Travel money

[Jon Wildsmith]

Just interested to hear what others do for travel money when going abroad.

We're off to France, Switzerland (one night stop over) and Italy later in the year so I'm mainly interested in Euros though I'll take a few Swiss francs. Previously I've just had whatever the max Euro's I think I'll want delivered, stashed most of it in a safe in the car with just daily spending money in my wallet, paid cash for almost everything while away and then changed the surplus notes back to pounds when I get back. Previous trips were for 10 days with just me to pay for so I only took £1500, this trip is 16 days with wife and daughter spending money as well so probably double the cash to keep safe ...

All of the bank accounts / debit cards we have charge obscene amounts for foreign transactions so they're emergency use only really. I'm looking at cards like the FairFX Euro card which you load with money up front but can also reload via SMS so in theory I can load it with the minimum expected spend and top it up when that's obviously not enough Still seems like a bit of a balancing act between what's loaded on the card for the bigger spends like fuel vs cash in the pocket for general spending and would be simpler to just take a big wad of cash ...

So, what do other folks do?

 

[fridayman]

When you're spending £3k in 2 weeks, do the costs of using debit cards really matter? I take an initial sum, say €500, and then just use cards or draw more cash there.

 

[AndyCook]

we took £1k worth of Euros in cash = 1200 ish Euros, plus had some surplus - maybe 200 euros - from work trips as i am usually in europe once a month

i used credit card a couple times to pay for fuel where there was no kiosk and only cardpayment at pump, but mainly paid for fuel with cash
that was for 2 weeks, and 2 of us
and used the card to pay for the 7 cases of wine in Tain l'hermitage!

 

[TonyP]

Hi Jon

Some banks don't actually charge for foreign transactions, and some do... I have a Santander credit card which don't actually have a service charge, but I am sure they load the FX rate in their favour. This bothers me less than seeing a £1.50 transaction fee which Halifax feel it is appropriate to do for every transaction.

So in general, I will use the CC for everything, and if I am somewhere where I will need cash then I take the hit and draw it from my current account, but limit these to a few withdrawls as possible.

I much preferr this than having to carry around large amounts of cash, but then for me most of my trips abroad have been on a motorbike where a safe is way out of the question....

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

When you're spending £3k in 2 weeks, do the costs of using debit cards really matter?

Good point, the money sites say our cards are the debit cards from hell for foreign transactions and avoid using them but I haven't worked out the actual costs so I will do that I don't think our Lloyds card has the £1.50 per transaction fee just 2.99% or something like that and no doubt a rubbish exchange rate.

 

[Gary Stockton]

Post Office do a top-up cash card that's fee-free, I think - check their website. Also, Clydesdale Bank do top-up fee-free travel card, but you need to be an acount holder, so no good for you just now.

I'd take cash, a Post Office cash card and my own bank debit card in that order.

EDIT: I see the Post Office card is the Clydesdale one!

Cheers

 

[Lorin]

Every year before heading off on a trip I check money saving expert for the best card for spending abroad http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel ... avel-money

I then take only enough cash for the what's needed and put all fuel, accommodation and food where possible on the card

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Post Office do a top-up cash card that's fee-free, I think - check their website.

I might give one of those a go, looks like I can get the surplus back in pounds for a 3% charge. I like the idea of using what is essentially a debit card that is separate to our bank account so there's limited loss if it's lost, stolen or cloned.

 

[Crispin]

I normally draw the max I can each time at the nearest ATM in the country. I also don't use cash much at all. Plastic all the way. Using a credit card incurs no fee. The rate might not be the best but unless you're talking many thousands, the difference would probably be used by a) time searching around b)driving to the Forex place c) some hidden fees on the other method.

I work with a girl who is going from Aylesbury to Victoria station because there is an (alleged) Forex both there which would see her get an extra $5 out of £1000.

 

[frank rabbets]

We take cash everytime and have it in a body belt bag 24/7 also containing our passports and copies of the car insurace and v5 in case the car goes missing. We don't change it back to sterling but keep the euros for next time to avoid the fees. Sometimes we win on the exchange rate on our saved euros. Don't forget to take the insurance original and keep the passport in the car; well you will have them anyway with a body belt bag. We were stopped by the gendarmes this year and they carefuly checked the insurance and passport. They were armed with revolvers. There was a 3rd stationed some 80 feet away armed with a single barrelled pump action shotgun presumably to shoot out the tyres if you did not stop, or worse. A few years ago they impounded my brothers' Renault Alpine due to no papers. In some French built up areas it is still "priority a droit" and you may miss a sign warning you of this so always drive slowly and keep an eye open to your right hand side especially if there is no give way line for the road joining you to stop traffic on that road from coming out in front of you, even if there is some old fossills, and there are millions, still think it's 1930 and cross their give way line and come straight out in front of you. It's really bad news if you hit a cyclist; they seem to he R.O.W. by law whatever. You will need to have a breathalyser soon in the car. 50 KPH speed limits start exactly where there is the village or town rectangular namebord with a red border and ends where there is the same with a diagonal cross through it . There are no other built up area speed limit signs apart from the 20 KPH ones in heavy pedestrian areas and sometimes mobile radar traps.

Wish I was coming!
Frank

 

[wobbly]

Post Office postal service for cash, and larger purchases on a Visa credit card, no fees for using them and you get the commercial exchange rate which is better than the banks counter rate.