The Truth About Travel X

Seasoned travelers will tell you that the preparation for your first solo trip is much more important than for any subsequent trip. Having read this tip over and over, I spent the last few weeks leading up to my trip to Europe over-preparing for anything that could possibly go wrong. Or so I thought.

My first stop was Budapest, and I wanted to make sure that I had cash to pay for a cab from the airport to my hostel, so I exchanged some US dollars into Hungarian Forints and Euros before I took off (rookie mistake since the exchange rates in the airports suck). Anyways, I had about $100 Euro to my name by the time I disembarked the train in Munich a week later.

I blew through my cash in a couple of days, not expecting that I would have difficulty getting more. Then I remembered that I hadn’t received the pin number for my new debit card before I left for my trip. Whatever, I thought, everyone accepts Visa, so I would be fine. However, one thing that no one told me was that many places in Europe don’t accept credit cards.

Upon running out of cash, I immediately started to Google how I could get access to my bank account without a pin for my debit card. Cash advances were my best option so I headed to the nearest bank, expecting to hand over my card and my passport and be presented with the Euros I desperately needed to pay for my hostel in Amsterdam the next day.

Unbeknownst to me, if you don’t have a chip in your card, you cannot get a cash advance. I was suddenly alone in a strange place without access to the funds I had set aside for the trip. Panic ensued. My first thought was that I was going to end up homeless, in a foreign country, where I don’t speak the language. My second thought was that I wanted my mommy.

I returned to my hostel to meet up with a friend I had met the previous evening. This guy was a saint. He saw me in tears, and immediately came to my rescue. Having only known me for maybe 24 hours, he offered to lend me $500 Euro so that I could continue my trip. No questions asked, he just transferred me money and told me everything would be alright.

The next day before departure, I was able to transfer money online to my mother, who then wire transferred me my own money back to me. I was then able to pay back my Good Samaritan and continue on my journey.

The moral of the story is this: make sure you have multiple ways to access your funds, don’t let panic win in times of turbulence, and always trust in the kindness of strangers on the road.