We’ll try and add to this page as we stumble along so that others may learn from our mistakes; as we’re sure there will be a few! We’ll also add a few tips and tricks that may help.
- Check your visas! A US ESTA lasts 90 days BUT note those 90 days apparently include anytime spent in a bordering country – as we’re spending a couple of months in Canada first this meant an ESTA was no good so had to apply for a full US visa (quite costly and time consuming as you need to go to a US Embasssy)
- Keep credit card statements. Hopefully you’ll never have to make a claim against your travel arrangements going wrong; however if you do, remember when paying by credit card KEEP a copy of your statement as well (most banks only keep them online for 12 months) as you often need to provide that when making a claim (e.g. ABTA claims).
- Use your loyalty programmes. Whether it’s Airmiles, airline, hotel or credit card rewards, booking.com genius levels, hotel.com rewards, Costco membership (good for cheaper fuel if you’re hiring vehicles). Double check each programme as you can sometimes get better deals going to hotels/car hire companies directly.
- Buying fuel Canada. We have quickly learnt that fuel is cheaper on native indian reservations, in Alberta, Canada or at Costco gas stations if you are a member. America. Costco, USA does not accept Mastercard. New Zealand. Fuel prices vary considerably and oddly can be much cheaper away from cities and bigger towns. It is very easy to get discounts tho – Countdown cards give you AA fuel discount, there are also Pumped cards, Mobil cards and you may get vouchers at supermarkets (careful tho as they may be local use only).
- Tracking your budget. We used the travelspend app to keep an eye on our daily expenditure. There’s a free version and a premium that you pay for. At the moment we’re using the free version, but it does only let you look at one trip at a time, and we’re tracking ours by country. It’s useful for daily average and has a great stats graph so you can easily see where your highest expenditure is.
- Money. There are many ideas and advice on what cards, etc, to use, and it does depend on where you come from so we won’t go into them here, other than to say we had credit and debit cards and back ups too. We used cards that didn’t charge for using foreign currency, and one had “loungekey” access, which we used in a few airport lounges (helped with the budget!). What we have learned tho is: New Zealand is sold as a cashless society HOWEVER you will get charged anything from 1.5 to 3.5% surcharge everytime you use a foreign card (even if your bank doesn’t charge you for overseas transactions). A UK debit card is still classed as a credit card there. A bit annoying, but you need to weigh it up against ATM fees and/or any cashback you may be earning on your cards. Australia – same as New Zealand regarding surcharges but they also have some 15% for Sundays and even more for public holidays.