Travel to AU Questions

[BrettGC]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

Worth the risk for 10,000 pesos?

Yep, I pay it every time I travel.  Only had to use it once and it more than paid for itself and insurance for all trips previously and after.  I had a medical incident in India years ago.  

Given that the US and PI don't have a reciprocal health care agreement with Australia, if something does happen you're looking at close to US costs for any medical.  If any of your party are from a nation with a nationalised health care system chances are covered eg: UK, NZ, Scandinavian countries etc are covered for emergency illness and injury but I'd still get it anyway, the public system in Australia is good in some areas but hit or miss in others.    

[OnMyWay]

14 minutes ago, BrettGC said:

Yep, I pay it every time I travel.  Only had to use it once and it more than paid for itself and insurance for all trips previously and after.  I had a medical incident in India years ago.  

Given that the US and PI don't have a reciprocal health care agreement with Australia, if something does happen you're looking at close to US costs for any medical.  If any of your party are from a nation with a nationalised health care system chances are covered eg: UK, NZ, Scandinavian countries etc are covered for emergency illness and injury but I'd still get it anyway, the public system in Australia is good in some areas but hit or miss in others.    

I assume you mean travel insurance?  10,000 was the extra cost for Virgin vs. Jetstar.  Yup, travel insurance is a must when travelling with a family of 5.  One kid gets sick and can't fly could cost us a lot.  I have two in mind and I think they are both less than 10,000 pesos for the family, depending on the coverage I choose.  I will probably chose a higher coverage.

We used it in NZ in 2019.  My stepdaughter had an allergic reaction to some food and we had to go to emergency.  Insurance covered most of it.

[OnMyWay]

@GeoffH @hk blues@BrettGC

Thanks for the replies and I apologize in that I wasted your time.  Darn Google Flights!  Explanation:

Over the past weeks I have been using Google flights to get preliminary estimates on carriers, timings and costs.  About a week ago I looked at MEL-CBR and saw a REX flight that looked good.  I penciled it into a spreadsheet I am keeping.  So yesterday, I have all my flights booked except the last one, MEL-CBR.  I go to Google flights and start over.  All that comes up is Virgin, Jetstar and Qantas.  I didn't realize this until 15 minutes ago when I looked at my spreadsheet.

REX has a good flight for less than Jetstar.  Google flights is no longer showing it.  So, beware of Google flights.

[OnMyWay]

We are all booked.  That is a relief!

MNL-SYD  Cebu Pacific

3 nights Sydney

SYD-BNE  REX

5 nights BNE

BNE-OOL  Probably Uber

OOL-MEL Virgin

9 nights MEL

MEL-CBR REX

3 nights CBR

CBR-SYD Probably bus

1 night SYD

SYD-MNL  Cebu Pacific.

[OnMyWay]

On 10/12/2022 at 5:48 PM, Gator said:

Check the World Nomads website.

I'm looking into insurance.  World Nomads is know for covering extreme sports.  Here is the list of some they cover.

 

What Type of Activities Does World Nomads Cover?

Most travel insurance companies tend to exclude coverage for dangerous activities like skydiving and kickboxing. But World Nomads covers more than 200 types of adventurous activities, depending on your plan, including:

• Air guitar
• ATVs
• Backpacking
• Ballooning
• Bungee jumping
• Cage fighting
• Caving and spelunking
• Cliff diving
• Dog sledding
• Free diving (up to 197 feet)
• Hang gliding
• Kite boarding
• Mixed martial arts
• Mountaineering ( up to 22,965 feet)
• Paddle boarding
• Rappelling (up to 22,965 feet)
• Rock climbing
• Rugby
• Running of the bulls
• Safari tours
• Salsa dancing
• Scuba diving (up to 165 feet with a commercial instructor or guide)
• Shark cage diving
• Skateboarding
• Skiing or snowboarding by helicopter or snowcat
• Swimming with whales
• Trampolining
• Tree climbing (up to 33 feet)
• Ultimate Frisbee
• War games (military simulations)
• Zip line

[Dave Hounddriver]

21 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Ultimate Frisbee

So . . . . they have insurance for that? 

[OnMyWay]

3 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

So . . . . they have insurance for that? 

Of course.  Slightly more dangerous than Air Guitar.

 

[OnMyWay]

I can't remember if anyone mentioned this above.  Would if be cost effective if I use my BPI Mastercard Debit card at ATMs to get AUD cash?  Or will I get slammed with fees and bad exchange rate?  If Mastercard exchange rates are used, they are very good, but I don't know if that applies.

[BrettGC]

21 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

I can't remember if anyone mentioned this above.  Would if be cost effective if I use my BPI Mastercard Debit card at ATMs to get AUD cash?  Or will I get slammed with fees and bad exchange rate?  If Mastercard exchange rates are used, they are very good, but I don't know if that applies.

Never used a PI card in Aust sorry mate, can't really help other than to say you may get hit with an overseas transaction fee.  

[Gas]

2 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

I can't remember if anyone mentioned this above.  Would if be cost effective if I use my BPI Mastercard Debit card at ATMs to get AUD cash?  Or will I get slammed with fees and bad exchange rate?  If Mastercard exchange rates are used, they are very good, but I don't know if that applies.

We use our Philippine debit cards to get cash, as it works out cheaper than using money changers. There is $5aud fee per withdrawal but the conversation rate isn’t too bad. 
You will find very few people use cash in Australia anymore. It’s mostly tap and go (contactless payment). With our BDO  debit card there is a 1% cross border fee  per transaction for contactless and again the conversation rate is better than you will get at any money changer.