How many credit cards do you bring on a trip?
 

I try to minimize the number of cards, but also don't want to only bring one or two. What ends up happening is the trip planning phase has various things booked with different cards for different reasons. Then, when it's time for the trip, I find I need to bring more cards that I planned. Plus, on an upcoming trip, I'm staying at both Marriott and Hilton hotels, so that means those two cards are coming along.

I just counted and including my Charles Schwab debit/ATM card, I'm bringing eight cards!

Does anyone else end up with this many?

One...Chase Sapphire Reserve (plus my Chase atm for free withdrawals with Chase Sapphire banking).

At a minimum:

1 Amex
1 Citi Visa
1 Chase Visa
1 Barclays Mastercard
1 Visa debit card tied to a bank account with small amount of cash in it (ATM use only)

Sometimes have a 2nd Amex or 2nd Chase Visa depending on hotel needs. I also usually start a trip with 100 dollars or euros in cash as an emergency backup.

I like having a wide range of both banks and networks. I've been places where one bank is rejecting everything but other ones work fine. It often feels random and I suspect is often due to the infrastructure and banks within the country itself, so I like having multiple options.

One or two in my wallet and an Amex in my passport carrier for emergency use.

Usually two. Corporate AmEx for business and Citi 2% for personal items when on a business trip. Citi plus BofA card with no overseas fees for personal travel - one primary, one backup depending on where I am in the world.

EDIT - I guess it's 3 when I'm overseas on business.

I have two in my wallet - the AmEx I use almost all the time and a Visa for when AmEx isn't accepted.

Then I hide an extra Visa or MC deep in my luggage somewhere in case of an emergency. But that's just international trips. Anything else, I don't change what's in my wallet at all. Just the two listed above.

2 Mastercards. One business, one personal.
2 Visas. Both personal
2 debit cards. One business, one personal.

One credit card and one debit card are left in my hotel room safe. The others I carry securely.

1 Amex for business
1 MC for personal or if Amex isn't accepted

I keep a Visa and my debit card in the hotel for backup.

3-5:
2 VISA from different banks
2 MC from the same different banks (visa/mc "pairs")
One mix in the wallet in the pocket, one mix in the travel/passport wallet.
1 AMEX from company for emergency "high" spending
... and a wad of cash, esp. in Asia

1 work
1personal

I'd never travel with only one or two, especially not two from the same issuer. Terrible mistake to depend on a single credit / cash access line when you're in the field. I take about four, plus a debit card. If one doesn't work or gets frozen preemptively because the issuer's sentinel software suspects fraud / irregularity, I got several more to try.

Always 1 Amex, 1 Visa, 1 MC.

I have only two credit cards- plus the debit card attached to my checking account. I've occasionally had a card refused when I was out of the US because I haven't bothered to tell the issuer, so good to have a backup. I'm planning to dump my AA MC when it comes up for renewal and get a CSR Visa since Fidelity Visa, usually my primary card, charges FX fees.

I'm retired now but traveling with the company card was a PITA- of course I had to remember NOT to pull it out for personal expenses (probably grounds for firing) and then to use it for ALL business expenses. Oh, well- I'm still enjoying the perks from all that business travel in the form of lifetime low-tier Elite status with AA, Hilton and Marriott.