How do you all take your money on holiday?

Sharon87

I mostly prefer cash on holiday, but for longer holidays I like a currency card. If I could get a Halifax Clarity card I would! I've tried applying before but they wouldn't let me have one as I have a Halifax credit card already.

I use the exchange rate comparison on this site to find the best rate and I can usually get a near perfect exchange rate - say Euro is 1.10 on xe.com, I usually get 1.09 at the currency place. I pre order it online to get the best rate.

I find I can budget better with cash on holiday. I wouldn't want to carry more than £700 or thereabouts in cash though. So longer holidays I rely on another credit card with low fees (preferably no fees if I could!) or currency card.

zagfles

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Well yes, it is a faff when there isnt a cashpoint to use.

When holiday in Europe these days we tend to base ourselves off the beaten track and make a lot of daytrips by bicycle to similary remote places. Some lovely little local villages and secluded beaches. Keeping away from the hordes of other holiday makers. Not the sort of places that have an ATM on every corner. For that reason carrying cash is essential.

Not everybody enjoys holidaying on the Costa Del Sol with the hoi polloi, my dear.

So you never pass through anywhere that has an ATM, such as an airport, a major train station, or even a small town?

Must be an interesting route you take to get there :rotfl:

pantaiema

Sharon87 wrote: »

I mostly prefer cash on holiday, but for longer holidays I like a currency card. If I could get a Halifax Clarity card I would! I've tried applying before but they wouldn't let me have one as I have a Halifax credit card already.

I use the exchange rate comparison on this site to find the best rate and I can usually get a near perfect exchange rate - say Euro is 1.10 on xe.com, I usually get 1.09 at the currency place. I pre order it online to get the best rate.

I find I can budget better with cash on holiday. I wouldn't want to carry more than £700 or thereabouts in cash though. So longer holidays I rely on another credit card with low fees (preferably no fees if I could!) or currency card.

If xe.com is showing £/EUR is 1.10 on xe.com, it is EXTREMELY unlikely if you could get £/EUR 1.09 at the currency place with just £700 to be exchanged. You might get it if you are exchanging £5.000+ (say) and you fix it at the point of exchange.

You might have missed some small print like fees, etc which still need to be added to your final bill. Keep in mind exchange rate at xe.com is mid-market rate which change all the time, you might be looking at a different time frame.

If you want people to scrutinise your deal you might want to post the link of your currency place.

parking_question_chap

zagfles wrote: »

So you never pass through anywhere that has an ATM, such as an airport, a major train station, or even a small town?

Must be an interesting route you take to get there :rotfl:

Because it makes perfect sense to keep going back and forth to the airport to use the cash point.

:T

EveryWhere

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

Hi there,

Thanks for that. We don't rent a car, so wouldn't need it for that. Would only use it for major purchase abroad, so not dipping into our normal spending money and the rest of the the time we would want to withdraw cash to use from day to day, as some smaller retailers would only want cash (an ice cream stall for example).

So really don't know if we would be better off

The advice still stands. If you think you know better, do it your way. Otherwise, listen to the experts.
Having a Clarity at the very least on standby, is recommended
You have all of the information. No need for me to repeat the same thing.

EveryWhere

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Because it makes perfect sense to keep going back and forth to the airport to use the cash point.

:T

Why would you go back and forth? You can just take out all of the cash at the airport in the first place, at the full Mastercard rate. if you wish.
With a Clarity each or the equivalent, that's £1000 worth of cash. Plus if you have other cards, you can take even more.
Sounds as if there are at least two of you, so clearly not an issue.
Of course you are just arguing as you want to have the last word. But many of us here probably go further off the beaten track than yourselves.
But of course, you will insist that only your way can work for you. We won't argue.

Gloomendoom

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Yes might cost a little more, but I dont really want the faff of needing to visit cash points and dont like taking my debit card out of an evening in case I have a few too many and loose it.

Lose!

It only has one 'o' no matter how p!ssed you are.

parking_question_chap

zagfles wrote: »

So you go back and forth to whatever rip-off UK BDC you use then do you :rotfl:

By Jove! I think you have finally got it. Give yourself a hearty pat on the back.

:T

Gloomendoom

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Well yes, it is a faff when there isnt a cashpoint to use.

When holiday in Europe these days we tend to base ourselves off the beaten track and make a lot of daytrips by bicycle to similary remote places. Some lovely little local villages and secluded beaches. Keeping away from the hordes of other holiday makers. Not the sort of places that have an ATM on every corner. For that reason carrying cash is essential.

Not everybody enjoys holidaying on the Costa Del Sol with the hoi polloi, my dear.

Carrying some cash while you are there might be essential, but you don't need to take great wads of it with you from the UK.

Our holidays sound similar to yours. If we haven't driven there, we hire a 4x4 and spend practically every day out and about exploring. We are away at the moment, staying in a small village.

I think we brought the grand sum of 20 Euro with us in cash. Withdrew a 100 from an ATM at the airport when we arrived and top that up from ATMs as and when we need to.

I've been doing it this way for the last 25 years in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. It's never been a problem.

Sharon87

pantaiema wrote: »

If xe.com is showing £/EUR is 1.10 on xe.com, it is EXTREMELY unlikely if you could get £/EUR 1.09 at the currency place with just £700 to be exchanged. You might get it if you are exchanging £5.000+ (say) and you fix it at the point of exchange.

You might have missed some small print like fees, etc which still need to be added to your final bill. Keep in mind exchange rate at xe.com is mid-market rate which change all the time, you might be looking at a different time frame.

If you want people to scrutinise your deal you might want to post the link of your currency place.

I live in London, I have loads of places I can use. Best Foreign Exchange or Thomas Exchange have a near perfect exchange rate when you preorder online (fast track same day service for pick up)
https://www.bestforeignexchange.com/
https://www.thomasexchange.co.uk/

Every time in the past 3-4 years I've exchanged currency I've got for example $1.40 to the pound when xe.com says $1.41 or $1.42. Thanks to this website for their comparison site and telling me to prebook online!

(I go on holiday frequently and do this all the time)

There are no fees unless you pay by card. I usually take money out in stages of the ATM or go to the bank to get it. No other fees involved!

So today dollar is 1.23367 to the pound. Best Foreign exchange and Thomas Exchange is $1.2185.
Euros is 1.115 to the pound. Best foreign exchange is 1.1065 to the pound and Thomas Exchange is 1.1055
It's also based on the previous day's exchange rate (not today's)
They both charge a different fee if you don't prebook.

Currency cards have a worse exchange rate