Traveling to Europe - $$ question

dh and i are going to london and amsterdam in a few weeks. I just wanted to know what the best way to pay for stuff would be while we are there. Would we be able to use a mastercard or visa, and if so would the exchange rate be ok? Should we exchange money here for euros or when we get there? Just want to get the best exchange rate. TIA!!

Re: Traveling to Europe - $$ question

When I went to the London and Paris back in 2007 I bought most of my sight seeing tickets on-line while still in the States. That included transportation costs (tube tickets, etc.) and museum fees (via the London Pass). Not only will you save money but you won't have to worry about spending money while overseas. As for everyday costs I intended to use credit as much as possible (souvenirs and entrance fees not covered on the London Pass) while carrying a little cash to pay for food and small things. This plan worked well until I got to Paris and, while attempting to get cash at an ATM, my credit card was denied. I called the CC company (on a pay phone in Paris) and they said that they thought the card was stolen because of "unusual use" in a foreign country. (Keep in mind I told them about my trip before I left.) After several calls on this pay phone over several hours, they reactivated the card and I was able to get cash. Fast forward two days later and I'm back in London, and, as I'm using my card to purchase train tickets to Heathrow Airport, the card is once again denied. Luckily, I had left over cash that got us to the airport and back to the States. Long story short, I would recommend carrying as much cash as you think you'll be using and try to avoid the ATM as much as possible. Also, remind your CC company several times that your overseas and will be using the card a lot. Best of luck!

Re: Traveling to Europe - $$ question

Also, I'd exchange once you get there.

Re: Traveling to Europe - $$ question

Great thank you! We already booked all tours, hotel and transportation online, so we're in good shape! Thanks for reminding me to alert my cc company!

Re: Traveling to Europe - $$ question

My advice would be to get some money before you go there, like £100 or something, than just use cash machines and/or credit cards while you wre there. Cash machines are everywhere, and major credit cards are accepted.

Re: Traveling to Europe - $$ question

Racheeeee & I posted about this a while back...last year when I was in the UK, it was harder for me to use my MC/ Visa b/c it didn't have a chip on it. That is that little square security chip on the front of my AmEx Blue Card.

This has become a necessity for using cards in the UK. When I had an issue, I did tell the store manager and they were able to put my card through.

ATMs give you a better rate and it is also harder to use those little ATM kiosks...use an ATM at a bank & you'll have no issues.

Re: Traveling to Europe - $$ question

We prefer to use cash and exchange once we get into the country. I also fear having our CC declined or having issues with it.

We also booked any excursions ahead of time to save a little money. So really, the only money we brought with us was for food and spending money for souveniours.

Re: Traveling to Europe - $$ question

Get cash when you get there out of an ATM.

Getting it here is too expensive.

Bring some American dollars in case you have ATM problems, you can always "get ripped off" with an exchange counter once you are there as a backup.

Re: Traveling to Europe - $$ question

DH and I went to Paris and Amsterdam a few months ago. we exchanged a decent amount of $ at Chase for a $5 fee. we got a good exchange rate and we didn't have to worry about anything when we got off the plane.

we used a master card twice - the train tickets from Paris to Amsterdam (although we should have bought that ahead of time online! we could have saved like $100!) and 1 dinner, but that was it. we had enough cash for everything else.

make sure your CC company doesn't charge you extra for using your card overseas. also like someone else said, make sure you notify the CC company of where you're going and when. our CC co. gave us a special # to call them collect if we had issues using our card.