Planning a trip is overwhelming with the various decisions you have to make – let alone saving for travel and figuring out what you actually WANT to do when abroad. If you’re not sure how to start planning a trip, be sure to check out my guide on how to plan a trip in 8 steps. You’ve decided on where you finally want to go, have your flight and accommodations booked (which is a huge accomplishment since there are so many places to go!). Now, how much money do you actually need for your trip? And, how on earth do you get the local currency? No matter where you go, here are the steps to take to figure out how much money to take traveling.
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Step 1: Research the country’s relationship with cash.
Yes, you should always have cash on you while traveling. However, there are some countries that rely primarily on cash–even in the big cities. For those of us (please don’t tell me I’m the only one) who only carry cards, this can be an issue. Card-lovers won’t be able to put a $2 coffee without buying $13 more worth of stuff.
Typically, countries that aren’t as developed, or if you’re traveling outside major cities, require more local cash. This was true of our time at the San Blas Islands in Panama. However, I was surprised when researching Japan, was how much they use cash. We only traveled to major cities, but often my card was rejected and they asked for cash – even for bigger purchases like dinner out! If I didn’t know that before the trip, we would have had to get out more cash. I try to avoid the $4 ATM fees abroad so that would have put a damper on it.
Step 2: Write out your goals/bucket list for the trip.
There are SO many guides on how to save money while traveling, but there are things you may not want to skip out on. Your trip is yours – no blog post or article or friend is going to know what YOU want to do. I typically make three lists. The first list is my ABSOLUTE must-do’s – the things I would regret not doing for years to come. Usually, it’s 1-3 things. The second list is the “would-be-really-cool-to-do” list. This list is filled with things that come off of the top 10 things to see lists and may include places to eat, etc. Then the third list is the “if it works out to see these things, then awesome” which is the list of things I’d like to see but wouldn’t be heartbroken if I didn’t.
For example, My absolute goal in Italy was to embrace the food culture and eat to my heart’s content. That impacted my budget because I wasn’t going to go to a grocery store often for food – I was going to go out more. Meaning: I needed more cash.
You can also research the places you want to go to and see if they accept credit for admission. This will help you figure out how much money you need for traveling.
Being on a budget doesn’t mean you have to skimp out on experiences. It just means you have to be creative in how and where you spend the money in your budget.
Step 3: Figure out tips.
Tips. The sneaky things that eat cash out of our pockets without even realizing it. It’s also a terrible feeling when you have an amazing guide or server and don’t have the cash to tip! This is where planning ahead comes in.
If you’re taking a guided tour somewhere, always assume 10% of the fee of the tour as a base. If you’re on a full-day or multi-day tour it may be more. If it’s a guided tour of a museum or something small, typically $1 or the equivalent of that in local currency (1 Euro, 1 British Pound, etc.). If you’re cruising, tips are about $10-12 per day, per PERSON.
I like to plan out my tips ahead of time for anything I can. Putting that cash in envelopes or rubber bands helps me to not spend it throughout the trip.
Step 4: Total it up and add 50%.
There’s a great quote that says “Pack everything you need for a trip. Now take half the clothes and twice the money.” This is where that quote comes into play. You have a baseline idea of what you’re going to spend (which, chances are you’ve low-balled). So add at least 50% to the total – if not more. Every time you get street food, that’s $5 out of your budget, that impromptu glass of wine – more money out of the budget. Trust me, you’ll be glad to have more money out than the original plan.
For our trip to Japan, we budgeted that we would need about $1500 based on these tips. We ended up getting $2,000. Guess how much we had left to spend in Tokyo Narita Airport? $32. Yeah. I was stressed out for some of the trip about not having enough cash.
Step 5: Once you figure out how much money money to take traveling: Get the cash.
So now that you have the total cash that you think you’ll need for your trip – how do you get it? I use the XE converter to convert from USD to whatever currency I need.
You could get it from the bank. This was incredibly easy to do for Japan and would recommend it any day! We went into our local bank, said we want to order Japanese yen, and sat with an employee. We filled out a form, gave them USD, and in 5 days I picked up Japanese yen. They don’t make a commission, just the fee for the transaction which was $6, and I got the federal conversion rate. Bonus: I had the money upon landing at the airport and didn’t have to worry about finding it. This is a similar process for exchanging money at the post office, but this option varies by location.
ATM at the destination. This was my go-to way of getting cash before I discovered my bank. I made sure to use my card that didn’t have ATM fees or reimbursed me (quickly becoming rare). My card also had no international fees so be sure to read the fine print. With those two things, taking cash out was only the conversion rate. If you go this route, be sure to make sure your bank knows you’re traveling, otherwise they may shut down your card!
Money Changers: (Reader Tip from Teja!) If you’re in a country with a weak currency, you might be able to find money exchanges that exchange your money for a small fee. This fee is usually smaller than the airport and the rates are more consistent throughout the country.
Exchange money at the hotel. Full disclosure, I’ve done this once. Probably because I’m too nervous to count on this as a reliable way of exchanging money. Not all hotels will do this, and even if they do, it may not be for as much money as you need. I doubt that you’d be able to convert $2,000 to local money unless you’re at a large chain hotel. However, if you’re traveling and you have $100 in emergency cash that you need to convert – your hotel will probably exchange it without issue and without a fee.
Exchange it at the airport. This is last on the list for a reason. Typically airports have the worst conversion rates because the fee they charge is included. If you’re converting less than a certain amount, they also charge a commission. If you’re traveling with people, it’s better to put all your cash together and convert then separate, than to have everyone charged the commission & sales fees. Most major airports have conversion booths so they are easy to find.
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