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How to Prepare for Unexpected Financial Emergencies When Travelling

How to Prepare for Unexpected Financial Emergencies When Travelling

Travelling is a fun, exciting and memorable experience – whether you are with family, friends, an organised travel group, or solo. But, running into financial emergencies when you’re travelling can be particularly stressful and could even threaten to ruin your trip, so it pays to make sure that you are prepared before you leave.

Some common financial emergencies include unexpected expenses like having to book new flights and accommodation last-minute, having your purse or wallet with all your cash stolen or lost, or even losing your debt or credit card when you’re travelling. If you’ve not got travel insurance, the risk of running into an emergency can be even higher. So, what can you do to protect yourself?

Get a Good Travel Insurance Policy

Before you travel anywhere, the first thing to do is make sure that you are covered with a good travel insurance policy. Ensure that you choose a policy that is suitable for anything that you plan to do on your holiday – don’t get caught out by not including cruising or extreme sports if you plan to do these, for example. Your travel insurance policy will pay out for various things – for example, if you incur medical bills due to an injury or illness, or if you need to pay for new accommodation through no fault of your own.

Have an Emergency Fund

It’s a good idea to have an emergency fund on top of your travel spending money, so that you have peace of mind knowing that you have some extra cash to fall back on should you need it. Keep this money in cash separate from your regular travel spends or keep it in a bank account and take the card with you. Make sure that you let your bank know that you will be travelling so that you can access the cash quickly if you need it.

Take a Spare Debit Card

If you’re planning to travel with a debit card rather than taking cash, then it’s a good idea to have a spare card to hand. You can do this by setting up a basic bank account elsewhere. Make sure that you have online banking on your smartphone and internet access in the country that you are travelling to so that if your regular bank card is lost, stolen or swallowed by an ATM, you can simply transfer the money that you need to the second bank account and access it. Keep your spare debit card separately from the others.

If You Run Out of Money

The good news is that if you take the above steps, you should be able to avoid running out of money, but if you do, it’s good to know what your options are. You may be able to get in touch with a friend or family member who can send you some emergency funds or look into quick borrowing options like this payday UK loan alternative. Important: only borrow if you’re sure you’ll be able to repay the funds on time.

Follow these steps and avoid running into financial trouble when you travel!

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