Traveling the world with only one currency — sounds good, right? Can you imagine that you don’t need physical money in your pocket? You can comfortably use Bitcoin from any device anywhere in the world.

Even if you lose your physical wallet, your Bitcoin is always there for you; safely stored in your virtual wallet. Therefore, Bitcoin is one of the most convenient means of payment when you’re traveling. You can use bitcoin to buy plane tickets, rental cars, and hotels; aside from pizzas and properties, of course. Let’s see how we can do it.

Cashless Traveling

December is traditionally the busiest time for traveling because people go home to visit their families and rejoice together as the year comes to a close. So I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to look into the possibilities of traveling solely by using bitcoin as a means of payment for travel and accommodation.

We are moving fast towards a cashless society where physical money is slowly becoming obsolete. Cryptocurrencies are one of the driving forces behind this change, so it is only appropriate that they are slowly being adopted for every type of payment.

The list of companies that accept bitcoin has been increasing steadily over the last couple of years.

This is plainly evident on a site like coinmap.org where you have a very neat interactive representation of around 14,000 merchants around the world that currently accept cryptocurrencies. That number is steadily rising and doesn’t show any signs of stopping!

Traveling with Bitcoin only – is it possible?

Sure! Since Bitcoin is gaining popularity among merchants, I will try to organize a trip, funded only with Bitcoin, starting with the transport there and back, accommodation, food, and all the other things you spend on the trip. But actually, it wasn’t a challenge at all. 

Our trip will be from Ljubljana to London for the weekend, using bitcoin as travel funds. This will be a demonstration of how to find options if we wanted to avoid using cash. Is it even possible to completely circumvent the need for fiat money?

When searching for various online services I looked at many websites and there are plenty of great options for traveling and accommodation, but I couldn’t possibly list every one of them. That’s why I am showcasing the ones I subjectively liked.

I would just like to point out the fact that you will usually get the best price if you pay with bitcoin because the merchants will often offer discounts as they expect the bitcoin price to appreciate in value.

Booking a flight

I will take a flight from Ljubljana (Slovenia) to London (UK). The first challenge we face is finding a good and reputable flight booking service that accepts Bitcoin.

I found a service called btctrip.com, which offers flight and hotel accommodations, covering many destinations worldwide. The user experience is fairly simple, and not much different than if you were to use any other online flight booking website. If you have any experience with that, you will feel right at home.

They allow users to fill out where they would like to travel, followed by departure and return dates. In the end, you will be able to pick Bitcoin for your payment. In addition, they also accept Litecoin and Dash, which is a big plus over some of the other sites I looked at.

Before you buy the ticket, you need to have a certain amount of Bitcoin, Litecoin and/or Dash in your wallet. You can instantly buy Bitcoin, Litecoin or Dash here at Kriptomat. You will also get a free online wallet.

Drive to the airport

In the opening paragraph, I mentioned rental car services, but paying for them with bitcoin might be a bit tricky. There are very few traditional Taxi services that are accepting bitcoin at this moment.

I did come across cases of people using crypto to pay for taxis and rental cars, but those payments were usually over the counter, something that we don’t necessarily approve of due to regulatory restrictions, and should be done at one’s own risk.

Same with Uber and similar services, but that’s not the limiting factor if the country doesn’t even support it in the first place. At the end of the day, you have to be resourceful.

Buy food with Bitcoin

We will presumably also have to eat on our journey, and we all know that you can already buy pizza with bitcoin. But don’t worry, you won’t have to spend 10,000 bitcoins to do so.

Just go to coinmap.org or install the Bitcoin Map application and find local food places that accept crypto payments. Restaurants are usually very progressive when it comes to cashless payment options.

Google is also your friend if you find yourself in foreign lands as you can find gems like Places in London that accept Bitcoins where you can find — you guessed it — places in London that accept bitcoin.

Book a hotel with Bitcoin

Finding a hotel booking that accepts bitcoin wasn’t that difficult, especially in a place like London. The thing is that there are so many services to choose from, but there were some that advertise themselves as crypto friendly, but when you actually reach the checkout, there are no available crypto options.

To save you some time: the most useful service I found in my search was the Destinia hotel room booking. It was intuitive, easy to use, and it accepts bitcoin payments.

You have to go to the “hotels” section where you simply input the location and days of check-in and check-out. You will immediately be presented with a variety of options to pick from. I had no problems finding a booking in my designated dates.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that you can use bitcoin for travel, it’s clear that it is not the most convenient way in every country. Some places are more ready to accept bitcoin than others, depending on the local crypto-related policies.

But we are getting there. There is a group of dedicated enthusiasts who are already using these currencies for actual monetary exchanges, and they are paving the way for the rest of us.

For what is probably the first time in history, you can travel the world using just one currency. In our travel example, there was little to no need of going from euro to British pound. 

The only question left is where to get Bitcoin in a fast and simple way. The answer is right here at Kriptomat. 

You can use Kriptomat as your go-to personal crypto bank account when you’re traveling or going about your day-to-day life. You can then use your crypto funds however you wish; send them to your private wallet, to your friends and family, or to other services.

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Disclaimer: Our blog posts do not represent an investment advice and nothing in them should be construed as investment advice. Blogs merely provide information and education for the interested public.