Antigua, Guatemala is a tiny city with tons of surprises. You can find a whole other world just by walking through a small, colorful – ancient – door. Its hotels are the perfect example of that.

You can go through a door and find yourself in one of the most luxurious, colonial style hotels you have ever seen, or you can find a tiny boutique hotel run by its owners.

This is how diverse your lodging options can be:

1. Earth Lodge: This lodge is located on a hill about twenty minutes away from Antigua that offers rustic cabins and camping equipment to rent. This is an amazing place to spend a couple of nights and is probably the only safe camping with the kids you can find in this area.

2. Hotel Casa Santo Domingo: This hotel is worlds apart from earth lodge, it is located right on the main entrance to Antigua and it is known for being one of the best, most luxurious hotels in town.

This five star hotel is right where an old monastery used to be, part of the restaurant [Read more…]

Seventeen percent of US consumers plan to take an international vacation this summer, according to
a recent survey from the Royal Bank of Canada, and if you’re one of them, you’ll need to know more
than simply how to adjust to a strange culture (though that’s important as well). More
specifically, traveling abroad is expensive, and there are some surefire ways to make things easier on
your bank account.

1. Save on Currency Conversion

You’ll need a way to turn US Dollars into the currency used in your vacation destination, and card
networks (i.e. Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express) automatically provide some of the
lowest currency conversion rates. According to Card Hub’s currency conversion study, consumers who
use Visa and MasterCard cards to make purchases abroad save 15% compared to those who trade in
cash at an airport kiosk and save 8% relative to those who do so at a local bank prior to departure.

To score such dramatic savings, you’ll need a no foreign transaction fee credit card on either the Visa or MasterCard network.
After all, more than 90% of credit cards assess surcharges of 2-3% for transactions processed outside of
the United States (which means foreign fees could come into play even before you leave), and Visa and
MasterCard are the most widely accepted networks internationally.

You won’t be able to use a credit card for every purchase made abroad, however. The cheapest and
most convenient method of procuring cash while abroad is to bring a debit [Read more…]

Seventeen percent of US consumers plan to take an international vacation this summer, according to
a recent survey from the Royal Bank of Canada, and if you’re one of them, you’ll need to know more
than simply how to adjust to a strange culture (though that’s important as well). More
specifically, traveling abroad is expensive, and there are some surefire ways to make things easier on
your bank account.

1. Save on Currency Conversion

You’ll need a way to turn US Dollars into the currency used in your vacation destination, and card
networks (i.e. Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express) automatically provide some of the
lowest currency conversion rates. According to Card Hub’s currency conversion study, consumers who
use Visa and MasterCard cards to make purchases abroad save 15% compared to those who trade in
cash at an airport kiosk and save 8% relative to those who do so at a local bank prior to departure.

To score such dramatic savings, you’ll need a no foreign transaction fee credit card on either the Visa or MasterCard network.
After all, more than 90% of credit cards assess surcharges of 2-3% for transactions processed outside of
the United States (which means foreign fees could come into play even before you leave), and Visa and
MasterCard are the most widely accepted networks internationally.

You won’t be able to use a credit card for every purchase made abroad, however. The cheapest and
most convenient method of procuring cash while abroad is to bring a debit card with low foreign ATM
[Read more…]