Questions You Thought You Can Answer, But Actually Can't Without Google #1: "What's A Traveler's Check?"

NOTE: This is a segment I'm going to try that a friend suggested to me during a Gchat. He brought up the idea by saying, "It might be funny to see you make a fool of yourself trying to ask life's questions that people think they know, but don't actually know unless they Google it." Paraphrased that entire quote, but yeah, let's give it a go.

A traveler check, eh? Shrewd question, but one I think I can reason myself to without the help of my iPhone, laptop, Nook, Playstation 3 or television.

Let's dive into the root of the term: "traveler" and "check." A traveler is someone who...travels? When you travel, you need money. Because there are still people that don't have a bank somehow, you need to write checks to pay for things. So basically it's general Monopoly money that is connected to your bank. Actually this sounds really stupid, because there is no such thing as general currency. Is there? Fuck. They are still in existence, so I think I'm going to backtrack. I think a traveler's check is an emergency check that a bank keeps in your name in case you get into some serious SHIT overseas. I don't even know. Let's check Google to see how close I am.

"A traveler's check is a preprinted, fixed-amount cheque designed to allow the person signing it to make an unconditional payment to someone else as a result of having paid the issuer for that privilege.

They were generally used by people on vacation instead of cash as many businesses used to accept traveller's cheques as currency. Their use has been declining since the 1990s as better alternatives, such as credit cards and automated teller machines became more widely accepted and available."

Real talk, I have no idea what that first paragraph means. I paid you for the privilege of paying you? There's a 5% chance that's what it means, but it sounds crazy baller. I was kind of correct with the second paragraph, but I need to find a way to use a traveler 'cheque at the bar. I'll probably get punched in the face, but that's a bucket list moment I just created that I need to accomplish in like 72 hours before I mentally break down. Googling "How to acquire traveler's checks" now.