When traveling abroad, it's important to find out what's necessary in the country that you're planning to visit before you set off on your journey. By planning ahead, you'll have a much better chance of being well prepared for your money needs once you've arrived. If you're planning to travel to India, either for a short trip or to live for an extended period of time, here are some tips you can follow to help prepare yourself for the money you'll need while you're there.

How Much Money Will You Need?

Of course, just as is the case with any trip, the amount of money you need to bring along depends primarily on the length of your stay, your purpose for the trip, and your own personal spending habits. When planning the amount of money you intend to take with you to India, you'll want to first plan where you want to stay. Once you've calculated how much money you will need to cover your lodging expenses, you'll want to start considering the restaurants you plan to visit, your transportation needs, and the sites you wish to see. Of course, you won't truly know what everything costs until you actually get to India. But by using the Internet, you should be able to do enough research in order to get a pretty good estimate of the amount of money you're likely to spend on these primary expenses. Just as is the case with all trips, there are bound to be some unexpected situations and expenses along the way. As such, be sure to bring along a bit more money than you think you'll actually need.

What Form of Money Will You Need?

Once you've calculated the amount of money you'll need, you'll then need to consider what form it should be in. In most cases, you'll do just fine by taking cash with you. Of course, it's always a good idea to have some of your money in traveler's checks, just in case you run into an emergency. It's a good idea to only carry a small portion of your money with you, keeping the rest of your funds safely locked in your suitcase at your place of lodging. If you're planning to stay in bigger cities such as Bombay or Delhi, you'll probably also find American banks and ATMs available.

While staying in India, you'll be exchanging your money for rupees. When exchanging your funds, be sure to request one, five and ten rupee notes instead of larger ones. In India, it's best to have smaller notes, since you'll undoubtedly be affronted with plenty of beggars. Smaller notes will also provide you with more flexibility and less of a need to worry about receiving the proper amount of change. It's usually best to simply exchange your money when you first arrive in India at the airport. By doing so, you'll have this task out of the way. The lines at the banks are often quite long, so you'll be glad to have your money exchanging tasks taken care of up front. It's also important to remember that money in India is often extremely dirty. Washing your hands after handling money is always a good idea.

When leaving India, you'll of course want to exchange your rupees back into your own currency. To do so, you'll need the encashment certificates that you were given when you first exchanged your currency. As such, be sure you save these certificates.

Alyssa Davis, writes exclusively for Metal-Wall-Art.com, and specifically about designing with horse wall hangings and iron art.