changing money
 

Wots the best cash to take to change in to rubles

I guess you mean dollars

don't agree at all. Euro is king. You can change dollars but the euro is more widely accepted and you will get better rates.

You don't say which country, I presume Russia but other countries use their own ruble currency. Be careful how much you change as, depending on the country, changing back again can be difficult. It was almost impossible to change rubles to euros (or dollars!) last time I went to Belarus, you had to know someone who was willing to do it on the black market for you and the rate was awful, and that was despite having family there!

I agree entirely, but don't take 200 or 500 notes, even 100's can be a problem. If you tote a suitcase full of 500 notes you'll find yourself in deep s***

Regs

Simon

Bring 100 euros, in assorted small and big bills. Put them in your boot and put your visa card in your pocket and enjoy the 21 century :-)

great advice for a package tour to the costas, not so useful on an extended trip out in the boonies, you will find many places take neither visa nor mastercard. You may also find it a very expensive way to pay for stuff abroad. 100E won't go far. Cards have their uses and are a safe way to make larger purchases but you will also need a decent amount of cash. I usually carry £500-1000 worth, and withdraw more in local currency if I start getting short, the threshold varies depending on how long I have to go for and where I am.

try to carry nothing bigger than a 20E note. Counterfeit notes is a real problem, 50s being the most popular, although smaller denominations are also faked. There's lots of advice online about how to spot fake notes. Passing a counterfeit note is a criminal offence in most of Europe, and you will be jailed. The fact you didn't know it was a fake is no defence. Your only defence, if your lucky, is if you can prove you got the notes through a legitimate source, so keep all your money exchange receipts.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...e-in-jail.html

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/n...ake-euros.html

spread your money around different locations for security and so you don't get out large amounts at once in front of people.

when your driving keep a small amount of money, say 20E in small denominations in a separate pocket, this is for 'fines'. No matter what they first ask for, make sure they think this is all you have. (the rozzers don't take MasterCard by the way!)

I also carry a wallet with old credit and debit cards in, along with the 20E above. It's a product of living in Moss Side, Manchester! It's your mugging money! enough to keep them happy so you don't get a worse shoeing, not so much it's a disaster!

Carry a spare card stashed somewhere secure on the vehicle. This is your back up if your main cards are nicked.

Use an email that can be accessed anywhere (like Hotmail) then email yourself the phone numbers and account numbers so you can cancel your cards if necessary. Use a code for the numbers if it makes you more comfortable.

probably the wrong thread but just some things I've picked up along the way.

Sound advice, I have two pre-paid cards which cost me nothing if initially loaded with £500 and keep one with nothing on it with my mugging money so it is a current card incase your friendly neighbourhood thief checks.

Mike, my experience has been that there are ATMs all over Russia that accept North American and European bank cards (Maestro, etc.) - my suggestion is that you just take along a bank card, and use ATMs when you need cash.

It might be a good idea to let your bank know (ahead of time) that you will be travelling in Russia.

Obviously, people who dont belive in plastic cards havent been anywhere in the world...

North America, Check!
Central America, Check!
South America, Check!
South East Asia, Check!
Western Europ, Check!
Eastern Europe, Check!
Africa, Check!
Russia, Check!

Using travellers checks and carrying a big waddle of dollars is just a time gone by. Carry enough to get you to the next town.

I would say dont relay too much on the plastic cards. A friend used his in Nigeria and weeks after he left the country someone took money from his account.

My Credit Card suddenly did not work anymore when i was in Africa. I contacted the bank. They told me oh we have send you a new one to your home adress a few weeks ago. I replyed "but im in africa and the old card should be still valied more then two months". They said sorry but we cant help you...

The ATM took my Visa+ cardwhen in was in Southamerica. Even i had my passport i did not get it back. The card was send to the bank in my home country...

Also paypal is not an option: If you log in from too many different countrys while traveling they block your acound for security reasons.

NO, haven't been anywhere, only eastern Europe, western Europe, India, west Africa, north America, But this isn't a dick measuring competition! In all those places a good supply of cash, assuming you venture out of the cities and tourist hot spots, is essential. The actual amount depends on the actual country, what I am doing and where I am going.

Sure I use cards, but wouldn't be so stupid as to rely entirely on cards and not have a good backup of cash. I'm not saying take all the cash you need for the whole of your trip, just make sure you have a sizeable amount available in case you can't get to a cash machine or they aren't working.

As discussed above, if you don't carry a float and rely entirely on cards you could come very unstuck. Cards break, they get stopped by your bank and they get cloned (welcome to the 21st century!) Last time I travelled through West Africa you could use mastercard in some places, not others and vice versa with visa, so you needed both, and in Mauritania nowhere took cards of any description. That's was 5 years ago so the situation may have changed in the big towns by now, but don't rely on the machines either being there or functioning.

We very nearly got caught out and had to pool the money of all four of us to be able to get fuel to get out.

And, as I said above, not everyone takes cards. roadside cafes, bush mechanics, police and customs for starters. That's why even paris Dakar racers carry a very large amount of cash on them.

relying on modern technology is great, right until the moment it doesn't work

Somewhere between jumping on your sportbike with nothing more than a pair of swimming trunks and a mastercard and loading up your fully prepped 7ton truck and carrying thousands of pounds lies a happy medium. what that is depends on who you are and where you are going but is, I would suggest, a long way from either of those extremes.

I think that the general gist of this thread can kind of be summed up this way:

Have multiple methods of accessing cash, and don't rely exclusively on any one method.

I've visited over 60 countries in the last 12 months, just as part of my 'day job'. My primary method of getting cash in any country (no matter how primitive a country) is to use a bank card (not a credit card, but a bank card, such as one with the Cirrus, Maestro, or Interac logos on the back of it) to withdraw cash from a bank-operated ATM in the center of a city. I never use privately operated ATMs, only ATMs that are operated by a bank.

But - having said that - unless I know the place I am going to very well and have been there before, I won't arrive in a country without any local money at all. I usually try to arrive with sufficient local money for a couple of days worth of expenses.

Credit cards can be very useful if you are staying in hotels, buying airline tickets, or eating in upscale restaurants. They are less useful for downscale (more economic) lodging and food. But - for sure, bring one along, because if your bank card (ATM card) gets lost or captured by a local ATM, you can then fall back on cash advances from the credit card to keep you going.

Michael

Exactly this happened to me with my cash card, during a 5-month stay in Guatemala. It left me in a bad situation. Just lucky I had a credit card that I could draw cash on.

The expiry date on my cash card was nearly a month after the end of my trip.
But take note, banks will switch off your card once they have sent a new card to your home, which may be many weeks before the expiry of the card in your pocket.

And they claim they have no way of switching your card back on.
And when you explain that all their records must show you've been in a foreign country for months, well all you get are excuses.

So take care that the expiry dates of the cards you're taking are at least 2 months (or maybe more) after the date you return home. Unless you have some way of having cards that are sent to your home posted out to wherever you are.

I think this thread:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...668#post425568
amply demonstrates the foolishness of relying on cards and not carrying an adequate supply of cash, even in France!! Let alone more remote countries/locations.