Taking Clarity Care on holiday, how much backup cash to take?

DepositSaver

Hi
I am off to Meixco for 10 days in a few weeks and will be taking my Halifax Clarity Card with me. I would want to try to use this as my main source of cash/payment method, by using ATMs or paying directly with it, but also want to take some cash as a back up in case I can't find an ATM/ATM is out of money/there is an issue with the card.

My question is, roughly what percentage of my total spending money budget would it be sensible to take in cash? I want to benefit from the better exchange rates of the Clarity card so wouldn't want to take say 80% of my spending money in cash, but want to take enough to cover cases where I can't use the card/get to an ATM.

How much emergency/backup cash do others take with them? Enough for just a couple of days? Enough that I could survive on it for the whole holiday (by living very cheaply) if I could get no other money? Some other proportion?

PeacefulWaters

Use of Google Maps can help you identify ATM locations at the airport and your resort. The MasterCard Web site will also help you find ATMs and backup ATMs.

Assuming you get a positive outcome to your online research the answer to your question could be zero. Especially if you have another card to fall back on.

Mrs PW would suggest enough for a taxi fare and a day's food.

Doshwaster

It depends on what the transfer is between the airport and your hotel. If it's prebooked or just a cheap public transport journey then I will often take nothing other than what I have leftover from previous trips (I always have some Dollars, Euros and Thai Baht in the house)

I don't think I've ever known an airport without a working ATM. Once or twice one machine has been out of order but there have been other ones available nearby but if going to an airport you don't know and need to pay for a taxi in a new currency zone then enough to cover your taxi fare to the hotel should be enough. Unless your hotel is in the middle of nowhere then they are sure to have an ATM nearby.

More important is to take a backup form of plastic in case your Clarity is lost, stolen or blocked. The fees aren't so important on it as you probably will never use it. Just keep it separate from your main wallet.

zagfles

Yes, definitely take a backup card or two. Never rely on just one card.

I usually take some GBP cash too, not much, maybe £50-100. And tell Halifax your travel plans.

DepositSaver

Thank you for the tips and advice all
I'll do some research into ATM locations and airport to hotel transport costs and make a decision from there. I will also be taking a Natwest credit card and debit card, and possibly a co-op debit card as back ups.

InsideInsurance

Doshwaster wrote: »

I don't think I've ever known an airport without a working ATM. Once or twice one machine has been out of order but there have been other ones available nearby

Mexico is fairly well set up for tourists these days but I have been to other countries where there were plenty of working ATMs but they all required your national ID number even when using a foreign card. I tried bypassing it (wouldnt let me), using a random number and phoning a friend who lived there to at least give me a valid number in case it was just doing a basic checksum type validation but all rejected the transaction. Ended up having to use the exchange bureaux who gave nothing close to a competitive rate.

Id always take a small amount of money in local currency (or USD) and small bills just in case for the initial tips etc.

Doshwaster

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Mexico is fairly well set up for tourists these days but I have been to other countries where there were plenty of working ATMs but they all required your national ID number even when using a foreign card.

Which countries were these? I haven't come across this anywhere. Worst I have seen were some ticket machines and petrol pumps in the US which require you to enter your Zip code but you can usually bypass those by entering 00000.