In Reply to: Best way for teenagers to carry $to Bali posted by kym on Sunday, 18. March 2007 at 13:21 Bali Time:
We have three kids the youngest 13. We have travelled in Bali with them and they are pretty savvy, they learnt from having to look after their own money!! the oldest two now are in their early twenties so often take a fair bit of cash with them.
Lats time we went we all took over $1000 cash with us,(who knows the kids may have taken more than that) which we immediately locked in the safe in our room. I find it convenient to keep the basic amount in an envleope with my name it.(so my wife doesn't accidently think that it is her money!)
It is best to change money at one of the more obviously sound money changers. Hotels will do it but usally the rate is not as good as on the street.
We ALL have calculators so that we can do our own calculations.
If we run out of cash then we withdraw from the ATM. The problem is not the charges the problem is that most machines will only let you withdraw about 2 million rupiah (and some less) which seems a lot but is only about $AU260. So you pay a fee for a relatively small amount of cash that's where you get caught
I agree with all the other things about the leather or linen (next to the ) body pouch.
To be honest we have never had any problem with anyone trying to fleece us.You just have to be as careful as you would be at home!