Hey there Reader,

Welcome to 2026 and (hopefully) many fabulous new adventures.

Our Christmas–New Year dash back to Australia was a blur: expensive, busy, and not exactly our idea of fun. Still, it was worth it to see our mums and my sister. After the long drive and red‑eye flight back, it took a while to recover, but we’re now firmly back in the Saigon rhythm.

We’ve already had our first guest of the year — a mate who loves Ho Chi Minh City almost as much as we do (and definitely loves a beer).

Since his departure, things have been quiet, giving me space to dive into two big projects: migrating to the new platform and building my new course, The Independent Traveler’s Guide to AI Itinerary Planning. More on that next week — let’s just say skeptics will be converted, the AI‑curious will be delighted, and the beta launch will come with a stack of bonuses (personal itinerary reviews, an exclusive community to swap ideas, and tools that save you hours (and hours) of trip planning).

But for now…

📰 What’s Inside This Week

• Travel Tips: Why buying insurance early matters, plus Vietnam fast‑track hacks and how to get your VND like a pro.
• Top Stories: Bali’s new entry rules, Europe’s winter storm chaos (and why flexibility is your best friend), and January/February’s early‑booking sweet spot.
• Deals Roundup: Score 15% off accommodation and travel insurance, plus fresh offers from Worldsitters, Global Petsitters, and all the other competitors riding the current Trusted Housesitters backlash.
• Resource Highlight: Guides to maximizing your annual leave — turn a handful of days off into epic holidays

Let's go....

In This Week's Issue:

Top Stories in Travel This Week​

​Time-Sensitive Travel Deals

​Travel Tips: Lessons From The Road​

​Travel Plans: What's Ahead​

​Travel Resources: Worth a Look​

​A Quick Favor

📰 Top Stories in Travel this Week

🌴 Bali’s New Entry Rules (March 2026)

Starting in March, Bali may require proof of sufficient funds for all foreign arrivals. Expect to show:

• Three months of bank statements
• Evidence of prepaid accommodation
• Confirmed return or onward ticket

Officials say the move is about shifting from mass tourism to “quality tourism” and curbing overstays.

👉Read More​

Sharyn’s take: Bali is cracking down. If you’re heading there, make sure your paperwork is watertight — or risk being turned away at the border.

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❄️ Europe Winter Storm Travel Chaos

Severe winter storms have hammered Europe since early January:

• Amsterdam Schiphol: Over 500 flights canceled in one day; KLM scrapped 600 flights on Jan 7 alone, with 69% of its schedule canceled.
• Paris Charles de Gaulle: Airlines ordered to cut 40% of flights due to snow and ice.
• Eurostar trains: Severe delays and cancellations between France, Belgium, and the UK.

Thousands of passengers were stranded overnight, with airports setting up camp beds and emergency food.

👉Read More​

Sharyn’s take: January in Europe is a gamble. Weather can wipe out entire travel plans overnight, so the only way to protect yourself is to stay flexible — book tickets you can change, allow buffer days, keep essentials in your carry‑on, monitor airline apps for updates, and never travel without insurance.

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📅 Early Booking Deals: Why January & February Matter

Data shows 61% of travelers plan to book 2026 trips in January or February. Why?

• Airlines and hotels release early‑bird discounts. (See the Booking.com deal below)
• You lock in better availability for peak seasons.
• Booking early avoids price spikes tied to major events.

Savings:

• Early bookers save 20–30% compared to last‑minute buyers.
• Families booking summer holidays in January can save $200–$400 per person versus waiting until spring (Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere!).

👉Read More​

Sharyn’s take: If you know when and where you’re going, book now — waiting only means higher fares and fewer choices. And, if you want to plan smarter, head to our Trip Planning Cheatsheet in the Travel Resources section on our website. It pulls everything you need to plan and book your next trip together on one easy‑to‑use page.

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💸 Top Deals

✈️ Cover‑More

Timeline: Now – 31 Jan 2026

Offer: Aussies - get 15% off your next travel Insurance Policy

Use PROMO CODE: SAVE15 when you buy Cover‑More travel insurance.

👉 Get A Travel Insurance Quote​

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🏩 Booking.com - Early 2026 Deals

Timeline: Now – 1 April 2026

Offer: 15% or more off stays worldwide

Use the link below to go to their special deals page.

👉Book Accommodation Deals​

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🚍 12Go

12Go is a trusted booking platform for transport across 5,000+ destinations in 100+ countries, with over 3.5 million travelers served and 166,000 reviews backing its reliability — especially strong for travel in South East Asia.

Timeline: Now – 15 Feb 2026

Offer: A 5% discount on transport bookings — up to USD 3 off.
Only valid for new users.

Use PROMO CODE: TP12GO when you book your next trip.

👉 Book a Trip​

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💸 Deals for Alternatives to Trusted Housesitters

A few weeks back I told you I’d do everything in my power to support competition after Trusted Housesitters introduced that outrageous new “fee per sit.” I’m still hopping mad about it — and I know many of you are too.

So this week, I’ve lined up:

• Exclusive offers from 2 emerging platforms that are stepping up as fresh alternatives.
• Updated deals from most of the established competitors — because the more choice we have, the stronger the market becomes.

1- 🐱 WorldSitters

​Worldsitters looks like it has real potential. The founders bring the right skills and approach to launch something truly competitive. Even better:

• Join the waitlist now and get your first 6 months free.
• You’ll also have a say in how the platform gets built — shaping features from the ground up.

That’s a no‑risk move for anyone frustrated with Trusted Housesitters’ new fee structure.

2- 🐱 Global Petsitters

Another new competitor worth watching is Global Petsitters. They’re offering a bold incentive:

If you’re among the first 3000 members to sign up, you’ll get your first 12 months free.

That’s a full year of access at no cost, giving early adopters a chance to road‑test the platform while helping shape its growth.

3 - Updated Deals & Discounts for ALL the Other Major Platforms

I also went back to all the other major international and country‑based platforms to check their deals and discounts. (Think Aussie Housesitters, UK Housesitters, Nomador and more) Not exaggerating — they are making the most of the THS debacle with some of these deals.

👉 Head to Section 1 of our House and Petsitting Resource page and you’ll find all the links and codes neatly organised under the “International” and “Country‑Specific” tabs.

Sharyn’s take: Trusted Housesitters is still the best option for many international housesitters AT THE MOMENT! However, they may think they can squeeze loyal members until they're dry, but competition is alive, well and growing. If you’re looking for alternatives, now’s the time to start exploring these deals.

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👉 Looking for savings beyond flash sales? Check out our Evergreen Deals page for year‑round offers.

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🛠 Travel Tips: Lessons From the Road

✈️ Vietnam Fast‑Track Immigration — Worth Every Cent

If you’re flying into Vietnam anytime soon, especially Ho Chi Minh City, do yourself a favour and book Fast‑Track Immigration. It’s around 30 USD per person, and honestly, it’s the best money we’ve spent in Vietnam ever!

We went from landing to clearing immigration in under 5 minutes — no exaggeration. Meanwhile, the regular queue snaked through the hot, stuffy hall with a wait time pushing two hours or more. Sure, we still had to wait for our bags, but at least we could park our butts somewhere comfortable instead of sweating it out in a human traffic jam.

👉 Book the same Fast‑Track service we used for HCMC

​Flying into Hanoi? ​

​Flying into Danang?​

Sharyn’s take: If you value your sanity after a long‑haul flight, this is a no‑brainer. Vietnam’s immigration halls can be chaos at peak times — Fast‑Track turns it into a breeze.

💰 Don’t Buy Your Vietnamese Dong at Home

Since quite a few of you are heading over to Vietnam soon, we wanted to add this extra tip just for you — do NOT buy your Vietnamese Dong in your home country. You’ll get absolutely slaughtered on the rate.

To give you an idea:

• CBA’s (Australia's biggest bank) cash rate: ~15,600 VND to the AUD
• Realistic rate in Vietnam: ~17,600 VND

That’s roughly 12% less in your pocket before you’ve even left the airport. Ouch.

The good news?

• Airport exchange rates in Vietnam are surprisingly decent.
• You only need to swap enough to get into town — you might get a slightly better rate with money changers in the city, but the difference is usually tiny.
• ATMs are everywhere, including at the airport.

If you’ve got a fee‑free withdrawal option (like a WISE card or a Macquarie Bank Transaction Account), just hit the ATM and pull out 3.9 million VND before you leave the airport.
Pro Tip: Not 4 million — withdrawing 3.9 million means you’ll get a few smaller notes, which makes paying for your taxi or Grab ride much easier.

And one more thing: Always check you’ve been given the right amount, immediately you get handed the cash. Our mate Ziggy was almost short‑changed at the airport but caught the “mistake” because she did the quick note‑count before walking away.

Sharyn’s take: Vietnam is one of the easiest countries in the world for cash access — just don’t let your home bank fleece you before you even arrive.

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🛡️ Travel Insurance: Don’t Leave This One Too Late

A quick tip that could save you thousands: buy your travel insurance the moment you make your first booking.

Not later. Not “when I get around to it.” Not the week before you fly.

Why?

Most cancellation cover isn’t retroactive.

If you book your flights today and only buy insurance months later, then something happens and you need to cancel… those flights probably won’t be covered. That’s the part many people only discover when it’s too late.

🧨 What could force you to cancel — and can be covered

A good travel insurance policy can help with cancellations caused by things like:

• Sudden illness or injury (you or a close family member)
• A death in the family (And some cover death or injury of a pet)
• Major transport disruptions (airline cancellations, strikes, etc.)
• Terrorist attacks at your destination
• Wedding Cancellation (yours or one you're heading to as a guest)
• Relationship breakdowns (yes really!)

These are the big, expensive, trip‑ruining events — and they’re only covered if your policy was already active when you booked.

📝 How cancellation cover works in real life (policy dependent)

• Book a last‑minute trip 5 days before departure and buy insurance at the same time?​
  Not covered — policy bought too close to travel.
• Paid for flights months before buying insurance?​
  Not covered — they were booked long before the policy existed.
• Buy insurance at the same time as your first booking, then book the rest later?​
  Covered — the policy was active from the start.
• Paid for accommodation within 48 hours before buying the policy?​
  Covered — it falls inside the allowable window.

Sharyn’s take: Don’t wait. Buy your travel insurance as soon as you lock in your first booking. And READ THE POLICY inclusions and exclusions before you buy — you might need to pay an extra premium to get certain protections. (You can find a good example of inclusions and exclusions in Cover-More's Comprehensive Cover - See Pages 33-35 )

And for the Aussies reading this…

A reminder that Cover‑More has 15% off all policies until the end of January. So if you’ve already booked your next trip but haven’t sorted insurance yet, now’s the moment.

👉 Get A QUOTE! and add promo Code SAVE15 at checkout. (Click the link straight after the Age box(es) to add, if it's not there already.)

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🗺 Travel Plans: What’s Ahead

Our whirlwind Christmas dash back to Australia was fun, frantic, and financially feral. Loved seeing our mums (and my sister), but by the end our credit cards were begging for mercy. Sliding back into our Saigon apartment felt like bliss — cheap eats, unrivaled convenience, and a chance to let both us and the bank balance recover before the next round of adventures kicks off.

It's just over a week until things get lively again. I’m off to Hong Kong for 10 days, and Tim is heading to Phnom Penh for his visa run. We’ll be in two very different climates — Hong Kong will be noticeably colder — and two very different styles of accommodation.

I’ll be looking after a low-maintenance kitty in a lovely Hong Kong‑sized apartment. Bigger and far more comfortable than your average hotel room, but still compact in that classic HK way. I'm really excited to give my AI‑generated, fully customised Hong Kong itinerary a proper real‑world test. And honestly… it looks sooooooo good. I can’t wait to see how it performs on the ground.

Once we’re both back in Saigon, the social calendar kicks off — we’ve got quite a few visitors lined up to stay with us over the coming months. After that, the plan is to sort out our new passports. They’re more expensive to renew here than in Australia, but the extra cost is nothing compared to the price of an extended stay back home. That said, we need to return anyway — Tim is now 65, and I’m turning 60 soon, so there’s a fair bit of life admin we need to update.

We’re also hoping to get to Algeria later this year, and that visa can only be arranged in Australia, so that’s another nudge toward a trip home.

On the housesitting front, we’ve already locked in a three‑week sit in Central Brisbane for June–July, which we’re really looking forward to. We’ll also put the word out to friends and family — if anyone is fleeing the winter chills and wants fabulous sitters to mind their home and pets. We’re currently super-flexible from May through August. And if the dates cross over with our locked in sit, we can always divide and conquer to cover both.

Everything else is a bit up in the air at the moment, but that’s travel life. The universe has a way of sorting these things out. Our biggest decision over the next few weeks will be whether to do one more visa run and extend our time here in Vietnam until late June, or head somewhere new before eventually making our way back to Australia and then onto the northern hemisphere.

Watch this space.

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📚 Travel Resources: Worth A Look

✈️ Holiday Maximizers for 2026

Whether you’re still working full‑time or living the glorious no‑boss life, these “holiday maximizer” calendars are gold. Workers can stretch their annual leave into long, luxurious breaks — and for the rest of us, they’re the perfect tool for knowing when not to move.

Here are some of the best national guides I've found for 2026:

Australia — TimeOut’s guide shows how to turn a handful of leave days into long stretches of downtime.
👉 Learn How

USA — Forbes breaks down how Americans can turn 14 PTO days into 46 days off by stacking leave around federal holidays.
👉 Learn How​

UK — Metro shows how to get 57 days off using 28 days of annual leave — the UK always wins at this game.
👉Learn How ​

New Zealand — Hampshire Holiday Parks outlines how Kiwis can turn 20 leave days into nearly 50 days off with smart planning.
👉Learn How ​

Canada — Daily Hive maps out the best ways to stretch stat holidays into long breaks across provinces.
👉Learn How

Sharyn’s take: Holiday‑maximizer guides aren’t just for office workers — they’re brilliant for travelers and housesitters too. We use them in reverse: instead of squeezing more holidays out of work, we avoid moving during peak periods when prices spike and everything books out. And for housesitters, these dates are gold — the more people heading off on holidays, the more incredible sits pop up. A little planning goes a long way.

🌱 What’s Working for Me (and might for you too)

Part of my mission to get these allergies under control involved finally doing a proper allergy test — and surprise, surprise… I’m allergic to European, North American and Asian dust mites. Basically the global collection. Good luck avoiding that while traveling.

Apparently around 10% of people have some level of dust‑mite sensitivity, so if you’ve ever woken up puffy, itchy, or feeling like you’ve been in a wrestling match overnight… you’re not alone.

The upside? Once I knew the culprit, I could actually start mitigating it — both in our Saigon apartment and on the road.

Here’s what I’ve added to my setup:

• ​Xiaomi Air Purifier – Light, portable, and effective.A game‑changer for sleeping and breathing better generally!
• ​Mini desk‑size air purifier – Lightweight, compact and perfect for travel days and hotel rooms.
• ​Dust‑mite‑proof mattress cover – Stays on the bed at home.
• ​Dust‑mite‑proof pillow - compact enough to travel with
• ​Dust-mite proof pillow cover – Ditto.
• ​Silk sleeping bag liner– Light, packable, and great for creating a clean barrier on unfamiliar beds.

(Note: links are to similar (not exact) products I'm using as most of you can't order through our Amazon equivalent here - Lazada.)

The result so far:​
I’m not calling it a miracle, but I’m waking up far less inflamed. Before: swollen eyes and a face that looked like it had lost a bar fight. Now: waking up as good as — or better than — when I went to bed. Early days, but promising.

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That's all for now.

🧳 Until next time, may your bags arrive with you, your deals stack up, and your wanderlust never run dry.

Tim and Sharyn

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