Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2011

ferf1223

March

stoneman wrote: »

All fair points I guess. They are running a 747 as from June so might be able to do the pair at the back thing, but then you will have to pay for it!!

oooh, yes...add that to the list.

spike2012

September

hello all

the fiance (wifey by the time we hit vegas for the honemoon!) and I have reached a comfortable amount of cash we are willing to take to vegas (actual $$)

now we need a cheap way to spend abroad. WE have looked at the guide on the site but it is still a bit confusing. My credit rating atm is poor, due to A bad experience with nationwide 3 years ago regarding bank charges, so a CC is probably out of the question.

Obviously our natwest current account debit cards are a massive NO NO.

I have looked here:
http://www.nandp.co.uk/current-account/gold-classic-current-account/

There is a £5 a month charge when making fewer than 5 transactions per month... Does this mean I could make 5 reasonable transactions (say a few ££ when off to the shops each time) and that would count as a transaction?

They dont charge or add ANY fees when abroad, so this is obviously sounding a good choice for us.

TIA for any advice.

Spike

Oh. P.S does anyone use travelers cheques? I used them in NYC a couple of years ago and many places wouldnt accept them due to massive fraud!?

ferf1223

March

spike2012 wrote: »

There is a £5 a month charge when making fewer than 5 transactions per month... Does this mean I could make 5 reasonable transactions (say a few ££ when off to the shops each time) and that would count as a transaction?

Will you be paying into it regularly?

If you don't put £500 in the account in any given month, it will result in you being charged an underfunding fee of £5 per month unless you have an average balance of £5,000 or more over the month.

Also - they define 'Payment Transaction' as:

• “Payment Transaction” (or “payment” or “transaction”) means the act of paying monies to or from your Account;

So in context:

if you do not make a minimum of 5 Payment Transactions per calendar month into or out of your account, we will debit your Account with a “low usage” charge unless you have an average credit balance of at least £5,000 in the account for the month in which less than 5 Payment Transactions were made.

Vegas is the one place I might consider travellers cheques since they are supposed to be very easy to cash at the casino cages.

Maybe a pre-paid card would be an option for you.

duchy

May

ferf1223 wrote: »

Vegas is the one place I might consider travellers cheques since they are supposed to be very easy to cash at the casino cages.

They are -never had any issues cashing them at a variety of casinos-I've also used TCs to pay deposits up front when I've not wanted to use a creditcard at check in (I try NOT to take a cc to Vegas as I have no self control )

totallybored

November / December

Vegas is the only place in the world I have ever used travellers cheques. They can be cashed in all casinos and only takes a minute. I find they make it easier to budget. Normally when I go anywhere I'll take some cash and then use credit cards and then debit cards in a cash machine. However, I find the temptation to spend in Vegas so much more and you can easily spend more than you intend if you don't have a set budget. It's very easy to withdraw cash in ATMs all over the casino and then feed it straight back into a slot machine!

trets77

spike2012 wrote: »

hello all

the fiance (wifey by the time we hit vegas for the honemoon!) and I have reached a comfortable amount of cash we are willing to take to vegas (actual $$)

now we need a cheap way to spend abroad. WE have looked at the guide on the site but it is still a bit confusing. My credit rating atm is poor, due to A bad experience with nationwide 3 years ago regarding bank charges, so a CC is probably out of the question.

Obviously our natwest current account debit cards are a massive NO NO.

I have looked here:
http://www.nandp.co.uk/current-account/gold-classic-current-account/

There is a £5 a month charge when making fewer than 5 transactions per month... Does this mean I could make 5 reasonable transactions (say a few ££ when off to the shops each time) and that would count as a transaction?

They dont charge or add ANY fees when abroad, so this is obviously sounding a good choice for us.

TIA for any advice.

Spike

Oh. P.S does anyone use travelers cheques? I used them in NYC a couple of years ago and many places wouldnt accept them due to massive fraud!?

assume you have read this

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

we like to have a card for withdrawing cash and a credit card for purchases/ hotels ect .


like others have said , you will have zero problems changing AMEX travellers cheques at Casino cages .

charleywarley

November / December

Hello almost paid for our trip in November.

Now it's time to save up the spending money. Got a budget of $500 a day, staying for 5 nights, so going to save £1600 ish. Got funds on credits cards just in case we go over

Planning on taking $500 cash, £200 in sterling, don't know what is best to bring the rest in leave it in the bank on the debit card, pre paid credit card, more cash or travelers cheques.

Any recommendations?

photome

August

charleywarley wrote: »

Hello almost paid for our trip in November.

Now it's time to save up the spending money. Got a budget of $500 a day, staying for 5 nights, so going to save £1600 ish. Got funds on credits cards just in case we go over

Planning on taking $500 cash, £200 in sterling, don't know what is best to bring the rest in leave it in the bank on the debit card, pre paid credit card, more cash or travelers cheques.

Any recommendations?

Have you read http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money, Its personal preference, I have always taken CC and DC, unless I can get an exceptional rate over here in the lead up to going away.

I never take sterling though, there is no need

credit_crunch

oh i wish i hadnt looked up this thread! i was in vegas last year & am dying to go back!!

but no can do! we are getting married next year but i dont fancy vegas as a honeymoon destination (random i know ;-) )

so i am saving for a 2013 trip! as a surprise for oh's 30th birthday! any ideas on how i can get more ba airmiles? i am using my tesco vouchers plus the miles i have from flying previously!

the only thing that would mean we cant go, is if we decide to have a baby as soon as we get married! i am tryin to convince oh to wait until after his 30th b4 we start a family!!

i love reading the trip reports - it just makes me wana go back all the more!!!

ferf1223

March

charleywarley wrote: »

Hello almost paid for our trip in November.

Now it's time to save up the spending money. Got a budget of $500 a day, staying for 5 nights, so going to save £1600 ish. Got funds on credits cards just in case we go over

Planning on taking $500 cash, £200 in sterling, don't know what is best to bring the rest in leave it in the bank on the debit card, pre paid credit card, more cash or travelers cheques.

Check the daily withdrawal limit on your debit card - if you do decide to leave a lot of it there...with a $500/day budget, and most banks having a £300/day daily withdrawal limit, you could find yourself unable to withdraw a full day's budget at a time, depending on what the exchange rate does.

We take about 50% in cash with us and use debit cards the rest of the time if we need to top up, though we have 2 of the better bank accounts for overseas withdrawals so we don't get hit with loads of fees.