I came across two interesting news stories last week. On October 26, Thailand launched a tourist payment app called WORPT: foreign visitors can deposit USDT or USDC, which is automatically converted into Thai baht, then pay using PromptPay QR codes—the system locals use every day. The service is operating within the Thai SEC’s Tourist DigiPay sandbox, and a Visa prepaid card is also planned for mid-November. Around the same time, starting November 1, tourists shopping in Japan can also receive their tax refunds in JPYC, a yen stablecoin, via the Avalanche blockchain. They pay the tax-inclusive price first, and after customs verifies their purchases when they leave the country, the refund is sent to their wallet.

Both developments point in the same direction: spending money abroad is shifting from “exchange a stack of cash and bring one card” to combining several different ways to pay.

This reminds me of the scrapes I got into on my first few trips abroad. No matter how neatly I packed, payment methods were always the last thing I thought of—and the thing most likely to trip me up once I got there. Once, I landed and realized that the card I normally relied on most wouldn’t work at local shops. The currency exchange counter had a long line, and its rate was worse than what I’d seen on my phone. I tried to pay by scanning a code, only to find that my payment app didn’t support local codes. Then, when it came to getting a tax refund, I had to queue to fill out forms and wait for cash—and nearly lost the refund form along with my boarding pass.

The problem is never that “I have no money to spend.” It’s that your money and payment methods don’t work together. Every destination has its own habits: in Thailand, people pay by scanning codes; in Japan, cash, transit cards, and QR-code payments all coexist; in Europe, chip-and-PIN and contactless payments are common. Your cards, your wallet, and your stablecoin balance each follow their own path, and it’s only when you arrive that you discover they don’t connect.

These days, before I travel, I make a simple payment checklist and ask myself just four questions.

First, how do people at my destination usually pay? Spend ten minutes checking before you leave: are cards, QR codes, or cash the norm? Do small shops accept cards? Can you tap your phone to pay for transit? The answers tell you what your main payment method should be—rather than leaving you to figure it out at the airport.

Second, what settlement route does my card use? The same purchase can show up as a different amount on your statement depending on which card you use. The BIN, settlement network, and exchange rate all affect the final cost, so look beyond the basics when choosing a card. Before you leave, compare your cards side by side: Which one uses a smoother route locally? Which offers more transparency about when the exchange rate is applied? Does your backup card use a different route? If your primary card runs into trouble, a backup that uses the same route is likely to have the same problem. It only makes sense to keep a backup if it takes a different route.

Third, how will tax refunds and refunds get back to me? Japan’s change to charging the tax-inclusive price upfront and issuing a refund after departure verification illustrates one thing: a tax refund isn’t “money saved at the time of purchase.” It’s money you have to wait for, that must be verified, and that you need to confirm has arrived. Check the refund currency, payment method, and timing before you leave. Don’t wait until you’re back home to discover that you’ve lost the refund form—or that you’ll have to exchange the refunded money again.

Fourth, have a backup that doesn’t depend on internet access. A dead phone, no signal, or an app crashing—any one of these can derail a “phone only” plan on the spot. You don’t need much of a backup: a little local cash and one physical card will do. Keep them somewhere separate from your phone.

This checklist isn’t complicated, but it addresses a very specific hassle: spending money abroad is difficult not because of any one payment, but because there are so many payment methods and they don’t work together. What we’re seeing in the news about Thailand and Japan is really an effort to address the same gap—helping tourists spend their money through the payment methods locals already use, rather than making tourists set up another way to pay.

What I do is compare the settlement routes for my cards before I travel. I take a look at PayAll’s card aggregation comparison tool to see which route each card uses locally and roughly what exchange rate it will settle at. That gives me a clearer picture before I set off. It’s just a comparison, not a decision; I still choose which card to use based on the situation when I get there.

Here’s the takeaway in one sentence: spend ten minutes before you travel getting your payment methods in order as part of packing, and you’ll save yourself a lot more trouble than trying to figure things out once you arrive. Destinations change, and payment methods change too. What doesn’t change is the need to find out how your money will get there and back before you set off.

(I am affiliated with PayAll. The above is shared as personal experience only and does not constitute investment or financial advice.)