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Hello All, Just a quick note to say that I haven't been blogging here for a while because Peter and I decided to get our own doma...
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Pub Tour London: A great night activity in London
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| Tower Bridge, London, UK |
So I was on a business trip in London and my colleagues had told me good luck when I had mentioned I'm going out on a pub tour. Why, I asked, and to which they said that almost everyone who goes out on a pub tour of the city gets on their hands and knees at some point in the night or the morning after - but it is a lot of fun.
Off I went, searching on the internet for a company to book until I found Pub Tour London. They had two tours: one for central, and one for shoreditch and I booked the central tour. It was 12 quid (GBP) if booked online on a weeknight - not too bad for someone to guide me to some of the best bars around town. Meeting place was at the Piccadilly Institute from 8 -9PM, which was a great time for me to grab dinner and get there right after work. I went alone, so it was quite daunting for me to go to a pub but whatever, this tour helps me meet new people anyway. Found the people who are the tour organizers of Pub Tour London who then connected me to new people that are also within my group. Not so bad.
After an hour in one pub, off we went to another, and another, and another. There was free shots, but I think what made me quite tipsy was the fact that I kept mixing drinks. Just so you know, if you are planning to visit London, some of these drinks can cost quite a bit of money. Try budgeting around 7 GBP for a pint of beer, more if you are planning to buy some of the mixed drinks (which can range form 9GBP up). It wasn't all about the pubs, as the night went on, I found myself in some clubs too, which charge exorbitant entry fees. Turns out that this tour I booked from Pub Tour London is in charge of paying for these cover charges. Excellent. So, a bit tipsy and trying my best to dance and talk to some of my new friends, I finally ended the night in the wee hours of the morning, with a few more Facebook contacts and trying my best to remember how the night had unfolded. Let me just say my Friday was really unproductive, as I went on a Thursday night. (Note: Thursday nights at work are more like our drinking night to give way to the people who have families and want to leave early on a Friday to go home to their respective towns). I would definitely recommend Pub Tour London to anyone who may want to go and have fun in a new town and meet new friends along the way! They upload group photos on their gallery - so try to grab it from their website when you can.
Travel, Me, and Variable Life Insurance Thoughts
My flat when I was living in Central London
Apologies, I know I have become a bad blogger recently. I have gone on a few trips here and there which took up a lot of my time, and watching a lot of shows in the middle. Thought I could make it up with a brand-new semi-travel and personal post! Hopefully the wait is worth it.
So two weeks ago, I was contacted by a previous next-door neighbor asking if he could meet with me to discuss some investment products that his company was offering. Out of courtesy, I agreed, and well, I am curious enough to know what investment product it was, but was just hoping it was not insurance-related as I definitely won't buy it.
Just my luck. It was an insurance-backed product. Ugh. I really hate those things: you save aside x amount of your money every month or year, and the company invests it in so and so and after x amount of years, you get a huge percentage of your money back as interest + your principal (that is, if the economy is up). Oh, what's more is that it is insurance-backed. Meaning if something happens to you (ie if your life conks out say, at this minute or so) - your beneficiaries get x amount of money as well. To be polite, I said I would think about it (but in reality, I already set my mind on saying no. I just needed another way to decline in a more polite way).
The sales pitch went like this: "You get x amount of money back as your savings/investment for the future, and your dependants will also get the money without bureaucracies if something does happen to you. I know you're still young, but if you invest while you are young, your premium is smaller compared to when you are comparitively older. Plus, shouldn't be saving up for your future family?"
Uhmm yeah, not interested. My reasons?
1) By the time that I do get my money back, its value would have been really depreciated. We all know about the time value of money right? Your $1 now is not worth $1 in say, 6 months time. So if I invest my money today and I get it back in say, 40 years time, my investment is basically worth half of it, I guess.
2) As traveler, I find that life is too short. Why would I want to invest a considerable amount of money for the future right now when I could use it to travel? I could go out and see the world instead of worrying about what I would leave my (future) kids and/or husband? I will cross that bridge when I get there. I love my life and the way I am living it now, so I'm sorry, you chose the wrong person to sell this product to.
3) I don't even have kids! The only family member I would want to take care of and/or leave money to is my mum! Not my cousins, nothing. Why would I pay for someone else's happiness? Other retirees out there forego their children's future inheritances, why can't I?
4) I am more interested in liquid assets. I need my cash now for my impromptu trips. I want to spend my hard earned cash the way I want to, which is travel (and books - and occasionally clothes and bags & shoes & concerts)
And so, when the time for me to decide was nearly up, I got a multitude of phone calls: I literally just arrived that morning from another out of town trip (Coron, Palawan) and was just warming up for another few days of work before another holiday (to Brunei). So yeah, forgive me if I did not have the extra time answering those calls. I got an email, which I then replied back to a few days after saying I would decline to take this offer.
I think he was a bit persistent because he was missing his quota for the year. Sorry, but still no.
Worked out the math and it went something like this:
*Save $1200 for a year for 20 years
That is $24000 for 20 years.
With that money, I could have gone around the world for a year (or more) if I saved that amount within a few years.
* I could invest that money in a fixed income account (ie bonds or savings accounts) and get a fixed rate of interest every month which I could also use on my incidentals or on travel.
* I could still be happy knowing that I had that amount of money ready to spend.
So sorry, but those are my two cents worth about Life insurance & variable life insurance.
I do not believe in it (at the moment) - I want to spend it more on my travels and trying to see what the world has to offer.
Then again, if you are selling me more time on planet earth and I am not going to age (which is impossible) then I might just consider your offer...
London 2012: Olympic Venues Part One
London 2012 is officially under way (did you get to watch it? I did!) and since not everyone can go there at the moment, I thought I could take you on a little tour what to see! This city has over 2,000 years of history, and is a cultural melting pot. It is a city where the old meets new, where high rise modern buildings can be seen within a few minutes walk from a castle!
First off, let's tour some Olympic venues within the London.
The Olympic Stadium, within the Olympic Village in Stratford, hosted the Opening Ceremonies last Friday. It would also host the Athletics & Closing Ceremony, definitely something to look out for. Have you seen the fireworks over this stadium during the Opening Ceremony?
Wimbledon is widely known for its yearly Tennis tournament, and this time, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club will also be the venue for the Tennis Olympic Event.
And on to some iconic views - if you've seen the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, David Beckham went through this steering a speedboat (of course there's fireworks as he went through too)- this is Tower Bridge. It currently has the Olympic rings at the top for the Olympics :)