Hi community, does anyone have any suggestions as to how best to take money for a family trip to the USA?
My wife and I have a 28 Degrees mastercard for the large purchases like hotels etc but is it better to take plain cash or use one of the many travel cards around these days? Are they mostly similar or is one a standout?? Looking to minimise fees of course. I am a Qantas Platinum member and so can use the Qantas cash option but is it worth loading that up? My wife needs an option too but she doesnt have any status.
Appreciate your advice
This recent article will give you a good overview of the pros and cons.
My personal view is that using travel money cards are fine, and they’re worth it particularly as a points-earning, no-overseas-transaction-fee debit card. I’ve used Qantas and Virgin cards; check to see which one has the better exchange rate for the USA and decide based on that. You don’t need Frequent Flyer status to use Qantas or Virgin cards as Travel cards.
The big piece of advice I’d give you is to make sure that there’s no money left over on your card at the end of your trip, because the fees and exchange rates for transferring the leftover foreign currency back to AUD can only be described as daylight robbery.
The bottom line: use a Travel Money card if you really want to, but a non-foreign-transaction-fee credit card such as the ANZ Travel Adventures, the Coles Mastercard or your own 28 Degrees card is probably a better option.
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I agree with @sixtyeight
I just find it so hard to use absolutely all of the money in travel cards (it’s really hard to predict how much you’d spend in another country if you’re visiting for the first time) that I normally resort to a no transaction fee credit/debit card. I use my ING card for international travel because it also has free withdrawals internationally as well.
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I too withdraw cash with a fee free debit card when overseas and try to use a no-forex fee credit card where possible while earning some points. For example, we used less than $300 cash in USA for 3 weeks (land of the credit cards 
). But in Japan where cash is still king in smaller shops, I withdraw as required from atms that do not charge a withdrawal fee (or minimal).
I heard many a times that the nett exchange rates for travel cards (where you preload with AUD) is poor when compared to debit/credit cards. Travel cards are only useful (IMO) if you wish to lock in your exchange rate against potential fluctuations. However, IMO, of you are that skilled at forecasting forex, you are probably better off making a living by trading forex.
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Thanks to you both, as i suspected. Id forgotten about the debit cards, will def look into those