• Flavio

    Member
    May 4, 2023 at 9:03 am

    We, literally, spend at least two months a year in Europe.

    An ATM is easy to find in the US, but not always so in Europe, depending on where you are traveling to.

    Also, some do not translate to English as one would hope.

    I would much rather know what I have, in cash, before I arrive.

    Because using a card is not a guarantee, no matter what folks may say here. We travel all over the world for work, and cards are definitely easiest, (pay in native monetary units ALWAYS), but not always possible.

    For example, today, we tried to pay for parking in two places (Italy) at kiosks touting contactless payments, but they were not working using coin euros we could pay to park.

    This happens a lot.

    Take money with you!

    Buy it at a rate that is closest to the last market close.

    Do not depend on hotels, they charge you to change money, and many ATMs charge, if you are in a non-English speaking country, you cannot always depend on the ATM to translate to English.

    I’d rather depend on an established relationship with an American bank, than hope for a possibly decent one in the EU.