Everything & Anything New York City

googler

Annie021063 wrote: »

The William's household is getting very excited about their NY trip and was wondering if anyone had used the post offices' travel money card plus. How have others carried currency in the US?

Last time round, I took MasterCard for big purchases, Maestro/Visa debit card which got me money from the local ATMs, and used that for the small stuff.

Yes, I know there was probably a commission or mark-up on using the cards, but the convenience of doing this, and the cheapness of purchases far outweighed this

M4RKM

Annie021063 wrote: »

The William's household is getting very excited about their NY trip and was wondering if anyone had used the post offices' travel money card plus. How have others carried currency in the US?

All this is detailed on this very website.

Best - Fee Free Debit / Credit Cards - Example - MetroBank Debit Card.

Next Best - Things like fairfx, and caxton fx prepaid cards are the best out there, especially on rates and fees. Post Office - probably one of the worst on most things, but marketing can suck people in.

Next Best - Cash, use travelmoneymax and you'll find where it is best to get it from

Worst - Debit / Credit cards that charge a fortune, I had a less than a week in Europe and used my Nationwide Card, and I spend £30 in fees. I would spend a hell of a lot more than that in NYC, so those fees do add up, regardless of what googler has said.

Finally, Travellers Cheques - Outdated. Just ignore them.

M

Annie021063

M4RKM wrote: »

All this is detailed on this very website.

Best - Fee Free Debit / Credit Cards - Example - MetroBank Debit Card.

Next Best - Things like fairfx, and caxton fx prepaid cards are the best out there, especially on rates and fees. Post Office - probably one of the worst on most things, but marketing can suck people in.

Next Best - Cash, use travelmoneymax and you'll find where it is best to get it from

Worst - Debit / Credit cards that charge a fortune, I had a less than a week in Europe and used my Nationwide Card, and I spend £30 in fees. I would spend a hell of a lot more than that in NYC, so those fees do add up, regardless of what googler has said.

Finally, Travellers Cheques - Outdated. Just ignore them.

M

Thanks for this, I saw most of this but it's really nice to hear what other people have used well, probably stick with post office one as I know I can get it quickly, we travel in 2 weeks so probably too late to get metro bank?

Lost_Expert

We used a PO money card - total pain on holiday as we could only withdraw 200euro at a time (but just said declined transaction so we wasted an hour or so finding and trying different machines) - spent in no time at all and I hate having to find a cashline all the time.

Logged in tonight to take out money we had leftover from holiday...and found that it has all been stolen from the account!!!! Lots of dodgey transactions from Dominican Republic over months (we were in Italy in July for a fortnight). Nothing suspicious noticed by card issuers!!! Now I have to wait weeks and 'claim' my own money back.

Not happy with the card. Will cancel it and never use them ever again.

Annie021063

Lost_Expert wrote: »

We used a PO money card - total pain on holiday as we could only withdraw 200euro at a time (but just said declined transaction so we wasted an hour or so finding and trying different machines) - spent in no time at all and I hate having to find a cashline all the time.

Logged in tonight to take out money we had leftover from holiday...and found that it has all been stolen from the account!!!! Lots of dodgey transactions from Dominican Republic over months (we were in Italy in July for a fortnight). Nothing suspicious noticed by card issuers!!! Now I have to wait weeks and 'claim' my own money back.

Not happy with the card. Will cancel it and never use them ever again.

Was it a MasterCard one?

flexrider

wont mind going again to NYC been a while whats the best deals-Sorry to hijack the board anyone know any good xmas deals or 2013 offers

cheers

M4RKM

Annie021063 wrote: »

Thanks for this, I saw most of this but it's really nice to hear what other people have used well, probably stick with post office one as I know I can get it quickly, we travel in 2 weeks so probably too late to get metro bank?

Walk into a MetroBank Branch, Walk out with a Card. You just have to be able to get to a MetroBank Branch. It takes around 20 minutes to open an account, and 10 minutes to get your card printed, which they do in store.

They are open from 8am - 8pm Monday to Friday, 8am - 6pm on Saturday, and 11am - 5pm on Sunday, so maybe a quick trip to one of their stores is worthwhile. They don't have any rules that say you have to pay so much into their accounts, just open it, put some cash in for your hols, and spend it.

I've never had any issues using it in NYC, you can use TD Bank machines to get cash out FREE, (all others charge).

It obviously depends where in the UK you are..

M

jezmyers

I'm in london tomorrow/friday so popping in and getting my metrobank card. Great way of saving fees.

cubegame

We have our first night trip planned to NYC in April of next year and I'm starting to think about hotels.

Would now be a good time to look? Or is it best for looking in the New Year when there might be some sales?

We're going for 5 nights in total. What would people recommend if we were looking at a budget of £100 to £150 per night?

M4RKM

cubegame wrote: »

We have our first night trip planned to NYC in April of next year and I'm starting to think about hotels.

Would now be a good time to look? Or is it best for looking in the New Year when there might be some sales?

We're going for 5 nights in total. What would people recommend if we were looking at a budget of £100 to £150 per night?

Up to $208 ex tax per night for April? It could be a tight budget, especially if you're looking at Manhattan. Have you looked at any hotels yet? Take a glance on quikbook.com and see what kind of prices you get. $208 plus tax, into UK money (at $1.6 = £1, so I'm kinda assuming you've got a decent card to pay with, see above), is around £150.

I'll give you some context, I'm hoping to head to NYC end of Feb / beg of March, and I'm looking at $240 per night before tax for a decent hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. If I wait til after Easter to go, then it goes up to $325 per night.

M