Exchange Money, or Use Your Debit Card?

Japan and Korea are two countries I've easily found a 7-Eleven to withdraw cash straight from my debit card with no hassles at all. (Once my card got stuck in an ATM for about 5 minutes, but this was in Korea at a non-English ATM, and I sort of knew things would go wrong since none of the logos on the machine were Visa or Mastercard. Unfortunately, I thought I could somehow circumvent the rules, and when the ATM asked for my PIN number, I thought I was in the clear.)

Another thing I've done in the past was exchange a little emergency cash with my bank before I left, set up travel notifications with my card companies, and used my debit and credit cards for spending while I was abroad. It'd never been a problem for me in the past, and living in Korea made me even more confident that I never had to bring cash with me unless I wanted to buy headbands on the cheap.

A lot of the cutest places I frequented were cash-only, at least back in 2012..

But on my most recent trip, both South Korea and China were listed as Fraud Alert countries with Chase Bank, and the rep I spoke with said that he couldn't set a travel notification for me, but that if I had any trouble with my card abroad, I could call them collect and they could help me out.

What ended up happening was that I had to rely on my emergency stash for my trip, which was alright, but a minor inconvenience. Just because I could use my debit card in Korea before didn't mean anything now, but fortunately I didn't go to any place that was even slightly tempting to my wallet.

A lot of people suggest that to get the best interest rates, you should order an international money order at your local post office, and exchange it at a post office in your destination country. You can also suck it up and exchange it at your local bank, which won't yield the best exchange rates, but will be convenient and (in some banks) fee-free. And that's only if you're traveling to countries that are Fraud-listed with your bank. Otherwise, heading to your destination country and withdrawing cash from an ATM will usually give you the best bang for your buck for cash transactions, and using your credit card for electronic transactions is an even better option. Make sure your card is set for traveling, and take some time to look into credit cards with great points reward systems.

At the very least, you should have some cash on you just to be safe. And if you don't end up spending it, it won't be a total loss; just exchange the rest back after your trip!

My Experience with the Beijing Airport Hourly Pay Lounge at Gate E10

Will you be having a long layover at PEK? Are you looking around for any information about the location and/or quality of BCIA's hourly pay lounges? Would an image-less blog post suffice? If so, read on.

Taken straight from the website! 

When I was preparing for two long layovers in Beijing spaced longer than 72-hours apart (and limiting me to the airport for at least one of those visits), I looked for hourly hotels within the Beijing Airport and found this lovely website: http://en.bcia.com.cn/server/service/lounge.shtml

Back when I first clicked into it, there was a full price list available, as well as a feature to reserve your room from one week prior to your visit. Unfortunately, one week out, the reservation system was down, and still isn't working as of today. So while I can't give you a detailed breakdown of what to expect (or even where) I can describe our experience for you.

For the record, the above image was the exact lounge I went to, so whether it was in T3, T2, or T1, this review will be about this particular lounge, wherever it may be within the airport. I think it was T3, based off of this information:

Terminal 3E International

Lounge: BUSINESS TRAVELERS LOUNGE

Location: Airside - across from Gate E10.

Opening Hours: 24 hours daily.

After disembarking from the plane, we headed through towards Immigration, and rather than hitting International Transfers right away, we headed through the security checkpoint (the body-heat checking one), and right past that checkpoint was a sign pointing to Gate E10 (which was where the hourly pay lounge was).

Be careful not to pass through Immigration at this point, but having your Arrival card already completed is recommended.

Do you remember this scene from Beauty and the Beast?

If the main thoroughfare for Immigration is the more brightly-lit path, our path was the one to the left. Dark, abandoned, mysterious. Instead of getting into the lines where Foreigners and Chinese Residents would file through, we went into this area tucked in between there and the heat-seeking checkpoint. No one else was in the line, but off into the distance, my husband saw two people sitting at a desk similar to the Immigration stalls.

After giving them our passports to stamp, we went through bag check security and followed the signs for Gate E10. And there was a business lounge with no one on the ground floor, but the sign said to call for assistance. We did and told them we were looking for a standard room (1180 CNY as of August 2015), and they told us to go to the 2nd(?)3rd(?) floor. 

It was actually much nicer than I thought it would be (from reading scant accounts of other people's experiences), and our room came with two beds (my husband and I slept I Love Lucy-style) and a very modern bathroom with a narrow glass floor-to-ceiling window connecting the bathroom and the bedroom. I don't know why this was there, since it faces the toilet, and that's anything but sexy. Luckily, it wasn't in view of either of the beds, so as long as you and your traveling companion respect each other's privacy, there should be no problem. Otherwise, you may want to think about getting two single rooms and using the communal bathrooms instead. (Maybe the other standard rooms look different; I don't know.) The communal restrooms (combination toilet/shower) seemed pretty alright from what I saw as we walked past.

The check-in staff was very nice, and even though my debit card (and my husband's debit card) didn't work (Chase fraud protection), they were understanding and allowed us to try another credit card while letting us experience the most minimal amount of shame possible. They asked us what time we wanted them to give us a wake-up call, which was very nice. The beds were firm and we had a really great sleep before our early flight the next morning. 

Even though it was about the equivalent of $193 USD (as of August 2015), for the convenience, the location, the service, the room itself, and our overall comfort, I would definitely recommend this place in a pinch. I usually spend as little as possible on accommodations since I am a super budget traveler, but I've had enough running-around trips to know that sometimes the value of peace of mind is worth the extra money.