How about he pops round while you book your ticket there and then. Giving you the cash at the same time, im assuming hes a reg if you were going abroad? Would that work? He can then book his ticket seperately from your pc.

Typically, yes, a 'real name' is needed, so you want the money for the ticket upfront as a deposit. (I think only the ferries will let you turn up without a named ticket now, and even that might have changed.)

Ideally, you also want a flexible ticket, so if you need to end the booking early for any reason, you can without paying ?lots yourself or hiding somewhere until the booked flight back.

Thank you for your kind responses. Just to clarify a little, he has so far been a regular client of mine although we never spent longer time than overnight stays together.

To ask for money upfront and book the ticket myself, sounds good. Especially the advice on getting a flexible return "just in case".

I would always ask for the money upfront nowadays and book the ticket myself. The last time I did this, the client brought the money here and we booked the tickets online at the same time, but separately in turn if you see what I mean - this could help to allay any concerns that you were just going to do one as soon as you got it.

Maybe I'm a bit slow but I don't follow. Did you meet first at the same time and used same computer for each of you to purchase tickets through?

Another concern I've got is that one client wishes to put a little payment here and there directly into my account. And then later be able to book me for a longer time which by then has been paid for by his earlier monthly or so payments.  A bit like having a credit on my account and then not needing to pay right at our booking. (Now he's seen me before so obviously there is trust involved that I wouldn't just run off with the money...). I was up for the idea since I've got a business account under a different name than my own, so he wouldn't need to know my real name and address just by putting money into it.

But it since downed on me that if there ever was a dispute about just how much money he's paid in or not, then how exactly do I PROVE it? See the problem is that my bank statements show BOTH my real name + name of the account, paired with my address, local branch etc. Heck! Oh, hang on... his bank statements should show exactly how much money he's paid in then too. So that's hopefully sorted, unless some of you could spot any dangers with this setup.

The alternative is of course to only accept cash right at the beginning of each booking. But how do you do this if you go away for a trip together? I mean it doesn't sound safe to walk around with lots of money on you during your trip. So ideally, you'd like to deposit most of it into your bank before boarding the plane or train. If so, would you then need to carry your bank account paying in book with you? Are you even able to deposit cash at say airports or train stations etc?

What's the best way?
  SnakeLady

But it since dawned on me that if there ever was a dispute about just how much money he's paid in or not, then how exactly do I PROVE it? See the problem is that my bank statements show BOTH my real name + name of the account, paired with my address, local branch etc. Heck! Oh, hang on... his bank statements should show exactly how much money he's paid in then too. So that's hopefully sorted, unless some of you could spot any dangers with this setup.

Well, it depends on how he's paying. If he's transferring money from an account, yes, this will show up on his statements (but don't expect him to bring those along). If it's from more than one account, or using cash, then it gets more complicated.

Why not just send a receipt for each payment? You can add a note about how much you are looking forward to seeing him etc.

The alternative is of course to only accept cash right at the beginning of each booking. But how do you do this if you go away for a trip together? I mean it doesn't sound safe to walk around with lots of money on you during your trip. So ideally, you'd like to deposit most of it into your bank before boarding the plane or train. If so, would you then need to carry your bank account paying in book with you? Are you even able to deposit cash at say airports or train stations etc?

Most train stations have banks close by, but airports are more problematic. Some people stick cash in the post to themselves (even international registered post does not cost much compared to how much is involved here, but you need to be back to collect it within a week). Can you meet somewhere more sensible than the airport?

I did get caught out trying to post something thicker than a postcard at Heathrow once - all the post boxes there have very thin slots, presumably in the expectation that anyone trying to stick a bomb in would give up and take it home instead. I ended up giving it to someone who'd just arrived to post it somewhere. It wasn't valuable though!

If you leave it to later, paying into an account in another country is a pain.

Being paid up front is better, although I hadn't thought of left luggage...

Being paid up front is better, although I hadn't thought of left luggage...

It astonishes me that we still have left luggage facilities in this country to be honest, but they have been a Godsend to me on overnights and so on where I've had to travel any distance. I take a 'work' handbag with a skeleton kit in it (purse with bit of cash, book and virtually nothing else) and leave the 'real' one with my personal stuff, keys, wallet plus my train tickets home so I know that if anything happens it's all safe.

I don't know if there are other companies running them, but you can have a check for the main ones here.