17
OctTravel Tips - Money
Travel Tips: The Money Questions
You’re getting ready to leave on your trip and one big question comes up: how much money do I take for spending while I’m over there? Do I take cash? Do I take US currency and exchange over there, or exchange before I leave? While money can be a confusing aspect of traveling, the answer is actually pretty simple: take only a small amount of cash and plan to use your debit or credit card with ATM’s to get the cash you need while over there.
ATMs are very widespread and will be commonly available on your trips. While providing the benefit of cash when you need it and not having to carry lots of money around with you, ATMs also provide the best exchange rate. Currency exchange booths are businesses, and as such have to make a profit in some way. The way they make this profit is through an inflated exchange rate and a transaction fee. While the inflation in the exchange rate can be small ($.05), it can add up. Also, there is no need to worry that your information will be unnecessarily compromised if used at an ATM overseas. Banks are global corporations and are accountable for their ATMs.
One thing you will need to do is call your bank/credit card company (The name on your card, not “master card” or “visa”) and tell them that you will be traveling, the countries you will be traveling to, and the dates of your travel. Sometimes companies will deny a transaction if they believe it is suspicious activity, such as a transaction originating in a different country. While normally this is very helpful, it can be annoying if you are trying to buy something!
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask us!!