TRAVEL TIPS

oxygen

We have just returned from a week in New Zealand, and for the first time ever I managed to use my 28° MasterCard all the time, which meant there was no need to withdraw or hold New Zealand cash. This saved me the problems of carrying cash or paying a fee to withdraw cash. The only slight hitch was finding $NZ5  to buy two bottles of water at a shop that would not take credit cards. They were happy to take a $AUD10 note and give me $NZ5 change, which gave me money for parking meters.  The cashless society is here: let’s embrace it.

There are always horrendous tales about the cost of mobile telephones when you are travelling overseas, but we both paid $35 to Telstra before we left for a Telstra travel pass. This gave us unlimited calls between Australia and New Zealand, as well as 700 MB of data. I understand that Vodafone have the same deal.  It’s amazing how convenient it is to have global roaming, and unlimited phone calls, available at all times.

On the recommendation of one of my sons I have been using the app Tripit, which you can get for free, or buy the premium version for a small sum. All you need to do is email your itinerary when it comes from the service provider, such as an airline or a rental car company, and Tripit keeps track of the whole journey. It’s particularly useful when you are catching planes, because Tripit will always let you know whether your plane is on time and the gate it is leaving from.