Okay, so the real question on everyone's lips – how do we afford to travel for so long? Just where do we get our money from and how do we make it last?
There are 3 parts to our secret answer:
BUDGET
Well, obviously a very important factor is that we stick to a budget. (Click here to see how much we spent per country)
In our opinions these budgets are both realistic and practical, but also allow ourselves a little bit of flexibility and the occasional luxury. To others, trying to stick to budgets like ours may seem like “taking the fun out of travel.” Everybody travels differently and some might even find our budgets exorbitant!
What is important is that you construct your own budget before you go, based on how long you are hoping to go for.
If, for example, you are planning on visiting Thailand, Laos and Cambodia for 3 months, then as you can see from our budget page, we quite easily stayed under $20 a day each.
$20 x 90 days = $1800. Which isn't actually that hard to save!
If you can save yourself $2000 (it's always good to have a little bit extra just in case!), and you are careful not to go above your budget, then you can quite easily travel for 3 months!
Budgeting tips
* We both love to dive, and as any PADI certified person knows, PADI really stands for “Put Another Dollar In.” We don't have a separate diving budget (unlike most divers), which means that to be able to dive, we need to be extra strict with our daily spending. We shop around for prices and information and we chose who we dive with, when and to where – instead of letting the dive shop convince us to do a whole bunch of “ok” dives first as they build us up to the best. Unless the diving is absolutely amazing, we generally try to limit ourselves to no more than 2 dives per region. We simply do the best dives that site can offer. This may sound snobbish to some, but for us, diving is a hobby and a luxury, not a necessity when we travel.
* To us, travel is about the journey, and not the destination. We are in NO hurry to get where we are headed and we love to take the slow way to do so. If this means less flights and more overnight buses, trains or boats, then so be it! Whilst taking longer, it costs a lot less!
MAKING YOUR MONEY WORK FOR YOU
Now for our real secrets.....
We make our money work for us.
Firstly, before we set off on our travels in 2008, we worked and saved hard for 1.5 yrs.
However, not just content with leaving our hard-earned money in an account to watch it simply dwindle away, we decided to invest it.
So we researched and shopped around and found that most banks these days have at least one “high-interest” account option, however rates vary so it pays to compare rates at different banks.
Most of these accounts are online banks which means that they are easy to manage from overseas, but that you also do not have direct access to your money unless you transfer it into an access account. This access account DOES NOT have to be from the same bank, so again, shop around for an access account that will let you withdraw your money overseas with as little fees as possible (See the following section)
Although the thought of not having direct access to your money can seem both a little complicated and a little dangerous, in reality, it is neither. It is simple and surprisingly secure when you get used to it.
We originally had high-interest accounts with BOQ, NAB, and COMMbank and used to move our money between them as the interest rates increased and decreased accordingly. This worked well, although it was a tiny bit of a hassle.
Then we discovered Ubank.
Ubank ( www.ubank.com.au ) is backed by NAB (one of the biggest banks in Australia which in turned is backed by the Reserve Bank.) which makes it both safe and secure.
What's more, it offers extremely high interest rates with no fees at all.
That's right, they will give you 4% interest on your money (paid every month) and charge you absolutely nothing at all!! Sound to good to be true? Well it's not! We have been banking with Ubank for 3 years now and have nothing but good things to say about them.
The only catch with Ubank is that when you transfer your money to your access account they will verify your identity via text message, which requires an Australian mobile phone number.
So what exactly are the benefits?
At the moment the interest rate is 4%.
Say, for example you have $10000 in the bank. A normal bank account that pays interest at 1% or so, will give you a whopping $100 per year.
With Ubank, you will earn about $30 every month! Or $400 per year!!
Whilst that might not sound like much, if you plan to travel on $15 a day, that's 2 free days of travelling every month!
In 3 years, you will have earned enough in interest ALONE to afford that 3 month holiday to Asia! And it's just that – FREE MONEY!
So, it really does “pay” to do your research and make your money work for you!
ACCESSING YOUR MONEY OVERSEAS
So you have your money happily growing in a high-interest account? Fantastic!
Now, just how are you going to access that money during your holiday?
Before we left Australia we visited every single bank and asked about their fees and charges for withdrawing overseas (I know - we are slightly obsessed!).
Obviously different banks have different fees and different benefits (and no doubt non-Australian banks are different again), but what we found out was shocking.
Things to ask at your bank:
----- Account fees
----- International transaction fees
----- Conversion fees
----- Minimum account balances
----- Travel insurance
Pretty much, you have no choices anymore when it comes to withdrawing your money overseas. Every bank was the same. You have 2 options. A "foreign currency travel card" (each bank calls them something different but ultimately they are the same). You are charged 1% upload fee and you chose your currency of choice. Exchange rates are locked in to that day (great if you buy at the right time) so there are no currency exchange fees if you withdraw in that currency overseas. Withdrawal fees are also fixed and quite reasonable. HOWEVER, if you don't happen to be visiting Europe, Japan or Thailand, your only other option is to take your normal ATM card and suffer anywhere between $4 and 5% withdrawal fees, on top of currency conversion charges. It's highway robbery!! NAB even went and got rid of our beloved fee-free gold card... sob sob..
But! I was determined to NOT waste so much of my money on bank fees, so I researched and researched and FINALLY I found the only overseas ATM fee-free card in Australia.
Citibank Plus.
No monthly fees.
No account fees.
No withdrawal fees.
No currency conversion fees.
No minimum deposit.
Just a wonderful card that works.
If you are living in Japan:
* Mitsui Sumitomo - Mitsui Sumitomo has an international card that you can get issued for 1500yen if you have an existing account and it has no expiry date. The card works exactly the same as your normal card except that you can use it at any ATM in the world displaying the “PLUS” symbol. For this service, they charge 100 Yen per transaction. NO account fees, NO transaction fees, NO conversion fees. Simply a flat 100 yen per time. Rob has had this account for years and has used it in over 30 countries around the world. It also comes with internet banking access.
* Citibank Japan - The Citibank Gold Card offers FREE international travel insurance for an UNLIMITED period of time! The conditions are simply that every 2 months you use your card to pay for some form of transportation, whether it be a $300 flight, or a $3 subway ticket. It doesn’t matter. Simply doing that will extend your free comprehensive travel insurance. (It sounds too good to be true but we have friends who have had to use the insurance and who said the service was impeccable and reliable.) The only condition is that to apply for the Gold Card you need to have a minimum account balance (I think its 200,000 yen but I'm not 100% sure.)
And that is it, they are our simple secrets to making your money last longer so that you can travel for that little bit longer.
If you have any bank tips from your own country that are not listed here, please let us know so that we can keep this page up to date with as much information as possible.
Bon Voyage!
There are 3 parts to our secret answer:
- Budget
- Making your money work for you
- Accessing your money overseas.
BUDGET
Well, obviously a very important factor is that we stick to a budget. (Click here to see how much we spent per country)
In our opinions these budgets are both realistic and practical, but also allow ourselves a little bit of flexibility and the occasional luxury. To others, trying to stick to budgets like ours may seem like “taking the fun out of travel.” Everybody travels differently and some might even find our budgets exorbitant!
What is important is that you construct your own budget before you go, based on how long you are hoping to go for.
If, for example, you are planning on visiting Thailand, Laos and Cambodia for 3 months, then as you can see from our budget page, we quite easily stayed under $20 a day each.
$20 x 90 days = $1800. Which isn't actually that hard to save!
If you can save yourself $2000 (it's always good to have a little bit extra just in case!), and you are careful not to go above your budget, then you can quite easily travel for 3 months!
Budgeting tips
* We both love to dive, and as any PADI certified person knows, PADI really stands for “Put Another Dollar In.” We don't have a separate diving budget (unlike most divers), which means that to be able to dive, we need to be extra strict with our daily spending. We shop around for prices and information and we chose who we dive with, when and to where – instead of letting the dive shop convince us to do a whole bunch of “ok” dives first as they build us up to the best. Unless the diving is absolutely amazing, we generally try to limit ourselves to no more than 2 dives per region. We simply do the best dives that site can offer. This may sound snobbish to some, but for us, diving is a hobby and a luxury, not a necessity when we travel.
* To us, travel is about the journey, and not the destination. We are in NO hurry to get where we are headed and we love to take the slow way to do so. If this means less flights and more overnight buses, trains or boats, then so be it! Whilst taking longer, it costs a lot less!
MAKING YOUR MONEY WORK FOR YOU
Now for our real secrets.....
We make our money work for us.
Firstly, before we set off on our travels in 2008, we worked and saved hard for 1.5 yrs.
However, not just content with leaving our hard-earned money in an account to watch it simply dwindle away, we decided to invest it.
So we researched and shopped around and found that most banks these days have at least one “high-interest” account option, however rates vary so it pays to compare rates at different banks.
Most of these accounts are online banks which means that they are easy to manage from overseas, but that you also do not have direct access to your money unless you transfer it into an access account. This access account DOES NOT have to be from the same bank, so again, shop around for an access account that will let you withdraw your money overseas with as little fees as possible (See the following section)
Although the thought of not having direct access to your money can seem both a little complicated and a little dangerous, in reality, it is neither. It is simple and surprisingly secure when you get used to it.
We originally had high-interest accounts with BOQ, NAB, and COMMbank and used to move our money between them as the interest rates increased and decreased accordingly. This worked well, although it was a tiny bit of a hassle.
Then we discovered Ubank.
Ubank ( www.ubank.com.au ) is backed by NAB (one of the biggest banks in Australia which in turned is backed by the Reserve Bank.) which makes it both safe and secure.
What's more, it offers extremely high interest rates with no fees at all.
That's right, they will give you 4% interest on your money (paid every month) and charge you absolutely nothing at all!! Sound to good to be true? Well it's not! We have been banking with Ubank for 3 years now and have nothing but good things to say about them.
The only catch with Ubank is that when you transfer your money to your access account they will verify your identity via text message, which requires an Australian mobile phone number.
So what exactly are the benefits?
At the moment the interest rate is 4%.
Say, for example you have $10000 in the bank. A normal bank account that pays interest at 1% or so, will give you a whopping $100 per year.
With Ubank, you will earn about $30 every month! Or $400 per year!!
Whilst that might not sound like much, if you plan to travel on $15 a day, that's 2 free days of travelling every month!
In 3 years, you will have earned enough in interest ALONE to afford that 3 month holiday to Asia! And it's just that – FREE MONEY!
So, it really does “pay” to do your research and make your money work for you!
ACCESSING YOUR MONEY OVERSEAS
So you have your money happily growing in a high-interest account? Fantastic!
Now, just how are you going to access that money during your holiday?
Before we left Australia we visited every single bank and asked about their fees and charges for withdrawing overseas (I know - we are slightly obsessed!).
Obviously different banks have different fees and different benefits (and no doubt non-Australian banks are different again), but what we found out was shocking.
Things to ask at your bank:
----- Account fees
----- International transaction fees
----- Conversion fees
----- Minimum account balances
----- Travel insurance
Pretty much, you have no choices anymore when it comes to withdrawing your money overseas. Every bank was the same. You have 2 options. A "foreign currency travel card" (each bank calls them something different but ultimately they are the same). You are charged 1% upload fee and you chose your currency of choice. Exchange rates are locked in to that day (great if you buy at the right time) so there are no currency exchange fees if you withdraw in that currency overseas. Withdrawal fees are also fixed and quite reasonable. HOWEVER, if you don't happen to be visiting Europe, Japan or Thailand, your only other option is to take your normal ATM card and suffer anywhere between $4 and 5% withdrawal fees, on top of currency conversion charges. It's highway robbery!! NAB even went and got rid of our beloved fee-free gold card... sob sob..
But! I was determined to NOT waste so much of my money on bank fees, so I researched and researched and FINALLY I found the only overseas ATM fee-free card in Australia.
Citibank Plus.
No monthly fees.
No account fees.
No withdrawal fees.
No currency conversion fees.
No minimum deposit.
Just a wonderful card that works.
If you are living in Japan:
* Mitsui Sumitomo - Mitsui Sumitomo has an international card that you can get issued for 1500yen if you have an existing account and it has no expiry date. The card works exactly the same as your normal card except that you can use it at any ATM in the world displaying the “PLUS” symbol. For this service, they charge 100 Yen per transaction. NO account fees, NO transaction fees, NO conversion fees. Simply a flat 100 yen per time. Rob has had this account for years and has used it in over 30 countries around the world. It also comes with internet banking access.
* Citibank Japan - The Citibank Gold Card offers FREE international travel insurance for an UNLIMITED period of time! The conditions are simply that every 2 months you use your card to pay for some form of transportation, whether it be a $300 flight, or a $3 subway ticket. It doesn’t matter. Simply doing that will extend your free comprehensive travel insurance. (It sounds too good to be true but we have friends who have had to use the insurance and who said the service was impeccable and reliable.) The only condition is that to apply for the Gold Card you need to have a minimum account balance (I think its 200,000 yen but I'm not 100% sure.)
And that is it, they are our simple secrets to making your money last longer so that you can travel for that little bit longer.
If you have any bank tips from your own country that are not listed here, please let us know so that we can keep this page up to date with as much information as possible.
Bon Voyage!