Chris

I'm going to Rome, Florence and Venice, 12 days total. My hotel, air and transfers are already paid for. I'm taking my ATM and credit card, but I'm stuck on one thing - how much $ should I take in travelers checks? (I'm not a spread sheet kind of person, by the way). I was planning on using ATMS mostly, and the credit card is my back up for getting cash from the machines should the ATM card be lost (or eaten by the machine).

janis

You realy don't have to take ANY travelers' cheques. Most people don't - now that ATM and credit cards are so readily usable. I do usually take a FEW US$ travelers cheques (maybe 10% of my spending money) for use only in emergencies such as when the ATM system is down. Most trips I don't have to break into my stash of Tr. Cks. But A couple of time over the years they ceratinly came in handy.

Monica

Hi Chris, <BR> <BR>Like Janis, I take some TCs for back up and take about $500. I am going to Italy in November and plan to take about $1,000. When we were in Greece we shopped for jewelry and could have used our TCs to get a better price than using a credit card. I may also take a couple of personal checks to do the same (keeping those in my money belt!). But I do use my credit card when ever possible: restaurants, hotels, shopping, musuems, etc., as my bank does not charge a conversion fee (Bank of America). When are you going to Italy? I'll be there with a friend in November.

Bob Brown

I have experiences very similar to the two previous posters. My wife and I between us carry a few traveler's checks, just in case. <BR>I usually come home with most of them, which I use to breathe life into a flattened bank account. (Of course the bank account would not have been quite so flat had I not taken out the money to acquire the checks.) <BR>Logic says you don't need so many. <BR>But having them gives me a warm fuzzy feeling!! <BR> <BR>One night in Paris the waiter in a small restaurant came back with my credit card and gestures to the effect that it did not work. I understood enough of his highly animated French to get the message. My wife and I talked quickly and she said that she would go to the ATM about 200 yards away and get cash while I remained behind as a hostage. <BR>I think the waiter thought she was skipping out and became even more animated. I reacted and pulled out my cache of American Express checks and laid them on the table. That placated him. He saw that at least I had money. <BR>Then my wife remembered she had her "other" credit card with her, one that was supposed to be used for business expenses. We used that one. <BR>She rationalized by saying that if we could not leave Paris because I was working off a restaurant bill as a dish washer she could not return to her job on time and that would be a major problem. Hence it was a business expense! <BR> <BR>

Linda

A backup of TCs can really be a lifesaver. On a recent trip to London I lost my wallet (I really did lose it--my bad). Of course, it would take 5 days for my bank to get a new ATM card to me, counting the intervening weekend, and I would be home before it reached me. Without the $500 in TCs, I would have gotten really hungry during the rest of my trip! I'll never again leave home without them!

alice

we did the same cities plus 2 years ago and used visa for charging everything that we could and atm's for cash. had absolutely no need for the $1000.00 in travellers checks that we brought with us. actually, i just cashed them a couple of weeks ago and put them in my checking account! the atm's are plentiful over there. the only things i would check out with your bank are- that your pin number is numeric not alpha with 4 digits and also that your credit card company doesn't add anything (fee) to purchases from abroad. have a great time. we loved it!

JOdy

As a postscript to the messages above, I was speaking with my bnak, BOA , last week about using my ATM in europe. I do have a 4 digit PIN, the girl said if you run into a machine that requires 5 digit numbers just to add a ZERO to the front of your PIN and it will be accepted. Don't know if this is BOA only , but it might pay to check with your card issuer in advance. <BR> <BR>I too always take about $300.00 in TC's, just like the security and I can always use them at home or put them back into my checking account.

chris

Thanks all. $500 in t. checks sounds about right. One idea I came up with, since I needed to change my pin to 4 digit anyway, is to get issued a SECOND ATM card. I'll leave the original w. a friend at home and if the card I take gets lost, my friend can fedex the <BR>back up card to me faster than the bank could (I too have BOA). The bank said both cards would remain active until I call them to cancel one. It's a load off my mind not having to rely on the bank to get me a new card if it's lost.

claire

The only postscript I would add is that you frequently get discounts in Italy when you pay cash. For this reason, I used travellers checks more often than I originally planned & was glad I'd taken some along with my credit & ATM cards. In my trip to Italy earlier this month, I saved at hotels, restaurants and retail stores.

xxxx

It is a good Idea to carry some travlers checks you do get cash discounts! also the american dollar is good for tipping and getting better prices but alway ask if they accept travler's checks in stores and in restaurant before you order not all place take them also using ATMs make sure that the money is in the checking account ( some ATMs ) do not let you access savings or tranfer money between accounts