I went travelling across Europe last year, and it turned out to be a complete disaster at points because I ran into extreme money issues whilst I was in Eastern Europe, in some quite bizarre and remote places. I went over there with just a wad of cash and my bankcard, which at the time I thought would be adequate. Little did I know that my current card at the time would not be accepted everywhere, and without being able to speak the language, I found myself in some real difficulties.
I have since found out about the Master card prepaid card (one of the best prepaid credit cards available), which definitely helped me out loads on my travels. When I was in Madrid, Paris, and some of the other main cities, I did manage to find a few places that would at least let me draw out some money and I was able to get by. As I travelled in to more and more remote places, my card was becoming a problem.
I ended up in Bulgaria, with no cash left and no access to my bank account, and it was a really scary thing I can tell you. I was travelling on my own at the time, and did not know what to do. I spoke to my brother back at home, which came up with a great idea. He would sign up for a Master card prepaid card and then get a second card, and send it out to me. Therefore, this is what we did, and it saved me from a very uncertain situation. I had managed to explain my situation to the hostel manager, who was very understanding and let me stay there until my card arrived, which due to the postal service was nearly 2 weeks!
I had to hand some personal possessions in to him as a deposit to borrow some money to live during this time. It made me feel happy that there are good people in the world that are willing to help out others in need.
When my Master card prepaid card arrived in the post, all was resolved and I was able to continue my travels with no more problems. I was able to arrange a BACS transfer into the Netspend account and from then on things were a lot less stressful. If I had known the situation before I had left on my travels I would have saved myself a lot of hassle, as almost everywhere in the world will accept the Master card prepaid card. When I got home, I signed up for my own card with Account Now so that I have my own account.