true, a lot of people just don't understand basic math or the idea that other countries have different currency, and the fact the one USD does not equal one zloty, etc., does not mean you are being charged a premium or fee. The whole world is not pegged 1-1 of their type of currency to a USD. To explain, it would be like saying that if you were paying for something in the US with four quarters instead of one dollar bill, that wouldn't mean you were paying four times as much. I think people started getting confused about this especially when Europe moved to the euro and so both were more likely "one" of a currency, whereas before that, France used francs, for example, and you would never have one franc equal one USD. The USD has rarely been equal to one euro, but it has happened. Or one Swiss franc or one GBP. I don't know what people thought about France when they'd go there and have to use francs versus USD. To really compare, you'd have to be an economist and consider cost of living, average salaries, etc.

There is a BIg Mac exchange rate which the Economist publishes every year to show the true value of currencies assuming the dread burger was the core exchange medium.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index

thanks for all the helpful replies, including those saying i'm too dumb to try and engage with.

when i paid 1 pound for something in my mind i was paying $1.34 because that's what i had to give up to get that one pound. I think in US currency because i'm American . when i got home and paid my credit card bills i didn't pay 100 pounds for that one hotel stay I paid $134 because my banks require me to pay them in US dollars.

I only care about what came out of my bank account.

Reading this thread is giving me a headache. I do not know how to explain exchange rates so that the OP understands.

"i didn't pay 100 pounds for that one hotel stay I paid $134 because my banks require me to pay them in US dollars."

No, what happened was that you paid for your hotel in £ and your bank converted that payment into $ . It really is that simple.

James did say that in his mind he's paying $134, not £100. I think the phrase "in my mind" says a lot. I sometimes do a mental conversion when paying in another currency. If that's all it is, then maybe he does understand.

Today, at $1.00 USD: Euro to USD: 0.85 Euro to purchase $1 USD; Conversely, to purchase 1 Euro worth of goods it will cost you $1.18 USD.

Great Britain Pounds: Pound to USD is 0.74 pounds to $1 USD and to purchase 1 pound worth of goods it will cost you $1.36 USD.

But the conversion to purchase / exchange your money into the other denomination through a bank or exchange, etc. there is an additional premium or fee on top of the stated rate listed above. I purchased Euros last week and the additional exchange fee was $0.20 per EURO! So I paid $1.38 USD for every Euro I purchased. The sticker shock is always hard to swallow. I make up for it by NOT selling them back and treating them like a coin over my shoulder at the Trevi Fountain. I have to go back to use up the rest. I even gave some to a couple at their wedding in the card since they were headed to Europe for their honeymoon.

I know everyone on this tread understands this, but if someone know s of any place that is cheaper to purchase foreign currency, please let us know. And paying an ATM fee of 4 or 6 pounds is much higher than the above exchange for the amount of ATM transaction and Euros I'll need. We're taking a lot of private tours and they requested cash. Plus, tips for a 10-day tour will require Euros. Don't judge the amount of cash I think I'll need. You might not get a grasp what our 25 days in Europe entails. I've done it before and the money is kept very safe.

Those ATM charges are from your bank in the US? Put the money in a bank that doesn't charge you. That way, it's always cheaper to get your funds from an ATM if you get it from one attached to a bank. I have an account with Charles Schwab and don't pay those fees. (Even in the US, they refund me any fee from the bank where I get the money via ATM.)

I agree with SusanP. We still take tours that want cash and we still tip in cash, but we use our Schwab ATM card when we need the moula.

We blithely had used our regular US ATM cards, fee free, in Paris from 1999 onwards until they started charging us in around 2019. Luckily, by that time, we started using Schwab internationally, mainly because of something that occurred in 2011.

In 2011, we had a disastrous money transfer situation when trying to facilitate my youngest daughter's Paris teeny tiny studio apartment rental for her semester abroad. Money transfers to Paris were a nightmare. Even though PayPal was an option at that time, the landlord did not personally accept it (the rental agency that facilitated the lease did). The initial transfer that supposedly cost $45 ended up, by the time we paid our US bank, the middleman agency, and the receiving bank* becoming 95 Euros.
*The landlord required that we pay HER Paris bank deposit fees.

Part of the nightmare was the rental process at that time.
To snag and keep the apartment we had to pay...
--Agency fees (around $1,000) through PayPal
--Insurance (through PayPal) -- not that bad considering all that it covered, around $200 for deluxe coverage then. (Kerouac would later show me where we could have paid around 10 Euros)
--The first month's rent
AND!!!!--
On the first day of meeting the landlord, one had to hand over...
--The security deposit -- an amount equal to the first and last month's rent--only understand that it is NOT the first and last month's rent as in the US. It's a separate amount of money (I know--culture shock)
--Each month's rent from the second to last month

Luckily this forum helped me navigate to Schwab, an entity with which we already held our investments. We quickly opened two types of bank accounts there in my daughter's name and mine. Wire transfers with Schwab were 1/3 the cost of our first experience. One of the bank account types came with a debit card where charging limitations could be reduced to a penny while withdrawals could be increased to $2,000. Both types offered ATM fee rebates.

Time has gone on. Things have changed. One of our other reliable credit cards and one of our other debit cards from that era are not as fee free now. But as of today, the Schwab Bank Investor Checking account still features no foreign transaction fees on purchases and unlimited ATM fee rebates worldwide. For that reason, my husband and I rely on our Schwab ATM cards instead of carting over lots of cash, although as I always point out, my husband, The Foreign Currency Hoarder, usually has some Euros in his top drawer that he'll take.

I just have a Monzo card, load it up and then use it in whatever currency is the local one to where I am - you can use your card pretty much everywhere here (UK), and in some places now you can't even use cash.