Latest / She's On The Money / We Accidentally Found the Travel Hack That Saves You Serious Cash

Transcript

We Accidentally Found the Travel Hack That Saves You Serious Cash · She's On The Money

0:00
Speaker 1: My name is Tatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations
0:03
Speaker 1: woman and I'm here to acknowledge country Ta glennyan Ganya, Niana,
0:08
Speaker 1: Kaka yah y and beIN ah Waka Nian our gay In, Nimbini,
0:11
Speaker 1: yakarum jar Dominyamiga Umaga, Ihowaka Nile, waman damind Imlan bomber
0:16
Speaker 1: bang gadabomba in and now in Waka ghana on yak
0:19
Speaker 1: rum jar Watnadaa. Hello, beautiful friends, we gather on the
0:24
Speaker 1: lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank acknowledge and respect
0:27
Speaker 1: the Abiginal people's land that we're gathering on today. Take
0:30
Speaker 1: pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see.
0:34
Speaker 1: She's on the Money podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections,
0:40
Speaker 1: bringing you the tools, knowledge and resources for you to thrive.
0:44
Speaker 2: And a big thank you, of course to the wonderful
0:46
Speaker 2: team at Tourism n T for sponsoring today's episode.
0:49
Speaker 3: She's on the Money.
0:51
Speaker 4: She's on the Money, Hello, and welcome to She's on
1:14
Speaker 4: the Money, the podcast that's here to help you live
1:16
Speaker 4: your best life for less. Have you ever saved so
1:20
Speaker 4: hard to book that dream holiday only to realize everyone
1:24
Speaker 4: else had exactly the same idea flights then cost a bomb.
1:28
Speaker 4: Everybody has booked out the hotels. You have to fight
1:31
Speaker 4: for a sun lounger. Why are people putting toaels out
1:34
Speaker 4: at six am and playing DIBs? So absolutely unacceptable and serenity. Well,
1:39
Speaker 4: you'd be more relaxed if you went to work during
1:42
Speaker 4: the end of financial year. But when we went on
1:45
Speaker 4: our recent trip, mister Esgricci to the Northern Territory, we
1:49
Speaker 4: accidentally found our new favorite travel money saving hack.
1:53
Speaker 3: And I promise it's not me eating cereal.
1:55
Speaker 4: In my hotel room like I have told you before,
1:58
Speaker 4: but it will make your next trip cheaper, calmer, and
2:01
Speaker 4: a whole lot better. For those of you who may
2:04
Speaker 4: not have met me, I am Victoria Devine and with
2:07
Speaker 4: me is my favorite travel buddy, Miss Jessicci.
2:11
Speaker 2: That's so lovely. Thank you, Thanks for having you on
2:13
Speaker 2: a Wednesday.
2:14
Speaker 3: We've also done a lot of travel together.
2:16
Speaker 2: We've done a lot of We've checked off a herber
2:18
Speaker 2: countries almost every state. So weget to Tasmania, but I'll
2:21
Speaker 2: take you to Tazzi see the family. I'll just be like, hey, Nan,
2:24
Speaker 2: you got spare room she's got like four sparerooms. We
2:27
Speaker 2: go see our Queen vella. But we have We've done
2:29
Speaker 2: a lot of travel together, and we just got back
2:31
Speaker 2: from the Northern Territory, which was.
2:33
Speaker 4: Literally magic, Like there is something up there that the
2:37
Speaker 4: secondary land in Alice Springs or we Land, and in
2:40
Speaker 4: Alice Springs.
2:41
Speaker 3: I don't know what it is. It's the it's the land,
2:43
Speaker 3: it's the connection. I don't know. I just felt magic.
2:47
Speaker 2: That's what I've been telling everybody.
2:48
Speaker 4: I'm not a super spiritual person, says the woman who
2:51
Speaker 4: wants to hire an etsy witch, but there is.
2:55
Speaker 2: There's just this feeling, and I really think it's because
2:57
Speaker 2: the land has been cared for with such dedicate for generations.
3:01
Speaker 2: There's ah. I felt so at peace, which also probably
3:04
Speaker 2: has something to do with the fact there's not a
3:05
Speaker 2: lot of phone reception in some areas.
3:07
Speaker 4: There with like full days where I'm like, I've been
3:10
Speaker 4: on SOS all day and I have never felt better.
3:12
Speaker 3: I loved it.
3:13
Speaker 2: It was brilliant.
3:14
Speaker 4: As we said, obviously, there's something very special about the
3:17
Speaker 4: Northern Territory. And we have literally traveled the world together.
3:20
Speaker 4: We've done Europe, We've done America, like we are probably
3:23
Speaker 4: going to do a lot more. But for me, I
3:26
Speaker 4: think it was like the landscape, the natural beauty and sorry,
3:30
Speaker 4: so much of the stuff we did, Yes we had
3:33
Speaker 4: to drive to them, but it was free.
3:35
Speaker 2: Yes, there's a lot of great activities and it's right
3:37
Speaker 2: in our own backyard. Like it's so much more affordable,
3:39
Speaker 2: I think, to fly and we have such a diverse
3:42
Speaker 2: landscape exactly as you're saying here at home. And I'll
3:46
Speaker 2: be honest, like I had not done enough travel in
3:48
Speaker 2: Australia and we have so much on offer, I think,
3:51
Speaker 2: And yeah, the Northern territory especially, you've got the desert,
3:54
Speaker 2: You've got all of this beautiful like a high king
3:57
Speaker 2: and the sunshine, which I'll be honest, being from Melbourne,
3:59
Speaker 2: I really need.
4:00
Speaker 4: We did or we needed that desperately and it was
4:02
Speaker 4: so funny. So Jess, myself and Brook from our team
4:05
Speaker 4: all went on this little like I would say, girls
4:07
Speaker 4: trip together and the whole time we were there, like
4:10
Speaker 4: we kept finding out the price of things or like
4:13
Speaker 4: going to an attraction and there were no people and
4:15
Speaker 4: just would.
4:15
Speaker 3: Be like, yep, that's off peak benefits.
4:18
Speaker 4: Slightly recent time you were like off peak benefits and
4:21
Speaker 4: I was like, Jess Carr, you sound like a broken
4:23
Speaker 4: record and it's just me in the room, but it
4:25
Speaker 4: was it was true because there were so many money wins,
4:28
Speaker 4: and it kind of made me realize that we're all
4:30
Speaker 4: programmed to think that off peak travel means you're going
4:34
Speaker 4: to have a worse experience literally, like you're going to like,
4:37
Speaker 4: you know, go and maybe the weather's not as good,
4:39
Speaker 4: or you're going to go and it's not.
4:40
Speaker 3: Going to be like as pristine or something.
4:43
Speaker 4: And when we're planning, I think we default to peak
4:45
Speaker 4: season without really thinking about it.
4:47
Speaker 2: Yep.
4:48
Speaker 4: And I was trying to decipher what peak and off
4:51
Speaker 4: peak meant, like who decided, oh, like September holidays are
4:55
Speaker 4: the best holidays you know to travel to x yo
4:58
Speaker 4: z and.
4:59
Speaker 3: Get into it. We all know.
5:01
Speaker 4: I've got a background in psychology, so I fall back
5:03
Speaker 4: on it every single time, and just there is actually
5:05
Speaker 4: a lot of psychology behind it. So first things first
5:08
Speaker 4: is social proof, Like we as humans love social proof.
5:11
Speaker 4: We just assume if everyone's going at that time, it
5:14
Speaker 4: must be the best time, and popularity feels like quality
5:19
Speaker 4: and that's not necessarily the case. But then also I
5:21
Speaker 4: find it quite funny because if you dig a little deeper,
5:24
Speaker 4: often it's just because school holidays are on and people
5:26
Speaker 4: are like, well, what do we do with our kids
5:28
Speaker 4: during September? Or we all go on holidays and then
5:30
Speaker 4: all of that's on peak season. But that doesn't mean
5:33
Speaker 4: it's the best weather or the best experience faumo or
5:37
Speaker 4: I'm MOVIINGDM.
5:38
Speaker 2: To this sun.
5:38
Speaker 4: We always want to travel when other people are traveling,
5:40
Speaker 4: and like, I feel like social media really perpetuates that.
5:43
Speaker 4: And it's basically so that we don't feel like we're
5:45
Speaker 4: missing out on shared experience, and then it kind of
5:48
Speaker 4: plays into habit and then cognitive ease.
5:51
Speaker 3: I love a little bit of cognitive ease.
5:53
Speaker 2: Tell me more about that.
5:54
Speaker 3: We stick to what we know.
5:55
Speaker 4: We grew up holidaying during holiday periods, so we keep
5:59
Speaker 4: doing that. It feels easy and familiar and kind of
6:02
Speaker 4: you look forward to it and go, oh, well, in September,
6:05
Speaker 4: that's when we go on holidays, and there's no additional
6:08
Speaker 4: mental load of you know, working out, Oh Jess, could
6:10
Speaker 4: you get annual leave during that time? Or we've never
6:12
Speaker 4: taken time off during you know, November or whatever. Even
6:16
Speaker 4: if it's not like the smartest or the cheapest time.
6:18
Speaker 4: We just fall into a default of well, that's the
6:21
Speaker 4: time that we do that, and then market conditioning, travel
6:25
Speaker 4: ads and tourism boards literally position peakers the time to go,
6:29
Speaker 4: so then we associate it with well, it must be
6:32
Speaker 4: the best weather, it must be the best experiences, we
6:34
Speaker 4: must go.
6:35
Speaker 3: But what we forget is crowdstone equal quality. They usually
6:39
Speaker 3: just mean higher.
6:40
Speaker 4: Prices, longer lines, more weight time like one out of
6:44
Speaker 4: ten experience. And one of my biggest realizations from this
6:47
Speaker 4: trip was actually seeing how different travel feels when you're
6:51
Speaker 4: not surrounded by hundreds of people looking at a gorgeous landmark. Jess,
6:56
Speaker 4: I want to ask you, though, because you kept being
6:58
Speaker 4: like off big travel when what were your favorite things
7:01
Speaker 4: about being in the Northern Territory during the quieter months.
7:05
Speaker 2: It just allows you to take it in in a
7:08
Speaker 2: way that you can't when you're surrounded by others. I think,
7:11
Speaker 2: especially in the Northern Territory, particularly.
7:13
Speaker 3: The Simpson's Gap, there was nobody else.
7:15
Speaker 2: But us, not a soul, and I think it is
7:17
Speaker 2: so lovely to sit in that moment and enjoy it.
7:21
Speaker 2: It's really hard. I know that I'm a bit of
7:23
Speaker 2: an introvert and so crowd's not my favorite thing at
7:25
Speaker 2: the best stop me either.
7:26
Speaker 3: So like, just take that with a grain of salt.
7:28
Speaker 4: Maybe you're like, what do you mean, V I love
7:30
Speaker 4: waiting forty five minutes for one water slide.
7:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's you. That's so fair. But I
7:36
Speaker 2: just really loved being able to absorb it at my
7:39
Speaker 2: own pace, in my own time. You know, there are
7:41
Speaker 2: some huge bucket list items for people, I think in
7:43
Speaker 2: the Northern Territory specifically. You know, we went to Uluru,
7:46
Speaker 2: we went to Cadajutor, you know, to get a beautiful photo.
7:49
Speaker 2: And I feel like I need to say at the
7:51
Speaker 2: top of this, I know that traveling is not just
7:53
Speaker 2: about getting a great photo, Are you sure?
7:54
Speaker 4: I know.
7:55
Speaker 2: I love to capture the moment because I don't have
7:57
Speaker 2: the best memory, and so taking a great photo for
7:59
Speaker 2: me sometimes.
8:00
Speaker 3: Is about capturing their feeling exactly right, and so.
8:03
Speaker 2: Being able to take your time in a spot and
8:06
Speaker 2: not feel like you've got a one tape wonder it.
8:07
Speaker 2: Get out of the way so the next person, next person,
8:09
Speaker 2: next person, to be able to really absorb and enjoy
8:13
Speaker 2: and move at a slower pace, which I think when
8:15
Speaker 2: you're traveling sometimes we can get really go, go go,
8:18
Speaker 2: And some of that is I think, like really pushed
8:21
Speaker 2: by the fact that we're moving with these crowds or
8:24
Speaker 2: moving through to try and be as quick as possible
8:26
Speaker 2: so we're not putting somebody else.
8:27
Speaker 3: Out, yeah, or getting in the way of their photo
8:30
Speaker 3: or what.
8:30
Speaker 2: Exactly, being able to just experience those things in our
8:33
Speaker 2: own time. You know. We went and we just sat
8:35
Speaker 2: on a chair and we sat there for like fifteen minutes.
8:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, we literally did nothing. It was so good, and
8:40
Speaker 3: we're all just staring out.
8:41
Speaker 2: Like whoa, They're just sitting in silence and absorbing the
8:45
Speaker 2: history and the feeling and the energy. And I know
8:49
Speaker 2: that it sounds very woo woo, but I just can't
8:52
Speaker 2: put a price on that type of experience, And it's
8:55
Speaker 2: crazy that it's actually more affordable than doing it with
8:58
Speaker 2: the masses.
8:58
Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, and you know, I feel like it gives
9:02
Speaker 4: you a little bit more time. I feel like I'm
9:04
Speaker 4: just reflecting on Northern Territory, but off peak travel in general,
9:07
Speaker 4: but the Northern Territory for me, just having chats with
9:11
Speaker 4: the locals because we were like, you know, the only
9:14
Speaker 4: people out there at that time, so they.
9:16
Speaker 3: Were like, oh, what are you up to? Why are
9:18
Speaker 3: you here?
9:18
Speaker 4: Like we had just got to connect with people in
9:20
Speaker 4: a different way. And I mean, we did the King's
9:23
Speaker 4: Canyon hike, which are you loft the stairs the best?
9:25
Speaker 3: Didn't you just going out the stairs?
9:29
Speaker 4: We almost died, but that's okay. We're still here to
9:32
Speaker 4: tell the tale. But that hike was glorious. We got
9:36
Speaker 4: up at like before sunrise so that we could see
9:39
Speaker 4: the sunrise over Kings Canyon, which cannot recommend more. But
9:43
Speaker 4: we didn't see one single person on the way up,
9:45
Speaker 4: and I think we passed like one small group on
9:48
Speaker 4: the way back down. And it was so funny because
9:50
Speaker 4: our team knew them, like we're coming back.
9:52
Speaker 3: Down and they were like, oh, hey, oh you're going
9:54
Speaker 3: to be here. I didn't know you were here. That's crazy.
9:57
Speaker 3: So it definitely is a small world.
9:59
Speaker 4: But then also it was quite i don't know, very
10:02
Speaker 4: cool to not feel like you're hiking up a whole
10:04
Speaker 4: heap of steps and holding a heap of people back
10:07
Speaker 4: because we were just do you and I might have
10:08
Speaker 4: wanted to take it a little bit slower at your
10:10
Speaker 4: own pace.
10:11
Speaker 3: Not gonna lie.
10:12
Speaker 4: I feel like I wasn't enjoying that part of the
10:14
Speaker 4: hike until we got to the top, and then I
10:15
Speaker 4: was like, oh, well that was worth it. But like
10:18
Speaker 4: if I'd turned back, I would have been like, what
10:20
Speaker 4: was that?
10:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and just being present, like really absorbing at all.
10:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent.
10:24
Speaker 4: And I feel like a lot of people would go, oh,
10:27
Speaker 4: but the weather's not as good go it is the
10:29
Speaker 4: Northern Territory. It was dry as it usually is, and
10:32
Speaker 4: to be honest, the temperatures were a lot less dramatic.
10:35
Speaker 4: Like you have had the privilege of going to the
10:37
Speaker 4: Northern Territory twice this year, just went on a very
10:42
Speaker 4: nice trip to Ularu, but you didn't really get out
10:44
Speaker 4: of Ularo. So this time we did Alice Springs and
10:47
Speaker 4: drove all the way down to Ularu, which was a
10:50
Speaker 4: lot of hours in the car.
10:51
Speaker 3: So when you say, oh you get to go slower, no, no, no.
10:53
Speaker 4: Sorry, it's one hundred and thirty kilometer an hour on
10:56
Speaker 4: the roads out there. So I was like, please go
10:59
Speaker 4: faster because this is taking forever. But then you just
11:02
Speaker 4: get good weather, good people. Lots of people want to
11:05
Speaker 4: go to the Northern Territory. In June, I was talking
11:08
Speaker 4: to a few people at the park and they were saying, oh,
11:10
Speaker 4: like our busiest time is literally like July. Yeah, and
11:13
Speaker 4: I was like, it would be freezing, and they're like,
11:15
Speaker 4: it absolutely isn't It was. It's like absolutely freezing, But we.
11:18
Speaker 2: Didn't really have that No, didn't need any layers really,
11:22
Speaker 2: And I think the thing is off peak travel broadly.
11:24
Speaker 2: It is like often I think people think about the weather.
11:26
Speaker 2: Right if you're traveling not in the midst of summer
11:30
Speaker 2: or you know, the midst of the Northern territory, you
11:32
Speaker 2: want to be there when it's cooler. You know, people go, oh,
11:34
Speaker 2: the weather's gonna be awful, and it's gonna be I'm
11:36
Speaker 2: gonna have a terrible time. But you can split your
11:38
Speaker 2: activities up too, like we did quite a bit of
11:40
Speaker 2: we'd go out and do something in the morning. Well
11:42
Speaker 2: it was still a little.
11:43
Speaker 3: Bit cooler, especially the hikes and stuff like.
11:45
Speaker 4: You do have to be quite thoughtful, I think, to
11:47
Speaker 4: not put your body through too much stress if not necessary.
11:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, come back to the hotel, relax. You know, if
11:53
Speaker 2: you're staying somewhere beautiful, they might be a pool something
11:55
Speaker 2: like that, and then you can go back a little
11:57
Speaker 2: bit later in the day. Conversely, if you're somewhere where
11:59
Speaker 2: it's really cold, you can do the same thing. Be
12:01
Speaker 2: out during the warm up hours, be out during the
12:03
Speaker 2: daylight hours, and be cozy when you're not. I just
12:06
Speaker 2: think it's a real myth that the marketing agencies have
12:09
Speaker 2: come up with to make us think that you can
12:10
Speaker 2: only travel at the most expensive time of the year,
12:13
Speaker 2: when really the magic is in enjoying it when not
12:16
Speaker 2: everybody else is.
12:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, all right, let's take a really quick break
12:20
Speaker 4: and when we get back, we're going to dive into
12:21
Speaker 4: all of the money wins when it comes to traveling
12:24
Speaker 4: off peak, and our tips to I would say, do
12:26
Speaker 4: it like a pro, guys, don't go anywhere. My friends,
12:33
Speaker 4: we are back and we are chatting about our fave
12:35
Speaker 4: new money saving travel hack, and it's just traveling when
12:38
Speaker 4: it's quieter, traveling off peak. And just when we realized
12:42
Speaker 4: that this was like the genius move that we've all
12:44
Speaker 4: been sleeping on, I think we realized all the money
12:46
Speaker 4: wins that were involved. So it's not just like, oh,
12:49
Speaker 4: you get the place to yourself and you know it's
12:51
Speaker 4: quiet up money. We loved all of those things obviously,
12:54
Speaker 4: but like, sorry, everything was cheaper, like flights are cheaper
12:59
Speaker 4: and then more more available, like even last minute, they're
13:02
Speaker 4: more available to just jump on a plane and go.
13:05
Speaker 3: And then airlines are.
13:06
Speaker 4: More likely to be like, oh it's on sale or
13:08
Speaker 4: it's discounted because they just know that it's the shoulder
13:11
Speaker 4: season and they're like, oh, we'll probably just getting people
13:13
Speaker 4: who need to come and go rather than like peak
13:16
Speaker 4: and people going on holidays, so we can charge a
13:18
Speaker 4: bit more. They're not really running the promotions that they
13:21
Speaker 4: are like, oh, this is the best time to go.
13:23
Speaker 4: They're actually like trying to get you on those flights
13:25
Speaker 4: at cheaper rates, which low key smart we.
13:28
Speaker 2: Should have said, guys, if you want to see what
13:29
Speaker 2: we got up to too, we've posted a real on Instagram,
13:32
Speaker 2: so go check that out.
13:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, we did a whole video, and like we really
13:35
Speaker 4: tried to balance this trip out with like, okay, let's
13:38
Speaker 4: actually zoom out a little bit and look at where
13:40
Speaker 4: we might be spending a little bit more time. So
13:42
Speaker 4: when we were at King's Canyon when you would have
13:44
Speaker 4: like earlier nights because we hadn't booked anything.
13:47
Speaker 2: Late, we were chatting to the people at the King's
13:50
Speaker 2: Canyon Accommodation and they were telling us that when we
13:52
Speaker 2: were traveling in the off peak season, it's up to
13:54
Speaker 2: thirty percent cheaper than it is the rest of the
13:56
Speaker 2: arch too, which I thought was crazy.
13:58
Speaker 4: The rooms that we were in with thirty percent less
14:00
Speaker 4: just because it was off pick the same experience and
14:03
Speaker 4: then car higher and like, you know, some people want
14:06
Speaker 4: to get camper vans, especially up there, they were a
14:09
Speaker 4: lot cheaper. I won't say that fuel was incredible, no,
14:13
Speaker 4: because you know, it's obviously remote. I'm not going to
14:15
Speaker 4: beat around the bush lol. But I'm not going to
14:18
Speaker 4: beat around the bush and be like, oh, that was
14:19
Speaker 4: so cheap. It wasn't It was more expensive. I think
14:23
Speaker 4: full transparency fuel in the Northern Territory, I think it
14:26
Speaker 4: was about two dollars forty a liter, which was crazy.
14:30
Speaker 4: But your fuel efficiency is going to be better if
14:33
Speaker 4: you're not fighting traffic, so less people on the road,
14:37
Speaker 4: less traffic means better fuel economy, and that's going to
14:39
Speaker 4: go further. So like, yes, you're still going to have
14:42
Speaker 4: to pay the insane fuel prices, but like we're just
14:45
Speaker 4: being transparent about what that's going to cost.
14:46
Speaker 3: And that's not an off peak or and on pick thing,
14:49
Speaker 3: you know, I love a loyalty program. You don't like points,
14:51
Speaker 3: do you?
14:52
Speaker 2: I love a point So this is one that I
14:54
Speaker 2: thought was really clever. Your points stretch further for redemptions
14:57
Speaker 2: and things.
14:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, because you're getting the discount.
14:59
Speaker 2: Exactly and you'll really struggle, I think also to snag
15:02
Speaker 2: you know, a points flight or something like that during
15:06
Speaker 2: the peak season when everyone's trying to secure it. But
15:08
Speaker 2: during off peak there's more available, they're cheaper, so those
15:12
Speaker 2: points really stretch so much further, which I think is
15:15
Speaker 2: a great way to help keep again the costs of
15:17
Speaker 2: your trip down even further. Also, last minute flexibility and availability.
15:22
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, because we booked pretty last minute. Not gonna
15:25
Speaker 4: lie like this was a trip that we didn't plan
15:28
Speaker 4: from the start of the year. No, And it means that,
15:31
Speaker 4: you know, I think you're really punished for it. Our
15:34
Speaker 4: ADHD is out there.
15:35
Speaker 2: You know, if you're somebody who forgets and does things
15:37
Speaker 2: last minute, you'd be all too familiar with the tax
15:39
Speaker 2: that you can pay when you are doing something last minute.
15:42
Speaker 2: If you wanted to be a little spontaneous, do it
15:44
Speaker 2: in the off season, because it is that, like you're avoiding.
15:47
Speaker 2: I guess that tax that you pay for premium travel
15:51
Speaker 2: time during the year, and.
15:52
Speaker 4: You can also just make use of like your annual leave. Well, Like,
15:56
Speaker 4: don't get me wrong, like a lot of us are
15:58
Speaker 4: are taking it off. Yeah, but I'm fine that a
16:00
Speaker 4: lot of my friends at the moment, I'm having these
16:02
Speaker 4: conversations side note, complete side note about them working overtime
16:06
Speaker 4: and like I'm that crazy, Like I feel like I'm
16:08
Speaker 4: your money mum.
16:09
Speaker 3: Hey, if you're working lots.
16:10
Speaker 4: Of overtime and you don't get paid for overtime, can
16:12
Speaker 4: you just go to your boss and be like, hey,
16:14
Speaker 4: could I get some time in lou for all the
16:16
Speaker 4: overtime I'm doing and I'm not going to get paid
16:18
Speaker 4: for it. That's fine, but like it's all really adding up,
16:20
Speaker 4: and like I'm getting a little bit burnt out. Use
16:23
Speaker 4: your time in lou and maybe you go like we did,
16:25
Speaker 4: for three or four days instead of having to plan
16:28
Speaker 4: a whole two week holiday. I think in my head
16:30
Speaker 4: growing up, holidays were two weeks. They can be three
16:34
Speaker 4: or four days and you still just get so much
16:36
Speaker 4: out of them. I'd also say that we saw a
16:39
Speaker 4: lot of like tours and activities, especially while we were
16:43
Speaker 4: up there, like just being advertised at our hotels or
16:47
Speaker 4: on the boards out the front of hotels or like
16:49
Speaker 4: activity centers and stuff for big discounts, like you know,
16:54
Speaker 4: on average, I think you'd get at least ten to
16:55
Speaker 4: thirty percent off, if not more, or like free add ons,
16:59
Speaker 4: because like they'll be like, oh my gosh, there's a
17:00
Speaker 4: tour leaving tonight and there's some free spots. You'll get
17:03
Speaker 4: free drinks, free transfer from your hotel for this sunset tour.
17:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, fantastic money win.
17:09
Speaker 4: But even if you're booking in advance, they're usually discounted anyway.
17:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think especially in those quiet times, they just
17:15
Speaker 2: want to fill them up as much as possible. Like normally,
17:18
Speaker 2: if you're traveling during peak, sometimes having the opposite problem
17:20
Speaker 2: where you're battling to get a spot for something, you're
17:22
Speaker 2: trying to book it out weeks in advance, whereas when
17:24
Speaker 2: you're there when it's not so busy, they're excited that
17:27
Speaker 2: you're there as well. I think having less people on
17:30
Speaker 2: the tour again means that you can really connect with
17:32
Speaker 2: whoever's leading it. You can absorb the information, ask questions,
17:36
Speaker 2: and have opportunities to I guess dive a little bit
17:39
Speaker 2: deeper than you would if you were on a tour
17:42
Speaker 2: that's got you know, fifty people on it because it's
17:44
Speaker 2: booked out because it's prime season.
17:46
Speaker 3: Yeah.
17:46
Speaker 4: Well, we were off peak and obviously in a relatively
17:49
Speaker 4: remote location, probably the most remote you could get in Australia,
17:53
Speaker 4: and we booked like small group tours that ended up
17:56
Speaker 4: being private tours because.
17:57
Speaker 3: Nobody else came on out to you and we were like,
18:01
Speaker 3: so is that it and.
18:02
Speaker 4: They would be like, yep, we've just got booked for
18:03
Speaker 4: three and we were like, okay, let's go on our
18:06
Speaker 4: little private tour.
18:07
Speaker 2: Then literally so much cheaper than pay for an actual problem.
18:09
Speaker 3: O my god. Yeah, like money win.
18:11
Speaker 4: But then even if there were some other people and
18:13
Speaker 4: on occasion they were you're making friends, but not in
18:16
Speaker 4: this like there's forty people on this tour kind of situation.
18:20
Speaker 3: We also found that we didn't have to pre book restaurants,
18:24
Speaker 3: which I loved, Yeah.
18:25
Speaker 4: Because we didn't have to go, oh my goodness, like
18:26
Speaker 4: we've got that booking at seven, Like we could just
18:29
Speaker 4: roll into the restaurant that we'd pre picked out, which
18:31
Speaker 4: means obviously easier reservations if you are planning on booking
18:35
Speaker 4: because there's more capacity, but like there was less need
18:37
Speaker 4: to book, which put less pressure on us and we
18:40
Speaker 4: could make more last minute decisions. Yeah, whereas the amount
18:43
Speaker 4: of times and this is so entitled, but if you've
18:46
Speaker 4: ever been to Port Douglas, my husband and I adore
18:49
Speaker 4: it there. But when I'm booking Port Douglas, I will
18:51
Speaker 4: book months in advance, really, and yes, like for the
18:55
Speaker 4: hotel and accommodation, fine, you're still like slim pickings usually,
18:59
Speaker 4: but by the time you get there and you.
19:02
Speaker 3: Go, oh, what do we do for dinner?
19:03
Speaker 4: Too late, babe, Like I'm booking our dinner reservations at
19:06
Speaker 4: exactly the same time as my flight's and accommodation. Sit
19:09
Speaker 4: down with my husband, I'm like, we'll go to that
19:10
Speaker 4: nice Mexican place on the Wednesday or the Thursday.
19:13
Speaker 3: What do you reckon?
19:13
Speaker 4: And he always goes, why are you booking it now
19:16
Speaker 4: because it'll be booked out. Yeah, And then I fly
19:19
Speaker 4: into this very structured holiday and there's no whimsy.
19:23
Speaker 2: I loved that we could just go where the day
19:25
Speaker 2: took us, see how we were feeling, see what days
19:27
Speaker 2: we were energized. If we went somewhere and we wanted
19:29
Speaker 2: to spend more time. We could because we didn't have
19:32
Speaker 2: that much structure that we had to adheres you with
19:34
Speaker 2: all of those bookings, because we could just wander into
19:36
Speaker 2: a restaurant and grab a table immediately and not have
19:38
Speaker 2: to wait.
19:39
Speaker 4: Yeah. The other thing I want to add here, less whimsy,
19:43
Speaker 4: more stereotypical victoria divine.
19:46
Speaker 3: Travel insurance. Oh yes, I have said it before.
19:49
Speaker 4: If you cannot afford travel insurance, you cannot afford the holiday.
19:53
Speaker 4: I am so sorry. If you're not buying travel insurance,
19:56
Speaker 4: you're not going. That's the rule. I made the rules.
20:00
Speaker 4: You've got to follow the rules. But travel insurance usually
20:04
Speaker 4: costs a whole lot less when the total trip value
20:07
Speaker 4: is lower, so you're probably saving money there as well.
20:10
Speaker 4: But it's just like a gentle reminder. Yes, even though
20:13
Speaker 4: you are traveling in Australia, I would be looking at,
20:16
Speaker 4: you know, covering your flights and accommodation if something happened,
20:19
Speaker 4: it's going to be a lot cheaper than international travel insurance. Yeah.
20:22
Speaker 4: But also if you're planning on going international off peak,
20:25
Speaker 4: you still need travel insurance absolutely.
20:28
Speaker 2: And I think just overall, anecdotally, we saw like a
20:30
Speaker 2: lot of what I'm going to call soft perks, maybe
20:34
Speaker 2: late checkouts, welcome drinks, breakfast inclusion was very cute. Yeah,
20:38
Speaker 2: it was lovely and things like that that again you
20:40
Speaker 2: normally would have to pay a little bit of a
20:42
Speaker 2: premium for, just because operators want to keep the guests happy,
20:46
Speaker 2: they want you to have a good experience, they want
20:47
Speaker 2: more people to be there when it's quiet, and so
20:50
Speaker 2: often we were seeing just sweet little above and beyond
20:53
Speaker 2: moments and that's.
20:54
Speaker 3: What you want on a holiday.
20:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, we really got to enjoy them.
20:57
Speaker 4: It's what we talk about for years to come. And
20:59
Speaker 4: like in the WHI at a months, your money is
21:01
Speaker 4: going to stretch a little bit further without you even trying, really,
21:04
Speaker 4: and it's not about quote budget travel. It's just about
21:06
Speaker 4: smart travel, all right. So I hope we've done a
21:10
Speaker 4: good job at like now convincing you all that traveling
21:13
Speaker 4: off peak is definitely the way to go. So we've
21:15
Speaker 4: put together some travel tips for off peak travel like
21:18
Speaker 4: a pro, And the first one I've written down here
21:20
Speaker 4: is get to know shadow season. The two weeks before
21:23
Speaker 4: and after your official peak dates are called the shadow season,
21:28
Speaker 4: and in the shadow season you can still get the
21:30
Speaker 4: same weather and the same experiences, but at shoulder season
21:34
Speaker 4: prices and Jess you were talking before, and I'm going
21:37
Speaker 4: to get you to read this next one out basically
21:39
Speaker 4: all yours but AI.
21:42
Speaker 2: How Yeah, you can check event calendars with the help
21:45
Speaker 2: of AI. You can drop your destination into whatever AI
21:48
Speaker 2: platform you lack and say, list every major event, conference,
21:51
Speaker 2: and school holiday period happening in you know your destination
21:55
Speaker 2: between the dates of the months of the off peak,
21:58
Speaker 2: so for NT for example, I think it's September to
22:01
Speaker 2: feb and then they can suggest for you the quietest
22:04
Speaker 2: weeks with the lowest average accommodation rates and you'll instantly
22:07
Speaker 2: be able to see where the price is spike versus
22:09
Speaker 2: where they drop off, which I think is so handy
22:12
Speaker 2: when you're looking to plan and you are trying to
22:14
Speaker 2: make sure that you're being conscious of prices.
22:16
Speaker 3: Yeah.
22:16
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And once you've worked out like travel date periods,
22:19
Speaker 4: you can plug them into Google's flights price graph or
22:23
Speaker 4: there's a website called Hopper, so Hopper's AI prediction tool,
22:26
Speaker 4: but both use AI to forecast when fares will rise
22:30
Speaker 4: or drop and show you the cheapest days to book
22:32
Speaker 4: in real time so that you can lock in the
22:34
Speaker 4: sweet spot before the price is climb, and the website
22:37
Speaker 4: Hopper even lets you quote watch different routes so you
22:40
Speaker 4: can get notifications when they think the price is going
22:42
Speaker 4: to drop or when it's going to get more expensive,
22:44
Speaker 4: which I genuinely think is the money win so handy.
22:47
Speaker 2: I'd also say follow the trois and bodies on Instagram
22:49
Speaker 2: or sign up for their newsletters. Most of them have
22:51
Speaker 2: really fantastic websites as well. They're often the first ones
22:54
Speaker 2: to share new travel campaigns and partner promos, off peak packages,
22:58
Speaker 2: things like that. They also a great for in spoke.
23:00
Speaker 2: They'll normally have beautiful photos of great you know, location
23:04
Speaker 2: things to do, and.
23:05
Speaker 4: I think a lot of people assume that, like when
23:07
Speaker 4: you're going to follow some people online for travel, you
23:10
Speaker 4: probably should follow the hotels. And I would say, girl,
23:13
Speaker 4: zoom out a bit further, like follow the Northern Territory
23:16
Speaker 4: Instagram because they're going to talk about the package deals
23:19
Speaker 4: or like you know, the National Park events and things
23:22
Speaker 4: that you're actually or I would say actually going for
23:25
Speaker 4: because like for me, you're not just going to the Northern.
23:27
Speaker 3: Territory because you're like, oh, it's a beautiful hotel.
23:29
Speaker 4: I'd like to experience, Like it's the broader experience and
23:32
Speaker 4: like getting to see what they're doing I think is
23:34
Speaker 4: even better inspiration.
23:36
Speaker 3: And then this is me just being me and maybe
23:39
Speaker 3: being a little bit cheeky. But we're going to pick
23:40
Speaker 3: up the phone.
23:41
Speaker 4: I know not many of you like that, but we're
23:42
Speaker 4: going to pick up the phone and call hotels and
23:44
Speaker 4: tour companies before we book online because the online rates
23:48
Speaker 4: are never final, right. Smaller hotels and like local tour
23:52
Speaker 4: operators often have like quiet week discounts that they're like, oh,
23:55
Speaker 4: I don't want to like advertise that or like put
23:58
Speaker 4: it online, but like they might be really quiet and
24:00
Speaker 4: they'll go, oh, yeah, actually I could give you a
24:02
Speaker 4: discount if you locked it in today.
24:04
Speaker 3: So call them and ask them, little script friend, they do.
24:08
Speaker 4: You have any off peak rates or like midweek specials
24:11
Speaker 4: or ways to like, you know, book directly for a
24:14
Speaker 4: discount because sometimes if actually every single time you book
24:17
Speaker 4: through booking dot com, they're clipping the ticket, so like
24:20
Speaker 4: that is not the cheapest way to book, but they'll
24:22
Speaker 4: make it look that way and make it look like
24:23
Speaker 4: the best deal. But essentially they're a third party and
24:26
Speaker 4: they're getting some of the money along the way, so
24:28
Speaker 4: it may as well go back into the small business
24:30
Speaker 4: owners back pocket, and you'd be shocked at how often
24:32
Speaker 4: they go, oh, yeah, actually, let me see what I
24:35
Speaker 4: can do, because I promise you they would rather fill
24:37
Speaker 4: a room or a tour at a lower rate than
24:40
Speaker 4: have those seats empty. Absolutely, they would exactly, And when
24:43
Speaker 4: you call, we're being very kind. But you can also
24:46
Speaker 4: negotiate extras, not just prices. If they're like, oh my gosh,
24:50
Speaker 4: like you know, we don't have off peak rates, we
24:52
Speaker 4: can be like, oh, could we like do later check out,
24:54
Speaker 4: like you know, is breakfast included? And they go no,
24:56
Speaker 4: And I'll be like, oh, could you throw it in?
24:58
Speaker 4: Like what's going on there? Like if they can't drop
25:02
Speaker 4: the rate, they might try and negotiate with you on
25:04
Speaker 4: other things that they can put in. And it might
25:07
Speaker 4: be like a room upgrade, or like free parking, or
25:10
Speaker 4: even like a tour operator might be like, oh, I'll
25:13
Speaker 4: pick you up from your hotel for free, like you
25:15
Speaker 4: don't have to overhear or you don't have to like
25:17
Speaker 4: work out how to get public transport here, will pick
25:20
Speaker 4: you up because I promise you they want the business
25:22
Speaker 4: so that they can keep their customers happy.
25:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's so many little great perks on offer. And lastly,
25:26
Speaker 2: don't forget about the off peak loyalty stacking.
25:28
Speaker 3: Oh you're back on the points trainer, get you know.
25:31
Speaker 1: I love it.
25:31
Speaker 2: Offee windows mean better rewards, so don't forget to use
25:34
Speaker 2: cash back sites. If you're a credit card user, there
25:37
Speaker 2: might be travel portals or things that you can use
25:39
Speaker 2: to double dip. You'll score cash back, more bonus points
25:42
Speaker 2: and the cheaper off pick rate all in one.
25:44
Speaker 3: Go absolutely all right.
25:46
Speaker 4: If there's one thing you took away from our trip
25:49
Speaker 4: that isn't the Northern Territories the most magical place in
25:52
Speaker 4: the entire world, it's that off peak isn't low season,
25:55
Speaker 4: its value season, and that's very shees on the money
25:58
Speaker 4: of you to consider.
25:59
Speaker 2: It's very brand and if you are looking for a
26:01
Speaker 2: bucket least worthy holiday that genuinely I think will change
26:05
Speaker 2: your life.
26:05
Speaker 3: I have not stopped yapping about it, n have I I.
26:08
Speaker 2: Can't recommend the MT enough, especially with all of the
26:10
Speaker 2: deals that they're running right now during the off peak season.
26:13
Speaker 2: I think there's truly never been a better time to
26:15
Speaker 2: go and to connect with our country and just really
26:18
Speaker 2: experience something that I'm struggling to put into words.
26:22
Speaker 4: When we were there, we posted a lot on social media,
26:24
Speaker 4: and I saw two very common themes coming out of that.
26:28
Speaker 4: So first was people saying, oh my goodness, I have
26:31
Speaker 4: always wanted to go. This looks incredible, like you're really
26:34
Speaker 4: selling me on it. And I was like, I wasn't
26:36
Speaker 4: even trying. I'm just like taking photos of kangaroos.
26:39
Speaker 3: I promise you. I'm just a girl with a camera.
26:41
Speaker 4: And then on the flip side, it was people that
26:44
Speaker 4: had been and they're like, oh my goodness, I'm so
26:46
Speaker 4: glad you're experiencing this magic, like isn't it the.
26:49
Speaker 3: Best place ever? Or people who were local, so lots
26:51
Speaker 3: of girls.
26:52
Speaker 4: And I didn't realize we had such a big community
26:54
Speaker 4: in Alice Springs, Like if I had known, I would
26:57
Speaker 4: have come early and we could have done like, I
26:58
Speaker 4: don't know, you meet up at a bookshop something. But
27:01
Speaker 4: so many of you were like, oh my goodness, I
27:03
Speaker 4: hope you have the best time here. It's literally magic,
27:05
Speaker 4: like you're going to have the best time. I'm so
27:07
Speaker 4: glad that you're sharing like photos on socials because we
27:10
Speaker 4: want more people to come and visit. And I think
27:12
Speaker 4: that that was just so nice because there's this bucket
27:15
Speaker 4: of people being like, please come visit us, and people
27:17
Speaker 4: being like, oh my god, I've wanted to visit, So
27:19
Speaker 4: now is the time, my friends, And if you loved
27:21
Speaker 4: this episode, please share it with your favorite travel buddy
27:25
Speaker 4: and don't forget to subscribe so that you never ever ever.
27:28
Speaker 3: Missed an episode of us having a yap about the
27:30
Speaker 3: beautiful holidays that we went on. No jokes on you.
27:33
Speaker 4: It's always money saving tips and tricks, but we will
27:36
Speaker 4: see you guys on Friday.
27:37
Speaker 3: Have the best week.
27:38
Speaker 2: Bi guys.
27:45
Speaker 4: Did By shared on She's on the Money is general
27:48
Speaker 4: in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
27:52
Speaker 4: on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
27:55
Speaker 4: not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
27:59
Speaker 4: If you do used to buy a financial product, read
28:01
Speaker 4: the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial.
28:04
Speaker 3: Advice tailored towards your needs.
28:06
Speaker 4: Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives
28:10
Speaker 4: of Money sherper P T y lt D A B
28:13
Speaker 4: N three two one six four nine two seven seven
28:16
Speaker 4: zero eight AFS L four five one two eight nine