Patrick

With all the postings regarding cash, traveler's cheques, ATMs, and credit cards, thought I'd post the results of our recent 5 month stay in Europe. We used ATM machines a total of 56 times in London, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Holland, France, Spain, and Portugal. Usually we withdrew about $300 US worth of foreign currency at a time. I believe three times we had trouble with them not working, but each time we had to walk less than a block to find another. Several times the machine told us we were asking for too much and they limited our withdrawal to about $250 or so US. Our bank (BankAmerica) charges no fee on the first two out-of-country transactions each month and then $1.25 for each one thereafter. The exchange rates were all wonderful --certainly better than any local currency exchange place. If any of the foreign banks charged us for the service of using their machines, it never appeared in our statements, but might have been added on, but a $1 or so charge did not make any noticeable change in what we interpret as the overall exchange rate. <BR>We never had a problem easily finding an ATM in every arriving airport or train station. <BR>Our credit card transactions (believe me there were hundreds of these) all had great rates also, usually pretty identical to the ATM rates on the same dates. The only problem we had was that several places would not take Master Card, but would take Visa -- not really a problem as our two cards are one of each. We took $1000 in US travelers cheques for the first time in years, mainly because we had a couple of places in Turkey that had told us they would give a 10% discount if paying in US cash or travelers cheques. We used $800 of those and returned with the other $200 worth. Generally speaking we paid cash for most items under about $25 and charged everything else. We paid all tips in cash, rather than adding them to credit cards. (We did have a waiter in Greece who said, "I'll only take that credit card if you promise to pay the tip in cash." <BR> <BR>

jeff

Patrick: Thanks for the scoop. I have yet to use an ATM card in Europe, though I have been tempted. Let me ask you this: Did you set up a specific travel account or is this your typical checking account. If it is your typical checking account, at what point after your trip will you have balanced the checkbook again? My concern is that the ATM posts (debits) w/exchange rates and fees will trickle in and my account will be in dissarray for months after my return. Granted, I am fanatical about my accounts, but it could be a concern for others, too. Thanks for your post. <BR>

Patrick

We have an unbelievable friend who looks after our place while we are gone and also sorts our mail and pays the bills. He even balances our checkbooks for us. I can also bring up my checking account on the internet, a nice bonus. We use our regular checking accounts, and make sure we have deposited enough cash before we go to cover our expected budget. But the ATM withdrawals were all posted within two days of our actual use -- mostly the same day or one day later. Modern banking is amazing. And each one lists the exact amount of withdrawal in US dollars only (in fact, my account does not show the amount in the foreign currency that we actually withdrew, just the US equivalent), plus a separate listing for the $1.25 fee if there was one.

Christina

I'm not a big fan of relying on ATMs in foreign countries as I've had a lot of problems with them, and I don't personally care about very minor differences in rates. Also, I have often found exchange rates to be about the same as ATM/CC rates in many places I go (like Prague recently; true in Paris, also), so there's no big difference to me and I don't like to spend my time worrying about stuff like that. However, I did want to caution about something I did by accident in Prague when using an ATM, as it's very expensive and makes ATM cash cost more than lots of other modes--my bank charges a $2 ATM fee withdrawal (which also adds up a lot, so I agree withdrawing $300 at a time is a good ploy, but I don't usually carry around that much cash); however, I must have hit the "check balance" button by accident (or on purpose curious if they could do that from abroad), and my bank charged me another $2 for that little item. In the US, I get the balance automatically on my withdrawal slips so did not think there would be a charge for that, probably, but there sure was, the same as the withdrawl. I could not balance my checkbook until I got my bank statement the next month, no big problem for me as I never let the balance go that low. However, these are done electronically and in my case, they were posted to my account very shortly after I got them. I wouldn't worry about them taking months to go through. YOu just can't know your balance down to the penny due to not knowing the exact exchange rate you will get.

Joanna

I agree with the above poster. It depends on which bank you're with, more often than not. I found out last time I was away they charged $8 for each O/S ATM transaction. With a poor AUD, that's not small fry. And I only get 10 "free" transactions but this doesn't include overseas transactions. <BR> <BR>I still find travellers' cheques and using my credit card useful and would use tc's in preference to ATMs, mainly because they can be replaced same day if lost and my bank card can't be (not out of Australia, anyway).

Dave

The first thing I do at the airport after clearing customs is get cash from the ATM. It comes from my checking account. I recently used it in Portugal, Spain, Lithuania, Finland, and Turkey without a problem. I try to get $200 at a time as I believe that is the limit.

kk

Patrick, welcome back! I think I last saw a trip report from you when you were describing Greece. Did I miss one/some?? If so, what are they called so I can dig them up in the archives? If not, how about somre more reports. I loved them! And I am not going back to Europe for another 6 months + 11 days, but who's counting, ha!