Our Advice
We certainly don’t pertain to be travel experts by any means. However, we hope these tips will make your travel experience a little more smooth.
NB We don’t receive any commissions for these tips.
Money
Set-up a Wise account - Having a Wise account has totally changed our lives. Here’s 3 reasons why:
It converts to most currencies using the current market rate saving you $$$.
It automatically tells you how much you have spent in the local currency and in the account currency.
You can easily transfer money to other Wise accounts in what ever currency you choose… for free. No more transfer fees.
You can set-up digital cards.
A travel-budgeting app can help you work out how much you want to spend and where your money is going. We like Trabee Pocket.
Flying
We have ‘gold’ status with Turkish Airlines which suits our family for a number of reasons:
It flys in/out of Ethiopia where we live.
It’s a Star Alliance airline as is Ethiopian Airlines which means we get points if we fly with either airline (although not 100% of the points).
Turkish Airlines now does direct flights from Istanbul to Melbourne. For best prices, choose a return journey with a stop-over in Istanbul on one leg.
On the whole, Star Alliance lounges are awesome but the one in Istanbul airport is the absolute best. Having lounge access saves us $50 minimum per flight in food alone.
Turkish Airlines has special lines for families so you’re not kept waiting for ever and also, the check-in desks have a step so kids can see what’s happening.
To get Gold status with Turkish, you’ll need to reach 40,000 points. This will last 2 years and then it’s only 25,000 points to keep your gold status.
Jet-lag
Travelling Internationally and Worried about Jet lag with kids?
There’s no perfect way to avoid jet lag but here’s a few tips that have helped us a few times:
Try to stick to your usual timings as much as possible. ie. If the kids normally go to bed at 7pm, keep that time in your new Timezone. Avoid daytime naps, particularly at the start of being in the new Timezone.
Equally, keep the same bedtime routines. We have a bath, books, bed routine at home and we keep that same routine when we travel.
Have a children’s clock with nighttime and daytime lighting like this. We use this whilst travelling and at home. It helps the brain regulate and keep consistent.
On the first evening, it may help for your child to watch the sun set.
Stays
Getting the best deals on hotels
Much of the time, if you’re certain about your dates, you can get the best deal with the hotel directly. If you can find a good deal on Trip.com or booking.com, email the hotel and see if they can match it or do better. Having 1:1 communication with the hotel often means that, if you do need to cancel, they may be more receptive if you’ve booked with them directly (but it’s worth finding out their policy JIC).
You can often get a great deal if you book your flights and hotel together through trip.com. It’s always worth checking your flights and hotels with trip.com because you will often get the best deal there.
I would avoid booking flights and hotels together through airline “holiday” booking systems though. When we had problems with one hotel, we spent a lot of time and money trying to contact Qantas Holidays in Australia (when we were in France) to get it resolved.
Loyalty Programs
Getting the best mileage on your points
Point.me is a brilliant website for great deals on points and working out how far your points can get you. You can even book your flights through the site.
Booking.com
It’s not difficult to gain the highest level of ‘genius’ with booking.com. Using this service has. apparently, saved me over $1000 and gained me 5 x free breakfasts. It also gets me priority customer service should I need it.
Executive Traveller
Signing up to the Executive Traveller magazine online is well worth your while. Through this magazine, I uncovered that Turkish Airlines was matching Qantas status levels.
E-sims
E-sims are a game-changer. You’ll have GoogleMaps anywhere you are. Think about what you’ll need in the place you are travelling to. Holafly often gives you a phone number which allows hotels/transportation to reach you if necessary. Airalo is internet only but has a loyalty program allowing you to purchase free e-sims.
Packing
A few sets of inexpensive packing cells make living out a suitcase a breeze. I use the smaller sized bags for underwear and sleepwear, and the larger ones for jeans and t-shirts etc. I also keep a spare for laundry so I don’t have to use plastic bags.
Here’s a simple packing list for the family with the help of AI.
Also, here’s a list of what we keep in our medical supplies:
Adult Panadol
Cold & flu tabs
Ibuprofen
Kids chewable Advil
Hayfever tablets
Bandaids
Charcoal tablets
Diahhorea tablets
Travel sickness tablets
Cough medicine
Eye drops
Nasal spray
Sunburn cream
Insect bite cream
Thermometer