Most of what a holiday costs you in fees happens in three places: the rate your card uses, the button you press on the card machine and the cash machine at the airport. All three are avoidable.

Always pay in the local currency

The machine in the restaurant will offer to charge you in pounds. It looks helpful. It means the restaurant's bank picks the rate, and that rate is usually 3 to 6 % worse than the one your card would use. Press euros in Lisbon, yen in Kyoto, dollars in Austin.

Know your rate

Florin shows the rate before you pay and uses it when you tap. On weekdays there is no mark-up. £100 at 1.1562 is €115.62, and that is the figure that leaves your balance.

Cash, if you need it

Take one larger amount from a bank's cash machine in town, not three small ones at the airport. Decline the conversion the machine offers, for the same reason as in the restaurant.

• Freeze the card from the app if it goes missing, thaw it if it turns up
• Keep a second, virtual card in your phone wallet as a spare
• Turn on notifications: a payment you do not recognise is obvious at once

The best rate is the one you saw before you tapped.

Splitting in another currency

Pay the €138 dinner with your card and split it from the feed. Each friend pays their share in pounds at the rate you got, so nobody gains or loses on the day the request is settled.

Before you fly

Move a little spending money into a euro pot when the rate looks good. It is not a way to beat the market. It is a way to know what your holiday costs before you leave.