eielef

The last 12 days I've been on a very long trip, covering 10 countries. I started in Russia, where I have an account. I took 350U$S and 650EUR cash. I exchanged 70U$S into Ukraine Hryvnas, but i spent a bit more with debit card in dollars. My Euros were stolen (as my 24000 rubles) in Lwów, so after filing the police report, I continued my journey in Slovakia, where I took Euros from an ATM. Nothing was spent there (I drove just 80km to avoid the checkpoint in Chop which takes forever, instead of the easygoing Uzhgorod). In Hungary I used my debit card in Dollars (hotel, food and fuel). Following was Serbia, I exchanged just 10U$S for dinner, and my train tickets as well as fuel were paid by debit card (dollars) (I took my car on the Belgrade - Bar train). Following, Montenegro, where I spent a lot of money (that was my final destination), of the cash taken in Slovakia (pretty hard to break a 500Eur bill though, spent no cent in SK). Following, I drove to Albania, where I exchanged some 15Eur left, and took some 12000ALL from the ATM, to buy my bus tickets to Sofia. In the bus, we stopped in Macedonia and I bought snacks with my debit card in Dollars (some 40MKD). Later, got to Bulgaria and exchanged 30U$S in BGNs, which was enough for accomodation and transport. Dinner was paid with Euros cash. Then, flew to Istanbul. Took money from the ATM, and used Debit Card USD for the rest of the time. Flew back to Albania, and used the lasting ALL to pay for the parking in the airport, and spent the last ones in fuel (cheaper than Montenegro). Now, again, I took 295EUR from an ATM with my Euro debit card.
So, 12 countries and 11 currencies have been a nightmare. I have just a couple of UAHs left for the first night hotel. And I got a money wire to IST (U$S) that I plan to use while driving back to Russia (this route will be going via Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Belarus). So it will be 16 countries in less than 20 days, and also 18 currencies.
The ATM charges no commision (i believe) and if I take out 500EUR i get a message that they took out 500EUR from my EUR account, but if i take it from my USD account, the conversion fee USD->RUB->EUR is very bad...
Good topic, hard decisions!

CPRich

Is there a question in here somewhere?

A billionaire travelling to London will spend differently than a student backpacking through Africa. There is no answer to "what and how to spend".

Travelling to multiple countries with multiple currencies will indeed require you to have multiple currencies. I use a credit card with no foreign transaction fee to the extent possible.

StartinSanDiego

Well, there's not a lot of choices if you're going to go to so many countries. What else can you do? Use a no fee credit card, as @CPRich suggested. If you don't have one, keep using the debit card, and just try to not get more than you need. But going through a country/currency at the rate of nearly one per day is going to have its challenges.

Keeping track of currencies can be tough. I'll try to trade them in when I leave (not an option by car, though). If it's not enough to be worth trading in, I put it in the Unicef box at the airport. Otherwise you'll have currency that you can't identify, or a couple of handfuls of heavy coins that you'll never use again.

lhrsfo

A Revolut card is my answer to this. No commissions or charges and very good exchange rates. Plus I like the security of immediate notification of all charges.

KDS777

This is the answer, provided said destination countries have a widespread acceptance of plastic.......particularly AMEX.

I'm more curious as to why so many countries in as many days ?

DutchessPDX

Credit Card with no FTFs and my Schwab Debit card where I keep my travel funds. I can withdraw cash anywhere in the world, get a good exchange rate and pay no fees. Also, mobile pay can be excellent and come in real handy. In Utrecht Station I was running for a train but needed to use the bathroom but I didn't have any coins for the coin op bathrooms, Saw the mobile pay function and I used my Apple Watch to pay for using the toilet!

ajGoes

Solutions that are easy for Americans may not be possible for someone based in Moscow, like the OP.

Annalisa12

I'm a cash traveller and exchange $ in the country I am in.

Kagehitokiri

only solution to OP is to get all currencies ahead of time, and yes one has to pay exchange to do so

but then they had thefts, so solutions there, perhaps carry differently, other considerations

invisible

What was the question or statement? I honestly gave up reading after second line - if you want people to read your posts, do some formatting, otherwise they won't.

Regarding usage of plastic/cash. I think people who are experienced travellers would agree with following: The best - safest and least expensive option is to have a credit card without foreign transaction fees. To get a cash - have a debit card from a bank which reimburses ATM fees. This advice is mostly applicable to people from US where there are number of reward/miles cards without FTF and Schwab, Capital One and number of smaller credit unions offer debit cards which reimburse ATM fees.

I personally travel with two credit cards and two debit cards. They are never in the same place/pocket - I take set with me and second set stays in hotel's safe.

For cash - as noted - get it after arrival. Do some math to figure out how much actual cash you will need and get it from ATM once you arrive. Then, leave it in hotel's safe and take every day the amount which you are going to spend or need.

I personally feel quite uncomfortable having several hundred $ in my pocket, even if crime is not an issue. I only carry with me as little cash as needed. Going on 2 month travel and carry all the needed cash with you from the beginning is not the wisest move on my book.

Just my 2c.

darthbimmer

In recent years I've rolled my eyes at people who carry huge stacks of home currency abroad, like they're sticking to the practices of a bygone era. But on a recent trip in the Middle East with my inlaws -- who like to carry wads of cash like it's still the 1970s -- I saw that era isn't bygone everywhere. In many places we visited credit card acceptance was spotty and ATMs were either very hard to find, didn't accept foreign cards, or charged hideous international fees. In these same places were money changers who actually offered really good rates, especially when crisp, clean $100 notes were placed on the table. Suddenly my inlaws carrying $1,500 in big notes in an envelope seemed sage.

eielef

Well, in my case, I have three accounts on the same bank, therefore, three cards (I don't use credit). So one in Euros, one in Dollars and one in Rubbles. Only the RUR can be used with Russian ATM's, I need to go to the bank (in working times, 8am to 8pm monday to friday, and 8am to 5pm saturday, sunday closed), and take it cash out from the counter. Is not the easiest way to work.
Then, having no fee's in an ATM i haven't seen that offer in Russia, I could check again, it seems a wise idea. Cash always needs to be taken.
E.G. You land at IST Airport, and want to take the metro downtown. It costs 5TRY. You take money from the ATM and you get 100s or 50s, but never 10s or 20s (they don't have). So you need to buy the IstanbulCard and put the whole 50TRY (about 10 trips there), whereas you just wanted to spend 5TRY. So, taking small money, like many 5$ bills, is easier. You can get a very ...... conversion, but at least you'll get small money for the metro to go downtown.
This trip, besides being robbed, ended up being excelently planned. I haven't used the card for over a week, I got my salary deposited and I know I have available money for returning to Russia. I took 290Eur, and I spent 240Eur in 5 days living here. Tomorrow morning leaving, enough money for breakfast and fuel. No more euros needed, I have extra dollars, UAHs and RSDs, plus cards...

DutchessPDX

So you like to get the worst exchange rate possible? This is literally the most expensive way to get foreign currency. Not to mention carrying cash is the least secure way.

eielef

Why do you think the exchange rate of USD abroad is worse than the one given by your bank? IMHO, you don't need to be very smart, walking in Moscow, to see that with 1U$S you get between 56 and 57RUR in any bank (that would be charged to your credit card), but 59RUR in the street. So there is a small profit (some 5%). It's not much but it helps.
Again, there is a risk with carrying cash, but so is a risk to having a debit card. Say you loose it, or it is stolen. How easy it is to replace it? Is it even possible? (In Argentine banks they only issue debit cards in the bank, not abroad, and they don't send them to you by post, as you need to receive another envelope with the PIN Code. Maybe in the US or in Western Europe the technology is better, but I was stolen my wallet in Athens some years ago, and I had no way to get a debit card back. Also was stolen my drivers license, so I had to cancel all the car rentals I had booked in Europe. Traveling with cash (cash was not in the wallet), I ventured on an epic journey with the Balkan Rail Pass, that would eventually open my mind to the Balkans, to Eastern Europe, and finally to take away my fear of colder Cyrillic countries, and some 3 years later I'd be living in Russia....

frobozzelectric

most places cash is still king. i carry plastic but none of my country's banks have no fee forex so i avoid using credit cards.

atm fee reimbursement,.not a thing here either.