Six days until I leave for Paris so I’m cramming Rick Steves Paris for helpful tips. He recommends bringing some cash, debit cards and credit cards—no Traveler’s Checks. (He said you’ll waste time standing in a line at banks.) He also recommends a money belt. Last year when my family traveled to Florence I mistakenly told my 14-year-old daughter that maybe I should get a fanny pack—a fanny pack! She continues to ridicule me today for a very uncool idea. However, after reading Rick Steves I googled “money belts†and found that some companies pride themselves on providing a number of options when it comes to money belts.
At Belt Outlet you’ll find a variety of fashionable choices including the very popular “waist safe.†Or the†black satin bra stash.â€
An ingenious way to hide your money in an undergarment
Last year I was in Paris for 24 hours and had a cash crisis. Our family had missed our connection from Florence to Denver at Charles De Gaulle and so the airline put us up at a hotel (and I use the term loosely) near the airport. My husband (not e-husband yet) stayed in the hotel room on a conference call while our girls, ages 14 and 18, asked if I’d take them to the Eiffel Tower. Here’s the thing: we had spent every last euro at the Florence airport. We only had $30 USD in cash plus credit cards and debit cards—we thought we’d be back in the USA by now and wouldn’t need money on the plane. We hadn’t used our cash cards on this trip so we didn’t even know if they would work in France.
But the girls had a dream and who was I to deny it? The hotel called us a cab and we were whizzing down the motorway before I realized that our Middle Eastern cab driver didn’t speak very good French, and definitely didn’t understand my French. Eventually we went to a cash machine (after my heart was pounding so hard I thought I was having a heart attack), withdrew Euros–hurray First Interstate Bank, arrived at the Eiffel Tower and had a wonderful time.
All this to say that on this trip I’ve learned the word for cash machine: (D.A.B. day-ah-bay) and I’ve called the bank to clear my credit and debit cards. I’m suspicious of the black satin bra stash: if you can stuff all your Euros in a black satin bra, you obviously haven’t brought enough Euros.
