With summer finally getting into full swing, many of us will be searching forward to traveling abroad for a well-earned holiday. Of course, you will need access to cash while you are away, so what are the best and safest ways of arranging your travel money?
It is a good idea to take a small amount of local currency with you whenever you travel, if only enough to last you for your first few hours. You will probably need to arrange travel from the airport to your hotel for example, and local currency is the easiest way to pay for these initial expenses. The exchange rates charged at airports are notoriously expensive, so buy some currency before you leave and you will get a much better deal. The drawback to carrying currency is that if it gets lost or stolen, it can not be replaced. For this reason, it is best to use another form of travel money for most of your funds.
These are the traditional way of carrying money abroad. When you buy the cheques, which can be in Sterling, Euros or US Dollars, you have to sign the stub of each cheque in the presence of the teller. Once abroad, you can convert the cheques into local currency by signing the other half of the cheque at a currency exchange, where the teller will compare the two signatures and inspect your passport. This system is more secure than cash as each cheque is uniquely numbered, so if a cheque goes missing it can be quickly cancelled and replaced by the cheque issuer. There is a drawback in that you have to cash the cheques at a currency exchange, and you might not find one offering a good exchange rate for your travel money.
Credit cards are accepted virtually the world over, and may seem a good way of paying your way while abroad. As well as using them for shopping, they can be used to pay restaurant bills and even to withdraw cash. Before choosing this as your travel money option though, check your card's small print to see what interest rate is charged on overseas use - it will probably be higher than the standard rate of your card, and you will probably have to pay exchange charges too.