A question for you that have traveled to EU countries this year ... did you have some in your pocket before you left the states or did you wait until you arrived at your destination? Is there a need to have some at the airports, etc?
We got some euro "starter packs" from our local AAA office. For $100 American dollars, we received an envelope of various denominations (bills and coins). The exchange rate was not great, but this gave us just enough to get started - and it wasn't all $20 euro bills. Once there we used ATMs to get additional local currency without any problem.
FYI -- I have heard that the exchange rates at the airports are awful. To be honest, I never really looked that closely.
Enjoy your trip!!
And remember - in much of Europe it is Pay to Pee! you don't want to be standing with crossed legs, holding only American money, begging someone to take pity on you and put 50 or 80 cents into the gate so that you can pee.
And while we are on the subject, always carry a packet of tissues in your purse as 'pay to pee' doesn't always cover TP....
So what is the Euro at an ATM in Europe going for right now?
I have a DeutscheBank and a Bank of America account. I withdraw from my BoA at DB machines for a few cents above the 'official' rate - ie last week about 1,49. Unless I am withdrawing thousands of Euros at a time, it really doesn't have a huge impact. At least I save the bank fees by doing it this way if I need to access that money.
I deal with currency exchange almost weekly and have found the most inexpensive ways to do it so that I am not losing every week.
Not bad. Thanks for the information. But since we use a credit union, we are hit with a pretty hefty fee if we go outside of their ATM network. So I think that we will order our Euros on line. Since I can work from home occasionally, I can be here to sign for them. DH just needs to have that cash in his pocket. But to be honest, I am sure I will end up charging most things anyway. When we lived in Germany many years ago the credit card companies gave us much better rates than the banks did. That doesn't seem to be the case from what I have read here. I wonder how close they are to the ATM rates.
Just be aware that credit card acceptance is still relatively low in Europe, especially Germany, compared to America, and not all cards are accepted. I was actually surprised last week to find places in Paris no longer accepting Amex - places where I have dined in past and paid via Amex. And VS and MC charge a foreign exchange fee, so while Amex is the best for fees, it is not always accepted.
In Germany a lot of stores such as grocery stores accept 'credit cards' but they only accept the EC card, not MasterCard, etc.
Also US issued c/cards won't work in many machines around Europe ie ticket machines, parking machines, postal machines as they don't have a chip. (Sorry, I may have already said that!)