here's a question for ya?

When I travel I usually only take enough cash to spend at places that do not accept credit cards, plus a little extra emergency money. I too travel alone a lot and figure that is probably a safer bet. As far as exchanging funds, I would probably do it when I am there, except for maybe a minimal amount to get you transportation and a couple meals just in case you need it before you make it to an exchange agent.

oh - and it's fair enough to say stay away from dollars.. they're exchange rate gets worse by the minute. The pound is not in a particularly good condition either but with a UK bank account.. it'll have to make do!

In Goa i strongly suggest you take travellers cheques. I would take GBP not dollars as they are a much stronger currency at the moment hope that helps blessed be

I have been to almost 50 different countries so far. I began by taking travellers cheques but found that I paid many bank charges on cashing these. So then I took cash and this seemed to work well. I have found that any country likes US dollars and I have got good rates exchanging this into local used money. I have found one dollar notes good for getting gifts in market places. The local people sometimes like US dollars more than their own money of the country that they live in. These days I take my debit card as well as US dollars and the money of the country or countries that I am going to. I went to Guatemala and was concerned about getting mugged so I hid my money in five different places. Luckily I didn't have any stolen but I heard about and armed robbery on a bus going to Tikal which is one of the places I went to. I wear a money belt and take it everywhere with me. I keep in on at night and take it to the shower with me. For swimming I have a waterproof money belt that I can take in the sea along with my money and passport. I hope that you have a wonderful to in Goa and the rest of India.

US dollar is considered the international money but I don't suggest bringing that much for now since its buying power has gone down. In my case, I will be arriving in Singapore on February so I arranged with my cousin that I would be buying SGD from him instead of having it in the black market since buying money is a litte expensive.

I wouldn't bother with travellers cheques - they are an enormous pain. There are enough ATM's to get by in Goa. Just make sure you take enough out when you get to the bank. If you get an updated Lonely Planet..it should give you enough info about ATM's. India is cheap, one thing you don't need to worry about too much is money!!! I see you are from the Isle of Wight, so if you can your best bet is to get an account with Nationwide as they don't charge for withdrawals abroad and they give you a fairly nice exchange rate. Barclays (my own bank) are by far the worst.