Upon my travels in the far north, to most of you I am one that is still considered stuck in the stone ages using cash to make purchases as I still to this day never obtained a credit card or established credit, for many personal reasons I feel comfortable with as I have been debt free all my life and had no problems purchasing anything with cash since dealing with society.
Unless I was a businessman or spend a lot of money in the economy (which I don't), then yes I would use a credit card for every purchase possible.
My first trip on the Alaska Highway was in March 1985 and crossed into Canada for the first time, as during the pre interlink electronic era before more reliable connecting with the remote outskirt businesses of Alaska and Northern Canada - the majority of these 'remote outskirt" places did not accept plastic cards back then or would not accept them upon their discretion so cash was and still is king, unlike today where the majority of remote places now accept them because of the improved electronic infrastructure to immediately confirm sufficient funds on a credit card or bankcard account.
But do keep in mind as Sue and Joe mentioned as well as me pointing out the same reason on a past post of this similar topic, particularly in Northern Canada there are still electronic interlink glitches that still happen once in a while shutting down the system from using plastic cards until the system is restored, and other than the typical established remote town type gas station (plastic cards widely accepted) one would might run into a business that will not accept plastic cards in the far north of Canada.
Generally you won't find that problem as much within Alaska reference to well out of town remote type businesses of today, however there are a few out there that still will not accept plastic cards.
I have four different bankcards issued and prefer not to use them for travel other than one (for continental US travel only) so I save on transaction fees, and one other one is my Canadian bank card which I can use that one in the event of an emergency within Canada (which I typically use to withdraw funds at the Canadian bank or a Canadian ATM), as I was sooooo glad to obtain a Canadian bank account since 2011 when in 2009, banks in Canada changed policies upon non account members exchanging foreign cash currency by restricting to lower amounts and finally eliminated that hurdle for which now I can exchange unlimited amount AND get an even better favorable rate for non cash exchange transactions in which my Canadian account is actually two accounts (US funds) and (Canadian funds).
I now generally keep onhand a minimum of $400 Canadian before crossing into Canada and that's because if I go Dawson City way I know I have to purchase fuel before arriving to Whitehorse, while having some onhand spending cash money in Dawson as well, plus if arriving on a weekend it gives me a few days flexibility within Canada before reaching Whitehorse to the bank to re-up at my discretion, while avoiding transaction fees and or exchange fees somewhere else as well.
Also as mentioned time and time again, it is important to have onhand cash for camping fees, commercial laundry machines, shower token/cash slots, etc. whatever is applicable to your needs and a reserve of onhand cash you feel comfortable with while in Canada just in case any plastic card does not work or is not accepted for any reason beyond your control.
A great mention guideline stating bring cash you feel you need (or comfortable with) and double it for a first time visitor in Canada would be ideal.....As the farther north you go in Canada, banks get much farther and farther distant from each other, as you will notice small communities and remote towns will not have banks around.....it is better to have onhand what cash you might not use than to be constraint somewhere needing some cash if a situation arises.
Other than that, plastic cards for most that desire to use them abroad work rather well throughout most areas of Canada and Alaska.
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