While it is very important to have sufficient cash (moolah, dinero, pesos; take your pick) in pocket at all times it is much more important to have cash in pocket while visiting a tourist hot-spot. To illustrate the above fact let me give a harrowing experience that I faced while vacationing in Manali this April. I needed some cash to clear my hotel bill, purchase a few mementos and pay taxi fare to Chandigarh. I kept postponing ATM withdrawal due to my chronic slothfulness coupled with my extreme case of procrastination.
When ultimately I reach the market, to my utter horror I found that all ATMs have run dry due to heavy tourist rush and banks have downed their shutters. Realise my sticky situation as I had only two options:
When ultimately I reach the market, to my utter horror I found that all ATMs have run dry due to heavy tourist rush and banks have downed their shutters. Realise my sticky situation as I had only two options:
- Stay on in the hotel at Manali, keep on running up my hotel tab and wait for the ATMs to start functioning again and as a result miss my onward connection by train with resulting hassle of being labelled a no-show by IRCTC, lose out that ticket money and travel in an unreserved compartment in the train.
- Slink out of the hotel sneakily without paying the bill and settle the bill later. But then how would I pay for the Taxi ride back from Manali to Chandigarh.
Sitting on the horns of this dilemma and fiddling with my purse while cursing my niggardliness I chanced upon a few currency notes I had hidden in my purse a couple of years back about which I had just no recall. This treasure trove was big enough for the hotel bill and Taxi fare and even some to spare for travel expenses. The feeling of relief that flooded me is simply said, indescribable.
I have learnt the lesson the hard way to always carry sufficient cash in a tourist hot spot in future.
