Today’s post was written by guest blogger Niclas Aarestrup from Denmark. He is a travel writer and he uses his Net+ card everywhere. Follow him on Twitter today (http://twitter.com/niclasaa) and keep up with his latest travels.

I remember years back when I went on a holiday to Germany and France, armed with a bunch of Eurocheques and an EC card, the now defunct European, improved travellers cheque. The system had to give up when the popularity of international credit cards made the system obsolete, though in Germany the system continued as an ATM card on the Maestro network.

An imperfect solution

The original travellers cheque is still alive and fairly well, available at some banks and exchange bureaus. But they suffer from many of the same problems the Eurocheques had and maybe even more:

• You have to buy travellers cheques before you depart
• You buy the amount in the denominations you expect to need
• They are not easily redeemable everywhere, so when you need to cash them in you may have to look around a bit

Add to this that you pay a premium on top of the exchange rate, you will usually pay a fee to cash them in and they are only available in certain currencies. If your travellers cheques are not in the currency of the country where you cash them in, you will lose even more of your hard-earned cash to exchange fees. However, they do have 1 advantage: you can get them replaced if they are lost or stolen, even without travel insurance.

Pick up a Net+ Prepaid Card

I have personally been using the Net+ Prepaid MasterCard® for a while now in several different countries and paying in several different currencies. It has many advantages over travellers cheques. Perhaps the biggest advantage is the fact that I can use Net+ to pay at many locations. The Net+ card works at ATMs when I need cash, but it also works in hotels, stores, restaurants and onboard all the ships I’ve been travelling with lately, which reduces my need to carry large amounts of cash.

I have set up my NETELLER account and Net+ card in my local currency, which makes it easy to keep tabs on costs and also means that no matter what foreign currency I pay in, I will only incur a single exchange fee. But even if I hadn’t made this choice I could usually still spend less on exchange fees than I would have with travellers cheques.

As for security, the card is protected by the Chip & PIN system, and only the funds in your NETELLER account are available for withdrawal or purchase with certain limits to how much can be spent or withdrawn within any 24-hour period. Do remember to carry the Net+ support phone number and remember the details needed to cancel the card if you should have your card stolen (and don’t forget to report the theft to local police as well).

Control your spending with a prepaid card

If you’re going to be travelling for a while, for instance that dream trip around the world, you could set up bank transfers from your bank account to your NETELLER account at an interval you choose. This can help control your spending as well as limit any loss you might incur from theft. But if you find you need more money than you had planned, you might also be able to make additional transfers while you are on the road. 1 other smart feature is that if you have close family or friends with NETELLER accounts, they can quickly and easily send you more money if you run into problems, without having to pay high fees.

Final travel tips

As always when travelling abroad I would recommend taking out travel insurance or making sure you are completely covered by your existing policies. Not only can you get money or other valuables replaced, but if something unforseen happens, like the recent grounding of all planes in northern Europe, or if you need to go to a doctor or even a hospital, your policy will cover it.

And above all, always remember:

• Never carry around large sums of cash and don’t let anyone see what you have inside your wallet
• Never let anyone see or know your PIN
• If at all possible, never let your Net+ or other debit and credit cards out of sight. This can be hard at bars and restaurants but unfortunately apply even more so in these locations where skimming of cards can happen in mere seconds. Luckily the increasing use of the chip function eliminates this risk.
• Make sure you have the phone numbers and details available if you should need to close your cards.
• And above all of this, always use common sense when travelling

Safe journeys this summer!