Every trip overseas leaks money in places most Australians never look — the data plan, the foreign transaction fee, the points you bought at the wrong time. I travel about 150 days a year, and over the years I’ve worked out where the leaks are and how to plug them. This is where I keep all of it.
The biggest one is data. Telstra and Optus will happily charge you $10 a day to roam, which adds up fast on a three-week trip. I load an Airalo eSIM before I leave home instead, and the only hard part is guessing how much data to buy — so I built a calculator that does the guessing for you. There’s also the SMS problem nobody warns you about: switch to an eSIM and your bank’s verification codes can stop arriving at the worst possible moment.
Then there’s the money itself. Most Australian cards quietly skim 3% off every overseas transaction — I’ve been stung by it, which is why I built the FX Rip-off Calculator to show exactly what that fee costs you. Pairing the right travel debit and credit cards is half the battle won before you’ve even packed.
The other half is points. Whether it’s buying Qantas points when a bonus lands, buying hotel points for a stay, or moving points around the family with Qantas Family Transfer and Velocity Family Pooling, the maths matters — and it’s easy to get wrong. I show my working every time.
Everything below is the running list: the eSIM tricks, the card hacks, the points plays, and the lounge access that makes the hours between flights bearable. All of it tested on actual trips, not in theory.
Australia is a big country. That matters more for mobile coverage here than almost anywhere else you’ll travel — pick the wrong provider and you can lose signal for hours at a time. There are three major networks, each with…
I have never really understood why anyone would willingly choose a 6am flight. Usually, it ticks absolutely no boxes. But when I snagged a $1 relocation car rental starting at Brisbane Airport at 9am, the maths suddenly changed. When I…
As a life and travel hacker, I am always looking at ways to optimize my holidays. Whether that is leveraging points for business class upgrades, matching the right credit cards to trigger complimentary domestic travel insurance, or optimizing international itineraries…
I love Strava. I love it so much I’ve turned off every alert it sends me — I don’t need a notification every time someone I know posts an activity. I’ve been on it a long time too. Strava user…
I’ve been travelling on eSIMs long enough to have opinions, and long enough to have made the mistakes so you don’t have to. This is the comparison I wish I’d had before my first trip overseas without a physical SIM…
For years I assumed the private members’ club thing wasn’t for people like us. Old money, leather armchairs, a committee somewhere deciding you weren’t quite the type. Then I worked out you can buy your way into the global version…
You know the moment. Fourteen hours in the air, the seatbelt sign goes off, you switch out of Airplane Mode — and before Google Maps has even loaded, your phone buzzes. “Welcome! You’ve triggered your daily roaming pass…” For years…
The hardest part of buying a travel eSIM is guessing the size. Go too small and you’re rationing data three days into the trip; go too big and you’ve paid for gigabytes you bring home unused. This calculator gives you…
Buying IHG points has been around for ages but If you have been playing the frequent flyer and loyalty game for a while, you know the single most important rule: Never trust that an old loophole still works without verifying…