Prefer cards to cash or cheques
In years gone by travellers cheques were all the rage. You would buy a certain number of cheques in the currency you desired and then exchange them for cash once you got to your destination country. In many cases you could even pay for things with travellers cheques. They were considered safer than taking cash with you as at least you could cancel them in case they got lost or stolen. These days the safer and smarter way to take money abroad is by putting it on card. There are 2 main types of cards to consider:
Credit and debit cards – Some banks and credit card providers provide no-fee and no-commission cards which means it doesn’t cost you any extra to use your card abroad, whether it’s paying for goods and services or withdrawing money from an ATM.
Prepaid cards – These are cards which you load up with a certain amount of a given currency at a given exchange rate. Then you take them with you when you travel and use them as you would use any of your other cards. The benefit is that you can fix the maximum amount of money available on the card beforehand (though some card providers do allow top-ups) and thus set yourself a budget and limit financial liability in case your card gets stolen.
When I travel I take a little bit of foreign currency with me just so that I can hit the ground running when I arrive. Usually I have enough to last me a few days – I Google estimated daily budgets beforehand in order to work out how much to take. Then as soon as possible I hunt out an ATM which accepts my debit card. I carry my credit card with me too as backup money (in case I lose my debit card or it gets stolen) and also in case I need to buy things online.