The Travelling Fund; £10,000 in 10 months!!!

NinjaSavingKat

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

One other thing I thought of... I do hope you have finally treated yourself and bought the beautiful new notepad/journal and pen that you were wanting all those long months ago......................

Funny you should mention this................... I am leaving the journal buying until the very last. I have thought to get a moleskine in bright pink but there are some other lovely journals in Waterstones but I know it has to be super light and bright and lined and lovely with something bird orientated on the front - lol! Nothing to hard to locate then! :rotfl:

NinjaSavingKat

And this might be what you are looking for........

liltdiddylilt

Joules.... Joules do the best stuff!!! :D:D I have a joules notepad. In each corner of the lined pages, there is a little pink rabbit, with beautiful flowers and birds on the front!

Thanks for the link, that's really clever! Protects me and the Jellytot from stranger danger

shyspender

Kat...hope you don't mind some random questions from me. I was wide awake in the middle of the night and everything else I had to think about would never have got me to sleep so I opted to think of you and your big travelling adventure.

Ok, so to the random questions:

What will you do about the language? Will you have some small phrase books...or one high combined one? Am thinking that in most of the countries there will be some English speaking, but maybe not off the beaten track which if memory serves is more the areas you will be going to?

What are you doing about getting money? Do you have one of the mse recommended credit cards for no charges? Or a prepaid card? Or again trawling the memory banks, do you have an Australian account? If you do, will that work in some of the sout Asian countries without charges?

I was reading on the foreign travel boards yesterday about people going to Vietnam and Cambodia and past visitors were recommending to only go with one or two taxi companies. If you want me to find the names I will happily do so.

I think I was thinking of your adventure because I, like some others will be living vicariously through your blogs as you travel all over.

NinjaSavingKat

Hello diary hunters..

Am sat in my hoody. I still daren't take the tags off. I might be brave enough later today! Lol! But at least I know it's super warm..

The first of my Amazon bits are arriving but I am sat here on my sofa not knowing what to do for the day - my last overtime shift is tonight and I am tempted to cancel it - but I think it will be therapeutic to go there and tell EVERYONE that I am NEVER coming back! :rotfl: It's a 6 hour shift but is double time so it's a little bit of money in the bank - but I REALLY couldn't be bothered!

Shyspender this line amused me.."I was wide awake in the middle of the night....... would never have got me to sleep so I opted to think of you and your big travelling adventure".....:rotfl:...Is it boring enough to put you to sleep ! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Ok I know what you meant.. so I shall try my best to answer your questions...

Language ; You have just reminded me that I was going to buy one of those "point it" dictionaries. It should do the trick in tight situations but I would also like to learn a few words to awe the locals that a farang is at least trying...

Money: I will be carrying a mix of cards, cash and perhaps some emergency travel cheques but there aren't many places that take TC I believe. I bank with the Nationwide and they are best for travelling abroad regards charges etc. I have attempted to get a CC from them but since I am now registered to vote in NI, my address needs to be changed to my parents address over there before applying again so everything lines up when they do their checks - I was refused the first time and at subsequent other places as I simply didn't exist at the address I am at now - my LL might not have told the council I am here though so I was never on the electoral register - same for the last three LL's.

BUT I am using Nationwide as my main cash stash account so order through it and need it to remain registered to my current London address for now... Phew!

I will be setting up an Australian bank account yes - I should hopefully be able to put at least $6500 in there and yes I might be able to use is in Thailand but there are many many cash exchange places.

However I have not yet worked out the logistics because I know for Myanmar there are only three places in the entire country for using an ATM but I would like to avoid them altogether, people recommend bringing all your money with you to Myanmar as they only accept pristine, brand spacing new, unblemished dollar bills - so what do I do but carry large amounts of cash split between my bags, shoes and other hidey holes.

I think I want to know how much I have to play with before I think about how things will break down but being home in NI is a priority as I want to speak to them face to face for a better deal which is what I did when I got a loan from them - I also have a NI bank account who are more personal so I need to take to them too. I will be telling them that I am traveling abroad obviously to prevent my cards being blocked.

Sorry that was a LOT.

To be honest I will be avoiding taxi's as much as possibly and aiming for the good old legs OR the little tuk-tuk's but it's no harm knowing the best ones to use so if you don't mind hunting them out for me I would appreciate it.

I hope this answers a few questions. I was predicting £2000 for my motorbike - but I was told that the mileage is preferable at 12,000 max for that price. Mine sits at 29,200 - baring in mind that I bought it second hand when it was at 8500. So I just need to bring it to the mechanic and go from there. If we agree a price it might be sold by Tuesday..:eek::eek::eek:..It makes me sad but I would rather it happened fast - like ripping off a plaster. :(:(

Once I know how much the bike costs I will know more about my final amount and how much I can afford to transfer to Australia etc. I might have enough to leave £2000 in an account in England as a "re-entry" fee for when I decide it's time to return. But we shall see.

My current CC is 24% interest - although I pay it off every month I don't want that hanging over me in case there is a length of time that I have no internet access to transfer money..

Quick subject change - I am watching Keeping Up With The Kar-Trashians and they are in Thailand - Kim is in a lovely flowing white skirt that I want!!!..easier to get one made over there right??

Anyway back to the subject at hand... I have internet banking - both Nationwide and my NI bank account need me to carry a code card or a little card machine in order to transfer money all for security purposes - the NI bank has a code card that runs out after 59 uses and a new card is automatically sent out and my Mum sends it on to me - which might be useless if I am in the middle of no-where judging by how many times I check my account - so it's either use the Nationwide account as my main banking account or only check my account once a week...

Stuff to think about...

shyspender

Kat,

This is what I found, am sure you will get advice on your travels. For Vietnam they recommend Vinasun or Mai Linh. Mai Linh is mentioned a few times.

Thanks for answering my middle of the night ponderings, I'll let you know if I have any more, lol

I'm with nationwide too, and used that when we went to France. Haven't got a credit card with them, otherwise I would have used that for the hotel payment. Still need to check if I've got charged anything else on that since paying it off.

liltdiddylilt

What kind of phone have you got? Are you even taking one? Nationwide phone app just needs 3 digits once you have set it up with the calculator the first time. I have an app for every one of my bank accounts and they are all turning to digital security using a phone...

NinjaSavingKat

Hello Diary Hunters...

Lilt I am taking my iPhone as the sim cards for SEA are very cheap and usually have a massive amount of GB attached and Wifi is prevalent. And it will help whilst in Australia as well. I would like to get Mumsy a smart phone so we can WhatsApp now and then but we shall have to wait and see how much that might cost me.

I also have an old skool Sony Eriksson that still works well although I might have to get a new charger for it and would suffice in slightly more dodgy areas should I need a simple phone with no frills - just not sure if I really need to take two - I could sell the iPhone for £105 via envirophone so it;s something to consider....or not!

My bike has been quoted at £1400 - not sure if I am happy with this. I will advertise this at work tomorrow and see what I can do OR I can consider eBay which I would have liked to avoid - I just don't have time for visitors and certainly won't be allowing "test rides".. I am just unsure of what to do so I will sleep on it. I would be happy with £1800 although there is nothing massive that needs done to it the mechanic is just telling me that HE needs to make a further £1000 off it so won't offer me anything higher... :mad::mad::mad:

So I have been home from work for the last two days..

Haircut noshed with the cheap college - they won't pick up the phone and there is no messaging facility so I am done with them - I now have two options...

1 - Tomorrow a booking with a senior student at a more local college for £18. I was conveniently told the cheaper students I wanted to see weren't available tomorrow so the only one I could book in with costs £18 - otherwise it would have been £10 I think. I called them yesterday as I wanted in today but they didn't call me. The girl said she did and left a message to which I kindly told her I don't have a voicemail facility (caught her out)... I left my number twice on their voicemail as well so it would have taken a complete numpty to get it wrong.

2 - Booking with the Toni&Guy Academy next week for £5. The receptionist was rude and curt and knowing how uneasy I am with hairdressers in general he didn't put me at ease - this would also mean going into town when I am off just for the haircut... he told me I won't know the level of the hairdressing student until the day although they are all supervised when cutting... He was quite rude, very camp ( not that that is an issue but it's the attitude I didn't like ) and tried to rush me - and was far from friendly albeit I need to be aware he is not doing the cutting he has kinda put me off.

As you can see I am very cautious in every word about hairdressers and the slightest thing can put me off..... Hmmmmmm the one closest to home tomorrow is winning in my head so far!

Apart from that I have been a proper lazy mare - my gym membership ended on Sunday so I am officially allowed to eat whatever I want..... ok I am kidding but to make up for the lack of training I walked to Tescos yesterday in my new sandals and my new capri pants and my new hoody - I rocked that look! Lol!

Goodies are starting to arrive - some things are going to have to go back - but I am excited about my new head torch and my mini baby Osprey backpack who came out with me today..:).. big backpack is on it's way with lots of other bits in one box - what do you bet it will get left at the local post office and I get to hike home with it....

Anyway - enough withering...

More soon...

killerpeaty

I... could have sworn I had posted in your thread this week... I probably meant to and fell asleep lol.

If you want to get your mum a smart phone, you could consider going to cex. You can get a HTC Wildfire S (my old phone) for about £40, I loved that phone, it is a great little phone.

edpvito

I saved up 8k 4 years ago, rented my house out, got a sabbatical from work but ultimately handed my notice in, set off travelling but realised very quickly that what makes life interesting is purpose. Places and people are just places and people.