It’s no secret that I love to travel. With the world being such a big place, I can’t wait to get out there and explore everything that mother nature and the world has to offer. I like to be the type of “get up and go” type of person. That means that basically, I like to wake up, get up and hit the road to whatever destination I want.

What that also means is that I need to have everything secured and in place when it comes to my finances way ahead of time. I can’t take the chance of being somewhere when traveling and being stranded with access to my money. It just wouldn’t work, at all.

If you’ve been bitten by the traveling bug and are looking for adventure, make certain that you have your money with a good bank! Here are 5 reasons to find a good bank before traveling.

5 Reasons to Find A Good Bank Before Traveling

1.You may not have access to a bank where you are going

Depending on where you want to travel, you may not be able to walk into the lobby of a bank when you need or want money. You need to plan ahead! Connecting with LetMeBank before you start your travels is a great way to ensure that you can find a bank or credit union that you trust.

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Many individuals have been concerned with the state of the UK housing market. With cities such a London feeling a growing amount of economic pressure and due to the fact the Brexit is associated with its own share of unknown variables, many landlords are looking to attract as many possible tenants as possible in order to supersede any volatility that might be looming just over the horizon. This is also why a growing number of professional letting agencies are taking to the online community so that they can leverage the power of exposure. What steps might landlords be able to take with the help of e-commerce platforms and why might such methods prove to represent invaluable assets during 2019? Let us first begin by looking at the basic principles behind a free web store before moving on to examine some of the best e-commerce solutions at the moment.

More Than Retail Sales Alone

Most individuals will immediately attribute online retail portals with product sales and marketing campaigns. While this is indeed true, what exactly defines a “product” in this day and age? We need to consider the concept of a product with a much broader terminology. In this sense, it signifies any tangible good or service that is offered by one individual to another for a specific price. The real estate is certainly no different. As opposed to selling a physical retail item, we are instead referring to the ability to post letting opportunities to the general public.
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I decided that I’d like to watch the Australian Open tennis tournament this year. I knew that I’d have to spend some money in order to see this grand slam.

Initially, Eurosport Player looked like the best option. However, after some research, I discovered that I wouldn’t be able to watch Eurosport on my Chromebook, as you need to download the app to watch online. I downloaded the Eurosport Player app to my mobile phone, But the screen is too small for watching tennis. There wasn’t a Eurosport Player app downloaded to our TV. As I knew I would be out of the office and spending a couple of nights away from home, I needed to be able to watch the Australian Open on my Chromebook.

Next, I looked at TV Player, which included both Eurosport channels in its premium subscription, costing £7 a month. This appeared to be a better option. The TV Player app was already installed on our TV. Plus. As it’s browser based when watching online, I would be able to watch on the Chromebook.

I signed up to TV Player for a month. Of course, one of the issues with watching the Australian Open in the UK, is the time difference. Many of the matches are played during the night. I thought that I could partly get around that by using the 10 hour online recording available with the premium subscription. If you wanted to upgrade to %o hours recording space, you had to pay an additional £3 per month. I don’t think that 10 hours is a high enough allowance.

However, that wasn’t the main problem. The majority of my scheduled recordings failed, I have no idea why.

In the end, the one month TV Player subscription was a mixed bag. I did see some matches on on a mix of TV, laptop and phone, either live in the morning, or replays on later that day, which I enjoyed. But it was very frustrating not being able to record matcha played during the night. I didn’t find a way to select which match I wanted to watch, which I think is possible on Eurosport Player.

Putting it into perspective, at £7 (the price of a cheap lunch), the one month TV Player subscription was good value for money.

I’d been intending to try out the Gallery Restaurant at the Stirling Campus of Forth Valley College. The purpose of the college restaurant is to provide real life training for hospitality students.

You need to book a table at the Gallery Restaurant, either by phone or by completing an online booking request. During term time the restaurant serves lunch Mondays to Fridays from 12.00 to 13.30 and dinner on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 17.00 to 18.30. Lunch costs £7.50 for two courses, £10 for three courses. Dinner costs £10 for two courses, £12.50 for three courses. I booked a table for lunch.

The restaurant has lovely views over the River Forth towards the Ochil Hills and the Wallace Monument.

My Cheese Souffle starter was delicious..

My main course was Pork Lion, served with Mashed Potato and Veg. The meat was tender and lean.

I had the Banana Bread and Butter Pudding for dessert, which was served with Ice Cream. It was quite nice and light compared to some bread and butter puddings.

I will be returning to the Gallery Restaurant at the Forth Valley College Stirling Campus. The food was really tasty and great value for money.

Why don’t you check out if your local college has a restaurant offering fine dining at low prices?

I always have problems finding reasonably priced comfortable shoes for my large wide feet. I decided to go to Evans in Glsagow during their sale to see if I could find anything suitable. I thought that Evans was in the St Enoch Centre. When I asked at the information desk in the shopping centre I was directed just outside the shopping centre entrance. During my chat with the member of staff, she mentioned that I should try JD Williams as they had a good selection of wide fit shoes in large sizes.

As I bought some shoes in Evans, I forgot about JD Williams until I say an advert for them online. I assume that it was targeted advertising, as I had been searching online for large wide fitting shoes.

I decided to take a look at the JD Williams website. I was pleasantly surprised by the low price of the wide fitting shoes in size 9 that were reduced in their sale.

There were even leather shoes for around £10. I also managed to find a 20% discount voucher, bringing the price down even more.

I looked into the delivery options. If my order totalled at least £40 then there was a free click and collect option. My nearest local store was a five minute walk from our flat.

Before ordering, I also double checked JD Williams returns policy. I only order clothes or shoes online if the retailer offers free returns.

I proceeded with the order. I received a text informing me that my parcel had arrived two days after ordering.

Unfortunately, two out of the four pairs of shoes which I’d ordered were too narrow fo rme. I repacked them, filled in the returns form, which asked the reason for returning. and dropped the package off at the local shop.

Three days later, I received an email to say that the return had been received and my credit card would be refunded within then next few days.

Overall, I was very happy with my oneline shopping experience with JD Williams. There was good choice of wide fitting shoes in my size, the prices were low. The ordering, delivery and returns all went smoothly.

If you are looking for a cheap and tasty meal in Glasgow city centre, you should try the Aga Mezze Turkish restaurant. When I had lunch there on a weekday in December 2018, it costs £6 for a two course lunch.

The Aga Mezze is located in Dundas Street, just behind Glasgow Queen Street railway station. The restaurant is on the first floor. The interior is a bit tired and dated.

But I did appreciate the fresh flowers on the table.

I opted for the Feta cheese and spinach starter, which was served with warm homemade Turkish bread,

My main course of moussaka, served with a salad, was really good, if a little oily.

The toilets were a bit past their sell by date and could have done with a refurb.

With advancements in technology and the health sector, the population is living longer than ever before. A report from Public Health England stated that men can expect to live for another 19 years and women for a further 21. Therefore, the ways in which you can invest for retirement are evolving over time. Pensions were long considered the leading way to save money to use after retirement, but there is an emerging trend of investing in property that is now seemingly more lucrative.

Let’s take a closer look. The property market has long been regarded as a prosperous form of investment, however, with the speculation over Brexit in the media, uncertainty began to circulate leaving trust dwindling due to the perceived last of security in the asset. House prices are deteriorating, and the North/South divide is increasing, although contrary to this, current research has highlighted that buy to let investments in property have the potential to triumph over pensions in terms of long term growth and returns.

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I recently stayed at Travelodge Ayr for two nights, I’ve stayed at that hotel recently and reviewed it on Help Me To Save. When I arrived in my room, one of the first things that I noticed sitting between the pillows on the bed was a pink sign to hang on the door knob.

Initially, I though that Travelodge had finally upgraded their do not disturb and please make up my room sign. However on closer inspection, there appears to be a new policy on room cleaning if your stay is for more than one night.

If you wish to have your room serviced, you need to hang the aforementioned sign on your door before 11am.

I assume that the new policy has been implemented to ensure that housekeeping staff can focus on cleaning the rooms from which guests have checked out from, by the latest check out time of noon, to be ready for new guests arriving by the earliest check in time of 3pm.

What if you are staying for more than one night and you’d like your room to be serviced, but you are not going out until after 11am?

Tough luck!

I am getting so fed up of being contacted by Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) clsim firms. I’ve had numerous calls on our fixed line at home and on my mobile phone.

I had never signed up for PPI as I never thought that I needed it. I always set aside any money spent by paying with credit card in my current account to pay of my credit card in full by direct debit every month.

Quite often staff calling from the PPI claims firms have been extremely persistent and or verging on rude when I’ve said to them that I have never purchased PPI.

Even if I had bought PPI, I would make the claim myself to avoid paying fees to the PPI claim firm. From July this year, the maximum fee that could be charged for recovery of misoold PPI is 20% plus VAT. In the past, I had read about much higher fees.

I recently received a large brown envelope through our letter box which had the text ‘Customer Refund Service’ and a logo of the scales of justice emblazoned at the top left hand corner. In the envelope window. there was a claim reference number and a potential claim amount of £3,175.

I knew immediately that this was a mail shot, as it wasn’t addressed to either myself or my husband. But it was certainly doing it best to look like an official letter. 

There was also a delivered by Royal Mail postage franking mark a top right hand corner of the envelope. I was a bit dismayed that Royal Mail are making money from the PPI claim industry, but Royal Mail are now a private company and focused on making a profit

At the bottom right had corner of the back of the envelope, there was text saying ‘Marketing Information Enclosed’. The text clarifying the true nature of the letter had been placed in a position where it was unlikely that it would spotted. In my opinion, it should have been on the front of the envelop in the same size of text as the ‘Customer Refund Service’.

The Roundabout Glasgow day ticket costs £7 for adults and £3.50 for children. You can buy the tickets at staffed Scotrail stations, or from the conductor on the train.

The ticket is valid for travel by Scotrail  between more than 100 stations within the Strathclyde area, from Croy in the north, Largs in the west , Neilston in the south to Holytown in the east. It is also valid all day on the Glasgow subway. You can use the tickets for travel after 9am, of anytime at weekends.

When planning a day out in Glasgow recently, I reckoned that the venues which I wanted to visit were a bit far apart to walk between. That made me decide to buy a Roundabout Glasgow day ticket, so that I could travel by Glasgow Subway between the venues.

An off-peak day return from Stirling to Glasgow costs me around £7, as I get a 20% discount with my Scotrail Club 50 membership if I purchase an off-peak ticket online. Therefore, a Roundabout Glasgow day ticket would cost around the same as an off-peak day return from Stirling to Glasgow. The big advantage of the Roundabout Glasgow day ticket is that there are no afternoon off-peak restrictions. With my day return between Stirling and Glasgow. I can’t catch a train home between 4.30 to 6.15pm.

The down side of using a Roundabout Glasgow day ticket is that it entails me driving from our home in Stirling to Croy.  I opted for Croy as I’d read that it had a large car park. Stirling railway station is around one mile from our home, which is walkable. But not ideal if it’s raining. The problem with driving to Stirling railway station, is that even if you are willing to part with £3.50 to park at the station, there are never any spaces left is you arrive around 9am to catch the first off-peak trains.

It took me around 25 minutes to drive to Croy station from home, the same time it takes me to walk from home to Stirling station. There were still quite a few spaces left when I arrived at Croy station around 8.45am, in order to catch the first train departing after 9am.

When I purchased the Roundabout Glasgow day ticket at Croy railway station, I was given one ticket. I assumed that I could use this ticket either at the barrier in a Scotrail or Subway station. However, I couldn’t get through the barrier at Buchanan Street Subway station. When I went to the ticket window, I was informed that I needed to show my Roundabout Glasgow ticket and I would then be given an all day Subway ticket. It would have been useful to have been informed of this by the Scotrail ticket clerk.

There are four trains per hour between Glasgow Queen Street and Croy which is really convenient.

On arrival back at Croy. I thought that I had found the best way to get to Glasgow from Stirling on a weekday. If the things which I wanted to do were mainly around the city centre. I would just buy an off-peak return from Croy, costing £4, with my the 20% discount offered by Scotrail Club 50. If the venues were further out, I’d buy the £7 Roundabout Glasgow day ticket. Purchasing a Roundabout Glasgow day ticket would also mean that I could catch a train back to Croy at anytime in the afternoon or early evening.

However on walking back through the car park to the car, I saw some signs saying that the upper car park would be closed for one month from resurfacing starting in mid January 2019. I reckoned this would mean that I wouldn’t be able to find a space in the car park arriving around 8.50am. Rather annoying as I am booked to attend some events outside the Glasgow city centre in January.

The best laid plans!