travers checks

Does anyone use travelers checks anymore?

|||

they are a costly pain -- obsolete -- you are better off with a money belt full of cash.

|||

Don%26#39;t get those, you%26#39;ll have a very hard time cashing them, they%26#39;re passé.

Today%26#39;s popular options are MTMs and currency exchange places.

|||

The answer is basically ,, no.

I think the last time I used them was 15 years ago.

No, correction, I did use some in Hawaii a year ago,, but only because I could not( bank would not allow) access my American money bank account by ATM,, so I had to bring a large sum of money. The hotel I stayed at (a Shereton) cashed them at the desk for me with no fee). That will not happen in Europe.

|||

I was in Paris last June/July and brought travellers cheques with me. The exchange rate was better than Euro cash. They are safer than cash but you need to produce your passport 99% of the time when you redeem them.

Some Paris hotels and souvenir stores accept them. The Eiffel Tower ticket office, D%26#39;Orsay Museum gift store and Versailles gift shop accept them.

If your hotel accepts them and if you can get a good exchange rate on them, I recommend getting %26quot;some%26quot;. You should always have some cash Euro.

|||

My hotel in Paris did accept them and without a fee.

|||

The ATM has made them obsolete.

|||

When I was in Paris for my honeymoon my bank had a security breach and cancelled all debit and ATM cards. I had brought travelers checks, and they came in handy.

I spoke with the president of the bank, and he was willing to wire me some cash at no charge...

To answer your question, you probably won%26#39;t need them. But, if you do, you%26#39;ll be glad you had them.

I%26#39;m going back in a few weeks, and I%26#39;m bringing travelers checks again.

|||

Ages ago, my dad got me some tr. checks and nobody wanted them, ended up bringing most of them back and have managed just fine without them ever since.

|||

As for using U.S. dollars, I use travelers checks, without a problem, to exchange for cash. I%26#39;m not charged any fee to buy them here in the States.

I exchange them at 180 Blvd. St.Germain, in the 6th. On April 09th, 2009, I exchanged at 1.379 Euro to a dollar. I%26#39;m looking at the receipt. Had I used my American-issued ATM card, my bank would have charged $5.00 for a withdrawal.

I wish the general exchange rate had still been 1.379, about 3 weeks ago, as I%26#39;ve gotten my credit card charges in at the exchange rate of 1.43, as the dollar has dropped. On this past recent trip, of a week in Paris, I didn%26#39;t need to get any Euros as I had a lot left over from the April trip. I%26#39;ve also exchanged cash there at the same rate. I%26#39;ve used that place for over a decade.

I do take one or two American-issued, ATM/debit cards along in case of an emergency situation, but have never used them for getting cash.

I personally like to get all, or almost all of the cash I need, at the beginning of my trip, and then not have to worry about it. For big purchase items and some meals, I either use a credit card or a debit card to charge on.

As far as ATM cards, for those who use them, great, to each his own. So, I don%26#39;t need to be attacked because I prefer to exchange cash and travelers checks, for Euros, in Paris. I%26#39;ve done it since the 70s.

I also use them in Bangkok where they are very easy to cash although there is a small fee, but the exchange rate is higher on them. It%26#39;s the same with cash there which is easily exchanged and at a decent rate. There, I exchange the dollars to baht and then deposit the baht into my Thai account and use my Thai-issued ATM/debit card to basically grocery shop, department store shop, and eat at some restaurants. I also use it as my ATM card to get cash baht. If something happens to it there, then I%26#39;m in Bangkok to straighten it out.

So, it depends on %26quot;where%26quot; one is going in the world and %26quot;how%26quot; one is traveling. But, travelers checks (and cash) are not obsolete.

If one is traveling to many different European countries, on the same trip, then I can understand using an ATM card as it would be easier.

I mentioned cash,too because I frequently here people say that taking one%26#39;s own currency in cash, is usesless overseas. In December, in Buenos Aires, I used more cash dollars to pay for things than pesos. I had absolutely no problem using U.S. dollars as they took them even at the stores in the mall. They like dealing with cash, in general there. A few times, I took out a credit card and was asked if I had cash whether pesos or U.S. dollars.

I arrived with a lot of cash, exchanged $500, into pesos, upon arrival at the airport, and kept $700, in dollars. I had absolutely no problems for a week. If I was low on Pesos, they would just smile and say that it was no problem if I wanted to make the purchase in dollars. They even asked if I wanted to pay for the taxi (remis) back to the airport in pesos or dollars.

Three weeks ago, I was in Denmark, before going to Paris, and while a Danish friend and I were out on our way to dinner, I thought I%26#39;d go to the ATM machine in front of my bank and get some cash. So, I inserted my Danish, bank-issued ATM card into the machine and the machine ate it. It%26#39;s good that, upon arrival into Copenhagen, I had gone to the %26quot;human%26quot; teller, at the airport and withdrew money from my Danish account or else I would have been in big trouble as it was a Saturday when I had arrived into Denmark and had I not gotten the money, at the airport, and had inserted that ATM card (haevekort) into a machine in town, it would have been eaten on day one. Denmark is not on the Euro system, so it would have been difficult to use the leftover wad of Euros that I had from my April trip to Paris, although my Danish friends said that some places will take Euros. I always carry enough cash and travelers checks to cover my trip just in case.

I ended up going to my bank the next morning, upon the bank opening, and they took the card out of the machine. It was eaten less than two days before I was to leave Denmark for Paris. The first thing that came to mind when the machine ate it was, what if that had been my American bank issued Visa/debit card, that I depend on, and in a situation where I might not have been able to have had it removed from the machine? And of course, I take two different cards along in an emergency situation, but if a machine has eaten card one, I%26#39;m a bit hesitant to insert another card.

So, I travel with Plan A/B/C/D when it comes to money because possibly being stranded is no fun. Been there, done that in my youth.

As for theft, in 36 years of international travel, I%26#39;ve never had any money stolen. I don%26#39;t go around with it all at once. Plus, there are lots of people now who are renting apartments and have to have large sums of cash in Euros to pay their rent. They probably haven%26#39;t had their money stolen either. Smiles. Happy Travels!

|||

Topped. Happy Travels!