digital nomad – Jellybeans in the City

Unlock Financial Freedom as a Digital Nomad with the Right Credit Card

As a digital nomad, you enjoy the flexibility of working remotely from anywhere in the world. However, managing finances while constantly on the move presents its own set of challenges. Whether it’s dealing with foreign transaction fees, navigating different currencies, or ensuring access to funds in case of emergencies, having the right financial tools is crucial. Credit cards can play a key role in overcoming these challenges, offering security, flexibility, and convenience wherever you are. Here’s how you can leverage credit cards to simplify your financial management and maximize travel perks as a digital nomad.

The Financial Challenges Digital Nomads Face

Digital nomads often encounter specific financial difficulties, including:

Foreign Transaction Fees: Every time you make a purchase in a foreign currency, your bank may charge you additional fees. These small charges can quickly add up, impacting your travel budget.
Currency Exchange Rates: Constantly converting currencies when moving between countries can be expensive and unpredictable. Exchange rates fluctuate, making it difficult to plan expenses and save money.
Accessing Funds Internationally: Not all banking services are readily accessible in every country. Finding reliable ways to access your money or make payments can be challenging, especially in regions with limited financial infrastructure.
Building an Emergency Fund: Traveling long-term means unexpected expenses can arise, whether it’s for medical needs, last-minute flights, or accommodation costs. Having a financial cushion readily available is essential.
Maximizing Rewards: Given how much digital nomads travel, there are plenty of opportunities to earn rewards like airline miles, cashback, or other travel perks—but only if you use the right credit card.

How Credit Cards Can Help

Credit cards provide several advantages that can help you manage these financial challenges:

1. Avoid Foreign Transaction Fees

Foreign transaction fees can eat into your budget quickly. Look for a credit card that offers low or zero foreign transaction fees. This way, you can focus on enjoying your travels without worrying about extra charges every time you swipe.

2. Simplify Currency Exchange

Paying with a credit card simplifies the currency exchange process by letting you transact in local currencies without the hassle of conversion. It’s often a more cost-effective solution compared to exchanging cash at airports or local currency exchanges. Your credit card enables you to pay for goods and services in the local currency wherever you are and enjoy favorable exchange rates with less worry.

3. Access Emergency Cash

There may be times when you need access to cash, whether it’s for emergency expenses or places where credit cards aren’t accepted. Your credit card’s cash advance feature allows you to withdraw cash against your credit limit at ATMs worldwide. This feature gives you the flexibility to get money when you need it, no matter where your travels take you.

4. Earn Travel Rewards

Since digital nomads frequently spend on travel-related expenses such as flights, accommodation, and dining, using a credit card with a rewards program makes sense. Many credit cards offer travel rewards that can be converted into airline miles or hotel stays, helping you stretch your travel budget further. By using your credit card for everyday expenses, you can accumulate rewards points that can be redeemed for the things you enjoy the most.

5. Added Security and Protection

When you’re living and working in different countries, security is a top priority. Credit cards provide an extra layer of protection compared to carrying large amounts of cash. If your card is lost or stolen, a 24-hour customer service should be available to assist you, no matter where you are. Additionally, credit cards that come with security features help protect your personal information and transactions, giving you peace of mind while traveling.

Tips for Digital Nomads to Maximize Credit Card Benefits

Here are some ways you can make the most of your credit card as a digital nomad:

1. Opt for Worldwide Acceptance

Having a credit card that’s accepted globally is essential when you’re constantly moving from one country to another. UnionBank credit cards, for example, are accepted in millions of establishments worldwide, giving you reliable payment options wherever you go.

2. Use In-House Installments for Big Purchases

Sometimes, larger purchases like airline tickets, new tech equipment, or accommodation costs can strain your budget. UnionBank’s In-House Installment feature allows you to convert these big expenses into manageable monthly payments. This provides flexibility in your financial planning without the stress of paying off large amounts upfront.

3. Take Advantage of Exclusive Discounts

UnionBank credit cards offer exclusive discounts at restaurants, leisure outlets, and service providers. By leveraging these perks, you can save money on everyday expenses while traveling, whether it’s for dining out or enjoying a local activity.

4. Manage Your Payments Efficiently

UnionBank provides multiple ways to pay your credit card bill, ensuring convenience no matter where you are. You can pay over-the-counter at UnionBank branches nationwide, use UnionBank Online, or enroll in the PayBill service for automated bill payments, helping you stay on top of your finances from anywhere in the world.

5. Enjoy Longer Credit Terms

Cash flow can be unpredictable as a digital nomad, particularly if you freelance or have variable income. UnionBank’s credit cards offer up to 53 days of credit without interest if the full balance is paid on time, giving you more breathing room between expenses and payments.

For digital nomads, managing finances can be simplified with the right credit card. By avoiding fees, earning rewards, and accessing funds when you need them most, you can focus on what matters—enjoying the freedom of remote work and global adventures. Take the first step in streamlining your financial life by applying for a UnionBank credit card today, and unlock the perks that will help you live and work freely around the world.

Header image by pressfoto on Freepik

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Embracing immersive travel: How Filipinos are opting for longer stays with Airbnb

Airbnb, the leading online marketplace for lodging and travel experiences, reveals a significant increase in the popularity of long-term stays among Filipino travelers. With a growth rate of over 2.4 times year-on-year in 2022, the trend indicates a shift towards slower and more meaningful travel experiences. As the upcoming off-peak season approaches, Airbnb encourages travelers to take advantage of lower travel fares and consider extended trips. To inspire potential adventurers, Airbnb shares the story of Liezl Jose, the winner of the ‘Fly and Live Anywhere’ contest, who embarked on a month-long immersive travel adventure with her family.

Photo of Liezel — Liezl Jose, the winner of the ‘Fly and Live Anywhere’ contest

Embracing a New Way of Travel

In the pursuit of escaping the confines of the pandemic and exploring new horizons, Liezl and her family eagerly sought an opportunity for relaxation and adventure. Winning the ‘Fly and Live Anywhere’ campaign through Airbnb felt like destiny, offering them the perfect chance to fulfill their dreams of visiting off-the-beaten-path destinations and creating lasting memories as a family.

According to Liezl, “An adventure doesn’t always have to be in far-flung regions or the most popular destinations because there are so many choices in our beautiful islands. Some natural wonders are practically in our backyards.”

During their month-long journey, Liezl and her family immersed themselves in the wonders of Dumaguete, Boracay, and Cagayan de Oro. They discovered the rural charm, indulged in the local food scene, witnessed breathtaking sunsets on stunning beaches, and even experienced adrenaline-filled whitewater rafting. Additionally, they embarked on road trips to Rizal and Batangas, where they reveled in picturesque natural landscapes and countryside beauty.

For Liezl and her family, the contest provided not only an opportunity to travel but also a chance to embrace the digital nomad lifestyle. Working and attending remote school from various locations, they discovered the joy of living like digital nomads while uncovering hidden gems in their own country.

Tips for Modern Travelers

Drawing from her experience, Liezl shares her top tips for anyone planning a multi-city adventure:

Choose Accommodations Carefully: When booking longer stays, prioritize Airbnb listings that offer reliable WiFi connection and essential amenities like drinking water, bathroom supplies, and a well-equipped kitchen. These small details contribute to creating a home away from home experience.
Explore Local Culture: To truly experience the local culture of your destination city, start by visiting local markets. Walking around allows you to explore the neighborhood and gain insights into the local food, people, language, and lifestyle.
Travel Light: Pack efficiently and double-check airline policies and airport transfers in case of last-minute schedule changes.
Disconnect and Immerse: Take breaks from technology and immerse yourself in your surroundings. Be present, respect the locals, appreciate the natural beauty, and take time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

Embracing the Journey

Liezl reflects on her month-long getaway with her loved ones, emphasizing the importance of embracing the present and cherishing every moment. “No two sunsets are the same. Each one is different. Yet, it comes from the same sun. It doesn’t matter where we are; we belong anywhere we choose to make our home for the day.”

Section 5: Start Planning Your Adventure

To embark on your own immersive travel experience, visit the Airbnb website. Begin your journey today and explore the countless possibilities that await you.

About Airbnb

Airbnb is a global online marketplace that connects travelers with unique accommodations and travel experiences. With a diverse range of listings in over 220 countries and regions, Airbnb aims to create memorable and authentic travel experiences for people worldwide.

Details provided in a recent press release.

Hybrid work made easy: 10 must-have Amazon products for productivity wherever you work

Hybrid work has become the norm for many workers since the pandemic began. It offers the best of both worlds, allowing employees to work from home and the office, giving them the flexibility to adapt their schedules to meet their personal and professional needs. However, this work style comes with its unique set of challenges that can impact productivity, efficiency, and well-being. One of the challenges faced by hybrid workers is the need to create a productive workspace at home that can help them stay focused and motivated.

To tackle these challenges, hybrid workers need to invest in the right tools and equipment that can help them create a conducive work environment, whether they are working from home or a public space like a coffee shop. These tools can range from ergonomic office chairs to noise-canceling headphones, laptop stands, portable monitors, and more. With the right tools, hybrid workers can stay comfortable, reduce distractions, and increase their productivity.

Here is a curated list of some of the top Amazon finds for hybrid workers that can help them overcome the challenges they face. From portable desks to smart thermostats, these tools are designed to make hybrid work easier, more efficient, and enjoyable.

Whether you’re a freelancer, entrepreneur, or remote employee, these tools can help you create a workspace that works for you, so you can stay focused and productive, no matter where you are working from.

Lap Desk

A lap desk can be a game-changer for hybrid workers who split their time between working from home and the office. It provides a comfortable workspace wherever you are, whether you’re on the couch or in a coffee shop.

Folding Lap Desk for Bed and Sofa

HUANUO Lap Laptop Desk

Noise-Cancelling Headphones

To minimize distractions while working from home or in a public space, noise-cancelling headphones are a must-have. They block out background noise and allow you to focus on your work without interruption.

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700

Philips H8506 Over-Ear Wireless Headphones with Noise Canceling

Standing Desk Converter

Many hybrid workers spend long hours sitting in front of a computer. A standing desk converter can help alleviate the negative effects of sitting for extended periods. This device sits on top of your existing desk and allows you to switch between sitting and standing throughout the day.

SMUG Converter Standing Desk

TechOrbits Computer Desk Converter

Laptop Stand

A laptop stand can help improve posture and reduce neck and eye strain. It elevates your laptop to eye level and encourages you to sit up straight while working.

Ergonomic Laptop Stand For Desk

Nulaxy Laptop Stand

Portable Monitor

If you’re frequently on the go, a portable monitor can be a game-changer. It allows you to work on a larger screen than your laptop and can be easily transported from one location to another.

KYY Portable Monitor 15.6inch 1080P FHD USB-C Laptop Monitor

ASUS ZenScreen OLED 15.6” 1080P Portable Monitor

Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

To improve ergonomics and reduce clutter, a wireless keyboard and mouse can be a great investment. They allow you to work from a more comfortable distance and reduce the number of cords on your desk.

J JOYACCESS 2.4G Ergonomic and Slim Wireless Computer Keyboard Mouse

MARVO 2.4G Ergonomic Wireless Computer Keyboard with Phone Tablet Holder

Smart Thermostat

If you work from home, a smart thermostat can help you save on energy costs. It allows you to set a schedule for your heating and cooling system and adjust it remotely from your smartphone.

Amazon Smart Thermostat

Google Nest Learning Thermostat

USB Hub

With so many devices to charge and connect, a USB hub can be a lifesaver. It allows you to plug in multiple USB devices and charge them simultaneously.

VIENON 4-Port USB Hub USB

Amazon Basics 7 Port USB 2.0 Hub Tower

Portable Charger

To keep your devices charged while on the go, a portable charger is essential. It provides an extra boost of power when you need it most.

Ultra Slim 10000mAh Portable Charger

mophie Powerstation XXL Power Bank

Ergonomic Office Chair

A comfortable and supportive office chair is crucial for long workdays. Look for an ergonomic chair that provides proper lumbar support and adjustable features to customize your seating position.

NOBLEWELL Ergonomic Office Chair

Steelcase Series 1 Office Chair

Hybrid work has become the new normal, and – like it or not – it’s here to stay. As more companies embrace this work style, hybrid workers must adapt and find ways to be productive, efficient, and comfortable while working remotely or in the office. Investing in the right tools and equipment can make a significant difference in a hybrid worker’s work experience.

The wide range of options featured in this list aims to help hybrid workers optimize their workspace, reduce distractions, and boost productivity. With the right setup and mindset, hybrid workers can thrive in this new work landscape and achieve success in their personal and professional lives.

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Header Photo by Polina Kovaleva on Pexels

This post contains affiliate links.

Scan on the Go With Portable Scanners

Scanners are one of the most important devices when it comes to transferring physical information to digital information. The value of a scanner depends upon the job that it is trying to accomplish and whether or not it was designed to handle that particular task. For instance, you wouldn’t use a scanner designed to process and replicate beautiful art and photography in an industrial setting that needs to process tens of thousands of scans in a given day. While the high-volume scanner will perform the task, it is not designed to replicate the nuance and color depth of a professional photo scanner.

What Is a Portable Scanner?

Portable scanners are small, electronic devices that allow documents or images to be captured and converted quickly and efficiently to digital format. They are designed to be light and small so that they can more easily be transported from place to place.

The small size and light weight of the portable scanner are as valuable as its ability to process the physical into the digital. They’re small enough to bring on the road. Indeed, some are small enough to put in your pocket.

A Minimalist’s Guide To Scanning

Portable pen scanners are slightly larger than your average fountain pen and can scan the text of a document line by line. Users simply pass the scanner over the text of letters, memos, brochures, magazines or newspapers, at which point it is uploaded immediately and turned into digital data.

Other portable scanners are as wide as a page and roll quickly down the page, capturing the data. Some models will read the text back, which is convenient for users with vision or reading challenges.

While portable scanners are ideal for many purposes, they aren’t meant to capture data in high resolution. This means that they aren’t suitable for scanning photographs or other applications in which a high-quality result is desired.

True Mobility

There are many scenarios in which a portable scanner is an important tool to have on the scene. Consider a drive-through flu and COVID booster shot station, in which the medical staff still needs signed permission to administer the shots. With a page-sized portable scanner, each of those critical signatures is digitized, probably to a cloud-based database, and secured immediately.

If a library was having an event that brought its borrowables to remote locations, a portable barcode scanner and a laptop can effectively create a circulation desk on the spot. As each book is assigned a particular bar code, inventory can be tracked precisely and efficiently, whether books are being checked out or returned.

Portable scanners can be the difference between clean, efficient and timely data entry and a process that entails other steps that could compromise that data. They are as easy to travel with as popping one into your backpack, briefcase or pocket. They also effectively help create a functioning office space wherever you have the internet as you can immediately begin to process your uploads. Visit an office supply website today and check out the newest portable printers so that you can expand your printing options from anywhere.

Image by Lifestylememory on Freepik

4 tips to setup your home office for WFH success

One of the few bright spots in the midst of the global pandemic is the realization that we can work -productively and efficiently – at home.

The concept of Work-from-Home (or WFH) has been around for quite some time but it took the necessity for isolation and limited physical or social contact to make it as widely accepted as it is now.

Aside from ensuring your safety from infection by COVID-19, working from home has allowed you greater freedom and flexibility with your time, saved your the costs of travel, office wardrobe and lunches, as well as provided you with improved work-life balance, hasn’t it?

Hopefully, for many of us, WFH is here to stay.

However, this setup is not without some disadvantages, with discomforts and distractions being among the chief complaints among WFH setups.

The good news is that, with a little bit of forethought, these disadvantages can be minimized or eliminated.

Here are some rules of thumb in setting up your home office:

Define the space.

If, after two years of working from home, you haven’t set aside a defined and dedicated space for your home office, I laud your discipline (or pity you for the suffering you put yourself through).

A dedicated (ideally enclosed) area separate from the rest of the household to house your work equipment and provide you with a quiet space for concentration and work meetings will help you work a lot more effectively at home.

Illuminate.

Good lighting is something most people take for granted, but do remember that you need to be able to be able to read from your monitor or notebooks for hours on end. Dealing with glares or shadows while working not only makes it harder to focus on the tasks at hand, it may also cause eye fatigue and headaches, as accidents from momentary blindness as your eyes adjust to sudden changes in lighting conditions.

In these days of Zoom meetings, having enough light to illuminate your face (as opposed to being in shadow in a seemingly dark dungeon) goes a long towards coming across as professional to your colleagues.

If you can’t find a space with good indirect natural light, equip your space with overhead, task and ambient light sources to help your eyes as you do your various activities.

Take a (good) seat.

Your future self will thank you for investing in a good ergonomic chair today as it is designed to support your body as you work while considering your posture, comfort and health.

Sitting in the wrong kind of chair may cause pain in the neck, back and hip areas, as well as distractions due to discomforts caused by poor circulation and posture.

Get organized.

All you need to be able to work should be within easy reach but you also need to keep workspace spic-and-span to reduce distractions and improve your productivity.

This is why using smart storage solutions is a must. If floor space is limited, consider storing vertically through the use of stacking drawers, floating shelves, rolling carts or even pegboards.

So get to work on setting up your workspace. And you can get all you need for your home office at your nearest All Home branch.

AllHome is the Pinoy’s one-stop shop for all home needs. It offers an extensive range of top-quality home-improvement products such as construction supplies, hardware, appliances, indoor and outdoor furniture, homeware, décor, and even electronic gadgets all under one roof.

Its Metro Manila branches include:

Vista Place (Wil Tower), Eugenio Lopez Drive, Brgy. South Triangle, Quezon City
E. Rodriguez Jr. Brgy. Bagumbayan, Quezon City
Starmall EDSA-Shaw, Ground, Epifanio de los Santos Ave, Mandaluyong
Worldwide Corporate Center, Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong
Vista Mall Taguig, Levi Mariano Ave., Taguig City
Vista Mall C5 Extension Road, Quirino Ave. Pulang Lupa Uno, Las Piñas City
Vista Mall Las Pinas, CV Starr Ave., Philam Village, Pamplona, Las Pinas

You may also shop conveniently online at allhome.com.ph to take advantage of AllHome’s wide array of original and top-quality items, easy payment methods and fast delivery timelines.

In-store photos taken at AllHome WCC and Libis. Used with permission.