Smart Travel Hacks for Your European Elopement: Save on Fees with These Essential Items
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Planning a destination wedding or honeymoon is an exciting adventure, but it can also put a significant dent in your savings. No matter what your budget is for your destination wedding or honeymoon, nobody likes paying unnecessary bank fees or international roaming charges. However, saving money doesn’t only mean hunting for flight deals or choosing off-season dates.
This year I’ve travelled outside of the EU a couple of times, and I discovered some really easy ways to save money (without cutting back on the things I actually wanted to spend money on). These hacks can be used for travelling pretty much anywhere in the world, including when you’re travelling to Europe from somewhere else in the world. So let me tell you what they are – and hey, maybe you can put those savings toward an extra cocktail (or three) on your honeymoon!
Wise Multi-Currency Bank Account (+ Debit Card)
Multi-currency accounts used to be something reserved for big corporations, but now anyone can get one. But why would you want to?
If you’re coming to Europe for your destination wedding or honeymoon, you’ll probably be spending Euros for most of your trip. But depending on your itinerary, you may also find yourself needing British Pounds, Norwegian Krone or Swiss Francs, for example. Most banks will charge you for transactions in a foreign currency, but there’s a way to avoid these high charges – and that’s with a multi-currency account and debit card.
When I was travelling in Indonesia for a month, I set up a free Wise account, and opened accounts with Euros, Singapore Dollars and Indonesian Rupiah. Many of the tour companies we used on our trip wanted payment by bank transfer. Since I held the local currency in my Wise account, I could transfer the amount in IDR instead of having to do an expensive international transfer from my home bank. I also ordered a Wise Visa Debit card, which allowed me to pay for items locally without any international bank charges.
With a Wise multi-currency account you can benefit from:
- Better exchange rates
- Lower fees on international transfers
- Lower ATM withdrawal fees
- Fee-free payments in local currencies with a linked debit card
- Avoiding awkward conversations when vendors don’t receive the correct amount (read more)
Don’t forget your Multi-Currency Bank Card
While having a multi-currency account can be super helpful, what makes it invaluable is when you have a multi-currency debit card linked to it. This means you can use your card to spend money like a local, without paying high fees each time you use your card.
Our recommended provider is Wise, as you can order a free virtual Visa debit card to use on Google or Apple Pay linked to your multi-currency account (or get a physical one for a small fee). With the Wise card, you never have to worry about exchange rate markups, or high transaction fees when you spend abroad.
Learn more about the Wise Visa Debit Card
Note: Wise currently don’t offer the debit card option for customers in the USA – but you can sign up for the waitlist for this feature.
Wise Alternatives for Couples from the USA
Wise is one of the best multi-currency account options for most countries. However, since they don’t yet offer the Visa Debit card option for the USA yet (you can sign up for the waitlist), these other options may be worth exploring instead:
E-Sim with European Data Plan
When one of my recent couples told me that their mobile service provider in the USA charged $10 PER DAY (!) for international roaming in Europe, I nearly fell off my chair. In 2024, there’s no need to be paying such high fees to use your mobile while you’re travelling.
Back in my backpacking days, I used to purchase a local sim card when I was travelling somewhere for a week or longer. However, sometimes getting hold of a physical sim card was an adventure in itself. But the last couples of years, I’ve found a much easier solution – purchasing an e-sim.
Our top e-sim recommendations for Europe:
Saily
Saily is the new e-sim offering from the well-known tech security company NordVPN. We recommend Saily if you’re looking to get great rates for specific countries. They offer e-sims for almost every European country, including Italy, France and the UK.
Use the discount code ELOPE5 to save 5% on your Saily e-sim.
Holafly
Where Saily offers you the option to buy an e-sim for a specific country, Holafly offers a Europe e-sim that covers over 30 countries in continental Europe. However, if you’re only travelling to one country within Europe, this option works out more expensive than just an e-sim for a single destination.
E-sim FAQs
Can you get an e-sim that covers all of Europe
Yes, you can. We recommend Holafly if you want an e-sim for the whole of Europe. If you chose another provider, make sure to check if it covers just the EU or wider continental Europe (including non-EU countries such as the UK & Switzerland).
Can’t you just use WIFI?
When I was visiting the UK for just 3 days in July, I decided not to buy an e-sim and just get by using WIFI. And I massively regretted it when my flight was delayed by 3 hours and the airport WIFI wasn’t working. I know that it’s a first-world problem not to be able to look up connections on my phone, and to let my family know I would be delayed, but it was quite inconvenient. I wish I hadn’t assumed I could rely on WIFI, because as it turns out, I couldn’t. For the cheap price of an e-sim, I could have had peace of mind, and I definitely will next time I travel to the UK.
