Travelling Finances

Supplemental to our kit list, I thought I'd mention banking.

We had no travellers cheques, and just some additional dollars that on leaving the UK (about $100).

We both had our own bank accounts at 2 separate banks and then an account at a 3rd joint account.

Person 1 Bank A Visa Debit and Master Card

Person 2 Bank B Visa Debit and Master Card


Then a joint MasterCard credit card with the Post Office and a Visa Debit with Nationwide.

The only cards we used on a regular basis were the Nationwide card for withdrawing cash and the Post Office Master card for the majority of payments. We would then check our balances online and electronically transfer money in to Post Office and Nationwide. The reason we used these was because of the low charge for international withdraws for Nationwide, and the commission free for Post Office Master cards. You can take cash from the cash machine with the credit card, so long as you have a pin, but there is a charge.

We would keep the Post Office card handy for normal payments and then any cash we had, and the other cards were either left at the accommodation in a safe or kept in our money belts.

This all seems like over kill, but having this redundancy meant that if one of us were to lose our cards there would be a chance that we would still have others back at the hotel.

In addition to all this, I kept a separate credit card well hidden in my rucksack.

Countries travelled and experience had:

America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand: No issues, occasionally our card wouldn't work in some ATMs, but there was always another that did around the corner.

China (Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, Chengdu and Guilin), the hostel staff would always point you in the direction of a cash machine, not issues here; occasionally we had to use our Credit Card for cash.

Vietnam (Han Hoi, Hue, Nha Trang, Saigon or Hoc Chi Minh City): No issues, Visa Debit was fine.

Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Battanbang and Siem Reap), No issues, although you only seem to be able to withdraw Dollars, local currency is for anything under a dollar. Keep them in good condition as they won't take a dollar with a kink.

Thailand, (Bangkok, Koh Lantra) No issues.