You’ve got two days before you leave the country when someone innocently asks you, “how do you plan to pay for stuff when you’re overseas?” You flippantly reply, “with my card” (with that hint of sarcasm as if to say “well what else do you expect me to use”) to which your friend/ family member/ frenemy says “are you sure your card will work in [insert your next destination here]?”
Later that evening, as you reflect upon your acquaintances question, a sense of dread starts to creep over you… “what will i do if my card doesn’t work?!?!?”
To be honest, its not something that has happened to me much over the past few years. If you were reading this post ten years ago then that question may have been valid, but these days ATMs are pretty prevalent, pretty much everywhere.
BUT, there is a catch!
Yes ATMs are prevalent and readily available (especially in modern economies) but your card may not work in every ATM. In fact, I’d say its fairly common to find when travelling, that some types of ATMs don’t like your card. In the main, bank ATMs are my normal go-to.. The bigger the bank (ie the more branches I can see when tooling around) the more likely to take my ATM card and therefore my go-to bank of withdrawal.
So for me, as I’m leaving, I check that I have my usual visa debit from home and my special “I only use this one overseas” card. My usual visa debit stays hidden away in my luggage/ backpack and isn’t used on the trip. I keep it for backup, in case I have trouble with my “only use for travel” visa debit or I lose it/ it gets stolen. What I then do is transfer money into a different bank account that I only use when i travel. I use a HSBC account because it allows me to have multiple currencies and I don’t have to pay transaction fees when using it OS!!
You might ask me about using special “travel cards” that are provided by many airlines/ banks… “Aren’t they the same thing?” I’ve used these but am not really a fan. Firstly, they really only work in major economies (the UK, Japan, the US, Europe etc), because the way they work is you “buy” currency electronically and put it onto these cards that you can then use out of ATMs or as EFTPOS. I’ve used them on two trips that I can recall and both times had some issues with finding ATMs that would accept them and the bigger downside is that you can only load certain currencies… If you’re travelling to a country not listed, then you are back to paying the high fees that you would pay anyhow using your own bank card. So, if you’re travelling to a major economy and don’t want to find a fee free transaction account then go this way- they’re easy to setup and you can get going as you’re boarding the plane!
How about travellers cheques, I hear a lone voice cry? My answer, “can you still get travellers cheques?!?” Actually, you can still get travellers cheques and I guess if you a really worried you could carry them as a back up. The biggest downside is that they are a pain in the bum to convert into cash. Travelex or others will say “they’re acccepted anywhere”… I say, “the one time I used them (almost ten years ago in Mongolia), I had a hell of a time finding a bank that would accept them and convert them, let alone a shop or hotel!” Personally, unless you are afraid of ATMs I wouldn’t recommend carrying travellers cheques. They’ve gone the way of Kodak cameras!
If you are worried about having money when you arrive at your next destination, do the smart thing either before or at the airport, and get some currency in your pocket! That way, at least you can pay for a taxi/ train or whatever when you arrive at the airport to get to your first destination. For all of the rest of us, just head to the first ATM you find in the baggage claim area of any arrivals hall anywhere in the world and withdraw enough to get you by for a few days!
Happy Travelling!