My husband and I have booked a holiday to South America, visiting Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. We are a bit confused as to which currencies to take, as they all have their own. Please could you advise? Wendy Featherstone, Edinburgh

Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green responds: Your best bet is to take some US dollars and your bank and credit cards, to get cash using ATM's.

You don't want to take huge amounts of cash in with you, so it's a good idea to keep changing up smaller amounts as and when you need them, keeping in mind that changing money in the cities is as easy as finding an ATM or a bank, but in the countryside will be a lot harder.

When you get your US dollars, make sure you get some in small denominations.

A $100 bill will be almost impossible to split in more remote places once you are on the move, and small bills are handy for emergencies (if you should run out of local currency), and good for tipping.

Traveller's cheques are also a good idea, as an emergency reserve, but it's often a hassle to queue up in banks waiting to change them.

Most importantly, on this, or any other trip, keep the money that you take and change up whilst there, sensible split up, with some in your wallet and some hidden somewhere safe. It's never a great idea anywhere to open up a bulging dollar-filled wallet when you are just trying to pay a post card seller. To that end, a small "float" in your shirt pocket or somewhere is perfect for not attracting any attention during small purchases.

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