A little advance planning can help you avoid any snags or unexpected fees when using your credit card while traveling far from home.
On a trip to Spain with her husband and then 8-year-old daughter, Tamara Gruber forgot to alert her credit card issuer that she was going to be traveling internationally. When she tried to purchase a SIM card in Barcelona so she could use her cell phone abroad, her card was declined.
“It was a true Catch-22 situation in that we couldn’t buy the SIM card without our credit card and we couldn’t make a call to get the charge approved without a SIM card,” says Gruber, who blogs about traveling with her family on the website We3Travel.com. “I’ll never make that mistake again.”
Having a credit card while traveling can make life on the road easier — especially when venturing outside of the country. And these simple tips can help you avoid any snags or unexpected fees when using your credit card on your next trip.