Money

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  30 May 2014

  International Travel – You Might Have to Carry More Cash Than You Think

   

  There’s plenty of advice online about how to carry money — credit card versus ATM card versus traveler’s checks versus cash. That’s not what this is about.  

  I’m going to assume that no matter what, you’ll be carrying some cash. And if you’re going to another country, you’ll be changing at least some of that cash into the local currency.

  Now, I’m someone who packs meticulously (as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now). Everything has its place — my passport, my dollar bills, my malaria pills, whatever. Places are assigned before I ever leave home, and I don’t leave home with extra space just waiting to be filled. Every bit of space is maximized and efficient. And I tend to get a little smug about it. (Who me?)

  So I was totally unprepared for the Malawi Kwacha.

  When I traveled to Malawi in 2010, the exchange rate was roughly 150 Kwacha to 1 U.S. Dollar. When we first arrived in the country, I wanted to change $300. I handed over three thin and crisp $100 bills, which of course had fit nicely in the slot of my money pouch — the place I’d designated for dollar bills.

  What I got in return was this pile of cash.

   

  

   

  My pathetic little money pouch was no match.

   

  

   

  Throughout the trip I had bills stuffed in so many different pockets and zippered compartments of my luggage and day pack I could never really get a feel for how much money I had on me at any given time.

  Lesson learned.

  • Do some exchange rate math before you leave home.
  • Leave some space for a pile of cash.

  How do you carry money? And what do you do with a stack of bills when you’re traveling and trying NOT to look like you’re carrying a stack of bills?

   

   

   

   

   

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  25 Jan 2013

  Prepping for International Travel: Last-Minute Checklist

  

  I leave for Nicaragua in a few days, so this is a good time to share my own list of last-minute preparations – especially related to international travel.

  The list is somewhat random (reflecting the random nature of thoughts during the last-minute phase of travel planning). They may not all apply to you, but take what you want and trash the rest.

  • Call your credit card companies and tell them where and when you’ll be traveling, so they don’t think it’s fraud when you start charging things halfway around the world. Also tell your bank.

  • Figure out your money. How much cash should you take? How will you spend money when you’re there? To get local currency, I use a local ATM. In addition, I take enough cash to get by in case there’s no other way to get money. This happened to me before – in Nicaragua, in fact – the one ATM in town was not working, the bank wouldn’t take any of my cards, and the Western Union was down.

  

  • Set up PIN numbers for your credit cards, so you can use them to access cash from ATMs. I prefer to use credit card rather than my bank’s ATM/debit card, because I don’t like the idea of another entity gaining access – however remotely – to my checking account. I do carry it as a backup, but I don’t use it if I don’t have to. This might be overly cautious, but hey – OCD is right there in the title of the website, so what did you expect?

  • Color your hair. Ok, this one’s just for me. I’m 43 and totally gray and that’s just not acceptable. So I usually color my hair before I travel. For longer trips, I can’t avoid root creep, but at least I start out fresh as Medium Reddish Brown.

  • Find out what your wireless carrier offers for international service, and make sure you’re aware of all potential fees before you start unwittingly racking up hundreds of dollars of international calling, texting or data fees.

  • Check the weather on weather.com – don’t just rely on your guidebook’s general description of what the weather is usually like this time of year. Sure, Lonely Planet is great. But I don’t know about where you live, but here in LA the weather has not followed typical patterns this past year. It’s probably true of other places, as well.

  • Make sure you have medical insurance that will cover you if you need to be transported back home or to better medical facilities someplace else. This is not just for life-threatening emergencies. A friend of mine injured her hip in Malawi, where medical resources are not what we’re used to. She had to be moved to South Africa via helicopter – a ride that likely would have cost her $60,000 (and that’s being conservative) if she didn’t have insurance to cover it. Check your policy. I always purchase travel insurance that covers those contingencies – the policy usually costs me about $50. World Nomads and Allianz are good sources. (More on the creepy language of travel insurance in a future post.)

  • Set up out-of-office responders for all email accounts.

  • Pay any bills that will come due while you’re out. If a bill hasn’t arrived yet, call the company and get your balance to date and make a payment early, or make arrangements for someone to receive your mail and pay your bills while you’re out. With online bill pay, this part of travel has gotten much easier in recent years. I’m sure there are plenty of ways to make financial arrangements that I don’t know of.  Here’s a great resource:  http://www.theprofessionalhobo.com. She knows all things travel and finance.

  

  • Make photocopies of your passport. Give a copy to someone who’s staying home, and bring a copy with you in a ziplock bag.

  • Other obvious things – stop your mail (or have someone pick it up), stop your paper, make sure you don’t have any packages scheduled to arrive while you’re gone (like that online back-order purchase that you’d forgotten about).

  • Clean your dishes and dump your trash!  (If you forget this step, it’s the first thing you’ll notice when you return home.)

  That’s all I can think of at the moment. Did I forget anything?

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