How would you access your money, w/o having it on hand?

[kryaa]

I've heard about a guy who was stranded in Iran while traveling. He forgot that iranian ATMs won't accept US credit cards. So he went couchsurfing and met some dude through his host who had paypal account. He paypaled him the money and got it in cash.

So finding a few trustworthy people can help.

 

[golan]

Not sure about US/CA, but in Europe they do expire same way as credit cards. At least I didn't seen a card without expire date.

In Israel we have ATM cards with no expire date.


.

 

[o hai guyz]

In Canada, you don't even need to walk into the bank. I lost my wallet a while ago, so gave TD a call, and asked for a new card. I told them it's obvious I'm in Thailand due to my transaction history, they asked a couple security questions, then asked for my new address, and 72 hours later a guy was at my door with a new bank card. They system works!

What did you do in the 72 hours when you had no cards or cash to spend? Just order room service for every meal and let the bill rack up?

I think if you've already established a place to stay, for example if you already have a hotel room, then it's much easier. I was mainly thinking along the lines of - you're plopped down in a random place with no money, ID, etc, what do you do?