What Money to Take when Travelerling



Ipanema Beach in Rio in Brazil
I started this blog with the aim of sharing some of my experiences traveling. I have done a few post on how to plan your trip, to make use of a travel agent or not, packing apps and so one and so on.  Some family friends, who do not travel very often, asked me about what money to take when traveling. This, like so many other aspects, I take for granted. The photos in this blog, like normal are mine, but not related to the blog!
Guy selling a blow up pool on Copacabana Beach in Rio

In the "good old days", you would get traveler's cheques. You could cash these at banks and some stores even accepted them. This is long gone. I am not sure that you can even get traveler's cheques anymore. It became increasingly difficult to get them cashed, and now, I think it would be all but impossible to get them cashed.
Green coconut - I just love them.

When I travel, I take some US$ in cash with me. This is normally not enough for the whole trip, but it is kept as an emergency fund. Only take US$ in cash, as these are accepted just about everywhere. Do not change to the local currency in South Africa. This might be difficult and the rates would not be very good.

When you arrive at the airport, first see if you can find an autobank (ATM) and use your credit card to draw out local money. Make sure that you have a currency conversion app on your phone. This is a great help. Just remember to update this when you have wifi signal. Normally you will find an ATM at the airport. Make use of this as soon as you see one when you arrive. This is often in the arrivals area before you move out into the crazy crowd.   If you cannot find an ATM, change some of your US$. There is always an exchange counter at the international arrivals hall in all airports that I have landed in.
Pop-up street market in Rio. Yesterday, this was a busy road

Many of the hotels will also be able to exchange US$ for local currency. The exchange rate at the hotel is normally not as good as it should be. Best option is to draw cash at the ATM. Having said  this, in my recent trip to Argentina, I could not change US$ in the hotel and I had to head out and look for an ATM. Can be quite a scary feeling not to have any local currency! In Brazil, Rio in particular, finding an ATM was quite difficult.  I could change money at the hotel. So you need to play it by ear a bit. Most hotels I have been in around the world will exchange US$.

Nice breakfast

Make use of your credit card to pay for as much as possible. This gives you the official exchange rate at the time that you make the purchase. Just be careful of your credit cards. Do not let it out of your sight. Hopefully, if you are with a good bank, you will get an SMS notification as soon as there is a transaction on your card. Keep an eye on that and let your bank know as soon as there is any authorised activity.
Panoramic view of Copacabana

Two very important points on your credit card. One - make sure you let your bank know that you are going overseas, particularly if you do not do this often. They may just block you card when they see a transaction in a different country. Point 2 - have a spare credit card. Ideally different types of credit cards - for example Visa, Mastercard or American express. Never keep both credit cards in the same place! When I travel, I have a "travel wallet" and my "normal wallet". Your normal wallet has things in like ID cards, drivers license, account cards and so on. These are cards which you will not need while overseas. Either leave these at home, or have a travel wallet! I just take a different wallet which just has local currency in and one of the credit cards. The other credit cards are safely stored in the hotel safe. Heaven forbid, if you get pick pocketed, you do not want to loose both of your credit cards.


Only draw out what you will need. Local currency (like from Egypt) is pretty useless when you get home. Bring back your US$. They normally gain in value and you can exchange any unused dollars once you are at home !

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