(Saving) Money and Travel

Some of my best trial and error intel

Hey Friends,

I am boots down in Edinburgh, Scotland, and soaking it all up - the raindrops on cobblestones, the elegant buildings, the loveliest of people - all of it. 

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

I am thrilled to be back in this place I spent 6 weeks earlier this year and fell deeply in love with. 

I will be bringing you some new formats (interviews with locals being one - I’m so excited) in the coming weeks including “real-time” updates on what I’ve done, where I’ve gone, and what has been amazing. 

Here is a wee video of my apartment, which has been making me swoon.

It’s really good.

MORE TRAVEL INTEL

Today I’m here with some more travel intel that came up during a recent conversation with a fellow traveler that helped him so I thought it would be great to share with all of you. 

First though, a little backstory. Ian is a person who I know through work (he is a wonderful photographer and has worked on some winery projects for me) and a bit personally. In 2022, he started thinking about long-term travel. He had spent some extended time in Spain and was interested in going for a longer period. He was talking about this whole ‘travel life’  with our mutual friend, Nicole (who connected us for work) and she said “You really should talk to Michele Boyer because she’s been doing it and can likely give you good insight.” 

Guys - this is exactly what I want to do! Help people who are interested in traveling long-term, working remotely, creating community and so much more. I feel like this is just the beginning. 

I was so happy to hear from Ian and when he asked to meet up to pick my brain on long-term travel I couldn’t wait. I learned a lot from the questions he asked and I felt like I really helped him with some tips on finding and negotiating accommodation and how I use Airbnb to find the best locations, and prices, and create relationships with my hosts in my destinations. 

Fast-forward to last week and we hopped on a call to chat before I left the country. Ian isn’t leaving until October and we were talking about maybe meeting up somewhere while we are over in Europe. 

We also started talking logistics again and a couple of things came up. One is money. 

MONEY: CREDIT CARDS & CASH 

Money is a big thing while traveling. Understanding how to use money (cash vs. cards), how to get money (ATM’s), being up to date on exchange rates, international conversion fees on your credit cards, money apps (no Venmo unless you are both from US), and more. 

I learned by trial and error and am delighted to share the journey to help others. 

So, I had my first long travel excursion in 2019, where I lived in 8 countries - a different country every month, which included 4 months in SE Asia, 2.5 months in Europe, and 6 weeks in South Africa and that is a lot of different currency. I was a bit late to the game in sorting out my credit card at that time and was lucky to be able to easily switch out one of my existing Chase credit cards for the Sapphire Preferred Card instead of having to apply for a whole new card. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is an excellent card for international travel in that it has a low yearly fee ($75), offers no conversion fees for international charges, and gives you amazing points for many things but most specifically more travel (which I have used a LOT). There are other good benefits with it - you can check them out here but I really recommend this particular card to use when charging everything from groceries to plane tickets and paying it off monthly. 

While the Chase Sapphire Preferred card had me sorted out for charging items, it was not appropriate for getting cash. Since I had thought of this late in the game I just decided I would have to “suck up” charges at the ATM thinking that I wouldn’t have a need for cash that much. 

Boy, I was wrong. 

Upon landing at my first destination for a month, Hanoi, Vietnam, I quickly discovered that cash was key in a lot of places. The Vietnam currency, the Dong (yes), was a bit confusing to me and I went to an ATM unprepared and panicked and took out what was the equivalent of $10. Not going to get me far for a month. The fees were more than the amount I took out with the conversion and the ATM fees. UGH. 

Luckily for me, I met some incredible friends traveling and they were generous enough to share with me the brilliance which is:

A Charles Schwab debit card

I learned that with a CS debit card you have no conversion fees, no ATM fees (anywhere in the world!) and it is a good account to have for more reasons than these. I was in. 

But, I wouldn’t be able to get this card until I returned to the US and had many months, and countries, to go. 

Again, my travel friends to the rescue. They were very generous in taking money out for me and since we were all from the US I simply Venmo’d them quickly and efficiently. 

I was really lucky. Manifesting friends to get you cash is not something that I would recommend depending on while traveling….but I was so grateful to them for helping me out and I think I only used my Chase debit card less than half a dozen times during my whole 8 months. But the fees during those times were pretty brutal so best to be prepared. 

Another thing to consider (or not): exchanging cash when you arrive. NO. I don’t recommend this at all. The exchange is never in your favor at the airport or on the ground at the currency exchanges…and we want the odds to be forever in our favor, right?

So, while chatting with Ian, I sorted him out and he was right on getting a Charles Schwab card immediately. Yay! I love saving people hassle and money. 

Extra: Here is a link to Nerd Wallet and their 2023 guide to cards for travel. It’s a good resource for you to explore at your leisure.

NEXT UP:

CELL PHONES AND SIM CARDS - THE ONLY WAY TO GO

After chatting with Ian about cards and cash, I asked him what he was doing with his cell phone. I have found that a lot of people I chat with in the US go to their cell provider (Verizon and AT&T are what most folks I know use) and get an International Plan. 

NO. 

I was astonished at what Verizon charges for an International Plan! It is INSANE. 

But if you don’t know the alternatives, or even know how to look for them, what’s to do about that? 

Again, I am throwing it back to 2019 and my first long-term travel excursions and it was recommended to me by fellow travelers to simply buy a SIM card in the country I was staying and switch it out. The intel I got was that it was way (WAY) less expensive and easy to do. 

Easy is suspicious, right? I was like - what’s the catch? 

No catch. 

I started doing this in Vietnam and my cell data, text, talk, etc. was $10 for the whole MONTH. 

All my original phone info was saved and I could keep texting my people - with one caveat - on iPhones they just came across as DM’s but with folks with other phones it would show my local number and some people were like - who is this? But that’s easily sorted out. 

I also recommend jumping on WhatsApp (not the greatest but it’s fine) and connecting with your people there as a backup. 

But the SIM change out? Is a MUST. 

At Verizon, you can also put your account on pause for up to 90 days and only pay $10 per month. They are super strict about the 90 days in a year (I’ve tried to talk to them about it - cannot find anyone to budge - they suck) but it saves me money for those 3 months. 

In all the countries I’ve been in, the local SIM is so much cheaper than my US monthly fee at Verizon. At least by half if not more. And I’ve never run out of data.

WHERE TO GET A SIM - THE AIRPORT 

I was telling Ian, you can get a SIM at the airport. I make it the first thing I do upon landing (unless I am in Italy, and first I get an airport Macchiato - IYKYK) and you can get them at the local airport convenience shops. Often the clerk will install them for you too! But they are easy to switch out yourself. 

*Just make SURE to put your permanent SIM somewhere very safe. Don’t lose it. It will be a pain (and I’m sure expensive) to replace when you get back. 

There you go friends - some more good intel to save you money and hassle and to even get you some good perks! 

I will be back soon with good Edinburgh content and Chasing Autumn content in other areas of the world. 

Let me know if you have any good intel on travel, Edinburgh, or Autumn things. I love to hear it. 

Thanks for being here, reading, and being a supporter of my work. 

PLEASE, if you enjoy this content, consider sharing it with friends and loved ones who are travel and experience enthusiasts! I appreciate you spreading the word so more people join our community.