How Travel Money Has Changed: From Travellers’ Cheques to the Caxton Card

From travellers’ cheques, hotel safes and sweaty money belts to topping up a card from a phone.

For much of my life, preparing for a holiday abroad involved a familiar ritual: working out how much spending money we might need, visiting the bank or travel agent and returning home with a wallet full of foreign currency.

Before euros, that might mean French francs, Spanish pesetas or Italian lire. There was always the worry that we had exchanged too much, too little or chosen the wrong moment to buy.

Then there were travellers’ cheques.

They were supposed to make carrying holiday money safer, but they also meant keeping hold of another collection of important pieces of paper. We would sign each cheque once before travelling and then sign it again when we wanted to exchange it.

It all seemed perfectly normal at the time.

This summer, our family spent two weeks travelling around the South of France. Instead of taking most of our spending money in cash, we used a Caxton Travel Card.

It was a very different experience.

Travellers’ cheques, hotel safes and counting the cash

One of my strongest memories from earlier holidays is the safety deposit box behind the hotel reception desk.

After arriving, we would hand over our passports, travellers’ cheques and most of our cash. Everything would be placed into a box or envelope and locked away somewhere behind reception.

Each morning, we might take out enough money for the day before carefully returning the rest.

Carrying a large amount of cash never felt particularly comfortable, but there were few realistic alternatives.

Then, usually halfway through the holiday, came the great holiday-money count.

We would empty our wallets, purses and pockets onto the hotel bed and count every remaining note and coin.

I suspect many readers of a similar age will remember those conversations.

You tried to enjoy the holiday, but part of your mind was always calculating how many days remained and whether the cash would last.

The sweaty money belt

Then there was the money belt.

Ours was usually a small nylon compartment worn underneath a shirt and tucked against the skin. It was supposed to keep passports, travellers’ cheques and cash safe from pickpockets, although it was rarely the most comfortable thing to wear in the heat.

Buying anything could become a minor operation.

Rather than simply reaching for a wallet, I would disappear into a quiet corner and fumble around trying to extract the right note without displaying the entire contents to everyone nearby.

It certainly felt secure, but it was neither elegant nor convenient.

At the time, though, that was simply what many of us did when travelling abroad.

I didn’t really know what a travel card was

Before Caxton contacted me, I am not sure I properly understood what a travel card was.

I vaguely associated travel cards with expensive bank accounts that charged a substantial monthly fee in return for benefits such as airport-lounge access, complimentary breakfasts and free drinks.

That has never particularly appealed to us.

For our family, the airport is part of the holiday. We enjoy the bustle, watching the departure boards and sitting in Wetherspoons before the flight.

I could also mention the much-debated question of whether it is acceptable to have a pint at eight o’clock in the morning, but I will leave that decision to the individual traveller.

The Caxton Card turned out to be something quite different.

It is a prepaid travel-money card onto which you load your holiday spending money. You then use it abroad in much the same way as an ordinary payment card.

Caxton offers a free prepaid travel card rather than requiring the expensive airport-lounge membership I had imagined.

Suddenly, the idea made much more sense.

Setting up the Caxton Card

Activating the card was straightforward.

At first, I wondered where the PIN was. I was expecting something similar to the old bank letters, where you scratched away a silver panel to reveal the number.

After logging into the account, however, there was a prominent button allowing me to reveal the PIN immediately.

The Caxton app was also easy to download and navigate. It clearly displayed the card balance and gave us control over the card from our phones.

Once we had registered our bank accounts, loading money became particularly simple.

It soon became part of the conversation whenever we were heading out for a day:

After all, we were going to Cannes — and apparently ice creams there are not cheap.

There was no need to predict every pound of our holiday spending before leaving home. We could load an initial amount, see how things were going and add more whenever necessary.

That felt much easier than exchanging hundreds of pounds in advance and hoping we had guessed correctly.

Using the card in France

We used the Caxton Card throughout our holiday for ordinary, everyday purchases.

These included supermarket shopping, cafés and restaurants, drinks at beach bars, French motorway tolls, petrol and general spending while travelling.

This matters because the card was not simply used once for the sake of a collaboration.

It became our normal way of paying.

I also managed to capture genuine footage of us using it. One clip shows the card being used at a French motorway toll. Another shows Elaine paying at a beach bar with the beautiful turquoise water of the Gorges du Verdon behind her.

Those moments show the card being used as part of a real family holiday rather than in a staged demonstration.

The unexpected feature I liked most

One of the things I had not expected to appreciate so much was seeing each transaction appear almost immediately in the app.

One afternoon, Elaine visited the local Spar supermarket while I remained at the apartment.

Before she had even arrived home, I could see that she had spent €25.

Not that I was keeping tabs on her, of course.

The useful part was knowing that the payment had gone through and seeing exactly how much had been charged.

We did not have to keep a running collection of receipts or wait until much later to work out where the money had gone.

It also made it easy to check restaurant payments. We could look at the amount charged and make sure it agreed with the bill we had been given.

Thankfully, everything during our holiday was correct, but the ability to check provided additional reassurance.

Solving the French motorway-toll mystery

French motorway tolls can sometimes feel slightly mysterious.

You present or tap a card, the barrier lifts and you drive away, but the machine does not always make the amount particularly obvious.

With the Caxton app, the transaction appeared quickly, so we could see what each section of motorway had cost.

This also brought back memories of driving in France years ago.

At some toll booths, you had to throw coins into a large basket or container.

That required the precision of a top darts player, especially if there was a queue of impatient drivers behind you.

You would approach the booth searching frantically for the correct coins, open the window and hope none of them bounced onto the road.

Tapping a card and seeing the charge appear in an app represents quite a change.

Temporarily locking the card

Another feature I particularly liked was the ability to turn the card off from the app.

Most of us have experienced the sudden panic of thinking we have lost a bank card.

You search the wallet, check every pocket and empty the contents of the bag. Eventually, you conclude that the card has gone and cancel it.

Then it appears in the pocket of a jacket or hidden in a different section of the wallet.

Unfortunately, by then it has been cancelled and a replacement must be ordered.

With the Caxton Card, we could temporarily lock it while searching. If it turned up, it could be unlocked again.

That offered peace of mind without forcing us to permanently cancel the card at the first sign of trouble.

The app also has a clearly visible lock-card button, so the control is easy to find when needed.

Holding money in different currencies

The Caxton Card can hold sterling and a range of other currencies, which is useful for people visiting more than one country or returning regularly to the same destination.

This reminded us of our previous holiday in France.

Elaine had frequently used her ordinary debit card without giving it much thought. When she later checked her bank statement, she noticed a succession of foreign-currency charges.

Each charge was only a couple of pounds, so none looked particularly dramatic on its own.

However, once they appeared repeatedly alongside purchases in shops, cafés and restaurants, they began to add up.

That experience is one reason it is worth checking exactly what your usual debit or credit card charges for overseas spending.

Using a separate travel card also kept our holiday spending apart from our normal household account. We could see the available balance and transactions in one place without searching through everyday direct debits and other payments.

Paying at restaurants

The app was particularly useful after eating out.

Once the payment appeared, we could check the exact amount and make sure it agreed with the bill we had been given.

That was reassuring, especially in places where service charges, tips or unfamiliar card terminals can occasionally make it difficult to know exactly what has been taken.

Thankfully, everything matched during our holiday.

Should you still carry cash?

Although we used the Caxton Card for most of our spending, I would not recommend travelling without any cash at all.

The lovely Provençal markets were one place where cash still seemed to be preferred, particularly by some of the smaller traders.

Having a few euros in our pockets made it easier to buy local food, gifts and smaller items.

We did notice something amusing, though.

Occasionally, a trader would say that they only accepted cash. If the customer said they had none and started to walk away, a card machine would sometimes appear from beneath the counter.

Cash therefore remains useful, but we did not need to carry anything like the amount we would have taken on previous holidays.

Before the trip, we might ordinarily have exchanged around £500 into euros. This time, we could carry a much smaller cash reserve and use the Caxton Card for most purchases.

The electric-boat hire at the Gorges du Verdon was one example where we were asked for cash, although I noticed that some other customers appeared to pay by card.

That was a useful reminder that a travel card can become your main way of paying without completely replacing cash in every situation.

What happened when we needed more money?

Loading more spending money was quick once our bank accounts had been registered.

This was one of the biggest practical differences between using the card and relying on cash.

With cash, the decision about how much to take is largely made before travelling. If you underestimate your spending, you may need to find a cash machine or somewhere to exchange more money.

With the Caxton Card, we could see the balance and add another amount when required.

That did not mean we stopped budgeting. It simply made the budget easier to manage.

We still knew roughly what we were spending, but we no longer had to ration a fixed pile of notes across the remaining days of the holiday.

A beach bar at the Gorges du Verdon

One of the loveliest moments came at a beach bar overlooking the turquoise water of the Gorges du Verdon.

Elaine paid with the Caxton Card while the lake formed an almost unreal backdrop behind her.

It was a very simple transaction, but it summed up the whole experience.

The card had stopped feeling like something new that we were testing. It had simply become part of the holiday.

The biggest difference was what we stopped worrying about

The most surprising thing about using the Caxton Card was not one individual feature.

It was how little we thought about holiday money.

We were no longer carrying a large quantity of cash.

There was no mid-holiday count on the bed.

We could see transactions quickly, check restaurant charges, understand the motorway-toll costs and add more money when needed.

If the card appeared to be missing, we could lock it while searching rather than immediately cancelling it.

All of those small conveniences removed little pieces of stress from the holiday.

Would we use the Caxton Card again?

Yes, we would.

The card was easy to activate, the app was straightforward and loading money became almost effortless once everything had been set up.

It worked successfully for our everyday spending throughout France, while the rapid transaction information made it easier to understand exactly what we had paid.

We would still take a modest amount of cash for markets, small traders and emergencies, but we would no longer feel the need to exchange and carry hundreds of pounds before leaving home.

From travellers’ cheques to topping up on a phone

Travel has changed enormously during my lifetime.

We have moved from folding paper maps to satellite navigation.

Our old holiday photographs were limited by the number of exposures on a roll of film. Today, we can record entire journeys with tiny cameras, including 360-degree footage from the roof of the car.

And holiday money has changed from travellers’ cheques, hotel safety deposit boxes and sweaty money belts to checking a balance and topping up a card from a phone.

Not every modern change improves the experience.

This one genuinely made our holiday easier.

Travel should be about making memories rather than worrying about money. If a simple card means I can spend less time counting cash and more time enjoying places such as the Gorges du Verdon with Elaine, Samuel and Thomas, that is a change I am very happy to embrace.