According to a recent survey undertaken by the Western Union, UK travellers love to indulge on holidays, overspending on their holiday budget by around £300. The average holidaymaker sets aside £500 for spending money on their trip, but actually spends around £800, most of the extra going on food and drink.

I don’t know about you – but whenever I go on holiday, I always worry that I am not taking enough money. It’s crazy really but there is always the fear that I won’t have enough money for emergencies.

I used to take 50% of my holiday money in traveller cheques, and the rest in cash, but I become fed up of having to pay large fees, wait in queues, and cope with the language barrier. Nowadays, I take enough cash for the first day (or the weekend) and take my debit card.

You actually pay less commission on debit card transactions than you do getting your money converted at a travel agency or the post office – today, I received an email from FEXCO Money Transfer Ltd who are Western Union’s UK representative.

FEXCO informed me of the Western Union travel cash card – it can be used at over 900,000 ATMs and at over 9 million shops, restaurants and outlets using the Maestro network worldwide.

If you don’t want to risk taking your debit card it is a great alternative, and most importantly, if your card gets lost or stolen, they will send replacement cash to you in minutes by one of the 250,000 Western Union agent locations worldwide.

Oh, and please do not get your money converted in the street – and watch out for the high street scams abroad – they advertise a high conversion rate, but when you look at the receipt you’ll soon notice a massive administration fee. Keep Safe!

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