Accessing money on the road

[Merv & Ruth]

Please help. We are getting ready to set off on our RTW trip (Sept 1st) and as yet have not solved the problem of access to funds. Obviously we will be able to take US$ and some travellers cheques with us for the first part of the journey, but then we would need to access money for the remainder of the trip.

Please could you let us know of the best bank accounts to open or indeed any other means of receiving money whilst travelling that you have found to be ok?

We are travelling across Europe to Northern Asia, Thailand, Canada, States, Central America, South America.

All suggestions gratefully received.

Merv & Ruth

[OyvindSn]

I've been mostly to Europe and the Middle East, and I've never brought anything but my Visa and MasterCard cards. Use ATMs, or you can withdraw money from many banks if there are no ATMs around.

[Kýrsten]

If you are ýntendýng on rýdýng through the former republýc of Yugoslavýa take plenty of Deutchmarks. They are unýversally accepted everywhere. Also local currencýes are lýnked to German mark so easy to work out exchange rate. Výsas and travellers cheques were only accepted ýn very large cýtýes such as Belgrade and Sarajevo.
Kýrsten

[fireboomer]

In Europe you should be ok with a visa or mastercard. Almost everywhere there are ATM's that accep a visa card.
VISA in Europe is also the cheapest because they don't have an extra fee when you pay with the card.
To get money out of an ATM they do have a little fee. So in Europe pay as much as possible with youre VISA. Works basicly anywhere (Gas stations, bookshops, restaurants,...)

[gmarch]

A friend went Ireland to India via Turkey, Iran, Pakistan this summer 2001. She was planning on using her Visa the whole way as the leaflet from the local Irish bank said Visa was fine in all these countries. It wasnt accepted in Iran and had to get her brother to wire money out to her

[mmaarten]

Hai,

For my RTW I will get myself an American Express card. Not to use as a credit-card (I prefer my mastercard), but they have agents around the globe and an adress-book (also on internet) so you can actually find them.
At an agentcy you can change or get traveler-cheques, change local curency and use them as a poste-restante adress (wich is more reliable then a small postoffice).

All that sounds like a good deal to me.

Maarten

[wbagwell]

Hi Merv and Ruth,
I am travelling in Tanzania right now and unfortunately I had all my valuables stolen this weekend (in Arusha). I had American Express traveller's checks, which were VERY hard to replace because the local offices did not have any replacement checks, so I was forced to borrow money from the Amex office until my new checks arrived.
If I had a Visa, there would have been plenty of places to get money, but I didn't know this beforehand and all I have is a Mastercard. Next time I would also bring an Amex card so that I could purchase traveller's checks from the Amex offices - they won't let you use MasterCard, at least not here in Dar Es Salaam.

So as everyone above said, Visa is you best bet, but I would bring Amex too just in case.

Cheers,
Wright

Oops - just realized that you guys are long gone on the road. Hope all is well!



[This message has been edited by wbagwell (edited 25 October 2001).]