Over the years of world travel, we’ve made a very deliberate choice when it comes to paying for holiday rentals: we do not do bank transfers. It’s a rule we established early on and one we’ve stuck to faithfully, largely because of the sheer volume of fraud worldwide, including in many of the countries we’ve visited and loved. Instead, we’ve always paid deposits and final balances through reputable booking entities, allowing a layer of protection between us and the unknown. That buffer has provided peace of mind and, in many ways, has allowed us to travel more freely without constantly looking over our shoulders.
We’ve heard far too many stories from fellow travelers who wired funds directly to property owners they’d found online, only to watch their money disappear. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Wire transfers have always made us uneasy. There is no safety net, no meaningful recourse if fraud is involved, and very little forgiveness if a single digit is entered incorrectly into a bank’s processing system. For that reason alone, we’ve avoided them whenever possible. Thankfully, most of our holiday rentals over the years have been paid for using credit cards through trusted services like VRBO, where accountability exists on both sides of the transaction.
As we prepared to pay for our upcoming rental in Penguin, Tasmania, a place we’ve stayed before, owned by someone we know and trust completely, we unexpectedly ran into a wall. The owner doesn’t accept credit cards. That alone isn’t unusual, but it set us on a frustrating path as we attempted to find an alternative. We explored Wise, PayPal, Western Union, and several other services, only to be met with exorbitant fees or an inability to process our credit cards at all. Each failed attempt chipped away at our patience.
I even called our credit card companies directly, convinced that something must be blocking the transactions. But no, they assured me everything was clear on their end. Apparently, New Zealand’s systems have additional safeguards in place to prevent fraud, which is admirable in theory but maddening in practice. I tried processing payments with and without our VPN, hoping that might make a difference. It didn’t. After nearly two hours of going in circles, we reluctantly decided to do the one thing we’d avoided for years: initiate a wire transfer through our US bank.
Even that proved more complicated than expected. There wasn’t a straightforward path to send money directly to his bank in Tasmania. Instead, the transfer had to pass through his bank’s Sydney corporate office. It was time-consuming, confusing, and required a level of concentration that felt disproportionate to the task. But eventually, finally, it was done. The relief was palpable. One more logistical hurdle cleared.
Our next easier task is booking a hotel in Auckland for our final night in New Zealand. With a long drive to the airport and an early flight to Tasmania, leaving in the morning feels far too risky. One unforeseen delay, weather, traffic, and the unexpected, could unravel everything. We’d much rather pay for a single night’s stay than absorb the stress of cutting it too close.
Traveling the world non-stop requires aggressive planning balanced with sensible caution. It’s a constant dance between trust and preparedness, flexibility and structure. While the freedom is immense, the responsibility that comes with it is very real, and sometimes exhausting. But when everything finally falls into place, it’s worth every careful step along the way.
Happy New Year’s Day to all our family and friends celebrating today.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, January 2, 2016:
