Bonus Episode - Linda King, The Smart Travelista Pt. 2

In our first episode, you gave us some great tips on traveling. Let's continue with that. What's another one?

One good thing that I always suggest to everyone is to always keep an eye on the sales. The way you keep an eye on the sales is to sign up to the mailing list. So whether it be, you know, the airline mailing list or the travel mailing list, they're going to tell you when the sales are on. If you like running by the seat of your pants and you want to do it two weeks before, or you only get told a month out that you've got holidays, then really you've got no choice, but if it's something that you know, that you want to plan and you've got other things attached to that, like you might have a cruise or something else that you've already paid money for, then obviously you need to probably secure those flights. You mentioned about building airline points and miles for free. Is that still a thing with credit cards?

Yes, but I've heard in the US that your points are getting diluted over there. Probably the same is happening in Australia as well. But I still go with the theory that you need to build points. I still do it, and then what I do is take a massive lump of points and go, say, longer haul. So, yes, I still build the point. I know after the pandemic, you know, things have changed as far as travel, but I still think building the airline miles is still a really good strategy. It's a good cost-saving, too. Say I want to go business class from Melbourne to London. If I pay that in money, that's quite a few thousand dollars. If I do that in points, all I'm paying for are the airline taxes. So that's a dramatic saving. Oh, yeah, I could see where that would be a dramatic savings. Just as a point of reference, how many countries have you been to? I've, visited 34 countries. 

Okay, so 34 countries. Yeah. So you've got a lot of experience and bargain shopping. Is that a skill or is it luck?

I think it's definitely a skill. It can be a little bit of luck as well, I think. Again, what you've got to do is say you're in a market, the same thing's going to be sold in probably ten or twelve different places. It's about scoping out everyone's price. So someone might say 500 baht, you might go somewhere else and they'll say 750 baht. And so what you do is you just ask all these people and if it's something that you actually want, you go, okay, the average out of all these people, they've all told me different costs is going to be x amount. And then what you do is you are, ah, you offer half, which is quite shocking to them, and they'll go, no, no, no, no. But I think with any negotiation, start really low and then you've got more room to move. But it's just about the research. So anything about travel is research. So before you travel to get the best out of your trip, you do a little bit of research would be the same when you're on the spot. Bargain shopping.

Oh, I love bargain shopping at the markets and m the different street vendors. And I've got no problem being the good guy and the bad guy at the same time. One of the problems that I have when traveling is I get too adventurous and sometimes I end up getting sick. So do you have any tips on staying healthy when you're traveling? So do a bit of research before you go. Are you going to a developed or, you know, not so developed country? You're probably sometimes going to need to get vaccinations and you need to do them probably a few months beforehand. So a lot of them are like six weeks before you've got to get the vaccines. Another thing I would do is just really be mindful about your hygiene. So, and, you know, I talk about this in one of the books that I've got, about health and safety, but it's really about one. Can you drink the water there? So some places are really good and you can drink the water, but if you can't, then you need to definitely get of water. But also just be mindful when you're in the shower. Sometimes when we're in the shower and we're, you know, stinging in the shower, we open our mouth and the water can get in our mouth. and also when you clean your teeth, you got to be really careful because we're using that local water to clean out our teeth. So if you're going to a place where the water isn't the best, make sure that obviously when you're cleaning your teeth and you're drinking that, you're using that bottled water and everyone's different about this forest, but I stay away from street food because I'm not. Don't really know about the hygiene of how they've cooked that food is that, you know, that old meat. So I try and steer clear of street food because it can be a bit of a risk. But it depends, you know, if you're used to doing that and you've had no problems, then go for it. Just be mindful about what you're eating. Again, if you're eating lettuce, lettuce is washed in the local water, so I would steer clear of lettuce. I always eat food that I can peel. So, you know, like, if you're having fruit, get ones that you can actually peel, because there's less risk there, I suppose. After the pandemic, we know about our little sanitizer wipes. I take multiple packets of those with me everywhere, and I wipe down everything.

Okay. I've written down those notes, and next time I travel, use those health safety tips.

Out of the 34 countries you've traveled to, which one is your favorite? Look, I'd have to say there are two winners. probably the most recent one that I've just come back from. French Polynesia. My God. So mind blowing and so beautiful. I recommend anyone to go there, but my ultimate favorite's gotta be. Gotta be what? Well, we'll find out in our next conversation with Linda King, The Smart Travelista.