Some financial tips for traveling:
1. Get a credit card with no foreign transaction fees. Those silly fees on my American Airlines credit card make me cringe when I return from a trip and look at my online statement. I just activated my Bank of America Travel Rewards Visa. No foreign transaction fees and no annual fees. There is also a travel rewards system - you get 1.5 points for every $1 you spend.
2. Because there are still many places in the world that do not accept credit cards (or charge more for credit card transactions), you should have a savings/checking account with no foreign transaction fees nor foreign atm withdrawal fees. There are very few banks that offer such services. I just enrolled in the Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking that comes with a Schwab One brokerage account. There are no fees and the minimum needed in the checking account is $1. Just transfer the money you think you will spend (or more to be on the safe side) on a trip into the account before your trip. If there is anything left over after the trip, transfer it back. You can go to any ATM in the world and use the ATM card. Any fees that are tacked onto the account will be credited back to the account at the end of each billing cycle. So smart traveling this way...why am I only doing this now?
