We are going to be in London in September and since the pound is at a 10 year low against the dollar do you think I should buy some pounds now? Also what about prepaying your hotel because right now it will cost $110.00 per night but a few months ago it would have been around $150.00 per night? Thanks for any help.

Curious to see the replies.

I'm curious too. We are going in March. Daughter is going in Jan. for five months.

Currency speculation. No one can predict the movement, or else we'd all have pied-a-terres in London

If you buy now, will you be checking regularly to see if the currency has gone against you (glad you booked now) or for you (now sorry you booked)?

So if you feel it's a deal, book now and pay all your fixed costs..and don't second guess.

w/ the lousy exchange you get buying in the States the £ would have to rise 10¢-12¢ to make pre-buying make any sense at all.

You <i>could</i> save some by buying now - or your could lose even more. If the &pound; continues to slide you will lose twice over - lousy exchange rate now and even cheaper &pound; then.

Currency speculation is really not a way to finance a vacation. Put the $ in a CD and make some extra to buy your &pound; next year in London.

The reason I thought to do this was the pound is at a 10 year low. I have a pen pay in the UK who I will be seeing so I thought if I sent her some money she could get the pounds. Of course I don't know if that is possible or not.

If you send her a US$ check she will have to pay a fee on top of the exchange. If you send her TC's there will be even higher fees. If you send her cash - it could be lost in the post. Plus you will lose any interest you might have earned between now and then.

In 1973 the &pound; = $2.45. In 1980 the &pound; = $1.30.

So there is no telling . . . . .

In 1973 I spent 4 months travelling around Europe, with American dollar travellers cheques - in those days there wasn't the same network for debit/credit cards. Even though we were Canadian, we were assured that USD were best.

It seems to me that every time we passed a newsagent there was a large headline:'American dollar sinks to new low!'

However, we survived. But there's no telling.

Hi K,

How will you feel if the GBP drops 10% between now and Sept?

How much more will you pay to buy GBP in the States vs an ATM in London?

Why do you want to tie your money up for a year?

What if something happens and you can't go.

Leave currency trading to the currency traders.

Always a bad idea. If you want to invest in the fx markets, then talk to an investment adviser and invest in the fx markets.

The irony is that if kit9172 decides now not to buy sterling it is still a decision on best strategy -- in other words, a speculator's decision.

Once the idea has entered your head, and you feel a need to make a decision, you have become a currency speculator.

Perhaps the other way to look at it is...how much did you budget for your trip? If the conversion rate is now moving the costs to be under your budget, then one reason to lock-in.

Also, check to see what the bank costs would be to buy &pound;s. Buying now would lock in those extra charges, versus lower cost using an ATM when in London..i.e. if the currency stayed the same till Sep, you would pay less to get &pound; when in London.

I have an idea you might save more on the trip by judicious timing on your flights than in currency translations.

I can't offer advice on whether to buy now or not BUT if you are sending money to a friend consider PayPal.

I used it to send money to a friend travelling in Asia and it was much cheaper than a lot of other methods at the time.

Re the paying now, personally I would think &quot;Am I prepared to pay $110 for this room?&quot; if the answer is yes then I would probably book it. But that is me.

I don't think it's quite at a 10-year low. Close, but not there. At least not this week as yet.