In Reply to: travellers cheques posted by Merry on Thursday, 5. March 2009 at 15:01 Bali Time:
Cashing Aussie $ TCs is easy peasy. Yes, you need your passport. There are usually good money changers around most hotels so you don't have to go far. We always take most of our $ in TCs - once cash has been stolen, it's gone for ever. TC's can be replaced overnight. It's up to you what you want to do - we prefer to play it safe & mostly use TCs, especially for long trips.
We also have a debit card that we use only for travelling - we just deposit into it what we think we might need in an emergency or if we overspend so that if it is compromised we won't lose much. Worth considering. It is also worth considering getting a low limit credit card.
People do complain about having to use their passport to change money using TCs - you need only do it every few days.
And do not trust in-room safes - there have been many posts over the years of cash etc being stolen from them - we have the same sort of safe here at home & it comes with a key to override the passcode - easy peasy. In Bali I keep my valuables in my bag with a padlock.