Foreign Currency

[bigdavefc]

I just had a debate with someone who was upset that some places in Noumea do not take Australian dollars. Their argument was "by not taking $Aud they are missing out on the tourist dollar and making my visit less enjoyable because I can't spend my money". Now I may be in the minority here but I never expect anyone to take $Aud while I am overseas. If they choose to then thats great and its up to them but I always take some local currency with me wherever I travel. I have had several debates with people that say "its easier for me, or I am on holiday I should be able to spend my money" but I just don't get it. If someone came into almost any store in Australia and tried to pay with foreign currency, they would be turned away...so why do we expect things to be different when we are overseas?

[CruiserBruce]

Many will agree with you- including us. We never expect to use USD (we are Americans) in another country. We think it is disrespectful of other countries to be forced to accept our currency. By forcing others to use our currency, at minimum, we are forcing vendors in other countries to eat the exchange fees/costs we don't want to incur.

 

But, to be brutally honest, some people are just too lazy to change currency, or in the case of Americans, just think others should be required to accept our currency, simply because it is the USD. Another example of the "ugly American" syndrome.

[cuckoo32]

Yes agree as well, we always take local currency . Quite a few take American. So we have those as well . Never assume they would want kiwi . The Pacific islands and New Caledonia are very small and for them to convert the currency would be costly for them. It costs us I know but that's just factored into the holiday .

 

 

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[Kiwi Kruzer]

I agree. Imagine the language if you tried to pay a Sydney taxi driver in French Pacific Francs .:eek::eek:

[peter.kath@hotmail.com]

Same here, we always make a point of taking extra local currency so that we can help out by exchanging their Aussie Dollars and coins, particularly on the islands.

I don't know about the other cruises but on our recent Aria cruise to PNG you were able to obtain Kina from the self service kiosk where you check your accounts.

 

 

 

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[OzKiwiJJ]

So far all the cruises we've done to New Caledonia have all stopped in Noumea first. As soon as we get off the shuttle bus, the first thing we do is go across the road to the ATM at the Casino supermarket and get some local currency. We get sufficient cash to cover our day there, and whatever other local port stops there are.

 

Noumea is not totally dependant on tourism. It is a city that is there to support the people that live and work there, and although some of the few tourist shops will accept other currencies, most will only accept French Pacific Francs.

 

Bigdavefc, the person you were talking to is ignorant and arrogant by expecting other countries to accept foreign currencies. If s/he wants to travel then s/he needs to understand the most basic rule of travel, nicely summed up by the old adage "when in Rome, so as the Romans do".

[MicCanberra]

I agree, it is these same tourists that travel overseas (non English speaking nations) and wonder why hardly anybody speaks English. SMH :(

[MicCanberra]

I just had a debate with someone who was upset that some places in Noumea do not take Australian dollars. Their argument was "by not taking $Aud they are missing out on the tourist dollar and making my visit less enjoyable because I can't spend my money".

You should ask them if they would accept being paid in a different currency and have to go to the bank and lose on the conversion fees and possibly the rate as well.

[erewhon]

When we visited Noumea on board the Volendam, just prior to departure, people sitting beside us were moaning that the street signs were not in "American", but a foreign language.!!!

[MicCanberra]

That wouldn't surprise me at all.

[chesterbear]

When we visited Noumea on board the Volendam, just prior to departure, people sitting beside us were moaning that the street signs were not in "American", but a foreign language.!!!

 

 

Ironically the English language has borrowed a high percentage of its vocabulary from the French language.

 

I'm astounded by some people. I found it fairly easy to understand the street signs in noumea and I was relying on that and high school French lessons from over 20 years ago.

 

 

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[MicCanberra]

I certainly don't rue the day that I have to walk a French street. :p

[tillydog]

Yep the amount of people who cant grasp the common decency to exchange their money (unless they're using a credit card) into the required currency/ies before they go is astounding!

It's like when my Grandfather was alive, he lived mainly over the years in France and then Majorca/Mallorca. Without fail he'd complain that the place was full of foreigners. He also never bothered to learn even the basic fundamentals of those languages. *bangs forehead against the wall*

[MicCanberra]

Yep the amount of people who cant grasp the common decency to exchange their money (unless they're using a credit card) into the required currency/ies before they go is astounding!

It's like when my Grandfather was alive, he lived mainly over the years in France and then Majorca/Mallorca. Without fail he'd complain that the place was full of foreigners. He also never bothered to learn even the basic fundamentals of those languages. *bangs forehead against the wall*

Or they complain about all the foreign food in the restaurants. (like in Shirley Valentine).

[cheznandy]

Or they complain about all the foreign food in the restaurants. (like in Shirley Valentine).

 

Mic, I was going to say that. Tourists who go to Asia but won't eat the food:')

Nothing as good as local street food!! Thats why we travel:)

[Gwendy]

Makes you wonder why some people travel if they want everything the same. Last year we were on an excursion to Berlin, it had been raining, traffic was awful, so time had been cut short for our stop at Checkpoint Charlie. We did the obligatory photos with the "guards", looked quickly at the landmarks that were there. Where were our American shipmates? In McDonalds. Each to their own.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We've had some amusing experiences at restaurants in Europe. We like to seek out small restaurants that serve traditional local food. Several times we been enjoying a meal and had an American or Britsh couple arrive to sit at a table quite close to us. Listening to them try to decide on what to eat can be extremely funny. On a couple of occasions the people asked us what we were eating and we were able to convince them to try some of the more interesting dishes and both times they really liked the food. Some people just aren't comfortable stepping out of their culinary comfort zone, which is sad.

[MicCanberra]

Makes you wonder why some people travel if they want everything the same. Last year we were on an excursion to Berlin, it had been raining, traffic was awful, so time had been cut short for our stop at Checkpoint Charlie. We did the obligatory photos with the "guards", looked quickly at the landmarks that were there. Where were our American shipmates? In McDonalds. Each to their own.

Free wifi and clean toilets?

[MicCanberra]

We've had some amusing experiences at restaurants in Europe. We like to seek out small restaurants that serve traditional local food. Several times we been enjoying a meal and had an American or Britsh couple arrive to sit at a table quite close to us. Listening to them try to decide on what to eat can be extremely funny. On a couple of occasions the people asked us what we were eating and we were able to convince them to try some of the more interesting dishes and both times they really liked the food. Some people just aren't comfortable stepping out of their culinary comfort zone, which is sad.

I know what you mean, we had a homestay dinner once in rural France and one of the guests was adamant that they wouldn't have the meal. It was cooked in a French way but it was basically roast chook and vegies.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I know what you mean, we had a homestay dinner once in rural France and one of the guests was adamant that they wouldn't have the meal. It was cooked in a French way but it was basically roast chook and vegies.

 

I'm already counting the days until we arrive in Paris for a few days before going to Barcelona to join our Med cruise. I can't wait to go to my favourite French bistro on the Ile St Louis to have their wonderful Lapin a la Moutard (rabbit in mustard sauce). DH will probably pig out on the Cassoulet, as usual.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Free wifi and clean toilets?

 

Good point. However unless desperate for the clean toilets, I'd rather see the sights than waste time online.

[MicCanberra]

Good point. However unless desperate for the clean toilets, I'd rather see the sights than waste time online.

Likewise, but if time permits, I will go to a MacDonald's or a Star bucks for such amenities. A lot of European cities now have free wifi in their city centres anyway.

[MicCanberra]

I'm already counting the days until we arrive in Paris for a few days before going to Barcelona to join our Med cruise. I can't wait to go to my favourite French bistro on the Ile St Louis to have their wonderful Lapin a la Moutard (rabbit in mustard sauce). DH will probably pig out on the Cassoulet, as usual.

Yum, yum, must be time for lunch.:D

[dougyfresh]

Are most of the Pacific islands stops easy to get local currency from? We are doing Noumea and Fiji in a few weeks and while I plan to get some AUD while in Sydney, I wasn't sure if it'd be easy to bank at the other stops. Was hoping they would all have ATMs available, sounds like Noumea does and I would assume Suva does too

[peter.kath@hotmail.com]

Suva has an ATM and also Money Changers in the main shopping area.

 

 

 

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