travelers' checks and passports

[Lydia Banales]

Just to concur with the issue of traveler's checks and passports  - From
our first European trip 7 years ago to now, we have never needed
travelers' checks. We took some the first trip and never used them so we
didn't take them again. Credit cards with a 4 digit PIN are essential
for ATMs. We take two different cards so that if one doesn't work, the
other will. Once in Italy the ATMs were all down and I had to go inside
a bank to get money from my credit card. It only took a few minutes. Now
that the Euro is in use, it is very easy to carry an amount that will
ensure a hotel, meals, and a taxi ride in case of emergency. Only carry
what you can afford to lose. 200 Euros for the two of us was our
maximum. Re: passports - Always carry it on your person as close to you
as possible. Make it really difficult for someone to take. Hanging it
around your neck is not secure at all. We also made copies of our
passports as well as our credit cards and tickets and carried them apart
from our person. We left another copy at home with our children. When my
son had his passport stolen in Seville (due to a lack of precautions on
his part and the cleverness of thieves) it was quite easy to duplicate
at the American Embassy because we could fax him the copy he had left
with us. And think about travelers' insurance. Even though we didn't
need to use it, it was nice to know it was there. Buen Camino. Lydia

Donald Schell wrote:

>>Questions: How safe it is to carry money if one is alone on the camino? Do
>>the little towns take traveler's checks? What happens to you if someone
>>should happen to take your passport? Are credit cards accepted in the little
>>towns?
>>
>>Deanna Bowling...a lot of hiking/backpacking experience, but none in Spain
>>yet
>>
>>
>
>Dear Deanna,
>
>I certainly agree with Jim Damico that the camino seems safer than home if
>home is any American city.
>
>Cities are the places to be cautious and particularly cities at odd hours or
>cities in really dense crowds.  Someone cut a small medal medallion off my
>back pack (when I had it on my back) in a Paris subway on my way to the
>camino.  Walking through Pamplona at 6 a.m. during San Fermin (just before
>the city was closed for the running of the bulls and pilgrims after us had
>to walk around), our backpacks and pilgrims' attire made us a target in the
>rowdy crowd, and someone tried to get into my backpack, unzipped a
>compartment, and was thwarted by my first-aid kit that was jammed in tight.
>Both of these events happened as I was walking through densely packed crowds
>of people.  Cities are cities, the same joys and the same necessity of
>caution wherever you go.  Outside of cities, the camino feels like a realm
>of continually emerging community and startling local hospitality.
>
>Pilgrims I have seen and talked to who were traveling alone seemed at ease,
>and to a useful extent pilgrims do look out for one another.  My 26 year old
>daughter Maria, my first pilgrim companion, wants to return to have the
>experience of walking the camino alone.  She knows she would be safe doing
>that and is interested to see how a solitary pilgrim interacts with other
>pilgrims and interested to explore the solitude of stretches walking by
>herself.
>
>I imagine someone must have tried using traveler's checks, but in three
>times on the camino, I never saw anyone trying to pay with one.  I do
>remember on my first trip to Spain (not on the Camino) carrying traveler's
>checks and discovering that I had to change them in banks and that the
>exchange was poor.  Some of the towns and villages you pass through are
>really tiny and in those small places cash is most helpful.  What's
>different from wilderness backpacking is that ATM's are relatively easy to
>find, so you don't have to carry a lot of cash, if you pay attention to your
>cash in hand.  I would withdraw a hundred or so euros at a time and then
>watch the map, town size, and plan to use an ATM when I found one so I
>didn't get lower than twenty or thirty euros.
>
>Credit cards?  Most restaurants seem to take credit cards.  Outdoor and
>equipment suppliers (when you can find one) do.  Ditto on clothing stores
>and pharamacies (drugstores).  Also most hostals (if you choose sometimes
>not to stay in a refugio).  Not the little grocers or bakers where you buy
>picnic/carrying food.  Sometimes not the smaller bars in towns where the bar
>is the only public place to eat.
>
>And this last June when I walked with my son, I remember at least three
>times when the phone lines were down so the credit card authorizations
>weren't working - twice with dinner and once with a hostal.  Those were
>times we were glad to have cash!
>
>Keep your passport with you.  I didn't see anyone have a passport problem,
>but it would be a nuisance.  If you lose your passport what you want to have
>(I'm told) is access to a xeroxed copy of the facing photo and information
>pages.  My first time on the camino, my daughter and I carried those copies
>separately from our passports.  On return trips, I have made those copies
>and left them with my other daughter who lives in England, figuring that if
>we needed to get a passport replaced we could call her and get something
>xeroxed to a hotel.  The same would work with a contact at home in the U.S.
>
>Buen Camino!
>
>Donald Schell
>donaldschellasaintgregorys.org
>www.saintgregorys.org
>
>
>

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