I am planning a trip back to the UK for the first time since 2003 and have a dilemma as I have pound notes that I believe are expired or not accepted as legal tender. Is there a process or way to trade the old pound notes in for current currency or am I out of luck and stuck with useless paper currency?
Also, on my last trip to continental Europe, I had a hard time finding atms in Austria and Italy that were not sponsored by the atm networks who charge outrageous fees for cash withdrawals, even at atms that appeared to be through the wall at bonafide Banks. I had been in continental Europe the previous years and did not have this problem until last year so I was pretty discouraged with being ripped of for excessive fees at these rip-off atms. I guess my question is will the atms at bona fide UK banks subject me to these excessive fees? i plan to look for atms at HSBC or Royal Bank of Scotland atms in branch locations. Thanks for any feedback.