Euros
We are going on the June 6 London-Paris-Normandy river cruise. Any thoughts on how many Euros to bring? We know tips are included.
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We are going on the June 6 London-Paris-Normandy river cruise. Any thoughts on how many Euros to bring? We know tips are included.
Comments
Bonnie88, Hi
It all depends on how many are WE, also your spending habits and what you're planning on doing. In Europe most everyone takes credit cards. so commonly the cash it's more for transportation, to buy trinkets or souvenirs, light meals- snacks etc.. so average 50-60 per day per person to start. If you need more and most pay with cash , there are plenty of ATM everywhere.
London currency it's the Sterling pound and although there are some establishments that accept euro cash , a vast majority of them do not.
In addition to what mil said, it also depends on how many days you might be adding for pre-and-post tour stays. For this same tour last April, I took £100 because we arrived in London early. As it turned out, I came home with about half that amount. For the balance of the trip, we took €350, mostly because we were staying extra days in Paris, but still managed to come home with some. We always give some €s, tucked into a 'thank you' card, to the cabin steward, bartender and server(s). It's our way of expressing our gratitude for the extraordinary service they always provide. Our choice, not a requirement.
Have a most wonderful time and please post a review afterwards!
You don't need to bring any unless you don't plan to use ATMs or you feel compelled to tip the driver picking you up or bellhop if you have a pretour hotel stay. Tauck already includes that in your tour price. Credit cards are acceptable for almost everything. Once we arrive on tours, we look for an ATM - preferably inside a bank - and get about $100 worth for small purchases like a drink or postcards. If we need more, we've never had a problem finding an ATM. The hotel staff and TDs can frequently give you recommendations on where to find safe ones.
Notify your bank/credit union of your travel plans.
Keep in mind, the UK doesn't use the Euro. Unless you plan future trips to the UK, I wouldn't suggest get very many if any.
To echo Claudia, on June 5 the new King Charles notes will be released and who knows how long the old notes will stay in circulation. So the less pound notes the better at this point. I had some pre-covid twenty pound notes that went out of circulation that I ended up asking a British friend to exchange at their bank for me......
I always use the ATM at the airport after arrival, usually I start small, may 50 to 100, there's always ATMs available. I have never brought any with me from home.
According to my financial institution, who also assists with my travel plans, there is no timeline at present to retire the 'old' bank notes bearing Her Majesty's likeness. I have also seen verification of this on reliable internet sources.
ATM and credit cards, the only way to go.
Always use a real bank ATM for the best exchange rate. Quite often the ones in the airport aren’t affiliated with a bank.
mfrancis, and the airport ones often charge high fees. Found that the hard way in Lisbon. I prefer ATMs in secure facilities attached to a bank. Otherwise I make sure my husband has his back to me watching the area.
I always get some local currency before I leave home, just to get me through a day or two if there's an emergency. I don't want to be looking for an ATM after a long flight. That practice came in handy when I was in Bucharest a couple of weeks ago. I had booked a walking tour for the day that the Tauck tour began in the evening. I was using Google maps to get to the meeting point for the walking tour and somehow lost the blue circle that showed me where I was on (or OFF) the route. (I know that's my lack of tech skills.) As I walked farther and farther away from my destination, and time was getting short, I grabbed a cab. I was glad that I had Romanian leus and didn't have to worry about whether the cab took credit cards.
MCD: I do the same thing. When I had a Bank of America account many years ago, I would use their services to order small amounts of currency for each country that I was traveling thru. I realize you do not receive the best rates and the service charges are ridiculous, but peace of mind is priceless. When you are spending thousands of dollars on a trip, an extra $20 or so for fees is a small price to pay, in my opinion. In addition, it doesn't bother me if I don't use all the currency as I treat the currency as a souvenir for inclusion in my scrapbook. I now make digital books and insert extra blank pages to paste in itineraries, currency, stamps, and other little bits of interesting scraps.
MCM-this has happened to me —often. As a back- up plan on my last trip, I added an international phone plan. And primarily use it for getting car transport (Bolt, Uber or Lyft) and for contacting the pre-trip or post-trip tour to advise that I’m lost or running late. It was invaluable! And I always go to an ATM at the airport when I land to get a bit of local currency.
Providing the settings are set up correctly on your phone, you can call from anywhere in the world without signing up for any plan that typically will cost you @ $10 a day.You will be charged the local rate for any phone calls you make, but we have rarely had to make any. A few tour directors have set up WhatsApp groups which are free anyway. Most texts are about 10 cents each when you are not on wifi, otherwise with wifi, they are free. If you have a data plan, you can use the Uber/ lift apps too.