[Carey]

What's the best way to take money on a recce trip. Obviously we've got credit cards but how did you have ready cash for day to day spending? Is there a post office account or something similar, don't want to carry around loads of dosh. Can travellers cheques be used?

Thanks,
Carey

[Trigirl]

we just took money out of the ATMs as we needed it. you wont get the best ever rate that way but for us it was still a lot better rate than travellers cheques and it meant we didn't have to worry about it.

[Ana&Steve]

We had some money (got it exchanged at the airport,because we procrastinated!) but found that using our bank card worked great, as we didn't carry as much money around, and everyone seems to take cards there. :)
Ana

[Jenny & Mark]

we just took money out of the ATMs as we needed it. you wont get the best ever rate that way but for us it was still a lot better rate than travellers cheques and it meant we didn't have to worry about it.

I did a combination of the two. I didn't want to just use my card in case it got lost, stolen, or damaged.

Mark.

[jess]

Credit cards are taken in a lot of places. However if you're going by a small cafe, dont' be surprised if they only do EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) - basically a debit card that takes money from your NZ checking account. If so you'll need to get cash, but as has been said, ATM's are all over.

[willowshouse]

By far the best way of reaching your money is to open a Nationwide account in the UK and just use your ATM card over here (or anywhere else for that matter). Unlike all other banks, they do not charge a fee for withdrawing your money AND they give you a very decent exchange rate unlike credit cards that rip you off badly. We have used our Nationwide account for all of our overseas spending for the last 3 years and we have never had a problem .. NZ, USA, Spain, Italy.

It's quite easy to open an savings account and you can see all your statements online if you want to. The bid advantage if you are on a reccy is that you just withdraw the money that you need and any surplus remains in your account in sterling so you don't have the bother of 'how much will I need?' and converting any excess back to pounds.

Dawn

[Carey]

Excellent advice, thanks all. Nationwide card, sounds good.

Carey

[Angie and Mick]

Hi
We did as Willowhouse and used a NAtionwide account, no trouble at all.

HAve a good trip :cheers