You stuck to your travel budget and saved the money you needed for your next big vacation. You made the reservations and packed your new resort wear. Now, the challenge is to stick to your budget while you travel. Here are some tips that can help:
Prepare Your Travel Finances
A successful trip begins with a plan. When you created your travel budget, you made a plan to save the money you’d need for this trip. Now, you need a plan to spend that money while you are away. A portion of it is already allocated to the big-ticket items for your trip, like airfare and hotels. Here’s what you need to do to prepare for the daily and incidental expenses:
- Pack your credit cards. Review the balance, interest rate, and benefits on your credit cards to determine which one should be your primary vacation card. Notify your financial institution that you’re traveling so that they don’t flag your transactions and photocopy both sides of all cards so that you have numbers and contact information in case of loss.
- Pack your debit card. You will want to pack a debit card in case you need access to additional cash or use it to get withdraw currency of the country you’re visiting. Notify your financial institution that you’re traveling.
- Decide how much cash to carry. Cash is especially handy when you travel for purchases like short taxi rides, snacks at the airport, and tipping. Consider how much of your vacation expenses are already paid for and how much money your budget will allow you to spend on incidentals each day.
