Simple living in the country - back to basics

edwink

How exciting for you Cheery and Mr Cheery too.

Good idea to ask others if you have missed anything. That could be useful for other posters on here too including myself and Mr Edwink as we only have one hen left as you know and have thoughts of going away on a few breaks eventually ourselves. 

Hope you both have a fabulous time.  You both deserve it.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

I actually can't remember what we did last time in relation to cash! There was certainly some card spending at least, and we definitely didn't have travellers cheques, never used those. Will investigate. 

Yes, suspected as much re Mr Cheery. But in reality the worst likely thing is that we'd have to cancel flights, and we can lose that cost if we need to. Will investigate tonight

beanielou

Most exciting 😊

Cheery_Daff

Thanks all 😊

So. I spent 2 hours this morning messing about with the budget. I was clearly drunk last time I reconciled, because it made NO sense 🙄😂 There were several bits of income (eg happy wheel) that I'd not accounted for, and everything was quite a mess.

Sorted now (I think!!) I was still £8 out at the end, but after 2 hours I couldn't face any more! 😱

Trying to add everything to the app as I go along now (which usually lasts about 5 minutes 🙄) and will endeavour to reconcile more than once a week.

So, yesterday's noodle-themed leftovers have been extended and eaten, and I am just finishing a cuppa before I tackle this evening's hefty list...

Cheery_Daff

So, tonight.

5.15-7.00 HOUSE
* washing up 
* sort bathroom stuff and get it back into the bathroom
* run hoover round downstairs
* hoover upstairs
* washing on (annoyingly this is mostly yesterday's sodden washing that I stupidly hung on the line)
* washing hung up (inside this time)

7.00-8.00 HOLIDAYS!
* travel insurance
* order GHIC cards
* investigate whether to take cash
* Airport parking

8.00-9.00 FLUTE
* not played for a few days, get some practice in!

9.00-10.00 FREESTYLE
* potter about?
* more flute?
* declutter one of these facemasks?? 
* curl up on the sofa??

Let's see how it goes...

greenbee

Talk to your friends about money, but not that long ago I had a hard time persuading a taxi driver to take a credit card at midnight when I got to a hotel from the airport. As I had no cash on me he eventually agreed. 

tudorfan39

Revolut is the best card for foreign exchange rates, just don't switch on a weekend or they charge you a small amount.
Other than that the only things to remember is to print boarding passes/show on phone as it's expensive to forget! And save any small, under 100ml toiletries for the trip if it's just hand luggage

Cheery_Daff

Thanks for the tips, keep them coming! 😊

Boarding passes are already printed 😊 although I might print at work as our printer isn't the brightest. Have also downloaded the airline's app and we can show in there too. 

GHIC cards ordered, no complications so hopefully they will arrive in time.

Parking paid for - easy walking distance of terminal, £75 for 4 days 😱 so would have been £50 cheaper on the bus 🙄 but would also have wasted several hours at each end. Paid through the airport carpark itself rather than the airline, which was £9 cheaper, but you couldn't make any amendments (I wanted the option of being able to swap cars if something happened to one of them!)

And travel insurance sorted too! Took a while (mostly due to me forgetting things and having to start the process several times 🙄), but Martin's recommendation of Medical Travel Compare (I think) did the trick - we were able to enter all conditions that both of us take any medication for or have had any investigation for, including Mr Cheery's recent unplanned hospital visits etc, were asked follow up questions for some, and now have a policy for just a smidgeon under £40 which specifically lists all the conditions etc so there shouldn't be any issues. A great relief, as the main comparison sites wouldn't even quote 🙄

Not expecting any issues, things are stable now (fingers crossed 🙄) and we're only going for 3 days. Also covered if we have to cancel because one of us gets covid! 

So now we just need no more hospital visits in the next 18 days, no unexpected appointments or an interview for me to get booked while we're actually travelling (unlikely 😂). Oh, and no adverse weather, which at the minute feels like the most likely thing! 

I booked a race between Christmas and New year with my sister the other day - we've done it several times and I've never yet felt compelled to take their extra insurance, but this year it seemed sensible to pay £3.02 to refund my fee if my car broke down on the way, or if the government declared I couldn't travel, or a near relative ended up in hospital - all those things seem far more likely at the minute! 🙄😂

So, aside from sorting out cash/payments, I think everything is booked now 😃

Cheery_Daff

Ha, didn't get much off that list done! Washing up, bathroom stuff sorted and put away (a big job which involved removing the u bend and unblocking the sink 🤢). Bit of flute playing, rehomed a mouse up in the mouse lay-by 🙄 (and I can now hear another one in the loft so we're not there yet!)

And sorted the stuff for the trip, which h was most important! Current total
Flights = £351
Parking = £75
Insurance = £40
= £466

😱 Feels like a lot to spend on a weekend away! And it is of course. But we are paying a bit for comfort here. Bus over parking would have saved us £50, getting random seats on the plane would have saved us another £100 (but we chose to sit next to each other). Everything else is discretionary costs. Getting to friend's from airport should be less than £10 each, so a max £40 for both of us to go  both ways, but otherwise just food etc.

Onepoll back up to £1.65 😂 Nowt on prolific so far except 75p that's cleared from last month. HW is down £28 🙄 

Didn't withdraw TCB last month though, so that's £4.50 to add to the £25 from onepoll, so November extra dosh isn't off to a bad start, and Mr Cheery is about £7 on Prolific too so all good 😊

Need a list for tomorrow but I'll make it in the morning

KajiKita

I would definitely take some euro - most taxi drivers I met in Germany last year didn’t have the option to take payment via credit cards at all.

KK