Travel money without the fees
Spending abroad shouldn't be a guessing game, but it often is — because the fees are designed to be easy to miss. None of them is huge on its own; together, across a trip, they add up. Here's where the money quietly leaks, and the simple habits that plug the gaps.
Always pay in the local currency
This is the single biggest avoidable charge, and it hides behind a friendly-sounding question. When a card machine or website offers to charge you "in your home currency" instead of the local one, that's dynamic currency conversion (DCC) — and the exchange rate it uses is typically worse than your own bank's. It feels reassuring to see the price in pounds, but you usually pay for that comfort. The fix is simple: always choose to be charged in the local currency and let your own card do the conversion.
- At a card terminal, decline the offer to pay in your home currency.
- Online, pick the local currency at checkout where you can.
- The same applies at ATMs — choose "without conversion" if asked.
Cards: watch the foreign-transaction fee
Many everyday cards add a foreign-transaction fee on spending abroad — a small percentage on every purchase. Some cards are designed to waive this, charging at or close to the interbank rate instead. Without naming products, the principle is what matters: before you travel, check what your card charges for overseas spending and withdrawals, and consider carrying one that's built for fee-free use abroad as a backup. A card that quietly adds a percentage to every coffee can cost more over a trip than you'd expect.
ATMs and cash withdrawals
Cash can carry two layers of cost: a fee from your own card provider, and sometimes a separate charge from the ATM operator. On top of that, the machine may push DCC at you (see above). To keep withdrawals efficient, it generally helps to take out larger amounts less often rather than lots of small withdrawals, decline any on-screen conversion, and be wary of machines that advertise "no fees" while baking the cost into a poor rate.
When cash still makes sense
Cards aren't always king. In places where card acceptance is patchy, where small vendors and markets run on cash, or where you simply want a hard limit on spending, carrying some local currency is sensible. A reasonable approach is to lead with a low-fee card for most spending and keep a modest amount of cash for the situations where plastic won't do. The goal isn't to avoid one method entirely — it's to avoid paying extra for the privilege of using either.
And if you collect points, the same discipline applies on the ground as in the air: know the real cost before you spend. Our guide on how to use Avios and air miles takes the same "put a number on it" approach to rewards.