Taking safety precautions key to good travel

Taking some basic safety precautions when it comes to protecting your money while on holiday is the central element of a good travel experience, yet many travellers could still do more to ensure their ultimate protection. Nancy Dunnan, who publishes an online travel tips newsletter, noted that it is especially important to cut down on the amount of cash and other forms of money that travellers carry with them. This means that no tourist should keep more than two credit cards in his/her wallet. Ideally, one of these can be used as the primary card, while the other would serve simply as a backup. An even better option is to simply have one credit and one debit card.

Dunnan also recommends that travellers tell their card issuer or bank that they will be going on a trip ahead of time, because some financial institutions may find it suspicious if they notice financial activity on an account, which happens to be generated from a foreign country. In a few cases, the bank or issuer may even decide to suspend the account if they believe that they may have reason to worry. As such, a simple telephone call before leaving on a holiday can save the traveller a great deal of unnecessary hassle with credit cards. Dunnan suggests that clients also verify their credit limit before a holiday, so as to ensure that they do not overstep the maximum permitted amount.

Another smart financial tip is to continue using traveller’s cheques. Some people may assume that the prevalence of ATM machines throughout much of the world has rendered these almost obsolete, but this is not in fact the case, as these cheques remain a secure way of carrying money.