travel money

[blackhearts84]

hi guys,

I leave 2 weeks on Friday to Orlando and we have already exchanged 1k in money and got 1.7 rate through crown currency. I see the rate is struggling at 1.6 just now. My friend is just home from Orlando today and he said he seen the rate at about 1.8 over there and said it would be best for us to exchange it once we were there.

Is this correct?! Im a bit confused that the rate can be different in different countries and now i dont know what to do! We still need to exchange 2k.

Help and comments would be mush appreciated.

[blott]

Exchange rates can be different in other countries, exactly the same as it can be depending on where you obtain foreign currency from in this country.

Personally, I'd suggest that it might not be wise to exchange in the USA. The first reason is that they don't really understand GB£s over there.

The second is that the rate can change at any time, even within the space of a few minutes, so you'll very likely not get the same rate as your friend suggested anyway.

At least if you get 1.6 today, that'll be the rate you get rather than waiting for two weeks and perhaps the exchange rate has maybe got much worse than your friend's 1.8? By the time you get to Florida, there will be no other alternative than to exchange there whatever the rate happens to be at the time.

[blackhearts84]

Your right, thanks for your help!

[Katys Grandad]

I would suggest that what your friend might have seen is a rate which US foreign exchanges will exchange dollars for sterling for US visitors to the UK. I'll bet they won't give that rate the other way around! I'd be very interested to see if the friend actually go that or just saw it advertised somewhere.

One can never predict these things but the rate has held pretty steady within a narrow range around $1.64 for quite a while now so maybe there won't be a major change in the next couple of weeks.

If you already have £1k worth of dollars why not use a credit card for some of the rest and avoid carrying all that cash?

[blackhearts84]

I dont do credit cards [)]

Think we will get the rest in traveller checks.