I've been traveling extensively for 10 years, over 60 countries and counting. Still haven't ever been in a situation where I needed relatives to send money. I have multiple banks, cards, credits cards, accounts and lawyers who can handle these types of issues for me.
I've also built up a network over the years so I have friends in virtually every major city on the planet. You could literally spin a roulette wheel of cities and drop me into one anywhere on the planet with nothing in my pockets and I'd be fine. People are far more helpful than you realize and of course knowing people helps.
I was completely broke once in one of the most dangerous cities on the planet (San Pedro Sula, Honduras) due to poor planning and a city wide internet outage that took out all ATMs. I also didn't speak any Spanish at the time. This was before I had multiple banks too.
In the end it wasn't really an issue at all, bus driver let me ride for free to the next town and personally escorted me to a safe ATM. Once you've been through things like that a few times you realize most situations just aren't as big a problem as you might think.
I've also built up a network over the years so I have friends in virtually every major city on the planet. You could literally spin a roulette wheel of cities and drop me into one anywhere on the planet with nothing in my pockets and I'd be fine. People are far more helpful than you realize and of course knowing people helps.
I was completely broke once in one of the most dangerous cities on the planet (San Pedro Sula, Honduras) due to poor planning and a city wide internet outage that took out all ATMs. I also didn't speak any Spanish at the time. This was before I had multiple banks too.
In the end it wasn't really an issue at all, bus driver let me ride for free to the next town and personally escorted me to a safe ATM. Once you've been through things like that a few times you realize most situations just aren't as big a problem as you might think.