A question of currency...

[maharetr]

I realise I haven't actually posted about it, but I'm going overseas for a month in July. (omg omg omg) I just bought travel insurance, and it all suddenly got Real. Whee! I'm going with mum to Paris/France, then Ireland and England.

I have a question about currency. I'll be dealing in Euros and UK pounds. Does anyone in the know have any advice about the best time/s to do currency exchanges? Should I exchange a chunk right now? Should I wait until July/I'm over there? Just withdraw money from my account? etc etc And advice and tips appreciated!

Comments

[hope]

I left a comment for special_trille here about money - you can ignore the stuff about setting up an account, but the transferring money stuff is useful.

Basically:

- Withdrawing from your Australian account while abroad is ridiculously expensive

- You do get shafted by exchange rates when changing currency and a bureau de change - but probably not as much as you do by the above option (which shafts you with rate AND fees)

- I have used the ANZ Travel Card the past few times I've gone abroad and found it the best option for carrying currency without carrying cash and keeping the exchange rate and fees manageable.

Depending on how long you're going to need Euro vs how long you'll need GBP I suppose determines what kind of currency you'd need to get it in...