What Do You Do About Holiday Money?

[SantasLittleMonkeyButler]

We are going to Majorca at the end of May/beginning of June. We haven't been abroad since our honeymoon in 1998 .

This may be a daft question, but how do people take their holiday spending money nowadays? Do people still get Travellers Cheques, or are they hideously outdated?

Would we be better buying euros in the UK or taking £'s to change whilst over there?

Do debit and/or credit cards generally work in other countries? And, if so, do the banks charge for the privilege?

I'm sure this is all very basic & silly to frequent travellers, but we genuinely don't know what is best. All advice gratefully received.

We tend to use our debit cards to withdraw cash from wherever we are - make sure your Bank know you're going though!

Probably would take some euros over with us too.

We have usually taken a reasonable amount of Euros with us, and look online for good rates before we do it. That said, Tesco and the Post Office usually have good rates.

Debit and credit cards usually work in Europe, but there is often a charge as well as the exchange rate to consider. We have a Nationwide credit card which is particularly good and doesn't charge a fee.

I've certainly found in France there's no problem using your cards in shops, and for drawing cash from ATMs. But do tell your card provider you're going abroad, so they don't think it's fraud.

watching with interest

We tend to take currency converted in the uk and I have a post office credit card which I use abroad as they don't charge a fee for foreign currency use abroad.

Dh also take a card with a fixed amount of euros on it - I think they are called pre-paid cards.

Would take a mix of Euros (enough to last a few days) along with your debit and credit cards.

Travellers cheques are pretty much not used these days also because of the high charges they attract when cashing them.

Inform the bank and credit card provider (particularly them) of your travel plans in advance; this should (but not always in the case of debit cards) prevent having a "stop" marker placed on the account.

Use somewhere like the Post Office to buy some Euros. The website moneysupermarket.com has a great section on travel money which is also worth reading. Pre-paid euro cards are also worth looking at.

Do not forget the travel insurance; you need to be properly covered!!.

euros/local currency for the first few days then debit card or english notes (im scottish) to change over there

take an initial float of Euros and then use ATMs. Tell your bank/credit card company where you are going and when (you can do this online) or cards may not work. Take a note of the number of your bank (geographic, not 0845 or 0870) so you can call if there is a problem.

as others note, there WILL be an exchange fee but you can minimise it. Do not buy currency at the airport.

the only reason for travellers' cheques now is the 'had everything stolen' situation - you can then get the value of the cheques back with a phone call.

when you pay with your card, you may be offered the chance to pay in sterling instead of the local currency. ALWAYS choose the local currency - if you pick sterling you will be ripped off on the exchange rate because it can be set to whatever the merchant wants. (this option is to catch those who are a bit nervous of foreign money and is offered as 'so you know what you are paying'. If you can do simple maths you'll know what you are paying).

minimise the coins and notes you bring back, coins can't be changed back and you'll lose again if you change the notes.

you should have bought the travel insurance when you bought the holiday - if you didn't, get some ASAP. Also make sure you have EHIC cards - they are FREE, use the official site NOT the ones that come up sponsored on google.

For euros the best exchange rates are usually places like the money shop or online. The post office do their best rates for over £500.
Mastercard do a prepaid card which is protected against lose, theft etc. Its all in their website.
Hope you have a lovely holiday

Thank you all for your replies.

I thought things might have moved on a bit from the travellers cheque days .

I think we will take some euros & debit cards then, as that seems to be the popular choice. Thank you for the advice about notifying the bank - we probably wouldn't have thought to do that!

We did buy insurance with the holiday special so that's one less thing to worry about. Never heard of EHIC cards though! Will go and have a look now..........

Halifax Clarity credit cards are the cheapest option if you travel abroad a lot. For actual physical cash MSE have a good travel money comparison site.

it's the replacement for the old E111.

fairly sure this is a real link:

www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/about-the-ehic.aspx

cards are free and last for five years. Having one is usually a condition of your travel insurance as it may reduce the bill.

also if you are rusty on travel and flying, check baggage size limits carefully and remember the rules:

hand luggage -nothing sharp, no liquids/gels/pastes over the limit, all valuables, all irreplaceables.
hold luggage - nothing valuable, nothing fragile

enjoy!

Remember that the pre-paid debit cards will incur a charge when used at ATM's, so keep cash withdrawals to a minimum taking larger, less frequent amounts; and use the card in restaurants and shops, as these transactions are free of charges. The best thing about these cards is that they are in no way linked to your bank account. You get a pin number for them as well.

There is a time limit on these, if after around 15 months you haven't used it, it becomes inactive. If you are going away on holiday again within that time frame you can continue to use the card, and you can load the card at any time, so it's a way of saving for your holiday spends. Otherwise you can withdraw the euros as GBP and close down that card. If you are going to a non-Europe destination you can withdraw the euros (in GBpounds) and get them transferred onto a new card in the currency you require.

My DH has a clarity card, which has a restricted amount of credit. We do sometimes take another credit card, but even if you just take it with you for emergencies and keep it locked away in the room safe it can be reassuring to have back-up.

Thank you for the new posts - Special, so would you pack your toiletries (shower gel, toothpaste etc. etc.) in hand luggage or hold baggage?

for hand luggage, each item needs to be 100ml or less and they all have to fit in the standard plastic bag 20cm x 20cm. Remember it is liquids, gels and pastes - includes makeup, suncream etc.

I can manage for two weeks on the small packs of everything except suncream, so that goes in the hold baggage, double wrapped.

they do of course have shops abroad! :-)

Ah, OK, thank you! So anything in a bigger bottle needs to be securely wrapped & in the suitcase.

Thanks again for your help.

We generally take a fair bit of Euro cash and use cash mash ones when we are out there.

You can use credit cards directly in shops, but some Majorcan ones want to see your passport as additional security. This is an utter pain if you are shopping on your way back from the beach.

(Passport is too big and too water sensitive for DHs little waterproof box. We all like swimming and snorkelling, not sunbathing - no rucksack minding volunteers.)

here are the LGP rules for Heathrow, but similar for anywhere else:

www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/heathrow-security/hand-baggage

also remember nothing sharp in hand luggage - swiss army knife, nail scissors, knitting needles.

anything in breach WILL be confiscated.

We use press seal freezer bags to put toiletries and wet washcloths in, within our washbags. We've had the odd incident where a refillable bottle has split, due to the baggage handlers. We now make sure that the washbags are packed in the centre of the cases, surrounded by clothing and towels etc. I can't be bothered with all the plastic bags at security stuff.