Since we're on the topic - what do you guys do when overseas using foreign money? Carry same amounts? Or take out a large initial sum so that you aren't paying tons of bank fees each time? I'm headed to Ireland in May and am trying to figure out my best options in regards to cash as 1. I don't have a Chip+Pin Card and 2. A lot of my accommodations are Cash-only.

What is this debit card you keep talking about???? :)

I carry only cash.....Haven't had anybody refuse it yet.

If I'm in the middle of nowhere,what's stopping the would be thief from stealing everything I own?....not just my cash.

Cash, once stolen is gone. Cards can be canceled and reissued stopping them cold in their tracks and possibly catching the thieves.

Aaron :)

1. Get a proper bank card.
2. Take out a sum of money every few days, once a week, or whatever seems to work when you get there.

My wife and I each carry 2 debit cards. All four cards are different, but they only access 2 accounts. We also carry a credit card as backup. We carry a little more cash in Europe than North America, just because there seems to be more "unknowns".

We used our regular debit cards in nine different countries (7 in Europe, Iceland, Canada) without any problems. If you plan on using your present card, contact your bank with a rough itinerary so the don't freeze your card because of a fraud alert.

good point, I will be in France this summer and when I was confirming details of credit card coverage for a car rental, they mentioned this. Suggested that I let them know a few weeks before trip that I will be over there, so as Doug says, there are no issues with them freezing it because of suspicious activity.

Lots of good advice. One thing, regardless of the amount you settle on, is to split it into several places, and split your credit and debit card up. Under your shoe bed is a great place for some of your cash (but I wouldn't put a credit card in there because of the beating it would take).

Bought a drink on an airplane lately? I don't think most airlines take cash for premium beverages.

maybe not most........just the ones cheap charlie bikers fly. budget airlines like tiger and jetstar
and airasia take cash in the air. *you MAY need to show your credit card you used
to purchase the tickets.*

i do all my biking in asia. some places (thailand) no problem using bank cards. other places
(china, laos) can be difficult. some places (myanmar) don't have atm's or credit card usage a'tall
[although with sanctions lifted, can now do some transactions in major cities.]

you can't always count on using your cards in asialand. chinese banks usually require a 6-digit
pin to use a card. what? you use 4-digit pins in the usa? oh, sorry, maybe your embassy can help.

recent trip to cambodia i carried about $700. (interestingly, i can get $US from the atm's with my
chinese bank card!) but this was leftover money from the $3K i carried last summer (burma,
southern thailand, malaysia, singapore).

i carry the cash and live credit cards in several places concealed. in my h-bar bag i have a fake
wallet.......contains an expired/cancelled credit card with some old atm receipts, $30 or less in
dollars, and 2-3 days worth of local currency (usually = $20). transfer money from the stash to
the sacrificial wallet only in the hotel room.

I also have a ersatz wallet. In it I carry a few bucks and canceled credit cards.

If my real cards are ever stolen, I have left all my #s and contact info with someone who can supply me with them so cancelling everything will be easier.

I carry little cash, $100 or less most of the time. Replenish at stores with my ATM card. I still carry a check book for state and federal campsites with self registration. Lots of campgrounds will not accept credit cards and I have never been at one that accepts ATM cards.

I'd carry more than $5, about 2 days worth whatever I thought that would be, just in case I found myself somewhere that was cash only or card processing system was down or whatever. I'd find 3 or 4 places to split it so it's less to lose just in case. I like to carry bait money in a shirt pocket, a dozen or so ones and a couple of fives. It looks like a lot, can be easily tossed at the feet of someone who then will hopefully focus on that allowing for retreat. Also, there are excellent wallets to be had here: http://www.bigskinny.net/wallets-for-men.html that are so much more comfortable than any other.

As for cards, I'd definitely have a debit card along. For security, you can figure out a system such as transposing numbers, alternately increasing/decreasing numbers, combinations etc. and then email your coded numbers to yourself. Should a card be lost or stolen you just need to open your email to get the card number, phone number etc. to report it and have it deactivated. Good luck on your trip.

Huh? Don't most or maybe even all ATM (debit) cards also function just fine if purchases are run as a credit card purchase? Mine all do and as far as I know that is the norm. I seldom ever make a purchase on mine any other way. I never use the pin other than an ATM machine or maybe in the rare case where I ask for cash along with my purchase.

Are you touring in some especially high risk place? I think that most places I tour I am assumed to not have very deep pockets and thus am pretty unlikely to be a target. It would never occur to me to bother with a ersatz wallet anywhere that I have toured. I don't carry enough cash to be worth the effort and my plastic can be cancelled and is protected against loss due to theft. Heck, if anything I'd be more likely to do that at home than on tour. That said I don't do it at home either despite living in a fairly high crime city.

I actually don't carry a wallet on tour. I use a little ziploc bag with a limited selection of plastic and some cash (typically $100 or less). It is typically in my handle bar bag if using one. I have also carried it in a little backpack or more rarely in a jersey pocket.

The deep south. LA, southern AR, MS, and the like, way off the beaten path. There are little towns all over the country that are so dead and so dying that the only real industry are family run meth labs and copper stripping operations that hit foreclosed homes and buildings. While I operate under the assumption that most people are very friendly and giving, there are also those who are moraly ravaged by chemical induced need. And yeah, I have been in a situation where I was alone, and the truck full of thugs were probably related to the local sherrif. Even if you look poor, if someone sees you staying at a fleabag motel and then susses out that you will be on a bike in the middle of nowhere later, it is a risk. Grudgingly handing over a baggy with what looks like the goods might possibly satisfy and give time to book it.(and yeah, its in a little baggy as opposed to a wallet, I actualy do use the cash out of it like its real, its just the cards that are no good.)
Possibly sounds paranoid, but if you have ever lived or worked with addiction and those afflicted, you get a perspective that its a small concession to financial safety to sacrifice an ounce or two as a possible decoy.



Edit to say, that I can't stress enough that most people are really nice, and its usualy very safe to travel in these areas. And I recognize that anyone who would try to steal from you might also check to see if you swallowed anything valuable, but carrying the fake is a habit I picked up working and dealing with some terribly messed up folks.

ON the topic, I usualy use a debit card that is connected to an account that I can periodicaly recharge via online banking. So I seldom keep more than a couple hundred in there. As to cash, usualy fifty to a hundred bucks at a time.

No -
I don't own a debit card, but I do carry an ATM card on tour. It cannot be used like a credit card.

OK, thanks for the clarification. I thought the terms "ATM card" and "debit card" were interchangeable, but apparently they are not. Your response and a bit of googling has cleared that up for me.

In Canada we have a debit card and a credit card ... two separate and distinct things. You can use both in an ATM, of course, but the debit one accesses an account with money in it, and the credit card access an account with no money in it ... you slowly but surely go into debt using that one up to a designated limit.

In Australia we have one card, and with it, we can either access an account with money, or an account with no money.

In a bike touring book I've just read, the author kept a mugger's wallet that was relatively easy to access (little bit of cash and some expired credit cards) so that muggers would be satisfied but the real wallet was buried.

Edit:

Oops, I see that shipwreck already mentioned this.

I don't get too excited over that. I figure that if it ever happens I'll get by. Having to go hungry, live off of the land, live out of dumpsters, or if lucky, off of hospitality for a long enough to have some money wired to me or some new plastic sent via next day delivery just wouldn't worry me too much. Even if the accounts I was using were temporarily tied up I could have a different card mailed to me. It wouldn't be life threatening or even trip ending. I hitch hiked halfway across the country on $5 as a kid and as an adult have more options than I did then.

I think people generally worry way too much over this kind of thing (as well as many other things). My touring has all been in my home country though. It might be a bit tougher if in a foreign land especially a third world country.

Have a Performance Talent? Busking in town Plazas has a long Tradition..

The post about dealing addicted persons is spot on. Everyone is a target.

This is an interesting thread. I carry more cash than most here admit to. I've been in too many situations where, of all things, the bank itself has become the obstacle. On more than one occassion banks have temporarily suspended my card due to unusual spending patterns. And, though it happened only once while on tour i had a bank reject a debt card transaction because it was above the daily limit. Their daily limit was $2000. I guess I missed that in the small print. Though it is unlikely that any of us would spend more the 2Gs in a day, it can happen. As it did with me when, while on tour, I came upon something I wanted to buy and ship home. The item was above the limit. I was able to complete the transaction the next day (by phone) after a showdown with the bank. Whose employee assured me they were only trying to protect me.

While I wouldn't advocate carrying thousands, that these things happen shows me that debit/credit cards are not fool proof or universally accepted. Cash is still king! Which is why I carry it.

I always keep a little permanent cash on my bike not just for touring but for day rides around home. There are lots of handy places to stash cash on a bike so it is always there. I pull off a handlebar plug and stick a rolled up $20 bill in there just in the event that I'm on a ride way out somewhere and am desperate to buy a drink or snack at a local mini-mart. This being Texas it is easy to underestimate your hydration needs on a long ride.

I also keep another $20 bill and a backup credit card slipped behind my silicone iPhone case. That way if I forget or lose my wallet I always have cash and an extra credit card. Again, this is more for local riding and running as well as touring. I always have my phone with me but don't always want to take a wallet, especially on a run.

On a tour I would always have two or more credit cards for purchases and two ATM/Debit cards for cash stashed in different locations in addition to probably $200 in cash so that if one card is stolen, canceled, or lost I always have a backup. Frankly this is a habit I picked up more for traveling internationally rather than for ordinary bike tours around home.

Finally I have scanned in the fronts and backs of all my credit cards and IDs (passport and drivers license) and have saved the scanned images to my gmail and dropbox. That way if I ever do lose my cards and ID or get them stolen I have the opportunity to pull up the digital images (front and back) so I can cancel them...or in the event of ID, print them out to expedite police reports, obtaining replacement passport or whatever. I can pull up drobox on my phone so I can recover an image of my cards and ID without need of computer.

Thanks, I was actualy thinking that I sounded a little to paranoid and crazy.

@texas driver. Scanning Id and info to keep in an email seems a good idea. The idea of a CC in the phone case is nice as well. I have always been a little hesitant to scatter to many pokes around my person and baggage, thinking that it ups the odds of simply losing one by accident. But my phone seldom leaves my person, as I can almost run my business via one tiny device to check accounts and contact home base.
Phone security is another matter altogether... I always log out of everything, and keep the default email account on a non essential address.

I have had exactly that happen at least once in the distant past (1972 or so). It wasn't on a bike tour, but it was on a road trip. I only knew it happened because I found the $40 I had stashed a couple years later. It was two $20 bills wrapped around the batteries in a flash-light. This was at a time when $40 was a lot of money to me. So I had a hard time imagining that I would be that forgetful (or stupid) even at 21.

In a slightly different vein... I have thought a bit more about the dummy wallet idea. It doesn't appeal to me anyway since as I have said I am just not that worried I will be robbed and figure that if I were I'd manage anyway. That said those who are considering it might consider how thing might go after the robber realized that he was duped. You aren't all that hard to find again on most tours and he might be pretty angry. If I was paranoid enough to worry about being robbed that might concern me. Just another thing to consider.