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Whether you are traveling for fun or business purposes, you will need to pay for your hotel reservation, dinner at a restaurant, entry tickets and much more. Every trip abroad requires spending money and it often turns out that your usual payment methods are unavailable or simply impractical to use in a foreign country. What are the best payment options to use abroad?
Cash
One of the safest options is to use cash wherever you go, as it has numerous benefits. Cash is always acceptable, at every place in every corner of the world. Even when there is no payment terminal in a little souvenir shop, you can still go shopping with cash in hand. What’s more, you can easily control your spending when you see how much money you have left. Of course, such a solution has some drawbacks, too. Probably the biggest downside of carrying cash around is the threat of being robbed. You might have your money stolen, and if it’s the only money you have with you, the situation gets really serious. If you decide to go with cash, you need to be especially cautious and careful, carry it in a safe place, like a cross-body bag, where you can keep an eye on it.
Digital wallets
As we undoubtedly live in a digital world, it’s not surprising that digital methods of payment are by many considered the best. They give a lot of possibilities to pay for all kinds of products and services from any place in the world. That’s why they are perfect payment options to use abroad. Among the most popular methods you will certainly find digital wallets. What are they? They work like traditional wallets, which means that they let you store money and add credit cards to your account. Through digital wallets, you can transfer money, pay for goods and services, receive payments and store money. In other words, they are simply a wallet. Their advantage over regular bank accounts is that they quite often work where bank accounts do not due to certain regulations.
Why is worth having a digital wallet when paying abroad? The reasons are numerous. You will always need to buy something online, whether it’s a ticket for some event, a meal ordered online or making a reservation in a hotel. Digital wallets work great also in the case of online entertainment that you might want to try out when abroad. An example might be an online casino, which is a great way to spend some free time, relax and even win real money in some exotic countries. In order to make the first transfer and then withdraw money, you will need a place to store money – digital wallets work great in such situations. E-wallets are also great for playing in places where gambling might not be entirely legal.
How to choose a digital wallet? You simply need to check the available options and pick one that meets all of your criteria – or at least the majority of them. Among the most popular e-wallets, you will certainly find Android Pay, Apple Pay or Samsung Pay. These methods of payment are linked to your regular bank account, which means that you can transfer money from and to your bank anytime you need to do this.
Debit and credit cards
The most common option of payment that people use abroad is a credit card, or in other cases, a debit card. What is the difference between these two? In the case of a debit card, your bank account is charged almost instantly, which means that you spend only as much as you have. When you use a credit card, you can purchase anything because you will pay off the credit later. That’s why many people decide to use credit cards during their travels. It is a good option because it gives you almost limitless access to money, which means that you will always be prepared for some emergencies. However, it might also be a simple way to get into debt, which might be really difficult to pay off if you lose control of your spending – and it might be easy once you do not use your money in a physical form. In this method of payment, you always need to stay cautious.
