Nov 23 2008
Cash is King When You Travel
We’ve become a cashless society, but cash is king quite often when we are traveling and its as if we have fallen out of the habit of carrying more than $100 cash.
Yesterday I wrote about traveling overseas with a weak dollar and Robin over at US Work From Home Free asked about carrying cash rather than cards. I realised that my reply was a post in itself!
Lets be clear: I carry cards and cash, in the olden days I carried travelers checks and cash. But people are far more likely to leave home without cash than a card and that I think is a mistake. If you have to choose I’d say that: you need cash more than a card:
- when you step of the plane, in Cambodia as you arrive you have to buy a visa: and no American Express won’t do, or even the local currency US dollars thank you!
- as you leave the airport USUALLY you can get cash at the airport for a taxi or bus into town but what if the ATM is done and the exchange desk is closed for a local holiday you never heard of: cash is king!
- bargaining: even in the Western World you will often get a discount for cash (or ATM transaction) rather than credit. Credit cards charge merchants. Just because a vendor in an Indian market takes cards doesn’t mean that you won’t get a much better price for cash.
- when your card is stolen, or just stopped by your helpful bank because you don’t normally spend money in Vietnam: cash will keep a roof over your head!
- when you need to, ahem, bribe someone. You can stand on morale high ground, or you can get what you want done in your time frame with the use of cash - US$ that is
How much cash do I carry? It depends: on where I am going and the price of living there normally: in cheap places such as Asia I would carry around 2 weeks worth of living expenses. In expensive countries such as Europe and America I would still consider carrying around a week’s worth of travel costs.
Thanks Robin - I love it when people ask questions: then I know what to write next: anyone else got questions about travel please leave a comment! I’ll answer them either as a post or a comment - if its a post I’ll give you a link 
9 Responses to “Cash is King When You Travel”
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Hi Bischoff - thanks for visiting and commenting. Yeah I can imagine Africa would be a dificult spot for ATMs - the photo is from the Uganda border! Not mine unfortunately Africa is one continent I havent been to much. I was in Cambodia a few years ago and the FIRST ATM opening in Phnom Phenh when I was there - it was quite amazing to me that every traveler under 30 thought ATMS’s were a given LOL
Nice blog you’ve got BTW
You are right. I have gotten lax on carrying cash and I am reminded when I travel. Credits are great for stores and big pictures…but for getting a slice of pizza in Italy-Euros were most helpful.
alicia
http://todaystyle.today.com/
Great Post. When I traveled to China I actually carried more cash than using my card. I used my card for lunches or dinners in hotels but basically used cash for all my shopping and transportation etc… I normally don’t use atm’s while traveling at all. I feel safer bringing cash.
Thanks for the comments: yes even in Australia small shops don’t always take credit card :New Zealand is the king of EFTPOS and ATMS as far as I know.
I agree jodapoet that using an ATM can make you a bit vulnerable - Iwill only use the ones that are either inside a bank or at least in a secure room with a door - but then you can still be followed.
When I lived in Egypt, there were times when you needed to pay “Baksheesh” (tip/bribe/gift) in order to get anything done. A kinda dishonest trick I played on some vendors was to carry my cash in different pockets so I could plausibly claim limited funds. I learned this trick after I made the blunder of opening my wallet to check how much cash I had while negotiating some essence of jasmine with a perfume maker. I suddenly had a harder time talking him down. I went to another dealer of perfumes and got a vial three times the size (in rose oil) at half the price.
Also, I’ve noticed in most non-European countries, they would rather have American dollars than local currency. A two dollar tip to the taxi driver who brought me to my apartment when I arrived in Egypt prompted him to get out of the car and help me carry my baggage up three flights of stairs. When leaving Cairo, I tipped my driver 10 LE (Egyptian pounds, something short of $2) and he drove off without looking back, leaving me to lug my suitcases across the parking lot to the airport.
Love the blog, keep up the good work!
LOL I’d forgotten that trick: and applicable in practically any market in the world. Anyway do you really want to flash $10,000 equivalent to the locals for any reason LOL. Later this week I’ll write about how to carry money safely.
Yes the odd $1 note or 10 are always worth carrying - it varies a lot my country whether or not US$ are acceptable - I once had a big problem in India because I had my last local rupees stolen and it was late at night when I checked into a hotel - the price of the room was around $2 so I offered them $10 note - they wouldn’t take it and I had to argue - a LOT to get them to take the note as a guarantee for the room. (BTW if Id only had a card I would have been on the streets of Delhi!) I went out the next morning and got rupeess and the guy was sooo happy I had given him real money I felt really bad having obviously given him a bad night LOL
Thanks for the comments everyone - travel is my passion - but i’ve never had much luck getting readers on travel blogs so this so cool that I finally have some thank you - it means quite a lot!