Travelers these days have many choices when it comes to paying for their expenses including credit cards, debit cards, travelers cheques, and cash.  Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

Credit cards:  widely accepted, safe, and convenient.  Great to pay for meals, lodging, gas, car rentals and some admission tickets.  Cash is still needed for incidentals, fast food, or if your family doesn’t all stay together.  You have the choice of paying it off when you get home or making payments.

Debit cards:   almost as widely accepted as credit cards and can be used to withdrawal cash from ATMs.  A great pay as you go plan.  Just make sure you don’t get carried away so there is money to pay bills when you get home.  Also, remember that when you use your debit card, the amount of the transaction is frozen in your checking until the transaction clears.  So, if you use your debit card to reserve a hotel or rental car, the amount of that transaction is frozen and checks can’t clear against it.

Travelers Cheques:   Safe, convenient, and widely accepted.  Replaced if lost or stolen.  Earthmover sells American Express travelers cheques at face value with no fee.  It can be tough to determine how much to buy in each person’s name.  Cheques for Two can be purchased at $1 per hundred to overcome this obstacle.

Cash:   readily accepted, easy to distribute among travelers, impossible to replace if lost or stolen.  Rather than carrying enough cash to cover the whole trip you may want to refill your cash supply with ATM visits.

     Most travelers use a combination of payment methods depending on their trip.  Cash to pay for go-carts and snacks, credit card to rent a minivan, travelers cheques to pay for hotels, and debit card to pay for gas.  Plus, it’s always nice to have a back-up form of payment in case a card gets demagnetized or cracked or if a merchant doesn’t accept the form of payment you were planning to use.