On Sat, 22 May 2010 16:16:24 +0100, Janet Baraclough
> wrote:

>
> DUH. I have said, repeatedly, that BECAUSE travellers cannot rely
> on plastic cards being accepted, that is THE REASON for carrying
> travellers cheques.

We stopped carrying traveler's checks because they were refused in
places that were rather touristy. It's not worth the bother anymore.

--
Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.

sf wrote:
> On Sat, 22 May 2010 16:16:24 +0100, Janet Baraclough
> > wrote:
>
>> DUH. I have said, repeatedly, that BECAUSE travellers cannot rely
>> on plastic cards being accepted, that is THE REASON for carrying
>> travellers cheques.
>
> We stopped carrying traveler's checks because they were refused in
> places that were rather touristy. It's not worth the bother anymore.
>


I used TCs on a trip to Europe in 1993, before ATMs. Since we were
planning on visiting France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, we got them
in French Francs, Deutch Marks Swiss Francs and Italian Lire. We paid
premium exchange rates for them, It wasn't so bad cashing them at banks
in France Germany and Switzerland, but we got royally screwed in Italy,
because they charged a transaction fee per TC. We had made the mistake
of getting them in small denominations. While 10,000 and 20,000 lire
sounds like a lot, there were about 1000 lire to the dollar, so we had
our Italian TCs in $10 and $20 denominations, so a set fee on each one
ended up costing us a lot.

It was Sunday evening when we arrived in Padua, where we had planned to
stay before heading into Venice. There was no place to cash them and the
only restaurants we found nearby would not accept them. So we hopped
back on the train and went to Venice and found place to cash them.




My next trip to Europe was in 1999, by which time we had bank cards and
used ATMs. We got better exchange rates. Since there is a transaction
fee, we withdrew larger amounts less, but less often. I think that we
saved a lot by using the bank card instead of TCs.

On Sat, 22 May 2010 12:48:27 -0400, blake murphy wrote:

> On Fri, 21 May 2010 23:16:20 -0500, Sqwertz wrote:
>
>> Take 30mgs of Valium, 50mg of Benydryl, and a couple shots.
>> The family will hate you for discovering that.
>
> hard to say. it might shut him up for a while.

More importantly, it would allow him to go on vacations.
Previously, this was the only way to ditch him - was to go somplace
*requiring* an airplane.

-sw

On Sat, 22 May 2010 15:01:33 +0100, Janet Baraclough wrote:

> The message >
> from Sqwertz > contains these words:
>
>> On Wed, 19 May 2010 04:54:54 -0700 (PDT), Food Snob® wrote:
>
>>> I'm glad for this thread because my wife and son are going on vacation
>>> out of the country, and we need to figure out the most economical way
>>> to exchange currency, and we need to figure it out soon.
>
>> Currency rates change. I wouldn't count on the equivalent of 7-11
>> to know how much about currency rates, or what $20 American is
>> worth.
>
>> Maybe they're good for foreign travel, but using them in the United
>> States, where they were issued, is a complete PITA.
>
> You still haven't grasped how overseas travellers use travellers cheques.

You still haven't grasped how everyone is disagreeing with you.

-sw

On Sat, 22 May 2010 14:40:58 +0100, Janet Baraclough wrote:

> I'm beginning to think there must be a transatlantic word divergence
> at work here.

Or possibly a thick skull.

-sw

In article >,
"Paul M. Cook" > wrote:

> "sf" > wrote in message
> ...
> > On Mon, 17 May 2010 10:35:09 -0700, "Paul M. Cook" >

> >> Next time use American Express travelers checks.
> >>
> >
> > No thanks. Traveler's checks are passe. We use the ATM for cash and
> > a card for the big purchases.
>
> Karl Malden is rolling over in his grave.

There's a reason that they are passe, but I don't know what it is. I
see lots of signs "No traveler's checks accepted".

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

"Dan Abel" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Paul M. Cook" > wrote:
>
>> "sf" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > On Mon, 17 May 2010 10:35:09 -0700, "Paul M. Cook" >
>
>> >> Next time use American Express travelers checks.
>> >>
>> >
>> > No thanks. Traveler's checks are passe. We use the ATM for cash and
>> > a card for the big purchases.
>>
>> Karl Malden is rolling over in his grave.
>
> There's a reason that they are passe, but I don't know what it is. I
> see lots of signs "No traveler's checks accepted".

Travelers checks are easily counterfeited. I work in admin/accounting tech
support for a small chain of retail stores, and we've gotten several of
them.