Travelling years ago was simple as the choice was cash and travellers cheques (for those with a distant memory exchange controls were only abolished not that long ago). Nowadays the list is longer, as on top of  cash and travellers cheques, you have debit cards, credit cards and more recently pre-paid cards.

So which do you choose? A lot depends on your projected spending pattern. For a short trip you may just shrug off the extra cost , but with the Euro and Dollar rates looking expensive against the weakened Sterling feeding a family of four for two weeks can be pretty eye-watering!

Debit and credit cards especially are not always cheap and the cost seems to have gone up over the last few years. So perhaps consideer a prepaid debit card? They have the advantage of being like all plastic in needing a PIN for their use so they are safer than cash. You can only ‘lose’ the value of what is loaded on them and the card can be re-loaded with more money if you have internet access. Also like cash or travellers cheques you can have a card denominated in Sterling, Dollars or Euros.

Like most things you need to shop around and there are some good deals around,  but you will need to plan ahead as it takes around 7 working days after application to get the account set up sent to you for a short. Finally a word of caution, these cards are not covered by the FSA’s Compensation scheme so don’t put your life savings into one just in case.

Picture of Currency
thanks to :da:Bruger:Twid and Ookaboo!