Spending money?

[Jimmyhopes]

Going to Taiwan to see the filipina I'm talking to. Curious, how much money should I take for spending purposes? I'll be there in taiwan for three days.  Total travel time will be from July 5th and returning on July 10th. I'm not a rich man, so be gentle.
Spending to include food, fees, tips, taxis, etc.  And currency exchange.

[Elexpatriado]

All I can say is Taiwan aint cheap.

Talk to someone who has been there recently.

Dont know if you will find it here. Better an English Taiwan Expat forum.

[robert angel]

All I can say is Taiwan aint cheap.

Talk to someone who has been there recently.

Dont know if you will find it here. Better an English Taiwan Expat forum.

It depends on city and location,  but in an around the bigger cities, it looks like $90 to $120 for something nice (not extravagant, but nice). Looks like there's a few bargains to hunt for and these are generally Taipai price estimates. Even a hostel can run $30 -$50 a night and probably isn't very intimate. Not sure if like USA if they add 15-20% in taxes to hotel costs. Good, often exotic to our US taste food is cheap and abundant. Public transportation is fairly inexpensive and many of the more popular tourist attractions are free. Really, there's a lot of info online. Might want to make sure it's not some big holiday or if there's some  electronics convention etc. going on, as when you go at such times, they jack up prices.

[JamesDonut]

Going to Taiwan to see the filipina I'm talking to. Curious, how much money should I take for spending purposes? I'll be there in taiwan for three days.  Total travel time will be from July 5th and returning on July 10th. I'm not a rich man, so be gentle.
Spending to include food, fees, tips, taxis, etc.  And currency exchange.

I was just there a month ago.   For a 3 day trip around $1,000.  Why? Not only do you want spending money, but you want extra in case something out of the ordinary happens.  Worse case scenario is you get stuck over there broke with no money.   

[Elexpatriado]

I was just there a month ago.   For a 3 day trip around $1,000.  Why? Not only do you want spending money, but you want extra in case something out of the ordinary happens.  Worse case scenario is you get stuck over there broke with no money.

And always get travel insurance in case of illness or acideent.
But read the 23 pages of clauses and exceptions.
Taiwan is a developed country. Unless there is something screwy, you can pay with Credit Card and Debit card, and there are ATMs  like anywhere.
 
But Mr. Donut gave you a budget.
I travel all over the world and "bring " very little in my pocket. Maybe a couple hundred max in small bills for tips and emergencies in places where they have exchage problems.

[robert angel]

I'm no credit card fan, but having at least Visa and Master Card seems smart. I bring American Express too. Some places just insist on certain card brand companies,  just like the cheap, yet wealthy damn Dr's here in the USA often refuse to take American Express, as they take in slightly less profit if they do accept them. Funny, most of those jerk Dr's will take 10 to %25 off the total bill if you wait a month or two and haggle with them for a discount, versus paying them $15 a month (as you legally can) for the rest of your life.

NEVER pay a medical bill quickly, home or abroad. If you do, only to find out two months later your insurance would've covered it , as it was forever in processing, being bargained by them or otherwise reduced it hugely after they 'agreed', you are completely sh!t out of luck on ever getting a penny back. Happens every day. Took me about 6 or $7000 in unecesssary losses to figure that game out boys....

Unless they flat out refuse to take the knife out of your back that the hottie at the titty bar put in your back, unless you pay up front, hold out.

When we travel, we are very good with systems for being able to obtain our CC numbers if they get stolen and/or if we get swindled. Have a system, inc. for recalling the security code # on back and the toll free (international #) number for the CC, also on he back.

In a lot of places, we never let our credit card out of sight, If they don't just remote your card's info from a distance with an RFID reader, they take it in the back room, where there's a number of ways they can get all the info they need fast . They can do the same thing--steal your car, access your hotel room in a few minutes if they get your keys, espec. remote lock/ start electronic keys in minutes, if you leave them on the table to take a piss.

Sounds like freaking 'Mission Impossible' tricks, but they do this crap increasingly in 3rd world nations and the tech is increasingly Chinese cheap .

Of course, always keep a paper copy of your Passport around, and tell responsible people who you trust, where you're going before you leave.

Simply putting some aluminum foil in your wallet is smart. You can spend more and buy a special wallet, but I like to keep a personal crocodile or eelskin wallet. Putting the foil in a thin little snack food baggie that's about as thick as a few bill covers you. W/o the little baggie, the foil will fall apart. You can buy butt ass ugly, overpriced RFID protective CC holders, wallets too, many less effective than allum. foil, LOL. Otherwise the above  mentioned sophisticated (but increasingly cheap and common) RFID readers can obtain your CC info w/o you even taking your card out of your wallet or purse and run up bills fast, before you finish your meal. They're increasingly common in 3rd world nations.

I hate the thought of 'giving up' conceding to the thieves, but being a bit older and wiser, my best jewelry,  Omega, Rolex watches etc., stays home usually. I actually have a couple of the highest grade replicas for my favorite watches, watches that'll fool most USA pawn shops, LOL. Maybe I should've let them pay me, but the look on the faces on the pawnshop owners, even after they opened and inspected the watch's movement, then offering me 15 times what I'd paid and then I told them they were VERY fine fakes, was priceless.

But I sometimes just bring couple nice JDM only (Japanese domestic market only) timepieces --like the Seiko SARB  series watches, which look great, (SARB065 is a stealth bomb--way casino cool), and a tasteful Seiko Monster (SRP481 K1 for swimming, rough housing, or a SRP500, SKX007, or SKX009) all ARE  great watches, for a fraction of the cost of the nice Swiss, German and French watches. All available online here. Tell em RobertAngel sent you, LOL. Automatic movements, no batteries needed. The real deal and something even your iPhone carrying sons, if they're like mine, will want you to give to, or  leave them after you check out.

In some places  'Travelers Cheques' are about as useful as toilet paper, so you might want to check ahead. As Ray mentioned, crisp, new US dollars, $50 and $100's are what to take. Older bills, any with noticable wear, may not only be refused, but some places will give you a significantly better exchange rate for a new, crisp 50 or 100 than they will for a $20, new or old.. Bigger bills simply get a better  rate than smaller ones, overall. Maybe not so much in first world nations, but if I'm going to the bank to get cash to go on vacation anywhere, I like to take the time to nicely insist they find crisp bills. If you need a several grand in mint condition 50---$100's, you might need to request a few days ahead.

Almost all USA banks will swear they'll get you the best monetary exchange rate if you tell them ahead  of time, but by the time they're done with the unmentioned fee/s, most folks get screwed.

[thekfc]

Traveling now is not was it used to be - Credit Card wise.


There are  plenty of credit cards with no foreign transaction fees - just about all the Capital One cards (Quicksilver, Venture & BuyPower), Citibank (ThankYou, HHH, Prestige), BoA, Chase,  Discover. Almost all the "current" Travel reward cards have no foreign transaction fee.


Even though I have Airline (OneWorld) Alliance Status, I (we) always travel with travel insurance - it gives an extra level of protection. We usually get either Travelex, Travel Guard, CSA - they all provide good medical coverage insurance.

[robert angel]

I don't like getting extra credit cards, but I keep my eyes open for ones that offer 50,000 to 100,000 flight miles if you spend a certain amount of money within a certain time frame on things you're probably going to buy anyway. 70,000 usually covers round trips to Philippines and blackout dates are few.   Haven't seen a 100K card offer in a while, but I watch the websites.

[tyronerobinson]

Around US$300 per day will be enough.