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Travel & Adventure

“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”
— Oscar Wilde

TRAVEL

This video pretty much sums up my feelings on being a millennial and traveling. 

Global Entry / TSA Pre / Nexus

Thinking about getting Global Entry or TSA Pre? Live in a boarding state to Canada or Mexico? You should get Nexus instead. Put simply, Global Entry costs $100, TSA Pre costs $85, and Nexus costs only $50 but INCLUDES all three.

What’s the catch? You must be a resident in a neighboring state to Canada or Mexico since it’s intended as a fast neighboring boarder pass. If you can believe it, some people COMMUTE across boarders to go to work (Washington to say Vancouver). Anyways, this loophole exists… So if you’re a Seattleite or New-Yorker looking to get a Customs fast pass – you should do Nexus. Learn more here.

810
TSA TIP

820
CARPE DIEM

821 - WORKING NOMAD

822 - EXPLORE

823 - RANDOM YOLO

830
DEALS

840
BURNING MAN

850
SMART MONEY 

Cash cash cash. When you travel, bring cash. For withdrawing cash in foreign countries, you want to look for foreign transaction fees associated with your card (sometimes they can be as high as $3-5 per transaction!) If your existing credit card(s) don’t waive fees, here are some free and easy options:

  • Fidelity Free Debit Card – do you use Fidelity as your brokerage? Like for stocks, 401k etc? If you do, you can get a free debit card. Since Fidelity is not a “bank” with “branches” and “Fidelity ATM machines” they waive all transactions/withdrawal fees. So you can take money out anywhere, fo free. This means you can use pretty much any shady ATM on any beach without being charged $5

  • Charles Schwab Checking Account – if you’re paranoid about hackers, tracing, you can set up a travel checking account. It’s basically just an account that you use for travel or in unfamiliar places that’s not connected to sensitive information or other more important accounts (like your savings, payroll account or other). You can set up a new account, put a lump sum travel buffer in there, and just use it for when you’re on the go. That way it’s not connected to the rest of your goodies, and if it was compromised, it would be contained to only that account. Technically you could do this with any bank, but Charles Schwab just has a card where (1) you don’t need a minimum balance, (2) there’s no annual fee and (3) you get free ATM withdrawals worldwide, so this one I recommend.

  • Exchange – if you ever need to exchange cash, do it in the city or at your hotel (not at the airport Travelex, you’ll lose more in exchange rates and/or commission)

860
TRAVEL ACCESSORIES

861 - DEVELOPING COUNTRY

862 - DSLR CAMERA BAG PICKS

863 - MUSIC FESTIVAL

Where to next?