Firsty buy travelers cheques. Do this in the country of of the currency you are paying for them in. IE If you are paying in US dollars, buy them in the US, regardless of the currency you are buying (I got stung with this one once and had to exchage twice). . Seccondly, keep your reciept seperate from you TC's. I keep my reciept on my person and my TC's with my ticket and passport. This is important, if your TC's get stolen you need you reciept to get them re-issued, its the whole point of TC's. . . Thirdly, pop to the bank/exchage/tourist shop and change them for real cash in local curency. . . My question however would be WHY??? What god forsaken country are you going to where you need TC's. The only country I have ever been where access to ATM's has been a issue is Laos. And there I just took a decent amount of USD and kept my TC suply for emergencies only. I only ever use them of emergency cash on long term trips (two months or more). ATM's (if you have insurance against fraud) are just as safe and you get a far better exchange rate. You carry your ATM cards arround on you at home, who not abroad??