Trip Tip a Day

Tip of the day: Learn about the Euro and coverting the USD to Euro A very important part of planning your trip is deciding how you will carry currency abroad. One way to start educating yourself is to bookmark the link below, or a similar graph and start watching Euro-USD fluctuations: http://www.ecb.int/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/eurofxref-graph-usd.en.html Important note: This graph, and similar internet conversion tools give you the BANK rate - which we DO NOT get when we simple humans convert currency. The bank rate is for the big banks moving big money. Apparently there is also business in currency trading as you'll find when you surf the internet, but again, that isn't what we mere mortal travelers are getting into. So Bank rate today is about $1.42. That means it costs $1.42 to buy 1 Euro. And in reality terms, that means that if you go to a Travelex or American Express branch here in the Dallas area, you will buy one Euro for about $1.60. Thus, you can add abo...

Tip of the day: Consider the Travelex Prepaid Currency Cash Passport Card Back in the day, carrying Traveler's Cheques was the way to go to Europe. Many countries, many different currencies. N o l o n g e r t h e c a s e . Now, for Western Europe you need the Euro, Swiss Francs for Switzerland, and the Pound for England. There is alot of info on the internet about money and travel to Europe (use ATMs, make sure you have a 4 digit pin, take a credit card with low to no surcharge for foreign transactions). I am going to tell you what worked for us in July 2009. The Travelex Cash Passport. If you load $2500 USD onto the Cash Passport, you'll get a better USD-Euro exchange rate than the current counter rate. We used the card in stores, restaurants, and at ATMs to withdraw Euros. It was smooth and easy. The card offers protection in case it is lost or stolen. My daughter and I each carried a card that linked to same account so we could move separately and have access to ...