Any advantage to buying euros in larger US cities?
 

I plan to buy about $75 worth of euros for an upcoming trip (just as a precaution for arrival - otherwise I use ATMs.) I live in a smallish city with one bank that sells foreign currency - rates are awful. Is there any advantage to buying in a larger city (say Chicago where I will be soon on business)?

For such a small amount I'd say buy where it is convenient. Why go out of your way for a few dollars.

When you say "awful" what do you mean?

Basically the rates are "awful" anywhere in the US. Just buy your €60 at your international departure airport.

Just buy them in your departure airport. The rates will be awful anywhere - and likely not significantly different.

Short answer: No.

You pay a small price for a lot of convenience and peace of mind. Like taking a taxi for twenty bucks instead of taking the bus for three bucks and walking home when it rains... No need to sweat it, in the big budget of an overseas trip it is peanuts.

Banks don't stock euros on their own, anyway, that's why it doesn't matter. They order them from some exchange service. My bank (which is in a large city, Wash DC) orders them from Travelex. I suppose some bank in NYC might have their own euros on hand, but just going to Chicago probably won't do much good. THis is empirical, anyway, you could call and ask, but my bank won't do that for noncustomers anyway. YOu have to have an account there and order it ahead of time.

For a small amount such as $75, I would wait to use the ATM in your arrival airport. We've done this many, many times and it works well. And, if some reason, this doesn't work, you can use the exchange/bank in the airport.

For our upcoming trip where we have to pay the bulk of the apartment rental fee in cash upon arrival, we did elect to get the Euros here in Maryland so we wouldn't have to hassle with raising our ATM withdrawal limits. We used Bank of America because one of our accounts is there. We ordered the Euros online and had them sent to our branch. The money was ready to be picked up the next day.

I have been buying Euros gradually for apartment rents in Italy from a local coin shop. The Euro has dropped quite a bit from $1.52 to a low of $1.24 in recent months. The coin shop adds on around $.05 for each Euro. So $1.30 doesn't sound too bad to me if the Euro rises again. It costs a little more through my credit union (using AmEx) but I figure over a year buying a bit at a time, I should save a some money on my rents...(unless the Euro tanks)...but then I would just buy more at the cheaper rate.