Are you about to exit dwelling house for a trip somewhere absurd abroad?

You're probably thinking, "Oh, shoot. I forgot to figure out if I'm going to need to become cash in this foreign country. And how much cash should I travel with, internationally?"

Don't worry. I've been there, and I'm here to let you lot know what to consider when traveling internationally and thinking about how to deal with money.

Travel and money is a topic that has evolved tons for me since I started traveling. It has certainly been a trip of its own.

The first fourth dimension I went abroad on my own was during my study abroad to Hong Kong in 2009.

Looking back, it's incredible to see how much my process has inverse.

I recall that my parents offered me travelers checks to bring. I recollect saying, "What does a travelers check even do?"

I haven't heard the term 'travelers check' in the last decade, which goes to prove how far travel and coin has come up.

In a time where we manage bank accounts and pay bills online and in a time where credit is so much more than widely accepted all over the world, money management while traveling has inverse quite a bit, for the better.

One of my favorite parts of traveling these days is the fact that I can use a practiced travel credit while abroad, and sometimes it'due south even astonishing how widespread the use of credit cards is in major cities very far from habitation.

Looking for a new travel credit card? Consider the United Explorer card. Nosotros have this card! Nosotros like it because of the sign-upwardly mileage bonus, global entry credit and no almanac fee for the first year.

It's also incredible how many places notwithstanding utilise cash as rex: Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Colombia and Vietnam are just a few.

I also really enjoy updating my coin strategies twelvemonth by year; for example, even five years ago I was still using my ATM cards and paying hefty fees for ATM withdrawals in Ecuador, Republic of bolivia and Republic of guatemala.

Today (and thanks to money-sharing strategies and hacks with Dan) I'm getting reimbursed for those same fees.

In some of our most recent trips, we started seeing how contactless payments are spreading all over the world. In fact, the first time we used ApplePay and GooglePay regularly was in Taipei, Taiwan, where no one even wanted united states of america to slide our plastic credit card through a card reader!

Read on, equally I'yard sharing my best smart tips for traveling efficiently with money, internationally. I'll testify you lot all about foreign money and travel, and how to brand the best decisions with exchanging currency, bringing foreign money from abode and eliminating depository financial institution fees for your next trip abroad.

Here'due south the listing of my all-time tips, tricks and hacks for an effortless and easy way to manage foreign currency when taking your next trip to a new country.

Take some USD with you

You should bring cash in USD (or your dwelling currency) with you lot on your trip as backup currency in instance you current of air up with a malfunctioning credit card or ATM card.

Bring some fresh USD bills from home.

I take e'er had some crisp USD twenties or fifties in my wallet when I left home for a trip.

Having this money has come in handy for exchanging upon arrival, ordering tourist visas upon arrival and sometimes, a national park entrance fee (charged in USD) here and at that place.

While living in NYC, I would go to a depository financial institution on my tiffin break several days before leaving the country for an international trip and would stand up in line at a depository financial institution. I'd request $200 or then worth of twenty-dollar bills, requesting super crisp ones for this purpose exactly.

I would have these with me, stashed away in a secret and unassuming function of my baggage, in case I needed to use them for exchanging, visas or other surprise expenses (this happened frequently in Africa).

Why practice crisp USD bills thing when traveling away?

The reason for getting super crisp twenty-dollar bills is that local banks abroad don't typically have smaller denominations, and they certainly don't like bills with writing, crinkling, folds, chunks missing, torn edges or faded writing.

I've experienced sometimes that banks will plow away bills that are less-than-perfect. This is something you want to get right the first time.

For visas on arrival (Zambia and Republic of zimbabwe, to proper noun two countries with this policy off the top of my head), you will also need cash, and such visas must be purchased with perfectly un-damaged bills.

Find out and track foreign international currency substitution rates.

I personally think strange exchange rates are fun and interesting.

Edit: I remember it's fascinating and worthy of keeping in an app in my phone for travel days.

Foreign currency commutation rates are like a gamble of their own, and I find commutation rates and fluctuations over time to be incredible.

Get familiar with exchange rates!

I get-go had to get familiar with strange exchange rates when I lived and worked in Shanghai, People's republic of china, from 2010 to 2012.

While working there, I was paid in US Dollars due to an agreement in past years with American staff hired from abroad.

I worked in China during the start yr when the Chinese Yuan started slipping in its charge per unit with the The states Dollar, and this hurt my bacon.

The Americans who worked at my school and I would race to the depository financial institution on Fridays afterward pay day to request conversions of our USD into Chinese Yuan for spending, as before long as possible.

The catch was that the rate would slip twenty-four hours by day. If nosotros didn't act fast, nosotros'd lose our hard-earned money to the fluctuation. Some days we'd look at XE.com and adore modest increases in the USD to Chinese Yuan, and other days we'd wait in cloy at a modest dip.

Nowadays, I await at exchange rates when I travel.

There are some places, like Hong Kong, that take currencies pegged to the USD. (Did y'all know that? Such a fun fact.)

This is interesting as well because, at whatsoever given point, you tin get to Hong Kong and presume that the charge per unit won't have inverse much (unless something totally unexpected happens).

I follow currency rates around the world so that I can retrieve up places to go where my dollar will go further.

Researching currency fluctuations

When I went to South Africa in summertime 2016, I lucked out large fourth dimension. The following is a story about how a foreign exchange rate can brand yous a king.

Somewhat fortunately for Americans, the Due south African Rand weakened a whole lot that year.

This caused our US Dollar to have almost 2 and a half times more buying power than only two years earlier for American travelers.

I was eating steak dinners and having South African wine for $25 and having cocktails at restaurants for $4. Had I gone in 2013, that steak dinner would've been $75 in my home currency, and the cocktail would've been $12, just like in NYC.

Correct now, the aforementioned thing is happening in Argentina, a identify where the economy affects the currency a whole fleck.

When I went to Argentina in 2017, the exchange was approximately 14 Pesos to a USD, and now it is 94 (at the time of writing, in 2021).

This ways Americans have v times (more than?) of the buying power we did four years ago.

Fun fact: traveling to Argentina will likewise get y'all steak dinners, wine and cocktails, so I definintely recommend information technology. :-)

Track strange commutation rates over time

To track foreign exchange rates, use XE.com, which you can read about in our favorite apps for travelers article.

I also use the XE.com app for my phone. The mobile app is gratis, and you can choose 9 of your favorite currencies to track against your home currency.

The rates update immediately, and you can also look into the charts that are available to show currency changes over time in ane-solar day to ten-year intervals.

Become local currency for your international destination before you travel.

There are several ways to get local currency before yous leave for a trip abroad. I'm going to list a few means that are my favorite hacks of getting international money before my flight.

Ask around in your network for foreign currency.

First, you can ever ask on Facebook if anyone in your friends network has the currency of where you are headed.

When I went to Portugal (or was it Spain?) in 2016, I posted on Facebook, "Does anyone accept Euros they don't need?"

I got several replies and met up with a friend who had leftover Euros from a previous trip.

I landed in Europe armed with Euros and then that I didn't have to get to an ATM so immediately. I like to state in a new destination abroad already armed with local currency, so that I can take an airport taxi into town or purchase some snacks in instance (worst case scenario) the ATMs pass up my ATM carte.

Get foreign currencies at your dwelling bank.

A second way to go local currency is to head to a bank and enquire if they have Euros, Pesos, Yuan or Yen, etc., in stock.

For currencies that are rarer (Sri Lankan Rupees, Peruvian Soles, Vietnamese Dong… to proper name a few), your chances are a chip slimmer.

Sometimes, you can request these in accelerate from a banking company and they can let y'all know how soon they tin can receive them for you to substitution before you leave.

If you lot're going to, say, Myanmar, and you're looking for Burmese Kyat (the currency there), you could call your local banking company branch a calendar month before your flight leaves and ask if they can gild the currency for you to option up and trade.

You can withdraw local currency when you land in the airport or cross over land.

The last few means to go local currency of your destination happen when yous land. Upon arrival, you can withdraw from an ATM with your ATM menu in the drome.

When withdrawing from ATMs abroad, you will typically get charged a fee by the foreign banking company (and maybe your depository financial institution as well).

To avoid this, you can use a bank that reimburses strange ATM fees. I'll get into this very soon.

Substitution at a bank when you lot go far.

Although I do non recommend doing this, as per the benefits of the methods mentioned above, you tin also substitution your home currency for local currency at a bank when you land.

You may receive a less-than-optimal exchange rate.

If you're going to be potentially exchanging money at banks abroad, make sure your bills are crisp, clean and undamaged!

Absolutely employ a credit card whenever possible when you travel.

If you have a credit card that waives all strange transaction fees, then yep: you should apply your credit card when you travel internationally with no hesitation.

Put an international travel advisory on your credit card business relationship.

One of my favorite things to do before I leave for a trip is to call my credit carte company, talk to a man, and let them know which countries I'll be in, so that they exercise not flag my purchases equally fraud and cake my usage.

It pays to take care of this beforehand so that you don't have to bargain with issues when you exit your country and may non have a way of making calls.

Nowadays, many credit card companies say, "You don't have to call us to tell us about a travel advisory anymore!"

Information technology seems credit carte companies accept gotten smarter, and the Internet knows so much near where you go that maybe past at present it's all linking up and they know when you left the country anywhere due to your Instagram (only an idea).

Getting the daily exchange rate on credit purchases while abroad.

Spend money on your credit menu while you're on your international trip.

Y'all'll likewise get the conversion at the daily commutation rate when your purchase posts.

I apply a travel credit card whenever I can, so that I tin continue travel hacking and increment my points and miles. This lets me cash in for gratuitous flights further down the line when I accept enough saved up!

I also find information technology helpful to review my purchases and spending in an app like the Hunt app, then that I can run across if there'southward anything that was charged incorrectly, any strange transaction fees I accept to know about. Having an app on the go lets me assess my spending while I'm on the road.

Make up one's mind the extent of credence for different credit bill of fare companies

In my experience, Visa is most widely accepted worldwide.

American Express and Mastercard are accustomed somewhat outside the United states, simply it is always best to accept multiple credit cards.

Some stores or restaurants may plough abroad Visa, and if you lot have multiple types, you'll have another selection set.

Even at habitation I've sometimes had my Mastercard rejected, while my Visa gets accepted. So, we definintely suggest having two credit cards with y'all for this reason.

Some businesses might also charge fees for using credit, or may accept accuse minimums.

Be prepared for these kinds of setbacks, and take cash fix every bit fill-in as well.

Know your transaction fees on your travel credit card.

When using credit, enquire in local businesses if there is an actress charge for a credit carte transaction.

In several hostels and hotels in different parts of the world, I've experienced beingness quoted a 3% transaction fee for using a credit carte; this is typical for modest businesses, as they aim to kickoff the costs of using credit in their stores.

Sometimes I'll modify my listen and utilize cash, or sometimes I'll go with the fee if information technology's non turning out to be also hefty.

I take by and large seen this abroad when booking excursions or paying for a dark in a hostel.

For this reason, it'due south good to have a few hundred dollars worth of local currency with you if for some reason a place does not accept credit at all. An example of this would be a local guesthouse, a cash-just eating house, a taxi you lot have to take when in that location's no ride share service available or a double-decker booking.

Looking for a new travel credit card? Consider the United Explorer card. We have this card! We similar it considering of the sign-upwards mileage bonus, global entry credit and no annual fee for the first year.

Using credit away and leaving tips

One more consideration is the use of credit in cafes and restaurants internationally.

In some countries where credit cards are accepted, the tip is not included in your pecker and tin can't be added later the transaction.

If you want to exit tip on carte, you accept to remember to tell your server to add 10% or 15% (depending on local norms) as they are processing the transaction.

Choose the local currency correctly and optimally.

In my experience, if you have a choice of USD or EUR, for example, when your credit menu is in the reader, pick the foreign currency.

Yous will most always go a better bargain.

I always avert choosing U.s.a. Dollars in these instances, and I've even done the math later making the error of picking USD that I had lost out.

Avert foreign transaction fees at all costs.

I haven't been charged a foreign transaction fee in my lifetime, and you shouldn't be existence charged them, either.

For traveling, open a credit card business relationship that has travel benefits like no foreign transaction fees.

Nosotros both use Chase Sapphire Reserve and nosotros've at present started using Wells Fargo Propel carte likewise.

Use a checking business relationship that reimburses ATM fees, and start now.

For ATM fees, every bit I mentioned above, I no longer get charged those, either.

Dan introduced me to an Investor Checking business relationship with Charles Schwab that reimburses me for ATM fees every thirty days.

The Fidelity Cash Management account also has a system of automatically reimbursing the business relationship holder for any ATM fee charged by foreign banking institutions while abroad or traveling.

With these types of accounts, I see reimbursements for these in the next month for any ATM fees charged to my card when I withdraw.

I recommend saving your ATM withdrawal receipts until you get refunded in the post-obit month, just in case you need to call up the depository financial institution and ask about where your refunds are.

Upkeep your travel spending during an international trip.

There are lots of ways to upkeep spending during your trip.

For ane affair, there are lots of means to save money while traveling and my favorite way is to bank check out what the typical toll of travel is for the place y'all'll exist going.

Cheque out a travel pricing index for destinations abroad.

The Price of Travel Alphabetize is ane of my favorite websites to peruse.

Did you lot know that Hanoi, Vietnam, ranks #1 for the everyman cost of daily travel in Asia?

Y'all can find out that blazon of data at this site.

We talk about our favorite affordable destinations for travel in this guide.

Summate spending each day or week during a trip away.

If I'm traveling for a while, I'll stop and accept some time to calculate how much I've spent and so far.

I tally the price of my flight or flights (including any airline vouchers used), and then separately, I'll tally the amounts of money I've withdrawn from ATMs, purchases made on credit card and any money spent on the trip before I left (cost of strange travel visas or related fees).

I usually do this for fun and for my own reference in a Google spreadsheet.

Looking for new proven ways to save money on flights and airfare? The piece of cake solution is to sign up for Scott'due south Cheap Flights, the leading mode to find flight deals and mistake fares, direct to your inbox.

Figure out your spending average for your trip upkeep.

Based on how I want to calculate my daily spending boilerplate, I take these fees and split up by the number of days I've been on the road.

What'southward interesting to see is how things like rental cars factor into your trip and accident out your daily average.

When Dan and I traveled around Republic of ireland, the cost of our rental automobile for a week accounted for a giant portion of what nosotros spent during the whole trip.

If you are on a tight budget, consider scrapping a rental automobile and going with public transport.

There are and then many ways to save coin during travel.

When your trip is ending, deciding what to practice with your foreign currency is a valid thing to recall about!

If you have only a picayune bit left, you can spend it at the airport on gifts for friends and family unit, or some delicious snacks for the flight or a souvenir y'all've been wanting.

Save foreign currency for future trips.

If yous accept cash in a widely-used currency like the Euro (used as official currency in 23 countries!), consider saving your EUR for a time to come trip to any other country in the Euro-using destinations.

Yous tin also save currency for your friends, if yous know you lot have a friend who will be going to a particular destination within a few months!

If you travel somewhere where the USD is the official currency, like Republic of ecuador, Panama or Cambodia… you lot're in luck! Yous can go dwelling house with those dollars in your wallet and employ them at home, if you're American.

Of grade, if you're non American, salve those USD bills for your adjacent trip to the US. (And come say hi to us in NYC!)

Enquire around in your network to offer international money

If y'all current of air up with whatever foreign currency and you know y'all might not be going to that specific country for another few years, inquire around in your network to decide if any friends or family are headed there shortly and might want to buy it off you.

I've done some pretty funny street exchanges in giving away my Colombian Pesos or Indian Rupees in exchange for the equivalent in a Venmo payment.

To buy money or transfer money to others travelers, you can use Venmo (for Us bank accounts only) or PayPal (used worldwide).

Don't go over the limit for greenbacks allowances on an international flight.

Some people want to ask, "How much money can I travel with on an international flight?"

Know the rules: Y'all usually can't travel on an international flight with more than $x,000 (Usa Dollars). If you have that much coin, you should probably put it in a banking company, or have it invested…

In any instance, almost customs forms will enquire if you lot're traveling with more than $10K in USD upon landing. If yes, you volition have to declare information technology. If y'all just have $ix,999, then you should exist fine.

Share this article

If y'all enjoyed this commodity, give it a share!

Final updated on May 27th, 2022