converting the euro to dollar

Arlene, Could you clarify your question a bit. Are you referring to a quick "ballpark method" of mentally converting Euros to US dollars, or a more precise method? Using conversion charts will only provide a simple estimate, as exchanges rates constantly fluctuate throughout the day. Charts are almost obsolete as soon as they're printed. If you're using an iPod Touch or iPhone, there are some excellent Currency Conversion App's available. Some require an internet connection for update, but it's easily possible to do that in the Hotel prior to heading out for the day, which will provide a somewhat accurate idea of the exchange.

Arlene, Go to http://usa.visa.com/personal/using_visa/consumer_ex_rates_us.jsp
Fill in the blanks and it will show how much a credit card or ATM transaction will cost. If your bank charges a zero transaction fee one euro will cost $1.3836 today. You can see that tyhe rate is good for the day http://usa.visa.com/personal/using_visa/exchange_rates_faq.html

Go to oanda.com.

At the official rate $100 will buy about €73

.......look at the conversion charts and it is not anywhere near the actual cost a traveler would spend...... explain what you mean by that. The interbank rate at this moment is $1.3797 which means that you would get approximately 73E. However, there are always fees involved in currency exchanges. If you withdraw that amount from an ATM in Europe with a debit card you would receive approximately 71E and some change because there is about 1% or less service fee buried in the exchange rate. Now you bank or card issuer could decide to charge a fee for using your debit card and that could amount to about 3% under worse case. Many credit unions and some bank do not charge an extra fee. But even with extra fees you will always receive the best exchange rate by use a debit card at an ATM. So the simple answer (and currency conversion is never simple) is today under the best situation you would get about 72E for a 100 US dollars. Or to put it another way it cost about 139 dollars to buy 100 Euro. Does any of that help? Edit: I may have made a confusing statement. From an ATM in Europe you can only withdraw Euro so you would ask for 100E and your account in the US would deduct about $139 plus any fees that you card issurer adds to the withdraw.

Just gave your question a little more thought. Are you asking how to mentally make the conversion when you see a price in Euro? For example if the hotel room is 150E what is the US dollar figure? You have to keep the mental exercise simple - at least for me. With the Euro around $1.38 I would take the 150E number and add 50% or half (75) to get to 225 and then reduce that number by about 10% -- 22 or even 20 to make it simpler. That would give me a US dollar number of 205 to 203 which is close enough for to the actual rate of $207. Sorry if I misunderstood your earlier question.

You can print out "cheat sheets" at oanda.com, dollars to euros and euros to dollars. Saves on the mental arithmetic.

If your question is about mental mathematics, it helps to know the conversion both ways (at least for me). So, if you know that 100 euros is approximately $138, then also know that $100 is 73 euros (use oanda.com for the daily rates rather than some random chart). I tend to just multiply everything by 1.5 when in Europe. It comes roughly close enough on the small stuff and it's easy math. So, if something is 10 euros, I know that it's approximately $15, which is pretty close to the actual price of $13.8. Even with the big stuff, you come close enough for me. This also has the added benefit of coming home and thinking, "Hey, my trip did not cost as much as I thought it did". Silly, I know. If you'll have a cell phone, use the calculator function and multiply stuff by the daily rate (which is 1.38 right now). Or as suggested, just print a chart for yourself right before you go. I'm not sure what you mean that the conversion chart "is not anywhere near the actual cost a traveler would spend". Why not and what conversion chart are you using?
If you are converting money stateside, then it will cost you lots more because of fees. In Europe, use ATMS with a debit card to get cash and you will get very close to the actual daily rate depending on where you bank. Look into the fees from your bank and consider going somewhere (i.e., credit union) that won't charge you fees.

My understanding it is done in batches of transactions at different times. It will change during the day it is normally in the three and fourth decmial point and not the first. Unless something drastic is happening in the market the day to day change is measure in thousands of cents. Over a week perhaps a couple of pennies. Not enough to worry about making your chart out of date.

James, Look at the post above yours. The link on the last line will show "How does Visa calculate its rate?
Every day--except weekends, Memorial Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day--Visa calculates the rate for the next day's transactions"

Arlene, we always travel on cash and get a VISA preloaded travel card from our credit union. FYI fantastic rates, travel insurance built in. During our recent trip to Germany it was about 74 Euros for $100. However, after having driven myself nuts in the U.K. 6 yrs ago worrying about every little conversion, this time I just decided to enjoy the experience and not make myself crazy. I 'padded' the VISA travel card with about 30% more than we really wanted to spend. We got cash from ATMs when we wanted cash in hand; otherwise we used the card. Managed to eat and drink our way across southern Germany and Luxembourg and came home with money. You're right to plan your budget; but just relax and enjoy yourself.

Every preload VISA cards I looked always had fees upwards to 10% when you added in set up fees, reload fees, user fees, monthly fees, etc. so I would read the fine print very carefully. There maybe good deals out there somewhere but I have not found one.

Arlene, I didn't perceive any indication in the replies that anyone considered your question "stupid". The most common thought seemed to be that the question was somewhat difficult to understand, and therefore some clarification was needed before an accurate answer could be provided. Perhaps if you could re-format the question, it would be easier for us to understand exactly what information you require? The group here on the HelpLine have an extensive travel background, and have been voluntarily providing a lot of help to travellers on a wide variety of topics. I'm not sure it's fair to reprimand some because they didn't understand the question. BTW, I usually try to take the position that "there's no such thing as a stupid question", and word my replies accordingly. Cheers!

Rudeness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. Can't discern any myself.

I like Maryam's method-quick and easy with a built in cushion. But, remember, while it's nice to know what you're paying for something, in some ways it's a moot point. So the coffee is 2 euros and that's almost $3, so what-you can't go home to drink a cheaper cup right then. What does it mean if a soda costs 3 euros? It means you should drink wine!

Thanks to all of you that helped us with our question. Obviously, we weren't sure and that is why we asked the question. Those of you who thought our question was stupid, well you don't need to be helping people,,, maybe some day you will ask someone something and you will get a sarcastic reply back.. At least we hope so. :) I am a school teacher and we always tell our kids THERE IS SO SUCH THING AS A STUPID QUESTION!!!!!!

That is kind of rude response given how hard we have worked to understand your question without any additional clarification on your part. If, however, you have received rude and inappropriate PMs, first report that to the webmaster and then ignore them as unrepresentative of the board . Otherwise I don't see anyone suggesting that your question was stupid but it was a little unclear as to exactly your concerns.

Agree with Norma and others. I thought the answers provided were quite good and not at all rude in any way whatsoever...must have been a rude PM. This thread made me think a bit about questions often posed on the Helpline: What if an answer can be easily found by exerting minimal effort, but the questioner decides to ask anyway with no effort on his/her part. Can such mental dullness qualify a question as a stupid question? I'm just wondering if there actually are such things as stupid questions. I'm not suggesting this question fits...wondering about many others, however. As for quick currency conversion online, I use the old standby: http://www.xe.com/ucc/