How many euros can I expect to get from $100 cash while in Barcelona. Probably will exchange at airport or hotel.

Between 70 and 75, but use an ATM machine to avoid large service charges.

The interbank exchange rate today is 1.39 or 0.719.

With a $0 fee ATM you can expect to get about 71 euros.

With cash at airport or hotel more likely around 65 euros or less.

The dollar just got even lower, so $100 US equals about 72 euro. But airports are notorious for tacking on fees, especially if you are exchanging less than $500. Your hotel may not be much better.

One option that has been frequently touted by posters here is to simply use your US debit card to take out money from a Spanish ATM. It will give you the best exchange rate, although you may encounter some fees from your bank. You need to find out what those fees would be and also make sure that your card is equipped to use foreign ATMs (mine is a Bank of America check card and has always worked overseas). Still, I think this is the easiest option and probably the cheapest. (You might take that $100 and change it anyway if you don't think your card will work)

CIB:

Make it aasy on yourself..use this web site:

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Stu T.

...should read "easy"..typo

Never exchange at an airport unless you have to have cash. Many taxis accept credit cards these days.

NEVER NEVER exchange at a hotel unless you like to burn money.

Go to a <u>bank</u> ATM with your card. Find out in advance from your home town bank what they will charge you. It might be as high as $5 per transaction.

Use your credit card as much as possible because the fraudulent use limit is $50. Refrain from using a debit card since the limit on fraud is no limit. Your bank account can be cleaned out. Use Amex as much as possible instead of VISA or MC for ease of challenging fraud.

Barcelona is known for its very professional pickpockets. Any accidental bump or innocent distraction from a stranger should be a fire alarm for you.

There is an old adage that a fool and his money are soon parted.

People who are very well educated about many other situations seem to stagger when confronted with currency exchange problems.

Let me cite an example of my prime example, a man with a Ph. D. in psychology.

I advised him to use his ATM card in Europe to withdraw euro notes from his checking account.

He proceeds as follows:

1. He leaves home with several hundered dollars in paper form which he exchanges at an airport cambio where he pays a fee that is about 6% above the wholesale rate listed daily on Internet.

2. He runs out of euro so he finally finds a bank that will cash one of a fistful of traveler's checks that he has. I don't believe he ever figured out what that cost him.

3. He goes to a bank ATM machine and inserts his credit card and uses that to obtain money. Of course that constitutes a cash advance, and that cost him a few dollars as well.

When he got home he claimed I gave him bad advice. Turned out his wife had been advised to carry traveler's checks because her maiden aunt 40 years ago had done that when she went to Europe.

Later, after some additional quizzing, it turned out that he did not know the difference between a debit card, a credit card, and a normal ATM card.

Today the pitfalls are many. Some credit cards soak you with a 3% surcharge for ALL foreign currency transactions. I know Bank of America makes the additional charge, so I got a Capital One card so I could leave my B of A card buried in my passport case.

Even if you use a card like Capital One, it is probably Master Card based. Even that does not protect you from the scam known as Dynamic Currency Conversion where you are billed in US dollars when overseas. The countermeasure to this practice is to refuse to pay in US dollars; the offerer is NOT doing you a favor because you get clipped on the appliable exchange rate. If the offerer will not cancel dollar amount, either pay in local currency or not on the charge slip: Local currency not offered; disputing this charge.

As another peril, some banks add on a fee if you withdraw from an aTM machine that is not owned by one of their partner banks. Again, using B of A as a prime offender, if in the UK and you do not use a Barclays ATM you set socked $5.00 per card insertion and use. (B of A has a few other partner banks that I know of: Scotia Bank in Canada, Paribus in France, and Deutsche Bank in Germany. These are nation specific I might add, I have heard that use of a Barclays branch outside the UK is not considered on net so you get socked anyhow.)

The defense is to find a financial institution that will not charge you an ATM fee when out of the country or perhaps a minimal fee such as $1.00 or 50 cents. There are some out there.

So unless you want to burn money as written above, you need to informed. There is some good money advice scattered about on this forum, so keep alert for it. I learn a new trick every week or so just by looking at answers to exchange rate questions.

All too true. When I had this discussion today with a client, she was flustered, confused and irritated. It was as if I were the one making up the rules, or giving her bad advice. She conducts a successful business on her home turf, but the falling dollar, a rather extravagantly planned trip, and the need for cash to pay a driver, all set her reeling.

Myself, I figure it is just too late to cry about it. DH and I chose a cheaper apartment for our upcoming trip, but it gets more expensive every day.

I am exchanging some cash through my bank, because the amount I need upon arrival exceeds my daily ATM withdrawl limit. But I am not getting any extra. I will find an ATM upon landing.

tuscanlifeedit you can always ask your bank to raise your daily limit

Hi
As of 9/19/07 it was 1 eu = 1.40 USD. We returned from Europe on Tuesday and checked our Visa acct. today and could not believe how expensive it was to travel for 2 wks. Enjoyed it however.

I propose that the American dollar be renamed the American lira.

Europe is not getting more expensive. The value of the USA dollar is falling! Months ago I suggested dealing in gold. This what much of the world does.

I would love to trade in gold (if I had it) but dont feel like schlepping gold bars around with me (joke).

Has anyone on a long cruise successfully lodged a Canadian bank draft (as liquid as a U.S. cashier's cheque I believe) once on board to pay as one goes rather than face large credit card bill on returning home (any cruise line but specifically Holland America) ?????

I can call cruise line but sometimes one receives conflicting advice. Thanks.

Hi Jo,

Why would you withdraw a large amount of money, which could be earning interest, to &quot;pay as you go&quot; when you can use a CC and then pay when you get home?

Thanks for the replies.
I'm going to carry a mixture of cash and one credit card (I only have one).

I'll use the cc for all purchases that don't take cash and have the cash as a backup.

I'll just have to deal with the exchange rate on my cc when I get home. Not made of money, but there's not too many ways around the low dollar.

I highly recommend that you acquire an ATM card before traveling abroad. It's worth the time and effort.

alanR

I did get the limit up but that just barely covers the apartment, and if the rate gets worse, we are out of luck, because our limit is in USD. I wish we didn't have this apartment thing going on; it is going to cost us maybe an extra 50 USD at the outside, for the exchange for a week's rent that I did here in the US.

So if we spend another extra 30 to 50 a day on our ATM and CC expenses while on our trip, because of our weak US dollar, I guess it isn't the worst thing that ever happened to us. I just don't like it that the dollar gets weaker every single day. But then, only visitors to the US like that.

Tower...I was wondering where you'd disappeared to. Did you receive the Asia forum GTG totebags that I sent? Happy Travels!

That's the problem with renting an apt. that requires you to pay in cash when you arrive. I've never rented one that did that, but I suppose some people like that as compared to paying in advance by CC or something.

If one needs a large amount on arrival for an apt., I think you just have to be philosophical that was part of the price you paid for getting an apt. compared to a hotel, and if it's more than your ATM allows, you just have to exchange TCs or cash at some exchange bureau and pay the extra rate for doing that. If it were only a couple hundred dollars, it really wouldn't matter that much.

The USD isn't really getting weaker by the day, it's been pretty bad and gone up and down a little for a long time, but the recent event was that the Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, a big drop. That was the first time they've cut it in four years. So obviously the value of the USD goes down as investors can do better elsewhere, like in euro.