We all want to travel light. But, if we are going to a faraway place and will be away for months, such as going a European tour, we might prefer not to carry a lot of cash as it might make us fall prey to robbers. When we carry a lot of cash when we go on a trip, we cannot keep lugging it around in our bag nor stuff it in our wallets as these will bulge. What is typically done when checking into a hotel is to keep the money in a safe in the room. We might have heard the stories about hotel rooms being broken into and the money being stolen.
Restrictions
A couple of decades ago, there were places that had restrictions on the amount of money that you can bring from one country to another. For example, if you are traveling from a certain Far Eastern country to go to the United States, the maximum amount that you could bring for a leisure trip would be around 2,000 dollars. The restrictions were imposed to prevent illegal activities such as money laundering, among other things. Carrying around cash has known risks and to prevent such incidents and the like from happening, it is better to use digital money for payment transactions.
Limited funds
Due to the restrictions, there were some travelers who found ways to sneak in the money. Everyone knows that the cost of traveling to the US for a leisure trip can be high, especially if one has to make a payment transaction for a hotel room. The other expected expenses include that of budgeting to be able to go to the casinos in places like Las Vegas. Since those who travel want to have more money to spend, they would hide the dollar bills inside their shoes or even wear jewelry such as diamonds that they can sell when they see their relatives and friends in America. These things were commonly done as when in another country, it was then very difficult to be able to get funds.
No longer limited
Though there are some places that still have restrictions on how much money can be physically taken out of the country when they fly out, there is no longer any need to hide money inside their shoes. That is because nowadays, there are various ways to be able to bring funds without needing to carry around bills. Another reason why travelers also no longer have to worry about running short of cash is that it easy for them to access their funds from wherever they are in the world or get remittances instantly.
Mobile payments
Funds are much more secure when these can be accessed by using mobile payment apps. The level of security is there because of the mobile device itself that can be fingerprint or password-protected. Then, the payment app also has a password and other verification methods that can prevent anyone from logging into the account. These additional levels of security make making mobile payments much safer than using cash or physical credit/debit cards to make a payment transaction.