Advice about travel money please

[Cacciotti]

I am in some desperate need of advice. My girlfriend and I are going to be going on an Overland safari of Africa for 3 months. As it can sometimes be hard to obtain cash out there we have been recommended to take our money as follows: � GBP, � USD and � using Traveller's cheques/Credit Cards. This means we are going to need to be taking around �3000.00 in cash.

However the problem we have is that we are going to be in Egypt for 1 month prior to this, so it is a lot of money to be carrying around with us for all that time. As we will be staying in hostels we aren't feeling comfortable leaving it in deposit boxes/lockers at these places.

The only solution we have come up with so far is getting Traveller's Cheques changed up in Kenya, or wiring the money to ourselves (via Western Union or something similar) but both these ways could end up costing us anything upto about �300 or more!

I considered getting it couriered to our hotel in Kenyan so it would be waiting for us there, but Fed-Ex won't send cash, is this possible with another company? Or is there a secure postal service that could do this?

Preferably, does anyone know if banks (particularly in Cairo) allow you to use a safety deposit box, or even rent some space in their vault for a month? This would be my ideal solution but I'm not sure if it's possible. We are trying to get in touch with some Cairo banks at the moment, but are still waiting for replies.

Can anyone think of any other suggestions, or even, someone that I can ask for advice?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!

[KARL]

Quite honestly, this is a problem which I know no good solution to - I frequently face exactly this very same difficulty. Carrying around large amounts of funds (even travellers cheques, not to mention cash) is a big liability anywhere, especially in developing countries. The best solution I know of is to use friends as intermediaries in the locality, but that is very rarely an option. I have asked the places I intended to stay at to act as intermediaries (I would have money sent to them in advance and then they give me the cash on my arrival) but this has not generally worked because they have auditors who complain that the books get screwed up, not to mention fear of the accusation of money laundering. In fact, when 10 years old my son was refused a UK bank account facility because there would be a regular deposit arriving in his account - reason, money laundering fears (absurd, is it not?). There is no way that I can think of to do this sort of thing without some cost. Western Union is expensive, and I would rather aim to go straight to the local banks on arrival. There I would ask to speak to the most senior person available to explain the situation. In some countries where cards are not easily usable, it is still possible to withdraw cash at banks that have a facility - there will be a charge (in addition to the cash withdrawal premium charged by your card) and you have to decide what you are prepared to accept (depending on how pressing the need). You may be able to persuade them to allow you to send money directly to them by some means, but in fact the various rules, especially those governing foreign currency, are likely to block anything simple.

[KARL]

PART 2: If you are going to use a major travel company or major hotel chain then you could sound them out as to whether they might be you 'virtual' safety box (you give them money centrally and withdraw it along the way) but you would have to be very clear on how this might work in practice. Above all, discuss with your bank(s) and card issuer(s) that you will be travelling and needing to access funds along the way. It is advisable to have more than one scheme to draw on (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, etc.) because in some locations some types are more easily usable than others. It would not be a bad idea to ask your embassy/consulate in each country if they have any advice (probably not, but worth a call) - phone them there low-cost using facilities suggested by http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intca llchecker/