The ins and outs of frequent flyer programs, travel rewards, and theme parks. What do status credits even mean? And what do we really prefer when it comes to accommodation?
✍🏻 View the transcript for this episode on our website.
The ins and outs of frequent flyer programs, travel rewards, and theme parks. What do status credits even mean? And what do we really prefer when it comes to accommodation?
Email us! toastroastpod@pm.me
Georgie 0:09
Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Toast & Roast. I'm your co host, Georgie. And as always, I'm here with Jeff.
Geoff 0:20
We have many topics to talk about, I think,
Georgie 0:22
how long has it been?
Geoff 0:24
It's just been a week, just about. But this is the first time I think, like we're prepared for topics. And so I
Georgie 0:39
wouldn't call it prepare. I mean, it was just something on my mind.
Geoff 0:42
Yeah, but usually we come in with like, a, like a blank. Like a it's just talking about anyways. What what did you What did you want to talk about?
Georgie 0:53
So frequent flyer programmes?
Geoff 0:56
Oh, I'm a familiar. Yeah.
Georgie 0:58
I'm familiar too. But I'm also kind of, I feel like I'm out of the loop a little bit. Because I haven't flown since have a flown anywhere. I've travelled anywhere. Whether that's domestic or international since last September, and that,
Geoff 1:18
oh, whoa. You
Georgie 1:21
know, but that trip, I think we bought the flights like 12 months in advance.
Geoff 1:27
Can you actually say flights 12 months in advance? Because maybe it's
Georgie 1:33
because we did the award. See, I can barely remember because it was such a long time ago. But we use like points to buy like a business class business class seats. So you have to do them? Well in advance, because people because they run out. Like they don't have a show.
Geoff 1:48
I was reading up on how to use Qantas points recently. And it's great as your programme of choice. Well, it's still free. It's the programme, which I have the most like points in because I've collected it through like words like credit card rewards. And but I actually fly virgin.
Georgie 2:15
That's pretty funny. Because like, yeah, we have never really flown with Qantas unless we had to. And I also don't like Qantas, but I'm pretty sure we've already talked about that on a previous episode. So our credit card points used to really be with velocity. And then we mostly flew Virgin Australia. And I feel like that's, that's my Aussie airline of choice. Not that you have much choice. So I lost my silver status. Like you said, what was the I don't give a shit. But it's like, I think I've come to that point where like, yeah, I've travelled a fair bit yada, yada. But I don't want to drop some cash to just fly to like Melbourne or something to try and keep my status credits up. And I've just found it really confusing. So I was actually looking at flights just before we started talking, recording this. And I'm like, What is can you just tell me like, can you just tell me how much I'm gonna get if I fly over there? Like what like as you get status credits, but you also need to fly eligible sectors? Yeah, so it's like you can't so basically, I mean, if I want to put it like in a really like laypersons terms kind of way. You can fly you can get a lot of points flying from Melbourne to between Melbourne and Sydney alone multiple times, but you probably wouldn't cover like eligible sectors because just flying to the same clothes fucking place.
Geoff 3:52
Yeah, I remember back at back in Deloitte days, there was a that there was a huge status, credit culture, because as consultants, they would the we get flown into state all the time. And I think some people have actually done international but so yeah, that gets floated into state all the time. And you know, keeping up status, like gold status or platinum status was the norm at like, manager, senior manager, director levels. And so when someone loses their like status, because you can you can use your own rewards programme when booking these flights so it's not like like
Georgie 4:46
even though the company is paying you can provide Yeah, yeah, number or whatever. So they get really used to
Geoff 4:51
the benefits. And then losing your status is kind of like a big deal. I think So yeah, they they probably claw their way into keeping their status as as, as high as possible. But I also read about, like how to upgrade quantifiers with points because I have a lot of Chronos points. And I was thinking, oh, you know what, I did the calculation before and on their website, and I realised that, oh, I have enough credits to maybe take a business class flight to like London or something like that. But then, but then I was like, Okay, let's dig into how this is like, how this is actually, like works. And because I heard, you know, it's not as straightforward as having the points. So this is a this is like a fairly long article about how complicated it is to actually upgrade with points. And there's like a pecking order
Georgie 5:57
to this. So I just like transferring the points, and he'll book them.
Geoff 6:02
Yeah, I mean, the it’s is yes, no. Anyway,
Georgie 6:08
is it just Qantas that is, well, you mean, oh,
Geoff 6:12
I don't even know how the others do it. Like how the other points work? Do they? Can you actually upgrade with Virgin? I have no idea. Like, what are the Virgin unfortunately?
Georgie 6:22
Oh, hang on. Yeah, I think one time we just randomly decided to do business class to purse. Yeah,
Geoff 6:31
I mean, and book reward seats using velocity points. You can do points and pay, which is probably like the simplest one. Yeah,
Georgie 6:44
that's what I was just looking at. Because I was looking at an international flight. I'm not going to tell anyone where we're going yet to try and like find out when I'm not home. And anyway, it had an option for pay with this amount of points. But you also need to pay like 100 bucks on top of that. Because for some reason, I don't know. Yeah, maybe it's just a balance that I didn't have enough points. Anyway. Sad.
Geoff 7:08
Yeah, anyways, so the downsides of being of doing points with points and pay is I think, even
Georgie 7:18
you obviously don't get points on you don't earn points because you're using earn points on that flight.
Geoff 7:24
Well, yeah. Qantas points. In any case, yeah. Like they they make this specifically really difficult to understand. It's like Google SEO. But essentially, it depends on flight, like frequent flyer status, like us silver and stuff like that. And it also depends on if your club membership and then the fare bucket of your ticket and the timing of your upgrade request. And so, in some way, shape or form the calculation is that hey, if that person has status, and they have actually chosen to upgrade 24 hours before the flight, they will or they get they can they can potentially get priority. So even though you got promised your seat, you can get knocked out a priority. But at the same time, if you are not of status and you like upgrade if you try to upgrade like three days in advance of like when you booked the ticket, and it depends on when you booked the ticket and when you ask for the points upgrade and you could actually override a higher status person. If you have all the right combination.
Georgie 8:42
I get the feeling this might be a cuantas only thing. I don't know. I just don't remember Chris fly and doing this, Chris. Yeah,
Geoff 8:51
let's have a look. See?
Georgie 8:52
I mean, this is why Nick, like we Nick and I never didn't have a dinner. Never like tried to fly more cuantas because I don't know. I hate them anyway, I will let everybody know. Yeah.
Geoff 9:06
domestic flight upgrades can be immediately confirmed by any contest you can find member regardless of your fare or status if you only if a reward seat in a higher cabin is available otherwise standard weightless rules. See there's so many caveats to like getting these upgrades that is almost a gamble. So the suggestion is that you book the seat that you want not expecting the upgrade.
Georgie 9:36
Because Are you serious? Yeah, you
Geoff 9:38
just have to go in not expecting to be upgraded and then like, hey, you know what, it's a bonus if I get upgraded. And like not pin your pin your hopes on the upgrade. So don't book the lowest like lowest level see possible and then hope that you get upgraded to business. If you didn't like the seat that you booked originally But maybe do a economy extra or whatever that you actually would prefer would like to sit in. But also, like, if it's upgraded, then it's great. Yeah,
Georgie 10:14
you know? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's still shit. Yeah, that I mean, I just I would never do hope for upgrade. Like, I've heard stories of like, I think the someone we both know who was like, Oh, I randomly got up graded to business like I was at the back of the plane I got upgraded business it was like my first time there in? And I don't know, I just don't hear that story often. And yeah,
Geoff 10:39
I think well my family members, their partner always always does the minimum amount that you need to request an upgrade. So I think like a bidding, bidding the bidding ones where you can put like maybe $50. And if no one else, like out bids you because everyone kind of thinks of it as a scam.
Georgie 11:06
But most most people I mean, I've done that too. And I put the smallest amount. Yeah, or even a little bit more like I'm like, I'm thinking like, I'm willing to pay $100 for an upgrade even though the minimum is like 50. But still I get someone fucking probably is willing to pay like 400 or something.
Geoff 11:23
Yeah. But I guess the idea is that you if you're travelling domestic, it's unlikely that it's likely that other people will think that bidding is there's no point in bidding, because there's always going to be someone higher than you. And that's like the majority. But the minority will be like, Okay, I'm going to, I'm going to bid as high as possible so that I can get the seat. But out of all the averaging, it's like, hey, you know what, one in five flights? If you do the minimum bid, you probably get the upgrade, because everybody else has to skip one
Georgie 12:02
in five. What if someone doesn't even take five flights? A year or like a couple years? Yeah. And this is the thing about like those like to sort of segue into like credit card. What do you call it? Yeah, like getting credit card points. A lot of the more I guess prestigious, higher fee credit cards have these benefits that are really centred around travel. Yeah. And if you're not interested in travel, you just don't travel regularly. It's a scam for you. There is no point. Yeah,
Geoff 12:39
I think it definitely for the American Express cards, I think Yeah, mostly the American Express in Citibank cards. They give you like $250 in travel credit. Now that's a scam. Right? So the card costs $250 a year, and they give you $250 credit so it sounds like a free card. But you have to use it through their portal. Yeah, you have
Georgie 13:08
to use all of that. Yeah. Their hotels. More than 250 Yeah.
Geoff 13:13
Mines mines free because I worked for the bank. And I just fuck yeah. I'd say do work for a bank. You can you can probably get their highest awards card, which I did for free.
Georgie 13:27
And it is any bank you can work for any bank and then I
Geoff 13:31
mean, depends on the bank, but nab you can get it for free when you work there, and they don't take it away from you when you leave. So I have a hashtag I have a hydro Ward earning God from my bank days. So yeah, that's that's a that's a benefit of working for a bank even though it's boring as fuck. It is up away. Anyways, so you're looking to I mean, when I find Japan like trying to do ama this time and Nadia,
Georgie 14:10
Anna is nice. Yeah, I don't even know. But I'm going like further than that. It's probably just pretty obvious where I'm going. But yeah, yeah, well, I'm gonna do I'm gonna do velocity. Because can you convert your verse? Sorry, it's Virgin Australia is probably what I'm Yeah.
Geoff 14:28
Are you converting points to go to go to have a diversion, or you just you just have accumulated a lot of points and I'm just gonna
Georgie 14:36
have to pay for the flight or I can, like I've got like, I've only got like 30,000 points and there's like nothing. I have some credit card points that I can transfer in but it's not going to be a lot.
Geoff 14:49
I can imagine mine is pretty low. Like that's astonishing. Yeah,
Georgie 14:53
I've got about double what you have, but like, I have no status
Geoff 14:59
six Nah
Georgie 15:05
Wait, wait, can I ask that you? Did you find a person?
Geoff 15:07
I find a path on these on Virgin,
Georgie 15:11
mainly. And you get the eligible sectors. I
Geoff 15:14
don't know how I never really, this is what
Georgie 15:18
I mean, it's really hard. I was like on this website, wait 15 minutes trying to find like, what does eligibility
Geoff 15:24
sector exclusion mean? Does it mean it's excluded or it's included? Because this is another?
Georgie 15:34
There's like a couple of letters like M
Geoff 15:35
plus 10. Status. Okay, I now need to know how much status credit oh, I need 250. Okay, well, I'm not getting there.
Georgie 15:45
No, you need you need 250 minus 69. All right, um, because you've done 69 Often, I'm
Geoff 15:52
never getting there. Like I go prayeth once a year.
Georgie 15:58
Yeah, like, I have nothing that my chart there is like, because I haven't been anywhere. But if I'm going super International, I don't know if this is helping anyone by like dropping these hints.
Geoff 16:11
It's not International, but it's super
Georgie 16:16
hyper. I'm pretty sure I'll get quite a bit. Although I don't know if I'll have enough to go to silver. Or maybe if I hyper International, hyper International, although
Geoff 16:27
it's even like Sydney.
Georgie 16:30
Yeah, but see, pick one. Just do it. It won't tell you it's not clear. You show that it'll show you the price and whatnot, but it won't what's going on here? How many status credits credits you're gonna get. All right. So
Geoff 16:41
is that a date picker, but like, oh, man, I don't even know what this is like, you can go 2024 and this is 2021 to 2020 30 and the first date? I don't
Georgie 16:56
just click click on
Geoff 16:57
probably this day's supply. Yeah, they don't tell you they don't need to tell you how many status codes so for Sydney, the purpose tenge. So if you go super International, I don't know how my status.
Georgie 17:16
If I do super International and return obvious, it's probably gonna get me a lot. And is it gonna give me 100?
Geoff 17:21
I mean, I actually did buy flights to Perth with Qantas points one time. Did
Georgie 17:29
you transfer them in and then you?
Geoff 17:31
I mean, I have velocity. I have Qantas points. So I flew. I flew Qantas once ticket to and used my points for the for the entire trip to Perth. Definitely not worth it. Don't Don't do that. Don't do such short flights with points you got to do international Fisher. Super international or hyper International. So what 69,000 points for this. Okay. See, this is the whole points calculation. Yeah, I got really into it. I got maybe did about three credit cards, two, maybe four credit cards, just to just to get points. But yeah, it's not a game you want to play, I think.
Georgie 18:18
I feel like it's very easy for people who are working like some corporate job where like you're saying Deloitte, they will fly you places and yeah,
Geoff 18:27
that's the only time
Georgie 18:32
or if you just happen to fly a lot and no way.
Geoff 18:36
Cheap Tuesdays. It's like half the price to 269 versus 497. Holy crap.
Georgie 18:45
That's a Yeah, like it's always like, Isn't it always Thursday through Sunday other more expensive days of the week? We
Geoff 18:52
can't do light anymore. Too old for that shit. Yeah.
Georgie 18:57
Too old is it just like it's more like you flown enough that you're like, I will do the the one up from like
Geoff 19:10
especially when you have like two people. It's almost guaranteed that you almost it's almost guaranteed that you can't go in without check in. But of course, unless you're going without checking, yeah, you can't go without checking luggage. But of course not every not everyone's like everyone's me. Does Nick not going not going with check in either?
Georgie 19:37
Yeah, he doesn't. But we usually get
Geoff 19:39
it just in case. Yeah, that's it just in case. Just
Georgie 19:43
yeah, just in case to like, hey, you've got a kilo of water in your bag.
Geoff 19:49
Be the the thing is I go back for Christmas. So it's just almost guaranteed that I'll bring some stuff back as well and family so Oh man, this is more expensive than Japan. Why? Okay,
Georgie 20:06
so that that amount is probably one of my flight one way like,
Geoff 20:11
Oh, so you're going to London?
Georgie 20:15
No, that's the wrong direction. Oh,
Geoff 20:18
you actually going to the States at this time?
Georgie 20:23
It's not at this time.
Geoff 20:25
I mean, this time is being anyway in this decade.
Georgie 20:29
No, I get it. No, I'm actually I'm going to XOXO. Again,
Geoff 20:33
doing your first and last year favourite thing favourite invention?
Georgie 20:41
Festival conference convention type thing? Yes. It would be so funny for anyone listening to this, actually.
Geoff 20:48
I mean, you can describe what why is it the final one.
Georgie 20:55
They actually wanted the final one to be 2020 before all of that stuff happened and everyone's dreams got crushed. But they still wanted to do a final one. So it ended up having to be this year. So for people that don't know, it's I guess it's probably best described as a multi day event with like a conference and hanging out and stuff for independent makers, creators on the internet, people who kind of work on the internet. So there are a lot of people who make their own board games or do stuff on the internet create things?
Geoff 21:38
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And you went you went once before or twice before? Twice? Yeah. Where's it? Where's it usually based?
Georgie 21:48
Portland, Oregon. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm gonna tell people where I'm going. But I'm thinking that's not going to be my only like, you know, the people that will look it up. But I'm thinking of having another stop or two in the States because I mean, dude, it's all the way over there. I might as well
Geoff 22:10
Yeah, that's true. Okay, I take it back. It's not as it's not more expensive than Japan, but it's pretty damn close.
Georgie 22:19
Why is that? I said, because you picked a time of year that was like, I live
Geoff 22:27
Yeah, I don't I don't know. Well, I think it's December for sure. The, like, the prep tickets might be more expensive. But I don't know, you know, this is my argument every year like this is going to Perth at any point in time is just as it's like you could pay I don't know two or $300 Extra get in and go to Indonesia go to go to Singapore or something like that. It just so much better places to go to.
Georgie 23:03
i How many times have I been personalised like three or four at this point?
Geoff 23:06
Yeah. You're just the mindset era
Georgie 23:09
has has been
Geoff 23:13
man people who have gone to Perth between the people we know that actually live in Perth and then like people who go to go there for the convention. They like people generally like Perth but it is definitely a time sink and a money sink you could definitely do a lot better than Perth. Has
Georgie 23:40
stuff gotten better there though like say in the past like five years because I think that's how a lot better yeah, they have
Geoff 23:47
a unique low now like you've mentioned this they haven't even
Georgie 23:54
like that's not new that's my new job.
Geoff 23:57
They have a they have what's it called again? Bread top they've got a bread top now
Georgie 24:08
do they have a meat fresh bread top is so base probably not. Do they have a Starbucks?
Geoff 24:15
I don't think so. They don't have a coffee culture there's not as like prevalent was prevalent while we thought Wait, they're supposed to have two passengers. Oh, well. Anyways, this is this is like $200 More than I pay then I paid for the original ticket. But alas, what you're gonna do. Anyways, back to the flying is fly back to the credit cards. So yeah, the the credit card game is pretty rigged. You need to know a lot to maximise. Yeah.
Georgie 24:59
For this dedicated YouTube talent cannibals by mostly dude bros. Yeah, telling you about point hacks and stuff. It just sounds like a big scam. And I feel like if you think it's a big scam, you're kind of right. If you think it's a big scam, it's probably not for you. It's, it's,
Geoff 25:16
it's almost too much of a time sink, like, okay, so you can get lots of points. So what, and then you go, Okay, I'll, I'll try, I'll travel for all these points, like to use all these points, I'll get points to travel with the points. And then you realise all these complexities around using the points. And then you have to find out all the rules. of time, this is a full time hobby, everybody it's like, like stock trading, you can, you can definitely spend all your all your time, like as a hobby to just point hack, and people can do it efficiently. But it just takes so much time anyways, not worth my time. So I stopped. So I'm hoping to maybe get some business class tickets to London at some stage using the points that I have accrued
Georgie 26:15
noise and
Geoff 26:16
I hope that you know what, when you do the points calculations, and you're just like, Oh, I'm just shot 10,000 points and then you go get that next credit card, just think that it's isn't worth it by the points as you can, but it's super expensive. And I don't even know why you would buy the points of just paying for a ticket. To be honest. This is the math.
Georgie 26:37
I think we bought points when we were like a little bit off. Because we had we were almost there. Okay, that makes it was still Yeah, it was still not as expensive as buying the outright buying will take Yeah, so I get it if you're Yeah, if you're a little way off then. Sure.
Geoff 26:56
But yeah, anyway, it's gonna try organised Japan take two and yeah, that's good fun. Hopefully, I won't I won't use points for Japan. But yeah, mining for the sale. So like ama do I don't know sale every three months. So the maximum time we're going to wait is six months out. Yeah, and I think so. Semi soon, but but things actually that we need a book. We can only book three months in advance. So it's gonna be dicey. Yeah.
Georgie 27:35
You mean like activities in Japan? Fuck man. Yeah, this happens is so
Geoff 27:39
dicey. We're just waiting. Because we have a timeframe in mind. But if the things aren't a very like available during that timeframe, this is like Okay, gotta figure something else out to do. Just
Georgie 27:51
got to cross your fingers and hope at that point. Yeah.
Geoff 27:56
I don't think we've talked about Universal Studios. Do you? Do you prefer Universal Studios or Disneyland?
Georgie 28:03
I don't think I've been to Universal Studios, probably because, but I don't have I also hate Disneyland.
Geoff 28:10
I hate what I mean. What would take you to a theme park that?
Georgie 28:15
Absolutely nothing.
Geoff 28:17
Okay. You didn't enjoy coasters or just the madness. I
Georgie 28:22
liked. Okay. I go I have gone to theme parks because Nick is a fan. Okay. Actually, the first time I went to the theme park was just because I was in Tokyo and I was like, I've never been to Disneyland in my life. And I was travelling with my ex at the time. And yeah, like, yeah, I've never been a thing but you know, the wonderland that was I never went there. So it was a wonderland here. Oh, we're hanging on maybe you weren't even maybe you were like still in. But yeah, Nick is a fan of well yeah, the rides but he's interested in the way that theme parks are built and the kind of like logistics and the more like how it all works. How much effort they put into theming so I have been to like various Disney. Wait Disney lands and also been to Disney World in the US. I think Disney
Geoff 29:19
World is probably the only Disney place worth going plus Disney skip. I
Georgie 29:24
like Disney. See? Yes. See, that's my favourite. Yeah, Disney sees my favourite. And it just feels different because like I actually hate the Magic Kingdom theming I think it's really juvenile. Yeah, like some individual rides in the different Disneyland Magic Kingdom. So like, I didn't like the Paris one. Like the Japan ones Okay, and it has that bloody Winnie the Pooh ride, which I went on like four times. But like roller coaster wise, I'm just I'm not really a fan of roller coasters. So Theme Parks having rollercoasters doesn't draw me there.
Geoff 30:04
Okay, so you've never gone to the Gold Coast and I have
Georgie 30:08
been there. I've been on that Superman one. Okay, so like that, like, I would not go hey, I really want to go that it's usually because I've been with like family or people. So yeah, I would not like I will not go out of my way to go to one so and that's probably why I haven't been a universal either. Yeah. Yeah.
Geoff 30:29
So what we're why we choose Universal Studios of Disney is because we're not too big into Disney. Do Universal Studios is like, like movie movie based, movie based and movie. I hate movies. Yeah,
Georgie 30:49
we've talked about this. Like, neither of them. Like, I don't think I have a preference. Yeah. For either of them.
Geoff 30:54
But I think if you if, if I'm sure Nick is on top of this, but they announced epic, universal, epic universe. And they revamped all of these like themes, and went hardcore. Like, you see this portal. And it basically on the other side of the portal is is like a, like a whole new world. So they actually did How to Train Your Dragon. Like, for for real, I think like all the houses and all the thematics and things. So I think we talked about the Super Nintendo there. There is a Super Nintendo one in Japan. Yeah. So yeah, but I think this is taking it to a whole new level. Like imagine, like, super Nintendo Japan. I
Georgie 31:42
like that. But that's because it's like, based on a game, right? Like, yeah, it's kind of like a game. Yeah. And I had, like, as a kid, I played gaming consoles.
Geoff 31:52
It's almost like, like Willy Wonka. Because classic, because generally like theme parks, they say, Hey, this is like a theme on rides, right? So you have a roller coaster, it's themed this way you have it's kind of you have, you know, attractions that are themed that way. But rarely is the environment entirely themed, like in this picture. So this is like you're actually hopping into Super Mario, like the game and actually kind of experiencing the game. You know what, I'm just there for like, is this to be fair, I guess? themes. Themes are fun. Yeah, it's
Georgie 32:40
interesting, right? Like, I don't give a shit about it. Actually don't think Nick likes the like, rides as much as he likes looking at just like the detail that they put into like theming.
Geoff 32:51
So it's like a super expensive architectural itch to scratch. But that's fine. I mean, like that that's a that's hot, like, everyone can have a hobby. But I think this is probably one of those things like Disney World that kind of trying to compete with Disney World where each Disney World part is really the entire Yeah, every shop and Harry Potter world is like super themed as well. You kind of feel like you'd stepped into Hogsmeade or something like that.
Georgie 33:30
Yeah, I'm trying to think which one I liked in Disney World. So I hate magic kingdom. So it certainly wasn't my space.
Geoff 33:37
I don't even know. Epcot. Epcot was cool, but
Georgie 33:45
I'm like is that even?
Geoff 33:46
Because it's just
Georgie 33:49
fucking convention? No hating but I'm like it's the least theme park
Geoff 33:55
yeah
Georgie 33:58
it's like it's just a big thing like celebrating different cultures or something.
Geoff 34:04
Do I mean there was like Animal Kingdom
Georgie 34:08
I think the adventure the Adventure Land was okay. Yeah. Adventure Land. Yeah, and I'm walking whichever one was with the Indiana Jones ride that ride specifically like this happens to me like with theme parks is there'll be this one ride that I like obsess over. So like, generally Big Thunder Mountain is good. The one at Disney see fucking the Indiana Jones one. I went on that like Florida, but also the the journey to the centre of the Earth. There's a really good chef's kiss. That one's a really good Disney see. Ride. Yeah,
Geoff 34:51
man. There's just not enough. Oh, we want to go to the aquarium the Osaka aquarium at the same time as like Go into the university or Osaka aquarium No, it's not new. But they do have a whale shark
Georgie 35:07
it's a very sad Shinagawa one which I think might is not probably not that big
Geoff 35:18
we're actually occurring
Georgie 35:26
apparently, apparently the aquarium in Sydney has been upgraded and is so much better than it is what people are saying.
Geoff 35:34
The Powerhouse Museum is also getting an upgrade. Oh yeah, yeah,
Georgie 35:41
I always did like the Powerhouse Museum.
Geoff 35:43
Is this that they have the classic tunnel?
Georgie 35:47
Yeah, I don't remember this light shit. more impressive than when I went there.
Geoff 35:55
Yeah, so there's there's also FujiKyu which is just rollercoasters, so you probably wouldn't like it. Yeah. Is that like Six Flags? Yeah, Six Flags on it. I have never even seen Six Flags, but fuck
Georgie 36:12
that. I'm done. I'm not you would have to pay me to this.
Geoff 36:20
Yeah, I I think there's only very few the parts that are probably worth going out to. And future queues probably, like it's centred around rollercoasters, so I don't think I'd go a pretty intense it's like, it's behind Mount Fuji. So you get a good view of Mount Fuji from the rollercoasters. But is that really what you?
Georgie 36:50
This is what you want me to do like that top speed at the top of the car?
Geoff 36:58
Yeah, is not going to feed your cue. But yeah, definitely Universal Studios is our pick. For that trip, specifically, my family is like sacrilegious. Why would you pick this? Why would you pick Universal Studios? Disney see?
Georgie 37:22
But yeah, well, you've been you've been to Disney.
Geoff 37:24
So you know, I've never been
Georgie 37:25
oh, what you have?
Geoff 37:29
Says the one who doesn't like theme parks? Oh,
Georgie 37:33
that's just like, that's the one like Yeah, and I mean, the fact that I don't like theme parks and I like that one. That means it's,
Geoff 37:40
it's pretty good. It's
Georgie 37:41
good. Right?
Geoff 37:42
Maybe, maybe. But yeah, I haven't been travelling in a while either. So this'll be a big good time to travel.
Georgie 37:54
Are you budgeting?
Geoff 37:59
Not really,
Georgie 38:01
I might actually try and do it for this, this trip to the US. I hate it. I hate the idea. But I think I think I'm going to need to otherwise I'll just be like, tapping my phone and just making every single as well.
Geoff 38:15
So by budgeting do you mean actually putting, like a cap on how much money you want to spend on the trip? Is that is that but yeah, a
Georgie 38:24
little bit. But I don't know how to. This isn't the thing with budgeting, right? Like, you don't know how that number until you do a little bit of research. So all I know is that, hey, you're gonna have to spend $3,000 on flights or something like just flights and I'm like, Okay, do I have to sleep with someone? What do Yeah, because yeah, I don't know how much so like,
Geoff 38:44
I guess this is would this be the first time you budgeted friendship?
Georgie 38:50
Um, it's a good question, right? Because, yeah, like, okay, it's pointing out that I am privileged enough to be able to not and have saved a lot of money over the course of my working days. To be okay, with just sort of spent like, obviously, if I see something as a good deal, I'll be like, Okay, I'll take that. You know, so I'll shop around. But I haven't ever really budgeted. I think I went a little super frugal when I travelled with my ex and we tried to go to when we went to Japan and just tried to keep it under. Man, what was it? Like fourth out was either 4000 or $8,000 for two people. Yeah,
Geoff 39:36
yeah. Was it 4000 yen?
Georgie 39:40
1000. No, no. For D like and this was like,
Geoff 39:46
like 12 years ago? Yeah, yeah. 1314
Georgie 39:48
years ago. Yeah, so I know because I've been saving a lot recently and not travelling. I'm just thinking about just controlling my spending. little bit and picking stuff that has good deals and whatnot.
Geoff 40:03
This is not financial advice. And we're at the top of the 40 minutes. But so the last year I think the last time I tried to keep it on the, I think $2,000, outside of like the price of the flights and price of accommodation. Is this the last time I went to Japan, as well. So Well, for one, we got really lucky. And we got the $500 free return from Japan, Sydney to Japan. That's very nice. Yes, it's 250 both ways. And I think the thing I tried to do is keep the hotels under, like, a certain price point. Yeah, I think that's probably the only thing I can try control. Because
Georgie 40:59
sometimes food is good, and you want to pay for it. Yeah, that's
Geoff 41:03
true. And you want I don't even enjoy that many luxuries. Like alcohol is not my thing. Yeah. And neither is like, super expensive hotels, like you. I'm sleeping there eight hours and like, I'm spending eight hours and I'm spending those asleep. You
Georgie 41:22
just need a bed to sleep on type of thing. Yeah. Yeah,
Geoff 41:27
I'm not saying that I'm gonna go to a space hotel or like a capsule hotel every night. Because that's super uncomfortable. It's like
Georgie 41:38
I haven't done it before. I've Yeah, no, I
Geoff 41:40
guess it's like like a little dorm. What, like all hostile. Yeah, this like even the Capitol Hotel, which we actually stayed at like a four or five star capture hotel is basically hostel style. Like every every every amenity shed, and then you go back to the capsule, and you sleep. So I do prefer my own like, I eat when I want a good toilet when I want.
Georgie 42:20
But there's a capital hotel actually, like affordable like isn't what is it cheap? Is that a lot cheaper? I
Geoff 42:26
can't remember. But I would guess yes. It's yeah, it's Yeah. But definitely a lot cheaper because you don't have to have a dedicated room. And then you have people who don't respect the quiet time. So they're on their phone, like at 10pm. When you're trying to sleep, yeah, things like that.
Georgie 42:47
Yeah, it's funny, because like, when we were flying back from Europe last year, we had to stay in Copenhagen for just just one night, like on the way back, like we'd already stayed there at the beginning of that trip or to fly out. We had to stay there for one night. Yeah. And I, I looked at this place that was kind of like maybe it was a bit of a capital hotel vibe. But it was like, tiny were those just pretty much a bed for two people. And then like a table and a shower, and toilet. Like it was very compact looking. It's always hard to tell from the pictures. And I wanted to do that because it was only like, I don't know, 100 or something. And then Nick was like, I don't know. He was like, this looks really like shoddy. Yeah. And then we ended up going with another one that was like maybe 150 or something $150. And it was a bit better. But it makes it still makes me wonder like, you're still small. still makes me wonder if that shoddy looking. One was going to be like real tight and just like
Geoff 43:48
hostile. Yeah, yeah.
Georgie 43:51
But like, I just need a like, that's why that's my kind of level. But yeah, like, No, I can step up a little bit.
Geoff 44:01
Yeah. But I do appreciate cleanliness. So I wouldn't go for any. Anything too cheap nowadays.
Georgie 44:12
Yeah. Oh, man.
Geoff 44:14
We're really pushing it. But I have I have a great a great story that my colleague told me when she came back from Malaysia. Okay, so and I just have to tell it, because it was just so outrageous. Okay, so my colleague, now I'm gonna tell now it's our podcast. We make the rules. Screw the rules. I have money. So my colleague was telling me that they heard her fiance were going or going on a couples trip with her fiance's sister and her partner. So, you know, siblings and their partners and But apparently, they have very different ways of travelling. The the two different cars. Yeah. Okay, the 111 pair, super frugal, and the other one enjoy a bit more luxury. And in Malaysia, those two things are very far apart. So for those who haven't been to Malaysia, either stay at the results, or like a high end Marriott hotel or something like that if you want comfort, but on the other end of the scale, you have come bunks, which is I mean, the like motels. There's rarely very rarely in between. So they went for the cheapest accommodation, which didn't even have any mosquito nets, or air conditioning. So they had maybe a fan. And that's like, the maybe you can even like, I was surprised that they didn't have mosquito nets, because Malaysia is definitely a place that you need mosquito nets. I don't even have the racket. Yeah, I don't think so. Um, in any case, so they basically stayed at the least comfortable accommodation possible. Were they fine? Well, not I mean, the other couple was, but not my not my colleagues couple. So, so they got bitten all over. And they didn't even have air conditioning, which is a sin in in Malaysia. I'm surprised to even found accommodation with no air conditioning to be honest. Yeah, like, Is that legal? Probably not in the eyes of Malaysians. But yeah, there's definitely like, the shopping mall, Malaysia and then like the, like, absolute luxury, like,
Georgie 46:53
boutique type.
Geoff 46:54
Yeah, you can either do shopping mall Malaysia, or like, we're like not rural, but just kind of like local Malaysia, where it's all very like I call it what it is. It's pretty dirty. pretty dirty. Like, you just go you just go around the really small shops the rest of the restaurants are run by families mostly and they don't have the highest cleanliness records. So I just found it hilarious that they only found out that the they were going the cheap route too late. Everyone was everything was planned. But the also the other interesting thing was that the other couple despite Yeah, being on the more frugal side, they would prefer to push on with a trip a cheap trip, rather than not have any trip at all. So so that you can actually say hey, that's fine. You're frugal. Why are you going on a holiday? Like, why don't you just save more money and then like, give us some people a fine? Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's sort of like, that's like, like, I guess I don't know lightbulb moment for me. So I would I would I actually just push for a trip, despite not being able to afford maybe maybe stretching my budget a little bit on the life scale. And have a trip rather than not having a trip. I probably not have a trip, but that's just me. It
Georgie 48:35
depends where you want to go right? Like where you want to go and how much you're trying to like, be frugal.
Geoff 48:44
Yeah. Yeah, do you like to travel but you're also frugal. So maybe frugal travelling is is I guess fine for that?
Georgie 48:53
Like some people are just maybe so up into the like, I will stay at a hotel everywhere that they look at anyone who backpacks in any way because I feel like backpackers have like there's a spectrum
Geoff 49:04
that's true. I don't really live out of like,
Georgie 49:08
yeah, like you probably a backpacking because you go on through, I don't know the Himalayas or somewhere where it just makes sense to backpack or you could just be literally backpacking and staying in like cheaper accommodation because you just want to tick off a whole bunch of
Geoff 49:24
that's true. It depends on you good to travel. Okay. Yeah.
Georgie 49:29
Yeah, are you gonna meet this is something I feel like I associated backpacking with meeting people but it's not necessarily the case like you could solo backpack maybe you're just doing a bunch of hikes in Europe and then you're gonna come back home. And you don't need much right
Geoff 49:43
like you found a Reddit post about someone going solo travelling and wondering if anybody shares this the same thoughts about how people who are solo travelling They actually like to make friends whilst solo travelling.
Georgie 50:04
So like it's a stereotype,
Geoff 50:07
no not stereotype that they themselves when they solo travel, they like to make friends. But in like tour groups or whatever, but they found that no one, no one likes to engage with them on the tour groups. And a lot of people were commenting like, Dude, you're like, I'm in their third dude. And they were like, yeah, when you're on a tour group, try and empathise with the people around you. They're either in a pair and they don't. They're not. Like, why do you go on a holiday expecting other tourists to want to make friends with other tourists? Yeah,
Georgie 50:54
like to understand what their position is like, they probably went on a tour like families. Yeah, like I it's easier because I wanted to take this kind of tour bus and do this activity versus doing it myself. I didn't get on there with my partner to then talk to other
Geoff 51:11
people. Yeah. So it was it was I guess, strange to them that that nobody on the tour group wanted to make friends. And then everyone's like, Well, do you?
Georgie 51:24
Well see, I also empathise with them, because they're probably like, thinking that like, I go on a tour, and I, maybe I'm with Nick or something. And I see people by themselves. And I think maybe you weren't you came here to make friends. And so it depends, right? Because I think a lot of young people like they go to Kentucky to high school. Yeah, like, and it's sort of just the vibe of the tour. Yeah. Other people who don't have work jobs and stuff and actually want to make fun.
Geoff 51:54
Yeah. But the other thing that they pointed out was weird, was that they were going on this tour that actually organised activities, like pottery making or something like that. Apparently, they were the only one that went on the activities, because no one else in the tour, like, apparently wanted. And it was him and the tour guide, just those two people going on these activities. And they were like, Why didn't you like make friends with a toy? And they did it. I didn't have a chat. Apparently not. Anyways, this podcast,
Georgie 52:33
this happened actually, when we went to, like New Zealand, like at the beginning of last year, we were doing one of those ziplining type. Oh, that's fun, like in Rotorua. And they're supposed to be like a bunch of people in the group, right? And they take you through the course and all this stuff. And for some reason, the rest of the people in our group, maybe they would towel together. I think that was just us, Nick and I as a couple and then this group of like, either friends or family. They decided to go on a different one. Oh, wow. I think they will offered like, Would you like to go on the big? The upgraded one like, yeah, and they all went on that. And so it was literally just us. And the two like, I guess instruction. So like, Hey, we got to like take our time. And we're like chatting with them a lot. And it was just kind of funny, unexpected. Yeah. And they also showed us a different area that they wouldn't normally show because they were just two of us and then killing time.
Geoff 53:30
Yeah. Yeah. And that was part of the Reddit, Reddit or comments was sort of like, hey, you know what, it's really interesting to get to know tour guides. Because they Yeah, they probably native and they have they have a lot of experience going around this, like locations. But yeah, that's all that's all we have for the for this episode. I think.
Georgie 53:57
I was just gonna say like some Have you ever done one is like selfless walk. Sorry, this walk
Geoff 54:01
self tours. There's walking
Georgie 54:03
tour guides, like not the self ones. walking tours, like in cities that are actually held by like the locals.
Geoff 54:10
Yeah, I probably have because, yeah,
Georgie 54:13
they're interesting. Okay, because they're interesting. We've done a couple like in we didn't want to Berlin and one in New York and the person just tells you so much about like, not just not just the place but you learn a bit about them as a person. Yeah. And their experience in that city. So I like those. They're a lot more. I think they're just a little a little bit deeper than just like your run of the mill like a book this from some. Some tourist like yeah.
Geoff 54:41
Just just like a board of activities. There's also Yeah, the theme, the I call them theme park holidays. You just go for the theme park. Like they're like theme park esque. So they have very that schedule, you go on the bus, they take you from point A to B, you get off the bus you do the thing you get back on the bus, you go back to the hotel, and then you just don't explore
Georgie 55:09
I think people in a different generation older than us. Yeah, quite like it's easier for them than planning. Yeah, yeah.
Geoff 55:18
And then there's the result, there's a result holiday, we just don't need the result, which is probably the best option for Malaysia to go to the resort never leave. And then there's the exploring holiday where you just walk from point A to B get distracted and get lost and things like that. Explore and yeah, spend a lot of time walking around. Anyways, speaking of getting lost, we totally lost the plot on this on this episode. So you can what you can find. Follow us on Noah because we did social media. You can email toastroastpod@gmail.com Next episode, I will probably suggest that we change that.
Georgie 56:06
Yeah, fucking hate Gmail, but we do that. You can find our episodes on Apple podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts and the big status are trying to get
Geoff 56:20
a new new episodes every Monday. So see you next week. See you next bye