How We Spent Our Money: Six Months Later

by Tasha in Red Tape, Budget

photo by: 401(K) 2013

Six months ago I wrote our final Budget post before we left on our trip. The closest approximation to how much we had actually saved. Why 'approximation' you ask? Because unfortunately unlike our old piggy banks we had as children, bank accounts, and therefore balances, are in a constant state of flux.

You can tally all the incoming payments and all the outgoing payments and it will still not seem to equal the amount actually in the account. "But that's not not how banking works!" (You know I can hear you guys snickering in the back row!) I know, I know, and if you leave your account alone long enough you are right.

With time - the balance will generally reflect the correct credit/debit. However we very rarely give our accounts enough time. Which is generally why at the end of the week it always seems that we spent more than we realised. It also sucks big time for trying to keep organised records, and make broad overview statements like this one - as well as being very confronting for my tidily organised mind. (Okay, now I KNOW I can hear you guys laughing at me!)

Wisdom before Beauty: An Awful Lot of Running

by Tasha in Wisdom before Beauty, Nerd

This is one corner
Of one country
In one continent
On one planet that’s a corner of a galaxy that’s a corner of a universe
That is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying
And never remaining the same for a single millisecond
And there is so much to see!
I’m not running away from things
I am running to them
Before they flare and fade forever
                                                                                     - Doctor Who

Snapshots of Denmark

by Tasha in Europe, Denmark, In Transit, Couch Surfing

1.
14 hours after takeoff in Cambodia, we arrive in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, our last stop over before Copenhagen. Our stopover is only for around an hour and the airport is very big, so we are meant to be moving pretty quickly. Nevertheless, when I see the giant christmas displays in the main area of the Airport I immediately stop and pull out my phone for a picture. Without stopping Lex loops his hand around my arm and starts dragging me towards the next gate (which ironically ends up being the wrong gate and we end up sprinting all the way back where we came from and down the opposite direction).

When we finally reach the right section we spy the ticket collection which has recently been updated to mostly automated machines - unfortunately as our flight had so many connections ours needed the personal touch. We jump in the line (I use the word line loosely as it consisted of two other travellers) as an attendant is quick to apologise for the delay. After two minutes, we reach the ticket collection whose attendant apologises again for the delay of two minutes, and hopes it will not inconvenience us. Alex and I look at each other incredulously. I suddenly feel so sorry for the Dutch backpackers travelling through Sydney International.

Veni, Vidi, Visa!

by Alex in United Kingdom, Red Tape, In Transit

After Denmark, we booked our tickets to the UK, and for one very straightforward reason: Money. We've done remarkably well budgeting and tracking our spending while we've been travelling, but tragically, neither Tash nor I had the foresight to be born spoiled trust-fund babies to millionaire parents. Stupid decision, really. What that means instead is that we have to work for our money, and what's the best place in Europe for two young Australians to get a job? The UK! Where's the hardest place for us to get a working visa for? The UK! The easiest place for us to get a visa? Ireland! The easiest place to get an Irish visa? The UK!

Fun fact: You are at least 31% more British after looking at this picture.

Top Ten Photos of Denmark

by Tasha in Europe, Denmark, Photos

Christmas in Copenhagen. As always feel free to link to your own faves in the comments and/or on facebook :)

Retake the City: Copenhagen

by Alex in Retake the City, Europe, Denmark

We decided to spend Christmas 2013 in Copenhagen pretty much out of the blue. A white Copenhagen Christmas has always been a dream of mine, and even though it didn't snow, we still had an awesome 2.5 weeks in Copenhagen - also the longest we've spent in any one city since leaving Kaikoura in October! Copenhagen - CPH to its friends - is a beautiful city, absolutely worth visiting, but is somewhat on the more expensive side of "Holy crap, how much did that cost???" But if you keep your eyes open and take advantage of some fairly simple tips, you can cut down on your costs while still enjoying everything the captial of Denmark has to offer.