About
I have paid these fees so you can skip them.
I have spent close to three decades in and around travel and payments, I have visited 81 countries and counting, and I did not grow up in the United States. True Trip Costs is where I write down the money lessons I picked up the expensive way, one country at a time.
Why this exists
The blind spot I kept seeing.
When I moved to the US, I noticed the same thing again and again. Smart, well-traveled friends and colleagues would land somewhere new and quietly assume money worked the way it does at home: that their card would just work, that the ATM was handing them a fair rate, that the price on the menu was the price they would pay. None of that is obvious from home, so it is nobody's fault. But it means people guess, and come back from a wonderful trip having quietly overspent, stung by a conversion trick, a surprise surcharge, or a tax nobody mentioned. I had learned those lessons the slow, expensive way across dozens of countries. This site is me writing them down so your trip does not have to teach you the same ones.
How a guide gets built
A person writes it, a person checks it, and software watches it.
There is no bulk content here. Each guide is made the slow way and then kept honest, with the date it was last checked shown right on the page.
By hand, country by country
Every guide is written and reviewed by a person, not spun up in bulk. That is 52 countries so far, each one done properly before I add the next.
Checked, then dated
The hard figures, from entry rules and taxes to published card and ATM fees, are checked against an official source before they go up; the softer calls like cash share and tipping are our own estimate. Each guide shows the date it was last checked.
Watched for changes
Software flags when something a guide relies on may have moved, so I go back, check it against the source again, and update the date. That is how a small site stays current.
How I keep it honest
The rules I hold myself to.
I never sell hotel rooms
This is not a booking site and it never will be. Hotel booking is permanently off the table, so nothing here is quietly steering you into a room.
Every link is labeled
When a link can earn me a commission, it says so. When it earns me nothing, it says that too, so you always know which is which.
Sometimes the answer is nothing
If the card already in your pocket works with no fee, I will tell you plainly, and there is nothing to buy. I would rather be useful than paid.
One bit of honesty about the name: you will see guides signed off by the True Trip Costs desk. For now, the desk is one person, me. If the site grows and other travelers join to help keep it current, you will meet them here, by name.
Spotted something out of date or wrong, or just want to reach a human? Email the desk at privacy@truetripcosts.com. I would rather hear about a mistake and fix it against the source than leave it standing.
Pick a country.
That is the whole idea: take what I learned the expensive way, check it against the source, date it, and hand it over. Have a look at wherever you are headed next.
Browse the money guides