I am traveling with my son (age 17) to Amsterdam (2 days) and London (5 days). Could someone please provide practical advice? Where is the best place to exchange my money? Could you recommend a reasonably priced hotel in Amsterdam? Any tips for us? Thanks so much.

The best way to get currency in euro and pounds is from your own ATM card. Even better is to charge anything reasonable to a credit card.<BR><BR>I only know two hotels in amsterdam from personal experience - - the Pulitzer, which is not &quot;reasonably priced&quot; - - and one other crappy place whose name I have forgotten, mercifully.<BR><BR>But this website provides a good resource:<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/rants/rrpropselect.cfm?class=Hotels@20003&amp;destinatio n=amsterdam@10<BR><BR>...about two dozen listings there.<BR><BR>www.timeout.com is also a good place to start browsing.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

In London the best place is any Mark's and Spencer's shop with a currency exchange facility. The have the best rate in the U.K - bar none. No fee either.

A very nice hotel that is extremely &quot;reasonable&quot; is The Ambassade, a favorite of Fodorites, it seems. I've stayed there three times and loved it. It will run about $170 US per night, which is very &quot;reasonable&quot; for what it is. If instead you mean &quot;cheap&quot;, not &quot;reasonable&quot; I can't help you.<BR><BR>Best place to &quot;exchange&quot; money? DON'T!! Use an ATM card to withdraw spending cash from your checking account, charge everything you can on a credit card. And if you want a little extra piece of mind -- take a $100 traveler's check just in case, but you'll probably be bringing it back home uncashed.

Three years ago I stayed at the Hotel Smit in Amsterdam in a &quot;garret&quot; room which looked out over the Rijksmuseum. It was around $100 US for a single including breakfast. It wasn't fancy, but the location was superb. They're at P.C. Hooftstraat 24-28; telephone 020-671-47-85; e-mail: [email protected] although this info. is from their card of three years ago so it might have changed.

for Lisa<BR>

Londoner is right about M&amp;S -- IF you need to exchange money. But you really don't ever need to exchange currency in either London or Amsterdam. Just go to any ATM machine to get cash -- the machines will give you euro in Amsterdam and &pound; in London. If you have a few euro left over in A'dam before you head on to London you can simply exchange them at the airport. But try to figure out your needs as you go so you don't have a lot of euro when you leave (Or pounds when you leave London). Just get what you need as you go along. The European banks will not charge you to use their ATMs. But your own bank will probably charge you a small fee - usually $1 to $2.

Before you use either your credit card or ATM card, check with the issuing bank to find out what, if any, additional fees they charge for foreign exchange purchases or ATM withdrawals. Most, though not all, credit card companies are adding 3 to 5% charge on top of the usual 1% fee. Many banks are now doing the same with ATM cards. We checked for our trip to Germany last summer, and our MBNA Visa credit card and our bank ATM card did not add the extra fees while our MasterCard did. So we didn't use the MasterCard.

Thanks to everyone who responded. Please keep the advice coming.

Hi Lisa,<BR><BR>You may want to look up the Jolly Carlton hotel in Amsterdam. Super location, good hotel, nice breakfast included (lunch/dinner in the restaurant is a bit overpriced though).<BR><BR>Have a great trip.