dollar travellers cheques

[buster]

I'm sure this must have been covered many times but I can't find anything -
just been to pick up our tickets ( we fly on the 15th Jan from Gatwick ) and the travel agent told me that even though most of our money is in travellers cheques, which we've been told to use just like ordinary money we will still need to carry a passport with us everyday for when we want to use them, is this correct? I'm just thinking of safety really, is this very wise?
Also, we don't have the new style of driving licence, what do you take for ID that will be recognised in most places, I've nothing but my passport with my photo on.
All help gratefully received,
from a now very excited but nervous disney fan to be

 

[natalielongstaff]

not much help but.......we used dollars t/chqs this nov and not one person asked for i/d !! i still had to carry my p/port around tho just in case

 

[mandymouse]

We stopped at the All Star Sports resort, and we were allowed to cash $200 a day at Guest Services and all we needed to give was our room number. I have also used T/C around WDW as money and have never been asked to show my passport. I must admit that I do always carry my drivers licence photo I.D with me - just in case

Have a great holiday buster

mandymouse

If you do decide to carry your passport around with you, it might be a good idea to have a photocopy of it should it go missing

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Yes, you will find places will need sometimes picture I.D. I used my photo driving licence, as this is what a lot of the US people do. But look at it this way. God forbid anything happens to you like the terrible events in Asia, its better to have your passport on you, plus if you are`stopped by the cops.
Also, you probably look so young Buster, you will need it to provide proof of age for alcahol! <vbg>
One other point if you go out at night, most places do not carry a lot of change, so make sure you stick to $50 denominations else they may not accept them. (I found this at places such as 7-11's Macdonalds etc...)

See you out there, we go on Saturday! :jumping4: :jumping4: :jumping4:

 

[KayleeUK]

I think a photocopy of your passport can be used But DH has rarely been asked for ID

 

[Miffy2003]

Just got back and the only places that wanted ID for using a TC was Denny's and WalMart. And we used them at both places several times but were only asked once at each establishment.

 

[superchef]

I must admit, on our last visit we had no probs cashing in Travellers cheques. Still took along passports, but were never required.

 

[maureen4200040]

Hi,

We used travellers cheques on our previous trips to Orlando, and have never been asked for identification in any of the shops, resturants or disney etc. But we still carried our passports with us just in case.

This year i will be taking credit/debit cards plus some cash dollars (but only because I will be taking my 12 yr old niece with me, and i don't want to be caught out if we have an emergency). If I was travelling on my own I would just stick with the travellers cheques, as I find them very easy to use.

I have been advised by friends to take a copy of our passports.

Maureen4200040

 

[mandymouse]

By the way guys, I take it we're all talking about American Express travellers cheques, that is what we always use, are other T/C treated the same way ?

mandymouse

 

[maureen4200040]

I've used American express and Thomas cook travellers cheques without any problems.

 

[ejones999]

This is just my personal opinion.
We will take a few hundred pounds worth of US Dollars cash but do not intend to take travellers cheques this time.
We always take 4 or 5 different visa and mastercards (some will be stored in hotel safe in case of mishaps) which are nearly always acceptable.
The only downside of this is that you are never sure of exchange rate that will be applied to transactions (with t/c when they run out you KNOW you are overspending!) but heck we're going to Florida!!
Eric

 

[AndRu]

not much help but.......we used dollars t/chqs this nov and not one person asked for i/d !! i still had to carry my p/port around tho just in case

More to the point ... if those two are your kids with Minnie they are wearing the best football shirts in the world! My kids and I wore our Leicester City shirts around MK last time around

Oh, and to get back on topic, I've never been asked for ID either when using TC's in and around Orlando.

 

[buster]

Thanks everybody for the replies, I had thought about taking copies of our passports and trying to be clever I did them on a scanner in colour as the picture was clearer!
It was only when I took them into town to get them laminated ( I thought this was also a good idea to stop them looking like a crumpled old tissue after 2 weeks of use ) that the shop assisstant told me how stupid I was, with all this excitement going on in my head I hadn't even thought about how easy it would be to copy them if they were stolen, How stupid do I feel now!!!!!!!!
Anyway came straight home and shredded them into bits.
I'll now do plain old black & white with 'copy' written all over them.
Just goes to show how life has changed now.

Anyway my faith in life will soon be restored - only 9 days to go before a life time dream comes true, happy holidays to everyone thats going soon

:thewave:

 

[ejones999]

Don't wish to get too serious here but it is also a criminal offence to colour photocopy a passport unless you have been given specific permission by UKPA. This is because it is officially belongs to the Crown, and is copyrighted.(This also applies to Birth and Death certificates)

I don't know who or why anyone would make a fuss about this but you don't want some jobsworth somewhere giving you a hard time either before,during or on the way back from your holiday.
Eric

 

[MazdaUK]

I'm taking a mix of T/C, cash and CCs. As we're staying onsite we plan to charge nearly everything to our rooms and settle up using the T/C when we leave (with CC for the balance if we've overpent ), using cash/CC offsite, changing T/C at hotel if necessary.

In this way I hope to avoid what happened to us on honeymoon in Californmia - only having enough left for one beer between us at the airpoirt on the way home!

 

[Goofyish]

I've never been asked for ID when cashing TCs - even large $100 ones.

Although I did get a funny look when I bought a bag of Lays and a bottle of water with a $100 TC - it was useful to have the change back in $ notes

AndRu - should you be wearing Leicester shirts when living in Derby?

 

[AndRu]

I live in North Derbyshire but Leicester will always be home to me and as 2/3 of my kids were born in the Leicester Royal Infirmary, they're City fans as well. Whether they like it or not!