After my 4 years of travelling, I now intend writing blogs about some of the more administrative/logistical aspects of these trips, in the hope they may be of use to future travellers. As a UK citizen, and by virtue of where I travelled, the information will be most applicable to Brits travelling in developing countries, though some elements will be more generic. This first post concerns accessing one's money, with an emphasis on cash. Cards will be covered in a later post. Continent-specific information will be covered later too.
Sometimes you may be in the fortunate position of being able to use the currency of your country of residence in the country that you are visiting, but that was never the case for me so I'm writing this on the assumption that you don't have any of the local currency. Depending on what part of the world you're travelling in, you may enter a country at a point where there are no ATMs so the only way you can obtain local currency is by changing money. On the vast majority of my travels, I've only had to change money occasionally because of the ubiquity of ATMs - Africa was the big exception to that.
Avoiding scams
Unfortunately entry points to a country can be the worst places to try to change money. Airports may have exchange bureaux charging exorbitant rates - overland borders have a nasty habit of attracting scammers. You need to do some research beforehand to identify if you will be passing through an entry point that needs extra caution. If you have to go through one, try to only change as much as money as you need to get to the next ATM.
Scams can include:
i. Incorrect calculations - make sure you have some idea in advance of how much your money is worth
ii. Sleight of hand - this can occur when the moneychanger is taking your money to count it, or when giving you back the local currency equivalent. Don't allow yourself to be distracted when this process is taking place but, even then, a dextrous person can pull a fast one.
iii. Being rushed - the moneychanger may say that what they are doing is strictly speaking illegal so you need to conduct the transaction quickly before the police come. This will be used in conjunction with one of the above scams. Don't be rushed.
iv. Being taken to some deserted place for the transaction - the moneychanger may suggest this for the same reason as number iii. Don't agree to it. You are much more likely to be set up for a mugging in this way.
v. Fake notes - you probably won't have a clue what the bank notes of a new country will look like, so a crooked moneychanger could give you some Monopoly money and you'd be none the wiser. In your research, try to get an idea of what the notes should look like.
I personally fell victim to i and iii during my travels. Note that the relative merits of changing money in a bank versus an exchange bureau versus a guy in the street with a wad of notes in his pocket change depending on the country. Do your research, then weigh up your priorities of the exchange rate, availability, and dodginess.
What currencies to take
The best currency to change FROM is going to depend on what part of the world you're in. In general, the US dollar ($) is the most useful currency to carry (both in terms of its acceptability globally as well as the spread on the rate), with the euro (€) second and pound sterling (£) a distant third. I've generally travelled with a couple of hundred $ as back-up though, apart from in Africa, have rarely needed to use any. You will also get a decent rate for the currencies of neighbouring countries, simply because it will be easy for the moneychanger to convert them. This is also a reason not to get a load of foreign currency in advance in your own country - the rates you'll get in the UK for any of the currencies in, say, Southeast Asia, will be much worse than what you get when you arrive there.
Note that in some countries not any old bills will do, especially when it comes to $ - only certain denominations may be acceptable, likewise certain years of issue and certain ranges of serial numbers. Even a fold or a tear might be a no-no. These constraints are generally to do with how likely a note is to be counterfeit.
Some currencies are also restricted currencies, which means that in theory you can't change them outside of their country of issue. In practice, you usually can, especially in less developed parts of the world, but you'll probably get a bad exchange rate. So if you are in a country with a restricted currency, you should try to wind down your holding of that currency so that you leave the country with as little as possible. Whatever you're stuck with can be kept as a souvenir, given to charity, or perhaps exchanged with a fellow-traveller going in the opposite direction.
When changing money, always try to get some low denomination bills, where "low" is defined as relative to the country you're in rather than your home country, e.g. in India, I often found it difficult getting change for 100 rupee notes (roughly $2) even for items costing 40 or 50 rupees. If you get saddled with a load of notes that are too big for any purchases, try visiting a bank as they will usually exchange them for lower denomination ones. Also beware of ripped notes as, in some countries, people won't accept them. If someone tries to give you a ripped note in your change, feel free to decline it. I always carried a small roll of Sellotape with me on my travels, and it saw most use repairing torn money.
Always try to do some research into the currency of a country that you intend visiting. Apart from some of the issues mentioned above, you may find other interesting facts, e.g. last year Zimbabwe changed its currency from its own inflation-plagued dollar to the $.
Carrying a large wodge of $ around the world is the best way to make the most of your money, however it then carries with it the risk of being stolen. As such, I would always recommend taking one or more ATM cards (see subsequent posts) - yes, you'll pay fees to use them, but their convenience and peace of mind go some way to offsetting that. However there are some countries where you simply can't use a foreign ATM card hence will have to rely on $, e.g. Sudan and Rwanda. In that case, to minimise the amount of $ I carried on my Africa trip, I took enough to get me through Sudan, then used my ATM card later in Uganda to withdraw enough Ugandan shillings that I then converted into $ to take into Rwanda. Sure, I lost money on the fees, but the spread on $ wasn't that great and I was happy to not have a brick of $ burning a hole in my backpack from day 1. If you go with this approach, make sure that you obtain bills that will be acceptable in the country you're going to (e.g. the right serial numbers, denominations, etc as mentioned above).
Keeping your money safe
The final issue I want to cover with cash is how to keep it safe, though this also applies in some ways to cards. I recognise that crime ranging from pickpocketing to armed robbery can occur anywhere in the world, but certain places have deserved reputations for crime - your research should tell you that. Only keep a small amount of cash in your pockets, so that a pickpocket won't get away with much. This may also be useful as a sop to a mugger. If you must carry a larger amount of cash with you, wear some kind of moneybelt under your clothing. Though moneybelts aren't flawless - when I was mugged, that was actually the first place the muggers went for - they'll guard against pickpockets. Better yet is something in your socks or shoes, that all but the most diligent mugger will miss.
Depending on the level of confidence you have in the guesthouse/hotel/hostel where you're staying, leave any large stashes of cash with them in a safe. Make sure you have a receipt stating clearly how much you've left with them - include serial numbers too if necessary.
While actually in transit from one place to another, when you must necessarily have all your luggage with you, put your money in various different places in your bags so that in the event of one lot being stolen, you increase your chances of retaining (some of) the rest. Depending on the dodginess of the area that you're in, you may need to put some effort into this, e.g. putting money in a (empty) shampoo bottle, taping the notes into the pages of a book, etc.
My next post will cover general issues regarding the usage of cards (debit, ATM, and credit) while travelling.
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