That one time we drove to Miami.

This is a sponsored post for Commonwealth Bank.

It was our first major trip overseas as a family. Well, actually our first trip overseas as a family, full stop. We headed over to Disney World in Orlando for a blogging conference and had decided to add on a few days in Miami to the other side of it. I felt like a travel-pro. I researched and planned, and Googled the heck out of everything.

So, after a week of non-stop Disney fun we headed to the airport to pick up a hire car, a GPS and a car seat for Lacey and then headed to Miami. That couple of hours was the most stressful that Hubby and I have ever encountered, but looking back it was the most hilarious too. A couple of times a year we’ll reminisce, “Remember that one time we drove to Miami?”

When we were safely in our hotel room, we decided to take a moment to unpack, regroup, de-stress and do responsible-type things like check our bank balance. That didn’t quite help the de-stressing part of the plan, because once we logged in we realised we’d spent twice as much as we thought we had, so a freak-out ensued. I emptied my purse and we wrote lists of all the money we’d spent. “How can this be?” we asked each other

We called our bank in Sydney, via Skype, all the way from our little hotel room in Miami. “We haven’t spent that much money, surely?” we asked. We’d been really responsible, and knew we didn’t have much to play with… so it seemed odd that we were left with so little. We were certain that we’d researched enough to know what we were doing with our money was right…

After a quick discussion over Skype we’d figured out that we’d make a few rookie mistakes, easily resolved within a few days {when we arrived back home in Australia}, which would have been even more easily resolved or wouldn’t have happened at all if we’d explored our options before heading overseas in the first place. Lesson learned.

We were total travel newbies. We had no idea what we were doing, and we were pretty much on a tight budget for the rest of the trip. Instead of paying for things with the card all the time, we decided to carry cash and just hope that we didn’t get mugged in the back streets of Miami. We ate cheap pizza in our hotel room {delicious, mind you} and watched every dollar spent that left our hands. I didn’t indulge in a fancy handbag, alas.

We still had the trip of our lifetime, but knew that we’d do things different next time we jetted away. On subsequent trips overseas we got a bit savvy and didn’t make the same mistakes. Thankfully.

And the thing that would have solved that wee problem we had back then in Miami? If we’d had a Travel Money Card from CommBank.

So you can carry on getting excited about the places you’ll visit, the food you’ll eat and the clothes you’ll pack, CommBank can solve your money concerns with one easy way to manage your money overseas. The Travel Money Card lets you travel with your money in one place, allowing you to access your money securely from almost where ever it is you’re traveling to. The perks include: 11 currency options, locked in exchange rates, reload by phone or BPay {if you get a bit spend-happy or see the handbag that you HAVE to have} and you can track your spending online {so no long distance freak-out calls to your bank via Skype, like us} plus they have 24/7 help available too. And it’s accepted at over 35 million locations, so you know… pretty much everywhere.

Five lucky people are going to win a fully loaded Travel Money Card from CommBank that is filled up with $1000 cash for you to spend. You can head over and enter the competition by clicking here.

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc