Travel Bits: August 2016

Spending those loose change at the end of a trip.......

Each time I travel to a different country, I almost always end up with leftover currencies from the country or countries that I had just visited. This is fine for countries which I visit often for work or vacations. But for countries which I am unlikely to visit again in the immediate future, what shall I do with these leftover small changes?

Currencies from countries which I visited often such the British Pound, EU Euro, Hong Kong Dollar, Indonesian Rupiah, Japanese Yen, Malaysian Ringgit, Thai Baht and US Dollar, I wouldn't mind holding as I can use them again on my next visits.

But for some other countries, my stack of leftover change from these overseas trips has grown quite substantially in the sense that I have a little bit of currencies left over from each country that I had visited. These include the Australian Dollar,  Cambodian Riel, Israeli Shekels, Korean Won, Nepalese Rupee, Seychellois Rupee, Swiss Franc, and Vietnamese Dong among others. I even have leftovers of the old French Franc, Deutsche Mark and Italian Lira from the days before the introduction of the Euro!

I am pretty sure all travellers encounter this same problem that I do. So, what can we do to limit our personal exposure to currency "loss" due to these leftover money? Apart from going back to the money changer in our home countries to exchange these foreign currencies back to our local currencies, are they any other methods to prevent a buildup of these foreign currencies before we leave the host countries?

My strategy is multi-prong.

Where possible, I uses credit cards to pay for the more prominent charges such as hotel accommodations, dining and larger purchases. While there is a small surcharge for each use, I usually don't mind paying this additional overhead as it allow me the conveniences of not lugging around wads of cash when travelling.

The second option is to withdraw local cash via ATMs. What about the extra charge that banks levy for these overseas withdrawals? During my travels, I have discovered that some banks do not levy these charges for ATM withdrawals made in certain overseas territories. For example, a particular bank in Singapore do not levy any extra charges for withdrawals made from the same bank's ATMs in Hong Kong (except for the prevailing exchange rate differences). Thus, I only have to withdraw the amount that I need while overseas, as and when I wanted the extra cash. A little research before your travels goes a long way! :-)

Third, using up the small changes for purchases before I leave the country. These can include buying small souvenirs, a cup of latte or a sandwich at the airport and a book or two. Many shops in airports around the world are nice enough to accept part cash and part credit card payments. Asking politely with a smile works wonders, anywhere in the world.

Last but not least, donate all those extra changes to charity. :-) Every cent donated to charity counts and it helps bring a smile to the face of someone in need.

Free from the "shackles" of having to start a new collection of leftover currencies, I can sit back, relax, drink my latte and dream about my next trip.

Shops at an Airport's departure area are good opportunities for me to use up those leftover currencies before I board my flight, Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong SAR, China (2016)