I was surprised on a recent trip to Europe that my (fee-free) credit card got me almost exactly the exchange rate I see on Google. Much better than ATM withdrawal with fees or any posted rate I saw in towns. Also all the internet advice about needing cash left me with lots of unspent euros and zlotys, I used apple pay almost everywhere (in fact my cash was refused in some places!) Maybe a covid-times switch away from cash, not sure.
I always want to have some cash but it really depends on the country and location how much.
I just got back from London and Dublin. I took my ziplocks of pounds and euros over and, aside from tossing some coins in the donation bucket at a London museum (and I think you could donate digitally) and using my Oyster card, I didn't spend a single coin or note. On the other hand, if I were doing an extended walk in the English countryside, I would absolutely want to have a couple hundred pounds with me.
I have a feeling my widespread traveling pre-COVID during which I pretty much figured I'd always have a use for most of my baggies of foreign currency is going to leave me with a fair bit of unused cash going forward.
On the other hand, in cheap countries like say Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, exchanging paper currency (especially USD) to a local currency and back to USD is almost free (<~1%)
- rolling things into logs (time consuming and not space-saving), rather than using compression packing cubes which are quick and easy, organized and actually save a significant amount of space.
- Packing your own tide pods (risky, heavy and unnecessary), just buy detergent locally or use a full service laundromat which is common for locals in many countries
- If you have to wrap cords with hair ties, you have too many cords (I'll admit this one could be personal)
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a terrible option for travel food. They're soft, squishy, messy and don't last long. If you want to travel with food, pack granola bars or trail mix.