Advice From An Expat On Settling In To A New City Or Country, of Just A short Trip Overseas

Angela as an Expat in Singapore

KINGS, PRESIDENTS,CEOS, VIPS

Know the names of the king, president, CEO of the company your are visiting, in order to chat.

1 MAPS & LANDMARKS

 Find the city map and work out and mark on the map 5 landmarks, one in the centre, one north, one east, one south, one west.

2 MEETING POINT

Find a meeting point, such as a hotel with a cafe, a Starbucks, a Hard rock cafe, a well known local cafe, so if you get lost you can tell the family where to find you, and ask passers by for directions to somewhere they and you know.

3 SAFE STAY & CONVENIENT

Pick the area you want to live or stay in. For a conference I would stay in the conference hotel or the nearest affordable place to save time commuting.

4 TOURIST TOP PLACES

Check three must visit places.

5 FOOD & DRINK

Check three must try foods and drinks.

6 COINS & CURRENCY

Write out a conversion of local currency into your currency, or dollars or Euros.

7 GIFT LIST

Make a list of all the people for whom you need to buy gifts. Keep the sizes and favourite colours and wanted gifts of your family, friends or boss. then when you see a tee-shirt you know what size and colour,  or box of chocolates you know what to buy them. 

Find out what your family, friends, neighbours and others can't or won't drink. No point taking food with pork or lard or pig fat to a Jew or orthodox Muslim. Some people don't drink, are on pills or weight losing diets.

TAX FREE ALLOWANCE

Note your tax free allowance. 

8 HOUSEHOLD MEASUREMENTS

Measure anything you need to match for household purchases, The sizes of windows for curtains, the size of beds for sheets, the size of rooms for carpets.

9 SHOPPING, COSMETICS, IRONS ETC 

Check what is available on the plane and the hotel or studio flat or friend's house. Do you need to take a hairdryer, iron, hair conditioner, toothbrush, eye shades?

KEYS

10 Check you have keys for your destination.

PHONES & ACCESSORIES

11 Check you have accessories, chargers for phones, power bricks for laptops, second set of keys and phones for your destination, phone numbers for your destination office, family, friends.

INFORM FRIENDS

12 Warm your office, family friend, of your impending trip, so they don't take a holiday away when you are planning to visit.

CLOTHES

13 Have alternative weather clothes. A sunhat even to a cold climate. Warm gloves to a hot place. I have gone up a cold mountain in a hot country, out to sea, returning at night in a cold sea breeze and wet.

14 CLOTHES & COVER-UP

 Have a large scarf in case your shorts and tee shirt are not suitable for the guided tour's stop at a church and the stop for drinks in the five star hotel with the dress code.

15 NO FOOD?

Travel with food and drink in case you get delayed on the way to the destination. What could go wrong? 

Singapore flag

We took a trip from Singapore to Malaysia and found all the restaurants were closed for a Muslim holiday (and the entire month of Ramadan). It was another 90 minutes before we found and ordered lunch at a Chinese restaurant several streets away from the shopping mall. 

I also reached hotels where the buffet had shut down just before we arrived. 

A delay on the motorway meant I reached a conference centres after the meal was served. If the hotel and organizers cannot save you food, ask a friend to sneak something out from the leftovers, if only a piece of bread, a butter pat and an apple.

About the Author

Angela has a home in London, England and is also a Singapore Permanent Resident. her family has lived in the USA, Spain and Switzerland.

Contact the Author

I am on Facebook and LinkedIn. If you wish to speak to me, come to a meeting of an online Toastmasters club such as Singapore Online or Braddell Heights Advanced.

Should I pay in their currency or mine? Should I sell in their currency or mine?

Problems
The shop has an article for twenty something, or 200 something in their currency. How mush is that? When they ask if I want to pay in their currency or mine, what should I do?

Answers
I used to like to have prices converted into sterling from, for example, Swiss francs or Euros.

I wanted to be sure that when they added on the tax they hadn't changed the sum from 20 to 200 without my noticing. (I would be more alert in my own currency). I wanted to be able to check
easily what I had paid when I got my bank statement later.

Sometimes local money has alarmingly high sounding amounts. Or I'm not sure of the rate. It's a good idea to check the exchange rate before going shopping.

type it out.
Write it in the back page of your diary or the inside cover, or make a book cover for your diary from a piece of A4 paper from a printer. Write or print the exchange rates and a sample of prices - especially good deals. Set your own budgets for everyday items and splurges.

For example -
coffee = don't pay more than £2.50 ... euros / ... US dollars.
lunch, two courses including drink, tax and service - don't pay more than ........ their currency ............ Euros .............. my currency.
last night dinner - don't pay more than £40 / ............euros including drink, coffee, tax and service.

Book I am selling - ask for .. US dollars / Singapore dollars / eruos. It cost me ... for printing and postage. Don't let them offer less than .......

Bus from hotel to airport costs ... dollars and takes half an hour
Taxi from hotel to airport ........ dollars and takes fifteeen minutes. If taxi wants more than ... dollars take the bus.

Gold jewellery
gold price is ............
add for workmanship / design ....
don't pay more than ......... for a bracelet ......... necklace ....... ear-rings

Wine costs .......... in supermarket in the US /UK /Europe /Asia  half bottle ...............
My duty free allowance is ..............
Don't pay more than .......... their currency or ......... my currency at the airport.

Silver 925 jewellery at home costs
£... for a ring from ....
£ .... for a bracelet on ebay
...... for a ..... on ebay ........

NOTE TO YOUR TRAVELLING FAMILY OR FRIENDS
Buy for yourself / buy for me as a gift / buy for me and I'll reimburse you
I am willing to buy if it's  less / same price / 10% more / twice the price if I fancy something

Advice to spouse / family member or colleague
Pay what they want / remember to bargain
Please buy me a souvenir if it's less / same / only 10% more / really nice - please send me a photo and price on what's ap and I'll text back 'yes buy' or no don't buy
Don't pay more than ............. Euros

Pay ..... shipping and ........insurance

Carpet or Rug Tansport Story
I didn't trust the factory or the shipping services to send me a small carpet back from a Shanghai factory where I bought an old, slightly dirty and stained carpet. They rolled it up and folded it expertly and tightly with their handy wrapping. It went back with me to my hotel in the car we'd had for the day. (A friend's husband had a car and chauffeur from work all day - best day of my life!).

By the time we got back, my husband was home to help carry it upstairs. So no need to find a porter nor trust a porter to disappear in the porter's lift with my precious purchase.

My husband wanted to unwrap it and see what I'd spent all the money on. "No, no, no! I'll never be able to get it back wrapped up as compactly! I've a photo of it."

"Uh-huh. Very nice."

He reflected. "Are you sure what they gave you is the item you photographed? What's in the package?"

"Yes. It's what I bought. I stood over it the whole time. Three of us carried it downstairs to the car."

"Good. Now we need something to protect it in transit and get it on the plane."

We tried all our suitcases and none of them fitted. We measured up and bought a large suitcase, the right shape. We took my rug home as hand luggage.

Back home, it unfolded fine. A nice design, good colours, reasonable price, a bit stained. After lots of work, three applications of carpet stain remover, drying out, trying again, the stains came out. A frayed corner went under a piece of furniture. Success.

I had paid half cash, and because I didn't have enough with me, the rest on credit card. At least the credit card charge would be halved.

Finally, the bill came for the credit card amount. Only half the total cost of the item, because I had paid part cash.

Currency
Back to the vexed question of currency. You think the price is a bargain, or the same as home but you like the item. Or a bit more, but it's a must have. Ask them to change to your currency?

However, Natwest bank emailed me (in July 2018) that paying in local currency is usually cheaper, because the shop or other business where you buy sometimes does not give a favourable exchange rate.

If you have a note of exhange rates or prices, make sure you note the date on the page, or throw away the old one and print out the latest prices. The price of gold can go up and down. The price of a currency against the US dollar or Euro or Pound Sterling can change.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.