How should I take my money abroad??

mellymell_2

Hiya, hope someone can help me, im confused!!
Im going on holiday to New York in December and will be taking about £1000 spending money. My problem is, I'm not sure in which form to take my money i.e. travellers cheques, cash or one of those new travellers cheques re-loadable cards. Im reluctant to use my credit card too much due to the loading fee, I got charged for using my CC in Thailand last year, not a nice surprise!
The only problem I have with travellers cheques is that I will have to take my passport wherever I go in order to cash them which is obviously a pain if they get nicked!
I could really do with some advice!
Thanks :

HGLTsuperstar

Same answer as always: Nationwide debit card +/- C.card, stick it in the ATM at the airport and voila! If you're going in December, plenty of time to open the FlexAccount and get the card through

alison74

And if you dont get a Nationwide account,


Take travellers cheques as absolutely EVERYWHERE takes them, they are like cash, but with the added security if you lose them they are replaceable.

You could buy a bottle of coke in a pharmacy with a $50 trav cheque and they would quite happily give you $49 cash back without battling an eyelid.

grumbler

And if you cannot get Nationwide debit card, their cash card is easier to get and can be used abroad to withdraw money from ATM with Mastercard logo.The cheapest way to spend overseas: save 6%

jem16

alison74 wrote:

And if you dont get a Nationwide account,


Take travellers cheques as absolutely EVERYWHERE takes them, they are like cash, but with the added security if you lose them they are replaceable.

You could buy a bottle of coke in a pharmacy with a $50 trav cheque and they would quite happily give you $49 cash back without battling an eyelid.

I used to think this about the US, However the last time I was in NY in April 2003, it was becoming more of a hassle. More and more places were wanting ID and one restaurant insisting on phoning Amex to verify.

alison74

I have never had any problems and I was last there in June.

You should always have ID for the trav cheques in case they ask for it, and if you drink in the states you need ID anyway, even if you look well over 21 (bar staff like to know who they have in their bars).