EFFIE BATEMAN | Lifestyle | CONTACT
A local woman/wannabe travel influencer has been smugly documenting her savvy travel spending tips on Instagram for the past two weeks, boasting about foreign exchange hacks, $4 noodle dinners, and using her Wise card to dodge international fees.
However, that all came crashing down the moment she stepped into a Pop Mart in Harajuku and locked eyes with a rare edition Labubu she’d been eying online.
Not one to miss a craze, Emily Tran, 29, admits all her savvy spending went out the window when she trotted into the brightly lit store.
“I’ve been really good, honestly! I found a cheap hostel to stay in, and I’ve been dining out for less than 30 bucks a day. I even used a Wise travel card to save on fees instead of being a typical tourist and converting cash at the airport, or swiping my regular debit card from the Big Banks”, she says, albeit a bit defensively.
“I’ve even been putting in my steps instead of spending on public transport, and it’s been stinking hot, mind you.”
“So I think it’s okay to treat myself, right?”
Emily is, of course, using the standard girl math, where she allows herself to spend a huge chunk of money as a reward for saving money.
In this case, Emily might, actually, be spending more than she saved, as this particular Labubu just so happens to be a whopping $350 (¥32,000).
Labulus are essentially the modern-day version of the Beanie Baby, but a lot uglier and more expensive.
But Emily insists it’s worth it, because she’s not getting absolutely fleeced through those exchange rates by using her bank card abroad.
“It’s a…souvenir”, says Emily, even though you can buy Labubu’s pretty much anywhere in the world, “a memory from my time in Tokyo!”
More to come.
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