How would you feel if your partner came abroad with no money?

It's blatantly obvious from the OP that they are not married and do not have shared finances.

So no further information is needed. No essential context is missing. 🙄

On face value sounds strange. However there is a lot of context missing. A similar post could be written about me. When I'm out with dh I never take money or cards with me. I can go abroad with him and not take anything.
I'm not a scrounger though. I manage the family money and savings and I earn. We have been together for 34 years so no issues.
In ops case more info is needed before a decision can be made but it does sound like he's taking the piss.

So when the bill comes up just wait and see what he does. I would then say why do you expect me to pay ?

Who goes abroad without checking they have available funds? He’s taking the piss. As a couple we have a revolute card I top up and my other half brings cash. We work it out before we go.

Wait a minute, you're paying his debts and you're paying for him to go on holiday without you?

What do you get out of this martyrdom?

Is there any such thing as a credit card that doesn't work abroad? I know there are some you might not want to use because of fees, but they'll all work.

I was once away with a group and one of the men kept saying his card wouldn't work. Tbf he was transferring money to people who paid, but in one bar the barman said give it here, it should work...and it did.

How did you deal with it?

Did you find a way to transfer money to his account? (I had phone banking back in 2000, so this was definitely possible back then) Did you keep a tally of what you owed him? Get someone to wire you cash?

Or did you do what the OP's partner appears to have done and just dump the problem on him?

Bullshit*

Bulkshit.

In 2024 no way he doesn’t have online access.

I did this 22 years ago with my boyfriend of 8 months. We were travelling to Costa Rica and my credit card wouldn't work. I'd travelled extensively in Central and South America previously and it had never been a problem. It was very embarrassing!

Fortunately, it didn't seem to put the boyfriend off and we got engaged half way through the holiday. We've been very happily married for more than 20 years.

My family are away on holiday without me because I couldn’t get time to go. I paid their flights, arranged their accommodation and saved up the spending money because my partner is a twat with money. I feel for you OP. Ditch the partner before you’re stuck with kids and his debt and no way out.

Struggling to believe this is true.

If it is, my plan would be this:

1. Immediate dumping
2. New room
3. Allow him to transfer you money via online banking for however much he needs for the rest of the holiday. Withdraw the cash only when his money is in your account.

Oh come on.

If he were genuinely an "inexperienced traveller" he'd have sorted out cash. An "experienced traveller" these days are the ones who know that actually you need very little hard cash on you, especially if it's a destination that doesn't use the Euro and/or they won't be going back to any time soon so that they don't end up with unused foreign currency at the end.

I travel a lot and only exchange cash if visiting a country/region where cards aren't reliably used (e.g. developing nations).

But I always have a couple of different cards with me, and I also have online banking via my phone, so I can transfer money around if needed. There is also telephone banking as a backup to that.

I don't know any working age adult who wouldn't be able to move funds around online in an emergency.

Maybe.
We do not actually know much, which credit card, which nation etc.
I have had cards stopped abroad, or found specific limits in specific nations.
Perhaps he has not travelled much and was caught out.
We do not know what he has done to fix the situation nor whether this is typical. There is a lot of jumping to conclusions.

If he really needed to, he could transfer funds into the OP's account and ask her to withdraw cash for him.

Or use telephone banking, online banking, find a cash point which will accept his credit card... there are multiple options available.

Anyone who claims that the only money they have in the world is in a savings account that they can only access by physically entering a bank in the UK is lying outright. He is guaranteed to have a current account, because where else would his wages get paid?

As I said above - this is his problem to solve, and the OP will find that he magically finds a solution as soon as he realises she isn't going to bankroll him.

OP isn't replying because she's splurged on this huge trip, and it's just become massively obvious that the blokes taking the piss out her.

That's a bitter pill to swallow, especially when on said holiday.

Need more info as you haven't provided much. Is he saying that the card is intended not to work in that country (just for example, US credit cards don't work in Cuba), rather than that HIS particular card is not working (some banks require the cardholder to pre-authorise use in another country)? I wouldn't necessarily think much about the fact that he assumed it would work and it didn't, except that he's probably an inexperienced traveller. However, I'd be unimpressed if he didn't do what he had to do to fix it, which would start with calling his bank and finding out the options. If he's your partner and you trust him, you could front him the money but I'd expect him to exhaust his options first.

If he knew it wouldn't work, I'd primarily be confused - even if he diode;t mean too spend any discretionary funds (which I imagine would have come up in conversation with you when planning the holiday), how did he expect to eat or to handle an emergency?

@Iwilldestroyyou345
I travel a lot with work. I rarely exchange cash and rely on card.

It’s not on and reminds me of a really mean with money person I used to date.

I didn’t know, though, that there was such a thing as a credit card that didn’t work abroad.

Ask him what he's planning to eat and drink for the next week?

Leave him in the room whilst you go out. Do not pay for anything. He'll manage to find some cash from somewhere I assume. He could sell his phone perhaps.

You think a man like that will repay her? No chance! He's a freeloader, and a liar.

OP - this isn't your problem, it's his.

Don't bankroll him. Don't spend your money on a single thing for him. Not one drink, not one meal, not even an ice-cream.

He'll figure out how to move his money around when he gets hungry/thirsty enough.

If he claims that he can't, he's straight up lying to you. Even in developing nations, i have always been able to move/access cash when I needed to.

So you go ahead and enjoy your holiday, and do whatever you want to do. But don't spend a penny on him.

@Iwilldestroyyou345 Do make sure you keep a running tally of what he owes you for his share, and that he knows how much it is

He's playing you for a fool.

He wants you to pay for the entirety of the holiday. Please have some self-respect and do not do this.