bob_brown

A recurring money question on this section of Travel Talk has to do with the acquisition of either euro or British pounds either in currency form or travelers checks. (I just looked at the American Express site: NO apostrophe.)

The question is always where is the best place to do it BEFORE leaving.

I have one question for these people: Why?

Other than for a small amount of currency for "arrival purposes" I have never known a valid reason for leaving home with a fistful of European money acquired through a financial agency.

So I would like read some explanations from people who feel compelled to take anywhere from $500 to $10,000 worth of currency and/or travelers checks with them when they leave the US.

I even talked with a person who said she left tips while on tour in the UK and Ireland in the form of US $1.00 bills because "They were glad to get American money." For a birthday present I sent her €4.00 in coins that I somehow failed to spend before I left euroland. I included a little note to the effect that €1.00 now was worth about $1.40. (at that time). So she should be glad to have them.

As a corollary question: How many international travelers do NOT know the difference among ATM cards, check (debit) cards, and credit cards? I have actually talked with highly educated people who did NOT know!!

I realize that the latter question has no real answer because I doubt if any statistically sound survey has ever been made.

fbc34

I like to have about 300 Euros with me when I arrive simply because I've been in too many situations where it wasn't easy to find an ATM. I'll use them later in the trip but don't want to ruin my first couple of days trying to find one.

janisj

What surporises me is that every day or two we get posts from folks who don't have, and don't know how to use, ATM cards.

WillTravel

I'm in Canada, but will answer your question anyway.

Have you ever been in a situation where you go to get some much needed currency and find that the bank has capriciously put a hold on your ATM card? If so, like me, you might want to carry some currency when you land.

Plus, I am able to get currency at a place that charges 2% over the interbank rate with no extra fees, and this is cheaper than I can get from an ATM.

AMcanadian

Hi Bob,
I asked a similiar question (which you answered, thanks).
For myself, I haven't been to Europe in a few years and I wasn't sure about what is normal now.
I have a bank account in Canada and therefore use a Canadian bank client card there, and I use my American bank debit/check card here in the States. I have no bank account in Europe and therefore I am ignorant of the latest banking trends. I have to admit, had I not come to the Fodors forum I would have bought about $500 in travellers cheques as that was what I did the last time I went in Europe.
I guess I am one of those confused about the difference between a debit card and a ATM card. I know they both work in the ATM machine and the money comes out of my chequeing account. That is what I use it for. My American card is attached to a bank and VISA whereas my Canadian card is a bank client card. Is that the difference?
I have always used a credit card to make any purchases.

NeoPatrick

ATM and debit cards are most often the same thing. There is such a thing as an ATM only card which can't be used for purchases like a debit card can. In both cases anything you do with that card immediately takes the money from your bank account. A credit card is one that will bill you once a month and then you pay for the purchases made with it. Credit cards are the ones you don't want to use in an ATM machine!

So the bottom line is -- if that card automatically takes it out of your bank account -- it's good at at ATM. If it's a card that bills you -- it should not be used at an ATM.

But Bob, I'm even beginning to soften on some of this stuff. More and more banks have been increasing their ATM exchange rates to 2 and 3 percent and in many cases having up to a $5 fee on top. Some posters have mentioned getting cash at their bank for as little as $10 with no percentage for currency exchange or as little as 1%. Things are changing.

Meanwhile I'm one who always said wait to get it from the ATM, but arriving in Rome this summer, due to a glitch with my bank (I had been gone 30 days so "the computer" removed the override for my traveling despite having my itinerary) I was totally unable to get euros on arrival. And it was too late to call the bank. Arriving at an apartment and telling them I didn't have the cash I was supposed to have was not a pleasant thing -- but the landlady couldn't have been nicer and said I could call her when I got it. I can now easier understand people wanting the cash for such things in their hands when they arrive.

Christalex

Hi Bob,
We went to Europe (Italy) for the first time in September. We flew into and out of Rome (got a better deal on tickets with our MC Worldpoints with Swiss Air) but needed to go to Sorrento right away so my husband could attend a conference for the first few days of the trip. Since our plane was arriving at 7 p.m. and we had our two boys with us (ages 10 and 11) we hired a private driver to take us to Sorrento. (This was all in an effort to avoid taking the trains at night through Naples with the kids while we were all suffering from jetlag). Anyway, we had agreed to pay our driver in cash as requested upon arrival, so I went to one of the local branches of my bank and got enough euro to pay our driver and get us through the first couple days of our trip. For us the peace of mind of being prepared with the local currency was worth it. I just figured out that I paid $1.40 per euro at Wells Fargo, and that our withdrawals at ATM's in Italy were the exact same rate once I factored in the $5.00 fee charged by our bank.

xyz123

I can understand those who need large amounts of cash for thins such as apartments or paying a driver to drive from Roma to Sorrento ingetting euro in advance but for most travellers who will be staying at a hotel, taking trains or other public transportation, eating, there is no great need for euro in advance....but you must have a backup in case the ATM's are down or your card has a problem such as a second ATM card on a different bank or some cash (it can be US, Canadaian, Australian) from your home country which you use, if necessary, at the airport exchange windows. Frankly I've never had to use the cash as I've never gotten into a situation where the ATM's don't work but I know it's a theoretical possibility for a plethora of reasons...also for the most part my advice is always use credit cards, preferably from a bank which at most passes along the 1% charge visa or mastercard imposes on foreign currency transactions (there is a bank, Capital One, which even eats that)...and the way I operate is I have a very very minimal need for any cash when I travel and believe me, I don't eat in extravagant restaurants...more and more places take credit cards and have dropped the silly rule about minimum amounts for which they will take cards although, as noted by some, if you need large amount to rent an apartment, ATM cards have withdrawal limits and might not be the direction to go.

cheribob

DH had his credit card put on hold several years ago while we were in Cortina, Italy. Later on the same trip I could not get money from ATMs in Rome (and I tried several). Luckily DH had enough $US so we had money for the last few days of our trip.

Up until that point I had been an ATM person. However, last year in Barcelona I had trouble with the ATM's again. So now I am not sure how I feel. DH is a luddite so he prefers to take euros with him. ATM's are great unless they don't work.

I remember years ago, I received a new debit card from my bank just before I left on a trip to Paris. I was unable to use the new debit card in any Paris ATM's and my hotel did not accept credit cards (REAL budget hotel). I ended up buying FF at an exchange. Guess what was waiting for me when I got home? Yep, my new PIN number!

Sue_xx_yy

Bob, I could never persuade my MIL to have less than a $5,000 float in her savings account, even though the account paid her virtually nothing in interest, and even though she had savings bonds in relatively small denominations that she could cash in 'emergencies.' She also liked having travellers cheques and cash.

She just felt better about it, is all.

Now, question for you: what makes a reason 'valid'?

If something is emotionally comforting to someone, even after they have been told alternatives and the reasons for them, isn't that sufficient?

As for the $US tip thing, many Americans, particularly those of a certain generation, hold that a currency's value is not a matter of markets, but of faith. If you have enough faith in your country, goes this line of reasoning, how can your dollar be anything but equal if not greater than the currency of other countries? That the attitude does not jive with market realities, does not mean that the attitude isn't a strong one.

A story that illustrates this point: Back in 1976, when the Canadian dollar exceeded the US dollar in value, the hotel for which my brother worked wrote off the loss (about 10 per cent at the time) of taking US dollars at par. "Our American clients will feel very hurt if they are told their money is worth less than ours" his boss told him. "But it's just currency, it's not a personal thing" my brother argued. "Tell that to them" his boss replied, "and see how far you get."

ira

>I have actually talked with highly educated people who did NOT know!!<

As my father would say, "All book learning and no common sense".

Travelnut

For those who do want to order currency, I find Bank of America to offer the least expensive exchange, around 5-6%.

xyz123

Oh come on Sue....

The hotel was taking American money at par because they were using that to entice Yanks to stay at the hotel..it was an advertising gimmick...it was the locals who were being ripped off.

The currency thing is sort of borne by the fact that so many Americans have never crossed a foreign border and the country is so large...I mean you don't exchange New York dollars for California dollars even though you have just travelled virtually the same distance from New York to LA as if you travelled from New York to London.

Many American sin the northeast first venture to a foreign country is to Canada and if the first destination is say Toronto, I know what I'm about to say may hurt some Canadian feelings, there is virtually no difference between walking a street in Toronto as opposed to walking a street in say New York...you will see the same chain stores, yes the names of the department stores will be different, the language will be virtually the same pronounced virtually the same. Montreal, of course because of the French is a little different. In 1976, I was working with a friend on a film production in Montreal with some Canadians...I'll never forget my friend's first comment. He said, "I can't believe I'm in a foreign country." This Canadian guy we were working with said, "You're not."

Of course Americans were drawn to the "funny" money (imagine the revolutionary idea that different denomination were in different colors), the coins were virtually indistinguishable (a Canadian dime was almost the same exact size as a US dime) and quite frankly as long as the currencies were relatively close, American coins circulated within change in almost all instances you would get American coins as well as Canadian coins in change. Many merchants took American money at par so the idea started forming in their minds that money was money..dollars were dollars.

Then many started venturing to Europe...it was just hard to comprehend the US dollar was not acceptable...how could people not want US dollars...it wasn't arrogance, it was stupidity. I was once in a very high priced shop in Paris and the woman was talking to a sales clerk about a mecklace she was buying and asked how much it was and the clerk said, "Oh madame for you 700 francs." The woman looked at him like he was crazy..."But how much is that in real money?"

A couple of years ago, again to entice tourism, when the US$ was much cloer to the GB£ some hotels advertised in US papers that they would honor US currency at par so that a room costing £150 could be had for $150 which of course was the price they wanted (even I if they were willing to do that would opt for dynamic currency conversion) although fully understanding that was the price they really wanted for the room and the people being ripped off were locals (although most likely they would give them the room for 100 quid because nobody pays the rack rates anyway)...

But maybe these Yanks who tip with $1 bills are simply doing it as a favor to the tipee...since in most of the civilized world no country produces paper money for anything as worthless as a US$, they don't want to give the person a bunch of coins!

NeoPatrick

That custom of tipping with US money is so insulting, but I do understand it. I think some of it comes from people who have traveled in the past on cruises and package tours. Back a couple of decades ago, get off any ship in the Carribean and you were literally told to buy and tip with dollars. That WAS an accepted and welcomed currency. And package tours in Europe used to tell people that they could tip with US ones. Of course, they were usually being taken to a place with a connection to the cruise ship or company, or a place that worked out a payback. It even used to be printed right in foreign travel brochures that you could use all US money on your trip.

But those days are over. Sue, I'm not really sure of the intent of your post. Yes, some people still hold that attitude, but they are simply wrong and they should be told so. I do know a few waiters here in the US who have been left euros or pounds as tips. They hate them. The banks won't even take the coins (which is what they almost always are). The customer could have left them a paper clip for a tip and it would have been far more valuable! It's just plain insulting to leave a tip in foreign cash wherever you are.

suze

bob_ to the original post,
There's a BIG difference in taking $500 (cash/TCs, which I do myself feel "compelled to take&quot... and $10,000!

GUfruf

We ususally arrive in Europe on a Sunday when the banks are closed. We always like to have plenty of cash for anything we might want. Better safe than sorry. We put most of it in the hotel safe deposit box, not the hotel safe, take out what we need. We've never been robbed. Can't imagine a trip where we wouldn't take a lot of cash with us.

GreenDragon

I always take the equivalent of about $300USD when I travel to Europe. Why? Because of several things.

1. I don't trust the ATMs necessarily accept my card, be working, or have cash. It just takes once - arriving on a Saturday morning, whole weekend ahead of you, no cash, Monday is when the bank opens. Bleh.

2. I frequently stay at B&Bs or self-catering - some want cash up front, or at least when we leave. Might be on Sunday afternoon. Still no bank open.

3. Tipping, getting a cab, getting snacks when we arrive, downing a pint at 10am - whatever we want to do as soon as we arrive, we want to be able to do so. The worst was in 2005, got off the plane, got to the train station to go to Leeds - and needed to use the loo. I had £200 in bills, but no coins! Luckily, a kind lady behind me gave me some coins to use for the loo.

4. I don't like being unprepared for emergencies. They always happen if you assume they won't. They seldom happpen if you assume they will.

jkdraper

I simply make sure I bring back about 200E when I return home from Europe and then place it in my purse before going back again. That is more than enough to pay for taxi and a nice meal on the first day there and then withdraw cash from ATM's for the remainder of the trip. Also, with the way the dollar is sinking that 200E cost me less when I got it than it would today and I don't have to run around looking for an ATM on the very first day while jetlagged. Why would anyone take 5000 Euro in cash to go to Europe? That simply does not make sense to me at all.