money

[poey]

hi everybody.as a first timer ,do i need ,cash,visa, or travellers cheques?silly question but any advice?

 

[Goofyish]

Yes

A little bit of cash and some travellers cheques (in dollars - these can be used just like cash, and you get your change in cash too).
TCs are safer if stolen because they can be replaced - cash can't so don't carry much cash around on you.

If you have a debit card you can withdraw cash from ATMs (cash machines). Best not to make lots of little withdrawals because you will get a charge applied to each one. But you probably will get a good exchange rate to compensate for the charges

Credits cards are very useful (with a little self control ), they are accepted averywhere. You may find that you are asked for a CC imprint when you hire a car or check in to some hotels. They don't actually take any money, but it may reduce your spending limit.
It's nice to have a CC for emergencies too - remember if you need medical attention in the US it's expensive and you will probably have to pay up front before claiming any money back from your insurance!

AMEX cards are also readily accepted (although not at Seaworld if I can remember correctly). These are useful because you know your have to pay back what you spend as soon as you get home - so it imposses a little control when hitting the discount shops in Orlando

 

[signtalker]

We always take the majority in travellers cheques, you can use these in exactly the same way as cash, as you are always given the balance back in dollars,cents etc.
We always take some currency, especially if you are hireing a car, and need dollars for the toll roads.
A credit card is always advisable for emergencies, or for that something special present!!!.
Hope this helps.
jules

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

We normally take a bit of cash for small expenditure (food carts around the park, drinks, snacks, road tolls, etc). For everything else we use our credit card. This has two benefits: 1. you get an extra few weeks before you have to pay for everything, and 2. your credit card will give you a better exchange rate than buying dollars or travellers cheques. If you are concerned about spending too much money becuase it's all on plastic, work out a daily budget and stick to it!

We don't bother with travellers cheques as they usually have the worst exchange rate of all the ways of buying foreign currency. We also find them to be too much hassle as some places will ask to see some form of photo ID (passport or driving licence), and we don't like to carry too much stuff around with us.

Regards

Rob

 

[richard3330]

Totallt agree with Rob.

We also don't take Travellers Cheques. We stick to cash and buy most things with one of the credit cards. This way you will get a decent exchange rate and if you have a credit card with benefits like an Airmiles Card etc, then you will also gain extra points. Plus, like said before you get a few weeks extra before you have to pay it all back .

Richard.

 

[Kaslee]

Dont take too much in Travellers Cheques. The buy back rate is about 10% worse than the selling rate. We took far too much and lost about £90 on the buy back rate!!! This time we will make sure we spend them all and will rely mainly on the credit card.

 

[KayleeUK]

Cash and Traveller's Chq's for us. Never once got asked for id for cashing the traveller's chq.

 

[BiGGy]

we also took Cash and TC's, and also never got asked for ID

its quite handy to get a some single bills, find it a lot easier to leaving house keeping tips etc.


rgds

BiGGy

 

[Tartan Tigger]

We always take cash and travellers cheques with us and have never been asked for ID. Also take the credit card incase of emergency, only used it once and that was for a medical treatment.

 

[allie5]

Personally, we never bother with TC. We take some cash and credit card the rest (very favourable rates) and draw more cash from ATMs if we need it.

Its all down to what you feel comfortable with in the end. The only obvious bit of advice is not to take large amounts of cash (in any currency).

If you dont like to use travellers cheques that much (like me!), then I would suggest obtaining a credit card with 0% interest and paying £500 or so before you go. That way you wont come back to a huge bill and can take a month or two to pay off any extra that you put on.

Have fun spending!
Allie.

 

[pt415999]

Small amount of cash, plastic for emergency's and bulk in travellers cheques which can be used like cash everywhere, so no need to exchange them for dollars.

 

[signtalker]

I think we must be the exception to the rule!!!!, I couldnt think of anything worse that putting almost everything on a credit card!. We do have a CC but this is for emergencies only, and the inprint for the car hire.
I couldnt sleep at night if I knew I had a bill coming AFTER I returned home from WDW.
We have never been asked for ID when cashing TC's, and its soooo much nicer knowing that every penny you spend, you havent got a bill at the end of it.

Are we a minority not putting hundreds of pounds on a CC?.
Guess im off the old school where , you save for everything, if you aint got the cash you dont have it LOL

jules

 

[Fantasia Sam]

We use credit card too for the most part so we get those points and air-miles . When we stay on-site everything goes on the room and we pay at the end.

Jules I am a believer like you - if you hven't got it don't spend it but I do have the cash but it earns interest the longer it's in the account and I pay my CC bill off each month so no interest to pay there. In my mind it's a win-win situation.

We take a litttle money in cash and emergeny TC's - just incase wallet gets stolen etc

 

[BiGGy]

another little tip is i get my credit card into credit for when we go
so we dont actually come back in debt

 

[UKDEB]

We hardly ever use cash or cheques at home and the same applies when we're on holiday. We find budgeting easier that way and it provides a permanent record of what you spent and where. I subscribe to Rob's philosophy, but I would just do whatever you normally do at home, poey.

Jules, there is a difference between living on credit and using cards to facilitate financial planning. For example, we have one card for petrol, one for food shopping, and so on (not just for holidays, but as a way of life). That way, it is easy to see where we are spending and on what. There is nothing to stop you paying off each every month. It's the modern day equivalent of having a cash tin allocated for various bills.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Jules, I think I must be from the nu skool not the old school when it comes to credit cards! For me it makes more financial sense: a better rate of exchange, pay for your holiday after you've had it not before, convenience of carrying a card, security of being able to cancel it if lost/stolen, free insurance of purchases on some cards, etc, etc. I understand the temptation of spending just a little bit too much, but there are ways of avoiding this through a bit of planning. Making sure that you stick to a budget, and even putting your credit card account into credit before you go might be ways of making sure that things don't get out of hand. Using a credit card sensible can lower the cost of your holiday by a small amount.

For us the best thing about using a credit card is the number of Airmiles we build up over the year. We have a British Airways/American Express card which gives us 1 airmile for every £ we spend, and after spending £20,000 we get a free companion flight voucher (get one flight using airmiles, get another flight free). The Amex rate of interest is quite high so we make sure that we pay the bill in full every month, using the card only for regular purchases (food, petrol, clothes, etc) where we would normally use cash. Over the two and a bit years we've had the Amex card we've spent enough to get one free flight voucher and contributed to our modest airmiles collection, which allowed us over Easter to fly to California. And this was without giving Amex a single penny in interest (the card's annual fee is a modet £12).

Regards

Rob

 

[Sue & Co.]

I guess we're like most of you we took a little bit of cash, mostly travellers cheques and a CC in case of need and to secure the car booking and deposit on villa. We only used the CC once (we also pay off the bill every month) and found using TC's really easy as we were never asked for ID.
We also had TC's left last time but as far as I'm aware they have no time limit on them and so we have saved them for the next time. We also had a small amount of cash which means that this time we have some coins and small bills for any tolls etc without having to buy anything as soon as we get there.

 

[Red-Snapper]

I'm in the TC/cash brigade. We use a CC for the car etc and any major purchases (Cirque tickets etc) but otherwise it TC all the way.

1 thing you have to watch is if a 2nd imprint is taken of your card by an employee somewhere - you wont find out till you get your bill at home. (Happened to friends of ours - USA but not Orlando)

I always pay off my hotel bill with any remaining TC's when we check out.

As some above have said though - I guess you should take whatever you feel comfortable with - except loads of cash

 

[Clarey]

Our last trip we took a small amount of cash and the balance in TC's, this time i'm taking a small amount of cash and my visa card. I know my visa card doesnt charge when I use it abroad but i'm sure some do, does anyone know?

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

Clarey - we have a Nationwide Visa card specifically for overseas purchases (holiday money and France wine trips ) as that gives commission free foreign purchases.

Poey - we are of the small amount of $ and more substantial amount of TCs when we go to Florida. We take both our credit cards - one for emergencies (two medical trips over the years we've been going ) and one for spending such as snorkelling trips/dolphin cruises etc and larger purchases.

Our DD has a budget - last year she had (or should I say WE ) had saved over the year for an 'allowance' of around $20 per day. Of course she's now cottoned on to the fact that if she doesn't spend her $20 in a day she has more "Eeyore spending money" on other days - and still she always manages to come back with money