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Trip Planning Florida Florida Holiday Planning Questions, Suggestions and Tips.

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Old 30 Mar 19, 01:24 PM  
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#61
thefergies
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Originally Posted by spinone lover View Post
For 25 years we have only ever used cash and nothing has persuaded me not to.
Ditto. I keep waiting for the method that convinces me its safer, more effective, more convenient etc and I'm still waiting.
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Old 30 Mar 19, 01:50 PM  
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#62
Princesa
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I’m surprised how many people only take cash, it seems the least safe option as if it goes missing then there’s no way to get it back. We take some cash with us for smaller things where we’d need actual cash, but most places will accept a card so we take our credit cards and mainly use them. I feel confident that if they were used fraudulently that the company would solve it, so it’s secure and easy to use. The first time we went we over complicated things by taking pre paid cards etc but I think that’s because it’s what holidays used to be like, you changed all your money before you went as fees were high on cards or not that many places accepted them, but now it’s easy.
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Old 30 Mar 19, 02:01 PM  
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#63
thefergies
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Other than travel insurance you mean? We take no more than insured for, split our cash up, use villa safe, only take daily what we expect to use and generally accept a bit of personal responsibility rather than handing over cards willy nilly, often allow complete strangers out of our sight with them and generally outsourcing responsibility to card companies and banks if anything goes wrong. Entirely comfortable with that. A card in wallet only in emergency.
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Old 30 Mar 19, 03:01 PM  
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#64
MarkJ
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The US is the land of the credit card and so thats what we use - even for small purchases! We I might have a few dollars for tips but thats about it.

Im not saying its the best or the only way to travel but it works for us

And we have cards with no transaction charges - if we need a bit of cash then use the ATM as and when
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Old 30 Mar 19, 03:28 PM  
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#65
Conno
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Originally Posted by JakesArmy View Post
I’m now scared to use fairfx again and my credit card. I don’t know how to take our money for our next holiday.
Thank you all
The difference between Fairfx and a Credit Card - is if you are a victim of fraud with a Credit Card - you are guaranteed to get your money back. The same cannot be said for Fairfx.

If anything, it's safer to use your credit card (by safer I mean, if anything does happen - you get your money back - not that fraud is less likely).

Edited at 03:30 PM.
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Old 30 Mar 19, 03:45 PM  
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#66
Kraken
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I too would not take 100% cash with me - way too risky. If cash is stolen, it's gone & you're only covered for what your insurance company will pay, which is generally pretty low on cash. I also suspect claims for stolen cash are looked at pretty closely, as it's your word vs the loss adjusters (even with a crime reference number). If you're going to Florida for two weeks and planning on dining-out & doing some shopping, you will easily be taking way more cash than any insurance will pay out for. Having said the above, I do realise the flexibility that many people like about daily allowances of cash - you know exactly where you are and cannot overspend.

As to hotel / villa safes - they will stop a housekeeper helping themselves, but that is about it. In Hong Kong my hotel safe (the same model as I've had in many US hotels) would not open, even with the correct code we'd set. Called the front desk who sent the repair man up - he just plugged his "device" into the safe and it was open in about 10 seconds flat.

Given that the devices to defeat cars with keyless ignition systems are available on the internet, I strongly suspect that similar devices to defeat hotel safes are too. I've got keyless ignition & have stepped back 20yrs and use a Stoplock too as a deterrent.

For us in Florida it's take a minimal amount of cash for incidentals & use the Post Office credit card for everything (no foreign transaction charges) then pay it off on our return. We generally bring most of the small amount of cash we take back with us. If you're worried about the card being out of your sight in a restaurant, tell the server you want to accompany them to the till with the card for it to be swiped. If they're honest (which the vast majority are) they won't object, as the bill will still be left "open" for you to add the tip to - and the tips are hugely important to restaurant servers.

Apart from restaurants where you card can be taken away, just about everything else is chip&PIN now, so the staff member serving you never even touches your card.
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Old 30 Mar 19, 04:01 PM  
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#67
Bartswife
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i had my Fairfx card used for numerous $1 transactions after buying attraction tickets online for Empire State Building. I hadn’t started loading it for spending money when this happened, there was only about $5 on it but Fairfx didn’t want to know. Wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole now. Use cash and Halifax Credit Card. In fact have just returned from Tenerife and made cash withdrawal and got €1.17 to the £1. Can’t get better than that at any exchange desk.
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Old 30 Mar 19, 04:38 PM  
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#68
JakesArmy
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Originally Posted by Wooden Top View Post
This is why you only load a pre paid card with what you need for a day or two. It only takes a few seconds to put money on the cards via an app. Its completely pointless to keep large amounts of money on a prepaid card.
I used to put dollars on the card small amounts each month as a way of saving our spending money. Not any longer though
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Old 30 Mar 19, 06:58 PM  
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#69
toonarmani
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Originally Posted by Wooden Top View Post
Yes its still completely pointless unless your converting 6 figures. Such small changes in exchange rate have neglible effect. If people were concerned whether they get 1.2 or 1.4 dollars to the pound they probably wouldn't be spending thousands of pounds going to Florida in the first place.
Even for only 1000 the difference between 1.4 and 1.2 is 119, so hardly negligible. Most spend a few grand whilst there so could be a tidy saving if locked in a decent rate.

I personally don’t use a prepaid card (take mixture of cash, Halifax Clarity and backups, although never needed the latter), but can see why some do.
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Old 31 Mar 19, 01:07 PM  
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#70
bigshaz
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We take some cash ($500 for 2-3 weeks) for things like tips, housekeeping, and emergency (ie when all card machines go down) and make sure we spend it in the last couple of days/Burger King at the airport
we also take at least 1 credit card for emergency use (god forbid we ever need medical treatment) which stays in the safe.
and the rest we put into a savings account and transfer and pay with a revolut card as we go - its the lack of charges I like about this and the slightly better exchange rate - so as I get my bill in a restaurant or at front desk every couple of days -I top up using the app and then pay - takes seconds, and I then block the card again
as someone said earlier if you have an Apple Watch it pings on there to tell you used as well.

Sorry this has happened. hope you get it sorted soon.
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