Money Advice

As much US currency as you'll think you need when you return. As for the euro, if you're entering through Frankfurt International Airport, there's ATMs everywhere to pick up the local currency. Get your money here.

About two weeks before we fly out we use Bank of America to obtain about 500 Euros each and specify in mixed bills or else you'll get 5 hundred euro bills, no good to pay the taxi driver. We use money belts or neck pouches to carry cash and credit cards and our passports. Many smaller shops or markets don't take credit cards so the cash can go pretty fast. We also each carry an ATM card, also from BoA. We are usually hunting or fishing which require cash tips so the 500 can be tapped quickly. We've never had any ATM problems in any European country, even in the very rural area banks.

I'm agreeing with Tom. Make sure you have enough USD to pay for parking and possibly pick up something to eat on the way home. Otherwise, get euros out of an ATM at the airport when you arrive. Getting euros from your bank before you leave is expensive. At the end of your trip, try to time your withdrawals so you have less than 100 euro left when you fly back. We usually end up with around 20 euro. Then keep those with your passport for the next time.

I also do it Tom's way. I do bring a few hundred $, to change in an emergency. Normally it returns home with me unused. It's hard to avoid ATMs in Europe. Finding your first as you walk through the airport is no big deal.

I have to really impress upon the need to get a hundred Euro before you leave. Even though we told our bank we were moving to Europe last summer, we tried to get $ out when we got to Frankfurt and it froze our ATM and credit card accounts. We were concerned about using our backup credit card, so luckily we had some $ to exchange there, as we'd missed our connection and needed food at the airport. Wished we'd had some Euros on us.

We never bring Euros, and and have never had any problem with ATM's in all of our trips to the EU. We always have at least $100US with us. If you do run into a problem you can just use one of your cards until you find/ correct any problem. We ALWAYS carry two different bank VISA's and ATM cards. In fact, we only fund the major debit card that we use just prior to the trip.