Western Med -best advise for currency?

[waterbabies7415]

Calling all cc experts.... I have never been out of the U.S. before and I would like to know your best advise for currency. Example: should I purchase a AAA international card, load it up and pull money from an ATM machine once in Spain? Do we need to purchase euros before leaving the U.S. and if so how much should we plan on taking with us? Please help! I'm having anxiety and I would like some peace of mind....

Thank you so much for your advise!

[littlelulu01]

Calling all cc experts.... I have never been out of the U.S. before and I would like to know your best advise for currency. Example: should I purchase a AAA international card, load it up and pull money from an ATM machine once in Spain? Do we need to purchase euros before leaving the U.S. and if so how much should we plan on taking with us? Please help! I'm having anxiety and I would like some peace of mind....

Thank you so much for your advise!

 

Daughter is currently studying abroad. we've fou it easiest to have her use bank debit card and withdraw euros as needed. She gets 200 at a time and our bank then converts to usd. Some banks don't have a charge and some do so check with your bank. For example I see she took out 200 euro today and bank deducted $226 usd from her checking acct. Today's exchange is one euro = 1.13 usd.

 

Our credit cards have fees associated with use for overseas so we don't use them. Some companies don't have the charges though. I also opened her a second checking account with separate debit card and activated prior to her leaving the states. That way if her account is compromised she has another card activated and ready to go. I keep an eye on charges and slide her money as needed. Vs keeping too much in checking just in case account is compromised. She seems to be in a different country every weekend and some that don't use euro so it's easiest for her to just get cash out of ATM's in whatever country as needed. It has been very easy for her and so far no issues. It's much the same as getting $ out of an ATM here.

 

AAA and my bank were charging way too much for euros before she left so I told her to just get some when she got to Italy. It was very easy for her to do.

 

Just in case you are also wondering about phones, the t mobile service has been invaluable. Free internet, I can call her any time for free, free texts and .20/min for her to call. She justs texts me when she wants to talk and then I call her back. Internet a little slow but not bad. It just works in every country she's been in with no hassle. Her friends have a very hard time because they need to find wifi hot spot in order to use their phones. I was nervous getting that first bill but sure enough, no extra charges. She's been using about 5-10 gigs / month with no extra charges!

Edited February 7, 2015 by littlelulu01

[Sauer-kraut]

I just use my ATM card when getting EUROs... too expensive to pre-purchase here in the States.

 

The ATM machines in Europe are great, just click on the language you want... FYI use the British flag for English. :D

[quercus alba]

Capital One has a money market account that has no international ATM transaction fees. Learned about it on CC! Worked great for us. (Just set it up a couple of months ahead of time, since there was a minimum waiting period to withdraw from a new account!)

 

(Agree with Valen9--did that for all our accounts, actually. And another advantage of using the Capital One account from my perspective was that I wasn't using my main home banking account overseas, so I didn't even have that debit card along with me to lose. Small and silly maybe, but reassuring.)

Edited February 8, 2015 by quercus alba

[Valen9]

Capital One has a money market account that has no international ATM transaction fees. Learned about it on CC! Worked great for us. (Just set it up a couple of months ahead of time, since there was a minimum waiting period to withdraw from a new account!)

 

CapitalOne also have credit cards with no fees for foreign transactions. I have one and like it a LOT. Just be sure to let them know when you are traveling; their fraud department locks things down QUICK if they see abnormal spending.

[mcmomny]

We used our bank debit card to withdraw euros from the ATM, with no problems.

 

Our Citibank Visa credit card has no international fees and was widely excepted because it had the "chip" in it which is something the European countries look for. A typical credit card won't work all of the time.

 

You will also need to inform your bank and your credit card companies about your travel, dates and ports and what ship as it will be declined if they aren't aware of it!

 

It is their way of protecting you against theft

 

Have fun!

[Cruiserbarbie]

I agree with all of above but wondered how long you would be gone. For a week? are you taking ship's tours? how much do you think you'll need? If all land costs are taken care of except for souveniers or gelato, I'd take it out all at once and not fool around with finding and transacting with ATMs.

[waterbabies7415]

Thank you all for the expert advise! Looks like I'm going to the bank to see about opening an account!! I knew I'd get great advise here!

Happy Sailing all!!

[NCruiser2012]

I always like to plan for the worst. I buy a few Euros before I leave home and ask for smaller bills. I have seen ATM's out of money or with a limit to the amount you can take out. Maybe you just want to catch a bus from the airport and not look for an ATM.

[Cruiserbarbie]

Just thought of a funny, not so funny story about my ATM card. In Alexandria, Egypt train station to get money to pay for ticket to Cairo, card got stuck in ATM machine. Fortunately, I had a nail file and plastic knife and was able to grip it out (sweating bullets). Only thing lost was missing the train, but scary if I wouldn't have been able to get the card out!