Sorry not got a Scooby but have a nice time!

Do you have a credit card? I found that the best way when I was there. I had about $100 cash on me and my card.

noooooooo credit card bad! i've just paid it off and ripped it up - took me 5 long years to pay it off...ain't going back down that route!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Mummy Maz:
Hello lovely forumers!

Having a bit of a dim-ela with what to do with my holiday cash - usually i'd take some cash and the rest in travellers cheques but as i am going to America i am not sure this would be very handy? I'd be taking about $1600 but all of that in cash seems a bit scary incase i left it in the loo's or something!

What would you recommend? I dont want to be drawing it out of a cash machine either when i am away as my bank charges !!

I use Wells Fargo bank when I am in America. They hardly charge anything for taking any money out.
There is also a holiday card you can get from some banks. You put your holiday money on it and it acts as a credit card until all the money is gone.

quote:

Originally posted by Mummy Maz:
noooooooo credit card bad! i've just paid it off and ripped it up - took me 5 long years to pay it off...ain't going back down that route!!!!

Oops

Will you have a safe in your room? I'd keep travellers cheques in there but not money. Make sure you keep a note of all the numbers on your cheques and at least that way you can get them replaced if they are stolen.

Could you not get a teeny weeny credit card and tell your bank to cancel it on a certain date or set the credit limit to $1600 then pay it off as soon as you get back?

I'm staying at a private villa so should be safe enough - those cash card things are interesting - are they hugely accepted i wonder?? i'll have to think about this a bit more... plus the dollar rate has dropped to 157.. not happy it was 167 last week!

quote:

Originally posted by Mummy Maz:
What would you recommend? I dont want to be drawing it out of a cash machine either when i am away as my bank charges !!

oh, thats what I was gonna suggest My bank doesn't charge, so I always just do that... take the whole amount you want in cash, but dont carry it all round with you - take out what you need each day and leave the rest in the safe in the hotel room... or locked in the suitcase if there is no safe

have a great time mm.seen on another thread you're off to florida..we went last year....was ace...

Get one of those travel ex cards, you can use them anywhere there is a visa or delta sign, a modern version of the traveller cheque.
Travel Cards

quote:

Originally posted by spongebob squarepants:
have a great time mm.seen on another thread you're off to florida..we went last year....was ace...

thank you! any good tips for me? places to see, nice resturaunts, things to stay away from cos they arent worth the money?!?!

well we did all the parks....universal is a must...i think that was my favourite.....dudley do right's rip saw falls is fantastic....but you get soaked through to the skin!!

alot of parks do refill cups...you buy a big plastic cup(with a lid) for about 5-8 dollars...then you can fill up with drinks all day for nothing...i know they had them at blizzard beach and typhoon lagoon but i can't remember about disney...

are you hiring a car whilst you're there?...if so be careful...they tried to upgrade us to a bigger car(more money)..and it's easy to wilt when you're knackered after a long flight.we did take the sat nav they offered us and it was useless!!.....the disney parks are all well signposted and you can hop on the shuttle buses or monorail between parks as well

we did do the hard rock cafe,planet hollywood etc type places to eat sometimes.but denny's or a all you can eat buffet are good choices too....

quote:

are you hiring a car whilst you're there?...

yeah me BF has already upgraded this with his own money, he's a bit of a car nut and thinks the other one would would be faster (like who cares? but since he paid for it himself i won't complain!)

Defo doing the water parks - wet n wild looks very good! Think we are doing Sea world aswell... can't wait to get back to Denny's (not been in the states since 2002 and miss their hash browns!!!!)

we didn't do wet and wild.we went to typhoon lagoon and blizzard beach....

the whole thing was brilliant.you'll have a great time...

i'm hoping for a nice tan and no hurricanes! fingers crossed everyone !

we caught the tail end of the hurricane last year..we got delayed by a day coming home...

O2 have just created a Cash Manager card for its customers (operated by Gnat West) which allows you to put money on it and use like a debit card. I think it can be used abroad but I dunno about charges.

I wonder if you can use internet banking to load up the Cash Manager card every couple of days?

I've ordered one to use as a petrol card in garages to protect my normal debit card from the scamming which seems to be very prevalent in garages in particular.

quote:

Originally posted by Mummy Maz:
noooooooo credit card bad! i've just paid it off and ripped it up - took me 5 long years to pay it off...ain't going back down that route!!!!

A debit card then!

I've got one of those pay as you go bank cards to use on shopping trips or as Daniel has said for petrol, so as my bank card doen't get cloned and also I can only use whats on the card, not the extra that may be in my account!!

Don't know if they work abroad, but I think the website/customer services would tell you if they do.
Have a lovely time, I'm envious.