I am wondering if I would get a better exchange rate if I exchanged my Canadian money to GBP here in Canada or if I waited until I get to the UK. I have done some online searching and it seems to be better if I wait - and quite a bit better. Any help would be great. Thanks

Although some people prefer to get currency of the country they'll be visiting before they leave home, we haven't found that to be necessary. We use debit cards as much as we can, credit cards when we can't, and ATMs for walking around money.

Exchanging money is a pain if you mean taking you Canadian currency and going to a bank to change it. Use you ATM card. You'll get the best rate plus whatever fee your bank imposes.

Use your ATM card to get local money upon arrival at the airport.The rates will be much better than you can get at home and you really don't want to carry lots of money around. We have used our ATM card all over Europe and also Eastern Europe and never had a problem.

You will not get a good exchange rate in Canada. You will not get a good rate, if exchanging currency, in the UK. The only decent rate you will get is using your ATM card while in the UK. Even w/ the small extra ATM fees your bank charges, you'll come out ahead.

Great - this is a big help. Thank you so much!

You shouldn't be either carrying or changing actual currency. Pay for all you can with your CCs and then pull cash for walking around money from your checking account with a debit card. If you're more comfortable change $100 worth at the airport before you take off - but it really isn't necessary.

Sharmon12 forgive me for adding a question to yours....the suggestion for using ATM's, does that ring true in Paris and Rome as well?

yes . . . . .

Please also note that if you have multiple accounts on your debit card you won't be able to access them all in Europe. Usually it's just your chequing account that you can access.

I usually do take a bit of currency with me (usually what's left over from my last trip) so that I can get a bottle of water or a coffee at the airport without having to get to an ATM right away, but if I didn't have any in advance I wouldn't be concerned (I once went to Australia solo with no Aussie money on me). Just take it out in chunks when you get there. Note that you pay a fee to your bank each time, so don't take out little bits, but if you're doing what you should and mostly using your credit card, you don't need to get cash all the time.

Also, make sure that credit card purchases get charged in the currency of the country you are in, not in CAD. Some places will give you the option (like Harrod's) - do NOT pay in CAD! You will pay a MUCH higher exchange rate that the store sets itself. Not all places do this, and they have to ask you if they do.

my credit card issuer (ABN AMRO in India) just told me id be charged a 3.5% charge on the forex rates for every transaction i make... go figure.

<<< go figure. >>>

It'll be less than paying for stuff in cash