Travel & payment tips — page 18
Page 18 of Moreta Pay's travel and payment guides. Explore more stories on QR payments, local payment networks and managing money abroad.
Digital nomads5 min read
How to Stop Carrying Two Currencies in Cambodia
It’s 7:40 in the morning at a fruit stall near Kampot’s old market. You hand over a five dollar bill for a bag of mangosteens and a coconut. The vendor smiles, digs into a tin box, and hands you back a small brick of…
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Digital nomads5 min read
The 220 Baht Problem: Answering the Money Questions Every Nomad in Thailand Eventually Googles
Somewhere in your first week in Thailand, usually while staring at an ATM screen that just announced a 220 THB fee on top of whatever your home bank charges, you start googling. How do people here actually pay for…
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How to pay5 min read
Nequi, Daviplata, or Bancolombia? Decoding the Stickers on Every Colombian Counter
The arepa lady on Carrera 70 in Medellín has a laminated card taped to her cart, right between the hot plate and the bottle of hogao. On it: a QR code and three logos. Nequi’s purple, Daviplata’s red, Bancolombia’s…
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How to pay6 min read
Does Bolivia Take QR Payments? Every Question Visitors Actually Ask
Bolivia confuses first-time visitors more than almost any country in South America when it comes to money. In La Paz you'll watch a cafe customer pay for a salteña by pointing a phone at a laminated square on the…
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Money myths5 min read
Six Money Myths That Will Follow You From Lima to Cusco
Ask five travelers how to handle money in Peru and you will get five confident, contradictory answers. Bring dollars. Never bring dollars. Cards work fine. Cards work nowhere. Get Yape. You can’t get Yape. Somewhere…
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How to pay5 min read
Why Every Cashier in Buenos Aires Asks "¿MODO o Mercado Pago?"
Order a cortado in Palermo, walk up to pay, and the cashier will ask you a question before you’ve even reached for your wallet: “¿MODO o Mercado Pago?”
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How to pay5 min read
The Coconut Guy on Copacabana Takes Pix. Here's What a Visitor Should Take.
Stand near any juice counter, beach chair rental, or Sunday feira in Brazil and listen for a minute. You will hear the same word over and over: Pix. Not “card or cash,” not “do you have change,” just “faz um Pix?” The…
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How to pay6 min read
A Field Guide to Paying in China, Where Even the Street Musicians Take QR
The taxi has stopped outside your hotel in Beijing. The meter says 47 yuan. You hold out a crisp 100 yuan note, fresh from the airport exchange counter, and the driver looks at it the way you might look at a traveler’s…
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Money myths5 min read
Nobody Warned You That Ulaanbaatar Skipped the Card Machine Era
Ask ten travelers what to expect from money in Mongolia and you will hear ten versions of the same story: bring a brick of cash, guard it with your life, and hope the one ATM in town is working. Some of that story is…
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Read up, then pay like a local.
Scan local QR codes from your own bank or card, with no local account.