Travel money

A question about : Travel money

I have a lot of euros left from last year - we're off to Jamaica in July - here's the question - should I change the euros back to pounds then into Jamaican dollars or straight from euros to dollars can anyone advise the best thing to do.??

Thanks

Best answers:

• Ask your question on the Flights, Currency & Car Hire board - you may get more answers there.
  Every time you exchange currency you lose due to buy/sell spread and/or commission, so avoid doing multiple exchanges. I would hang on to my spare euros until my next trip to Euro-land and buy enough Jamaican dollars to cover a day or two's expected cash spending. Most of my foreign spend would be on a Halifax Clarity Credit card - assuming that these are accepted in Jamaica.
• Also note that the rate you get depends on how popular the currencies where you are. For instance, if you try to change the Euro into Jamaican dollars in the UK, they might have to go EUR->GBP->JMD which means two exchanges (and two lots of costs). While if you did it in, say, Slovenia they use the Euro so it could be one exchange, except nobody from Slovenia goes to Jamaica so you probably wouldn't get a good rate. Meanwhile in Jamaica they probably change Euro all the time so the rate might be better.
  This is all on top of currency fluctuations which are unpredictable so your guess is as good as mine.
• If you would like some recommendations, try First Rate FX or HI FX as they offer fixed rates.
• Be very careful with recommendations by kris1985 - all this poster ever does is ramp First Rate FX and HI FX