There are many things you need to consider when you are going to be traveling to a different country. While many people focus on items such as hotel and rental car reservations, they do not spend enough time thinking about issues concerning their money. These are issues that should not be taken lightly. You do not want to be caught in a foreign country without a way to access your money.
Likewise, you will want to save as much money as you can on Rome hotels during your trip.
That having been said, here are some simple money tips for international travel.
Currency Exchange
When you arrive in your destination country, you will need to change your money into the local currency. However, you should never change any money at the airport.
This is because airports are notorious for having very poor exchange rates, especially when compared to other places in the same country.
Airports will also make you pay service charges and other fees that you will not need to pay if you exchange your money elsewhere. Shop around and look at many currency exchange places to try to find the most favorable rate.
If you feel the rate is not good, but could improve in the next couple of days, only exchange as much money as you need for the next day or two.
There is no need for you to immediately exchange all of the money you have as soon as you get into the country.
Let Your Bank And Credit Card Company Know Where You Will Be
If you are from the United States and you try to use one of your cards in Thailand, your bank or credit card provider will immediately flag the purchase as possibly being fraudulent.
Your card issuer will assume that your card has been stolen and is now in the possession of thieves, or perhaps your number was stolen online by hackers and is now being used illegally.
If this happens, your card may be frozen and all future purchases will be denied until you contact your card issuer and tell them your whereabouts.
In order to avoid this happening to you, contact your bank or credit card company before your trip.
Tell them the places you will be going during your vacation.
They will then make a note of this, so any Thailand activity on your card will not be considered suspicious.
You should also tell them the date that you will return to the United States.
Get A Good Credit Card
The credit card that you use during your vacation will play a large role in determining the total price of your trip. This is because many cards charge a fee for transactions made using foreign currency.
Therefore, you will need to find out if your card charges such a fee prior to leaving on your trip.
If the answer is yes, you should apply for a card that does not. This will save you some cash that you can spend on something other than the privilege of using your card in a different country.
You also need to find out if your card has a limit on international transactions.
If there is a limit, how many transactions are permitted? Ideally, you should use a card where you can make all the transactions you want.
