Hi guys’

I am setting up my budget for my RTW by motorcycle.
I was planning to keep some cash for extreme emergency with me. But what about can make sense?

I was thinking have enough for shipping the bike and me from anywhere to home. But keeping 5000€ in cash hidden is a bit too much.

Does half of it in cash the rest on a safe card make sens or still too much ?

Cheers,
Yassine

Hi Yassine,

welcome here an the HUBB, good to live your dream and ride a bike around the world.

I rode a bike around the world from 1999 to 2005, we are in 2022 now, so of course a lot of things will have changed, but I still travel today sometimes long distances here in South America.

As a traveler, that uses mostly cash, I also carry one credit card. But the credit card I only use with banks (atms) and to buy airline tickets or bigger expenses on the internet.

As an emergency fund in cash I would always have enough to pay for a hospitals first treatment and a plane ticket to Europe. About the bike you can take care later after your health is restored. Maybe your sum of 5000 Euros is a bit high, but we are in 2022 and a plane ticket can cost 1500 Euros to 2000 Euros if you have to fly the next day.

In some parts of the world (e.g. Iran or Africa) you will ride for weeks without getting to an Atm, so prepare for this as well. Riding thru China in 2015, it was not easy to find a place to change cash (US or Euros), but it was easy to find an Atm. Which of course I didnt know when I entered, so after entering I exchanged cash and picked up local currency from the atm to last for some time or an emergency in a hospital.

Make sure you hide your cash well in different places and of course have some on hand without digging too deep.

Hope this helped for your planing

mika

Just take care on limits for crossing borders. I took dollars with me through Africa, but then in Zimbabwe found you could only take a max of $2000 dollars out legally.

I then had to decide whether to hide it and hope for the best, or to get rid of the excess. In the end I concluded the risk was not worth it.

Suspect i could have found a way to bank it, but I ended up giving my excess to a charity (that I supported anyway). But i really wished i had known about the limit before I went into the country.

I was thinking about this in general, and remembered a time when my employer would give us gift cards to a travel agency as a special bonus. Essentially I would have a cash "deposit" with the travel agency, that I could use simply by sending them an email. Of course, they already had by passport details on file from when I bought tickets/packages through them before.

So my idea would be... if it's really that much of an emergency, don't worry about the bike (shipping it out would take a lot of *time* to arrange anyway, even if you have the money). Have a deposit that's enough for a one-way ticket home from anywhere in the world - let's say 1000-1500 EUR - with a reputable travel agency where you have a specific agent with whom you have a relationship. Tell them what you are doing and what you might ask of them. In that case, it's always just a matter of an email or phonecall saying "Hi, it's Yassine, please book me on the next available flight out of Timbuktu".

The other way to do this is to give cash to a close friend or family member (along with a scan of your passport), and tell them that within the next two years, you might call or email them and ask them to use the money to book you a flight.

Do yo really need cash to buy a flight ticket these days ?

With credit cards and bank transfers via internet ?

My idea was to create a separate emergency bank account.
And give a trusted friend (my son) access to that account.
So that he could use that to buy me a ticket or transfer the money to me in case....

What do you think about that ?

In the old days we used travelers checks. Safe, since you get replacement if they are stolen. Is anyone using that anymore ?

I'll be taking 1,000 USD and 1,000 EUR with me. Mainly for cash expenses when ATMs and local currency are not immediately available. For major expenses there's the credit card, and you should buy medical insurance with repatriation anyway.

Thanks all for your responses.

Actually, the flight tickets can always be bought by a credit card... as long as you have internet.. but today I think you can get it from everywhere.
So the cash is just to be able to pay locals for shipping the bike to safe place and 'shipping me" to the next city or something. In that case 2000e should be more than enough.

Definitely I will leave money to close Friends ( certainly my sister) to get me a fight ticket if its urgent. That's a good idea. At least no internet needed, just an sms is fine already.

So last question, for your daily expenses, you just take cash from ATMS ? never had any issue with that ?

this period of preparation is stressful but soooo exciting ...

I've never had an issue with ATM use, although I've used some which seemed...worrisome. Sometimes it pays to keep an ear to the ground, since a particular machine or group of machines becomes known as compromised. Some years back there was a good example in Antigua (Guatemala) or Grenada (Nicaragua)--I've forgotten--which was widely-publicized on travel forums. Locals also seemed to know which machines to avoid, but I used the ATM on the sidewalk next door without incident.

I've had credit cards compromised repeatedly in the US--about once every year recently--and occasionally while abroad. Long ago this happened when someone made duplicate carbon imprints in India; more recently when I foolishly gave card details over a long-distance phone line in Central America before cellphones became the norm. Reporting a card compromised and arranging delivery of a replacement can be quite awkward when far from home; I carry multiples.

Traveler's checks are totally obsolete. Even ten or fifteen years ago it was remarkably difficult to cash them, and you paid a high percentage for the privilege. I used to also carry some personal checks and, while stopping by American Express offices in major cities to collect my mail, I'd use them to purchase cash dollars and/or fresh traveler's checks. Those were the days; long gone, along with paying for a trip with smuggled Levi blue jeans.

Having said all that, it's not necessary to leave home carrying all the hard currency you think you might need. There are astonishing amounts of cash dollars and euros circulating around the world, and it's not difficult to judiciously replenish your supply in most areas. Of course this doesn't apply in remote villages or sparsely-inhabited regions, but that's why I carry a stash in the first place--to get me out of an immediate situation. All dollars or a mix of dollars and euros does it anyplace not subject to peculiar rules, i.e., Cuba.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

I carry about $1000 (half in Euros in that part of the world, otherwise in USD). I split it into 3 parts and hide it various places.

I like to use local cash. Sure can't use a credit card here....

Tajikistan.......


I've been in places (Murghab, TJ comes to mind) where the ATMs were out of order for weeks. I was happy to have cash to pay the hotel and happy that they accepted USD. In fact, they were happy to get the dollars, too.

As far as counting on the credit card to buy your ticket home- I remember my Bank telling me in 2010 not to even try using my card in Turkey or Russia: since there was so much fraud there the bank told me that they would refuse all transactions.

...................shu

Hmmmm, interesting. I used cards without issues in both Turkey and Russia.

I was a lot more alarmed about credit card fraud before I started getting notices of fraudulent transactions so frequently here at home. I just replaced a card for the second time in a year due to a couple of >$500 charges I hadn't made. Haven't yet had to pay for any (although: mileage varies).

The amount of required emergency cash depends per country. If you are in a country, where you can just a restricted amount of cash per day at the ATM, there you are happy if you have enough cash for a expenisve repair, fine or health issue.

Buying a new car battery abroad - you will be happy to carry some cash, otherwise you have to use a taxi service to the next town to the atm and back.. In Remote Villages too the ATM could be out of service, eletronic payment too, and you are happy to fill your tank against cash...

To it can be difficult to optain cash in some countrys like Nigeria, many card issuers use geoblocking and you need expensive calls to unblock your cards in such a country. Visa cards for travellers like DKB let you enable/disable each country at yourself (if you have cell phone dataplan & are online), but no other cards I own offers that service too.

An valuable amount of Cash is too a pain in the ass.. Border crossings, Hotelnights, Hostelnights, going out, doing couchsurfing, meet a nice girl - those are situations where you have to have a plan for the safe storage.

As biker and as an overlander by car there is the "safe storage" an ongoing issue.. Example: As biker you have the cash on you, as car driver you probably have some places in your vehicle. Damn bad idea if they do a detailed car search at a border, guess there could vanish something during the process, at border crossing you should have it on you.

Today you find nearby always an ATM, even if your cards are stolen you will find someone with paypal or against a fee a friend can send cash over companys like western union.

But yes, the travel destination may experience an extended blackout (no electricity), or severell banks may got hacked or similar, or you are travelling very very remote - where a bit of cash can be still neccessary....

Personally I carry emergency cash in Euro and USD. Some 5 Euro, 5$ - some 10/20/50 the most in 100 banknote`s.

The tiny banknotes are very handy to give a tip, to buy locally if wasnt able to optain local currency in front.

The amount differs depending from travel targets AND from the amount you can loose without too much hurt. With 100k at the bank 3k in the pockets isnt very progressive, to bring an example.

Personally I would look more for a good backup plan for documents and for electronic data (video/fotos), then thefts are more common, than the need for emergency cash abroad.

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

The amount of required emergency cash depends per country. If you are in a country, where you can just a restricted amount of cash per day at the ATM, there you are happy if you have enough cash for a expenisve repair, fine or health issue.

Buying a new car battery abroad - you will be happy to carry some cash, otherwise you have to use a taxi service to the next town to the atm and back.. In Remote Villages too the ATM could be out of service, eletronic payment too, and you are happy to fill your tank against cash...

To it can be difficult to optain cash in some countrys like Nigeria, many card issuers use geoblocking and you need expensive calls to unblock your cards in such a country. Visa cards for travellers like DKB let you enable/disable each country at yourself, but no other cards I own offers that service too.

An valuable amount of Cash is too a pain in the ass.. Border crossings, Hotelnights, Hostelnights, going out, doing couchsurfing, meet a nice girl - those are situations where you have to have a plan for the safe storage.

As biker and as an overlander by car there is the "safe storage" an ongoing issue.. Example: As biker you have the cash on you, as car driver you probably have some places in your vehicle. Damn bad idea if they do a detailed car search at a border, guess there could vanish something during the process, at border crossing you should have it on you.

Today you find nearby always an ATM, even if your cards are stolen you will find someone with paypal or against a fee a friend can send cash over companys like western union.

But yes, the travel destination may experience an extended blackout (no electricity), or severell banks may got hacked or similar, or you are travelling very very remote - where a bit of cash can be still neccessary....

Personally I carry emergency cash (for extended international trips) in Euro and USD. Some 5 Euro, 5$ - some 10/20/50 the most in 100 banknote`s.

The tiny banknotes are very handy to give a tip, to buy locally if wasnt able to optain local currency in front.

The amount differs depending from travel targets AND from the amount you can loose without too much hurt. With 100k at the bank 3k in the pockets something who cant stop your trip if you loose it, to bring an example. Most dont go so abroad and remote, that they need such emergency cash. In Europe or US I would never carry more at 300 bucks - just because there is no need for it....

Personally I would look more for a good backup plan for documents and for electronic data (video/fotos), then thefts are more common, than the need for emergency cash abroad.

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

Hello Yassine again,

you got a lot of good advise here.

Each of us has made different experiences and a different way (route, timeframe) of traveling and all of us have different levels of safety perception. On a long journey rtw for many years you will learn that your safety perception can be very different from others, that go only for a long holiday and return to their job, you live on the road and you cant afford always in the best/safest hotel but you will develop a feeling of what is safe for you and what is not.

An emergency is an event that happened all of a sudden and that you need to solve quickly ... e.g. an accident, a sickness ... and with cash you can solve a situation a lot quicker and simpler then with an insurance or credit card.

The so called 'emergency' hotlines of insurance companies are in my experience useless if you are in a real emergency, that has to be solved quickly. An insurance maybe gives you back a part of the money that you had to pay in a hospital for treatment, if you are lucky.

Three more things that came to mind.

First, dont hide all your emergency cash on your bike, as your bike can be stolen, as happened to me in Damascus in 2010.

Second, take more than one card. If one is blocked for what ever reason, you can still use the other one. If you are far away from your bank its not that easy to get a card send to you quickly. Happened to me and I had to ask a friend for money.

Third, make sure if your card is stolen or hacked, that not all of your money can be withdrawn, spend by the thief. Never happened to me, but something I always considered.

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Just a short story. In 2005 in the Republic of Congo another traveler came to the restaurant table I was sitting at in the evening together with my girlfriend. He had an emergency in his home country and he had to fly back with the next flight early next morning, the airline would not accept his credit card as it was canceled and he was short 300 dollars of paying cash for his flight. He stayed in the same hotel we stayed in, I had seen him before in the hotel but never talked to him. I listened to his story and asked him a few short questions to try to confirm that what he told me was true. His answers were credible and I had enough emergency cash. I told him if he would come later to our room and show me his passport and the money he had for the flight I would borrow him the 300 dollars. And this is what happened, he showed me what I needed to see that his story was true and I gave him the money. A week later he had returned the money to my European account.

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Enjoy preparing for your journey ....

mika

Thanks all for all your advices ! It’s really priceless !

Now that I know I am leaving mid July from Belgium, l am looking what will be the best direction to take … what a headache hahaha

I agree that carrying a large amount of cash is a burden.

As a tourist you kind of have a bullseye on your back. So the maid, girlfriend, whomever might be constantly sizing you up and looking for you to make a mistake.

One of my rules is I always keep all of my cash on my person.

If you ever sell your bike or end up with a good amount of cash in a foreign country I think the best thing to do is take the hit and send it back home via Western Union. Don't try and save $50 and end up losing a few hundred.

Another rule is I only keep $500 cash with me at a time.

I travel with 2 debit cards from major banks that have the Visa or Mastercard logo.

Be careful using atm's in foreign countries. Try and only use very public atm's in foreign countries. Avoid the ones where you have to walk into an enclosed room without a security officer. I think this is rare, but in some countries they have professional crews of 5-6 people who are working together to separate you from your atm and pin number.

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