travel related finance stuff

first holiday of 2024 

insurance: singlife travel prestige, annual multi trip, family plan, worldwide coverage + winter sports

SGD pre-departure spending: 1.6 mpd uncapped cards

FCY spending: 2.0 or higher mpd uncapped cards

back up payment method: mastercard debit card

overseas cash withdrawal method: trust card

departure airport limo: claimed with credit card

arrival airport limo: claimed with dbs private access

outbound lounge: included in biz class ticket

inbound lounge: included in biz class ticket

data access: roaming with sg telco provider + foreign sim

 

not sure if i missed out anything relevant

i havent reach the level yet where i need to have a PA to arrange my travels for me

i still plan everything myself on a humble spreadsheet

i actually hope i never reach the point where i lose the independence to make my own travel plans

plus, not like i have anything else better to do and i actually enjoy doing it myself and connecting all the dots

no private jet also because its actually pure ego to get one if you live in singapore. as a travel hub, its just way more efficient to book biz/first commercial than fly private. 

private makes a lot of sense if you want to do smuggling

private makes sense if you live in shit countries with poor flight connections and also terrible airport experience. or you have to fly a lot for work and need be physically present. in which case, sucks to be you lol

private while being based in singapore makes no sense

 

of course i wanted to redeem miles, but last minute decide then no mile tickets available so cash lor

i really need plan trips at least a few months ahead, instead of within the same month, or else im never going to be able to use up my miles

now my miles production is higher than my miles consumption by a lot alot

but as they say, happy rich people problem

these days when travelling i feel like most things can pay for with card/phone or even prepay online

but some places and some businesses in the world still operate old school with cash. why? probably tax undeclaration, but let's pretend that they are just old fashioned hor

i do not like to carry a lot of cash with me and i also lazy to check customs limit on cash for every country i visit, so i just travel in with a couple hundred sgd worth of cash spare change in the local currency and then use trust card to withdraw whatever balance i need. i think trust card exchange rates are good enough to completely avoid the need of going to a money changer pre-departure. even if its not the best best rate, how much better is a money changing going to be? 100bps better? i dont think so big but maybe i wrong. are you going to spend more than $5000 using cash? lets say the differenece is 1% , you earn extra $50 for withdrawing cash, visiting a money changer, securing it and bringing it along with you. is all that worth $50? i dont think so. and that is if you spend $5000 cash, which i dont think most people do. if cash spending is $1000 or less, you earn only $10 for all that extra work. but if you are very free and your time is worth nothing, then i guess why not. good to walk around and get some exercise, but i dont believe in any particular money changer being worth the trip to exchange money pre departure. not anymore, not in today's world.

the main reason i use trust card for cash withdrawal is simply cos all the other options have a cap, and then they start charging what i consider high fees for cash withdrawal. i believe trust card is $2000 sgd per withdrawal transaction, and you can just do multiple withdrawals. the other options are like first $500 free withdrawal or some stupid low amount like that. i guess it works fine if you are buying street market food and shopping.

 

for lounge access, i can access all the networks because of my credit cards, but have never necessary since i fly biz class

 

recently i read up on hotel loyalty status. after thinking, i will not go out of my way to try and acquire any status

i dont have loyalty to any particular hotel brand. i pick hotels based on their location and what i plan to do when i am there 

maybe my view on this will change in the future, but for now, status chasing is not a factor when picking accomms

this batch of hotels are from $200 a night to $2500 a night

if i was travelling alone, would i ever stay in a hotel over $2000 a night? over my dead body lol

but okay la, at least i am exposed to such atas places. i try to be inspired by the architecture and interior design

yes i know amex platinum can get auto status with some hotels. but i find it very hard to make use of the platinum card. i dont mind to pay the $1.7k annual fee, but what do i get back? this could be a whole post, but i wont long story. cut short, for my lifestyle, amex platinum offers me nothing worth the fee.

am i forgetting anything? let me know