Travel Smarter, Not Harder: Budget Friendly Adventures with the Smart Travelista (feat. Linda King)

Shannon (00:01.442)
Welcome back to Travel Time Stories with Shannon, where real journeys meet real stories and real healing happens one conversation at a time. I'm your host Shannon, coming to you from the Lone Star State of Texas. And some weeks I open up and share pieces of my own life story from my travel adventures to the winding road of healing and personal growth. Other weeks I'm joined by my best friend and co-host Ann from Missouri.

as we sat down with special guests who share their experiences, insights, and expertise to help all of us along our own journeys. Today, Ann is here with me. Hey, Ann.

Ann (00:41.836)
Hey everybody.

Shannon (00:44.312)
Today's conversation is for anyone who loves travel but has ever thought, I wish I could do this without breaking the bank or feeling overwhelmed. Our guest today is Linda King, an Amazon bestselling author, writer, travel blogger, and travel coach, and the creator of the Smart Travelista. With a background as a travel agent and a banker,

Linda brings a rare blend of wonderlust and financial savvy to the table. Ann and I are excited to talk about traveling well, traveling smart, and how confidence with both money and movement can completely change the way we experience the world. Linda, welcome to the show. We're so glad you're here.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (01:31.97)
Thank you for the lovely welcome Shannon and Ann. I'm so pleased and really looking forward to chatting with you.

Ann (01:36.075)
You

Ann (01:39.96)
Well, as we say here on Travel Time Stories, grab your favorite beverage and let's get into it. Linda, you've had such awesome, we all have our beverages ready. You've had such an interesting path from banking to travel agent to author and coach. Can you share how travel became such a central part of your life?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (01:54.105)
you

Linda King - Smart Travelista (02:08.848)
Sure, it started as a child. I've been traveling since I can remember. And one really pivotal trip that I went on when I hadn't even hit high school yet, my parents took me and my brother around Australia for four months. So we saw the whole of Australia from top to bottom. And it's a massive continent, as you know. We traveled by car.

We camped, we caravanned, we stayed in motels, we did pretty much everything. But it was a really formative time in my life where I think as a child you're really open to new experiences, you're open to new people. And it just opened my eyes and I said to my parents, being quite innocent at the time, I love this, can we do it forever? And they said to me, if you want to do that for your life.

absolutely do it. And so that trip really opened my eyes. I went back to school and they got it a bit wrong. They thought I'd gone around the world, not around Australia and they went, are you the girl that went around the world? I said, no, I'm the girl that went around Australia. But yeah, it was phenomenal.

I think after school that led me into being a travel agent. was like, now, how do I do what I did as a kid, but for a cheaper cost? Obviously being a travel agent, we got it quite cheap. I worked for an airline. I went everywhere and anywhere. And as it happens, when you get the travel bug, it never leaves you. So it's like a lifelong addiction, if I can say. And yeah, and so...

Shannon (03:55.63)
Mm-hmm.

Ann (03:55.66)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (03:58.818)
With the world as it's been, know, being very volatile with travel, I got out of travel and then I've gone back into travel and I've gone out and in, you know, obviously with the pandemic and other things that other events that have occurred over the years. And then got into banking because there's two things I love in life. I love travel and I also love money, as most people do. I love money and how to make it go further.

And then when the pandemic hit, I couldn't travel. Obviously, none of us could travel. And it really gave me a reflection on what a wonderful travel life I've had. You know, I'm blessed that I've done all this travel and continue to do this travel. And that's where I thought a blending of money management and travel was a really good marriage because as a traveler, you want to save money and you want to do more travel.

You don't want to drop 10 or 12, you know, 10 to 15,000 dollars because then you're having to pay those bills. How do you do it cheaply and do more of it, you know, and go to those places on your bucket list? And writing has also been a really something that I've done as a child as well. I used to write a lot of short stories as a child.

And then yes, so what I do now, blends it all together beautifully. You know, I share travel tips and I share travel stories. So it's perfect.

Shannon (05:32.142)
That's wonderful. That's kind of what we do here too on the show is I'm a part-time travel agent. have a regular nine to five job, but then I'm a travel agent part-time on the side and Ann and I go on trips together and travel. And then we like to share all about our travels with everyone else, hoping other people will be inspired to pack a bag and go see a new place, meet some new people.

Ann (05:32.768)
love it. Yes.

Ann (05:54.582)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (06:03.066)
Right.

Ann (06:03.832)
It's always such a great experience.

Shannon (06:07.724)
Yeah. So your brand, the Smart Travelista, is all about traveling in quality while saving money. So what does smart travel actually mean?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (06:20.56)
So to me, I mean, it might mean different things to different people, but to me, it's about not hosteling and doing it rough. Because I think that takes away from the travel experience. It's about how you can manage the travel budget so you can get the nice hotels with the, you know, the buffet breakfast and all those things. How can you be savvy before you travel?

So a lot of the savings for travel starts before you even take off. And the research, so it does take a bit of time and research. You know, you can go to a travel agent, they are the travel experts and they can do that arrangement for you. But then there's also the opportunity to book yourself online. But where do you start, right? So it's about...

I suppose when you're doing it first up, it can be quite overwhelming and daunting. But once you've done it successfully, you actually look at your bank balance and go, hang on a minute, I've saved so much money here, I wanna do that next time. And I wanna continue doing that. what I do is try and make it accessible. Travel should be accessible for everybody, in my opinion. and not just for the wealthy.

Shannon (07:35.094)
I agree.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (07:37.004)
not just for people that you know have got additional funds. It should be for everyone because it is such a life experience. Especially if you go as a solo travel you'll learn how to handle yourself in good and bad times.

You learn how to navigate the world. You learn how to, I mean, it's just so much. You learn about other people. You learn about other cultures. You're more open-minded about things. It's just such a wonderful education. I think, for me, I think people should do it at least once in their life because it would really open up their eyes. I find sometimes we get a little bit complacent in our own country and we complain about this and we complain about that.

You go and see people that aren't quite as fortunate as you. It really brings you back down to earth. You tend to be a lot more grateful for what you have. And yeah, it just changes your total perspective. for me, smart travel is doing that research, doing that preparation. There's a lot of good tools out there that can help us do that. And then it's just about also while you're traveling, being smart about your money, you know?

You might want restaurant and cafe meals every day, but unfortunately that's going to go through blow your budget quite a bit. So how do you go to the supermarket to utilize some of these cheaper meal options, but also taste the food of the country because that's part of the travel experience as well.

and doing the nice things, but it's just about having your priorities set. And my priorities traveling might be totally different to your Shannon and also yours Ann, and it's just how you make it your own. Travel's your own, and you're gonna do it differently to someone else, but it's how you get the best value out of your money.

Ann (09:33.09)
There you go. You know, there's, yeah, I do too completely. There's a myth that budget travel means sacrificing comfort or experience. How do you challenge that belief? What unexpected travel stories have emerged from budget constraints?

Shannon (09:33.112)
Yep, I completely agree.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (09:56.4)
You know what? I've met the nicest people being on my budget trip. I think if you're in a nice five-star hotel, you're not really living the real world. mean, look, don't get me wrong, ladies, it's lovely to do that occasionally, but you're not really, it's not reality, right, for most of us. So, you know, I think you meet the nicest people. I mean, everyone's lovely when you travel.

Shannon (10:11.918)
you

Ann (10:12.972)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (10:23.62)
but you tend to find those out of the way places where those really interesting stories come about. And I've listened to your podcast by the way, and I absolutely love it. And some of the stories, some really entertaining stories. And I've had some of those sort of stories too, but it's the most, the things that you'd least expect that happen to you when you travel.

Shannon (10:35.477)
Thank you.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (10:47.918)
And it's when you're on those more budget-focused expeditions or excursions. Not to say that those lovely five-star experiences aren't nice as well, but you've got a different demographic of people that are on those. You want to really find out about a place. Excuse my language, you've got to get down and dirty, right? To really experience what's going on.

Ann (10:47.938)
Yes.

Shannon (11:04.487)
huh.

Shannon (11:12.408)
Mm-hmm.

Ann (11:12.812)
Yep. Exactly.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (11:14.8)
because that's when you're going to see the true essence of a place. So it's about not being afraid to do that, as long as you're safe, of course.

Ann (11:22.924)
Right. Right.

Shannon (11:24.534)
Yeah. And you don't have to go on a budget trip. You don't have to be camping out in the wilderness somewhere. It just means that you're not staying at the luxury end hotels and you're not necessarily staying at one of the hostels, which nothing against either of those great options. You're staying kind of in the middle ground where, like you said,

Ann (11:35.559)
No.

Ann (11:46.102)
No.

Shannon (11:52.046)
you're at a hotel where you're still getting that buffet breakfast in the morning, so you don't have to worry about breakfast unless you just wanna go out somewhere else and spend some money. And then you stay at places like we did Scotland in 2024, and we stayed at an apartment inside of a castle, and we went to the grocery store, bought groceries, and we cooked for ourselves.

It just added to our experience and made it so much more wonderful. And we got to experience what a grocery store in Scotland is like versus here in America. Completely different.

Ann (12:29.498)
yeah.

Ann (12:34.038)
Yeah, we were able to make our own sandwiches and whatever and go out hiking and sit down someplace beautiful and just eat and you know, in nature, it was just really wonderful.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (12:34.181)
Yay.

Shannon (12:51.458)
Yeah, and as you said, we met wonderful people too, while we were traveling all around Scotland, everywhere we went, wonderful people, heard wonderful stories. So it really added to our adventure and our trip. So with your background in banking, you understand the money side more so than other people do. So what do people most often get wrong when it comes to travel and finances?

Ann (13:02.08)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (13:21.392)
Yeah, there's one big thing Shannon and Ann that people get wrong. Depending on where you're going to, not changing the money. So if you're taking cash with you and changing it to a foreign currency, not doing it when you're actually on the ground in the place. So especially for myself, as you can tell by my accent, I'm Australian. When we go to Asia, we never change our money. We wait till we arrive there and then change the money over. Your currency is a lot more valuable

once you're on the ground than it is when you're back home. So one thing you should never do is change it at a foreign exchange place at an airport. They are a ripoff totally. I think most people would know not to do that. But it's also good to wait until you actually get there. Another thing, and depending on where you go. So I went to Scandinavia a few months back.

they don't use cash. So it's always to be really mindful about whether people accept cash or whether they take. So if you're going to transfer your from your local currency into the local currency, find out whether they actually accept cash. So mainly through Scandinavia, it's cashless. They take credit cards, debit cards or mobile payments. So it's just you've got to really be aware of that because you're really wasting because you're getting conversion right when you change money over.

Ann (14:33.58)
Wow.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (14:44.626)
you're going to get a better rate on a credit card. If you've got a Visa card, Visa is renowned around the world to have the best exchange rate. If you've got a Visa card and you take that, you're going to get an even better exchange rate than the publicly released exchange rate. So it's just about finding out and doing a bit of research before you go. Another thing is

not, you know, if they do take cash, not using all that money up and spending it. So maybe misjudging how much money they're going to spend in that place.

So it's good always to look at the cost of living. You can Google it. What's the cost of living in Reykjavik in Iceland or wherever it is. It gives you an idea on what you'll need to spend every day. you know, if you're getting, you know, going to the supermarket or, you know, if your breakfast is taken care of with the hotel, that's great. But it's good to know what your budget's going to be there. That's not even including the money that you're going to spend like shopping and stuff.

And then make sure that you only take that amount of cash with you. And if you change it over all, make sure you spend it all because if you convert it back, you're going to lose a lot of money in the conversion. So some of these things are common sense, but it's just about being mindful of that because...

Ann (16:05.474)
Yeah.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (16:11.812)
you know, if you've got coins when you're left over, you can't change those. Mainly it's like notes that can be changed over. So, yes, just do that little bit of research. And if they're cashless, take your credit card. If you've got a visa, use that. But that's probably the main thing I see people do. I don't do that anymore.

you know, because obviously I've traveled quite a bit. When I knew I was going to Scandanavia was okay, just going to take the credit card. Don't even bother with cash because it's not going to be, they're not going to accept it anyway, you know? So yeah, but just, just do your research. That'd be my big tip.

Ann (16:49.537)
Right.

Ann (16:53.706)
interesting that they're cashless. How can people travel confidently without constantly worrying about money though? The credit card only or?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (17:11.246)
You know, I do both. I take some phone cash with me as well as the credit card. There's a lot of really great travel products out there. You can take, I don't know whether you guys have got them in the US, but we've got travel cards where we can load up money and then we just give them to the retailers. And what it's like a bank, sort of bank of the money. So just say you're going to a few different places, you will put say US dollars, pounds, euro, whatever it is. And then depending on the country you're at,

Ann (17:16.129)
Okay.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (17:41.17)
can utilise the cash. So I would say, you know, if you've got a credit card, maybe if you've got more than one credit card, it's good to have one in your person. Have another one that's locked up in your bag just in case something happens. Have a little bit of foreign cash. What I try and do is, in my mind, I work out how much is going to be my budget every day? What do I think I'm going to spend?

Ann (17:54.082)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (18:05.806)
And if I've got a big parcel of money, I won't take the whole lot of the money out. It's going to be coming out per day. And then if I've got a travel card, I use that also. So make sure you have a balance. It's people's preference, right? I think back in my parents' day, they used to do travellers' checks. I don't think travellers' checks exist anymore. But it's about, you know, having a bit of cash.

Ann (18:26.68)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (18:32.398)
having your credit card or a few credit cards and then having a travel money card or something similar to that. It's just about spreading the risk because, know, touch wood, we don't want to be robbed while we're overseas. But if you are, you know, eliminate a bit of the risk by not having all that money on your person and having some of it locked up in your suitcase or in the, you know, the hotel safe.

Ann (19:02.7)
Yeah.

Shannon (19:03.98)
Yeah, for sure. What advice would you give someone who feels like travel is out of reach financially?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (19:12.9)
What I would say, depending on your location in the world, go somewhere close. Start little, right? And go to a place that's budget friendly. So again, for me, Asia is very, very cheap. And I think cheap for you guys too, but you just got to go a little bit further afield to get there. But it's a really good value place, somewhere like Vietnam, Thailand, and those sorts of places are very, very cheap.

But I'm sure there's other places close to the US that are quite cheap as well, know, a bit more budget friendly. What I would say, start off small. So and start off somewhere close and then just build up, you know, and if travel is a priority for you, have another bank account where you're putting in and saving money in that. So I have a travel bank account, I a number of bank accounts, but one of them is primarily for my travel.

and I put extra money in there, like whatever I can afford each week. And then when I come to booking my travel, it's already there, the money's there. I don't even think about it. One thing I wouldn't suggest people do is don't go into debt on your credit card for travel because you're gonna have a fabulous time, but then you're in debt and you're coming back having to pay that off with interest on top. So if you're really serious, investigate the places that are cheap, close by.

Ann (20:35.852)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (20:40.602)
For the bigger ones like, know, if you're coming to Australia, for instance, from the US, save a little bit of extra money, make it a more long-term trip. Another thing that I'm hoping that a lot of your listeners do, and I'm sure that you would promote this, is airline miles. So find some airline programs, find some airlines that you travel on a lot, join their program, start booking with them.

Ann (21:00.364)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (21:10.362)
flight that you take with that airline is then going to give you miles. In Australia, we have a fabulous program or a few fabulous programs where we can connect our shop supermarket spending. So everything we get every week then gets transferred in as points. So you're going to get supermarket. And we've got two programs that do that. So you can imagine me, right?

Shannon (21:31.598)
Well, that's wonderful.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (21:38.64)
Get the weekly shopping. It's on the card. It's going into points. That's a no brainer for us, right? We've also got, I think you guys have got shopping. So, you know, if you're doing online shopping and certain brands will give you points. Have you got a credit card that's going to affiliate with the airlines? It's just about the initial research. How can you really maximise and get some good points because...

Shannon (21:46.606)
Mm-hmm.

Ann (21:46.892)
Right.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (22:06.19)
Some of that doesn't involve traveling. Some of it involves shopping. And we've got also like our utilities, like our mobile plans, electricity plans, all that sort of stuff. So whatever program or programs you join, find out what products are gonna give you points. And if you're in the market for that, have a look at it. If it's competitive and it suits your financial...

know your financial plan go for it. One thing I won't say is don't go into debt just to get the points because those points aren't worth anything if you're in debt. There's money in the bank for you if you've paid the side you know what I'm saying but I'm not giving financial advice here I would never do that but what I would say is you've got to be sensible sensible about it. You've got a credit card

Ann (22:47.446)
Yes, definitely.

Shannon (22:53.272)
Mm-hmm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (23:03.376)
that's going to give you miles, do your absolute best to pay that off in your statement period so you can start afresh the next month. If you do that and you're really smart and savvy about it, those points grow so quickly and you look at the balance and that's basically put that's money like money in the bank. If you redeem them for an long haul flight. So there is so many ways to do this.

Ann (23:27.682)
Definitely.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (23:30.808)
It's just about knowing how to do it. It's simple when you know how.

Shannon (23:36.002)
Yeah. And one thing like with me, I have to travel a lot for work in my regular nine to five job and we travel on a certain airline when we fly. And so I accumulate a lot of miles with that certain airline. And so then in my personal travel, I use those points that I've accumulated for, to help out with my personal travel. So that's another little tip there for.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (24:03.534)
Yeah, that's wonderful.

Shannon (24:06.646)
if you travel a lot for work.

Ann (24:07.372)
I... yes, and I loved your advice about starting small, close by. Once you take your first trip and that travel bug bites you, you are going to come home and you're immediately going to start thinking, okay, let me get my travel account opened because that was great advice and where do I want to go? You know?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (24:37.744)
Yeah. And it's just... Yeah. I was just going to say it builds up. That little bit of money you put in that travel account, after a few weeks, builds up and you don't even realise.

Shannon (24:38.648)
Yeah, exactly. And another.

What was that?

Ann (24:51.414)
Yes.

Shannon (24:56.856)
Yep, exactly.

Ann (24:57.528)
Yeah, you don't look at that one. That's your no-no account that you don't touch. You don't look at, you just feed it every pay period, you know. A little bit goes in there and it does add up quickly.

Shannon (25:13.752)
Yeah, it really does. And another tip I like to tell people is you don't have to pay for your trip all at once when you book it. That's the fun thing about travel. And when you're doing your research, there's a lot of things that you're going to do with your trip that you can pay for ahead of time. So that way, when it comes time for you to actually leave on your trip, all of that's already paid for. And the main things that

Ann (25:40.492)
Yes.

Shannon (25:43.67)
are still left, you you have that and then whatever your spending money was allocated for your spending each day is all you have to worry about when it comes time for the trip. That's what we did for our Scotland trip. I planned it a year in advance. I did all my research, mapped out everything where we were gonna go and then anything that we could pay for ahead of time, like tickets to certain things that we were gonna go to, that kind of thing.

we would pay for like one month we'd buy the tickets for one place. The next month we'd buy the tickets for some other place. And then by the time we got ready to leave, everything was already paid for upfront with the exception of a couple of hotels that we couldn't prepay for. We had to pay once we were there and then our spending money. So that's another good tip.

Ann (26:40.568)
It was fabulous.

Shannon (26:44.034)
So you've also written 13 books. That's incredible. And I know you kind of mentioned that even as a child you were writing. But what specifically drew you to writing and how did those stories begin?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (27:03.738)
So yes, I'll thank you for that. It's actually going to be 14. I'm almost about to release my 14th book in the next little while. yeah, the writing, think, so we've got two book series. So the Smart Travelista Guides are what they sound like, travel tips, how to save money and travel the world fabulously. Antics from Abroad came about because I have traveled so much.

Shannon (27:11.768)
wow!

Linda King - Smart Travelista (27:32.814)
and things sometimes don't go to plan and things happen. these books are full of all the things that have happened, crazy, unexpected, sometimes shocking. And I've met a lot of people in my travels also and their stories are in those books. So I think for me,

Obviously with the travel expertise, I like to share the tips, but with Antics from Abroad, it's about us laughing together and being entertained and learning what not to do when you travel because there's a lot of moral morals after the stories about what not to do.

I'm sure a lot of people that travel also have had situations like this, so they can also empathise and recognise themselves in these stories as well. But yeah, that's really my baby. I love those stories. They make me laugh and they make other people laugh. And it's also a good record. So I always remember these things, right? It's like remembering what happened.

Shannon (28:14.837)
Mm-hmm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (28:43.888)
Not that I'm losing my memory or anything, but you know, when I'm an older lady, I can look back at those books and I know I'm going to reflect and go, I've had a wonderful life, you know, and these are some of the crazy things that happened to me throughout my life. the books have been really received quite well. I've had a lot of people say that they read one book and then they want to read the whole series because, you know,

Shannon (28:57.206)
Yeah.

Ann (28:57.442)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (29:12.366)
And, you know, it's, they're self-deprecating warts and all, no holes barred, things that have happened. And I just tell it like it is. And people seem to like them, so that's great. But yeah, it's, you know, as I said, I share travel tips and I tell travel stories. The travel stories are true. They happened. I'm still alive now. So I survived it.

And yeah, that they all had a happy ending. So for me, it's really nice. It's quite entertaining for me, actually. I love writing. I don't know, it's the creativity I love. And you know, when you do something and time just flies, that's what happens to me when I write. So.

Ann (29:41.868)
Hehehehehe

Linda King - Smart Travelista (30:04.59)
And I would say any writer would probably say the same. Sometimes I miss meals because I'm so into the stories and I'm so into writing. I think for me, you've got to be happy in life. Do those things that fuel your passion and whether that be travel, whether that be writing, or if it's both, do both of them. But it's...

Shannon (30:13.867)
Mm-hmm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (30:31.342)
I think we're all looking for that, know, something that makes our heart sing and both those things make my heart sing. So, and I like to share, maybe share too much, but that's okay too.

Ann (30:47.128)
Never too much, never.

Shannon (30:47.31)
Exactly. Those are the kind of stories that we love to read is the true nitty gritty. Tell it like it is.

Ann (30:54.41)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (30:57.294)
Yep. Yeah.

Ann (30:58.668)
Because every time we take a trip, something happens that is either, like you said, very shocking or just hilarious or any, every time. So I have to ask, your books span practical travel guides and personal stories. How do you decide what kind of story you want to tell?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (31:05.998)
Mm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (31:25.946)
I think life decides what story I'm gonna tell, what happens to me. So I tell all the stories. And I think, as I say in my books, a perfect trip is gonna be boring for someone else to read. I don't really wanna read someone's diary.

I don't want to see their Instagram. I mean, look, each to their own. I don't want to see the food. The food's lovely, but I don't want to see food, know, pictures of where they, you know, and just see all their Instagram like that. I want the drama. I don't know about you, but I like to read about the drama. And I don't know, I'm a bit of a magnet for drama. I don't know why.

Shannon (32:04.79)
Mm-hmm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (32:08.756)
I think it's just the chances of travelling a lot. You're going to have some element of drama and something happening. I mean, life is like that. Life, even living in our own homes and our own lives full of drama sometimes. So you just can't stop it while you're travelling. Obviously I don't take chances, but when anything happens to me, I'm on that phone writing.

So if I'm in a situation where I think this is gonna be a story, I'm taking photos, I'm taking videos and I'm writing. And that's how the stories come about. The day that it's happened or the minute it's happened, I'm in there, I'm writing word for word what's happened. If you get the chance to read my next annex from abroad, which is the book to be released.

Shannon (32:44.77)
Yeah.

Ann (32:44.952)
you

Linda King - Smart Travelista (33:00.096)
I was in a lot of those situations writing on that phone and I find that's the best way. And then you've got to put a bit of distance between, because you've got to recover obviously from whatever's happened. But if you can write factually what's happened and the emotion that you felt and how stressed you were and all the rest of it, put that in and document that. That's great. And then what you do later is you put all these stories together.

Shannon (33:14.958)
Mm-hmm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (33:29.764)
And my books aren't chronologically, they're not like, you know, from this year to this year, each chapter you don't know what you're gonna get. And I think that makes it more exciting. And it's about, you know, you're going from one country to another.

Shannon (33:42.768)
I love that. Exactly, it does.

Ann (33:46.434)
Yes, definitely.

Shannon (33:52.812)
Yeah, that's great. I'm definitely putting that on my list when it comes out to check out that book.

Ann (33:53.122)
amazing.

Ann (33:57.878)
Yes, same.

Shannon (34:02.744)
So how does your writing and storytelling enhance your travel adventures?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (34:10.236)
That's a really great question. I think travelling is a story, in my opinion. When I travel, there's a story that's been shown to me. The place is showing me their story, right? My story is about how I experience that place, the people I meet, what I see, what I observe, how I feel.

I think when you're telling a story, all your senses need to be involved in that. You see, you hear, you smell, you touch. That's a story in itself. And sometimes when we go to a new place,

We don't really know. We think we know what we're going to expect. Like we think we know what we're going to see and experience. But going there is a totally different story. One instance is recently I went to Iceland. So Iceland had been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. I knew that place was going to be beautiful, but it was like, blew my mind. It was...

like nothing I've ever seen. Like I've been to some places in Scandinavia, but that was just unbelievable. And I think Iceland was telling me a story as I walked down Reykjavik, down the streets of Reykjavik, as I was seeing the Northern Lights at night. It was telling me its story. And that story that you get from it.

The story I got might be a different story that you're going to get, you know? Each person's different. They see different things, they perceive different things. So that destination gives me its story and then it becomes my story and what happens, if that makes sense. So we're sharing our stories together. Yeah.

Shannon (35:50.051)
Right.

Shannon (36:06.094)
That makes a lot of sense. Yeah.

Ann (36:09.73)
Yeah, it very much makes sense. I love that. So...

Shannon (36:12.578)
Yeah. So I have to ask, was the Northern Lights in Reykjavik, was it just magical?

Ann (36:18.999)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (36:24.376)
I was a bit early in the season, so I was in sort of mid September. So it was a bit early. What I did see, we were out and the stars were out. It was just beautiful. It was like midnight and all you could see was the dark sky and the stars. So they say that it's better when there's no cloud around and all that. I saw this red glow on the horizon. So you can just imagine pitch black and then you see this red glow. And then...

what happened was sometimes the camera sometimes the naked eye doesn't pick up.

the greens and the blues. It's only sort of further in the season. But I got my iPhone on there and the pictures were phenomenal. The blues, the greens, the red. was just the sky was glowing and it was just magnificent. It was very cold. It was like minus three degrees. So what we were doing was we were we were all rugged up, but you could only stay outside for a few minutes and then you'd go back into the into the van and heat up and then come back

out again and because it was just so cold but it was I have no words like it was and again on my bucket list you've got to see that once in your life and it was just phenomenal and it's just amazing to see and the pilot took us on the tour he had a really really big top of the range camera and he was just flashing the whole time

Ann (37:42.55)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (37:54.028)
and but you could tell what the northern lights were because you could see the red glow. It looked like a fireball, like a you know a red ball going across the horizon. was just and so I could tell where the northern lights were because I could see the red glow on the horizon but yeah it was I have no words it was just so beautiful.

Ann (38:00.569)
Mm-hmm.

Ann (38:11.618)
Mm-hmm.

Shannon (38:12.066)
Right.

Ann (38:17.986)
What a magical experience. Just wow. So let's get practical for a moment. What are a few budget-friendly travel tips that listeners can actually use?

Shannon (38:20.098)
Mm-hmm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (38:21.648)
Hmm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (38:37.444)
Yeah, I think while traveling, definitely investigate your supermarkets there, especially in places that are quite expensive. As you mentioned, you know, there's a thing called grocery tourism that where people actually go just to the grocery stores as part of the trips. I didn't know about this, but yeah, grocery tourism. You do that? Yeah, great. It was a new thing for me.

Shannon (38:57.485)
We do that.

Ann (38:59.34)
people.

Shannon (39:02.776)
We do that.

Ann (39:04.182)
We can't help it, we have to just, we have to.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (39:09.872)
But yeah, the first place I, as soon as I my bags down in the hotel or the Airbnb, I go straight to the supermarkets and I'll find the cheapest supermarkets. And, you know, because in some places it's very expensive. I'm not to say that I don't have meals, hot meals as well, but I just like to balance that out.

So that would be my first tip to people. If you really want to save on your budget, go to the supermarkets. Another thing that a lot of places have are free walking tours. They are the best. You're going with a local guide who knows that place really well. If you've never been there, they're going to give you so many tips. You can ask them questions. And all you need to do is give them a donation at the end.

So that's why they call them free walking tours. You just give what you think you can afford and you know to thank the guide for taking you around. What else can I say? Try and get a hotel that's going to give you buffet breakfast. It's part of your research beforehand. Make sure they give you a buffet breakfast because what you can do and I shouldn't say this publicly but there's so much food there.

You can make yourself some toast. Put a bit of cold cuts on there. What I do, I take plastic bags with me that, you know, the bags that have the zip lock. That's another tip. People take your plastic bags, big bags, small bags with a zip lock. What you do, discreetly take a little bag down with your handbag and make yourself some extra toast. Get a little bit of butter and margarine on there.

Shannon (40:38.03)
Mm-hmm.

Ann (40:41.474)
Thanks

Linda King - Smart Travelista (40:54.574)
get some cold meat because I've usually got that, put it in, yourself some sandwiches. You know, they're going to be a bit cold, doesn't matter. Take them with you in your Ziploc bag and you've already got lunch already sorted. And then all you've got to do is worry about dinner at night. So you're going to have two meals in one by doing that. Obviously just a piece of fruit as well. Just make sure you're looking over your shoulder though, because

Ann (41:15.286)
And I always grab a piece of fruit too. Yeah.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (41:23.818)
Hotels know that people are doing this. You just want to be bit discreet about it. Another thing I did, because I used to work quite a bit over in Asia, they have a lot of rice for their breakfast. So what I used to do is take a little, again, discreetly, take a little container that had a lid on it, and I would fill it with rice, fried rice or whatever they had on. And then that would be my lunch.

Ann (41:30.392)
Exactly.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (41:47.276)
So there's so many ways to save money. It's just about, don't be obvious about it. Don't, you know, clear out the whole buffet and have it all over your table and then have a box of food or anything like that. That's a bit out of, a bit naughty, discreetly, absolutely, you know? But that's two meals already fixed up for the day. What a budget saving, you know? Yeah.

Ann (42:10.306)
That's smart.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (42:13.06)
But there's so many tips I'm sure you lovely ladies have got some tips as well, Shannon and Ann.

Shannon (42:22.818)
Well, we have to admit we've done the same thing that you were just talking about. So we normally do that on our trips as well. And even we even do that on the cruise ship too. We take Ann bring the bags for us. And when we go to the buffet, we get some extra fruit and different things so that we have it later for snacks. Or if we're getting off the ship in a port, we can take that with us and we have a little snack in port

Ann (42:26.38)
Yep. Exactly.

Ann (42:50.316)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Shannon (42:52.13)
and we save on a meal.

Ann (42:55.37)
Exactly. Take some water bottles filled up and you're good to go.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (42:55.813)
Yeah.

Shannon (43:00.95)
Yeah, but again, like you say, don't clear the place out. Be discreet and be mindful. Yeah.

Ann (43:04.724)
No. Be mindful of other people. Yeah. But they do throw a lot away. So if you see that's going to happen, mean, sure.

Shannon (43:18.602)
Exactly, yeah. So are there common travel mistakes that you see people make over and over? Besides, I know we've touched on the money thing, but besides that, what are some other mistakes?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (43:28.814)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (43:35.8)
Yeah, another mistake is they don't take their security. They don't keep that in the forefront of their mind, especially when you're traveling through Europe. I've seen so many people being robbed at a distance. Like I'm behind them and I can see that they're being robbed. They're doing silly things like wearing all their jewelry, having everything on their person.

Putting their, some mistake I saw quite a few men do is putting their wallet in their back pocket. That's a complete no-no. Like, don't put anything on your back. If you've got like a little small backpack, put it at the front. But again, this is common sense to me. I've been doing it for years. You ladies have probably done that as well. But people just think they're at home and act like they're at home and...

Shannon (44:14.296)
Yep. Yeah.

Shannon (44:19.982)
Mm-hmm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (44:29.38)
you know, sometimes they come undone because they are taking their security seriously. Another thing, and it's hard too also when you're traveling a lot, jet lag can really impair you when you arrive in a place, can really make you not so situationally aware. So what I would say, try and get a little bit of sleep and try and, know,

have that really strong coffee or that energy drink or whatever it is to get your brain a little bit more pumped up because you really need to be aware when you're in a new environment. What we've got to understand is in a lot of countries, we are considered rich traveling. The fact that we're even traveling to them is you're a wealthy rich person. In our own mind, we might think we're not, but compared to them, are.

Shannon (45:14.008)
Mm-hmm.

Ann (45:17.837)
Yes.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (45:21.26)
And there's going to be people going, you know what, I want a piece of that. And so they're going to take advantage. And who are they going to look for? The jet lagged, silly tourists that are just opening their money out up on the sidewalk, know, counting their money out in front of a group of people. You've just got to be really mindful of that and really protect your security because

Shannon (45:23.064)
Mm-hmm.

Shannon (45:27.651)
Yeah.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (45:49.41)
not only would could they not only might they rob you they might actually do worse so it's you know you just got to be really mindful have a plan B in mind touch wood that if this nothing ever happens but if it does at least you've got a plan in mind that you're going to start taking action on to protect yourself so you know touch wood i mean i've been in situations where it's been

Ann (45:57.58)
Exactly.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (46:17.936)
pretty low level, but I touch wood when I say that because it can change at any point. We want to make sure it stays that way, but it's about being prepared, you know.

Shannon (46:25.539)
Yep.

Ann (46:25.676)
Yep, definitely.

Shannon (46:29.173)
huh.

Yeah, for sure.

Ann (46:31.98)
Yeah, it really is. And people forget to be careful. think sometimes they're drinking, they're having fun, and security goes right out the window. So what's smart travel habit you wish everyone would adopt?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (46:54.564)
That's a good one. What I would say if you're using your credit card and you're in a foreign country.

always select the local currency. They sometimes give you an option for the local currency or your own currency. How do you want it converted? Always do the local currency. You're saving on transaction fees and also conversion fees. What you've got to understand is if you're using your credit card, you've got the visa or the MasterCard rate, it will then get converted from your local currency to then the local currency. If you select your

Ann (47:11.832)
Mm-hmm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (47:31.25)
currency. If you select the local currency, there's only one conversion and you're saving already. So you're going to save money doing that. So I'm not sure that people know that. automatically we think of our own currency, always select the local because it's going to be a cheaper transaction for you. you're going to see, and I've tested it in my local and then also in my own currency. then that

Ann (47:39.714)
Awesome, good advice, thank you.

Ann (47:49.943)
Right.

Shannon (47:50.114)
Mm-hmm.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (48:00.42)
there was a big, big difference in what fees and charges were attached to it. So that would be one big tip I'd give people. So if you're paying with cash, it's not something that'll happen. But if you're paying with a credit card, always select their currency.

Ann (48:11.159)
take.

Ann (48:15.19)
Right.

Ann (48:20.856)
Great idea. Great tip.

Shannon (48:23.756)
Yeah, I did not realize that. That would have been good to know when we were on our trip in Scotland. Because every time I was selecting my currency. So yeah, I know that now for future.

Ann (48:26.527)
No.

Shannon (48:40.152)
So how do you help someone move from dreaming about travel to actually booking that trip?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (48:48.474)
So I work on the mindset, work on people's mindset. So if someone thinks they can't do it, then that's gonna happen. They won't do it, right? So you've got to work on someone's mindset. And it's about sharing experiences. So, you know, I mentioned about my bank account, how I've got, if they want to travel and they want to do it regularly, how are they doing their money management? What is it that, you know,

What can they do or what can they forgo? And I don't want them to forgo anything big, but it might be that extra coffee that they have every day. How about putting that money that would be for an extra coffee into your travel bank account?

You're having your coffee, so that's good. You're having at least one coffee. That second one, do you really need it? You probably don't. And health-wise, you probably don't need it either. How about getting that money that would have, and it's only gonna be a few dollars. How about putting that every week into your bank account? That banks up. That's five coffees extra that you're gonna have in that bank account. That's just about starting small. And...

It's about knowing where they want to travel first. So where do you want to travel? Because you've got to understand what sort of money you're looking at to travel to that place. So if it was me and I'm going to Europe, I've got to save a lot more money to go to Europe than I would if I'm going to Asia. You know, it's a lot more expensive. So it's about understanding.

Ann (50:18.946)
Yeah, definitely.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (50:21.166)
Firstly, their mindset, yes, you can do this. You've got to start small. It's with anything. Baby steps. Start small. Start putting that extra little bit of money into that bank account. Understanding where you want to go. Is it a budget friendly place? Is it somewhere more expensive? If it's somewhere more expensive, then you're going to need to save a little bit longer to get that trip. But in the meantime,

You can start traveling really quickly if you start putting and implementing some strategies in place. That means that you've got that more money. Is it about joining an airline miles program immediately? If you haven't got one of those. If you're lucky to be in Australia and you've got a supermarket card, attach it. You're instantly going to get points.

And if you're going somewhere close and you do enough of that, then you don't really need to save any money because you're going to use your miles to get there. So it's just about, I think what I work with is you've got to understand what the person wants. What is their travel goal? What is it that they want to do? And then it's just about putting all those pieces together to get that. And, you know, each person's different. What they want as a trip.

Someone might want to cruise. Cruises are fabulous because they're all inclusive in most cases. You've only got one price that you're saving for, unless you want to do other things that aren't included on the cruise. So yeah, if someone, a beginner traveler and they want to go somewhere close by, give it cruise a try, because it's all inclusive. Then they don't have to worry about their budget.

The meals, everything's included, the activities. But everyone's individual, you know? What I might want to do might be different to what you want to do. And the person that I speak to wants to do. Everyone's different. Everyone's got different things that they want to do. you might want to go shopping. That might be what you want to do. You might want to go, you know, do an action adventure things. Every trip is going to be different. And it's just about breaking it down into easy steps.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (52:42.098)
doesn't become so overwhelming. Once, I guarantee you that once someone does it once and looks at it like that, it becomes easier every time you do a trip after that, because you've done that, you know, something that felt overwhelming, but then becomes easy. And you're like, I can do this. It's a no brainer.

Ann (53:04.872)
Exactly. It really, really is. Once you've done it, you've got it. You can do it again. So someone listening...

Shannon (53:05.037)
Yeah.

Shannon (53:13.132)
or an Ann's case, I was just gonna say, an Ann's case, you just find someone that you befriend and they do all the work and all you do is just show up with your bag.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (53:27.202)
Yeah. Love it.

Ann (53:31.82)
Guilty!

Shannon (53:33.134)
You

Linda King - Smart Travelista (53:35.12)
Yeah.

Ann (53:35.842)
Sometimes I don't even know where I'm going.

Shannon (53:38.37)
Yeah

Linda King - Smart Travelista (53:41.018)
That's Great

Ann (53:41.656)
But yeah, it's awesome. I'm Very spoiled. So if some listening feels nervous, hesitant, maybe a little unsure about taking their next trip, what would you want them to hear today?

Linda King - Smart Travelista (54:02.446)
Be brave, you can do it. I believe in you. It's easy. It's easy when you know how. And you know what? We have such a wonderful world waiting for you to explore. So many people you will meet. It will change your life for the good. yeah, we just say, just like Nike says, just do it. You know, just do it. You have to do it. Even if it's once in your life.

And know what? The once will become a life long passion.

Ann (54:40.578)
Definitely, it has for us.

Shannon (54:44.494)
So Linda, where can... No, you're good. So Linda, where can our listeners find you?

Ann (54:44.815)
We have to have our little trips.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (54:48.964)
Yeah.

Linda King - Smart Travelista (54:57.156)
So I'm on thesmarttravelista.com. If you want to get my travel guides or my entertaining travel stories, you can get them on Amazon. I'm on pretty much all social media under The Smart Travelista. I can be reached by email as well.

I love answering travel questions. They're my favourite questions. So, yeah, I would recommend all your listeners, if they want to join a fun travel community, come and join me with the Smart Travelista community. We have such fun and we travel cheaply but in quality. feel free and, yeah.

I hope you all do some wonderful travel.

Shannon (55:48.334)
that's wonderful, Linda. Thank you so much for sharing your story and reminding us that travel doesn't have to be complicated or expensive to be meaningful. And to our listeners, whether you're planning your next big adventure or your first small getaway, we hope this conversation reminds you that smart travel is about confidence, not perfection. We'll link Linda's books, blog, and resources in the show notes and on our website.

Ann (55:49.997)
Yes.

Shannon (56:18.348)
And until next time, take care, keep traveling your story, and keep making memories for life.