Cash vs Credit Card

You might need a few pounds just upon arriving for food etc., but England is card city for everything including the trains. Take more than one credit card as many smaller places would not accept my American Express, quite a few in fact, so glad I had the others too.

No.

Was there in July. Had a few pound and two pound coins left over from my November trip.

Still have the coins.

Take tap debit and/or credit cards.

Great city. Have fun.

You can use mainly cards, but some cash is useful for tips etc. A few weeks ago, a cafe’s card machine wasn’t working so I had to pay cash, so it’s as well to get a small amount of cash from an ATM on arrival.

I was in the UK from early May through the end of June. I've now been back in the UK for two weeks. The only time I used cash was in taxis and that was personal choice. Otherwise it's tap, tap, tap.

But it's probably a good idea to have some cash. You can get some when you get here.

My last 2 trips to London (1 pre pandemic and one this may) were pretty much all contactless tap to pay. I think I used cash a few times to use up some paper £ notes that are being withdrawn by Bank of England.

I try to use my credit cards as much as possible on oversea trips.
However, I always bring from $300-$500 in US dollars as backup.
Further, once in the country that I am visiting, I buy about $200 in local currency from an ATM.

Buying pounds from a bank back home in the USA you get terrible exchange rates.

Just asking ... what the purpose is for taking US$500 to Europe and where would you expect to use them?

For my wife and it is just backup in case for whatever reason we would need it. We travel with 3 credit cards, 3 debit cards on separate accounts and some US dollars, we will get possibly $100 - $200 in the "coin of the realm" with our debit cards, if we feel the need. Just built in redundancy for us.

Are the Barclay's plentiful, and is there one in Paddington Station area?

thanks

The nearest Barclays ATM to Paddington Station is at a branch on Edgware Road about half a mile away.

If you have specific reasons for Barclays use https://www.barclays.co.uk/branch-finder/ to find locations

As for why I take from $300 to $500 in US Dollars cash with me for emergency.

I have travelled a lot, to 81 different foreign countries and had a couple of instances when I needed cash.

A few years ago, we were on a cruise that included Denmark and Norway. Actually, the cruise started in Copenhagen and we did five days pre-cruise there. Apparently, at that time Scandinavia had gone big on credit cards that required a pin. I had none for my cards. Also, I tried to get local currency from three ATMS without any success. My bank back home said that they had NOT blocked my getting cash. Not sure what the problem was, but if I had not had the cash, I would have been in big trouble. Later when the cruise stopped in Ireland and Scotland, my cards were fine and my ATM card was as well.

Since then I have been back to Scandinavia and didn't have that problem even though I still don't have a pin with my credit cards.

On another trip I had booked tours in conjunction with a cruise and had to pay for the tours in cash with US dollars. I think the cruise was in South America.

Recently, we did a safari in Kenya and Tanzania. I was able to use credit cards, but had to pay for visas for wife and self to enter Tanzania, which required payment of $200. Also, I used about another $200 in US for other payments when credit cards were not an option.

While traveling I always try to store passports and this cash as well as all but one credit card in hotel safes, etc. I have a money belt that I wear when visiting places like Barcelona, Rome and Paris where pickpockets abound.

Thank you!

We just returned from a cruise that included cities and sites in Scandinavia and the UK. It appears that Northern Europe is basically cash-less. Even taxis and street vendors accept credit, and some venues will not take cash. Tap cards are particularly easy; most often you don't even have to sign a receipt. You can still get pounds from bank machines, but I would wait and see if I needed it. We came home with most of the pounds that we had.

I don't know if this is still currently being done a few years ago. In London some of the B&Bs I stayed in Kings Cross charged an extra 3-4% for the luxury of paying by credit card, which meant obviously paying in GBP cash was a bit cheaper. I always had cash on me when it was handier.

Just got back from there Monday. There was only one time we needed cash and that was at the Camden market. One vendor only took cash. My son bought some things and was low on pounds but the guy took Euros and also said he'd take American dollars. So my son gave him a combo of cash.

When we were in the UK for a month in May some stores had signs that said cash only.

"...some stores had signs that said cash only."

If one comes to SF, that sign can be seen in numerous places, primarily at "ethnic" establishments, eg, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Latinos stores. Some years back in SF there were businesses with signs "credit card" or other payment only, ie no cash accepted. That didn't go far as they were sued on grounds of discrimination. These establishments lost, they had to take cash as payment.....good.