Why Money Belts Are Outdated & You Should Stop Using Them Immediately

Why Money Belts Don’t Work & What to Use Instead

Should you still use money belts today? To answer this question, let’s first look at why there was a need for a money belt in the first place. Many decades ago, there were no ATM machines, credit cards, bank cards, electronic payment apps on phones … basically none of these existed. The only means of paying for hotels, goods and services were cash and travellers’ cheques (yes, those).

So, there was a need to hide large amounts of cash and TCs and the money belt came to rescue. Fast forward to today, travellers no longer need to carry large amounts of cash and TCs. You don’t pay your hotels or plane/train fares with cash anymore. Everything now is credit cards, cash, or phone app payments. Money belts have become outdated and a thing of the past. Yes, there are some who will hold onto them and will use them forever. But this is always the case as some of us simply hold on to the past, won’t upgrade and accept the change.

There are also several disadvantages in using money belts:

Money Belts Are Old School & Ridiculous.

Money Belts are the opposite of inconspicuous.

Money Belts Are Sweaty & Dirty.

Money Belts Advertise You Have Cash & Make You a Target for Theft or Robbery.

Money Belts Immediately Mark You Out as A Tourist—And Not a Particularly Savvy One. You Have to Expose All of Your Cash Just to Get a Little.

Money Belts Are an Insult to The Country You Are Visiting (I Don’t Trust Anyone Here).

What to Use Instead of Money Belts

Diversification is the key. I don’t recommend putting all your money, cards, and valuables in something like a money belt. Put your money, cards, and valuables in separate places such as in your back pack, personal item bag, sling bag, fanny pack, small cross body bag, or a day pack.

Do not carry all your money when go out for your day trip. Leave some money and one credit card in the hotel (possibly in the hotel safe box), some money and another credit card you will be using in your day pack bag or any bag you are using for the day.

Better yet, keep some cash in your front pocket to pay for any expenses for that day. This amount should be little enough that even if you lose it you are in no trouble, as you have backup money in the other bag. Replenish your daily expenses money when you return to your hotel or as needed.

To make this article short, I didn’t elaborate on some of the disadvantages mentioned above. However, watch this video here to see the details:

Do Not Wear Sling Bags at The Airline Check-In Counter

How to Wear a Sling Bag to Save Baggage Fees

 Every inch of space counts, especially with what the airlines are charging for extra bag fees these days. In this article, I will give you a tip that not many know about sling bags.

Sling bags should be a must-have travel accessory when you travel. They can keep your passport, phone, charger, ear buds, and other accessories close to you throughout the flight. This also gives you the opportunity to carry some extra items to create more space in your carry on or personal item bags.

In general, airlines won’t count a sling bag as a personal item. However, if you wear a sling bad across your shoulder, some airline employees may count it as a personal item.

This is not a problem at all if you have only one carry on and a sling bag. For those carrying a personal item, a carry on, and a sling bag, this may cause a problem. The airline staff may ask you to check one bag or pay extra fees.

One simple way to avoid this is to wear your sling bag as a hip bag or as a waist money bag before going to the airline counter. A waist bag counts as part of personal attire and will be exempt from your baggage limit.

I travel with only one carry on and have traveled 100s of times wearing a sling big as a cross body shoulder bag and had no issues. The only time my sling bag counted as a personal item was in 2023 when I was on my way to the Philippines with EVA AIR. It didn’t matter for me, as I had only one other bag.

So next time you travel, depending how many bags you are carrying, be mindful about how you wear your sling bag at the airport.

Top 3 Travel Apps for Traveling to The Philippines or Asia

Our Two Most-Used Phone Apps for Philippines Travel

We traveled to the Philippines for a month. We used many smartphone apps, travel and non-travel, on a regular basis. However, some of the apps helped us so much that we wanted to share here and in this video: Top 5 Travel Accessories & Apps For Month-Long Philippines Trip

Kayak Mobile App – Kayak, the online travel company, owned by Priceline (who also owns Booking.com, Agoda). Kayak Mobile, which is free and truly incredible, can do a lot more than search for hotels and flights.

The Kayak Mobile App can track flights and the best feature which many do not know about is that it can create an itinerary of your trips automatically when you email your hotel or flight bookings to trips@kayak.com. You can visualize your trip day-by-day in chronological order, so you will have a clear idea of your entire trip without double booking or overbooking anything.

We had hotel change every 1 or 2 days for our month-long trip, so the Kayak Mobile App helped us a lot in organising all our bookings together. Also, at the airport the Kayak Mobile App alerted us about flight delays, gate changes, and even our airport baggage carousel numbers long before they became available on the display board.

Grab – Many Asian countries don’t have Uber, but they have Grab. It’s a very handy app to call a taxi or bike if you don’t want to get scammed and avoid any hassle. We used Grab almost every day in the Philippines and it saved us a lot of time also.

Airalo – This is an eSIM provider that will save you a lot of time and hassle. You can install your destination country’s SIM before even leaving your home country and you will have the network when you land. We also installed a local physical SIM on our phones, but the pain and hassle will make me think twice before installing a physical SIM again.

Top 10 Things You Need to Know Before Flying Lynx Air

Lynx Air – What You Must Know

I flew with Canadian ultra-low-cost carrier Lynx Air from Halifax to Toronto and learned these top FAQs you must need to know before flying with Lynx Air next time.

1. Lynx Air doesn’t provide free carry-on luggage; you have to pay for it. However, they do provide 1 free personal item. I found their personal item size (6x13x17) to be slightly smaller than many other airlines.

2. If you need to, you can purchase checked or carry-on bags before you arrive at the airport to save money.

3. Always check-in online to make sure you have the flight and you may be able to get better seats for free.

4. No food, snacks, or drinks will be provided. You will only get a sad little cup of water.

5. There is no entertainment or anything like that whatsoever. Arrange your own.

6. There is no charging outlets. Bring your own power banks.

7. Lynx Air seats do not recline and don’t expect them to be comfortable like international flights.

8. Expect delays and cancellations. This is because Lynx Air does not have an abundance of planes.

9. I found their pre-boarding and on-board flight services to be not too bad. Lynx Air is a no-frill airline but I have to give their employees and flight attendants credit for being nice and providing good service. This is based on my own experience; your experience may vary.

10. Based on the facts I mentioned above, I would still fly with Lynx Air in the future to save money.

Merino Wool T-Shirt – My First Impressions of a Merino Tech T-Shirt

First Time Buying A Merino T-Shirt

After waiting for many tears, I finally bought a Merino wool T-shirt. Merino wool clothes are expensive. The are made from a specific type of Merino sheep wool and offer some unique characteristics.

Some of the benefits Merino clothes offer include:

- Super Soft & Comfortable

- Moisture Wicking & Odor Resistant

- Naturally regulates body temperature to keep you comfortable all year round

- Perfect for travel

What I have heard is that you can wear Merino clothes for a few days without any odour. Also, its natural heat-regulating property keeps you warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

The big disadvantage of Merino wool clothes is that they are very expensive. For example, a t-shirt can cost around $100. This is what kept me from buying a Merino t-shirt for a long time.

The t-shirt I bought is made by a brand called Merino Tech. It is made of 100% organic Merino sheep wool from New Zealand. When I first opened it, I was impressed right away.

The fabric feels very smooth and soft. It also looks high quality. I found a few Merino socks included as a gift. My main reason to buy a Merino wool t-shirt is for travel. I am going on a trip to the Philippines next week for almost a month and this will be a good opportunity to put my Merino wool t-shirt to the test.

I have a video review which can be viewed here:

Merino T-Shirt First Impressions