As much as we may not want to think about it, when it comes to travel, we always need to think about money. A little planning ahead can save you headaches and potentially a lot of money in the long run. This post is not exclusive to Camino hiking. It applies to anyone traveling to another country and particularly when you are going for longer periods.
Establishing a budget – It can be too easy to lose track of spending while on vacation. Too many meals out, souvenirs, that unplanned spa visit… Before you go, decide how much it will realistically cost for your vacation and decide if you can live within that amount. I found AI to be a very helpful tool for this. I created a prompt that I was a solo traveler planning to hike from Lisbon to Santiago. I gave my travel dates and my preference for staying in municipal alberges most nights with a few splurges in modest hotels in larger cities. I asked it to include accommodations, meals and incidental expenses. A few seconds later, it spit out daily average costs for each meal, price ranges for the alberges and modest hotels. I made a few tweaks to the number of days I would spend in each type of accommodation and then built in a 20% contingency. Now I have my budget.
Notifying financial institutions – Big brother is watching. And in this case, it’s not a bad thing. If you live in Oregon – as I do – and your credit card suddenly starts having charges in another country, it’s quite possible those charges will be denied. Save yourself some headache and contact your credit card companies before you leave. They will need to know your dates of travel and the countries you intend to visit. Don’t forget about any places you may have layovers in case you want to airport shop.
Cash – Cash is still the preferred method of payment along the Portugues Camino. Some alberges only accept cash and most smaller establishments at least have a strong preference for currency. ATMs are common in cities and larger towns but be sure to have enough cash to get you through days traveling through smaller villages. With the prevalence of ATMs, there is no need to be carrying large sums of cash at any time. I intend to withdraw 200-300 Euro at a time and that should be ample for three to five days. And like with my credit cards, I won’t keep all of it in one place.
Credit cards – as mentioned previously, notify your credit card company before departure. If you are the type that carries a small army of credit cards with you, consider putting yourself on a plastic diet for your trip. My plan is to carry one primary credit card, with an emergency back-up hidden in my gear. Be sure to check with your credit card companies about foreign transaction fees and their policy on exchange rates. I use my Capital One Venture card as my primary travel card. They don’t charge foreign transaction fees and have very competitive exchange rates.
Exchange Rates – Since the start of 2025, the value of the dollar against the Euro has dropped about 13 percent. This means that that a trip that costs 3000 Euros would have cost $3,065 in January and today will cost $3,532. Aside from having a crystal ball and being able to predict currency markets, the best I can do is grin and bare it. And my plan is to convert to Euros now to avoid further erosion of the dollar.
My tool for doing this will be a bank card a French friend of mine mentioned called Revolut. Revolut is a digital bank that allows you to transfer money from other banks and then provides currency exchanges at competitive rates. I’ll then use their ATM card to withdrawn funds that I have already converted to Euros. You can maintain multiple currencies within your Revolut account. This would have been a very handy feature on my 2023 trip to three different SE Asian countries.
Paying bills – Since I will be gone for 38 days, I will be out of country for at least one billing cycle on every account I have. To ensure I don’t return to past due notices or finance charges on credit cards, I am enabling automated payments on all my accounts. I’ve already converted my utility accounts to charge to credit cards, so its mainly just making sure those credit cards are paid in full and on time. I have previously enabled automatic payment of the minimum due – just to avoid getting a late charge due to forgetfulness – but before leaving I will change those settings to pay the full amount due. I will also be scheduling transfers from my savings to checking account (which is where my bills are paid from) at regular intervals to make sure the account doesn’t run dry. I also have low balance alerts enabled so if things do get out of whack, I’ll have some forewarning that I need to make some adjustments.
Travel Insurance – The only people I have ever heard not say you should always purchase travel insurance are those whom have yet to experience a travel disaster. Whether its losing your luggage or being injured while traveling, having insurance cost make a nightmare become just a minor bad dream. For me personally, having insurance saved my family from financial disaster when my wife became seriously ill in Cambodia. Between medical costs, an evacuation flight and reimbursement for the portion of our trip we were not able to complete, this insurance saved me close to $40,000.
While you can purchase a free-standing travel insurance plan, often one is offered while booking your travel arrangements. In my case, I booked my flight to Lisbon via Booking.com and was able to purchase insurance for $84 through XCover.com. If I or a close family member becomes ill before I depart – it’s covered. My coverage includes trip cancellation, interruption, travel delay, lost baggage, medical, medical evacuation and much more. Pretty good piece of mind for less than a hundred bucks.
Exercise caution – it should go without saying, but being cautious with your money and other valuables is an absolute must. In my case, money, credit cards and my passport will never be away from my person. I will carry these items in a fanny pack that will go with me into restrooms and shower stalls. I won’t “flash cash” and will keep only enough money for a day in my front pocket. The balance of what I have on me will be in an internal zippered pocket of the fanny pack.