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Staying in Canada: Do you need a Visa or an ETA?
If you plan to stay in Canada for less than 6 months, good news, you don’t need a visa! If you arrive in Canada by car, train, bus or boat, you don’t need anything, except your passport of course. If you arrive by plane, you will need to obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) before your arrival. The procedure is very simple and is done online. The most “critical” point is to make the request on the official website. As for many other countries, there are “fake sites” that will charge you a much higher amount than the official site. Here is some information to know about the AVE procedure.…
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Taking a cruise: how does it work?
Anh has already told you about our cruise in Norway, it was really a great experience! I realized that a lot of people were wondering about what happens on a cruise on a big ship So I decided to write this article trying to compile all the useful information if you are planning to go on a cruise for the first time This article is based on a unique experience, a cruise in the Norwegian fjords with the MSC Orchestra in August 2014. I imagine that the operation at MSC, Costa or any other cruiser is very similar but there are surely some specificities in each of them Is it…
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N26 and Revolut: How to declare foreign accounts for taxation in France?
This article concerns only French tax residents If you have an N26 or Revolut account, you may not know it but these are foreign accounts! Indeed, N26 is a German bank and Revolut is an English bank You must therefore declare these accounts to the tax authorities via your tax return. This declaration does not imply any additional tax or fee but if you forget it, you can be fined €1500 per undeclared account. The procedure isn’t very complicated, here is how to do it. 1/ At the end of your online tax return, you will have a “Miscellaneous” section where you have to tick the box “Accounts opened, held,…
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Attend an NBA playoff game in Toronto, Canada
While I am used to attending sporting events in just about every country you visit, I must admit that I hadn’t anticipated attending a basketball game in Toronto. I didn’t know that Toronto was the only non-U.S. franchise to play in the NBA. It was when I saw a game on TV in a restaurant on Sunday evening that I realized that. Perfect timing: the Toronto Raptors lead 3 – 1 against the Orlando Magic and play a decisive first round playoff game at home two days later. It’s a unique opportunity I couldn’t miss. So I quickly went to the official ticket sales website: TicketMaster. Good news: there are…
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Free Mobile SIM card in Canada: 3G or 4G? Internet speed ?
For more information about using the Free Mobile plan abroad, please click here. Travelling in Canada for 3 months, we started using our Free SIM card. Small disappointment, there seems to be no 4G agreements, we have to make do with 3G+. The roaming goes through the Rogers operator. The speed is correct, nothing more. The test below shows a download at 13Mbps and an upload at 1.4Mbps knowing that I regularly see slowdowns. EDIT: From May 10, 2019, I start to get 4G intermittently with much better speeds. Test performed in Toronto on April 22nd, 2019 Test performed in Montreal on April 28, 2019. Test performed on May 12,…
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How to save for Retirement as a French Digital Nomad?
Some people think that digital nomads lead a bohemian life. This may be the case for some of us who work just enough to lead a comfortable life in Southeast Asia without worrying too much about tomorrow This isn’t our case. While we are slowly approaching our forties, we are thinking a little about what we will earn in retirement to ensure our old age. We carry out several actions in parallel to prepare all this knowing that we have the following constraints Disclaimer, I am neither a financial expert nor a wealth advisor, this article only presents what we undertake but I do not pretend to think that it…
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Travel Hacking: Is it possible in France ?
As a “permanent traveler”, I am fascinated by the “travel hackers” in North America who enjoy flights and hotel nights almost for free thanks to the points they have accumulated For the most part, these points are accumulated via their credit cards. Broadly speaking, banks in North America offer very generous benefits when using their credit cards. The more a person consumes, the more points he or she accumulates that can be turned into benefits The use of these credit cards is dangerous because one can very quickly find oneself in an infernal circle and have large sums of money to repay with very high interest rates On the other…
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The American Express Air France Gold card: a good credit card for travelers?
If you wish to obtain a sponsorship and benefit from : – The free card for the first year – 10,000 Air France miles free – 50 € voucher for Air France KLM Click here! In North America, credit cards are used to accumulate points that can then be turned into an advantage To my knowledge, the only card with a slightly similar mechanism in France is the American Express card The first year was free, so I decided to try it out and see how it went The different types of bank cards Let’s start by explaining the different types of credit cards that exist Immediate debit cards. The…
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Kapten: Review and promo code (20 € valid in March 2020) of the VTC application
To take advantage of the 20 € free on your first race, use the promo code JEAMOI21. This code is valid in March 2020. Uber, Grab, Taxify, Kapten, Heetch, … the services of VTC are so similar that I am a customer of several of them and I choose one or the other according to the price and the waiting time announced for my race. It was in Lisbon that I first heard about Kapten when I saw them doing street marketing campaigns. Kapten is in fact the new name of the French Private Chauffeur service which is going international. Wishing to make their new brand known, I have the…
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Test & Reviews: Relax at Spa Laugarvatn Fontana (Iceland)
It is already our last day of visits in Iceland, I take advantage of it to experiment an ultimate spa, the Laugarvatn Fontana. Anh isn’t feeling very well and prefers to stay for a hot chocolate in the spa restaurant (a buffet is offered at the rate of 2900 ISK for lunch and 3900 ISK for dinner). The price of the entrance ticket is 3800 ISK (free for children up to 12 years old and 2000 ISK between 13 and 16 years old), it is expensive but these are the Icelandic prices and it is much cheaper than the blue lagoon. I strongly advise you to come with towel and…
