The debit card is clearly the best option today, if you are travelling with someone pick cards from different networks, maestro, link, bancomat, cirrus, and credit cards should be visa or mastercard, as American Express, Diners, Braclays etc are not as widely accepted. If you are going to remote areas remember to withdraw cash before you go as ATMs can be difficult to find, and even if your guide says there is one, your card may not work there.Prefer a card from a bank that will not charge a big commission for withdrawing from outside your country. If you are going to stay in one country for a long time you may want to pen a local savings account, put the money there and get a local debit card. This works very well in Australia and NZ if you are staying for several month and working or doing ocassional work.
take different notes in USD 5, 10, 20, 50 while in southeast asia as it is not always easy to exchange 100. If you are in Europe keep some cash in Euro, and in Latin America always pay cash as discounts are upto 20%, even if USD is not the local currency they will probably accept it. USD, EUR and GBP are accepted in many places in East Africa, although you end up paying less if you have local currency. Keep your cash for when you need it and use debit crads and credit cards as much as possible. You could aslo take traveller checks as an insurance, as if you lose them you can always claim them back.
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Posted - 09 Aug 2011 : 09:08:54
