Nickeled & dimed

My number one rule of international travel is that with a credit card and a passport you can get yourself out of (or into) virtually anything.  My second rule is the old Douglas Adams maxim, 'have towel will travel.'  After that, everything pretty much boils down to common sense and a bit of luck.

I turn 30 this January and we've decided it's time to take the plunge and visit Myanmar (Burma).  My travel philosophy is going to need a bit of reworking.  While rule number two will likely continue to serve me well, rule number one  is out the window.

Incredible changes have been sweeping through Myanmar over the last year (hence our decision to go), but one thing that hasn't changed is that it is a truly 100% cash economy.

The Burmese currency - the kyat - cannot be exchanged outside of the country and once in Myanmar  there is literally one hotel in Yangon (Rangoon) that will give cash on a credit card (at a whopping rate of 12%) and there is not a single ATM in the entire country that will take an international credit or debit card.

 This means we not only need to budget carefully and bring all the currency that we want to exchange into Myanmar with us, but they are also rather fussy about what you bring along to exchange.

We will need to bring - brand spanking new - completely flawless- no wrinkles, folds, tears, or spots US dollars.  These pristine dollars will also need to be post-2006 (the bills with colour on them) and not begin with the serial numbers CB (rumour has it they don't take the other US currency because the North Koreans successfully counterfeited the older bills - many of which found their way into Myanmar.)

On top of that - we will get the joy of haggling to exchange on the black market as the black market rate is actually much, much better than the 'official' rate which is roughly 1/10 of what it should be!

I think the money situation will probably be the most challenging part of our trip - I can survive power cuts, no internet, bad roads, slow travel and bureaucracy.

We've got until January to learn all we can and get visas, but this is one trip where we are really going to need to do our homework.  If anyone reading this has been to Myanmar - any travel tips and advice are extremely welcome!