Gili Air View Across the Harbour
DECEMBER 2014: Click here to read our Retirement Review. THE FAST BOAT: My arrival in Bali went without any problems. I was given two prices: As promised, the minicab picked me up from my hotel in Kuta Bali at 07:00 on the dot. We spent another 20 minutes picking up others from other hotels until all 8 seats were taken. The drive from Kuta was uneventful and we arrived at Padang Bai at 08:40. There were just over 30 minutes to wait at Padang Bai; Which would have been plenty to sit down in one of the waterfront Warungs to […]

Gili Air – Indonesia – Arrival

DECEMBER 2014: GETTING THERE: I used CHEAPFLIGHTS.COM to book my flight from New Zealand to Bali. VISA ON ARRIVAL: After baggage scanning / security you queue up for your VOA. There are several counters so the process is reasonably stress free and speedy. The VOA voucher has US$25 printed on it. But, there is now a manual stamp on top increasing the price to US$35. It all looked very legitimate to me. I had some US$s with me that I have had for a long time; I have always taken US$ folding cash with me on my travels for emergencies… most […]

Bali – Indonesia – Arrival

DECEMBER 2014: Should I Rent or Sell My House? Are you going overseas for a while and wondering whether or not to Rent or Sell your house? Here is an actual, practical review of the Rent vs Sell option… How Do I Feel About It? My instinct tells me to SELL. If I come back to New Zealand, I won’t be coming back to live in this same house… that means that I am either going to sell it now or sell it later. That makes it easy for me because it is, now, just a timing issue based on a […]

Rent or Sell Review

DECEMBER 2014: What Is The Best Way to Get Money Whilst Overseas? Here is a practical review of your Travel Money options… THE OPTIONS: Between commissions, Credit Card surcharges, ATM Fees and other expenses, you will almost always have to pay a little extra for the privilege of exchanging one currency for another. When it comes to taking money overseas, the options are: Cash Traveller’s Cheques Credit Card ATM Card Debit Card Travel Card MY SUMMARY: There’s a lot of advice on the internet. CANSTAR do a pretty good job comparing both Credit Cards Per Se as well as NZ Rewards Cards. I’ve had […]

Travel Money Review

DECEMBER 2014: I Wanted Two 128GB (Micro) SD Cards: I have purchased a Tablet (ASUS Transformer Book T100) to take with me instead of a Laptop computer. The Tablet has a MicroSD slot. Packing a couple of MicroSDs makes a lot more sense to me than packing a couple of External USB Hard Disk drives. The first 128GB MicroSD will be enough storage for my web materials and all of the photos that I am likely to take. The second MicroSD will be backup. I thought that readers may want to know about the bad experience that I have had with eBay and PayPal. […]

The SD Card SCAM

OCTOBER 2014: OVERVIEW: Selling My House was a prerequisite for finalising my Getting Ready items and activities. As per My Plan, I gave away almost all of my possessions to my ex (Kathy) and my children … my children, now, have some of the best kitted out teenage flats in New Zealand. 🙂 I ended up keeping very little: No furniture what-so-ever Things of sentiment My Hi Fi System (which is awesome) Only my favourite clothes (the rest I gave to charity) What I kept fits into under 3 cubic metres of space. My friend is storing it for me free in the back […]

My House Sale

  The Richardson Family Trust (RFT) sponsored the costs of My Vaccinations. Thank you.   SEPTEMBER 2014: Which Vaccinations Do You Need Before You Go? This is a practical review of which vaccinations you may require before embarking on a long-term overseas trip. My Vaccinations – Requirements By Country: There are several websites that provide details of what vaccinations are required / recommended for different countries. I visited a couple of them for cross reference and constructed the following summary for me: As you can see, it is possible to go totally over-board on vaccinations; you can spend over NZ$1,700 / US$1,275 / […]

Vaccinations Review