# Travel to Jamaica and money



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Has anyone here been to Jamaica recently? I'm going in a couple weeks and staying 10 days.

I was planning to carry a bunch of USD (maybe $1,500) and otherwise use debit & credit cards. I thought I might also obtain some JMD before arriving there. Overall, arriving with about 1,500 USD worth of cash as mostly USD, some JMD.

Is that a reasonably good plan? I'm _not_ staying at a resort or tourist area, so I won't have the usual tourist-friendly facilities like currency exchange. Port Antonio is a small town and it won't be particularly easy to get into the town center.

Also, google maps shows a Scotiabank location in this town. Does that mean I can use my Scotia card to withdraw cash with no fees?


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

HeyJames! been to jah-maica several times & always enjoy it! mind you - we've always stayed at an AI resort, but have wandered off occasionally. is this your first trip? if so - i'll advise you to be prepared to get on "jamaica time" & just "go with the flow". not familiar with port antonio - are you staying with 'locals'? i wouldn't be too worried about taking too much cash....but...keep your wit's about you.... If i may say so, jamaicans remind me a bit of newfoundlanders....'cept they're black,,,,Am I allowed to say that? no disrespect intended!  No problem, mom!


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

we've been twice , but on AI resort... however, took some trips outside... My impression that you don't need JMD, everyting you can buy in USD.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

I spent a couple weeks close to Montego Bay recently...USD is good to go. I'm not going back though...always felt unsafe in towns especially after dark. I dont think they like us there outside of the resorts. Rental cars are lol as well.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> I dont think they like us there outside of the resorts.


 Completely agree! Would never go to Jamaica, Trinidad or Dominican on my own.... Would prefer Cuba


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Yeah this wouldn't be my first choice for a personal trip. This is for a wedding so the location was set by others. I've really enjoyed Cuba in the past


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

oic  To fly from Oregon to Jamaica for a wedding?! Should be really good friends


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

gibor, yeah that's what everyone is saying... it requires a number of connections from here. And once I land there, another 4 hours by car to get to the destination.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

james4beach said:


> gibor, yeah that's what everyone is saying... it requires a number of connections from here. And once I land there, another 4 hours by car to get to the destination.


Just .... WOW :biggrin:


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

james4beach said:


> gibor, yeah that's what everyone is saying... it requires a number of connections from here. And once I land there, another 4 hours by car to get to the destination.


Man, stop dwelling on this wedding. YOLO! LOL. I'm sure you're among the top 10% richest of your friends? Either way, if you can't spend it on being with your best friends and sharing once in a lifetime experiences, what good is money? 

I'm heading back to Ontario in 2 weeks for a wedding. It'll probably cost me 4-5k all in all. Going back for 2 week though and doing an Ontario road trip after the wedding, so it's not all "wedding expense".

On-topic, are you sure you need all that cash? I'd take $500 cash and see how long it lasts, withdrawing more after a few days if necessary. You were telling me how you value security and will spend extra money on it, and now you want to walk about a 3rd-world country with a thick stack of Benjamins?? :eek2:

The only time I took that much cash on holidays was when I went to Argentina 2 years ago. They still had black-market pesos at the times, so you got a 40% discount if you used cash instead of credit. I had $3,500 USD cash on me and was shitting bricks much of the time. Probably had close to 10 stashes of cash divvied up in various hiding spots. Within the first hour of arriving at the hostel this German guest offered to walk me to the money exchange place. I wanted to exchange $500 but was scared to pull out that many bills in front of the German, so only did $100. I didn't want to get a reputation of being the "rich guy" at the hostel. He turned into a great friend, and we partied and drank for several days together with other poor travelers. I probably paid a bit more than my fair share of the expenses in our group, but Argentina bar/restaurant prices were about the same as beer store / grocery store prices here, so I didn't mind.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> I had $3,500 USD cash on me and was shitting bricks much of the time. Probably had close to 10 stashes of cash divvied up in various hiding spots.


 When I immigrated to Canada I had more than 150K in CAD and USD of cash "divvied up in various hiding spots" , when i was opening bank account in Canada , small branch in poor area of East York, bank clerk was very surprised when I started retrieve thousands of $$$ from different "hiding spots" 

P.S. james, take a lot of Imodium


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

peterk said:


> Man, stop dwelling on this wedding. YOLO! LOL. I'm sure you're among the top 10% richest of your friends?


I hate hearing this.. everyone thinks that because I earn salary in USD. They forget that I pay all my expenses in USD too, and don't realize that I live in a state with _higher_ taxes than BC and Ontario! But I did hear comments from people (during this party) about how USD is so high and how things must be so affordable for me.

Back on topic,

Thanks for the tips about cash. Yes I see how I might be talking about taking too much. I guess the trip to the ATM may be a bit difficult to do (as it's not anywhere close by) but is probably a better idea than keeping way too much cash around.



gibor365 said:


> When I immigrated to Canada I had more than 150K in CAD and USD of cash "divvied up in various hiding spots" , when i was opening bank account in Canada , small branch in poor area of East York, bank clerk was very surprised when I started retrieve thousands of $$$ from different "hiding spots"


A couple days ago I walked into a Toronto branch with $2000 to deposit. They didn't seem too concerned, but I think around the 5K mark they might start asking questions.



> P.S. james, take a lot of Imodium


As for the immodium: yes, absolutely. I have an entire to-do item about immodium and it's circled! Useful tip, the store brand (like shoppers drug mart or walmart brand) immodium replacement is chemically identical to the brand name stuff, and much cheaper. This is one thing that I always keep in my backpack, day pack, whatever.

Refresh the pills, beware their expiry. They will get crushed a bit with travel, and the chemical effectiveness probably reduces.

You don't need immodium very often, but my god, when you need it ... you thank your lucky stars that you spent those $5 for the excess pills. You want to talk investments and pay-off?? I don't think anything else I've purchased or invested in has ever provided as good a return as the $5 or $10 spent on Loperamide hydrochloride.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Eder said:


> I spent a couple weeks close to Montego Bay recently...USD is good to go. I'm not going back though...always felt unsafe in towns especially after dark. I dont think they like us there outside of the resorts. Rental cars are lol as well.


It wouldn't be that 'they don't like us' (who exactly is "us" in this scenario anyway??) but it's that there has been crushing poverty there for decades and there is a bit of a culture of violence in some areas. I lived in Cayman for five years and knew dozens of Jamaicans very well (by far the largest expat worker population) - sweetest people. Like any very poor country, you need to be aware that you are hundreds of times richer then most people there, and hence may be a target for some. It's interesting- in some impoverished countries, I would walk around feeling completely safe by myself at night (e.g. Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey) however in places like Namibia or South Africa, no way I would chance it. To my knowledge, Jamaica needs some caution- your best bet is to buy a Lonely Planet guidebook and follow the advice. Lonely Planet is written by travellers who stay in smaller, independent lodgings, visit out of the way places, and travel and eat mostly like the locals; their books are updated yearly, so the advice is pretty current and I've always counted on them to steer me right in an unknown country. What I know of Jamaica from my Jamaican friends and coworkers and other travellers is that the cities can be very sketchy indeed in some areas, the small towns much less so, and the countryside perfectly safe. (Kind of like most places it seems.) Cities draw the lower element. There are shanty towns in many areas- don't go through them unaccompanied.

Personal advice- leave your wallet at home in Canada, (wallets are easy to steal or lose); instead, go to a travel store or MEC and buy a money pouch that you wear under your pants to hold your cash, passport, plane ticket, and cards. NEVER take it off except in the shower or locked in the hotel safe if you're going to the beach. Put your stuff inside a plastic ziplock bag before it goes in your money belt- it will keep sweat from damaging any paper items. If you're really concerned, buy an extra money pouch that hangs around your neck under your shirt, and keep it as a decoy, with a wad of small bills and maybe an expired card to make it look legit. Then if someone tries to hold you up, you throw the neck pouch past them on the ground and run the other way- they've got a few bucks to satisfy them, and your passport, valid card, and bulk of your cash is still safe under your pants.

Ask your Scotia Bank about ATM fees.

Personally, I would never carry that much cash unless absolutely necessary- I would start with a bit of JMD and USD to a value of about $300, and tap your ATM every few days as you go. However, I don't really consider ATM fees when I travel- I look at it as a cheap expense to ensure my money is safe. Sure, bonus if you don't pay fees, but really- how many withdrawals will you realistically make in ten days- two? four? I'd look at that $20 or whatever in fees as money insurance.

I've backpacked by myself through nearly 40 countries, staying in dirt-cheap hostels, sleeping on buses and trains, hitch hiking, living like a local, etc and I've never had a problem- go informed and keep your street smarts about you and you should be fine. 

Irie mon!


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Thanks, good advice. Last night through Amazon I bought two different hidden money belts: one is a money belt where you can fold bills into the belt itself, and the second is a pouch like you mention that goes under the pants.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Been to Jamaica a few times, great place.

I wouldn't take that much USD. Maybe $500 tops. Otherwise, use credit cards - at least your transactions are insured this way AND you can use a credit card that charges no FX.

Scotiabank will likely charge you a fee there but you can always ask in advance.

Have fun mon!!!!


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

james4beach said:


> Thanks, good advice. Last night through Amazon I bought two different hidden money belts: one is a money belt where you can fold bills into the belt itself


Great to hear- I've got one of those zipper belts also; great idea. I keep a few large US bills in it for emergency backup.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

It turns out I will have to take at least a thousand $ in cash. The airport transfer alone is around 2 x $150. And then the private home we're sharing works out to around $600 each which we also have to pay upon arrival (there will be no opportunity to withdraw hundreds at an ATM en route). So that's $900 cash minimum just to start with!

With my new money belt and pouch-down-the-pants, I can probably hide most of this on me.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

Consider having a 'decoy' wallet with ~$40 in a bunch of small bills and some crap ID. If your were unfortunate enough to be held up, there is a good chance they'd grab that and run rather than spending extra time asking/looking for more. 
Consider adding a few additional on-your-person hiding places so funds are broken up into 4 or five locations.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Very good tip, thanks. I will do that! I've heard of engineers using the decoy wallet in Columbia due to frequent muggings.

I have an old OHIP card that's cancelled but looks like real ID. I will construct a decoy wallet, I'm sure the dollar store has nice wallets.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

My advice: don't bother going to Jamaica.


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## scorpion_ca (Nov 3, 2014)

Why?


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

What happened?


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Of course weather is nice, fruits are nice (those were my two favourite aspects). I didn't mind the weather, plentiful coconuts, or the sea. Those were great, but are also the same everywhere in the Caribbean and many other places. The reason I went was for a special social occasion, and that was really the focus of the trip. The fun part was the people I went to spend time with, my close friends.

There are so many nicer places to go in the Caribbean or worldwide. I really felt like Jamaica was dangerous. Even in the small town we went to (which is said to be a relaxed place that is free from pushy salespeople or big tourism), I still encountered lots of pushy salespeople. Everyone tried to sell me drugs. I couldn't go to the major beach in the area without the operator trying to sell me cocaine. (Beaches are entirely private in Jamaica, so you'll pay entry to any beach).

Several locals, including the friendly driver who brought me to the hotel, explicitly warned me to not walk alone on the streets, even in broad daylight. It was clear they were trying to be careful to warn foreigners due to some recent incidents or a past history.

I'm a cautious traveller and I find I have a pretty good gut feeling about places I go. I listen to input from the locals to help calibrate my sense of what's going on. My gut kept telling me that I had to be on very high alert to make sure I didn't get robbed. I trust my gut; it's served me well.

Everything in Jamaica was surprisingly expensive. Hundreds of dollars for airport transfer fees... hotel accommodations that ran almost as expensive as what I pay in US/Canada through Hotwire, but at a far lower quality level. And inflated prices for everything on top: meals (expensive), tips (they demand high levels), etc. And since they had flaky ability to handle credit cards, they wanted cash for much of this. At one point I was walking around with over $1000 down my pants. [ The aforementioned money belt and travel wallet were lifesavers ]

I spent $1500 US CASH while there... this was very awkward to manage, and transport safely. Go to the ATM? Sure ... with swarms of people watching the *only* white guy in town arriving into the bank ATM.

Using cash was made challenging because of the high costs for everything. This is a third world country that inflates their prices up to first world costs for tourists. It's all way too expensive. Way, way too expensive. And it comes across like greedy. Well, they _are_ greedy. You feel like you're being hussled all the time.

The one way I could see Jamaica being a good idea is that if you get an all-inclusive resort (which we did not have) and if you STAY on the resort. Then at least you know the all-in prices, up front, instead of constantly paying another few hundred dollars for new expenses. Plus, you'll be safe.

Maybe we can list in this thread some of our favourite beach/tropical destinations from past experiences. Here are some of mine:

Barbados
Cuba
Canary Islands
Cook Islands
Australia


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Great feedback James- I'm always interested in people's travel experiences and Jamaica is on my list; I just never made it across when I lived in Cayman. speaking of, Cayman is incredibly safe and hassle-free. It is a bit pricey (taxis are outrageous- however one of the locals is an Elvis impersonator and dresses it on the job, so at least if you get him it's free entertainment...). There are no real budget accommodations anymore, at least there weren't when I left, except for one guest house. You can walk around at 3a.m. with no worries almost anywhere. There's not really much to see except maybe Stingray City and the Turtle Farm, it's all about diving and Seven Mile Beach but if you know where to go there are some pretty cool spots. Almost no drug presence, highly religious island.

Glad you made it through safely!


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## Shanline (Aug 24, 2016)

gibor365 said:


> we've been twice , but on AI resort... however, took some trips outside... My impression that you don't need JMD, everyting you can buy in USD.


I was there for couple of weeks. Nice place to leave on. Much enjoying. lol


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