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Post Info TOPIC: Buy Euros in the US?
chaika


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Buy Euros in the US?
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I will need Euros for 5 weeks in the Republic, about 1000E a week for two people.Sixth trip.

The current rate is 1E = 1.10.

Bank of America will charge me 1E = 1.16, or about 6% fee to get the euros here. Assuming this year's rates are the same as last year's it looks like buying 5000E here would cost about $100 more than if I went to numerous ATMs over there. How have you dealt with this money problem? Any preferences, like maybe get half here and half there? Thanks!

Reading this over, I think I'll take the euros with me even tho it will be a fat wad at the start. If you do this too, select the Large Bills option, otherwise you will get lots and lots of 5s and 10s.

I will tell you a story about the downside of this. A couple of years ago we planned a spit trip, 2 weeks starting by driving down from London to  Glastonbury, then up through Wales and ferry across to Dublin and 3 weeks in Ireland. I had two envelopes, one with pounds and one with euros. When we arrived I had only one envelope, no euros. Turns out I'd left the other at home. So I have had the lovely experience of hunting down ATMs. One of them, in fact, was out of order and the only one in town. If I had needed money urgently I would have had to drive half an hour to the nearest town with an ATM.

David/Dáithí

 

 



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Michele Erdvig


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What works for me and a lot of other travelers is to use a credit card with no foreign transaction fee for whatever I can. There some B&Bs that only accept cash and for those I get cash from an ATM. I do not like carrying big wads of cash around with me as it could get lost or stolen.

You generally get your best exchange rates with this method. Since I visit Ireland often I save whatever cash I have left for my next trip.



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chaika


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Thanks, Michele. I am a little gunshy ever since a trip to Russia six years ago when near the end my credit card stopped working. Then on the last day in the airport my debit card stopped.I had notified both banks of the trip. Fortunately we made it home, but was not a pleasant experience. Later the bank told me they had inadvertently blocked the card.

 

I'll try looking for a no-foreign-transactions card. Do you have any suggestions?



-- Edited by chaika on Monday 11th of July 2016 11:47:46 AM

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Michele Erdvig


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Why not bring some cash that you can exchange at the bank in an emergency? Then for the rest depend on those cards. I've never had a problem like yours in Ireland. My Capital One cards have no foreign transaction fees.



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