How to save money abroad and at home – free Miles, free food, super cheap Taxis, etc

Read this to the end for the ultimate free Miles hack.

15% commissions at ATMs, really??
30% commissions at cash exchanges??

Are you tired of these levels of extortion? I am!
So here are a few tips i have come across out of sheer necessity! Yesterday i needed to get some cash out with a foreign card and the ATM wanted 15%. That was was going to add up to an abusive 45€ for 300€, ie you spend 300€ and receive only 255 € in cash! I said **** that & went home to figure out a better way. And i found it! Here it is.

If you are planning to go abroad, or are already abroad, find online banks that work on your mobile and that support bank accounts in various currencies. Two examples of that in the Czech Republic are Revolut and Air Bank. Beware Air Bank’s app is only in Czech, and also it seems that conversion rates with Revolut are WAY better than they are on Air Bank (EUR to CZK or vice versa).
Installing these takes a few minutes, is free, and will get you a free bank account. Air Bank will require a visit to the branch. So i highly recommend Revolut. Full disclosure, the link is an affiliate link, ie if you sign up & use their services i might receive something, however i wouldn’t recommend them if i wasn’t using them myself and if i wasn’t honestly convinced it was a good option. There may be better options out there, i’m just sharing my experience. Same goes for any other links here.

So yesterday, here in Prague, Czech Republic, i gave up on my cash withdrawal from my French card when i saw the immensity of the fees. Instead, i went into Revolut, where i have a CZK account AND a EUR account (and i have one in USD and i could instantly add one in any other currency, for free). So i went into my EUR Revolut account and asked to top it up from a card (it’s amazing you can do that). Simply add a card, in this case a French VISA from a EUR account, and the amount you specify gets credited instantly to your account. 300 € left my FR account and 300 € arrived on my Revolut account, within a few seconds. No fees whatsoever.

In order to withdraw, go into the EUR account and choose ‘exchange’, and convert the EUR into CZK. The commission? 3 € ! 1% instead of 15% at the ATM !
I was then able to transfer the CZK for free to my landlord’s Czech account, or i could have withdrawn cash at the ATM for free, and deposited it to her CZ account.

If you go outside of the EU, simply create an account in the currency you require. USD, GBP, JPY, etc.

If you want to save money whilst traveling, here is something i do : i use an Air France / KLM American Express. This Gold card isn’t cheap, it’s around 170 € per year, however, they have brought out a Blue card that is FREE FOR LIFE, and gives you 50 € back shortly after joining, plus a cashback on everything you spend. You also get 22000 Miles for free, which is pretty good, and the first year for FREE! In other words, you can get free Miles, free 3 month payments, 170€ off, and other advantages, for 1 year, and then just cancel if you like.

The advantages of the Gold card have really saved my a** sometimes : you pay 1 month later, and you can spread the cost of plane tickets over 3 months at 0% interest. That has really saved me many times when i needed to travel for work but couldn’t afford it. I never paid a single cent in fees or interest, AND the best thing is that every spent € is a free Mile, sometimes you even get more than that. Finally, the cherry on the cake is that this card gives you 30 free XP with the best airline loyalty program on the planet, Flying Blue. You only need 100 XP to get to the first level (free suitcase on every flight), and you can make 20 XP on a cheap short EU flight. So reaching 100 XP is very easy, especially if you fly once across the Atlantic.
The result is that i quickly reached Gold (level 2 of 3), which gives me 1 free suitcase per flight, a massive advantage, saving me up to 150 € per flight. I also get priority check-in, priority boarding, and free access to the Business lounge at every connection, meaning free drinks & free food, and sometimes the opportunity for a shower. None of this would have been attained without my Air France / KLM Amex card.

Note that you can use other airlines, you just need to buy the ticket on the Air France / KLM websites. That covers quite a few airlines, such as Czech Airlines, Aero Mexico, Delta, and many others.

Every month i accumulate free Miles thanks to my Amex card. And it also works with PayPal & other services, such as food delivery apps like Wolt, so i make Miles on the food i order, and on the online PayPal purchases too.

Another way to save a lot abroad is to install 2 or 3 competing taxi service apps, and to compare trip fares. I use Bolt and Uber, here in Prague, and what happens is that because you use them less often, they give you promo codes to encourage you to use the app more often. The result is that i often get discounts, sometimes big ones, like 40% off, and i can compare prices, sometimes saving me up to 50%.

Finally, if you want free food, register for all the food delivery services, such as Uber Eats, Wolt, Bolt Food, and wait. Don’t use the service, just wait. Sure enough, you will receive the most outrageous promotional offers. Check this out : Uber Eats in France sent me promos for 2x 12 € off, i didn’t use it, so they kept adding more on. The most they sent me was 10×10€ off ! Imagine, 100 € of free food!

If you know of other tips, please write a comment so we can all benefit.

Thank you
Yann

P.S. Oh, that ‘ultimate free Miles hack’, i almost forgot. You are not going to believe this. I invented this one myself, it works, and it’s free. It gives you FREE MILES without buying anything, instantly.

Here is what you need :

  • An Air France Amex
  • A PayPal account
  • 2 people, or two cards and two PayPal accounts.
  • No funds required, everything is advanced to you by American Express at no charge to you.

    Follow these steps :
  • When you get an Air France / KLM Amex, you can link it to your PayPal, as i mentioned above. This money will be charged to you up to 1 month later.
  • Your friend with an Air France Amex card also sets it up to use his PayPal account.
  • You send money to your friend via PayPal, for free, instantly.
  • This generates FREE MILES for you.
  • Your friend sends you back the same amount.
  • This generates FREE MILES for your friend.
  • Everything you send comes back to your bank account, at no cost.
  • At the end of the month, everything you ping-ponged back has generated Miles for you, AND for your friend.
  • Basically you are generated 2x the Miles of the amount that you send to your friend.
  • It’s a win-win for you and your friend, and, yes, it really works.

Enjoy ! 🙂

‘Who am I?’ – The Retreat

The following video is in Czech & English, i hope to have a version with English subtitles for you soon, follow this blog & my YouTube channel for notifications. For more information on the retreat, use the email in the video.

Our latest retreat was in July 2020 and was overbooked. It was also, i promise, way more of a success than i thought it would be. 😉

Let me explain : we had several new elements/activities to our program, and i was concerned we couldn’t pull it off. We did, and the feedback during the closing circle was 100% positive, everyone was very pleased with their stay & their experience.

Even if you don’t speak the language, the video will give you an idea of what to expect.

The next retreat will be from September 2nd to 6th 2020, in South Bohemia, Czech Republic. There are cheap flights to Prague from all over Europe. And from Prague car-pooling can be arranged with other clients attending.

We have approximately 20 spots available, for a staff of 8 !

The food is 100% healthy & vegan, very tasty, and will not leave you wanting anything more. 🙂

For details & pricing, please use the email in the video. Beware that last time we were overbooked so i recommend you do not delay if you are interested.

Who is this for?
– Anyone who wants to find out who they are.
– Anyone with addictions or depression but not taking SSRIs.
– Anyone wanting to re-connect with themselves and find their purpose in life.
– Anyone curious about connecting to ‘The Source’ and feeling more, or wanting more gratitude in their life.

The retreat will be preceded by an introduction call, and followed by an integration call.

Video

Kelly Howell’s Brainsync collection is currently 50% off

I don’t often promote much here, that’s not the purpose of this blog, which i think is not even monetized at all (at least i have never received a cent from it!).

For those of you following this blog or my YouTube channel, you might recall that i use special mp3s for meditation & before falling asleep. Well, i still use the same ones, and i feel a positive effect from them on my mood & on my dreams. I highly recommend them.

It just so happens that there is currently 50% off on the Brainsync website (CDs & MP3s) with promo code PEACE2019. I thought that was worth mentioning.

Which tracks do i use?

Morning : Awakening Kundalini (includes breathing exercises). Wakes me up & gets me in a good mood, motivated.

Night before sleep and whilst sleeping : Attract wealth #3 is designed to put you to sleep and works real well. I also use The Secret Universal Mind Meditations, they are very empowering and also great for sleeping.

Some of her tracks are great to listen to all day, on speakers, such as the relaxing Attract Love While Working, or Release & Let Go.

When you register on her website, you get a free track, and you’ll receive future promo codes automatically.

Remember to use them daily for best results.

Enjoy!

Some of my favorites

Are you depressed ? GOOD !

why-depression-is-a-good-thing

I wish someone had told me this.

Depression is usually viewed as a bad thing. And that’s the problem.

Depression is just the same as any other feeling : it’s your inner guiding system doing its job. When you’re in your car and your GPS tells you ‘WARNING! DANGER AHEAD! TURN ROUND AT ONCE!’, you don’t just ignore it and put in ear plugs. So why would you do that with how you feel about your own life ?

In this short video i explain why depression is actually a good thing and why you should do all you can to NOT ignore it and NOT hide it under a traitorous veil of so-called “anti”-depressants. I also give you a few quick tips on how to deal with it short term to improve your life.

Want to feel better ? Your inner beacon is the key. Listen to it and use it to your advantage.

LSD microdosing…NOT !

So here i am, having not bought LSD or anything illegal anywhere in the world, not cutting up LSD tabs into 8 and not microdosing it.
I did not take 1/8th of a tab at 10.35 am this morning and this is an account of me not doing any of those things.
First off, i don’t know if it really was not LSD 25 or if it was not 1P LSD, heck maybe it was not something else. I was simply told ‘this is not acid’. Already confusing.
I did not pay 150 units of imaginary currency (which translates into 7,50 in €) for it.
Apparently when you take LSD it takes 30-45 minutes to start to kick in. Much like shrooms then.

So here it is. Will i feel anything from not taking this stuff ? Is the non-LSD spread out evenly on the tiny tab or did the part i just did not ingest have more or less than 1/8th of the non-existent dose ? How much was the imaginary dose on this tab of non-acid anyway ? Geeez, so many questions…

10.35 am

1/8th of a tab of non-LSD.

10.45 am

Can’t say that i am feeling much, and were i feeling anything it might be a placebo / nocebo. Maybe more relaxed ?

10.50 am

Right, definitely seeing a walrus in clothes sitting at a piano singing, with pretty policemen doing a dance routine on a wall.
Just kidding : nothing.

I’m having (fresh) ginger (root) tea, very strong in the ginger department. Dunno if that’s a good or a bad thing, or maybe making me feel things too.

11.02 am

Doing my work-out routine now, just did 50 squats, going to do 50 more. Not sure if this can have any influence.

11.39 am

I am now onto ginger coffee with powdered Saigon cinnamon. Is that giving me a high ?
My brain doesn’t feel quite normal, as if there was some abnormal activity going on up there, right in its center. Could it be thinking ?? Maybe i’ve found a way to turn it on.

1.08 pm

Feeling some sort of very light inner ‘bone’…”euphoria” maybe ? Reminds me a bit of shrooms.

5 pm

Took some more, 2/8ths i think and cannot remember when [i’m writing this the next day] but i know i took one more 1/8th at some point, totally 4/8s in the day.

Around 8.30 pm

Went to the supermarket, stared at a sign for a minute and it started slowly moving. Felt overall pretty strange and driving was not something i was comfortable with.
Keeping focussed eyes was impossible, no matter what the distance.

Around 10.30 pm & next day

Went to bed. Slept pretty well till my alarm went off at 5.30 am. Maybe have got some closed eye visuals. At this time i took half a tab.

Next day 7 am

Need to sleep, set my timer for 90 mins, put on the Kelly Howell track #3 The secret to attracting wealth, which is designed for sleep, and i got plenty of very bright coloured closed-eye visuals, but very synthetic fluorescent colours. There was nothing fascinating about it. I don’t even know if this stuff is actual LSD, let’s keep that in mind.

Next day 11.30 am

I don’t like the feel of it so far. Feels unnatural, synthetic, like abnormal activity in the brain. Will surely take a full tab one day but really don’t feel like it. Maybe there is some point to microdosing this, whatever i have bought here, in 1/8s, because there seemed to be some extra drive, but quite frankly i’d rather manage to find that drive & maybe stamina through other means. I feel like i am closed to my emotions, to my pain, to my loneliness, and i feel like i need some Toad Medicine or some long deep Ayahuasca sessions, like in Peru.

I must stop spurting out my pain & frustration onto others, mostly my mother & brother, because that is just being a victim about victims. A dead-end. I am really frustrated with myself, my lack of actions, my procrastination, and i wonder to what extent these lines here are not exactly that. I NEED TO FOCUS, and STICK TO THAT FOCUS. I know i can do it, i just seems to have

 

Does our mind control & create our reality ?

Dr Bruce Lipton produces a fascinating presentation from minute 1 right through to the very last second.
Just 5 or 10 mins in you can feel the breeze that is about to storm your mind. And then it just gets better & better.
So much in here that i will have to watch it again, for sure. And yet it is all so very clear & easy to understand.
Thanks, Mr Lipton, this is high-value life-changing insight.

Video

My 66 Day Challenge : to work out every day

On April 25th 2016 i decided to take up a self-suggested 66 day challenge to exercise every single day.
Here i will post “Vlog” updates – that’s video logs i think – now & then.
I am now on day 22, ie 33% through. How do i feel ? Have i lost weight ? Am i gaining muscle ?
What is my routine ?
My weight is stable, but…

Quick reminder : before May 10th 2014, which is when i first watched Dan Pena & Peter Sage and started running & eating better (and soon did Ayahuasca), i was 83 Kg. I am 68 Kg (2016-05-16).

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Vlog from April 28th (2016) – Day 4 :

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Vlog from May 16th – Day 22 :

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Vlog from June 14th – Day 53 :

Before and after photos will be posted on Day 66 right here. Subscribe to this blog and/or the YouTube channel for updates.

Video

Two years in, what has changed ?

Two years & one day ago, everything started to change for me. It was like a shock. I was gobsmacked – for 3 days. Then i got up off my arse and ran. And lost weight. And felt overwhelmed with incompatible feelings and it felt wonderful. Thank you Peter Sage and Dan Pena for showing me it is possible to not be a victim, i had no clue. No clue i was one, and no clue i could not be.
Two years have gone by, amazingly, and i have experienced Ayahuasca 11 times, shrooms 4 or 5 times, Peyote once, Kambo twice and Bufo Alvarius twice.
But what has changed ?

Video

You can bring a horse to the water…

…but you cannot make it drink.

Self sabotage

It has taken me a while but i have now changed my mind on recommending Ayahuasca. In fact, this applies to Kambo, Bufo Alvarius, anything. Basically all of those things where intention is absolutely determining.

My brother, my mother & I all experienced Kambo together a few months ago. While we all got some positive results, they were stronger for my mother than for my brother or I, and my brother possibly got the least. I could be wrong, but i think he used this as an excuse for ‘one step forwards, two steps back’ as far as these medicines are concerned. In fact he probably does not consider Ayahuasca & the like medicine ‘because it does not have the same effect on everyone’. That’s the reason his mind has found to dismiss these things, despite the clinical studies showing the demise of depression, despite the Nobel Prize nominations etc. Then again, he has not tried anything except Kambo, and you can’t really get a rougher ride than that, now can you? What more dissuasion could one need?

I talked with him today and he says he really was hoping for some positive impact from Kambo before he went (there is a huge difference between wanting & hoping!), yet he would never have gone alone and probably would not have gone just with me either, the only reason he came was because my mother agreed to go. After session 1 he pretty much immediately gave up and said he wouldn’t do it again. Luckily, he was persuaded by our facilitator the next day, however he has since decided to never do it again. Anyone surprised so far? Or try anything else for that matter – not anything that might help, at least. That’s right, the mesmerizing peacefulness & zen achieved by my mother after Ayahuasca are no reason to try. My own changes with Ayahuasca & Bufo Alvarius neither. The thousands of testimonies out there neither.

saw branchSo you see, there is a problem here. He was basically persuaded to do himself good, it was not his own initiative nor his own actions that led to him experiencing Kambo. Throw in some stiffness and intolerance towards all the jargon of these ceremonies (references to spirits, Shakras, etc) and you have a recipe for disaster: more of the same old self-sabotage.

And so the result is that today he is on allopathic “anti”-depressants (I call them depressants, as this seems more accurate), he is riddled with pain & symptoms such as eczema, zona and back pain.

You might think that sending over scientific articles on how psilocybin mushrooms cure depression and provide long term peace & calm to those who ingest them could have been a subject of practical interest in someone who said prior to Kambo that they wanted ‘peace & calm’. But, no, ‘that’s not for me’. Indeed, peace & calm is really not for him. I wonder why not.
The same applies to so many other things, all very well documented in the scientific community, of course: DMT, Ayahuasca & LSD all seem to have huge potential in terms of mental health & depression. So does Iboga.

It’s not for you unless you want it. He did not want it but went anyway: he is now worse off, in his opinion, than before. My opinion is that Kambo did to him what it did to me: it opened him up where he was emotionally crippled and his deep unhappiness is now harder to hide. I myself have had some times since then when i went looking for refuge in alcohol, sugar and fried foods. God did it make me sick. I felt like shit, my energy went down, my knee pain started coming back & so did the itch in my foot, and my back felt like it was always on the edge of getting stuck, right on shakra #2, the lower back region. Remind you of anything, brother?
But i stopped drinking. I stopped eating badly. I went & got a massage right away. I started meditating. The tensions started to go away, and after 2-3 weeks i was much better in every way. I did a bit of exercise and even lost a bit of blubber. My knee pain left and the foot stopped itching. Oh, and i did Bufo Alvarius and started feeling alive again, like i could not remember feeling since i was a kid. For more on that experience, see the videos or article on the homepage. That experience changed my life, made me stop alcohol immediately and i don’t even miss it. Haven’t drunk a drop since and i know i will never drink again. No regrets, in fact i am very pleased about it, i feel stronger and know i have done the right thing. Now i need to filter out the shit in my food and stop eating dead food.

self sabotageSo i made a mistake pushing him to do things i thought or knew could help him. Because when the mindset is shit, the mind will always find a way to fool you into continuing on the same shitty track. My brother has great reasons not to try any of these things that have helped others for thousands of years. Science doesn’t matter here, because ‘the effects vary for each person’. It’s hard to argue against that: each person is different and so each person needs different things. Where i was relieved of my anguish, guilt & anger on day 1 of Ayahuasca, others were relieved of their fear of death while everyone else found yet other awakening and/or life-changing benefits. As did everyone who did Bufo Alvarius (Toad Medicine). You usually get what you really yearn for. Kambo didn’t fail you, you failed yourself. That’s my opinion, anyway.
But there you go, the brilliance of our ‘reasonable mind’ at work. The mind really is a fuckery.

I have friends who, i am now rather sure, do not want to heal. Being healthy & fully operational bears way more responsibility than being sick. One of them told me to not talk about cures for his ailments because when i did it hurt his balls.
My mother has tinnitus. I sent her the details for a clinic in Germany with a new proven method that actually helps – that was over 3 years ago, she never called. She complains about being tired. I suggested calling a sleep center, there are plenty near her. She never called. And so on.
People sabotage a lot. I know i do. I am slowly becoming aware of it. And the reason it bothers me so much that my brother does is not just that i care for him and want him to be happy – brotherhood is truly a great & lovely thing, i am blessed to have him – it is also & mostly because it pisses me off that I sabotage. And boy do i get frustrated & angry about that. I know that at the end of the day, it’s mostly about me and things that I need to fix.

Pushing people to help themselves when they don’t want to may well indeed make things worse. And as hard & painful as it is for me to see my mother not help herself and fade back into ultra-negative mode after weeks of positivity & zen following Ayahuasca, i kind of know that i need to let her shoot herself in the foot. Same goes for my brother or anyone else.

I offered 100.000 € on Facebook to anyone who would try Bufo Alvarius and not describe it as the best thing that had ever happened to them. What response did i get? ‘What is that?’.
People can’t even be bothered to google a fucking word for 100.000 €….OR to change their lives.

Fuck them. Fuck you. Fuck me, i’m going to be sodding happy and if you want to waste away then too fucking bad. I am mad. At you, at me, at everyone. I already know i will want to edit this in 1 minute. Screw that, this is my mind right now.

 

Bufo Alvarius : Day 4 – The 2 minute update

From now on, i will try to make a detailed daily update, mostly for me, for the record (that’s what this blog is), and a 2 minute update for anyone interested in the essence but not in wasting more time.
These longer versions are at the bottom of this post.

In summary, i feel GREAT, i feel IN CONTROL of my mind (whereas it was in control of me before), i haven’t touched a drop of alcohol since and i somehow would be very disappointed with myself if i ever did (!!!), i feel way more determined to do things i know i need to do and way more determined to NOT do things i know i shouldn’t do, and that feels just GREAT.

Meditation has taken on a whole new dimension, with feelings reminiscent of the Bufo Alvarius Experience, and i got some absolutely amazing feelings of well-being this morning before i woke up, with a deep inner conviction that i could do anything i wanted and was limitless (HAHAHAAA how fucking cool is that, eh ?! HAHAAAA I’M LOVIN THIS !!!).

At moments during the day when i have positive thoughts of love, of who i miss (mostly my brother & mother), basically when i feel in flow with who I Really Am, then i just start to feel amazing. I had this beacon in me before too, but i wasn’t listening to it. My mind would convince me that the beeps were something else. And so i would sabotage with alcohol (blurs away your consciousness and should be absolutely avoided at all times, no excuses!) and nasty foods to “satisfy” “cravings”, only to feel less satisfied and more miserable. I don’t do that now, at least i haven’t over these 4 days, and somehow i have this CONVICTION in my CORE that i never will again. I cannot even begin to tell you how LIBERATING that is. It’s marvellous.

I cannot wait to see what will happen this afternoon, tomorrow, next week, next month.

How i want my loved ones to feel as good and as liberated of their non-truths as i do of my own lies now. There definitely was a me before and Me Now. And I am NEVER going back to that frustrated miserable me. I am Alive and it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Love Yourself, Love Life.
It is just one breath away.

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The 2 minute update :

The “short” version :

The long version :
[being uploaded, check again in a few hours]

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