Money/cash

I carry about $200USD as an emergency back up. Carry whatever amount you're comfortable with. One time I arrived in Beijing, and despite telling my bank about my travel plans my debit card got blocked at the ATM. So I need to exchange about $50 of that cash to pay for a taxi to my hotel where I could call and sort it out. Just one scenario.....

I have never done it in 40 years of travel. Explain this to me,, some emergency occurs,, you need some cash,, for some reason you cannot use your ATM card or your credit card, perhaps they are lost, stolen, or machines are all down,, or its like 3 am and you are in middle of nowhere.. So what the heck is your American money going to do for you,, seriously, you really think the gas station in Italy will take it, ha , good luck. If your ATM and CC are gone ,, ( lost or stolen) I am going to assume your money belt with the cash in it is Gone too, cause that is where those cards should be stored. And even I do not think RS means you to carry more then 200 hundred of your dollars, several actually means 3 as a rule,, but 300 hundred sounds even stupider then 200 hundred. Your money belt should hold your cards, passport and all your money ( EUROS) except for the money you want to spend each day. I take out as many euros as I can each time ( about once every 3-5 days depends on how fast I go through it) and keep it in my hotel safe or money belt. Withdrawing more often increases your bank fees.. ( for most of us) As for Michaels scenerio,, exactly why i never arrive in a country without about 100 dollars with of the LOCAL currency.. I can just get off the plane and go straight to hotel without having to look for the ATM in the airport. I think Americans in some cities at least have a hard time getting foreign currency,, I live in a small city but a touristy one, we can usually always find some foreign currency at our banks.

If you do take cash, two hundred as suggested, don't take 20's, or 100's. Take the newer pinkish-red 50's as they would be the most widely accepted (since they are more difficult to counterfeit). Go Big Red! (former Nebraskan! always a Husker!) Dan

I take twenties, usually a couple hundred bucks worth. I actually use some of it on every third or fourth tri, but I've never dipped into more than fifty including the taxi ride to get home from the airport. Big bills stink if you just need a little bit of local pesos to tide you over until you get to a real atm. Why give a travelex or something similar the price of of converting more than you need? I've never seen anybody squawk about counterfit concerns.

Stick with new 20s. The US fifty dollar bill is the most widely counterfeited bill in the world. Even in the US the fifty is not liked. I would guess that the new 50 could be problem the rest of the world is not that familiar with the bill. I always carry just under $200 US cash in twenty. Don't think I will have a problem at 2 AM. In nearly 20 years of travel have never had to use it.

Having cash on me has "saved" me twice. 1) When my wallet was stolen in London (I lived there at the time), I was able to take foreign currency that I had in my flat to an exchange counter in the train station and change it for GBP. 2) When I arrived in Verona and tried 3 different ATM machines and none worked, having cash allowed me to have lunch and get to my hotel without stressing. I don't know what the issue was, but a few hours later the card worked fine and I had no problems for the rest of the trip. Cash is always a good emergency backup. The cash does not have to be in USD. There are still currency exchange counters in just about every airport and in major cities. They will gladly take your USD for a not-so-great exchange rate, but in a pinch it will do. I usually have the equivalent of about $200 stowed. I usually try to bring local currency, but in some cases I just bring dollars.

when my SIL visited, she forgot her ATM pin (smart girl with a degree from a respected university: jet lag will do this to you). being in Germany, she needed cash, could not get cash out, spent the evening freaking out. luckily she had us, her family her to spot her cash until the next day when attempting to do a cash advance on her credit card she suddenly remembered her PIN and was able to get cash out. we'd told her not to bother exchanging cash at the airport or bringing much with her, but we didn't forsee a situation quite that ridiculous. (terrible things happen to your brain when you're jetlagged). in the future, i'm gonna recommend people travel with enough cash in local currency to get them through an emergency. yes, you'll pay premium prices to get it exchanged at the airport, but it's a tiny fraction of what you're spending to get to Europe. even though we'd informed our bank of travels, we still occasionally get frozen out of our ATM account when traveling (our bank confused "Austria" with "Austraila" once and wouldn't let us use our ATM in Salzburg until we called to sort it out...) having enough to get you through 24 hours (food, shelter, etc) in local currency gives you time to resolve any potential problems and gives you peace of mind if such problems do occur even though they probably wont.

Actually - the advice here is one of two things: Either take up to $200 in US dollars as an emergency backup. If for some reason your ATM card doesn't work, you can exchange it for local currency. You'll probably already be taking some US dollars with you to pay for things while still in the US or on your return. Or take up to $200 in local currency so that you don't have to hit the ATM when you first arrive or if for some reason your ATM card doesn't work. It's all about comfort level and having a backup plan. Except for daily spending money, your extra cash should be in your moneybelt for safety. So limit how much cash or bills you have or it'll get fat. My personal preference is just to have about $100 in US to get by coming and going to the airport. It could be used in an emergency.

We have had the problem of remembering pin numbers for less frequently used cards so we just encode the number on our card. Saved us more than once.

I've always carried $200-300 cash on trips, usually a combination of dollars, pounds or euros to back up the plastic. Seems sensible to me.

Pat, in my second situation, I did have Euros on me that I had brought from home. However, if I had not had Euros with me, I could have exchanged cash at the currency exchange. I think the point in the RS book is simply to have cash as a backup. I think he could make it more clear that it does not need to be dollars. I do agree it is preferable to bring some local currency with you, but sometimes one either can't get it easily (ever try to get Botswana Pula at a bank in the U.S.) or has to pay a lot. In this case, just having cash (even if in USD or CAD) is still a reasonable backup. If you don't end up using the cash you never pay any fees.

Contrary to what most folks on this web site do, I do not get any local currency until I arrive at my final airport. I then use a debit card tied to a checking account in an ATM machine at that airport to get enough for several days costs.
I go to Europe every summer for the last ten years and have never had a problem doing this. I do travel with my wife who takes a debit card from another financial institution just in case mine has a problem working. I do not stress out about finding an ATM machine at my arrival airport (at least any that I fly into) nor do I feel unsafe in doing so. This way sure makes for the lest amount of fees associated with getting local currency.

I came back from a trip once with about $14 and 40GBP in my pocket. I would have liked an extra hundred or so tucked away so I could eat dinner that night. So now that's what I do-hide money from myself. As far as it being advice that Rick gives, it makes a lot of sense. He started out as a tour guide. If all the people on his tour at least have some dollars on them, the tour guide doesn't have as many problems.

I am with Rick and his advice despite the criticism. If I have local currency from a prior trip I'll use such to get started in the arrival country. If not, then I utilize my ATM card at a bank affiliated ATM machine at the airport. In many trips to Europe, I have always been able to withdraw local currency in the amounts required at the first airport. Nevertheless, being anal retentive, I always have a back-up plan if ATMs aren't functioning. Ergo,a few U.S. dollars as mentioned that can be exchanged (only an amount required to get started) at a poor rate from a private exchange bureau at the airport. Thus I avoid exchanging money at poor rates in the U.S. Further, when returning to home, if I am delayed and have to catch a cab to a nearby airport hotel, etc. a few dollars can be helpful when credit cards are of little value. The "lost" interest on this strategy is negligible. What's not to like?

This thread has been heavily edited. Simmer down please. It is great that there are multiple different opinions and ways of doing things. However, understand that other people have opinions other than your own and they should be respected. Challenging someone else's opinion (excluding that of Rick Steves, we welcome open and friendly debate there) is not acceptable in our forums. It is downright unfriendly and causes the type of negativity that makes people want to leave our forums. This thread has been the sterling example of why we have Community Guideline #5. It is there because if you don't have something nice to say to one of our community members, you shouldn't say it all. If I deleted one of your posts, you need to go back and read that guideline before posting again. To the rest of you, thank you for contributions to this debatable topic.

I'll stand by my suggestions for the pinkish 50's, since my Spouse has been in the banking business. The banking industry claims that world wide, the 100 is the most widely counterfeited followed by the 20, and the primary reason for coming up with multicolor US currency(like most other currency in the world is) is to make counterfieting more difficult. We have this habit of saving cashour mad money for trips to Europeb-day presents, anniv presents, loose change, unexpected petty cash payments of any kind goes into this fund. It becomes our travel savings acct. We transfer it all into colored 50's , instead of running it thru our bank acct. and accounting system. In tree trips to Ireland, we have exchanged several hundred dollars of these 50's for Euros at banks with no problems, and no hesitation. Even had a conversation with the teller in the exchange burea about it the first couple of times, and they agreed with this choice of currency. To each his own-for whatever it is worth. Dan

Basically, it's all about having a contingency plan, however you plan it. I carry 150-250 Euro cash so that I don't have to get to an ATM once I land along with hundred or so US dollars in cash and $ 200 in travelers' checks in case the credit cards aren't accepted. If I am told that the credit cards are blocked or just not accepted, I'll pay in cash, then call up my banks at the first internet cafe I see. That happened once in London when I wanted to add to the Oyster Card using a credit card, which were rejected. If you contacted your bank prior that the card will be used overseas, then you shouldn't run into this sort of surprise in Europe. Rarely have I stayed at a small hotel or hostel where they want the total payment in cash at check in, but it has happened. The places in Germany I've stayed at allow you to pay sometime during your stay...basically no pressure. In London the credit card is ok but be prepared to pay a surcharge of 3-4% extra.

I don't trust myself carrying a wad of cash around Europe. I tend to lose things on the road. If its a debit or credit card, I can deactivate it. If its lots of cash, bye-bye! I generally carry 20-30 USD for use in U.S. airports.
When in Europe, I use credit cards a lot, and get small amounts of cash daily from a no fee debit card.

I take enough US dollars to get me back home from my return flight (kind of hiding money from myself). I also get enough euros from my bank before I leave to take care of a couple of days on arrival, since I agree that jetlag interferes with multitasking (exchanging money and being alert for personal security) after a long flight.