When is the best time to exchange currency?

When going to Egypt exchange your money at the airport on arrival , you
always get a much better rate than you can from the UK. The banks will be
open, they are where you purchase your visa voucher from.
btw you will even get a better rate than at home at your hotel!!
If you have any doubt ask on the TA forums for Egypt

bill wrote:

On Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:27:05 +0000, David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)
wrote:


(By the way, I had to go through a body scanner at BOS the other day- I
think you're the poster who won't use such airports, so you can add that
one to your list.)

I went through one at Manchester a few weeks ago, so there's another...

As did I, but that one's been mentioned by me to him before, so was
already on it.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"[Do you think the world learned anything from the first
world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009)

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:28:49 +0100, Martin wrote:

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:46:15 +0000, Mike Lane
wrote:

Erilar wrote on Dec 31, 2011:

I have learned from unhappy experience that these airport ATMs
everyone seems to think are so useful can have major drawbacks such as
rejecting a perfectly proper card which another--much later--has no
problem with, or offering incomprehensible or no instructions for use.
I encountered both of these at the same airport and was unable to
obtain any cash at all at that airport. It was a Euro country and I
had a few from a previous trip, but this could have been a disaster. I
have paid the premium to have my bank get some money for me in advance
when going to a non-euro country to avoid this type of situation.

I've never noticed that there's any difference between ATMs at an
airport, and those found anywhere else. I've had inexplicable failures
to deliver cash in all sorts of places - including ATMs outside large
banks. It's always sensible to carry a reserve of cash for these
situations, wherever you are.

Erilar is trying to say that her card wouldn't work in a French ATM :-)

There was a time when US cards didn't work in UK shops.

Don't know if this is still the case but it was just after 'chip and pin'
came in.

They usually worked in bank ATMs though...




--
William Black

Free men have open minds
If you want loyalty, buy a dog...

"bill" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:28:49 +0100, Martin wrote:

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:46:15 +0000, Mike Lane
wrote:

Erilar wrote on Dec 31, 2011:

I have learned from unhappy experience that these airport ATMs
everyone seems to think are so useful can have major drawbacks such as
rejecting a perfectly proper card which another--much later--has no
problem with, or offering incomprehensible or no instructions for use.
I encountered both of these at the same airport and was unable to
obtain any cash at all at that airport. It was a Euro country and I
had a few from a previous trip, but this could have been a disaster. I
have paid the premium to have my bank get some money for me in advance
when going to a non-euro country to avoid this type of situation.

I've never noticed that there's any difference between ATMs at an
airport, and those found anywhere else. I've had inexplicable failures
to deliver cash in all sorts of places - including ATMs outside large
banks. It's always sensible to carry a reserve of cash for these
situations, wherever you are.

Erilar is trying to say that her card wouldn't work in a French ATM :-)

There was a time when US cards didn't work in UK shops.

Don't know if this is still the case but it was just after 'chip and pin'
came in.

They usually worked in bank ATMs though...




--
William Black

Free men have open minds
If you want loyalty, buy a dog...

That was never the case technically. However, it may well have been the
case practically. Shop workers were bombarded with the chip and pin
message to the point where they believed ALL cards would be chip and pin.
I know one business owner locally who commented to me that he would only be
able to accept chip and pin cards so I asked him what he would do if a
foreigner presented a non chip and pin card and also that there were going
to be chip and sign cards. Next time I saw him he thanked me because he
had found out the truth - that non chip and pin cards would continue to
exist and could be accepted. Since then I think the word has slowly
filtered out. I have a Canadian friend who visits the UK most years and
has never complained about acceptance. Where there may be problem in the
chip and pin markets is with some self service machines but I don't know if
that is the case, simply speculation based on my use of them with a chip and
pin card.

On 12/31/2011 1:31 PM, Graham Harrison wrote:

That was never the case technically. However, it may well have been the
case practically. Shop workers were bombarded with the chip and pin
message to the point where they believed ALL cards would be chip and
pin. I know one business owner locally who commented to me that he would
only be able to accept chip and pin cards so I asked him what he would
do if a foreigner presented a non chip and pin card and also that there
were going to be chip and sign cards. Next time I saw him he thanked me
because he had found out the truth - that non chip and pin cards would
continue to exist and could be accepted. Since then I think the word has
slowly filtered out. I have a Canadian friend who visits the UK most
years and has never complained about acceptance. Where there may be
problem in the chip and pin markets is with some self service machines
but I don't know if that is the case, simply speculation based on my use
of them with a chip and pin card.

Canadian banks are now using chip and pin. One or two US banks offer it
on cards which carry arm-and-a-leg type yearly fees.

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:55:06 -0500, S Viemeister
wrote:

...now using chip and pin. One or two US banks offer it
on cards which carry arm-and-a-leg type yearly fees.

Does anyone know which US banks?

Thanks -- Larry

Martin wrote:
On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:46:15 +0000, Mike Lane
wrote:

Erilar wrote on Dec 31, 2011:

I have learned from unhappy experience that these airport ATMs everyone
seems to think are so useful can have major drawbacks such as rejecting a
perfectly proper card which another--much later--has no problem with, or
offering incomprehensible or no instructions for use. I encountered both
of these at the same airport and was unable to obtain any cash at all at
that airport. It was a Euro country and I had a few from a previous trip,
but this could have been a disaster. I have paid the premium to have my
bank get some money for me in advance when going to a non-euro country to
avoid this type of situation.

I've never noticed that there's any difference between ATMs at an airport,
and those found anywhere else. I've had inexplicable failures to deliver cash
in all sorts of places - including ATMs outside large banks. It's always
sensible to carry a reserve of cash for these situations, wherever you are.

Erilar is trying to say that her card wouldn't work in a French ATM
:-)

I've been avoiding French airports for years now 8-)
--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist with iPad

Mike Lane wrote:
Erilar wrote on Dec 31, 2011:

I have learned from unhappy experience that these airport ATMs everyone
seems to think are so useful can have major drawbacks such as rejecting a
perfectly proper card which another--much later--has no problem with, or
offering incomprehensible or no instructions for use. I encountered both
of these at the same airport and was unable to obtain any cash at all at
that airport. It was a Euro country and I had a few from a previous trip,
but this could have been a disaster. I have paid the premium to have my
bank get some money for me in advance when going to a non-euro country to
avoid this type of situation.

I've never noticed that there's any difference between ATMs at an airport,
and those found anywhere else. I've had inexplicable failures to deliver cash
in all sorts of places - including ATMs outside large banks. It's always
sensible to carry a reserve of cash for these situations, wherever you are.

I found two extremely different ones at the same airport. One refused my
card and the other flashed through its "instructions" too fast to read and
was otherwise incomprehensible. That was Palermo. I've never had a problem
with one in a German or Scandinavian airport.

--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist with iPad

On 12/31/2011 4:14 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:55:06 -0500, S
wrote:

...now using chip and pin. One or two US banks offer it
on cards which carry arm-and-a-leg type yearly fees.

Does anyone know which US banks?

Thanks -- Larry

Citi, Chase, and I believe American Express. Expensive. Not for their
standard customers, just for their top tier.
I'll wait - any place that doesn't let me use my US swipe card, I can
use my UK chip-and-pin one.

1.1.2012 3:27, Erilar kirjoitti:

I've been avoiding French airports for years now 8-)

CDG was a paradise for thieves for several decades. They just
infiltrated to luggage handling lines and practised their sticky fingers
while the police and the security had a blind eye. I guess today luggage
don't "vanish" quite as often as it used to a few years back.

I avoid US ports as a transit passenger when it is practical. The entire
transit scheme is dead there. Unfortunately so. Hopefully the US
legislation governing international borders will come to it's senses again.