Managing it wisely and figuring out how to avoid being mugged is part of what you should do to take care of your money while travelling. While when we plan our trip we focus mainly on choosing the destination and how much money we will need to cover all the derived expenses, we must not ignore that when travelling , there is a possibility that we incur expenses outside of the planned and that also some particular situations, such as theft or loss, could affect our finances.
In the worst case, even our plans could be seriously screwed up, so it will largely depend on each one to be cautious and avoid many risks and dangers if we know how to handle our money when we are away. To assist you in this mission, we have made a list of the best ways you can take care of your money while travelling.
Divide the money by putting it in different places
This is the main way to take care of your money while travelling in the event of an eventual or possible loss or theft. While we know that cash is quite useful and necessary, it is clear that having all our money in one place can be a big problem in these cases, so taking money around in different places will help a lot by reducing the impact, as you won’t have lost everything.
The best part is that you will still have enough to get to a police station, return to your hotel and continue to enjoy the trip. For all this, it is always recommended that you put your travel cash in different safe places. Of course, here we must also include your credit cards.
You can keep cash in your wallet, in a zippered pocket, in your shoes and in your luggage; maybe in your bathroom kit or even in a dirty sock. But if you also travel accompanied, the ideal is to divide it between you and share the load.
Do not access your wallet in public
Taking out your wallet constantly could be a temptation for thieves, especially if we are in a busy market or we are haggling. In this case, the best way to take care of your money is keeping some loose cash, away from your wallet and in an easily accessible place; something that will also help you manage how much you would like to spend.
Also, it is recommended that you do not keep your wallet too accessible if you want to prevent pickpockets from accessing it easily.
Have small-denomination bills on hand
Cash is the easiest way to make purchases while on the road, so turning to an ATM or exchanging large sums of money seem like a good plan to get local currency and minimize the fees to pay for it. However, this will only leave us with a lot of cash and possibly high-denomination bills.
In this sense, it is advisable to keep cash out of sight and never take out large sums of money in front of other people; this will avoid attracting the wrong attention. Also, as part of your daily routine, it is very convenient to organize your money and make sure that you have smaller denominations of bills and coins in easily accessible places, which we will have ready to make purchases of food, souvenirs and pay tickets for attractions.
Keep some money close to your body
Although bags and backpacks are among the must-have travel items given their easy accessibility, they have become a major target for many thieves. In the same way, the use of fanny packs is not recommended, as it will tell everyone that you are a tourist and will mark it as a possible target. So if you want to take care of your money while travelling, you should consider other storage alternatives that allow you to keep it close to you.
Keep in mind that the closer the money is to your body, the more difficult it will be for thieves to steal it. Among the main options available we have money belts and body bags, but newer options include bras, long johns, underwear, and even undershirts with built-in pockets that allow for secure storage.
These body storage accessories are especially helpful, especially when we must sleep in places that lack a safe place to keep cash or valuables. However, they are not a good alternative for the wallet, since having to search your body can announce where something valuable is hiding.
Diversify your payment methods
Although cash is king in many parts of the world, your capital must be distributed in the various ways and means possible to use it. From credit cards, debit cards, checks or cash, they are all equally important when travelling; in this way we will avoid headaches if we must resort to any of them in case of loss or excessive expenses, you just need to make sure that each of these payment methods always have funds available.
Avoid ATMs
Withdrawing money from ATMs abroad might not be a good idea, and this is because most of these ATMs charge fees that can be quite high per transaction. But many banks also charge additional service fees, not to mention that security can still be an issue. Therefore, unless you consider it absolutely necessary, avoid ATMs.
If you must use an ATM, be cautious
The recommendation is that you only use ATMs that are affiliated with and located within a bank, with security personnel on site. Likewise, the ATM should be checked to rule out that it has a skimmer machine. This is a fake card reader that attaches to an ATM to clone data from a card’s magnetic stripe.
To make sure, you can move the device in which you insert your card and if it falls, it is false, otherwise you can continue with your operation. Just be sure to completely cover your hand when entering your PIN to prevent someone behind you from seeing it. Last and not least, only use ATMs during bank hours; this is in case the ATM keeps your card, so you can enter the bank immediately and get it back.
As you may have noticed, these are just a few ways to take care of your money while travelling. But if you want to know other additional tips, we invite you to pay attention to the second part of this article, where we will expand the subject further.
ALFA