Managing your money on the trip

Being on the road for a long period of time means that you would have to plan your finances and the way you would use their money a bit wisely. It is important that you should plan the money aspect reasonably well before heading out for the trip. All your bank accounts, cards, cheque books et al must be functional and properly operational. It is best not to get into a situation where your card’s validity has expired during the trip or a certain bank account does not have sufficient balance.

There are a number ways by which you carry and spend your money. It could be good old cash, a credit card, debit card/ATM or travelers cheques. The most commonly used and widely accepted form of payment is cash. It is accepted by all and you would have no problem in making any purchases or doing any payments when you have cash. It is best to have some cash with you all the time. You don’t know when you would need it. Always exchange your currency (cash) before setting foot in another country. It is best to put in that extra effort of looking for places where you can get a good exchange rate.

The thing to keep in mind about cash is that one has to be careful in its handling. Do not carry too much or do not carry too less. The key is to carry a reasonable amount which is useful for making payments. Theft is a very common phenomenon and you would not want to lose too much money in case such a thing happens.

The next and the best option of spending money on your RTW trip is a credit card. it is advisable to find out the best credit card for your travel requirements. See and study the type of credit cards that are available and choose the one which gives you the maximum utility while you are on the road. Also enquire about credit cards that offer benefits or rewards for the miles that you fly from airlines. Remember that certain fee is charged on your credit card every time you make a payment or transaction in a foreign country. Always intimate your bank about your trip and make sure to note down their contact numbers and take them along in case you need to contact them during the trip.

Even if you run out of cash, there are debit cards that come to your rescue. Nowadays, ATMs exist in every nook and corner of the world and are even located in the most remote of places in some countries. But the use of debit cards should be limited and must be used only when it is necessary. This is because certain fee is charged for every transaction depending upon the bank’s ATM card you are using. It is advisable to contact your bank about the fees charged for transactions made abroad. You would not want to shell out a significant amount of money for taking out cash everytime on the trip. It is also advisable that you have a spare card which you could use in case your primary card got lost/stolen or stopped working.

Travelers cheques used to be favorites for travelers for quite a long time. But the practice of using them has significantly dropped and do not have the same popularity and usage across the world that it used to have.