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17 Aug 2020
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Do you prefer walking around with cash or card while travelling
Hey there! Do you prefer walking around with cash or card while travelling? I use a card most of the time. Cash is just a security issue.
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17 Aug 2020
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Both is needed today in europe, for travelling purpose.
If you had to choose between, is cash is still the option number 1.
Soon you get more remote, the bars/restaurants dont can process cards, or the unit dont work... For City tripping a card will work well..
Surfy
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17 Aug 2020
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If it's possible, I always prefer to use a bank card as I find it more convenient and I don't need to carry cash, especially coins with me after getting the change. But when you travel, you can find a many places that don't accept cards or require minimum amount of transaction even if in your country they would have accepted without any doubts. Now I keep the main amount of money on the BlackCatCard. That's a great card but still not very popular. The main currency is the euro, no setup and maintenance fees. At home or travelling, paying or withdrawing cash from an Mastercard ATM isn't a problem as well
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18 Aug 2020
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Can't we have both..? I use cards for major purchases, but carrying a bit of cash in pocket is always very useful.
As mentioned above, what if you encounter an issue where your card isn't accepted, or just plain doesn't work? I have that happen here occasionally right in my hometown, never mind in a country on the other side of the globe!
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18 Aug 2020
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Nice of Louiz to bring up a subject I’d never given a second thought to 
Those of you with long memories in the U.K. may remember an advert for Access (now MasterCard) way back where the strap line was “Access says more about you than cash ever could”. The implication was that paying by card portrayed you as some kind of sophisticated, well heeled individual. How times have changed. In this track and trace era where your spending habits plug straight into an advertising database I’m much more of the “cash says less about me than Access ever could” persuasion. That is if I can find anyone to take my disease riddled coins.
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18 Aug 2020
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Hey Louiz, your first post. 
As for Africa (Sub-Saharan) you need both. In the towns you'll be alright with a credit card, but - even in South Africa - in rural areas many small shops, B&Bs etc. don't have card facilities.
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18 Aug 2020
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Outside of Europe, Canada and the US credit cards have limited utility.
You can get good food and refreshing drinks here (Mexico).....
but these ladies do a cash only business...
Cash only out here at this Guesthouse in Tajikistan....
Aside from that, I recall that my credit card company told me not even to try using my card in Russia- they would deny any charges automatically. Too much fraud at that time.
Bottom line, carry a card and use it when you can, but try to always have local cash on hand.
...................shu
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18 Aug 2020
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Yes - a bit of both - there are places I wouldn't carry much cash, and split my cards to minimise risk of loss (Rio for example). I wouldn't carry a lot of cash in my pocket anywhere, although in some places cards are just not going to work (I used to carry far more cash in Congo than anywhere else I've been). The last time I was in Russia I had no problem with a card, however that was a few years ago. In some parts of Europe cash is now completely unnecessary - we travelled through Denmark a couple of years, had no cash at all, and used cards everywhere.
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19 Aug 2020
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I normally carry 100 Euro's in cash (or enough for a hotel room and a meal depending where I am) - otherwise, card is king in all built-up areas. Only if you are in smaller villages do I sometimes struggle with cards
Certainly with Cov-19, I've found stores throughout Europe prefer card - even for smaller value payments.
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19 Aug 2020
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In Europe in a lot of places cards are fine.
But: there are also enough countries, where they don't accept cards in small places, and sometimes they don't work when internet is down for the terminal. happened to me in Italy for one weekend.
I was stuck in a city with no cash till Monday.
Also the card can be swallowed in the ATM, you never know.
Cash for emergency is aways good to be safe.
And in a lot of countries outside Europa you need cash, because there is no way to withdraw money from ATM
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19 Aug 2020
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Very situation dependent, depending on where you're going, if you'll be in cities or the country, etc.
The one thing I want to point out is that sometimes a place might accept cards, but not the type of card that you have. For instance, after living in Berlin for two years, I was surprised by the number of places that accept Maestro cards, but not credit cards (I was also surprised by the number of places that didn't accept cards at all).
Similarly, riding through rural France on a Sunday several years ago, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that all of the gas stations were closed, and while they could be used with some kind of card, they did not work with Visa/Mastercard/Amex.
On the other hand, you might be surprised to find that all modern gas stations along the major highways in Russia will accept credit cards (just avoid the ones that look like they were built in the 1960s...).
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25 Aug 2020
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shu...
Outside of Europe, Canada and the US credit cards have limited utility.
You can get good food and refreshing drinks here (Mexico).....
but these ladies do a cash only business...
Cash only out here at this Guesthouse in Tajikistan....
Aside from that, I recall that my credit card company told me not even to try using my card in Russia- they would deny any charges automatically. Too much fraud at that time.
Bottom line, carry a card and use it when you can, but try to always have local cash on hand.
...................shu |
TJ has only a half dozen of ATMs in the country which take MasterCard and even with Visa the places (hotels, restaurants, gas stations, etc) which take credit take local cards.. so it's 90% cash travel.. I had my frame there welded twice and it put me in tight spot  . If you carry cash it's better to have US$, € is rare and is taken as $1=€1. Good thing many guesthouse are $15/night with dinner and breakfast.
As for Russia interesting.. I had issue crossing into Azerbaijan had to call credit card to have them enable but not russia.. it is better to call card in advance before border. And don't cross border on empty tank made that mistake twice LoL.
Last edited by cyclopathic; 25 Aug 2020 at 13:30.
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30 Aug 2020
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I'm in the UK and depending where I go I take a mixture of cash in US$ and/or €, plus a couple of credit cards, one visa and one mastercard. One of the cards is from Starling Bank and has the facility of locking/unlocking the card if lost by using their app on your mobile phone. Also they don’t add fees or charges when you use your card overseas. It’s also free to withdraw cash from ATMs outside the UK. The final back up is a Paypal account which is handy for transfering large amounts while overseas instead of carrying cash. These days you are spoilt for choice compared to when I first started traveling in the 1960's, when the choice was travelers cheques and/or cash, and you were limited to how much you could take out of the UK to around £50 and it was written in the back of your passport!
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1 Sep 2020
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When walking
When walking around, I prefer cash.
Not even a wallet.
No cards.
Safer. If i get robbed, they steal whatever cash I have in the pocket.
And a minor amount of cash can easily be replaced.
=
I learned from the locals in South America.
:> Have enough cash in your pocket for what you plan to do.
Leave the rest in a safer place.
=
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27 Oct 2020
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I carry both.
I'd rather lose cash than card.
I carry several cards (both debit and credit).
I also have means to pay by phone.
I keep a nice stash of cash, and withdraw as I go along.
I try to use cash when I venture far and long.
I don't put all my eggs in one basket.
Card fraud happens all over the world, but more in some places than others.
My GF had her card skimmed in croatia, and a few hours later it was attempted used in Brazil (copied)
Having my card blocked or lost can be really bad.
Do what the locals do...
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