How to Manage Money While Travelling

Money mistakes abroad are expensive and stressful — a blocked card, a bad exchange rate, a lost wallet with everything in it. A little setup before you go protects you from all three.

Before you leave

• Tell your bank you're travelling so they don't freeze your card for “suspicious” foreign spending.
• Get a card with low or no foreign-transaction fees — they add up fast.
• Carry two cards from different accounts, stored separately, plus some local cash.
• Note your bank's international number in case a card is lost or stolen.

While you're there

• Always pay in the local currency, not your home currency — “dynamic currency conversion” gives you a worse rate.
• Use bank ATMs over currency-exchange kiosks, which hide poor rates in “no fee” offers.
• Keep a rough daily budget so a good trip doesn't quietly bankrupt you.
• Split cash and cards across pockets and bag so one loss isn't a disaster.

When a card gets lost, stolen or blocked

This is the moment the "spread your money" advice earns its keep. If you only had one card, you'd now be stranded. Here's how to handle it fast.

1. Freeze it first, cancel later. Most banking apps let you freeze a card in one tap. Do that immediately if it's just missing — you can unfreeze it if it turns up in another pocket. Only cancel outright if you're sure it's gone or stolen.
2. Move to your backup card. This is why you carried a second one, kept separately from the first. Switch your spending to it and top up any travel wallet from it if needed.
3. Report a theft to local police if you'll need a report number for travel insurance. Do this before you leave the area or country if you can.
4. Note the emergency numbers before you travel. Save your bank's international lost-card line offline in your phone. The number on the back of the card is useless once the card is gone.

The fee traps that quietly drain you

The obvious fees are easy to dodge. It's the sneaky ones that add up over a two-week trip without you noticing until the statement lands.

• Dynamic currency conversion. When a card machine or ATM asks whether to charge you in pounds or the local currency, always pick the local currency. "Pay in GBP" lets them set a rubbish exchange rate and skim a margin.
• ATM operator fees. Separate from your bank's fee, the machine itself may add a charge. Bank-branded ATMs usually cost less than the standalone ones in shops, stations and tourist spots.
• Small frequent withdrawals. If your bank charges a flat fee per withdrawal, taking out little and often multiplies it. Fewer, larger withdrawals usually work out cheaper — just don't carry it all at once.
• Airport exchange desks. The convenience is real; the rate is often the worst you'll see all trip. Treat them as a last resort for a small amount.

A quick worked example

Say you need the equivalent of about 300 in local cash for a week. Withdrawing it as six 50 pulls from random shop ATMs — each with a flat fee of a few pounds plus a poor DCC rate — can quietly cost you noticeably more than one or two larger withdrawals from a bank ATM in local currency. Same cash in your pocket, meaningfully more of it kept, just from a couple of small decisions at the machine.