12 Comments

  1. Victor
    January 25, 2012 @ 8:20 pm

    Why to buy money? I have credit cards πŸ™‚ and… dollars

    • Andrew
      January 26, 2012 @ 8:16 pm

      Because there are so many places where neither of those gets you anything.

  2. Andrea
    January 21, 2012 @ 11:29 am

    I wonder how you’ll feel if the Euro fails, haha – more currency to deal with!

    • Andrew
      January 21, 2012 @ 11:42 am

      Yes, because more currencies will be my biggest problem is the Euro goes belly up. πŸ˜‰ I don’t honestly know, and trying not to worry so much as there is little to nothing I can do about it.

  3. Debbie Beardsley @ European Travelista
    January 20, 2012 @ 1:03 am

    I too remember pre-Euro Europe! I think I liked it better but it is definitely easier now. I usually figure a rate that will get me close and call it a day. Europe is pretty easy. Last year we went to Mexico and I had a little more trouble calculating all those pesos.

    Fun post!

    • Andrew
      January 20, 2012 @ 9:29 pm

      Thanks. There was, as Sabrina mentioned, a more travel-y feel to having different currencies in Europe. Going somewhere, even next door countries, was “travel” as it meant other money. Certain numbers don’t lend too well to easy math, so you end up having to guess. “A little bit more than X” or a “little less than Y”.

  4. Jeremy Branham
    January 19, 2012 @ 10:38 pm

    Fun post on money. I like your ways of making the conversions simple. I actually hate having cash – I rarely ever have it on me when I am at home but do use it when traveling. I hate coins even more so in Europe those big coins get on my nerves. Can’t just throw 1 or 2 euro coins in a bucket and forget about it.

    I guess I haven’t deal with currency issues too much because I haven’t had to go anywhere with astronomical exchange rates. Good tips on thingies though! πŸ™‚

    • Andrew
      January 20, 2012 @ 9:26 pm

      I was totally a card person in the US too. Though having cash does help with saving sometimes as it makes you realize how fast you are spending money. Coins can be heavy admittedly. Though it is nice to see a pile of change and realize you can still go for a night drinking with it.

      I love the “thingies” part the best of this post. I’m glad you liked it.

  5. Sabrina
    January 19, 2012 @ 5:35 pm

    I used to love paying with different money when travelling in Europe as a kid with my parents. So much more fun. Not practical, but it made the whole vacation somehow more “foreign and exciting” πŸ™‚

    By the waw, I just downloaded a new app to help with all the conversions when travelling called XE converter or something. Haven’t tried it yet, but seems really easy to use.

    • Andrew
      January 20, 2012 @ 9:24 pm

      There is something fun about playing with the money. Especially when the numbers are really big. Italian Lira made me feel so wealthy, even though an ice cream cost 500L. Oh agreed, strange money definitely adds to the foreign feeling. Not the same any more to just look for the other pictures on the coins nowadays.

      I’m not so much into apps, but I think Ali has that one.

      • Sabrina
        January 20, 2012 @ 11:28 pm

        Me too!! When we went on skiing trips to Italy my dad would give each of us 10,000 Italian Lira to buy our own lunch every day and it was awesome. We felt so rich and fancy. No matter that it was about 10 Deutsche Mark = 5 Euros πŸ™‚

        • Andrew
          January 21, 2012 @ 12:17 pm

          I remember the first time in Italy at the ATM getting out 200,000 Lira.