Credit Card Fly
I know what you're thinking "A credit card?! Is she crazy? Does she WANT me to get myself into debt?" & the answer to that is, of course, I'm crazy but I have your best interest at heart. Just hear me out. Credit cards can be scary but not if you use them to your advantage.
I mentioned in my previous post about using them for miles and, to be honest, why wouldn't you want to get a credit card after hearing that? Teach yourself self-control when you have the credit card, though because it's easy to spend money you don't really have and then find yourself owing money to the bank and feeling stressed out. You're an adult, you can handle this. I'm speaking from experience.
Okay, here we go...
Benefits of having a credit card for travel
Miles. I have saved so many miles that I flew to New York for free, London & Rome for only $200 round trip & Florida for $50.
Save money on foreign fees because most travel cards offer no foreign fees! YAY!
Most credit card companies give you a reward of 30-50,000 points when signing up and spending a certain amount of money within a period of time. When I got my Amex card, they gave me 50,000 points for spending $2,000 within 3 months. Talk about a sweet deal. 50,000 points are usually equal to 500 miles. Give or take. My friend recently did this (Hi again, Rachael Bower) & got up to 75,000 miles. Pretty neat. Yes, we are now planning a trip together.
Plastic is more convenient than paper. Carrying around loads of cash in a foreign country can be pretty nerve-racking so having a credit card eliminates this stress.
God forbid your credit card gets stolen or you become a victim of fraud, your credit card company will completely protect you and reimburse whatever was taken out your account without your permission and send you a new one. Although, when traveling sending you a new one won’t really work too well at least you get your money back.
Credit cards typically have better exchange rates than your local atm and debit card.
Depending on what card you have, they may offer insurance for you. Travelers insurance is pretty common and nice to have. It doesn’t only cover consumer goods, it can also cover lost luggage or flight delays. Yay!
See, credit cards aren’t all that scary. ;)
Image: I was lucky enough to be featured in an email blast American Express / Delta sent out to their card holder members. Photo was taken in Pienza, Italia.