to not want to turn up in a foreign country with no cash, just card ?

[Lemonadedrinker99]

Every time we go abroad H insists we don't take any cash, instead we just take a pre-loaded card (which we can top up as and when during the holiday). How can a family with children turn up abroad with zero cash ? we need to get taxi's to/from the airport as a starter. He argues there are cash points out there, yes there will be but what if the neartest cash point is either out of order, run out of cash or charges £5 a go (which is what we have found in the past) to get cash (plus our banks currency charge). We've had a massive row this morning when I asked him what currency we need to take. He went into one saying he will sort the money side out and i dont need to waste money paying to get the currency in the uk.

Just to add for context ...

a) last year he went to get cash out of the cash machine abroad and it wanted to charge him the equivalent of £5 to draw cash - the money was needed for a boat trip where it was cash only on the boat for drinks/snax. Luckily i had the small stash i took with me that we could use
b) we once arrived abroad with no cash (his idea) and the airport cash machine was broken, so was the hotel one. The nearest one was a 30 minute walk away each way, which H did.
c) earlier this year while in the States we trugged for what seemed like ages to try to find a 'free' cash point. No idea if he found a free one in the end or just ended up paying the withdrawal fee - the fee would have been the same if we had brought currency in the UK, and much easier and less time consuming too
d) the pre-loaded card doesn't always work - we have an app to xfer cash onto the card, he ALWAYS tried to xfer the cash to the card in a way that doesn't work. Earlier this year he tried to xfer £100 while abroad, the xfer failed (because the way he was doing it is wrong, but he wont accept it), he tried it 5 times in the end. The money left our 'available' balance, but never left the account or reached the card, and we had to wait 5 days for £500 to go back onto our 'available' bank account balance

PancakeAndKeith

Way back in the 1970s or early 1980s my mum used sterling in Holland to buy a coat.

Cash machines in Argentina and Uruguay offer local currency and US dollars.

Selfridges accept Euros and US dollars, some shops in London do too.

It's not a bad idea to have some of each on you

I suspect that if you use £ or dollars in the situations described, the exchange rate will be awful. So while possible to do, unwise and completely unnecessary when there's a much more practical and cheaper solution.

It’s an arrogant, colonial attitude.

No, it's not. Many tourist places have signs up saying the price in $,£ or Euros. When we were in Iceland locals who were visiting England would ask if you could pay in sterling because it was better for them as it was worth more to have sterling than exchange Krona. Even in remote places not often visited by tourists they were keen to have dollars.

If you are going to a country where you can't get the local currency in this country and they don't take cards of any sort then what do you pay in? That's when it's good to have $ or Euros so I always have some to hand as I tend to go to places off the beaten track.

Most countries that don’t allow their currency to be brought in, have far more advanced card payment systems than the UK or Europe.

It's not just countries that don't allow their currency to be brought in but countries where the demand is so low that it's hard to buy - the post office and travel agents don't routinely stock Icelandic krona (or didn't, that might have changed) so the choices were the airport and paying $$$ or taking dollars/Euros.

Just take some $ or Euros - everywhere accepts one or the other on the whole.

That’s a dreadful attitude and hugely wrong...It’s an arrogant, colonial attitude.

No it’s not. I have been to many countries and almost all of them accept one or the other. In fact, many of the places I’ve been to in the Middle East/Asia PREFER US dollars and you get a better price if you use them. Heaven forfend travellers might use a country’s preferred currency

Exactly my point BrightYellow

I once went to Mongolia.

I had some of the local currency but without fail everyone wanted dollars (though the did obviously take their own tugriks as well!!) Found same in Russia and China.

Experienced this in Eastern European countries and Ecaudor as well.

This was going back some years and it may all be different now but I don't think its a colonial or arrogant attitude. Its just the fact that Euros and Dollars represent strong currencies with a lot of buying power

If you pay in USD or EUR anywhere you will pay a far higher price even when you set aside the conversion. Even things like internal (or return flights) and five star hotels are cheaper when booked in local currency.

Even things like internal (or return flights) and five star hotels are cheaper when booked in local currency.

They are things you'd book before you go/book line though so aren't usually paid with cash - if you are travelling and paying cash it's unlikely that you are staying in 5* hotrls.

I've only paid a higher price occasionally and then it's been fine - for example, paying street traders in Illiusat and Longyearbyen who were keen to have dollars rather than krone/krona.

You can book from the UK and often still get a local price. Just call them to make a reservation and say you’ll pay cash. In Asia I have stayed at the Taj / Marriot / Shangri-La etc for hundreds of pounds cheaper by doing this — as these hotel chains have different price points for locals vs tourists

Yanbu. Just reading your op stresses me out in a my worst nightmare type way. The last thing I want to be doing at an airport is getting cash I just need to get to hotel and start my holiday.

FWIW I know that our culture is moving towards cashlessbut even in the uk i feel more vulnerable somehow if I don’t have any cash on me. Let alone a different country

Experienced this in Eastern European countries and Ecaudor as well.

Ecuador doesn't even have its own currency, they use US dollars, they make their own coins but they are cents.

And yes, before the iron curtain came down 'hard currency' as it was known was preferred.

When Zimbabwe's inflation spiralled out of control US dollars and SA Rand became de facto currencies.

It looks like the experienced travellers recognise that having a strong currency such as dollars etc is not a colonial attitude at all then.

I travel quite a lot as my partner works on the continent. I very rarely take cash just a MONZO car which is absolutely brilliant.
Do you need a taxi for a transfer, that seems very expensive. Is there not transport you can pre-book?