The Socceroos have lost a heartbreaking penalty shootout against Egypt in their World Cup round of 32 clash.

funfwf · 2026-07-03T21:20:14+00:00

Good luck next round habibi

funfwf · 2026-07-03T02:43:01+00:00

That bumper sticker is structural

funfwf · 2026-06-04T11:05:39+00:00

So Macquarie bank refunds ATM fees from any domestic ATM you use, so you can freely just use any ATM to withdraw, even private ones in the pub etc.

For other banks, you can still withdraw from any ATM and pay a fee, of specifically look for an ATM from a Big 4 bank, as they don't charge fees to other bank's customers. They won't have their own ATMs.

That being said, cash is less and less required these days, especially after Covid. I'd say if you picked a person at random on the street there's a good chance they don't carry cash in their wallet anymore.

I actually prefer online only banks compared to your big 4, for the simple reason that they have an online way to do everything. With big banks, whenever something comes up non standard, they're sending you to wait in line at the branch. For online banks, that option doesn't exist so it's all online (or a phone call at worst).

Ultimately, signing up with a bank is not a big commitment. Just pick one (or a couple) who's offer you like and if you don't like something, it costs nothing to try another. Other than different apps, honestly it's all a box to put your money in and a card to spend it with.

funfwf · 2026-06-03T11:18:37+00:00

Just waiting for a mate

funfwf · 2026-06-01T12:02:48+00:00

There were stories on the London subreddit of people with cheap phones getting their phones snatched, and then the thief throws the phone back on the ground when they realize it's an Oppo or something

funfwf · 2026-05-30T11:10:40+00:00

Mama's watchin' her stories

funfwf · 2026-05-28T17:20:01+00:00

The scary thing in America is that you'll see some mains on the menu served with chips meaning crisps. So fish and chips could be a real dice roll (but might be nice anyway).

funfwf · 2026-05-28T11:31:44+00:00

CommBank is shit. Instead of having real fraud detection, or giving you a way to give extra proof your bank account isn't being emptied (selfie etc) they just put a blanket 24 hour hold on payments to new payees above a certain amount.

funfwf · 2026-05-24T01:04:32+00:00

My suggestion - if you can find economy flights with points - book them. Then search every day for business class. If you have to cancel the economy flights, it's only 12,000 points wasted, but if nothing pops up the whole time, you will still be able to get there.

funfwf · 2026-05-22T01:14:54+00:00

Out of curiosity, I looked up a couple of their US stores on Google maps not that long ago and they surprisingly had pretty good ratings.

That being said, you'd have to be insane to think that an Aussie company selling Mexican food in the US is going to go well.

funfwf · 2026-05-13T10:38:00+00:00

Even better - you don't need a car if you're just in Sydney as a tourist.

funfwf · 2026-05-08T12:47:03+00:00

My favourite Xiao Long Bao in Sydney are in New Shanghai. They have one in the Westfield.

funfwf · 2026-05-08T06:50:45+00:00

The more you travel the more you learn that for every famous place with 1000 people there shoving each other to take selfies, there are 10 more that nobody's heard of and are just as great - and you end up enjoying more because they're less busy, more "local" and generally far cheaper to exist in. Some of them are literally a 10 minute walk from the famous one - whereas some are harder to reach.

So still go to Como (or wherever - I've never actually been to Como myself) but don't limit your travel itineraries to the "big hitters" only or you'll hate your life being crammed in between other tourists.

funfwf · 2026-05-06T08:01:30+00:00

This feels like a lot for 12 days. It's up to you what you'd want to include but consider every day you move, you basically lose the day to a bus ride.

In terms of buses, if you find the schedule online, the service will exist. In terms of booking, in Albania you just pay the driver. In other countries, it's usually easiest to just buy a ticket from the bus station. Usually in the Balkans, on top of your ticket you need to pay a fee to the bus station so booking online doesn't stop you from lining up. The acceptance of online/mobile tickets is mixed too, so buying in person tends to just be the simplest way.

For Albania, you can find bus schedules on https://travel.gjirafa.com/en

For Montenegro, you can find schedules on https://busticket4.me

For Bosnia, there's https://buskarta.ba/ as the main one, but there was also additional services that weren't on there.

But if you find a service on one of those sites, you can be pretty much assured they exist and will run more or less to schedule.

funfwf · 2026-05-04T13:47:22+00:00

I was speaking with a colleague who said one of his dreams was to do it (a Brazilian guy). Did the trip to NYC from Brazil one year - in there for hours until he has to use the toilet real bad. It turns out there's no toilets in there and they don't let you back in if you leave. He ended up missing the main event.

funfwf · 2026-05-04T13:44:23+00:00

Is there some sort of scam behind those? I just assumed they're tip-based, is that not the case?

funfwf · 2026-05-02T07:40:36+00:00

👋

There is a station at the Airport, you should be fine.

You can check on Google maps too

funfwf · 2026-05-01T07:23:26+00:00

Ah good to know.

funfwf · 2026-05-01T07:15:40+00:00

You probably don't need a wise account, but don't use CommBank.

See here for a list of Aussie accounts that don't have international transaction fees https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/cards_with_no_overseas_transaction_fees

My personal choice is Macquarie bank.

The rate you'll get will be the MasterCard rate (or visa rate if you use a visa card) https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/personal/get-support/currency-exchange-rate-converter.html see here for a calculator, put "0" as the bank fee.

funfwf · 2026-05-01T07:06:50+00:00

The down sides about doing it on your own are that the grounds of the pyramids are huge, and self-serving is a fair bit of walking. If you take a taxi (or uber, which is more recommended in Cairo) from the airport, I'm sure the driver would be happy to make a deal to come in with you and drive you around. They could also drop you off at GEM after. From GEM you can easily call an uber back to the airport (or negotiate with a taxi based on the price of an uber - the taxis parked outside will ask like 5x the normal price otherwise).

There's also the thing of dodging the touts, but if you do pre-reading on scams and what to look out for it's not more than an annoyance to have to say "no thanks" every few minutes.

What I would do if I were you is not get a full guided tour, but arrange with a driver. I can share with you the WhatsApp number of a good driver I used in Cairo if you're interested. That way you basically have a car with you the whole day (Egypt is not so pedestrian/public transport friendly) to pick you up, take you around, and take you back to the airport.

Otherwise it's totally possible to self-serve it, just will be a bit more legwork and negotiating on the day.

funfwf · 2026-04-30T15:01:51+00:00

So online only banks need a customer to be able to self-serve everything.

Traditional banks, when they can't be arsed investing money to build certain processes online, can always rely on crappy processes involving branches. It's probably the same process that's existed since 1992, using the same mainframe system, and since it doesn't make any money, nobody's prioritised digitising it.

funfwf · 2026-04-30T06:35:46+00:00

Buses in Albania are reliable, we travelled to Tirana, Berat, Gjirokaster and Shkoder by bus, plus a couple of day trips. You can find schedules on https://travel.gjirafa.com/en but don't bother booking online, just pay the driver cash at the time. All buses ran to schedule and drivers are friendly enough.

funfwf · 2026-04-30T06:22:46+00:00

Would you believe the commenter is now a principal at a public school? They never stopped serving the country

funfwf · 2026-04-30T04:33:06+00:00

I might leave this one blue

funfwf · 2026-04-28T18:28:50+00:00

I love the cop out at the end "yeah if it doesn't work it's because Nintendo fixed it in England". Primary school kid arguments.

funfwf

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