Michelle

I was reading one of the earlier posts and several people said that they would not leave home without a currency cheat sheet. Does anyone have the web address for this? It sounds very helpful. Thanks. Michelle

Joel

It's www.oanda.com. Once you find it and choose the currencies you want, go down to "need a different service" and choose "cheat sheet for travelers". You can even adjust it several percentages to reflect bank charges. I copied the cheat sheets and shrunk them on a photocopier for my wallet. They're great!

Bob Brown

I make my own rate sheet by consulting Yahoo frequently. Go to the main Yahoo page, then select Stock Quotes. Under that is a section on Currency Rates, which gives good details. The rate table includes another drill-down to a summary of the rates within the last 52 weeks. With that information, you will know if the tide is running in your favor. For example, if I catch the Swiss Franc around 64 cents, near the 1998 low, I figure it will be to my advantage to buy some currency. I got some Swiss francs last year for 67 cents, including purchase charges, and it was 74 cents, wholesale, by the time I got there. So I gained a net of 8%. (Had to pay to buy, but I figure 8% discount on lodging bills is ok.) I would not try this with less stable currencies. I might be catching the mid point of a falling rate curve. <BR> <BR>Of course, the main reason some people do the "cheat sheet bit" is to know if the local Bureau de Change or the Wechselstube is gouging them. And believe me, some of those places can flat sock it to you. But, if you get caught cashless, what are your choices? <BR>You get gouged, just limit the damage. <BR> <BR>Headed for Russia? Crisp, clean, and green photographs of Hamilton, Jackson, et. al, come in very handy. <BR>

Donna

Great advice from Bob about watching fluctuating currencies. There's a nifty service on the web that will e-mail you all the exchange rates daily http://www.xe.net/currency/subscrib.htm.Usually, you can figure a simple calculation. As for a "cheat sheet", I prefer a tiny calculator (there are even travel versions for this specific purpose, which retains the constant when turned off) with a constant key. I used to carry "cheat sheets", but it gets just too complex for me when trying to add on the taxes.