This isn't Montevideo?
If you're reading this, you made the cut. ✂️ Read about the threat of unplanned expenses, and how to protect yourself.
Last week, I deleted 24 of my subscribers, that's 34%! How come? Because Improvement is Impossible w/o Change.
Uruguay Dreamin’
As the sun sets over the mid-rise-filled horizon of Montevideo, the streets are alive with a mild bustle of Uruguayians grabbing dinner, returning for work, or stopping to sip some mate with their amigos. Suddenly, my attention fixates on a distant yet clear conversation between two ladies, likely heading back from the bar. Oddly enough, they’re speaking English - uncommon in this corner of the world, that’s for sure! The conversation gets louder, so loud that it snaps me out of a dream - it's the middle of the night, the “sunset” is just the glow of the TV, and two Americans are stumbling drunk down the hallways of our Garden Inn hotel. I'm not in Montevideo... I'm in Miami!
This cruel dream reminded me that my travel plans had been in limbo before we arrived at YYZ. Earlier in the day, we noticed our flight was so delayed that there was no chance we were making our slim 90-minute layover. Fernanda and I made friends with the American Airlines agent and together tackled the problem of booking new flights to the not-so-common destination of Montevideo. We made it work but with a change of plans: our 90-minute layover was extended by four days.
Frustrating? Yes. But Miami? Also yes. 🤷♂️
There Goes My Budget
I didn’t budget for a surprise stop in Miami, so the financial side of my psyche (which you all know by now) was going ballistic. To add to the stress, it was unclear how much of our expenses would be covered by the airline, and getting the money was excruciatingly inefficient and challenging. To add another layer of uncertainty, Fernanda wanted to extend our stay in Montevideo by a couple of days to avoid our unfavourable return flight itinerary and squeeze in some more family time. What about getting back to work? I figured my boss would be ok with it, but there’s an opportunity cost to decisions like this - I could be making money instead of spending it!
Though I never fully let go of the unanticipated costs of this leg of the trip, we nailed the principles of cost-effective exploration. We kept things simple and inexpensive, except for an overpriced mini-putt date night. If not on public transit (which is great in Miami, BTW), we explored the city by foot, always enjoying the non-Canadian winter. We took a trip to Miami Beach, saw the home of the Miami Heat, visited downtown’s boardwalk-esque Bayside Marketplace, and even saw the world’s largest cruise ship.
(psst… check out my photos below!)
It was a memorable and in-the-moment addition to our trip. The airline covered us for all three nights in a hotel in the beautiful Brickell area, plus roughly $100 USD in food vouchers. It wasn’t enough for a completely expense-free pitstop, but likely the cheapest trip to Miami I would ever find myself on.
How cheap exactly? Take a look!
Managing Unanticipated Expenses
Miami was a great lesson on navigating unexpected expenses when travelling and paved the way for a conversation about the troublesome reality of such an occurrence. It's impossible to build a perfect budget, and aiming for perfection while travelling to a new place would be loco. That said, anticipating the often unanticipated can save you from becoming strapped for cash in a foreign country.
Consider these situations:
Being unable to access your bank account/credit card.
Getting robbed and losing your money, cards, and/or phone.
Needing immediate medical attention.
Finding yourself liable for someone else’s medical costs.
From the comfort of your home, it might seem like these risks either lack in severity or likelihood, but not too fast. Take a look at some less-than-pleasant travel stories.
In all my foreign travels, I have had trouble accessing Canadian accounts (bank accounts, CRA, and others) due to multi-factor authentication sent to my Canadian phone number (which had been paused, or the SIM was swapped for a foreign plan).
In France, (possibly alcohol-induced) cliff jumping ended in a hairline wrist fracture. What can I say? The French wine is divine.
Stories of other travellers include almost deadly scooter accidents, illness (from water, insects, or others), threats and assaults from raging sports fans, and close encounters with poisonous snakes.
Fellow exchange students in France got robbed of their wallets and phones. While in Uruguay, I didn’t carry them on me for the same reasons.
In our unpredictable world, anything can happen, which is why it’s so important to set yourself up with access to essential resources even in the most unlikely cases. Here are a couple of things I do to mitigate the likelihood and severity of these accidents, though I definitely won’t say that I’ve covered all the bases.
Always, ALWAYS, buy travel insurance. Especially when in America.
Diversify your access to funds. I primarily use my Wise (debit) card for payments, though I also keep cash, my Canadian visa card, and my line of credit card with me.
Disperse your funds. I don’t carry all my money and cards on me at once - whenever possible, I leave what I can in my “home base”. When with Fernanda in Uruguay, only one of us had our phones or cards at a time (though this poses problems, too).
Use authenticator apps for as many accounts as you can. For ones that need a phone number, look into how you can change that (including…).
Look into roaming packages. It might be worth checking your Canadian phone number periodically since people might be trying to reach you.
Don’t flex your iPhone and cash to the world. In my experience, those with their heads in the clouds get robbed. Be aware of your surroundings to save yourself from becoming a target.
Next Stop, Montevideo
On January 10th, we didn’t fly out of Miami until 10:30 pm, which gave us one more day to explore. On our way toward the airport, a double check of our flight status read that everything was going according to plan. After 9 hours of flying, we would soon be in Montevideo and back to our regularly scheduled programming. Fernanda and I rode the Metrorail to the excessively massive Miami airport, strapped with our osprey bags and suited with our favourite airport outfits.
What will happen next? We never know for sure. The cliché is to live in the moment, and I wholeheartedly agree, but in pursuing something great, a plan goes a long way. So, beyond taking things as they come and living in the moment, we can plan, act according to the plan, protect ourselves from unplanned events, and think on our feet when the plan blows up.