I'm in a quandary over holiday money

[NIK]

I’m in a quandary over my holiday money.

Three options

Either convert all my holiday money into Euros with the attendant risks of losing/having it stolen

Doing half cash, half travellers cheques – I’ve never used travellers cheques before so I’m not sure how easy they are. The hotel has a bureau de change so I presume it would be straightforward

Half cash, leaving the rest in my account so that I can pay for stuff on my card. The only downside to that is that my bank charges for foreign transactions and it might make things more expensive albeit safer than the other two option.

What do you think?

Advice please

 

[sweetiepie71]

If you are going to the SL you can hire a safety deposit box at reception to keep the majority of your money in. We're going to do that this time.

 

[martinacris]

Hi...maybe you could find out if there are any prepaid credit cards that your bank offers, where you can deposit the amount. It's like having cash, but you simply deduct it as you go along. Here in Italy, the post office sells them. Maybe you should see if there is such thing for Euros... I think that with traveller's checks you don't get such a good exchange rate...but then again if you loose them you are covered. Hope this information helps !

 

[Cyrano]

SIL complained that Hotels and City Hall took a hefty commission and rates were not good when she cash travellers cheques.

I'd either go with option of cash or get a nationwide debit or credit card. We got the nationwide cards last year and have kept them for holiday use only. I loaded some money into the account so that we could use the ATM's with the debit card. Most of our purchases, meals etc I put on the credit card. Not only do you not pay a commission but the exchange rate is a bank rate not tourist so we scored when I paid off the balance when we got home

 

[dlpSteve]

I've carried all cash round on all 8 of our trips without incident. When I needed extra money I withdrew it from the cash machine at the train station at the same rate as the best the High St could offer when we left England. Travel agents as well as banks offer pre paid debit cards.

 

[luke]

I've carried all cash round on all 8 of our trips without incident. .

Yes Disney does seem to be one of the safest holiday destinations

And i agree with the taking some cash and using a debit card for extra we usually take cash for things like food and the odd bits then the rest on cards

 

[NIK]

Thanks for your advice. Cash it will be then.

 

[sjaakie]

We have a Visa card special for this purpose.
The credit is 1150 Euro`s and you pay whatever you used back to Visa at the end of the month.
Iff you like to spend more you can deposit more money on you Visa account ofcourse.

 

[tracydcp]

We took 300 euros in cash but also took advantage of registering our credit card at hotel reception then your ID card becomes a charge card. Then you pay the balance when you leave. We used our debit card once, which we found we were charged £1.50 for that but other times including paying our hotel balance went on our credit card and we weren't charged any extra for using that. We went through money like water!!!

Tracy xx

 

[NETGURU]

Just a thought but do American Express not now offer a Travellers Cheque card which acts like a debit card with travellers cheques on it?

tom

 

[cstokell]

I'd either go with option of cash or get a nationwide debit or credit card. We got the nationwide cards last year and have kept them for holiday use only. I loaded some money into the account so that we could use the ATM's with the debit card. Most of our purchases, meals etc I put on the credit card. Not only do you not pay a commission but the exchange rate is a bank rate not tourist so we scored when I paid off the balance when we got home

We also have the Nationwide card. We find it very useful as my DH travels to Dublin regularly. We only take a small amount of money (60 - 100 euro depending what my DH has left from his last trip) and then withdraw any more if and when we need it.