Headed to Europe, I've a question about currency
polycounter lvl 20
Hey everyone 
Gail and I are off to Europe in 3 weeks and I have a question about currency. I'd like to have cash on us and we're hoping you guys could give us advice on what we should carry on us (pounds? Euros?) We'll have our credit cards with us, but we'd still like some general spending cash as we walk around.
We're visiting:
Unfortunately we won't have any time for Polycount visits (boo! I really tried to free up some time!) as we're on a tight schedule. We're out there for a friends wedding and we're going to be running around to those countries like chickens with our heads cut off.
Thanks in advance for the help!
:thumbup:
Gail and I are off to Europe in 3 weeks and I have a question about currency. I'd like to have cash on us and we're hoping you guys could give us advice on what we should carry on us (pounds? Euros?) We'll have our credit cards with us, but we'd still like some general spending cash as we walk around.
We're visiting:
- England
- France
- Scotland
Unfortunately we won't have any time for Polycount visits (boo! I really tried to free up some time!) as we're on a tight schedule. We're out there for a friends wedding and we're going to be running around to those countries like chickens with our heads cut off.
Thanks in advance for the help!
:thumbup:
Replies
and may you suck mucho donkey penii for no PC visits..
You're unlikely to find anywhere really other than places like Calais or Dover that will accept them both. Having lived in the UK all my life, I don't think I've ever seen anywhere that accepted euros.
Scotland will always accept English notes but if you venture to England after you leave Scotland be careful with your Scottish notes because they aren't used here at all. Some places will accept them but there will be places that refuse them. Scottish notes are not the legal tender of the UK so people in England are well within their rights to refuse to allow you to pay with them.
I've never been to the states however both my parents have on multiple occasions, apparently tipping is a big thing and some people ONLY get paid through tips (unbelievable!) Here in the UK tips aren't made as often and certainly not expected (though always appreciated). restaurants may add a service charge on to your bill (that would be what you pay, not something you pay with. Paper money is notes here, not bills), you do not have to pay this charge if you feel the service wasn't up to scratch but it serves the same purpose as a tip.
Prices here are generally shown including all tax, so what something on a shelf says it costs is exactly how much you need to hand over.
If you're driving make sure you get the side of the road correct as well. Here in the UK we drive on the left but in France they drive on the right.
I've only been to France a few times so I can't really provide all that much info for there.
Oh, I forgot the most important thing: Enjoy yourselves whilst you're there!
What's a Sterling?
And I take it a Euro can be used in France & England?
'English Notes'? Either there's far too many types of currency or theres far too many names for those currencies
It's pretty simple:
We've got paper 'notes' (twenties, tens and fives are the most common), Pound coins, two-pound coins, then 50, 10, 20, 5, 2 and 1 pence coins. Nothing confusing like dimes nickels, quarters, just a number and pence or pounds.
Pounds are sometimes colloquially called quid though most vendors will say pounds. Ten pound notes and five pound notes are sometimes called tenners and fivers respectively.
It gets slightly more confusing when you introduce Scotland because they have their own set of notes as well as our set (same coins). In Scotland, both are acceptable, in England, both are accepted but some people don't recognise the Scottish ones and will refuse them.
If Scotland is your last stop then don't worry about it, but make sure you change your money back to dollars before you leave Scotland because you'll probably get a worse exchange for Scottish notes anywhere outside of Scotland.
And no, Euros cannot be used anywhere in England or Scotland. The UK is one of the few European countries that does not use the Euro.
You Europeans and your fancy money!
Or pounds for England & Scotland and Euro's for France, as divi mentioned.
I really wonder how often Americans pay with the wrong type of bill.
We aren't very fond of cash.
Yea there is a lot of trouble with Scottish notes being use in England I hear... Ive never had a problem though, except with a ticket machine not having a clue what my Scottish note was. I don't think english notes are classed as "legal tender" in Scotland either but noone really cares about that.
But yea to keep it simple just stock up on English notes (not sure you could even request Scottish notes, but if you go to a Clydesdale cash machine in Scotland you'll probably get some odd ones) for Britain, euro's for France.
My comment wasn't on the colour of the money, it was on the different words & types of money 'over there'.
I live in Canada, we can talk funny money if you'd like
Which part?
Probably not near me. I'm in East lothian
Oh and enjoy the rain!
Ah yes, the chip-and-PIN system. Before, to rip someone off you had to appropriate their card and learn to forge their signature. Now all you have to do is appropriate their card and remember a four-digit number.
Genius.
But there are 2 problems with it, one (happened to me once) is your card not working on the local ATMs... make sure you carry more than one card of a different type. Other problem is the taxes you pay in some countries on every cash withdraw, so I would always withdraw a comfortable amount to avoid paying the taxes too often (this works different from country to country I believe...), it's not much but paying around 5USD for every withdraw can be a good amount on the end of the trip
My wife and I travel quite a lot, and we generally only take a small amount of cash with us (like enough to get a train/taxi from the airport and enough for the first nights food). After that we hit the cash machines, but like Vitor says we take out enough to make the fees worth it.
Some tourist tips: If you're going to London, either walk or take the tube, it's such a cool experience to walk down those old streets and vintage tube stairs/halls/stops and it makes getting around a whole lot easier.
If you're going to talk to French people or need to ask directions, ask a younger person, older Frenchies are a bit chauvinistic and like to pretend they dont speak English. Also if you're going to Paris do not rent a car because you'll probably kill yourself
It took me 10 minutes and 3 young waiters to get my order at a restaurant in THE TOURIST AREA sorted out....
and it was wrong... (doesn't help that the menu is in french either xD)
For example, as stated, London is Tube/Foot/Taxi, whereas somewhere like Birmingham would likely be on foot or by bus. And then smaller towns / cities like where I live, the transport system sucks despite being a popular location, I think it's more down to the fact it's more spread out, a bit like New York VS. LA, both major cities, but one of which nobody drives in, the other, everybody drives.
The best way to get around smaller towns/cities is in a car. If you're staying somewhere other than the major cities, hiring a car would likely be your best bet, although fuel prices here are currently about £1.20 per LITRE! The public transport systems do exist and are quite reasonably priced, but service times, changes at stops can be confusing and sometimes the distance of the stations from the centre of town is quite a way.
Also, I don't know if you've been to England before but be prepared for some of the most shocking customer service you've ever experienced in your life. London is generally fine but elsewhere you're likely gonna get the 'I really don't give a shit what you want, I'm not gonna listen to your question, and I couldn't care less about my attitude' treatment.
I remember the first time I went to Canada and I felt like I was royalty every time I went into a shop / restaurant / hotel / bar because the people are so damn nice!
Normally I'd complain that your being racist but I had exactly the same experience.
Adam: next time add Germany to your list. Berlin is just about the nicest place I've visited.
Some do and theyre helpfull even when they dont speak english but guache! droit!
didnt do it for me when i got hopelessly lost in the countryside and asked a cop for directions.
So better bring good maps
Heh, yeah London is fine, although London is unlike any other part of England, it's a whole nother world really. An awesome one in my opinion, many don't share this view, but I love the place.
I hear some of the bigger cities up north are quite nice too although I've never been.
But yes, thanks to the uk's 'cultural identity', which somehow extends to their ridiculous units of measurement and currency, they're not using the euro.
well with UK currency its all a matter of opinion, and actually its better in mine for the £ to not be part of europe.. theres too many countries with under performing economies for it to make sense putting the UK in too at least no sense for UK people. Germany has a powerhouse economy but the euro was its idea in the first place. And itseems to have turned out to be a rather unpopular decision in the face of the greek debt crisis
Yeah, we do and ours are different from the French as well. The voltages are different, too - I wouldn't recommend using those travel adaptors for long periods of time.
I don't know your budget, nor should I, but if I remember correctly we exchanged a little over 1000 cdn and didn't need a whole lot more than that. But that's also because we had freinds/family to stay with for about half of it. the trick to remembering the currency is to look at it, cause just like ours, it says what it is right on it
we had a little adaptor/converter set that worked just fine, and while my wife does speak some french, we didn't have a problem with english in Paris. - which was awesome btw
when are you going? we were in Paris for Bastille day and it was pretty cool, lots of parades fireworks and tanks driving down the street
more importantly, make sure your gadgets can take 220 volts or they go *poof*.
When I moved back from the US to Europe I actually encountered a few power-bricks in my collection that couldn't handle both voltages
Also ATM cards should work almost everywhere - I never had a problem with my cheapo Bank of America debit card in Europe. Actually nowadays you have to try really hard to find ATMs in big cities which don't take foreign cards. Even in China I have 0 problemo with getting cash from ATMs.
In Scotland, make sure you SPEND THE SCOTTISH pounds. Most foreign banks will NOT change them back to dollars (or anything else). They will only accept the regular British pounds (unless you're really lucky)
I've always found it quite interesting though how America is a bitch when it comes to foreign currency.
I go out of the country and people are like "give me whatcha got. we're good. $5.00 u.s.? cool, here's a shitload of coins."
You bring a foreign coin or dollar into the U.S. and people are like "what the shit is this? i can't use this! what do i look like? a bank? did Pepsi start excepting beaver coins? i don't think so."
I think it is mainly because there's no exchange rate or anything behind the retail counter in most American cities (at least from what i remember from working in retail years ago)... Not too sure how it is in border cities of America, but around here, pffffffffttttt forget it.
I know that is off-topic, but yeah.
Just check with the CC company to get a clear concise outline as to what they will charge you for using your card overseas. Yes, you will get a better exchange rate, but some companies will charge fees and different interest rates for using your card out of the country. If you are planning on using a card at all, I would consider getting a card just for the trip that has no balance on it. This way, if you don't pay it off immediately, you're not getting raped from having to pay fees that will just accrue onto any previous balances you hold. This is just a thought, but definitely check to see what they will do to you....... if you drop the soap......
Have a fun trip!!!! Take pics dammit! of the trip that is....
When we moved back to England from the States, we brought some electronics with us to keep us going until we could afford to replace it; stuff like a laptop, a coffee machine and some hair straighteners, dryers for the wife etc. The laptop died after about ten days and the hair dryer blew up almost immediately. This was using power adaptors.
I bet you'll be fine just using them here and there to charge phones, laptops etc, but as most of those adaptors don't have built-in surge protectors and are usually quite cheap, any fluctuation in the power supply to the outlet you're using might cost you if you push your luck by using them for hours on end.
Or, y'know, it could've been some weird karmic 'you shouldn't have left America!' electrical freakiness that cursed all our shit.
Not much to say on the cash story, you've heard the tricks and tips.
So I just say, has tons of fun overhere!
Pull out cash from ATMs and do it in large amounts to counteract the pull out fees.
Avoid dining in tourist trap areas,often the food is not good and overpriced.
Dont be afraid of public transportation,find a good map of the transport and use them,day passes save lots of money as opposed to a taxi and in major cities they run real late. Taxi driver might try to decieve you if they see you as a naive tourists.
Dont assume that giving tips is a given,alot of restaurants its included in the price and if you get shit service dont tip.
Find cheap kiosks(convinience stores) and supermarkets and buy food there to munch on during the days and carry it with you,eating out every time gets a tad expensive.
Sadly Rens i have to agree,i lived there for two years and i found out the idea of Dutch tolerence is a myth,i was surprised byt the amount of xenophobia that exsisted in the country. It was sad to meet people who were so openly and unshamefully racist,in fact one of the most eye opening displays of racisim i experienced in Holland and growing up in the South of the US that says alot.
As a foreigner i felt very unwelcome at times and in other countries ive lived in people find out i was living and working there,the usual question was "how do you like it here?" in Holland it was "When are you leaving?"
sad really
The countries which are the way i expected Holland to be are the scandanavian countries.
Bonjour , je suis Adam , je suis une vrai merde .
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