We will be going to visit Luxembourg for 3 days then on to Brussels for 3 days from there on to Amsterdam for 4 days. What type of currency would be best to use in these areas, are travelers checks taken with no problems in all areas? , visa cards?, should we just get a small amount of cash daily in each country and use travelers checks for meals,tips and odds and ends. Any other info. would be appreciated on these areas. We will be with a motor coach group on this trip and We will be going the first part of May Thanks, Don

In general, you have to cash your travelers checks for currency exchange at a bank or change service - shops and restaurants are not set up to change travelers checks in USD to local currency (or will charge you a highly unfavorable exchange rate). You will need local currency (e.g. the Dutch Guilder) to pay cash. You can use credit cards easily, as you would in Europe, and using them reduces the need to carry wads of cash around. Probably your best bet is to use credit cards as much as possible and use your ATM card to withdrawl 'walking around' cash to get you through a few days. If you have a four digit PIN you should have no problem using your ATM card and will get the best exchange rate. lat year my ATM fee was only $1.00 for each withdrawl I made in Europe. Some people find it helpful to take a few travelers checks in USD (or whatever) as a 'security blanket' in case they run into problems with the ATMS. Even sticking a few $20s in your wallet works for emergencies - they can be changed just like travelers checks. Like the US, ATMS and credit card accepting merchants are every where. <BR> <BR>Personally, I don't bother with travelers checks any longer. I just hit the ATM machine at the airport upon arrival and use my credit card as much as possible. There have been many past posts on this topic. A search on this forum for 'money,' 'currency,' ATM, or whatever should bring up a lot of additional information. Enjoy your trip.

Try to use an ATM card to get ALL of your local currency (carry a few traveller's checks just in case, if you are worried). You will get terrible exchange rates when you have to cash traveller's checks. ATM machines are everywhere, and the exchange rate is excellent. (Check with your bank before you leave regarding service charges; my credit union offers free use of ATM machines anywhere in the world. My bank charges $2 per transaction. I use my credit union ATM card because it is so much cheaper!) <BR> <BR>Put meals, souvenirs, etc. on credit cards. (Again, check with your credit card company to see what their transaction fees, if any, are.) <BR> <BR>ATMs are just so much easier and more cost effective than using Traveler's Checks. Have a good trip! <BR> <BR>Deborah

Don, <BR>I would get no more than $100.00 in US dollar travelers checks for emergency use only. You probably won't need them and can redeposit them on your return home. <BR>To get the most favorable rates of exchange, pay for meals, accommodations and shopping with your credit card. Visa and Mastercard are popular, American Express less so. Use a bank card to secure cash from ATMs which are commonly found everywhere. You'll find ATM instructions in English. Your bank card must have a 4 digit numeric PIN. Withdrawals will be made from your checking account, not your savings account. Minimize the number of withdrawals since you'll probably be charged a nominal fee each time you make one. Even with the fee such withdrawals are at a better rate of exchange than cashing travelers checks. Just for your information, Belgian currency is readily accepted in Luxembourg; the reverse is not the case.

Don, my husband and I always get a bit of local currency, (actual cash) before we leave California. Usually for a trip of 3 weeks about $200-$300. We use this to A) Familiarize ourselves with the currency and B) So that we have a couple of dollars in our pockets when the plane lands, or the train stops or on long layovers, we might need that money for a snack, paper, phone call, taxi tip, whatever. If we are going to more then one country, we keep the extra currency in money belts, along with a back up CCRD and our passports. <BR>We primarily use Credit Cards for Rooms and ATM's for everything else. I have always experienced difficulty with getting traveler's checks cashed so I don't usually get them. However, one time my ATM card became demagnetized in Northern England, during a bank holiday weekend and we were without cash for 3 days... nerve wracking to say the least. Since then I always have a plan B or C, just in case.

I'm not sure the question you're asking is being answered (but maybe I'm reading you wrong). <BR> <BR>It may be called "Benelux", but they are still separate countries, and it's entirely appropriate that you should buy a modest amount of each country's local currency for "spending money" in each one. It's true that Luxembourg francs are "at parity" with Belgian francs (about 42 to the USD), and more than any of its neighbors, you can probably spend guilders, Deutschmarks, francs (FF, BEF or LUF) - - or even dollars - - in Luxembourg. <BR> <BR>But the least "ugly American" thing to do is to have a little currency for postcards, etc. and use the right currency in the right country. It drives me crazy to see tourists hold up a handful of money asking a shopkeeper to "take the right amount of the right thing" - - and not even be aware of what country's currency it is! <BR>

Please someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I've read that in Amsterdam and the Netherlands in general, credit cards are much less commonly accepted in shops and restaurants then elsewhere in (western) Europe.

That's news to me. I have spent several weeks in the Netherlands, both in Amsterdam and surrounding areas including small towns. Other than paying local cash for very small items like a cup of coffee or a local bus ticket, I have charged everything and never ran into a shop, restaurant, or ticket office that didn't accept Master Card or Visa.

There was a store that sold wonderful French linens in or near the Magna Plaza in Amsterdam and even though I wanted to buy a couple of hundred dollars worth of goods, they would not accept my traveller's cheques. <BR> <BR>For those who of you who rely on bank cards on vacation, what do you do if the card demagnetizes?

Or gets stolen? Or the machine "eats" it? <BR> <BR>Cash TCs at the Amex office for best rates (right up there, in my experience) and no commissions. Then pay cash with the local currency, stored in your money belt, of course.

Having 2 ATM cards and 2 different Visa or Mastercards should be reassuring enough. It's important that the credit cards be from different accounts in case your account gets a hold put on it by the issuer (which can easily happen if you're making a lot of charges in a foreign country). <BR> <BR>Amex is good to have, but you can't count on being able to use it everywhere.

Brian, is that two ATM cards for the same account? My bank will only issue one.

We took a Visa & Master Card but then learned that since they were from the same bank they were really considered 1 account (so if one was lost/stolen, BOTH cards would be closed). The next time we opened up a credit card account with a different bank so as to really have 2 distinct accounts.

I agree that ATMs are the way to go, with a Visa or similar as backup (get PINs for all your cards in case of emergency.) A few years ago, though, we found that central Amsterdam was really lacking in bank ATMs which accepted "Plus" system ATM cards - we had to schlep to the central station or only one or two other places to find one. Probably remedied by now, I presume.

April, we have one for me and one for my wife on a joint account. It may be more difficult on an individual account. John's suggestion of knowing the PIN for your credit card so you can get cash from an ATM is a good idea (the fees and interest will hurt, but it's only a backstop). <BR> <BR>John, in 1998, we had no trouble finding Plus ATMs in central Amsterdam. In fact, we found them more than we probably should have.

I have two checking accounts, at different banks. One bank's ATM is Visa, the other bank's is MasterCard. I have a Visa credit card from a THIRD bank, and a MasterCard credit card from a FOURTH bank. This way, if the Visa computer blows up (and it did several years ago over President's Day weekend - talk about sheer terror), I still have access to a checking account and a credit card. By having four different banks, there's no chance all four banks and both Visa and MasterCard will be off-line together. <BR>Another hint for avoiding terror: banks download/batch information during the night, so if you're trying to get money at 8:30am in Belgium, your bank in New York may be downloading and not be accessible. DON'T PANIC (I did it for everybody two years ago, no need to repeat it); just try again 2 hours later. Keeping that in mind, be sure you have cash for early morning. <BR> <BR>And do get local currency; even if you have $20 worth when you leave the country, you can exchange it in the next country OR keep it for a souvenir (small bills and coins are fun for kids as souvenirs, or in your trip scrapbook/photo album).

You can search for ATM locations at these two sites: <BR> <BR>http://www.visa.com/pd/atm/main.html <BR>http://www.mastercard.com/atm/ <BR> <BR>I just did for Amsterdam and it looks like there is one right next door! I know about Paris. The hotel we are in is the one with an ATM right under our window!

As another alternative to travelers checks: If you have an American Express card you can cash a personal check at AE offices. Saves the cost and concern of getting travelers checks, but still allows access to cash in an emergency (Or if you lose your cards, ATM system crashes, etc.). Additionally, personal checks are basically worthless if lost - you don't have to file a claim, it is unlikely that if someone were to take them they would be able to do much with an American check.