Cash, Checks, and Credit Cards

Options. We want them. Anytime business travelers leave the house for more than 24 hours, we want options. 

Some people take this to an extreme.  I know some women who pack more pairs of shoes than there are days in their travel itinerary!  It makes no sense to me to pack five pairs of shoes for a two-day trip, yet people do it all the time. 

My friend Billy is the king of options.  In his fishing boat, you’ll find three different anchors to choose from (for rocky, sandy, or muddy bottoms, obviously).  You’ll also find five or six fishing rods, reels, and a veritable sporting goods store full of line, lures, and live baits.  He’s installed several GPS systems, multiple depth finders, even three different motors for trolling, speeding, or back-trawling. 

He’s so packed with options that you wonder if he’ll have a place to store any fish that he might catch!  

People also stress like crazy over money when it comes to traveling.  Fortunately, today we have electronic options that help minimize the stress. 

It wasn’t too long ago that a weeklong business trip would merit an extra trip to the bank for a fistful of traveler’s checks.  Today, there are ATMs for the major banks all over the country. We also have tools to transfer and move money around our accounts online.  I can transfer money from savings to checking with my mobile phone, for example.

So, what should you travel with now, when it comes to money?  Lots of credit cards and extra cash?  When it comes to domestic travel, I say no.

I usually leave the airport with about $50 in my wallet for incidentals, a Visa debit card that is connected to my checking account (for personal non-expensible items and/or souvenirs), and a corporate card for hotels, transportation, and meals.

 For international travel, I carry the same two credit cards for the same reasons, but I’ll take more than $50 in cash.

You can have traveler’s checks issued to you in the currency of the country you’re visiting, and I’ve found that many more local businesses accept those over traveler checks issues in U.S. dollars. Traveling to London, for example, I might take $700 worth of travelers checks issued in British Pounds. That comes out to about 400 pounds these days.  That’s a nice cushion to have for emergencies, and the banks buy them back at the same rate they issued them so you don’t have to worry about them being lost, stolen, or even depreciating!

Lately, though, some banks have stopped carrying foreign-denomination traveler’s checks. You need to order them from the bank’s website which will take a few days, so you should plan accordingly if you are traveling outside the United States.  Most foreign countries do take American traveler’s checks in U.S. Dollars, but they typically charge a 5 percent conversion fee -- and those add up!

EXTRA:  Please feel free to leave comments on this article! If you have questions for Ken regarding business travel, hotels, airplanes, etc, please send him a "Tweet" on his twitter account.  You can also follow Ken on Twitter @foodbreeze!