[quote=Hatfield]
This doesn’t help you. You generally can’t spend your Benjamins abroad, and the moneychangers charge exorbitant rates to convert that to local currency.
By FAR the best bet is to use an ATM card, and withdraw as much local currency per transaction as your bank allows. You get the overnight exchange rate, plus a flat fee – generally 5 or 6 bucks – which when amortized over the 300 or 400 you withdraw, is a FAR lower vig than what you’d pay trying to change a $100 at Thomas Cook.[/quote]
Yep, when I was in Australia last year they won’t take US dollars anywhere. However, it was easy enough to walk up to any ATM and withdraw AUS dollars…$300-400 at a time. I made sure to discuss the costs for currency conversion if I did this with my credit union before I left the US.
