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Small Money Better for Travel

Small Money Denominations Better for Travel Travel Tip #27 It is better to carry a stack of small bills in your pocket while traveling than a few large ones. For it is always easier to add together small monetary units than it is to expect a merchant, a bus conductor, or a street vendor to [...]

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Small Money Denominations Better for Travel

Travel Tip #27

It is better to carry a stack of small bills in your pocket while traveling than a few large ones. For it is always easier to add together small monetary units than it is to expect a merchant, a bus conductor, or a street vendor to be able to make change for a large bill. Using small monetary denominations also allows a traveler to pay closer to exact prices, which is also a logical deterrent against being short changed or being ripped off entirely.


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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Istanbul, Turkey- February 10, 2008
Travelogue Travel Photos — Travel Guide
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While traveling, I seldom like to carry with me single bills that exceed $10 (unless they are part of my stashed reserve fund), and highly prefer to carry as much of the lowest reasonable denomination as possible. Within reason, the lower the value of the bill the better. Rather than carrying a $50 bill, I would prefer to go into a bank and break it down into a bunch of fives and ones.

Travel tip: unless you are carrying large amounts of a local currency, try to keep your travel funds in small denominations. It is far easier to add up to the cost of an item than to subtract down. The quicker and easier all monetary interactions are while traveling, the more enjoyable the Road can be. It is a sour feeling to be short changed or otherwise scammed, by paying the exact amount for something is to take a precautionary step to ensure that you travel through the world a happy vagabond.

Related Pages:
Vagabond Journey Travel Tips
Travel Cheap: Watch Global Currency Exchange Rates

Travel Tip #13- Label Travel Funds

Small Money Denominations Better for Travel

Filed under: Money, Travel Tips

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3699 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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