If just about everyone you know is abroad, and you’re planning to join them, don’t leave without reading this first.
Anthony Lieu in the cockpit of his Singapore Airlines flight after flying from Singapore to Heathrow, at the landing gate.
Lieu’s planning to work from Europe for the rest of the year. “We have a working holiday policy that allows anyone in the team to work anywhere in Australia or overseas,” he says. “I have team members in Spain, Germany and Italy.”While many travellers are unable to jet off for a similar amount of time, Australians are heading overseas in droves. Some 885,290 people left Australia in June, a 34 per cent increase on May’s 659,860, Australian Bureau of Statistics provisional estimates show.
“I use the 28 Degrees Mastercard and Qantas AMEX cards for everyday purchases and hold the two latter debit accounts for ATM cash withdrawals, with one as a backup,” he says. “Many banks these days have great fee-free international debit cards with good exchange rates – but do your research. ING, for example, has a good deal, but you need to do five tap-and-pay transactions per month to qualify, so prepare in advance. If you’re spending overseas, fees, charges and bad exchange rates can add a lot to the total cost of your trip,” he says.
One of the main pros of using an everyday debit card overseas is that it’s easy. You don’t need to load currencies on to the card before leaving, and you can check your spending through your regular banking app.But that convenience can come at a cost once you factor in ATM fees from your Australian bank, ATM fees from the international provider, currency conversion fees and potentially poor foreign exchange rates.
But if you’re looking to withdraw money from ATMs, you could be slugged with currency conversion rates of 3 per cent while also dealing with interest rates nearing 20 per cent.
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