I went without money for a week

I recently came back from a week long trip to a less developed country for work. I had to travel for 3 days to get to my destination (which is in the middle of nowhere), and I was advised by my employer to bring cash and at least 3-4 backup credit cards/debit cards. Someone said that they had their credit card company temporarily ban their card because the charge “looked” suspicious. Besides, many places I was going to didn’t take cards. <br><br>I am not the most organized person, so I was worried I was going to either lose my money and/or cards. I also had some trouble getting to my destination, and then I also bought a local phone and had to put money on it and generally awkward stuff like that happened. <br><br>As I had a busy schedule, I decided to carry very little cash and only one credit card (with the promise that if it was declined, I could get in touch with my bank during the night and have them remove the block). I was extremely careful with my belongings (e.g. I never left drinks unattended, I slept with my purse under my pillow, I wore my camera across my chest etc.)<br><br>But despite all my precautions, I still managed to get my credit card declined during the trip (I think because I used it to buy something at a gas station and they pre-authorised $150, then I bought something for $15 and the bank probably thought I had been hacked and temporarily blocked my card). I didn’t have enough cash for the last leg of my trip and I had to borrow ~$50 USD from one of my colleagues to pay for my food and taxi at the airport. <br><br>I am planning on paying them back soon (I will go to the bank tomorrow to send them the money) but it made me reflect on the fact that I was, in theory, left without access to money for at least 4-5 days. <br><br>It did happen a few times in my life, usually because I was abroad and I had to wait for my bank to unblock my card. But never for this long and I was usually able to access an atm in 24 hours. <br><br>I also realised that for years, I have been carrying wads of money and multiple credit cards with me as a safety net and this trip made me think that I could easily go without them. I can easily live for a few days without cash and cards, and I don’t really have any reasons to carry large denominations of cash with me. <br><br>I’m planning on travelling again next week and I will probably carry a little bit less cash than I originally intended.