What do banking, pizza and Only Fans have in common?
Well, if you’re wise and you play your cards right, your bank cards that is, the answer is hopefully nothing!
I’ve been backpacking internationally for almost two years now, and have learned a thing or two about money and travelling.
Much like royal dynasties, cash is little more than a novelty in most countries, but the only way to pay in others! Take Syria for example, sanctions keep the country off the international financial system and digital payments infrastructure doesn’t exist. They only accept cash and only USD or Euros can be used for conversion.
That doesn’t seem so bad until you find out the largest denomination banknote in Syria is worth about $0.40 USD so even something that costs $20 USD requires a wad of 50 banknotes! For larger payments, when you need a backpack to hold your cash, that’s taking disproportionate value too literally!
Fortunately, most places you’re likely to visit are not excluded from the international banking system and by taking a few simple precautions your digital funds will be safe from hackers.
I left Australia with three cards. A credit card and two debit cards. The CC and one debit card were issued by my Australian bank and the second debit card was issued by the international currency transfer company, Wise.
I’ve only ever been skimmed using my Australian cards. I went out for some dinner when arriving in the Maldives and the next morning a bunch of transactions were on my statement for pizza and Only Fans.
I hadn’t thought my night was that big (or that bad) and when I contacted the bank, it hadn’t been me, so the cards were frozen, my funds reimbursed and new cards issued. Since I was overseas, the cards had to be mailed to my Australian address which was inconvenient to say the least.
At least the hackers enjoyed themselves…
Since then I’ve pretty much used the Wise debit card exclusively for digital payments.
I did use the credit card a fair bit early on. It’s one I can earn Qantas frequent flyer points on, but I’m questioning the $300 annual fees given the points can only be used on Qantas rewards and I’m hardly on their routes anymore. But it would be difficult to get another CC since I’m not working anymore.
Wise, on the other hand, is very easy to use, has very low fees and their services are seemingly unhackable.
A good example is I went to dinner with some European friends in Asia Malaysia and they looked after the bill. I used my Wise app to transfer them my portion of the bill back to their European bank account. My funds are in Australian dollars, but Wise handled the currency conversion and the transfer very quickly and with very low fees.
My favourite Wise feature is the ability to create a single-use payment card in the app. I use it for all my online purchases because as soon as the payment is processed, the card is automatically frozen and can’t be reused by hackers. Creating a new single-use card takes a single click in the app.
My hungry and umm… happy hacker friends have had to pay for their own pizza and entertainment lately.
I also have an account with Revolut, which is virtually identical to Wise. I opened it as a fallback, but have never had to use it. From all reports, it too is excellent. Both companies are British, so it’s really up to you and your financial vibe.
I’ll soon be forced to rely more on cash and less on Wise and my other digital payment methods.
Even in Georgia, and perhaps I’m being kind because I developed an affinity with the country, I needed to carry small amounts of money for public transport and the increasing number of cash only merchants. They just don’t always have the tap-on-tap-off technology for buses or trains, let alone sophisticated digital payments systems.
The further East I go, the more I seem to find myself relying on cash, especially as I start exploring more rural and isolated areas that lack infrastructure.
But to be honest, I’m looking forward to it. Getting off the beaten track and away from otherwise all-encompassing technology is what travel experiences are all about.
