Currency Quandry

Rick Steve recommends using the ATM and not carrying cash over with you. The ATM will give you the best exchange rate. You can definitely exchange Pounds for Euro when you get to France but the exchange rate will be poor. Just think carefully how many pounds you will need and take out roughly that amount to minimize your left overs. Like will you have to pay for your hotel in cash, etc? In those countries, most restaurants/hotels/shops probably take credit cards so you won't need that much cash. If you have only a little currency left over, most airlines will give you an opportunity to donate on your way home. If you have a lot left over, save it for your next trip! Everyone has differing opinions on bringing American dollars. I usually bring a couple of hundred, just so I have some cash on me.

Chris, I can't answer your question regarding the exchange of pounds for euros. If you plug in your question about Heathrow, ATMs, and U.S. dollars in the search portion of helpline you will find a lot of info. We are going to England for the first time at the end of the month. I found the posts about ATMs to be extremely helpful.

Chris, you can do as you please. If youre of the worrying type, you may want to get some Pounds and Euros here before you go. At least enough to get you through a day. Ive been trying different methods of obtaining currency and so far the ATM is the best. you may want to look at your bank/credit unions fee schedule to see what charges if any are assessed. that way you wont have a surprise when you get your statements. you can exchange your Pounds to Euros and back or to other currency, but remember this. Everytime you do an conversion, just bend over while youre at it since you will loose $$$. No if and or BUTs, you will loose and they will win. Those with the power (gold) makes the rules! also, if you plan on doing more traveling, keep the extra or left over currency. If theres not alot or maybe less than 50 Pounds/Euros, keep it as a souvenir. I give my nephews some of the leftover currency for gifts. I carry at least 100 USD somewhere hidden just in case (JIC).
happy trails.

Here is a page of Rick's articles about money in Europe. Read all the links, and you'll be a pro: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/money-travel-tips.htm "We're traveling in England, France, and Ireland in September and wondered if we should take Pounds and Euros with us or get the Pounds when we arrive at Heathrow from an ATM?" Your choice. Some prefer to arrive with 50-200 pounds and/or euros, so they don't have to get these immediately upon arrival, and can get familiar with the currencies. Others just use the ATM's at the airport. "Can we exchange any left over Pounds for Euros once we are in France?" Yes, but as said above, you lose money on every exchange, so it's better to either spend all your pounds in England, or save them for a future trip (either by you or by someone else). One trick to "get rid" of money is to put the cash toward your last hotel bill, then pay the rest with a credit card. Also note that you can only exchange to or from the legal tender of a country. For example, if you have pounds in France and want US dollars, they will first be changed from pounds to euros, then from euros to dollars. Even if you don't see the euros, the transaction will be processed this way - with two fees and two unfavorable exchange rates. "Also, should we take any dollars for any reason?" The only reason would be as backup, in case you couldn't get money from an ATM (you could exchange dollars for local currency). The only other reason would be if you need it coming home (if taxis in your city only accept cash, for instance). You will not be able to spend USD in England, France, or Ireland.

Get GBP at an ATM on arrival. Actually, only get a little as the ATM rates at Heathrow are higher than bank ATMs in town. I always keep left overs for next trip. If you do not anticipate return, use what you have left to partially pay your hotel bill and pay the balance with your credit card. Same procedure with the Euros. I have never taken US currency on a trip to Europe.

Thanks for all the tips. I will wait to get currency at Heathrow for our time in England. We'll need it right away and will just have to eat the extra cost from the ATMs at the airport. Great advise from everyone! I'm reading all those links, Harold. Thanks!
Chris

We were in England, France, Switzerland, and Germany last month and at one point had American dollars, British pounds, Swiss francs, and euros in our pockets. It was confusing, to say the least! After returning home and seeing various credit card and ATM charges and fees on our statements, we've decided next time to do things differently. Rather than trying to cash for everything except large purchases/expenses, we're going to get a Capital One card and use it for everything possible, and keep minimal currency on us. That way, we hope to avoid dealing with various currencies and exchange rates, and since there are no transaction fees, it will save us money too. By the way, we never used the dollars except for the taxis between home and the airport.

And with the right Capital One Mastercard you even come out a head. Ours gets us 2% cashback on gas and groceries, 1% on everything else, and we saw from our statement that grocery stores in London did in fact code as grocery stores. So we got the actual exchange rate, not the rate less .8% for Cirrus/Plus network for taking cash, no foreign transaction fee, and 1 or 2% cashback. For those places that required cash, we still had that option via our Cap One ATM card for their bank account.

If you have leftover cash at the end of each trip leg, you can use it to pay down your hotel bill. You can pay part in the extra cash, then charge the rest on a credit card. The hotel will like that too as they prefer cash. Heathrow has Travelex ATMs which do charge a higher exchange rate than just about any other ATM in Europe. So if you do hit the ATM at the airport, just get enough for a day and get more cash later.

So what I'm hearing is use the ATMs as little as possible. I have both a BofA debit card and a travel rewards BofA CC that doesn't charge international use fees. If I use the debit card to pay for items like groceries or hotel bills, is that treated to an exchange fee like at an ATM or is it treated like a CC source of payment over there like it can be here in the US with no fee charge?

Most debit cards incur foreign transaction fees for point of sale purchases; just like with a credit card.

After good advice here I got the Charles Schwab ATM card and used it there (it refunds all ATM fees and had a good exchange rate). To be honest I really didn't need to use cash that much...

Do not use a debit card for point of sale transactions. If your card is compromised, your entire checking account can be temporarily wiped out and you won't have access to cash or be able to make auto bill payments until you sort it all out, which is not convenient while traveling oversees. Your BoA no-foreign fee credit card is a good bet to use as often as possible, especially for bigger ticket items like hotels. But cash is required for most smaller purchases and some places don't take CC's at all. Get cash with your debit card at the ATM. I'm not sure of BoA's debit card fees, but they won't likely exceed 5% over the exchange rate - altogether not a bad deal for a few weeks. BTW - occasionally when using a credit card, a vendor will ask if you want the amount converted to your own currency (US dollars). Don't do that - ALWAYS have them charge in local currency. The exchange rate you get for the "convenience" is awful and the vendor gets a cut.

Thanks Douglas. I'll take that approach for purchases and try to keep the use of the debit card to our minimum daily cash needed. I've already had my debit card number used illegally (along with millions of others) somewhere in the Ukraine. Fortunately the fraud service my bank uses is good and nothing was lost. Thanks too for the advice about being asked about conversion to dollars. I might not have caught that.

...you're welcome Chris