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What Are The Best Travel Money Options?


So, you are heading on a foreign trip and wondering what your travel money options are. Should you get a forex card, an ICICI bank travel card or just get enough foreign cash via currency exchange? Should you opt for debit/credit cards or travellers’ cheques? So many questions keep going round in your head, and the whole thing can be quite daunting right? Not really, if you do some homework. Ideally, you should keep some spare cash but also get one of the forex cards for the bigger expenses. How about a HDFC forex card or an Axis bank forex card? You could pick one of them.
A combination of various options is a good way to carry your money. First, let’s look at forex cards.
Foreign exchange cards
  • You can use your card to buy stuff at a mall or a market, spend on tickets, pay for your food at restaurants or order food/buy online.
  • You can get in touch with your bank in your home country and load currency on to the card; this could be any of the banks. The popular ones are HDFC bank forex card, Axis bank forex card or ICICI bank travel card.
  • Once the foreign exchange card is loaded, you can swipe it in the country you are travelling. These cards are visa/mastercards and can easily be topped up. You can also opt for sms or email notifications so you know your transaction history and can be alert to any kind of misuse.
  • Most forex cards also come with some insurance cover in case of theft, assault or misuse.
  • Also, you can load the card with multiple currencies if you are visiting more than one country.
  • Forex cards are less expensive than debit or credit card use abroad. What’s more, they are accepted everywhere. The exchange rate is also better than what you get if you were to exchange cash.
Carry some cash
Having said this, you can also carry some cash for miscellaneous payments because it is quicker and does not involve looking for an ATM etc. But you should not carry a lot of cash in one place. 

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