Cash Out Your Foreign Money

by Diane
(San Diego, California)

How do you cash out your foreign money at the end of a trip without losing money on the exchange rate? We found a good solution to that, and we're glad we found a way to pass it along.

At the end of foreign travel, you're apt to have some foreign money left over. It's hard to estimate how much you're going to need at the beginning of your trip.

We don't worry so much anymore about how much money to convert at the ATM at the start of our travels.

We've found that almost all hotels and B&Bs will let you use whatever money you have left at the end to pay part of your bill. They will subtract the amount that you have left. Then you can pay the rest of your balance with your credit card.

Just make sure you have enough money to get to the airport.

It's also a good idea to check to see if you will need to pay a departure tax. If there is a departure tax, check to see you need local currency for that or if you can use dollars or a credit card.

This way you won't have much of that foreign currency left over. You always loose on the exchange rate if you need to convert back.

Sometimes the hotels will only take bills and larger denomination coins. If you do have small change or small bills left, many airport and airlines provide a way to donate that change to charities... or you can bring it home and have a collection of foreign coins. We even have friends that bring home clean, crisp bills and frame them for memories of their trip!