Hey NeoP, check out the OP!

AAFP, I'll have little need for pounds during a two-hour layover in T5. I think I'll just use my CapOne Visa for any purchase I may make in the UK.

And now I will leave you guys to fight it out as I take off for Rome and "la bella vita."

>>>>>
But I should have said it is just as logical that US dollars be available in airport ATMs in places like Paris and London as it is for euros to be available in the ones in London. Is that better?
>>>>>

no, it's not and you have not conceded anything but have only reinforced your lack of understanding and ignorance.

we clearly have very different perspectives and underlying assumptions...yours involve a very poor understanding of europe. despite many sceptics we increasingly see ourselves as one UNION. therefore, for many of us it seems strange that we can't even get euros out of the cash point at the airport when heading to euroland. increasingly, we see a trip to spain or france nearly as a new yorker sees a trip to florida...but of course you don't understand this.

when france joins into a political and economic union with the US, moves onto the same continent, has masses of people who regularly commute for work between france and the US, then maybe french people will expect to get USD at paris airport cash points without the need for an archaic money changer. but for us, it's a clear matter of our banking system being decades behind european unification and the associated customer expectations that unification brings.

but i suppose it makes sense that someone with a poor understanding of europe like yourself would not understand the economic (and cultural and political and social) ties between the UK and the eurozone...and actually believe that the strength of association between the french and the US dollar is the same as between britons and the euro.

it's as bizarre as a european not understanding why banks in maine should offer enhanced currency exchange services between canadian and US dollars but not between USD and danish kroner. and just why do i see all these signs in texas advertising services around sending money to mexico. why the heck aren't they advertising services around sending money to poland as well. gee, i just don't understand.

nice try neo. as long as you are spending so much time here why don't you see it as an opportunity to actually 'listen' and learn about other places rather than constantly opening your mouth (virtually, of course) on things you know nothing about.

Whew. I haven't seen so much hot air since last August. What a bunch of BS that has nothing to do with anything I was talking about!

But then what can I expect from someone who last week went on a similar tirade about his economics degrees showing that he KNOWS Argentina is NOT a cheap country? More BS of the same.

You can get euro from a cash machine at the Eurotunnel terminal near Folkestone. Well you can if it is working, as last time I was there it wasn't. I suppose by definition all the travellers there are on their way to the eurozone, and having a machine to dispense cash is cheaper than going to the change counter, but that is an alternative. You can get cash at the change counter with a U.K. debit card and your passport. I don't know if foreign debit cards are acceptable.

In the argument about having some currency before arriving in a country, don't forget that, if go through the Channel Tunnel on the car shuttle, you just drive off on the other side. There is no terminal building to go through, where you can stop at a cash machine. Your first stop may therefore be when you buy a coffee or food at an autoroute service area, and for that you will need some euro.

<<< No, because you will not be able to purchase Euros at an ATM in the UK. >>>

HBOS are currently rolling out dual Euro/Pound ATMs (there's one in Halifax). There's also a Euro only ATM in the RBS building on the east side of St Andrews Square in Edinburgh