Funny money.....it's no laughing matter

You would have to live under a rock to be unaware of the upheaval this summer in the European money world. It wasn't that long ago, that you had different foreign currency for each country that you visited. To our benefit (that's completely a matter of perspective) we now only need one currency to make purchases in many european countries. For our upcoming cruise, we will be in 5 countries that accept 3 different currencies, although we've been told that it most probably really is only 2 currencies, as Croatia does take euros.

Since December, we've watched while the exchange rates crept up, then took a nose dive, then recently saw it creep up once again. Never fun to watch money you don't have in your pocket yet, lose value.

While finishing up some packing and getting ready to head to the airport for a European trip to celebrate his first wedding anniversary, our son Brian very simply put it all into perspective. He happily reported that exchange rates are much better than they were the last time he and Taryn were traveling abroad. I'm actually pleased as well....when we were over there in 2008, the rates sucked. But then again, we spent little time on shore spending money, and more time cruising across the Atlantic during our transatlantic crossing. This trip, we are on land for all but three days of a twelve night cruise. That obviously translates to more $$ spent on foreign soil. I did find a few ways to circumvent the $$$ dilemma--I booked quite a few tours in advance when the rates were good, and booked one through the ship which required payment in dollars. More importantly, everything we do onboard is paid for with American $$$. In reality, it is one of the reasons cruising and traveling in Europe is so affordable for us.

The decision we mulled over for months, was how, when and where to exchange our $$$. At the airport? Through our bank? Out of the ATM machine in each city? On the ship through the guest relations desk? You can understand that we were a bit confused as to which choice would yield us the most euros and pounds for our money. I really didn't want to be searching around for an ATM when we arrived in each port. Nor did I want to stand in line on the ship, so everyone could see how much cash we were carrying around. I also don't want to use a credit card for purchases and be at the mercy of the bank for their unknown fees and charges depending on the daily rates. I had researched the fees and additional service charges up one side and down the other...and not being much of a numbers person myself (that is truly the understatement of the century), I finally deferred to Roger and we took the easy way out. He placed an order at our bank, paid the service charge, and I picked up what he interestingly refers to as our "funny money" for the trip. The bills are all various strange sizes, it feels and looks like fake money, and has pretty shiny silver and gold threads running through it (maybe that's why it costs so much). I've decided that I should just pay more attention when I'm spending foreign $$ because it never seems the same as when I'm whipping out my debit card at home. Perhaps when we are in vacation "mode" it ALL feels like play money.


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