Oh no!!! 
Poor guy.
Carrying cash through TSA? Isnât that what a bra is for? :-S
My nephew and male relative donât wear bras. Iâve never put anything in my bras other than the body parts belonging there.
Imagine having to undergo a patdown after the stupid microwave scanner detects something in that area! 
^No, but you can pay for almost anything with either a credit or debit card, so you donât need to carry large amounts of physical currency.
Absolutely. Even in 2008, our Visa cards worked in Russia. Granted, we only visited the touristy areas of one large city, so things could be different in some remote areas.
Not necessarily outside the US. Especially if you go outside of touristy areas or major urban centers.
Many transactions in societies outside the USâŠincluding other first-world countries arenât dominated by credit cards to the degree it is here.
In the US it will be âlegallyâ stolen under civil asset forfeiture.
The entire concept of that, in this countryâŠblows me away.
My wife is Canadian and for years when we either of us took our kids across the border without the other, we would bring a notarized letter signed by the other authorizing it. We had one incident when our daughter was little. I had to go to Calgary for a board meeting and my wife was teaching art in Rome. The CEO organized a day spent with a family that my wife knew with a girl of the same age. But, on the way back, the immigration folks pulled her aside and talked with her privately. She was in tears. Never did tell me what they said. But from then on, we traveled with notarized letters. I had my secretary become a notary to handle this.
This can happen if you are Caucasian (and it did to us). But, the racism that is undoubtedly overlaid in these judgments would make it worse.
^Yes, we are white, too. When we were sent to the hall for people with immigration problems, we were the only white family there.
Is that letter still needed?
A little over 5 years ago I took a group of Girl Scouts all fourteen years old at the time to Ghana and I had to have notarized forms both parents I also had about $10k in cash to pay for food and lodging and activities that could not be paid for in advance. We were advised that credit cards would not be accepted in many of the areas we would be traveling. We divided the money between the three adults it was very bulky once exchanged!
@Lizardly, I believe so. There are legitimate reasons for the border folks to check into this â divorced parents where one parent take the kid to his/her country. My D has my name but my wife kept her name. I would always be prepared with documentation.
Itâs interesting to hear about the notarized letters. W used to take D overseas to visit her parents pretty regularly and they were never questioned. I didnât know notarized letters from the absent spouse were a thing until reading this thread!
When Mr. B decided to bring kiddo with him to visit his overseas relatives, the airline (I think it was Delta or one of their codeshares, maybe KLM?) refused to issue boarding passes to them without a notarized release from me. Of course we did not have one! Amazingly, there are notaries at major airports like Seatac, so the trip was saved.
Most of Europe is just as well on its way to being a cashless society as the US. Even in places where credit cards arenât widely accepted, ATM machines are readily available. Thereâs not many places where you would need to carry large sums of cash into the country.
@anomander, our incident happened about 15 or 16 years ago, I would guess. I think you donât hear about the need for a notarized letter until someone decides to stop you. Then you wish you had done it.
What airport did that occur @ HImom?
A friend of ours used to take her kids to Mexico on non-rev tickets, and had to get the letter from her husband if he wasnât with her. Even if he was flying the plane down.
I didnât get details.