go on holidays and I'll just retire a few years later because for me, enjoying the journey is so important. But it's also like, can we really reframe this and go, if you don't have a good emergency fund and you don't have that free cash flow available and you're really stretching yourself to go on this holiday and it's putting you out to quote, live your best life, is that actually the best use of funds that you have? Like, I just, I want you to care about yourself

as much as I care about you. Because as much as I, gee, I want you to go overseas. I want you to have a mint time. I want you to have the best time ever. But I go, is that worth it? Or should we be saving for this because the way I view it is for me, a holiday is a reward, either a reward from doing something good or saving, but it shouldn't be something that costs you once you're there. So I'm very much a believer in saving for a holiday and paying it off before you go than paying it off when you get back. Like I don't believe anyone should carry debt for things they can't tangibly hold or tangibly on sale. Yeah. Right. Like it's just, it's bad debt and it's putting you in a bad position and I just don't want anyone to be in that position. But I think

it's, you know, I'm bringing it up now because I feel like every man and their dog is currently in Italy. That's what I was going to say. It's hard when everyone's at Amalfi. Every single influencer is like, oh, we're in the Amalfi Coast. I'm like, oh my gosh, like gorgeous. But don't forget that so many of them are either sponsored or have paid for it in cash or are in unnecessary debt. Like I cannot, and I don't mean to throw influencers under the bus because gee, we are influencers in a way, like the amount of influencers I have spoken to, because that's, you know, my financial advice practice really focuses on people with social media platforms. The amount of influencers I have spoken to before that are like, oh,

I'm in 50 grand worth of personal debt. Like, no worries. Cause it's like for my personal brand. And I just go, what? Like, why are you putting up with this? Like your audience don't require you to have a brand new X, Y, Z, or go on a holiday to create content. Like no one's expecting this of you. So I think there's something really sexy about putting your own needs first. I don't know. Okay. So Afterpay is a no-no. What a surprise. Nobody's shocked except for Victoria. Let's move on though, V, and chat about flights. How can we save a pretty penny when it comes to booking our airfares? Okay. So there are lots of ways and I want to say research, but also research is also going to put you back so private browsing when you're on your computer and you're

looking up flights go into incognito mode so that your cookies aren't being tracked because if your cookies are being tracked the flight company they're really smart they're like gee wants to go on holiday on these dates okay let's show her the price today and then if she looks tomorrow let's add a hundred bucks to it because that real yeah it happens all the time and if you get rid of your cookies and delete like your browsing history more often than not the price will go down because if you've been looking. Anyway, that is a hot tip. Other hot tip, after I've done a lot of research, the best time to book a flight is Tuesday at 8pm. And that's because, and this might change because we're going to like send the She's On The Money community onto the internet to do this,

but that's because that's when flight companies and flight websites and booking websites have the least amount of traffic. So they want the most amount of bookings. Whereas the worst time you can book a flight is a Saturday night after 8pm. And that's because people are on the beers and they're like, let's go to Bali. Yeah, that's literally it, right? Is that not the night that you would organise to have your mates over to book the holiday that you've been planning on booking? It's not going to be a Tuesday. Yuck. I hate Tuesdays. Yeah. Okay, G, we say we're recording on a Tuesday. All right, no problem. So cookies are really important, not the delicious kind, but the kind that save you money. And then look at flexible dates for planes because they

really vary. So an example of that is not going, oh, hey, gee, have a look if you can just go the week before. Like that's not that practical. But I actually looked at flights because I was in charge of booking. Surprise. I was in charge of booking flights for the four of us that were going to the UK, right? So I put down all of our flight preferences and had a look at what it would cost. and I put down flexible dates not because I actually wanted to change the time but because I wanted to see what that would look like and I realized that if we came back a day later than what we had planned because originally when we sat down and we said let's go on holiday what dates do you want like my girlfriends and I we're very much homebodies so if I'm going on a holiday

I actually want to come back with enough time to be at home settle unpack have a good sleep in my own bed before going back to work. So I was like, I want to probably be back on the Friday. So I've got the weekend and go back to work on Monday, right? This is my thought pattern. But we realized if we were happy to fly in on the Saturday night at like 10 PM or something ridiculous and only have that Sunday, we were saving close to a thousand dollars. So all of us agreed, you know what, as much as we want to come back on that Friday night, let's just extend it for like less than 24 hours. And it put us in a better position. The other thing happened at the start of the holiday as well where I was like guys like what date do we want to go and everyone's like cool

we finish work on Friday let's go on Saturday morning or you know Saturday afternoon I was like no problems but I went back to them and said look flights are $400 each cheaper if we can fly out at 3am on the Friday that you finish work like would you be down for actually flying out the night that you finish work and everyone was like yeah no problems like we'll finish work we'll have a big day and we'll fall asleep on the plane so for us we ended up actually saving a fair bit of money because we were able to be flexible on the dates and I don't think it's about going oh should you change a holiday a week or so it's literally about the small flight changes to the more unpopular flights that meant one our flight wasn't so packed because from what I understand flights at the

moment are hectic but two it saved us some pretty serious bank like I think we ended up saving more than twelve hundred dollars each on the return flights just because we weren't trying to fly at the quote, most convenient time for us. And then also to add on to that, not a money saving trick, but a time saving trick. We, the second we got to the airport, we started acting like we were on London time. Yeah. So making sure that we were aligning our sleep schedule for the plane to what the location would be so that we weren't as jet lagged when we got there. Worked out perfectly well, J King. Coming home, not the same, but we won't talk about that. Don't worry about that one. I think we've mentioned this before, V, one of my tips for saving money when it comes to travel

would be skipping on a comm a little bit, especially if you're somewhere where you're going to be outside seeing all day and you're not going to be spending that much time at the accommodation, even though we might have big dreams of, you know, scrolling Airbnb and looking at all of the amazing places. But that can be a bit of a waste of money if you're not actually spending that much time there. I couldn't agree more. And I guess this is going to shock a lot of people and I say it's going to shock a lot of people because I already know you're shocked because you're in my DMs being like, what the hell, Victoria Devine? We stayed in a hostel when we got to London. I cannot believe that you stayed in a hostel. Why? Because you're the

bougiest woman I know. Yeah, I guess it did look a little bit dumb, me walking in and I did have like a nice handbag and I was like, hello, here to check into my hostel. But it genuinely just made the most sense, right? London is really expensive. Like I could not believe when I was there, the cost of living, like, oh my gosh, coffees were costing us like $14. Like everything there was double. So like the exchange rate to pound is insane at the moment. Everything was expensive. So when we were doing our research to find out like, where should we stay? What should we do? We looked at Airbnb, we looked at hotels, we looked at literally everything. And I was just like, this is insane. Like there were five of us to accommodate, which meant if we went with a hotel,

we'd probably have to have a couple of rooms so it was getting to become really expensive and I ended up just going hey would you guys consider a hostel and I think the girls thought I was joking because they were like ha ha ha yeah no problems VD and then when I sent them the booking link they were like she is serious but I think we ended up paying about $1,200 for five of us for like four nights in London which is unheard of like that's so cheap we stayed at just because I know I'm going to get asked. We stayed at Wombats, which is a hostel in London, but we booked a private room. So we had bunk beds, which was a dream, like a girl's trip vibes. It felt like we're on school camp, but we had our own very clean, very nice bathroom. It was all fine,

a separate toilet, like getting ready area. Like it actually was the dream set up. And it just took a bit of research to make sure we weren't getting a dodgy hostel where it was like a 50 person share room and we didn't know who was there we got this private room six bunk beds so there was a spare one in our room but we wanted to book the whole room and not have randoms in our house but it worked really well very centrally located very close to a train station you're right we weren't there the whole time so to us London was the place where we really wanted to save on accommodation because it just no-brainer yeah because we were going out for dinner everything was more expensive we wanted to enjoy our time there but then when we went further down into France we were like oh

we actually want to have a bit of a relaxing time so we ended up booking an Airbnb that was purely based on the fact that we'd want to hang out there but I think it's all about how much time are you actually planning on spending there and would you consider a hostel because I know a lot of you are listening going um that doesn't sound very Victoria but it's all about values like I just wanted to be safe secure I have a comfortable bed make sure that I could get around and see things and enjoy my time there and that enabled me to do that perfectly like was it the ritz Absolutely not. But did that mean that we could go afford to pay for drinks at the wrist and have like the bougiest time ever while we were there on food and beverage? Yes, because we did that too.

Amazing. Yeah, a little sacrifice and it goes a long way. The other thing I was going to say there, V, is it's probably worth as well checking out the location of where you're staying. I'm sure that that hostel was centrally located. They always seem to be. But if you're saving money because it's really far out of the city, but then you have to pay heaps for cabs into town, then it's like worth weighing that up as well. Yeah. Like I think the one thing that I really liked was in the UK and when we traveled, public transport is so easy and it's actually my preference when I'm getting around. So if I'm overseas, I actually just want to experience it. Like I want to go on the Metro. I want to see what it's like. I want to be in and about and

around people. I don't actually want to just go from Uber to Uber to cab to cab because it just feels like I'm at home right so I know everybody's different there but it was for us we wanted to be close to public transport we actually were really close to London Tower Bridge it was a non-issue when it came to transport but I would look at that too because just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's actually a good money win yeah exactly right you just mentioned before V that the cost of living was insane over there as well which is great yeah yep how did you save money when it comes to eating out okay so one of my favorite this this entire episode is how stingy can victoria divine be like that's what it should be called but i promise you i have really good

holidays and i really enjoy it and i actually much prefer this but one of my other tips is if you are staying in a hotel that has a minibar get it emptied not because i don't trust you not because i'm like oh my gosh you'll eat the stuff in the minibar and it's expensive that's not it because they leave the fridge in there and you can put stuff in the fridge. True. Yeah. So you can do breakfast. So often when I travel, especially if I travel with Steve, we go to a local supermarket when we arrive and we grab some breakfast stuff. We might grab some croissants if we're in France or whatever it is. And we grab some cereal and some milk and some

fruit and chuck that in the fridge. And then we have breakfast before we leave. And I feel like that genuinely cuts the cost down. But you can try different things from different locations. like this is so lame but we're going to the US later this year I'm so excited to try the US cereals and like go to the supermarket like Lucky Charms yeah Lucky Charms I don't know what else Captain Crunch or whatever it is like I'm not here trying to be super healthy I'm here going this is actually a really good way of saving money and maybe experiencing something else that the locals experience I don't think we need to look at it as a sacrifice like oh my gosh well let's just get the things that you want to eat for breakfast like when we're in Paris we got our own breakfast and

had it at the Airbnb, but we made it a thing. Like we got some juice and we drank the juicy and champagne glasses and had some croissants and stuff. And it was just a much more cost effective way to have breakfast for five adults, but also enjoy the experience. And then we went out to a museum or did whatever we wanted to do. And it was just a very nice way to experience life. But it's also such a more chill way to like start the day. Like, where are we going? What are we doing? I mean, don't get me wrong. We still went out for some breakfasts, but I think that's a really good idea. And the next is eating like a local. Like if you're overseas, it is very, very likely that local dishes are going to be much cheaper than international

cuisine. Like if you're trying to go over to Bali and then go to the Italian restaurant, like that's not going to be the cheapest option for you. And because it's local, they're probably tastier and better made because they're the locals making local food. Like why wouldn't you want to do that? So I think it's important to have a look at that, obviously, well within your dietary restrictions and stuff like that. But then also looking for a place with a kitchen might be a good option. Some hotels actually have little kitchenettes. So check out what that is because you could save some money even just cooking like one meal at home or where you're staying. Plus going to a market or supermarket, as I said before, super fun in

another country. So much fun. Like am I the only one that goes to a supermarket? No, it's the it's really fun the chemists are really fun like I want to see all the stuff you guys have like I'm just I'm crazy but that's okay I love it but genuinely a kitchen but also ask the hotel you're staying at what amenities they have I know this again makes me sound like super stingy Victoria's saving tips like I promise these are good tips though they're great tips the fridge great you can have it emptied out put your stuff in it do they have access to a microwave like can you have a microwave in your room very likely they actually have those on offer because people traveling with babies often ask for them to warm bottles up in the middle of the night like is that

an option for you can you have a microwave in there bam you've got a microwave and a fridge and you didn't even have to book a place with a kitchen two minute noodles come at me yeah exactly it just depends on what your values are and what you're doing but I'm the type of person who does get burnt out on a holiday sometimes I just I don't want to go out for dinner I don't want to go to a restaurant. I do want to eat Easy Mac in my bed and watch a movie and have a bit of a chill night. And that could be a really good way of building in a, you know, a more cost-effective day, right? Smart. Some very clever tips in there, V-Lord. On the other side of the break, we're going to hear more from you there. And also we're going to chat through how we can

sightsee more economically, because that is something that they really pump up the tourism. Hop on, hop off tour. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hop on, hop off tour. Don't go anywhere, guys. All righty, V, let's jump straight back into it. I saw on your socials that you did a lot of sightseeing when you were abroad. We did. I feel like I tried to pack it in as much as possible. You got to.

When in Rome, as they say. We were in France, but okay, thank you. How did you save money when it came to sightseeing? All right. So sightseeing, I think, is a fun one because it can be really expensive. something that is pretty good and this is a Jessica DiUcci tip because if you book one of those hop on hop off tours especially like around London or something they'll often be like oh you get 24 or 48 hours or whatever it is hop on hop off but why don't you just use that as public

transport so you like hop on at the location you want to hop on and then hop off at other locations and kind of use it for like the 24 or 48 hours you're in that location as public transport instead of doing the public transport thing in addition to then getting on a bus. Genius. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I feel like that's really smart. But then another thing that I love doing when I get to new locations,

and I always do the research beforehand because it is quite hard to book them in, but it's a walking tour. So often, have you done a walking tour before, George King? I think so. Not for a long time. Often you get very eclectic people doing walking tours. Leading them or in the tour? Leading them.

Leading them. And that's like my favorite part of it because you get this eccentric, local who's just so passionate about where they live that they want to take you on this walking tour of their town. And walking tours are usually like free. You just like usually tip the person or whatever it is. And I always tip and make sure that I'm not, you know, taking advantage of the situation. But the type of person that does a free walking tour, I promise you, is a very passionate individual who can tell you where the best pub is, where the best parlor is, where the best everything is, and all the hot tips of the location. And it's a good way to spend a few

hours to meet people and genuinely the fact that they're usually free is a money win and it's something that I usually do on the first day or the first night that I'm in a location so I can be like okay cool like let's do the walking tour we're here we've put our stuff in the hotel let's go gee and we do a walking tour and then we feel like we have a bit more of a grounding of the location that we're in I have quite literally done them in every country I have been to except for London last time because the girls didn't want to do it because they suck rude from the girlies Okay. That gives you a really good activity, but also the guide will usually have a lot of fun tips and tricks for the location you're in. Obviously, booking ahead is really important because if it's

free, places are going to be limited. But TripAdvisor, which again, not sponsored, just a good website, usually has really good reviews of whether it's a good walking tour or not a good walking tour. And then the next morning, I like to get up and find a local market and go for a walk through there because I promise they are so interesting when you're overseas. The best. Just back on the food thing for a little bit, because we love to go back to the snacks, Georgia King. I know. As well as like stocking up at the supermarket and buying all the local cheeses, which is obviously a given if you're in France. Correct.

Like definitely do it. Did you buy Le Bric cheese? Yeah, that's obviously the best cheese. I knew, I knew. That's obviously the best cheese. I also don't eat cheese, but while I was in France, I did have a few sneaky slices, which I shouldn't admit to. But like when in Rome, right? Rude not to, rude not to.

But I think a lot of people turn their noses up at street vendors, which won't necessarily be a thing in Europe. But if you're in somewhere like India or Bali, so many people kind of scoff at that and are like, I'm not putting that into my body. Well, it's not about putting it into my body. Like, I want to eat the street food. Exactly, because that's often the best stuff. George, I have a sensitive little tummy.

I don't want to spend the next week in my hotel room. I'm really, I'm scared. So absolutely your call. if you're not comfortable with it no judgment here but my my body my bowels not so comfortable with it as happy i'm here for it though what's your tip well i think it's like receiving recommendations from the locals seeing where there's a lot of people heading and trusting that that food is going to be immaculate because it so often is yeah true there's a show called somebody feed phil it's incredible and he goes to the best markets in different places all over

the world and eats like the locals eat and it's just it's a very cool much more authentic and a much more affordable experience. I really like that. And I also feel like there's a point on turnover, right? Like if there is a lot of sales going on, it's not like you're buying some sushi that has been sitting in the window for the last six hours and you're just a bit iffy on it. Like if they're consistently making, like when I was in Thailand last time, like the pad thai that they give you, did you get the pad thai in the bag? Like it's literally my favorite thing in the entire world. Like every time we were walking back from dinner to our hotel, I'd be like, yeah, I've got a stomach for a second dinner. Like this is genius because they like literally

flip it up in front of you and it is some of the best Pad Thai I've had in my life. And then they serve it to you in a plastic bag with a little plastic fork. Questionable experience, but like the best food I've had. And I think like 80 baht or something ridiculously cheap, which is like less than a dollar here. So I get it. I think it's really important, but also turnover. Like I feel like waiting in a line in that situation is a good thing. Like if you had to wait, that is a good outcome before we wrap the we're going to finish off with a couple of more random tips from you which i'm excited for last little tip from me before i sign out is to use the free wi-fi at starbucks at all times yes that is a very good tip buy yourself a little caramel frappuccino

and then you say that store for three hours you yeah you look you say that but like in london the caramel frappuccino, $14. Do you know what? Nah. Nah. But there's usually, especially across Europe, there is usually free Wi-Fi at a million different locations. And don't be shy. If you're at a restaurant sitting down for a drink, ask them if they do have Wi-Fi because it's going to save you money. And also they're probably going to get another drink out of you anyway, because you're like stuck scrolling through Instagram. It's like everybody wins. Everybody wins. Any final tips to Wrap it, Veilord. Look, I feel like when we were scripting this episode and I was writing down all the hot tips that I had, I feel like I have lots of tips. Obviously, taking your own snacks is a

very good idea. When I travel, I have these protein bars that I take that I hide in the bottom of my handbag. So if I do get stuck, I'm not absolutely starving. I also really like having access to something that feels like home. So that's another tip from me. Laundromats. If you haven't booked an Airbnb that has a washing machine. So we booked an Airbnb with a washing machine in Paris and it got the biggest workout of its life. Five girls who all had washing to do. It was like a roster system. Money win. But use laundromats. Don't carry so much stuff. Ask Miss Jessica Ricci how much fun it was pulling a very heavy suitcase over cobblestones and she'll tell you that she wishes she didn't pack as much as she did. She sent stuff back, didn't she? She did. That's because she kept

going shopping. I don't mean to out her, but we did have to send some packages home. I didn't. Jessica did. I helped though. But take a little clothesline. Do your knickers. Take some washing powder. I did. I say that as though you guys are going to be surprised. I don't think you should be surprised at anything from me anymore. The other one, take a powerboard. Not a money-saving tip, just a sanity-saving tip because I promise, one, if you're traveling with other girls, they'll be like, has anybody got an adapter? And I can be that absolute hero that goes, I've got an entire powerboard, babe. Come right this way. And then as I've said on our travel insurance episode, drop box everything, have access to a digital copy of your passport,

your credit cards, all of your travel documents, all of your travel itinerary so that you are always safe and sound. And also don't feel pressured to book a holiday because all the Instagram influencers are booking a holiday or your mate really wants you to go to Italy with them and you just can't afford it. Like there is something, and I've said it a million times before, there is something so sexy about being like, hey, it's not in my budget. Like it's just not for me at this point in time. Like you may really, really want to go, but I think that putting ourselves and future selves first is so important. And as much as the experience, let's be honest, the experience would be sick, but is that putting future you in the best possible

position? And I guess I'm a little bit riled up or my feathers are a little bit ruffled at the moment because there's a TikTok trend at the moment. It's basically like, oh, I can make money back, but I can't always go to the South of France and, you know, swim in the ocean or whatever it is and as much as I totally agree with that like there has to be some level of balance in life because it's not about the destination it is about the journey as well I also go yeah but like coming home to crippling debt that gives you anxiety and makes you more stressed than you were before the holiday like that's not worth it and I think that just being really smart about your decisions isn't just about saying yes all the time oh my gosh yes I mean like

I want to do that with my girlfriends I get it but like let's negotiate these things so everyone be in the best possible position. 100% mute everyone that's in Europe, I would say. Yeah, just block them. Block them. Block them. It's hard when it's freezing in Australia at the moment. Can you unblock me now, though?

Yeah, I'll do it. Alrighty, let's leave it there, V. Remember, guys, that the advice shared 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 Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of In Focus Securities Australia, Proprietary Limited, ABN 47097797049, AFSL 236523. See you on Friday, guys.

Bye, guys.