MF2002 Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Hi folks, Planing a year long trip to Europe and have a few questions which I'm hoping someone can answer or give us guidance on. Passport - how often are you asked to leave your passport when camping on a site? Will probably take an ACSI IDCard so this may not be an issue. Will also be taking laminated colour photocopies of our passport's photo ID page. (Passports and other valuables will generally be stored be in a concealed safe in the van). Money - intending to use a credit card which doesn't charge transaction fees abroad and pay off the balance in full every month but nit sure what to do about cash - suggestions please (At the moment our plan is to withdraw cash using the credit card and immediately pay off balance by bank transfer using online banking))- we are also planning on taking a couple of pre-paid debit cards with a few hundred pound on each for emergencies (ie the credit card gets blocked) Internet access suggestions please - thinking a 3/4G mobile phone with a local SIM card and "tethering" our PC to the phone. Thanks F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 As far as I know you will incur charges taking cash out with a credit card - even if you pay it off straight away. The charges are incurred for just using the card for cash. I think some banks / building societies have cards with no charges but you would need to look into this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikejkay Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Caxton FX card. No charge for foreign ATMs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Lizzie - 2015-06-22 11:32 AM As far as I know you will incur charges taking cash out with a credit card - even if you pay it off straight away. The charges are incurred for just using the card for cash. I think some banks / building societies have cards with no charges but you would need to look into this. Not in the case of credit cards used for cash withdrawals. The exception is debit cards, where a few don't charge for currency withdrawals, and still fewer give a fair exchange rate. However, if the card is scammed, the entire balance of your account is at risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 mikejkay - 2015-06-22 11:39 AM Caxton FX card. No charge for foreign ATMs. But it is not a credit card, it is a pre-loaded cash card. Various alternative suppliers: as ever, read the Ts and Cs carefully. They are a safer alternative to debit cards, as you can keep the available balance modest, and can generally top-up online or via a phone app (but watch roamed data charges!). It just depends how you feel about the security issues around using internet banking while abroad. However, they are probably the "least worst" solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenchman Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Hi! we are going fulltiming next week! I found a card by lloyds bank called AVIOS its a credit card, but you pay a one off fee of £24 a year and ALL transactions including using a cashpoint machine are free, best i could find, but i expect someone else will say different. B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonMac46 Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Scan passports, all other documents, then email them to yourself. In dire circumstances you can go to an Internet cafe and print out a copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 frenchman - 2015-06-22 12:34 PM Hi! we are going fulltiming next week! I found a card by lloyds bank called AVIOS its a credit card, but you pay a one off fee of £24 a year and ALL transactions including using a cashpoint machine are free, best i could find, but i expect someone else will say different. B-) Not sure. The Lloyds Avios card website says the following: "*Eligible spend does not include cash withdrawals....................." - and the card Ts and Cs say: "Unless we tell you that a charge is not payable, we charge: a cash fee of 3% of the amount of each Cash Withdrawal you make in the UK or abroad (minimum £3)." So, for cash withdrawals it looks as though you will pay 3% (or £3 if you draw less than £100 equivalent) per transaction. Additionally, they do not say what exchange rate/s will be used. Many cards use a rate that is below the interbank rate, others use interbank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starvin marvin Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 MF2002 - 2015-06-21 11:03 PM Hi folks, Planing a year long trip to Europe and have a few questions which I'm hoping someone can answer or give us guidance on. Passport - how often are you asked to leave your passport when camping on a site? Will probably take an ACSI IDCard so this may not be an issue. Will also be taking laminated colour photocopies of our passport's photo ID page. (Passports and other valuables will generally be stored be in a concealed safe in the van). Money - intending to use a credit card which doesn't charge transaction fees abroad and pay off the balance in full every month but nit sure what to do about cash - suggestions please (At the moment our plan is to withdraw cash using the credit card and immediately pay off balance by bank transfer using online banking))- we are also planning on taking a couple of pre-paid debit cards with a few hundred pound on each for emergencies (ie the credit card gets blocked) Internet access suggestions please - thinking a 3/4G mobile phone with a local SIM card and "tethering" our PC to the phone. Thanks F Don't use sites a great deal, but have no issues with them holding my passport, lots of hotels do this. I do have a copy of my main passport page and also seperately hold a copy of my passport number. We generally use a Halifax Clarity card for fee free purchases, with a Santander Zero card (no longer available)as a back up. there are others. Sometimes just for a bit of excitement we swop them around We use our current a/c for cash withdrawals, like most people who tour extensively we have 2 current a/cs, that allow charge free cash withdrawals, these are kept to a minimum. Cellphones are not a big issue for us, we use a vodaphone c/t for cheap calls/txts. Don't link phone to pc, don't see the point, there always enough free wifi for what we need, and it seems to be getting better all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 If you get a Camping International Carnet card from one of the major clubs ,these are acceptable in Campsites in place of your Passport , or were in our Campsite days, as for money we use the Post office Mastercard free to use for purchases throughout Europe and always a great exchange rate, we use ours for cash withdrawals too and there is a charge for that but a few hundred Euros here and there withdrawn does not break the bank in charges, there will be other methods to use but rest assured the Banks will get you in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seb_vix Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Myself and my partner spend a lot of time in Europe and have just finished running a business in the French alps and over the last few years have tried varying things but this is what we are currently using and have found the best: Credit cards: we use a Halifax clarity card, easy application online and then just drop into a high street branch with proof of id and a statement. Gives the best exchange rates hands down over all other methods on all the online comparison sights. No fees for using the card at retail but does charge for cash machine withdrawals. CAXTONFX: we use this card as our debit card, it is a pre load card that I think has a limit of £7000 equivalent in € and does not charge for retail transactions or cash machine withdrawals. Internet aces is getting more accessible all over Europe and for the price of a coffee can be easily found, in France hotspots can be found through ici wifi too. We just got back from 2 months in Europe and never struggled to find wifi, even free wifi in the centre of bovec in Slovenia :) Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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