Although most of us travel quite often, we tend to neglect certain financial aspects before we head out. Here are five financial travel tips you should consider before you leave. 
With travel becoming increasingly inexpensive and with people venturing out of their towns, cities and countries on a regular basis, it’s fair to say that travelling has almost become second nature to us.
While we’re pretty careful about packing everything we need for our trips, many of us usually tend to neglect certain financial aspects before we head out. Either we don’t remember to consider them because we’re caught up in the hullabaloo of our trip, or we just don’t think it’s important enough to worry about.
Whatever the case may be, it would certainly be in your best interest to sort things out from a financial perspective before you go on your travels. After all, what you really need while travelling is peace of mind and freedom from any kind of worry.
Additional Reading: Trending: Indians Are Spending More On Foreign Travel!
So, to help you on your way, here are five financial tips you should certainly keep in mind before travelling.
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Estimate Cost
One of the biggest mistakes many of us make before we plan a trip or a holiday is not drawing up an approximate budget or not taking into consideration how much every aspect of the trip may cost us. While we do, of course, have a general idea of how much tickets, hotels and other major expenses may set us back, we tend to overlook the smaller expenses like local travel, cab rides, food, tolls, souvenir shopping and other such expenditure.
By taking into account every single expected expense you can possibly think of, you can arrive at a figure that should more or less be what you need to fund your trip. This way you won’t be in for any rude shocks on your travels and you’ll have a clear idea of how much you need in terms of finance to make the trip worthwhile. After all, running out of money while travelling is no one’s cup of tea.
Additional Reading: How To Travel The Pocket-Friendly Way
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Responsible Credit Card Usage
While we usually book flights or hotels with our Credit Cards, it would be prudent to limit our Credit Card expenditure to just these. You really don’t want to be swiping your card willy-nilly in a foreign country and racking up extra costs in the form of conversion fees.
Also, carry a second Credit Card as a backup in case of an emergency or if your primary card gets misplaced or stolen. You can never be too careful these days, especially with your Credit Card information, so make sure you don’t leave your card lying around carelessly.
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Get Travel Insurance
Purchasing a good Travel Insurance policy before any trip, especially abroad, should be top priority. Travel Insurance offers protection against flight cancellations, missing baggage and medical emergencies among other things.
We usually tend to overlook insurance since we’re in the ‘holiday mode’ and assume nothing untowardly will happen on our travels, but the last thing you need is unexpected emergencies burning a hole in your pocket while on vacation.
However, before buying a Travel Insurance policy, make sure you compare different plans to see which one suits you the best.
Additional Reading: Why A Multi-Trip Travel Insurance Is A Good Option
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Don’t Forget To Pay Your Bills
Just because you’re going on a holiday doesn’t mean your bills back home will automatically pay themselves. Well, technically, they can. All you need to do is set up an auto-payment system via your netbanking facility and you won’t have to worry about missing bill payments while you’re away.
This can be done for just about anything like utility bills, Credit Card bills, internet bills etc. You wouldn’t want to come back from your trip with a bunch of unpaid bills waiting for you.
Additional Reading: Should You Set Up Automatic Payment For Your Credit Card Bills?
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Get The Best Exchange Rate Possible
If you’re travelling abroad, make sure you buy your foreign currency after checking the rates offered by different forex outlets. Getting your currency exchanged at the first place you walk into isn’t really advisable since you could be kicking yourself if you find out that you could’ve got much better rates elsewhere.
If your trip is a few weeks or months away, you could also keep an eye on exchange rates via the internet, so you can buy foreign currency when the rates are at their lowest. As with just about everything, prior research can save you a fair amount of money.
Additional Reading: Easy Ways To Buy Foreign Exchange Before Travelling Abroad
We now hope you will take these financial tips seriously before you plan your next trip. Bon voyage!