Money makes the world go round...except when it doesn't.

I first started travelling when you used Traveller's Cheques to obtain cash or pay hotel bills. Funny bits of paper deemed safer than cash. Overtime, ATM's became the easiest and most reliable way to source cash. Now the safest card seems to be the travel money card, so we use that. With each evolution, I build in safety options - leaving a second card with a different stream of money in the hotel safe in case the money card is lost or stolen. Some Aussie dollars hidden away in case we need to change them and so on.

The last few years, this has seemed a little unnecessary, so I stopped bothering. Which made our trip to Vietnam all the more stressful. I accept full responsibility for that, so this is a cautionary warning for first time travellers, or those of you sending young people overseas on their first adventure.

Before leaving we'd topped up the money card and it seemed to work fine as a credit card to pay hotel bills.

However, it would not withdraw cash from the ATM. Even from ATM's of the Australian Bank provider. We ring the bank who gave us this helpful advice:

Unfortunately it doesn't work in all ATMs.

(We pointed out it should have worked in their own ATMs. They had no reply for that).

We kept trying and eventually the card was eaten by the ATM. I had a spare to keep using as a credit card but there was no way I would risk putting it in an ATM again.

We called the bank asking how we were to get cash and their ever so helpful reply was.

1. Go to a major city and we can send you a new card (we weren't going to a major city and the cost of tickets and accom for 5 to travel to one would have cost a fortune).

2. Buy something and get cash out from the shop - they don't do that in Vietnam, and I asked a major hotel to do it and they wouldn't either.

3. Use our credit card to get cash out (they confirmed there were no flags on our credit card - which was ironic as unbeknownst to us, someone had skimmed over $12k during this time, but more on that later)

Fortunately, I had some Aussie dollars I could change (but not much) and a different bank ATM card, with only a tiny bit of money in it. That ATM card worked, so other than the costly $30 fees I was hit every time I used the ATM, we managed. In the past I used to load that card with a couple of grand as emergency back up. I will now do so in future. Luckily, there was enough cash for our trip, but I had no idea when it would finally run dry, as I hadn't used the account in years!

I will also travel with a back up credit card that is clear and kept separate (not linked on online banking) for emergencies. Just like I used to.

I do a lot of the leg work in booking the trip, and often wonder if it's worthwhile using a travel agent, however in this case it was. As we'd used an agent, all our accommodation and transfers had been paid for. While our credit card was getting maxxed out by criminal elements, we didn't have the terrifying situation of not being able to pay our hotel bills and not have access to cash either. So for that alone I will continue my practice of trying to use an agent when I can. Basically the worst thing that could have happened was that we went hungry and couldn't leave the hotel pool (or free activities). Thankfully this was not the case, and we still had a wonderful trip and didn't have to miss out on any of the delights Vietnam offers.

Assuming we get our stolen money back, for us the drama was irritating but not dire. Our trip wasn't ruined, just inconvenienced. However, I think if you are 18 and heading off on your own, it's well worth thinking about. One source of money is NEVER enough. One 'credit card' is not enough. Have a back up plan, because you'll never know when you need it.

PS This whole post was written while on hold to the bank, trying to get someone to deal with the new fraudulent charges on top of the $12k mentioned above. So there is a huge time cost to me as well, that appears to be spanning as long as the holiday. Ahhhhhh!

PPS I don't know whether the card was skimmed here in Sydney, in Vietnam or in Hawaii, so the warning is for everyone, not just for travellers to Vietnam. The ATM/lack of cash issue was in Vietnam because that's where we were, it could just have easily happened anywhere else we went. I've found myself without the ability to access cash in France and Italy too, and had my cards eaten by the ATM here, and left cashless over a weekend so the risk is everywhere. We only became aware of the skimming on our return, and that is definitely a global issue, not a country specific issue.

Have you gotten careless when travelling? What are your money tips for overseas?

Going off topic for #IMustConfess