I know I've mentioned it once or twice, but we finally got abroad for the first time since the pandemic! Now I know that in writing about saving money a holiday seems a little frivolous, well, perhaps finding money saving ways to be frivolous is just as important sometimes in keeping the spirits up.
This little pink elephant is here to announce the next monthful of bites about getting away. Perhaps his pinkness is due to a little too much sun!
Now, unlike most of this year's writing where I've largely set myself a day-by-day task, this month will be full of predominately retrospective bites. I'm still going to record them though - for future reference.
Month 6 - Bite 1
As soon as we were able to book with some confidence we went ahead with confirming our accommodation (which had been on hold since 2020 with the deposit paid) and booking flights.
Straightaway came the decision about holiday insurance. Normally we have annual insurance that just rolls over, but of course, with the pandemic it didn't seem sensible to do this in 2020.
Looking at the insurance made us question whether our usual joint policy was a good idea in respect of our ages. We're not that too far apart in age, but it did make a difference to the premiums. So, this time it worked out cheaper to have two individual policies - one each - rather than a joint one. That'll need constant revisiting as age catches up with me/us from here on.
Month 6 - Bite 2
After all our travels in Italy our attempts in the language are little more than saying hello, asking for the bill and saying thank you! Unforgivable really, especially with family living there. So before going this time I downloaded a free (and excellent) book on the e-readers so we could really get stuck into the language in order to fully understand what was going on and to integrate a bit better. Knowing a bit more than the basics helped with ordering, buying, finding out information and using public transport - all time and money savers!
Month 6 - Bite 3
Having visited Rome once or twice before we've been lucky enough to find an apartment that works well for us. Knowing the owner helps with the cost too. That said, it's still a luxury and has to be weighed up carefully to see if the benefits outweigh the cost implications. From our point of view they do. There's something about being somewhere very convenient where you have the option of dropping back during the day for breaks or eating in. The very location of the apartment - this after all is the view from the living room and kitchen windows (yes, really, the Colosseum) - means that we spend little on getting around as so much is walkable and there are tram, bus and underground stops within 2 minutes of the front door!
Month 6 - Bite 4
For my retirement birthday my sister bought me a notebook....
I've been using it ever since to record what we get up to on our wanderings - it makes life so much easier when trying to remember highlights or decide where any photos that we can't place are taken!
One page I always start a holiday with is a record of costs. It might sound a bit un-holiday like, but it's so valuable in seeing where the money goes. It also means that we know in advance roughly how much we need to budget for another time or where we can save a bit. Especially since this was our first trip abroad for a while it was so helpful with simple things like how much currency to change up.
Month 6 - Bite 5
You can see from the last photo that each cost is followed by either 'cash' or 'Clarity'. That's because I like to keep tabs on how I pay for each thing (as I say it helps to know how many Euros to take). A couple of trips ago I was happily using my normal credit card abroad, asking to be charged in local currency, all that sort of thing. Then when the monthly statement came there was a currency conversion charge against each item. It might not have been much on each individual spend, but it certainly added up over the whole time away.
Having researched what was available I got a different card that I only use abroad that doesn't charge a fee (and has a reasonable conversion rate too). I know that I don't get points (as I do on my regular card), but having done the maths the saving on the currency fee was greater than the reward points.
Just before we went I tested out the 'card for abroad' to make sure it wasn't sulking through lack of use and it worked fine so that's where the spending went!
Month 6 - Bite 6
With all the 'paperwork' in place it was time to dust off the cases and check them out. With all the extras counting on flight costings we needed to make sure that whatever we were taking fitted the bill both in weight and size. So out with the tape measure and scales for a reassuring sizing session. The main baggage allowance was fine and our cabin bags fitted easily so no extra hidden costs there.
I did take a slightly larger carry-on bag than usual - although still well within the restrictions. This wasn't for me! With our Italian family due to relocate to the UK soon I needed to be able to bring some of their clothes back to lighten their load! Mission accomplished I'm glad to say - and a bit more money saved in their pot too...
