Where do you go to change your UK money up into the currency you need for that holiday or weekend trip away? Do you head down to your local post office? Do you do it at your travel agent? Is there somewhere else locally that you always head to when another currency is needed? You might even be among the large number of people who leave it all until the last minute and rely on the currency converter rates they get at the airport before they catch their flight.
No matter which of the above sources you use, you could be getting a much better deal on your money. There is one source that hasn’t been mentioned above which apparently offers very good rates at all times – and that is the internet.
One article in the Birmingham Post recently revealed that while currency conversions are readily and easily available online, many people don’t think to go there to arrange this part of their holiday. And yet it could save you a lot of money. Read the article in full by visiting this link.
We all know the pound has been struggling to hold onto its value over the past year or so. This makes it even more important to ensure that you get as much foreign currency as you can for the pounds you want to exchange. If you are taking several hundred pounds or even a thousand pounds on holiday with you, you can see that even the slightest difference in the exchange rate could make a huge difference to the final sum you will pay to get your money.
The other good thing about online currency exchange services is that they often give you additional useful services as well. For example, it is quite easy to hop online, order your currency and stipulate that you will pick it up from the collection desk at the airport you are travelling out from. This means you don’t have to worry about a large amount of money being delivered to your home, or even going out to collect it from a local pick up point such as a travel agent or post office.
This clearly has benefits for a lot of people, but online currency orders are still not the favoured way for people to get hold of their holiday currency. It should also be remembered that it is easy to compare different outlets and sources of foreign cash online, thanks to the power of the search engines. It takes just seconds to compare rates from different providers, so you can find and enjoy the best deals online within minutes. If you get used to the idea of searching online rather than just going out and comparing the exchange rates in the windows of the local travel agents, you will find a much better deal awaits you in the end.
Perhaps eventually we will all be ordering and collecting our holiday currency in this way. But it looks to be a slow process to make that transition between the traditional ways of ordering currency to doing it online. Some will automatically think about getting their foreign currency in this way – but for others the process will take much longer indeed.
I must admit I never get my foreign currency online. It’s weird really because I always find and book my holidays online – I just never think to get the money there as well.
I think I’m too set in my ways of going to the foreign exchange counters to get it handed straight over. But I know I could save a lot if I did try buying my cash online. I’m not sure about having it sent by courier although I’m sure it would be okay. I would probably pick it up myself I think. It feels safer to do that.
Don’t get set in your ways! It’s great being able to order your cash online. Whenever I go abroad I always make it to the airport too early and end up having to wait. So I get plenty of time to get my currency and it gives me something to do.
I used to hate queuing at the post office to get my money and I’m glad I don’t have to do that any more. Going to the airport is actually a better use of your time. Give it a try the next time you go away – I guarantee you won’t be ordering your currency any other way!
I’m not sure about leaving things so late as to get my cash at the airport. I like to be prepared and have it ready to hand before I leave home. Supposing you get to the airport and you have some kind of problem getting hold of the money?
I suppose it wouldn’t happen but I’m just the type of person who doesn’t like leaving things until the last minute. I can understand that it’s a good service and worthwhile for some, but I don’t think I would include myself in that. Not at the moment anyway – I don’t have the courage to try it!
Well I must admit I got curious about this article so I decided to try getting my currency this way. And it was okay. I didn’t risk the courier even though I am sure it would have been fine. But I did end up collecting it myself and it went okay really – just as easy as they said it would be.
I think I got lucky to a certain extent though because there wasn’t a queue when I got my cash. If there had been I probably would have panicked about missing my plane! I know that’s silly because I was there in plenty of time. But there is something about just checking in and then being able to relax until your flight time comes.
The interesting thing now is that the pound isn’t doing so badly any more. It is still a long way from being up to the rate of a two dollar pound as far as the US dollar is concerned, that’s true. But it isn’t scraping the bottom of the barrel like it was previously.
And as far as the Euro is concerned, where the problem of parity was mooted a while back, the pound is now bringing in around 1.21 per Euro (or something like that at the time I was writing this). This is pretty good considering how bad the pound was a short time ago. Maybe it is over the worst and we can look forward to better and stronger times ahead? And European holidays!