Not sure where to post his question???

Either which way it is going to cost her. Have her bring you USA dollars and just wear your money belt. You both got a good deal on the lodging that offsets any fee and you made it convenient for her.

Have her pay your share all the expenses (meals, admissions etc) in Paris (up to $500 equivalent). If at the end she still owes you, then take that smaller amount in pounds to use next May on your UK trip.

My friends and I pay each other back using Venmo. Similar app would be Cash App. Both are very easy to set up and use with your phone.

Venmo only links US (maybe Canada too) bank accounts. Your friend could use Transferwise to wire you the money. It's safe and cheap, tried and tested by my American partner and I.

Oh oops, apologies for the Venmo suggestion then. I'll agree with the TransferWise suggestion then as well.

I like Lynn's idea. That makes the most sense so you're not stuck with a large amount of £ or €.

Although if you're not going to be doing the same things or going the same places (sights, restaurants, etc) it might not be so easy.

Thank you all for the quick responses. Balso it appears Transferwise will work like a charm. Thank you, I learn something new everyday. I had never heard of Transferwise before and did not see it in my searching. This is why I appreciate this forum so much. Shared knowledge.

Thank you,
Kathleen

Have you both checked with your banks to see if they allow international E -transfers? This doesn't help you, but I know my bank-RBC Canada does, I can do it straight from my phone. Sadly I wanted to pay for my RS tour last year in this method but RS doesn't accept E transfers from its Canadian customers.

Allan what a shame RS makes it difficult to pay in such an easy way !

I work for an American lady who lives in Washington- she etransfer me my pay - so I don’t think it’s an American restriction just a Rs thing

I agree with lisalu PayPal makes it very easy.
Mike

1. Wear a money belt. It's a good idea in all circumstances to keep your passport in it and on you all the time.
2. I like the idea of your friend paying for your expenses and giving you some spending money. Do not underestimate how much you will spend in Paris. Unless you are keeping to a shoestring, €70/day is not going to leave you much change.
3. The $/€ exchange rate has been favorable to the $ for a fairly long period. Without some major event, it's likely to hold for the next month or two. If you don't want to hold onto euros, I'll bet it would take you one post here to find RS-ers in your area who would buy them from you.
4. With Brexit so up in the air, no one can know what the exchange rate will be for £, but you will probably be left with a relatively small amount of sterling, and it's always nice to arrive in a country with some local currency in your pocket, I mean money belt.

Allan what a shame RS makes it difficult to pay in such an easy way !

Pat, on our tour there was 24 Americans and just us 2 Canadians. Our guide says that's a typical demographic. So unless we can get more Canadians to invade these tours I doubt there is much incentive for the business side of the RS company to change its ways.

It would be good to have PayPal as a relatively inexpensive option--but are you sure? I ask because PayPal defaults to charging the payer in the home currency, and before digging down and finding a way to change that, I observed what I though was a poor exchange rate. This was quite some time ago, and I don't remember the details, but if the $4+ was expressed as a fee, that doesn't necessarily mean the conversion was done at a good rage.