Which currency will be best?
Jul 16th, 2004, 01:52 PM
#3
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Sheila: I have found that they will take dollars just about anywhere. That was not a silly question. You still want the native currency, but in a pinch I have never had anyone refuse a dollar. The exchange rate may have been poor, but they took the dollar.
Jul 16th, 2004, 11:07 PM
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The answer to kgez is that foreign money - especially foreign money that's likely to devalue further - is not readily accepted.
Many traders will accept Euros, kronor, CHF, or pounds as a courtesy, at an extortionate exchange rate. But this is not the Caribbean or Vietnam, where the US dollar is a local parallel currency - though in the Baltics, the Euro is getting close to that status.
Remember that EU membership means the Baltic currencies tend to move with the Euro, so traders don't have to factor the risk of Euro devaluation into the rate they charge someone offering Euros. Increasingly, traders assume the US dollar will be worth less when they get to the bank than it was this morning. So they factor that risk into the rate they charge anyone offering dollars.
Many traders will accept Euros, kronor, CHF, or pounds as a courtesy, at an extortionate exchange rate. But this is not the Caribbean or Vietnam, where the US dollar is a local parallel currency - though in the Baltics, the Euro is getting close to that status.
Remember that EU membership means the Baltic currencies tend to move with the Euro, so traders don't have to factor the risk of Euro devaluation into the rate they charge someone offering Euros. Increasingly, traders assume the US dollar will be worth less when they get to the bank than it was this morning. So they factor that risk into the rate they charge anyone offering dollars.
Jul 17th, 2004, 02:17 AM
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kgez,
forget about using Dollars in the Baltic countries. The local currencies (Lat in Latvia, Kroon in Estonia and Litas in Lithuania) are extremely stable and thus of consistent value. These are not third world countries, after all.
I suggest you ensure that you carry a four digit security code Bank Card affiliated with the Maestro network and just draw the amounts needed from the locally abundant ATMs - at, BTW, very favorable exchange rates.
I cannot comment on the situation in Russia.
forget about using Dollars in the Baltic countries. The local currencies (Lat in Latvia, Kroon in Estonia and Litas in Lithuania) are extremely stable and thus of consistent value. These are not third world countries, after all.
I suggest you ensure that you carry a four digit security code Bank Card affiliated with the Maestro network and just draw the amounts needed from the locally abundant ATMs - at, BTW, very favorable exchange rates.
I cannot comment on the situation in Russia.
Jul 17th, 2004, 03:17 AM
#7
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As well as the Maestro or MasterCard card you would do well to carry also a Visa card (is it sold as Cirrus in your country ?), as Visa machines are the other common type of ATM in the Baltic states, and to keep you solvent if one card is swallowed by a machine or stolen. There are ATMs in airports, bus stations and railway stations, so you need fly with no money at all, but for comfort I usually take a hundred euros. As I leave each country or arrive in the next I clear out banknotes of the country I am leaving.
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Jul 17th, 2004, 06:14 PM
#8
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It's not a question deserving of the wise guy replies. There are many countries in the world where people would rather have dollars or euro or GB pounds rather than their own currency, and you do indeed make yourself very popular by not giving them the local currency. Not an unreasonable question at all.
Jul 18th, 2004, 03:45 AM
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You people who contend that it is an insult to locals to offer to pay in dollars have obviously not travelled abroad much.Many people in many countries crave dollars to spend or hold against inflation.I know you will say that it cost them money to convert them,What you fail to realize is that they DON'T convert them.Your contentions fly in the face of my experiences in travel to 20 countries.
Jul 18th, 2004, 04:01 AM
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Sorry - have traveled abrod 60+ times - and while there are certainly places (third-world countries) where dollars or euros are welcome - that generally does not include europe - where most countries have their own perfectly stable currencies - currently holding up better than the dollar.
This is no longer the 1950's when $ were acceptable almost everywhere because other currencies were unstable.
This is no longer the 1950's when $ were acceptable almost everywhere because other currencies were unstable.
Jul 18th, 2004, 04:05 AM
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It is only in very recent times that the Euro is preferred to the Dollar. The Dollar or Euro is still to this day preferred by many to the local currency. You have to realize I am NOT saying in All countries. Read the words.
Jul 18th, 2004, 04:09 AM
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It is often the case that the locals,especially those being tipped by Americans are very appreciative of the Dollars because any money they recieve is better than the big fat 0 they get from the Nationals of many other countries or from their own countrymen.
Jul 18th, 2004, 05:04 AM
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I want to add something ath's not aimed at kgez. But really, guys, can you not see how patronising it is to a Firt, not third, world economy to assume that dollars are as acceptable to the local populace as its own currency.
Many traders in the the touristy areas of Europe, especially around the Mediterranean, will take dollars, partly as a courtest, and partly becaue they are taking advantage of your compatriots who are too daft to notice, or maybe think of it as charity.
The last time I saw this was in Chania in Crete, last Easter. The town was full of US Navy personnel on shore leave from Souda Bay- their home base for the Iraq war. I saw in shops and bars and restaurants, traders take dollars but at rates that bore no relation to the real cost of the goods/drink/food; and it's clear that the attitude is "yes we'll take your dollars; more fool you!).
One of my mother's pet aphorisms, was "I'll refuse nothing but blows". That's the attitude to the dollar as a trading currencey but this "people perfer it" notion, at least in Europe, is the same one that says; "you're just jealous, you all want to live here, really".
Wise up, and give us our due.
Many traders in the the touristy areas of Europe, especially around the Mediterranean, will take dollars, partly as a courtest, and partly becaue they are taking advantage of your compatriots who are too daft to notice, or maybe think of it as charity.
The last time I saw this was in Chania in Crete, last Easter. The town was full of US Navy personnel on shore leave from Souda Bay- their home base for the Iraq war. I saw in shops and bars and restaurants, traders take dollars but at rates that bore no relation to the real cost of the goods/drink/food; and it's clear that the attitude is "yes we'll take your dollars; more fool you!).
One of my mother's pet aphorisms, was "I'll refuse nothing but blows". That's the attitude to the dollar as a trading currencey but this "people perfer it" notion, at least in Europe, is the same one that says; "you're just jealous, you all want to live here, really".
Wise up, and give us our due.
Jul 18th, 2004, 06:11 AM
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Just to keep this a bit down to earth: I absolutely cannot see that anybody here accused one poster of being offensive if they pay in Dollars.
It's just a fact that this procedure will not be appreciated in Europe as it is simply inconvenient for the recipients. They will have to convert the Dollars to their local currency, which undoubtedly they will, as in all of the EU-member states, there are stable currencies established and it will be rather impossible to persuade fellow countrymen to render services in exchange for any foreign currency even such as the Dollar (which BTW has lost some value over the recent year towards the Euro).
So please get easy a bit over this and take the comments which cautioned kgez to stick to the local currencies as they were meant to be: Profound and sound advice!
Regards
hsv
It's just a fact that this procedure will not be appreciated in Europe as it is simply inconvenient for the recipients. They will have to convert the Dollars to their local currency, which undoubtedly they will, as in all of the EU-member states, there are stable currencies established and it will be rather impossible to persuade fellow countrymen to render services in exchange for any foreign currency even such as the Dollar (which BTW has lost some value over the recent year towards the Euro).
So please get easy a bit over this and take the comments which cautioned kgez to stick to the local currencies as they were meant to be: Profound and sound advice!
Regards
hsv
Jul 18th, 2004, 06:21 AM
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I had a taxi driver accept both dollars and euros in Switzerland (I had just landed and didn't have time to get to the ATM).
doesn't hurt to have extras, you never know. just be aware of the exchange rate.
doesn't hurt to have extras, you never know. just be aware of the exchange rate.
