Where to change SGD to TWD in Singapore

Where is best place to change Sing dollars to Taiwan dollars?

I did not had much to change for the taiwan trip this time round.
As recommended previously when changing SGD to MYR , for a small amount of a few hundreds, it may not be worth the time and effort to make a special trip down for the few dollars savings.

However, there is still a way to get a better rate than the money exchangers at the Singapore airport.

And that way is to think out of the box and...

Change at the money exchangers at the Taiwan Taoyuan airport.

Twd change at the airport in taiwan

There will be 3 money changers,
・one straight after you touch down towards immigration,
・one after immigration at the luggage retrieval belts area, and
・the final one at the pathway after the customs declaration.
The final one had the best rate 21.5, though only slightly better than the one right after you touch down towards immigration(21.3).
I would say go for the one with the least queue.

Comparison of rate

Singapore Airport offered 20.6
Taiwan airport offered 21.3 -21.5.
That translates to a 3~4% savings! which turns out can be quite substantial!


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EUFASS

First time to dubai: what to wear for work, how to get to your hotel, where to change money

I had the chance to visit Dubai,UAE for a work assignment and being the maiden trip for me, I felt myself asking a lot of questions. It was after all, not the usual work trips to Southeast Asia, and the culture is much different.

What to wear to work

I was thinking to wear polo tee in view of the hot weather, but was concerned if it would be too casual by Dubai standards. My worries were unfounded. There were definitely people in suits and ties, there were also a handful in normal long-sleeve shirt and pants, and polo tees were not uncommon.

For ladies, my feel is most expats dress conservatively, though you could still see some ladies dressed like they are still in Europe. (Dubai is a city with a significant number of western expats after all)

In times of doubt on the dress code, always err to the safer side.

Where to change money

Unlike more common places like Malaysia and Japan, where the currency rate does not differ much whether you change it in some of the currency exchange hotspots in town or at the airport, for the case of AED ( United Arab Emirates Dirham, UAE's currency) , it does matter where to change.

In simple numbers, this was the rate i got at various places

Arcade: 1 SGD : 2.530 AED

Airport: 1 SGD : 2.358 AED

That is a difference of about 17 bp , which is about 7% difference. (To put things in perspective, thats about $7 bucks you are saving for every $100 you are changing)

I changed 500 for this trip , saving me about $35. (Totally worth a trip down to raffles place to change!)

I also read online that the rate is better at dubai.

I went to the Dubai mall to check out the rate, they offered 1SGD : 2.35AED (Not fantastic)

Not very sure if I was able to get my hands on any AED at Dubai, I decided to change in Singapore just in case(my usual style). I am glad i did!

How to get to your hotel from the airport 

(Hint:Uber)

Nice rides, you will get minimum a lexus.

Call the driver to coordinate where to meet.

My case:

From the airport, Head out of arrivals turn left, and you will exit to the taxis area.
Across the road is the car park.
This location is gate 2, I waited for my driver here , who parked his car and came out to meet me.

Hope this was useful for you!

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EUFASS

How to change money at Singapore money changers

Today, I was at lucky plaza to change some money to Hong kong dollars HKD from Singapore dollars SGD. 

Why lucky plaza?

My top choice has always been the arcade at raffles place, simply because of the high density of money changers as well as the transparency of prices displayed on the electronic board
However, today was a Sunday and the arcade is only open on weekdays and half day on Saturday (url). Thus on a Sunday or weekends, I would typically go to Chinatown or Lucky Plaza.

As I am near to Orchard, Lucky Plaza was a natural choice.

Rate quoted verbally at Lucky Plaza

So previously I have shared with readers how to see the rate at money exchangers under we buy or we sell, but bear in mind these are rates quoted on the digital screens.
For lucky plaza, most shops did not have those screens and you have to enquire verbally.

In my case of HKD, it would have been 0.18 under we sell, but when quoted verbally, the money changer person will give you the convertd we sell rate, for example 1/0.18 = 5.62.
In this case of converted rate, the higher the number, the better.

The 5.62 stands for for each sgd, you will get 5.62 hkd.

So after asking around, I got a rate of 5.63 and settled at that rate (Rates would not differ that much though there are many shops there ).

Savings versus rate at airport

At the airport, the rate was 0.18196, which translates to 5.49.
As such, I have saved about $18 (2.3%) from my $800 change..
Not much, but since I was already in the vicinity, why not pick up the savings?

Read more: My recommendation on where to change


So in short,
when quoted verbally at the money exchanger,
The higher the rate,
the more foreign currency you will get.




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EUFASS

Travel tips from my trip to Sydney, Australia

It was my second time to Australia in two years but i have forgotten most of the tips i gotten the last time during which i visited Perth. I'm glad though i have blogged about some of my experience back then from my week-long trip.

So I have listed down all the travel tips I have acquired during this short trip to Sydney. I stayed at Travelodge Sydney along Woolsworth Ave.

Gifts and souvenirs 

• Tim tam,  macadamia nuts are my top recommendations to buy back from australia.

Taxi

• Use Uber. A ride to the city from the airport is about AUD 35-60
• Go to the "express pick up" area near p9 car park, there will be signs guiding you there.

Accommodation

• Hotel may not offer drinking water bottles
• Buy your stuff from supermarket, it will be much cheaper. Still, expect to pay about AUD2 for a 500ml bottle of water
• Convenience stores are expensive (3 bottles of water and 3 bottles of coke costed my AUD24.60... GAHHHH) 

Traffic

• Traffic is generally smooth even during peak hours. (Probably very smooth compared to the likes of Indonesia and Philippines)
• There was a prolonged rain during the afternoon on our way to the airport, but we managed to get there in under an hour.

Currency

• Smallest note is $5. Comes in 5,10,20,50,100
• The $2 coins are gold coloured and are the smallest of the coins. A 20cent is so much bigger.
• Refer to my previous post on changing SGD to AUD... It matters where you change!

Immigration

• Singaporeans will need an ETA to visit Australia, even for a short travel. 
• The process is fairly simple and can be done at the singapore airlines customer service area on the spot for $50. (Will verify if you need to be flying SQ to be able to apply through them) 
• And yes, we can use the smart electronic immigration gate.

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EUFASS

Which number to see when changing money?

A beginner's guide to we buy we sell in currency exchange

Confused when comparing currency rates? 

Not sure how to interpret the two column of numbers : we buy , we sell?

I have not travelled for a while and found myself asking this question when changing to Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) in my recent trip to Jakarta. I thought it will be useful to share this information since I believe this question will be encountered quite frequently by people like me who does not do currency exchange often.

Click here for the best place to change currency in Singapore

Here are the 2 tips to remember when you are exchanging currency.

• Always look under "we sell"

>We sell is the amount that the money changer will charge you for 1 unit (or could be 100/1000 units) of the foreign currency.

• Then find the lowest number among the shops you are comparing

>Think as it from this perspective

: you are looking at the currency selling price and the smaller, the better.

Now, an example

I wanted to change SGD to IDR (Singapore dollars to Indonesia Rupiah) , there were 2 banks at the airport (Why change at the airport? Reason here )

So i looked under the "we sell" column

1st bank offered 0.109 the other offered 0.112. Which one should i go for?

I should choose the one offering 0.109, which means I will receive 1000 IDR for $0.109 SGD

To exchange for 1,000,000 IDR, I will hence need $109. (It will cost $112 if I went for the other bank)

So remember

look under we sell, and 

the smaller the figure, 

The better rate you'll get

Hope this was useful for you

EUFASS

Changing large amount of SGD to JPY in Singapore

So far, especially taking into consideration my numerous trips to Japan, my conclusion is transferring at a local money exchanger hotspot into cash is still the best choice.

My best friend is going back to Japan and is closing his SG account. Now there are 2 ways to transfer his money back to japan.

1. Directly through interbank transfer

2. Transfer to cash and bring it back

Telegraphic transfer

We went to UOB to enquire about telegraphic transfer.

I must give some kudos to UOB service, great service and we did not had to wait long despite having 20 people in front of us.

The charges were as such:

############ 

The indicative rate is 1.245 (which means 100 yen/ for SG$1.245)

Cable fee: $20

Commission: 0.125% (min $10 charge)

############

Assume for every SG$10000, he would get 800600 yen.

The Cash Way

Now to transfer the cash, you can change at the bank / airport, or change at the money changer.

Having previously written about where best to change SGD to foreign currency, I brought him to the arcade where I am familiar enough to help him get the best rate.

We got a better rate of 0.1230 after negotiating with the owner. 

At this rate, assume for every SG$10000, he would get 813000 yen

It was a savings of 12400 yen, which translate to about 1.5% savings for an amount of 10k.

Other Tips:

• Check your local limit of cash that you can bring through customs.
• Give your cash a good count before leaving the money exchanger
• Go for convenience if it’s a small amount

In our case, I guess the time spent justifies the savings we’ve achieved from this trip to the money exchanger!

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EUFASS

Do you know about Skillsfuture?

Free courses from Skillsfuture credit was much talked during the budget in 2015. However, I was surprised to learn that quite a few of my friends are not aware of this amazing benefit. More recently, as my friend's parents were pleasantly surprised to hear from me about this initiative, I decided to spread the word here.

What is skillsfuture? In one sentence, it is a government initiative to encourage singaporeans to continually upgrade their skills to stay relevant.

How to be eligible? If you are a Singapore citizen aged 25 years old and above, you automatically qualify for $500 credits! (in other words, $500 to spend on courses!)

What are the eligible courses? 
It is an impressive and comprehensive list, which you can find here. 

There are more than 10000 courses to select from. Whether you are finding a new hobby, learning a new skill or enhancing yourself to be better equipped at work, chances are you will be able to find something here.
Some ideas are taking a new language, increasing your musical element, learning how to cook certain cuisines, being a tour guide, etc.

For those of you who have no idea yet, hope this is a great way to start the new year! This is not limited to the young, remember to inform your parents as they are eligible too so long as they are singaporeans.

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Eufass

PS. Feel free to share some of the courses you find interesting!

SGD to AUD: It matters where you change

My recent trip to Perth, Western Australia was fruitful and an eye-opener. In fact, given its relatively short travelling time of 5 hours away from Singapore, I highly recommend a trip down for a vastly different experience. You would be able to experience a different culture, decent cuisine, wonderful scenery and the best part is that you need not travel obscene hours and transit a couple of flights to experience a western environment like Europe or USA. 

Here are some tips to take note when travelling in Perth:

Skip the immigration queue

I think one of the first things to note is that YES, YOU CAN PASS THROUGH THEIR SMARTGATE with your Singaporean biometric passport (See article). I saw quite a number of Singaporeans join the long immigration queue, but there is absolutely no necessity in that.

Culture shock as shops close early!

In Perth, if you are expecting 24 hours shopping or restaurants like Singapore, I am afraid you will be disappointed. In fact, shops close as early as 5pm and most restaurants start closing at 8pm. Anything later than 8pm you will have to head to Northbridge where most of the nightlife congregates.

Best place to change SGD to AUD

My experience on comparing rates and places to change from Singapore dollars to Australian dollars:

• I changed at the ARCADE which offered me SGD1.074 for AUD$1
• My neighborhood currency exchange was offering in a region of SGD1.2 for One Australian dollar 
• The currency exchange in Perth had very unattractive rates as well
• My spending on the credit card (OCBC) offered a rate of SGD1.103

If I had paid my accommodation of AUD2000 in cash instead of through my credit card, I would have saved $58!

Do make sure you change enough AUD at the good places in Singapore(My recommendation is at the Arcade in Raffles Place) as this is one currency you can see the savings if you make the effort.

Hope this was useful for you
EUFASS

SGD to KRW (Korean Won) : Best place to change from my recent experience

Went on a trip to Korea last week. In terms of payment, Korean shops are generally well equipped with credit facilities and large sums of cash is not required.

For my trip, I carried SGD$300 for 4 days and it was sufficient to cover my food and shopping. I did a comparison with my friends exchange rates who changed their Won at various locations:

Comparison of exchange rates
Me ( I changed at The Arcade at Raffles Place) : 815 -817 Won / SGD.
Chinatown : 816 Won / SGD.
Neighbourhood: 815 Won / SGD.
Airport: 737 Won / SGD. ( Not sure if my friend made a mistake, but in any case as previously mentioned from my post on currency exchange tips, try not to change at the airport!)

I also swiped my card to buy my train pass. The bank charged me at a rate of 805.3 Won / SGD.

For where is the best place to change money in Singapore, read here

Tip: The price of convenience

In other words, if you have chosen credit payment, You will take a loss of ~1% due to the bank's inferior exchange rate to the money changers. Which means if you are expecting to spend about $1000 (Korean shopping is a fantastic experience, especially the facial masks, but that's another story!), that will translate to a loss of about $10. For the convenience of not lugging too much cash in the wallet, $10 might be a reasonable price to pay.

Travelling somewhere? Remember to check out my post for travel tips for the young adult! Hope this was useful for you!

Best place to change foreign currency in Singapore:

UPDATE 20 Apr 2016: Changing Large Amount of SGD to JPY? View my experience here
UPDATE 23 Dec 2014: Cash or Credit in Japan? view my recommendation here
UPDATE 12 Nov 2014: SGD to KRW comparison of exchange rate here
UPDATE: view my currency exchange experience on my recent trip to Malaysia here

When travelling to Japan, one of my first questions was - Where is the best place to change Sing dollar to Japanese yen? From SGD to no matter which currency, be it taiwanese dollar, norwegian kroner or the US dollar, that is always the big question in a savvy's traveller mind.

I recently went on a trip to Norway and did a survey of 4 main sources of currency exchange - lucky plaza, at the airport and at the destination airport, just using my credit card.( Note: for my foreign readers, lucky plaza is one of the popular currency exchange hotspot in Singapore. ) I need to change SGD to Norwegian Kroner, and here are my experiences:

The rate from google was 4.65 kroner to 1SGD.

1. Money changers at lucky plaza : some carry the elusive kroner and some don't. For those which did, their range quote span as low as 4 to as high as 4.58.
2. At the airport : Only selected kiosks carry the kroner. Of the one I found which did, it offered a rate of 4.5.
3. At the destination airport (Oslo Gardenmoen) : The good news is all money exchange kiosks carry kroner this time (duh). The bad news is, the demand, or just the rate, for Singapore dollars is quite bad.
4. The rate at which the bank charges on my credit card was slightly better, at 4.52. 

My recommendation

If you have a substantial amount: 

Know your target rate, go to your preferred local currency exchange hotspot, I.e the Arcade, Mustafa, Chinatown, Suntec, Lucky Plaza, etc

If you just need a small amount (eg. less than $500): 

Change at the airport. Why? The time you spend making a trip to and finding the best rate at your local currency exchange hotspot will not really justify your savings.
(Advice from another reader on 27 April 2014: Some currencies like the saudi riyal(SAR) have limited quantities, so it is no guarantee that you can get your currency at the airport) 

For this trip, I only need to change SGD 500, thus it was an interesting experiment for me. Even though I was able to, and really tempted to lock in the 4.58 rate at the money changer, my greed got the better of me thinking I could get a better rate at the airport kiosks.

That said, my loss was a mere 0.07 x 500 = 35 kroner in other words close to S$8 (ok, not that mere after all, but still I spent 2 hours traveling and transport took $4). It is always a good idea to have some destination currency with you, even if you have your credit card.

The loss was minimal this time but I gained good experience on changing currency rates next time! Hope this was useful for you.

EUFASS

The ultimate cost-saving FAQ for cars

Many have said that the car is a liability rather than asset. Whether it’s a liability or an asset, here are some money-savvy tips that you must know to fully utilize your money spent on your precious car. Precious, I used this word because if you haven’t heard about the outrageous price to drive a car here in Singapore, you should definitely check it out (hint- it’s USD 6-figure).  Here is my attempt to compile The ultimate cost-saving FAQ for cars.

What is the expected mileage per litre?

My dad’s Nissan Latio goes around 12-13 km per litre of petrol. 

If you suspect that your mileage is going low, some tips that you can do

·         Make sure your tyres are adequately pumped

·         Drive smoothly rather than jamming on the accelerator and breaking adruptly

·         Have you modified your car with any add-ons recently that can cause the inefficiency?

·         Check your odometer whether it is running on mph or kph? (no kidding)

·         It might be traffic conditions – consumption is higher in start-stop traffics as opposed to smooth driving on the expressway.

·         Aircon consumption.. speaking of this, this begs the question

How much fuel does air-conditioning consume?

We all should have some extent of knowledge that turning up the airconditioning in cars consumes petrol. Is this a substantial cost of concern? Should we go with natural wind to save money?

In a study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the use of Air Conditioning can add fuel consumption depending on the type of vehicle, by at least 35%.

Then again, opening the windows does not seem like a feasible alternative since incoming wind will causes drag forces and requires the engine to work harder to go at the same speed.

Should I warm up the car before driving, or just drive?

You might have heard some advice from your friends or family to warm up the car for a while before driving to prevent complications on the car. There are also some arguments that idling in the parking lot to warm up the engine wastes fuel and does nothing to prolong the life of the engine.

The possible reason to warm up the car could be bring the engine up to operating temperature, as well as to heat up the oil to get to proper flow viscosity.However, under Singapore's sunny climate, the need to warm up isn’t really as necessary as in countries during winter seasons.

That said, the cold engine indicator still bothers me. What I would do is to let the car crawl slowly for the first 10 minutes out of the car park before really stepping on the accelerator

3 Tips to book the cheapest flight ticket

Getting the cheapest flight ticket would mean more money to spend on other stuff during your vacation.
Recently Kayak published a survey that revealed the best time to book your air ticket for the best price, which got me very interested.

I recall that while preparing for my graduation trip (Yes, sadly I will not be qualified for student deals anymore), I spent a lot of time over a span of two months trying to get the best deal. The experience was long, repetitive and sometimes painful, but at least I could blog and share about some of the tips to get the cheapest flight ticket and feel better about this.

1. Book early

The most straightforward tip of all is to really book early. Honestly, I am not sure what algorithm or rule flight tickets are priced with. There are just too many explanations out there. But after 2 months of scouring and even to the extent of awaiting the launch of a new budget airlines (Scoot), together with my previous trip to America and within America, I realized that the ticket prices that I've seen on the very first day are often still the very best price I could get.

So here is my tip, if you are someone like me who value your time a lot, go ahead and book the ticket should the price point is somewhat in your comfortable and expected price range. You will come to appreciate that the time you save from settling the booking early would be more worthwhile than the money you could potentially save if you continue to scour for deals in the following weeks. Furthermore, in the unlucky scenario, prices go up...

So.. once you made the decision, just go ahead to book your air tickets and save yourself from all the trouble and wasted time. The best tip, is still , to book early.

2. Use flight ticket aggregators

A common knowledge when booking flight tickets is to use services like Expedia, which offers choices from different airlines so you can immediately have a sense of how much the air ticket should cost. Furthermore , there are flight ticket booking aggregators like wego which allows you to do searches at different flight booking websites and compile the options. You can be doubly sure that the deal you are getting is the best price with such websites.

One tip that I saw somewhere is to clear the cache if you see that ticket prices have suddenly gone up. Such websites and airlines could track your search history and trigger a raise in price to induce panic buying.

3. Budget airlines deals

To outsmart their competition, some budget airlines like Jetstar offer a price beat guarantee, in which they would offer a 10% cheaper price than any competitor for a similar flight. I shared some tips on this previously.

Further, unlike normal airlines, you need not pay a higher price when booking one-way flight tickets with budget airlines. From here, two opportunities to save money arises via:

• Airline options
  Scour the different budget airlines (air asia, scoot, jetstar, tiger) separately for their cheapest tickets in the period you are travelling. Just select the cheapest flight.
• Currency options
  In my last trip to Taipei, I realized that booking one-way separately in TWD currency would be slightly cheaper(~$10)  if i took the round trip option. So instead of booking round trips, no harm checking whether individual trips will amount to a cheaper flight. (Keep in mind the exchange rate is via your bank's rate)

For the poor student, budget airlines are the best business model inventions in the aviation world. If money is your top concern, the best way to fly is most often via budget air!

Hope this was useful to you
Eufass

Tips on Saving with Jetstar Price beat guarantee

To the money-savvy people our there, here's a post based on my recent experience that will potentially save you some coffee money up to the hundreds when travelling.

Jetstar has a price beat guarantee and offers 10% lower price to a competitor (think Tiger). Here are 2 key conditions which you need to make sure you can get the discount

1) Flight is within one hour of jetstar flight

2) Booking is one way only. ( i wanted to do a round trip flight, but since my return leg is not at a lower price, i have to book them separately)

Before you go any further to get your lower priced ticket, I must let you know that it is definitely not the easiest process. The first thing that you should give ample thought is - is it worth it to save that tens of dollars for a stressful booking session that you will undergo if you make that call.

My point on the inconvenience of having to book 2 separate one-way itinerary instead of one round trip is but just one of the many ways in which the experience  was made very, very bitter. If you have decided that the cost saving is worth it, read on.

How to

1, Identify the flight you want to pursue for the 10% price beat deal. It would be handy to have both the Jetstar booking page as well as the competitor booking page up for easy reference. Important info to take note are the flight date, timings and price

2. Call Jetstar based on your location. Click here for list of numbers

3. Press 1 for location and 4 for booking enquiry (Might vary according to your location).. Save time and effort by pressing the number quickly and maneuver to talk to a customer service officer.

NOW, here is where the stress begins. The whole phone call experience can get you hard if you are not prepared. Here, I have a noble purpose to pre-empt you such that you would not feel the frustration i felt. And I hope no one would ever go through what I did ever again. The frustration in getting the price beat guarantee stems from a number of factors:

1. Customer service reps with poor command of English that will piss you off. For example, they can repeat what you said and... silence. My experience was.. the rep said, "yes sir, the price is indeed higher and you qualify for the price beat guarantee." and then.. it was silence for one minute. Apparently she had no idea that yes, I would like to book the ticket please. 

You need to be very clear in instructing them what you want to do, be prepared. 

2. Repetitive clarifying. The reps would repeatedly clarify what you said. You would also encounter efforts to try to cut you off. My experience was that the rep assumed that I have not decided on my itinerary and told me, " Sir, it seems you have not confirmed your itinerary, would you please confirm your flight and call back again? OK bye" Cheap shot.

3. Putting you on hold Don’t be put on hold, you will wait for a few minutes and get cut off. Request to just be left hanging.

Even as I write, I can recall the frustration i felt.

Further tips to save

You would be subjected to the credit card fee of $8.50/pax for your outbound flight. Well, if you are booking for 4 people, its a total of $34 saved.. You could save this amount by paying at 7-11 or the SAM machine.

I would recommend using SAM for payment. It seems to be the easiest method and no possibility of service charge will be incurred. AT the Singpost SAM machine, click on "Shop at SAM" "Travel" and jetstar will appear.

At the end of the day, nothing can beat the low price. But I can never stress again, for the amount of cost saving, is the effort worth it?