Eastern Europe trip

When we took that tour we received a RS Eastern European Guide Book but I can not remember what phrase book (if any) we received. We used our Debit Card connected to a Checking Account at a local credit union to get local currency from ATM machines whenever we need some. No problems.

Check the tour page for updates, but in 2012 they did not offer a phrase book, just the E. Europe guide book (with a few key language tips in the back). I purchased a Lonely Planet E. Europe phrase book and never, ever used it. Our guide helped us learn pleasantries and smiles, gestures, and a little English got me the rest of the way. My one regret was not being able to be more conversational with locals, but Slavic-based languages (plus Hungarian) are not easy to learn and I didn't have the time to devote to it as I did in prior trips to single countries. I chose to get a little currency for each country ahead of time and was glad I did. ATMs are plentiful though. Our guide was quite helpful with directions about when to exchange money on the trip so you weren't left with lots of left over cash or in a place that wouldn't exchange it. I printed out quick reference cards with conversion rates on them, which I found quite helpful (I am in-my-head math impaired - made quick work of calculating exchange rates).

Fortunately Rick's Eastern European trip doesn't go deep into Eastern Europe where ATM's and Credit Card use can be a little dicey at times.
The Czech Republic like most of Central Europe is a wonderfully modern country with its own currency but plenty of ATM's to meet your needs. For quick money when you arrive you should be able to change at the airport or hotel at rates no worse than you will get if you do it in the states (which by the way is pretty miserable). Then move on to decent exchange houses (everywhere in Prague) or it's simpler to use the ATM's. Since the currency is hard to get rid of outside of the Czech Republic at decent rates I would rely heavily on the ATM and Credit Cards. About 100 Koruna to $5.00 Poland is yet another currency and I would use the same strategy as the Czech Republic. 15 Zloty is about $5.00. Slovakia is on the Euro and the experience in getting money will be no different than in the Czech Republic but as the Euro is accepted in Slovenia and as its generally easy to exchange at decent rates where it is not the national currency the money will remain a little more useful during the trip and much easier to get rid of at the end of the trip. On to Hungary and a new currency, the Forint and the strategy is no different than the Czech Republic. The quick formula for the forint is drop two zeros and divide by two. Or 10,000 ft ; drop two zeros is 100 ; divide by two is $50.00 more or less. Croatia is yet another currency and I would use the same strategy as the Czech Republic. 30 Kuna is about $5.00. Then Slovenia. Pull out your Euros from Slovakia. For the Euro I add one third to the price I see to get the USD equivalent. If you have a lot of other currency left over I would try to unload it here. You are not going to get great rates but I bet still better than in the US.

Just a note here about the names and exchange rates of the money in eastern European countries. We went from Istnabul to Bulgaria to Romania to Hungary to Poland to Czech Republic before we got to Euros last Sept. - Oct. It was too difficult to remember the names of all those diffenent currencies to we began using the term "Of Their Money". Such as "500 Of Their Money". That has gotten initialized to "OTM" which re used occasionaly on our recent trip to Ukaraine so now it would be "500 OTMs".

Mimi,
Over the past three years we've enjoyed trips to Czech Rep, Poland, Hungary and Croatia - it's English and ATMs 24/7. Embarrassingly, my foreign language skills are pathetic but so many Europeans have either taken English in school or just picked up English skills through TV, movies and YouTube; it's been a breeze to travel (adios phrase books <g>). A big smile, please and thank you is universally understood and appreciated. Oh yes, I'm using Capital One for credit and Charles Schwab for debit - low fees and good rates.

I haven't been to all the countries on that tour, but in many of those areas - particularly big cities and tourist sites in Hungary and Croatia, English is widely spoken. The benefit (for us English speakers) of going to countries with only several million speakers is that English is widely taught. I used the above mentioned Lonely Planet Eastern European Phrasebook, but found that I ended up needing to use phrases far less in Eastern Europe than I do in France or even Germany, the minute I tried to speak with anyone, they'd switch to English effortlessly. With the currency thing, it's smart to withdraw a smaller amount at a time than you might normally, even if you get hit on more fees this way, because having leftover currency is a pain and the fees for exchanging curriency tends to be poor (banks have the best rates usually, but who wants to wait in line at a bank on vacation if they can help it?) Just make sure your bank knows all the countries you're going to. Our bank misunderstood "Austria" for "Austraila" once and blocked our card.

Thanks for all of the replies, you confirmed a lot of what I was expecting. We have traveled to Europe a number of times, just not to this many countries in one trip. I wasn't sure about the English usage, and I do like to learn a few phrases if it's a language I don't speak, but this sounds like it will be easy!
And I'm sure the guide will use some "bus" time to help us with the different languages, at least enough for us to be polite. Happy travels!

Mimi, I'll address my comments on Poland, Budapest, and Pilsen (CZ). As pointed out and has been my experience and observation, your best bet in finding someone who can communicate in English is a person under 40. Maybe that has even changed with the proliferation of English instruction. In Poland the hotel and restaurant staffs almost always spoke to me in English, except at one small hotel in Gdansk (Danzig) in 2003 where the two elderly women running the place insisted on speaking Polish, Russian, or German. So I dealt with them strictly in German. In Budapest if you see "welcome" in German and English as you enter the restaurant, the staff will speak those languages, I used both with them. The one time I was in Pilsen I used German to negotiate getting a taxi, the price, etc.... seemed less risky to me. In Prague no need to worry, they'll speak English.

And the non-slavic languages like Hungarian are even more difficult.

Mimi - We are also from Colorado and taking the RS Eastern Europe tour. We are on the one that starts August 19th. So...I have been interested in the responses you have received to your questions. If you are taking a tour earlier than ours, I would be interested in any helpful hints you might have after you return.