💸 I was BROKE for 8 hours

Welcome to the Freaking Nomads Newsletter, your weekly dose of stories, insights, tools, and opportunities for digital nomads and remote workers building a life without borders.

Hey Freaking Nomads,

Yesterday I tried to pay for lunch and my card got declined.

Then again. Then a third time, while the guy at the counter gave me that patient little smile that says sure, lady.

I opened Revolut. It wouldn’t load. Logged out, logged back in. Nothing.

My first thought was that I’d been hacked.

Then I found out that Revolut was down. Properly down, for millions of people.

A power failure at a Google Cloud data centre near London took a big chunk of Revolut with it. For hours, card payments, transfers, ATM withdrawals and even logging in were partly or completely unavailable.

Revolut said everyone’s money and data stayed safe, and things were back by the evening (UK time).

Which is great. But a reassuring tweet didn’t pay for my lunch.

Thankfully I had my Wise card sitting in the other slot of my wallet. Tapped it, paid, walked out like nothing happened.

But all I could think about was how much worse that would have been at an airport. Fresh off a long flight, no local cash, phone dying, and my one card getting declined while trying to get a taxi.

If I’m honest, we put way too much trust in one shiny app. I did too in the past. And Revolut is still in my wallet. This isn’t a “Revolut bad” email.

It’s a “never rely on one thing” email.

So here’s my rule now:

Have at least two ways to pay. Ideally three.

And keep them in different places. Three cards in one stolen wallet is still zero cards.

If you’re not sure what your second or third option should be, our guide to the best banks for digital nomads covers Wise plus a bunch of alternatives depending on where you’re from.

Tiny setup. Huge difference the day things break!

Until next week,

Irene xx

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The annoying thing about a backup bank is that it’s the one you log into twice a year. So when you actually need it, you’re resetting a password you made in 2023 and waiting for a verification text to a SIM you don’t even use anymore.

Backups only work if you can get into them.

That’s why I’ve been using 1Password for years now. It keeps all my logins in one place, so my second and third ways to pay are always a tap away.

What I like about it:

🔐 Try 1Password free for 14 days

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