10
Carrying valuables
Passport pouches, also known as money belts, come in a variety of styles. Some go around the waist, just under the trousers, some hang around the neck and still others fasten to your leg. It’s a combination of personal preference, how it works with your clothing, and how easy it is for thieves to spot. Try a few on before you make a purchase since this is something you’ll be wearing round the clock.
Before you leave, remember to photocopy the cards in your money belt, leave a copy with your family or trusted friends and take a copy with you and store it separately from your money belt or with your travel partner. To save space, try to get all the vital information onto the front and back of one piece of paper.
Scan it as well and email it to yourself or upload it to a trusted online backup
vault. There are many to choose from, including: 
myvaultstorage.com, safedatastorage.co.uk and even
file sending services like hightail.com
and wetransfer.com.
How best to carry your money
Once upon a time, travellers’ cheques were a great idea. Today, with more vendors accepting foreign currency, most accepting credit cards, and cash machines almost everywhere, it makes more sense to carry cash (US dollars or euros), two credit cards and a bank card.
How much cash should you carry?
You’ll want to carry your US dollars and euros (bring both and you can cover yourself in different parts of the world where one type is preferred) in a variety of denominations. The €100 notes are nice space-savers and fine for changing at banks, but for an emergency stash (€300–500), as well as some bills for hard-currency shopping, a good number of €50s, €20s, €10s and €5s are far more practical. If you’ve got a cash card and credit card, you can use those as your primary tools to pay for rooms, food and tickets and to get local currency, but you’ll want some dollars/euros available at all times, which means either taking a large stack of bills or replenishing your hard currency along the way. If you can arrange to meet a trusted friend or relative just leaving home, perhaps they can carry some over for you. More likely, you’ll just have to take cash out in a local currency, then exchange it for euros/dollars in a major city and take a bit of a beating with the exchange rate.
There’s just one important thing to remember about coins. You can’t exchange leftovers in other countries, so get them converted back to paper money and spend the extra that you can’t convert, or drop them in a charity box.
Credit cards
Don’t leave home without one of these. Two are even better. Visa and MasterCard are the most widely accepted; American Express is quite often not accepted. You should have codes for both to access cash machines, but in the event a cash machine can’t be found, most banks will still allow you to use them for cash advances. That is, you can go to a bank window, let them swipe your credit card and buy cash (for a small fee, of course).
If you can, get a credit card without the three-percent conversion fee, and also carry a bank card that helps you avoid or minimize ATM fees. Together, this amounts to a huge saving. These credit cards currently waive conversion fee, and many include other perks like mileage credit:
- Barclays Arrivals Plus
- Some Capital One cards
- Chase Sapphire Preferred
- United Mileage Plus
- World Elite Mastercard
- Some Discover cards
The benefits of credit cards
- You can access emergency funds and cover many daily expenses without carrying a thick bundle of cash.
- You can track your finances easily.
- Parents, relatives and friends can send funds to your account, which you can quickly and easily withdraw anywhere in the world.
- Cards can be replaced quite easily if stolen.
- You’re sometimes entitled to additional insurance when you use the card to make purchases.
The drawbacks of credit cards
- Merchants who accept credit cards pay a small percentage fee to the credit-card company for the right to accept their card. Although they’re not supposed to do this, many smaller companies make no secret about passing that percentage on to you (paying by credit card is still often cheaper than withdrawing money from a cash machine, especially for one purchase).
- Some credit-card companies have started tacking on little surcharges for purchases made abroad.
- You not only pay a fee to withdraw money from a bank machine (or bank), but you will likely have to pay interest on that withdrawn cash until your next bill is paid. And the interest starts immediately.
- Not all credit cards are alike. They depend on the bank or financial institution behind them. When deciding on a credit card, make sure you ask about the surcharges for foreign purchases. More and more cards are adding a three-percent conversion fee. Try to find one that doesn’t have this (see Credit cards).
Setting up the card before you leave
- Try to increase your spending limit before leaving. Simply call the credit-card company and ask if you can get your limit raised. You may have more expenses on the card (or cards) than you’re used to, and with an emergency purchase, such as a plane ticket or hospital bill, you might quickly be out of funds.
- Many credit cards or bank accounts can be set up for “Auto-pay”/“Direct Debit”. Each month, your credit-card bill will be automatically paid from your current or savings account. That way you don’t have to worry about missing any payments and getting hit with high interest rates. Of course, what you may have to worry about is having enough money in your bank account. To be safe, meet with your banker and set up enough credit to cover you in a pinch. If you get internet banking, all this can be easily monitored from any internet café.
- Make sure to tell your credit card company roughly where you’re going so it doesn’t freeze your card as a security measure when it sees a bunch of overseas expenses showing up.
Debit cards
It’s a wise idea to carry one of these as well as your credit cards. You may still be slapped with a withdrawal fee (plus the local fee of the cash machine), but you won’t have to pay interest on the money withdrawn, which makes them better than credit cards for this purpose. Shop around to make sure you’re getting the best deal.
Because there’s a fixed amount of money behind them, it’s good for those who don’t trust themselves with the spending limit granted on a credit card. But, if the card is stolen and used, charges may not be as protected as they are with credit cards.
Using ATMs
Stick to ATMs in banks where you can – the ones in petrol stations, hotels, 7-11s, etc often offer worse rates or extra fees.
Here’s an important development: the formation of the Global ATM Network – a number of large banks that have come together and operate ATMs that have waived fees (yes, free ATM withdrawals! Though note that Bank of America does charge a three-percent conversion fee). Just be sure to check that it’s part of the Global Network, as ATMs which aren’t in it have among the highest fees. The banks in this network are:
- ABSA (South Africa)
- Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (Italy)
- Bank of America (North America)
- Barclays (UK, Spain, Portugal and parts of Africa and the Caribbean)
- BNP (France)
- DeutscheBank (Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Italy)
- Santander Serfin (Mexico)
- Scotiabank (North America)
- UkrSibbank (Ukraine)
- Westpac (Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific)
It will likely require some extra walking to find one of these ATMs, but there should be branches in most major cities. Another option is to use a mega-universal bankcard like HSBC and pay a reduced fee of around £2/$2.50 per withdrawal.
For US residents, Charles Schwab currently has the best deal with their high-yield checking account. No fees at ATM machines, reimbursed at the end of each month, no minimum amount and no monthly service fee.
Why travellers’ cheques aren’t that practical
Many people still like the comfort of travellers’ cheques, which provide more security than the other options if used properly. Here’s how they work: you buy the cheques (typically, for a small fee), keep track of the serial numbers of the cheques you use, then, if they’re stolen or lost, you can report which ones are missing. Some places accept travellers’ cheques as cash, but they’re few and far between, and you’re likely to have to encash the cheques. Sometimes you can do this for free – you can cash American Express cheques at AmEx offices for free, for example – but you may not be anywhere near the relevant office. So, you’re more likely to be paying a fee to cash cheques in addition to the cost of exchanging the currency (oh, and waiting in line at the bank for a teller). Understandably, some people find this to be a hassle – one that outweighs the security factor.
In general, places that take travellers’ cheques also take credit cards (or are not far from a cash machine or bank that allows cash advances). Your guidebook should mention if this isn’t the case, and you can always pick some travellers’ cheques up in a major city on your way. Visa, Thomas Cook and American Express issue the most commonly used travellers’ cheques. There are no real advantages in terms of acceptance.
Remember to make sure the banker is watching you countersign the cheques. Don’t let them walk off while you’re busy scribbling your name, or the whole thing may be void because you didn’t have a signing witness.
Other items you’ll want in your money belt
Passport
Goes without saying.
Driving licence
It’s helpful to have an official photo ID besides the passport, especially
since there’s a good chance you’ll end up driving a car at some point. The
International Driving Permit, IDP (should you decide to pick one up), won’t
easily fit in your passport pouch and you won’t need it for many rentals, so
before you pick one up, check if you’ll be visiting many of the fifty
countries where it’s required. See theaa.com for country listings.
Student ID card, under-26 youth card or teacher card
If you qualify for one of these, it’s probably best to keep it close by. It’s not as valuable as the other items in your passport pouch, but its size makes it easy to lose. See the section on speciality discount cards for more information.
Ten extra passport photos
Ok, ten photos seems like a lot, but there’s a good chance you’ll be using at least that many during a long trip. When you apply for visas or transport cards, you often need two or three photos just for one application.
Emergency-numbers card
Just a card with a list of important phone numbers in case of emergency – see if you can get it laminated. Family doctor, lawyer, travel agent, insurance and credit card hotline numbers (and account number), passport number, family contacts and a visible “emergency” contact just in case you get seriously injured and the authorities want to find someone to call quickly. Remember, your mobile phone may not be working or fully charged when you need it most.
Other licences
If you’re a trained scuba diver or pilot, or hold other such licences that easily fit into a passport pouch, bring them along.
One or two anti-diarrhoea pills
It’s hard to predict when dysentery is going to strike. Inevitably, it’ll happen while you’re out wandering around town or on a long bus ride with your medical kit stored in the luggage hold below or back at the hotel. Best to keep one pill handy and on you at all times for such emergencies.