Mobile phone charger? Check! Spare underwear? Check! Overseas wallet? Errr, what’s that?
As someone who has made travel into a bit of a hobby, I experienced a bit of a Eureka moment when I read this post on MoneySavingExpert: An overseas wallet… do you have one?
It struck a chord with me because it’s such a neat solution to two annoying problems: carrying too much/too little stuff in your wallet when on the road, and of avoiding paying to much money to banks!
Since then (and driven partly by my plans to take a travelling sabbatical) I quickly applied for a Halifax Clarity credit card (0% load worldwide) and bank account that allows fee-free foreign cash withdrawals (Metrobank, uses Mastercard FX rates).
With my European Health insurance card, and travel insurance details, and some foreign currency, my overseas wallet is now complete!
Actually, I’m kicking myself I didn’t do this much much earlier – over the years, the savings would have paid for a lot of foreign beer.
MoneySavingExpert also has an excellent list of money-saving tips when travelling abroad, and for UK residents a list of accounts that are optimal for overseas travel here.
Do you have any finance tips for spending abroad?