All the nuggets of gold in one place
Need to transfer money between currencies?
For transferring money between currencies I have found Transferwise to be both cheap and easy to use. They transfer money at the mid-market rate (you can't do better than that!) and charge 0.5%. So, for example, to transfer 1,000€ it costs only 5€. They achieve this by matching your transfer with another going in the other direction. If you use the link on these pages you have one free transfer of up to £3,000 (and we get a little something too!). It really is worth a look. (Mind you, if you know of something better then let me know!)
Besoin d'un traducteur ? / Do you need some translation work doing?
Notre fils Joshua est un traducteur libéral dans les langues d'Anglais, Français et Allemand. Il est très compétent, bien experimenté et très professionel. Voir son site pour plus de renseignements : senseandtense.com
Our son Josh runs a translation business in English, French and German - his rates are very reasonable and he is very competent and professional. See his website here for more information: senseandtense.com
Need somewhere to stay - or do you have a spare room?
If you are travelling and need somewhere to stay, checkout AirBnB. This is a rapidly growing community of people with spare rooms (or sometimes a whole flat or a house) who are willing to rent them out to travellers. It often works out cheaper than a hotel and often the locations are just superb. Conversely, if you have a room which is empty, why not advertise it on AirBnB and make a few bob - and maybe make a few new friends too? We used AirBnB on our recent visit to Canada and stayed with folk in Montreal, Ottawa, Ontario and Perth. It works well.
(the AirBnB percentage cut seems a little on the high side for me, particularly if you book several nights - but it usually still works out as good value)
Travelling in OZ: Rent a 4x4
As far as I know, in Australia, no rental company will allow any 2 wheel drive vehicle to be driven on unmetaled roads - except maybe for the access road to a campsite. This restricts where you can go, and certainly excludes some very interesting places. So, rent a 4x4, as we have done, and go wherever you like! We rented our vehicle through a local travel agent cairnsunlimited.com which has also been a great source of useful information for planning the trip.
Need somewhere to park - or do you have a driveway you don't use?
Now this is a brilliant idea that I have used several times. Simply pay someone to park on their driveway. It is cheaper than a car park, you can book in advance and often you can find somewhere just a 100 metres from where you need to be. Brilliant. Check out Just Park. I've used it in Manchester, Sheffield, London and Toronto - and each time it worked well and took the stress out of having to find a parking space. And it works the other way too - if you live in the right place and have a spare bit of driveway it is instant income.
Renting a car? Take out your own rental excess insurance
All rental cars are insured! However, this insurance can have a very large excess (especially in OZ & NZ). The rental car company will offer you a daily rate to eliminate the excess, but it is very expensive. You don't need to take this - you can take out your own excess cover with a separate company. For our Australian rental we are using RentalCover.com because they cover the 4x4 whilst on unsealed roads. For New Zealand, however, we need to use Questor (which is more expensive) since in NZ we don't have a 4x4 and RentalCover will not cover our vehicle on unsealed roads (and note that 33,000km [35%] of the public road network in NZ is on unsealed roads).
ps. just a little heads up for anyone who is considering icarhireinsurance.com: their normal cover is up to £6,000 excess (which is good) but if you pay extra to upgrade your cover to motorhome cover then the cover goes down to £2,000 (max £1,000 single incident)!
Want a cheap but practical camper to explore NZ?
Just about everyone uses a camper of some sort or another when exploring NZ. We chose this one: Spaceship Beta2S. The Spaceships have all the advantages of a car (smaller and cheaper and more nimble than a normal camper!) but much easier and more convenient than a tent!
Golden Nugget: NZ Frenzy Guide Book
Much of our trip to NZ has been planned using information gleaned from the NZ Frenzy Guide Books written by Scott Cook. These very detailed guide books (1 for each island) describe many of the major attractions but also lots of lesser known gems. An absolute must for those who don't like being ripped off, or who like to avoid the crowds.
Golden Nugget: Totally amazing SatNav & Mapping App
One of the Apps we have used extensively for planning our holiday is OsmAnd. This is a gps, satnav and mapping app which is based on free-to-use open-source maps. This means you can download up-to-date maps for any country in the world totally free of charge. I love it. The Pro version of the app costs a few pence, but after that one-off payment there's no more to pay. It runs on Apple & Android. Check it out.