10 Fantastic Bitcoin Travel Tips

I am fascinated with the concept of traveling internationally with bitcoin and with a bitcoin debit card, so I have been researching everything I can find on the subject. 

I downloaded the Xapo.com app on my iPhone (they have an android app too) so now all I need to do is get a trip booked! I will be in Australia at the end of summer, but I want to take a euro-trip before then.

If you have already traveled with Xapo.com Bitcoin wallet and or debit card, please tell us about it in the comment section below.

screenshot from my xapo app

Meanwhile check out these Bitcoin Travel Tips, and watch the video below: 

This article is taken in its entirety from letstalkbitcoin.com

Bitcoin Travel Tips:

1. Plan ahead. This one is important. In plenty of cases, you won’t be able to go downstairs to a corner store to grab a snack or a bottle of water – use Coinmap, Cointerest, and Bitcoin Restaurants to find merchants which accept bitcoin or Coin ATM Radar to locate ATM’s that allow exchange into local currency.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask. If someone doesn’t accept bitcoin, it doesn’t mean that you can’t change their mind. The competition in places with plenty of tourists is huge, so business owners will usually do everything to entice you to choose them over their rivals. More often than not, you can use that to your advantage.
3. Approach the community. There are plenty of close-knit Bitcoin communities all over the world. More often than not, the locals will get out of their way to help a fellow Bitcoiner. So if you need advice before setting off to a certain destination or run out of road once you’re already there, be sure to Google for local forums or check out Bitcoin Talk and LocalBitcoins.
4. Capitalize on the savings. Paying with bitcoin directly will pretty much always be cheaper than exchanging it into local currency. Some purchases (such as airline tickets) from specialized websites can even be less expensive than buying them from a traditional provider.
5. Don’t give up. If you can’t find any merchants that accept bitcoin on Coinmap or other similar websites, it doesn’t mean you should skip the place altogether. Sometimes all you have to do is take a walk around the neighborhood and look for the bitcoin sign. For instance, you can use the cryptocurrency in more than 5,000 convenience stores in Taiwan, but they don’t seem to appear anywhere on the available bitcoin maps.
6. Be ready to make exceptions. Unless you made a pledge to spend no fiat currency on your trip, it’s necessary to understand that you probably won’t be able to pay with bitcoin in each and every instance. So if you really want that scarf from the souk in Marrakech, there are no reasons to limit yourself!
7. Get ready to educate. Sometimes, the only difference between a successful bitcoin transaction and you having to go to bed hungry is your ability to introduce all the benefits of bitcoin to a merchant who’s never used it before. You won’t need killer presentation skills for that, since the advantages of accepting bitcoin are listed by BitPay and Coinbase.
8. Check the exchange rate. You don’t need to pay more than you owe, even if you’re paying in bitcoin. Therefore, you should consider both the fluctuating exchange rate and the possibility of a conversion error – it can happen to both you and the merchant.
9. Have a budget in mind. While setting a clear bitcoin budget for your trip might be difficult because of the currency’s volatility, it would still be great to have a ballpark figure in your mind. Overspending is as easy on bitcoin as it is on a fiat currency – if not easier.

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