How to change your money while traveling.

[Winifred]

Ok, I need advice from all those who have traveled more than I have. What's the very best, most economical way to exchange money from American dollars to other currencies? I'll be traveling to a couple of European countries that do not accept Euros or dollars.

Someone today told me that Carte Blanche credit cards are accepted in Europe, with minimum fees. True?

What about banks here?

What about airports?

Any helpful hints?

For example, Gizmo's recent trip to Cuba worked best, according to those who'd made the trip before, by obtaining Canadian dollars in the Miami airport, and then exchanging them in Cuba for Cuban money (the exchange rate for American dollars is inflated in Cuba, but not for Canadian dollars).

All advice gratefully appreciated!

[musi]

Yeah, USD were not good, when I was in Cuba, so we brought Euros :)

As for here, I would suggest maybe changing some local money already in US and then taking USD with you. The airport exchanges are not very good anywhere here, but in the cities you can find good places, so if you will in advance have some cash to get into the center and walk around, it will probably be the best way, I think. But for that, I think finding a place that accepts credit cards is difficult in Poland, while in Estonia they should be everywhere :) Russia might be even worse than Poland from point of view of credit cards and exchange points, so some currency might be very useful beforehand.
I have never heard of Carte Blanche credit cards, so can't help you there, sorry :(

[musi]

Oh, also, as far as I know if you use the credit card, there is no "usage" fee, so you will only be paying the sum, however, that only works if you pay for the purchase, not for ATM machines.

[Star_Anise]

I can't comment on USD, but I've found having a variety of options useful, especially in countries which may prove difficult in some respects.

For Europe, I changed some cash into pounds sterling through the post office here (they offer the best exchange rates, which can be the case in other countries too, but you have to pre-order here and wait to pick it up). I also had traveller's cheques but found these most cumbersome. I also have a debit Mastercard which allowed me to withdraw ATM cash or use it as a credit card with a reasonable foreign exchange rate charges.

But by far the best I found for the trip was a traveler's cash passport, through Travelex, which may be available in the US, or an equivalent. You set up an account, transfer money into it and then it functions like a debit card, allowing you to access your cash through allied ATMs - which I never had a problem locating. They also issue you a back-up card and setting the whole thing up was easy and although I can't remember what the costs were, they were very, very reasonable. If I have just described a Carte Blanche credit card, sorry for the boredom, but I don't know what that is either!

[margaine]

If there will be ATMs, I usually prefer to just take money out of ATMs - in large enough amounts that you don't have to do it that often. But I guess if you can do some other things which will avoid having to pay ATM fees, then that's better. In general, I think the exchange rates for money coming out of ATMs is better than trying to exchange actual currency in the country (unless you know a particularly good place or whatnot). And though there are fees for using an ATM, I've found those fees to be less than fees for using an American credit card while abroad (at least the cards I have)

If there aren't ATMs or may not be, then it probably is a good idea to get some currency beforehand. I've done that when traveling to Africa. Otherwise I've only been to Canada, Mexico, and France, which isn't much, in which case I never had any foreign currency beforehand, I just got it from the ATM. (Canada was really great b/c my bank had an agreement with a Canadian bank so I didn't have any extra fees whatsoever for using their ATMs. Doubt you'd be as lucky with Eastern Europe!)

[margaine]

In related thoughts, I've been thinking of exchanging some US dollars for Euro this summer, even though I won't be going to France til October (and I'll be opening up a bank account there). Just b/c the exchange rate is pretty low lately. I'm not usually that savy about traveling and money, but it seems like something that might be worth taking advantage of. I'd be sad if by the time I got to France the Euro was back up when I could have gotten more for my dollar had I exchanged earlier. Any thoughts?