Revolut: the travel money card revolution

One of my favourite parts of being an avid traveller is the vast array of gadgets and tools that keep popping up. Their aim - to make things more seamless, stress free and link into our smartphone obsessed, tech filled lifestyles. There are so many different things out there that try, and sometimes fail to make things easier for us to travel.

Today i'm sharing with you, a product that I have been using for all my trips in the past year or two. It's called Revolut, and it is a travel money card. Now you may think yes there's load of those and they're all the same, and that's what I thought until I researched into it a little further.

On a flight to Austria, flicking through the easyJet inflight magazine I was faced with this huge one page advert for Revolut. I read the short paragraph description, and was praying it would live up to the expectations I had in mind. Luckily it did.

The whole process is built with simplicity in mind, you start by downloading the app, and then you have a choice of a digital or physical card (this is the better choice if you want all the features to be accessible) and the best news is it's free. I didn't have to pay a single penny for the revolut card and it was quickly ordered on a slick, modern and regularly updated app. Once you have the card you link it to the app, and there you have a host of useful features, you can specify where you wish for the card to be allowed for use, such as only take cash out of an ATM, and not online - handy security feature! There's also a section to recover your pin, and block the card if its stolen or lost. The app allows you to see every transaction made, clearly and simply, and it allows you to transfer money to bank accounts as and when you like. You'll even be notified of when a transaction is made on your phone or Apple Watch, which allows you to instantly know how much remaining cash you have to spend. When it comes to currency, you can convert your cash into Euros or US Dollars before you travel and get the best rates around with real time updated rates. If you need another current, just leave you GBP loaded onto the card and when you use it abroad it will automatically convert at the best rate available.

The main advantage of Revolut is its strong app push, seizing the technological advantages of the present day, as well as constantly looking to the future for new features. At the time of writing this, developments have been made where Revolut is now even able to to be used as a current account. Its core principle though is to hold your money on a travel card that doesn't cost you to take your money out, and not charging you when taking money out of ATMs abroad. Its all secured from unwanted users with Touch ID to protect the app.

It's certainly a service I can highly recommend, its free, they have a great support team, and you are under no obligation to spend the cash in a certain time. You can even use it in the UK as you would any other debit card. So there you have it, the modern day solution to those old travellers cheques that went the way of the Dodo! If you have any questions then give me a shout. Happy travels everyone!

You can find out more about revolt here: https://revolut.com