How to travel if you are Nepali

So here is the first page of How to Travel if you are Nepali. Which is bloody hard! I am not Nepali but I live in Nepal and know how frustrating it is for those who want to travel...

So you have the money to travel, the rest should be easy, right?

Not necessarily so. Here in Nepal you will not be able to change your cash rupees for the cash dollars you will need overseas. What you will get is:-

A dollar debit card. Like a local debit card, you will be able to withdraw money from an ATM when in another country. ATMs will give you money in the local currency or, for example in Cambodia, US dollars. The downside of this card is that you cannot check the amount is correct while you are still in Nepal – you have to trust the bank did indeed put the correct amount onto your card.

And you cannot have a friend or family member top it up from Nepal. If you need more money to spend while travelling, you yourself would have to return to Nepal and go through the whole processes of obtaining a dollar card again. Not very convenient!

Cash. You can obtain cash (US dollars, Euros, Pounds Sterling) from the bank. The downside is there is frequency a shortage of foreign currency in the country and you may not be able to get as much as you require.

Credit card. The downside of a credit card is unless your company does transactions legally in dollars you will not be able to get a credit card, regardless as to how much money you personally have in the bank.

So even getting the right money together can be hard...even if you have in in the bank :)