Bank fees feel like they should be illegal. We all know banks are making huge profits and don’t need that $3 fee each time you access your money. Thankfully Wise is transparent, easy to use and gives great rates.

Super helpful when you need to send a bank transfer in a foreign country, which if we did it from our home bank accounts would be ridiculously expensive. And equally handy for withdrawing cash or paying on the go.

How do you get between Sandakan and Boracay? What about Hue and Vientiane? How hard is it to get from Indonesia to Sri Lanka? We spend a bit of time dreaming up challenging travel plans. We’ve got freedom, so why not use it? Rome2Rio is usually our first stop, working out what travel options are there to get around. It helps us see whether we have to fly or whether there are ground options and, importantly, some estimates on travel times.

We have booked a lot of our accommodation through Airbnb. We’ve also spent a ridiculous amount of time looking at dreamy homes in exotic locations. Daydreaming is free, right? Because rent is one of our major costs, understanding how much it is in a new destination is key to knowing if we can afford to live there. Airbnb makes it easy to see what fits in our price range and what the other options are.

When researching a destination, especially for shorter stays, we always look at Agoda. They have a huge range of options on their site and allow us to get really specific about what we want the property to have. Rooftop pool anyone? It also allows us to know the exact location of the accommodation before we book. We love being near public transport, great restaurants or the beach for sunset and knowing the actual address of our new home means we can plan our so stay much easier.

Travelling with travel medical insurance gives us a lot of peace of mind. Knowing that if anything happens, SafetyWing has our back means that we can relax and not worry about any emergencies that pop up. Some countries still have requirements that you have travel medical insurance before they’ll let you enter, so make sure you have high-quality insurance before you take to the skies.

Understanding which airlines fly to certain obscure destinations can help you save money. You might discover a smaller, local service or an unexpected connection. Kiwi.com is great because we don’t always know exactly where we’re going. We can either be specific with airports or vague with countries or even general regions. Always check with a few of the options to see that there aren’t hidden taxes or charges before committing to a specific flight!

We’ve spent 2022 travelling around South East Asia, from Thailand and Vietnam across to Malaysia and the Philippines. Choosing to fly with one airline for most of our flights meant that we were able to gather points and understand their check-in process to make for speedy travel through various airports. They did misplace one of our bags once, but a few days later flew it out to a remote outpost in Borneo to catch up with us.

As we move between countries, signing into wifi in hotels, apartments, cafes and airports, digital security can seem like one more hassle to add to the list. That’s why we love using Surfshark. Their VPN means that we don’t have to worry about other people accessing our data no matter where we are. It also allows us to access our favourite shows and sports matches from home no matter where we are.

I love to plan ahead. It gives me things to look forward to. So rather than booking things like trains and buses with a local agent or directly at the station, 12Go allows me to book our journeys in advance so I can spend more time getting excited about our trips. I like that for most journeys it’ll give you a few different options as well, so you can compare things like trains, vans and coaches.