How do you like your coffee? Or what coffee style do you prefer? I always go for a short black (espresso) as I just want the taste of coffee and nothing else. This also goes for the payment part before getting my favourite caffeine shot. Who wants extras added when buying coffee? No one! Pure coffee, easy payments.
As a traveller, the first thing I do is visit a local supermarket when arriving at a new location. It is the best way to get to know the culture and local eating habits. The second thing I do is buy a coffee: espresso aka short black in New Zealand. For me, espresso is a great way to see how much your money is worth in a specific country. Just like the Economist uses their Big Mac Index. After all, coffee is the most important and most frequent purchase you make.
Why espresso you may ask? It is the purest way to drink your coffee. There is nowhere to hide. Bad beans or the barista having a bad day, you can taste it in an espresso. There’s no milk foam to hide any mistakes, there’s no sugary taste to cover things up.
When I’ve been to a particular coffee place a few times, I might go for a long black but on the first visit, it is always an espresso.
Coffee without any nasty extras
Whether buying a coffee for yourself at your next destination or buying a coffee for a creator, it is good to realise that coffee sometimes comes with an added cost. But it is a cost that you can easily get rid of.
Paying for a coffee in a currency that isn’t your home country’s currency means that your credit card company or bank will add things like a foreign transaction fee or use a less-favourite conversion rate when converting the transaction to your home currency.
When you travel to another country you are aware of the local currency and can prepare for it. Either have local cash on hand or get a card that doesn’t charge these ridiculous fees. More about that later.
Currency of my coffee
Here on the Buy Me A Coffee platform creators have to set the currency of their coffee donations. For some, it is easy as they operate locally. For me and my variety of blog posts – on Dutch blogs and international ones - visitors come from a wide variety of countries.
Therefore I decided to set the currency of my Buy Me A Coffee account at US Dollars, the local currency of the majority of my blogs’ visitors. But what about visitors from other countries? Will it be more expensive to make payment in US Dollars than in for example Euros or New Zealand Dollars? Not at all.
How to avoid foreign currency transaction fees
The easiest way to avoid foreign currency fees or overseas payment fees is by paying in the local currency. And that is just as easy said as done. Simply use a multi-currency card like Wise (formerly TransferWise) or Revolut. Both cards are equally easy to use but there are some differences. Check out this article about Wise and Revolut for more details and info about the advantages.
Travelling fans from the Netherlands can check out this blog post in Dutch about my personal experiences with these cards.
What is a multi-currency card?
A multi-currency card is similar to a travel currency card and is also called a prepaid credit card. It is the easiest and safest payment option for travellers.
You simply add funds in any currency you like (your home currency), then swap it via the app to your preferred currency, the currency of the country you are travelling to. Now you can use the card to pay for items in shops in that particular currency, the local currency of that country. Travel like a local, pay like a local.
When you exchange money via the app, you will get a better exchange rate than via your bank. You’re getting the mid-market rate instead of a rate your bank made up. When you pay online or offline with the card there are no extra fees and no currency conversion to be done as you’re paying in the local currency. Easy as.
A multi-currency card is similar to a prepaid credit card. You can only make payments when you have put money on it. No money, no spending is happening. If you lose your card or if it gets stolen, you simply freeze the card via the app so no one can use your money. Then you create a new virtual card via the app so you can still access your money, while you wait for a new physical card to arrive (if you prefer to have a physical card).
If you find your card a few days later in another pair of pants... Oops turns out it wasn’t stolen... You unfreeze the card via the app so you can use it again. Safe, easy and flexible.
Here for the coffee... Just coffee (and maybe a nice surprise)
From now on, wherever you go or whoever you buy a coffee for, you can do it in the local currency so free of any added fees. The best coffee is pure coffee, with no add-ons like milk or sugar, just caffeine. And the same goes for the payment, no nasty extras.
The only extras you will find here on Buy Me A Coffee are extra content and/or some surprise articles. Of course, my main focus is on creating and posting new content on my blogs, but there might be popping up some surprises here as well.
Btw have you seen all my blogs?
123NZ for Dutch travellers on a working holiday or backpack adventure to New Zealand
Travel.Geek.NZ for travellers interested in doing, seeing and tasting more at amazing destinations worldwide. On this blog, travelling is combined with my other passions: craft beer, music, local food and the geek side of life.
Digi.Geek.NZ is a blog for solo entrepreneurs and bloggers to help them take their Digital Marketing & eCommerce to the next level. These blog posts are offered in the English & Dutch language.
All blogs run ad-free so no flashing banners or things bouncing around. Just a tranquil environment to enjoy the content in peace and quiet while drinking good coffee. Or something a bit stronger, craft beer anyone?
Anyway, thanks for supporting me in my quest for creating easy-to-read articles that provide tips, advice or just a nudge in the right direction for travellers and fellow geeks, whatever you are geeky about. Thanks for reading and many thanks for buying me a coffee. Cheers.