paying expenses in europe
 

Just curious, When Canadian and Americans are travelling to Europe, I would be interested to know how you convert your money to Euros or Pounds sterling. Do you change at home and take cash, pre-load a credit card, debit as you go or withdraw from an ATM!
What are the safest and most economical ways?

ATM and credit cards. Both will bet you instant cash in ATM machines.
Before you leave, you may want to contact your credit card company and let them know that you're going on a trip to Europe. That way, they won't cancel your credit card thinking it has been hacked when they see it used in a different country. Let them know the kind of expenses you'll be using the credit card for in the event your credit card indeed gets stolen and the thieves try to buy a big ass flat screen TV with it, your credit card carrier will know it's not you... ;-)

Lee

Check with your bank as to the fees you will be charged as well, often a fee for using another bank's atm and then another fee to convert to local currency. Some of the big banks have reciprocal agreements and you can use atm s fee free.

American checking in:

Debit: Charles Schwab Investor Checking. No exchange fees, and ATM fees refunded (even in Europe and Africa -- no questions asked). Rate is crappy but not "usurious". No minimums or fees of any kind. Apparently they cut you off after 6 months of abusing the card in travel, but we're in the middle of month 9 and no problems yet. Card works great. We've never used it for anything BUT travel, so we're not leveraging any goodwill with Schwab.

Credit: USAA Platinum Visa and Chase Sapphire both are transaction-charge free like the above. Also crappy rate, but still not "usurious". The heavy metal sapphire card still impresses merchants in banana republics and gets undeserved respect. :D

All 3 are usually about 3% markup for foreign currency transactions. Since it's the same for small or large purchases, we're happy to use them for everyday nonsense and not worry about it too much. If you were making large purchases, you might do better with a fee card that had a better rate, but I'm not aware of one that would be worth it.

$0.02 (~0.25 ZAR)

- Mike

Great suggestions, Thanks Mike, also Roger and Lee, I'm going to check with my Bank on credit card options.

+1 Charles Schwab investor checking.

I have been using it for 3 years of travel now, Africa, Europe and Asia no problems. I'd never heard they cut you off after 6 months of abuse? They've never given me any problems.

In the EU credit cards are very widely accepted, including paying for fuel, though not all seem to work in "pay at pump" machines. Bear this in mind and always carry local currency - fortunately the Euro is the currency for the more advanced members of the Union. In some countries (eg France) a lot closes on Sundays so you may find yourself dependent on "pay at pump".

You card company will convert from Euros/whatever to your account currency at rates that IME aren't too bad. Good idea to let them know you're going abroad, of course.

AMEX is less widely accepted due to its high charges to vendors.

Plenty of ATMs around, the place is largely crime free, probably easiest to carry a week's worth of cash with you to cover food and fuel, leave the card for hotels and emergencies.