jan

Last year when we went to Italy someone on this forum suggested a formual something like "drop the last three numbers and divide by half = lira to us dollars" I'm pretty sure I don't have it exactly right, but wondered if anyone out there does remember. We will also be going to France us dollar = franc? Any help would be appreciated. thanks jwg

Ed

Still a pretty good approximation for lire. Better to drop last three digits, divide by two and now subtract 10% <BR> <BR>50,000 lire <BR>50 after dropping the last three digits <BR>Divide by 2 - 25 <BR>Drop 10% = 22.50 <BR>Actual conversion rate today is about $21.79 <BR> <BR>French francs, divide by 8 to get dollars. <BR> <BR>50 French francs divided by 8 = 6.25 <BR>Today's conversion rate = $6.43 <BR> <BR>twenj <BR>

jim

Since there are about 2,000 lira to the dollar, the formula would be something like: drop 3 zeroes and and divide by 2. So 10,000 lira equals $5US. (Maybe that's what you meant when you said "divide by half.")

jan

ed & jim--thanks for the info- this is the best sight. we leave tomorrow...i am really excited - taking our two teen boys. thanks again jwg

Diane

Actually the exchange rate today is 2295.something lira to the US dollar. When we got our credit card statement from last month's trip, we could track the exchange rate by day and saw it go from about 2130 to nearly 2300. A real reason why you want to use plastic as much as possible! We just guestimated as if it were 2000 to the dollar and knew we were really spending less. Have a wonderful trip.

elvira

And the Euro makes life soooo easy: <BR>In Italy and France, you'll see the Euro amount displayed along with the lira or franc amount. Right now the euro is worth about $.85; sorry, I don't know any fancy tricks - you'll have to multiply by .85 to get the conversion amount.