money

Do not under any circumstances carry that amount of money around. You do not need to carry a lot of cash. At most (if you must carry cash), take $US200 - $US400 as an emmergency stash. Otherwise rely on credit cards and debit cards. You will be able to get cash from ATM's with VISA, MASTERCARD and MAESTRO throughout South America. There are some places in Africa where there are no ATM's. In those places you can generally get cash advances on a credit card through the local banks. It can be a pain and waste half a day. Keeping your credit cards safe is much easier that such huge quantities of money. In an emmergency you can have money wired - many Africans have money wired to them on a regular basis from relatives working outside of Africa - so Africa is set up for this. (In fact much more money goes to Africa in the form of remitances from overseas workers than in aid). Note when you know you are going to need US dollars for a particular trip or a part of a country where it will be difficult to get cash, then get some extra cash in local currency or US dollars in advance of the difficult destination.

I've been on the road for nearly 3 years. I keep my money safe be keeping it in the bank! I have never yet been caught out - I have relied completly on plastic for the past 3 years. Be careful with your cards, but you can at least replace plastic cards. I am carrying no US dollars or Euros or Pounds etc. I started my trip with a couple of hundred US Dollars and a couple of Hundred Euros. I carried Euros because they are preferred in Francophone West Africa.

Again, do not under any circumstances carry such a large amount of cash. I do not trust hostel keepers. If I'm staying in a dormitory (which I avoid for security reasons - you are more likely to be robbed by fellow hard up travellers than locals) I sleep with my money belt on! In nearly 3 years travelling in some of the most remote places in the world and some that are dangerous I haven't been robbed. Reply to this