RE: Toronto - COMMON planning...

It's been awhile, but, don't the credit card companies all do a good job of
converting the currency automatically and fairly?  Unless you're a
speculator (buy low, sell high) in currencies, just take a minimum of cash
to be converted and use the credit cards.

Also, I have no idea, but, do the bank ATM "systems" cross the border at
all?  My ATM card has a few symbols on it that tell me which ATMs I can use
and some banks don't charge fees if you use the ATMs that they "belong" to.
This is probably a YMMVW (W=Widely or Wildly).

One thing you don't want to do is to hold on to foreign currency for too
long.  We took a trip to New York from Michigan a few years back and cut
through Canada.  So I scrounged up some old loonies probably from 10 or 15
years prior that had been sitting in my drawer.  Stopped at a McDonalds for
lunch, and a "kid" behind the counter took one look at the money I handed
him and called over the manager!  The kid had never seen it before.  The
manager laughed.  Can't remember if it was the old C$2 bill or what, but I
felt old in an instant.

db

> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx / Don
> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004 10:39 PM
>
> John,
>
> No kidding!
>
> Folks, you may want to visit a local bank that deals with foreign
> currencies or just hit a bank once you hit Toronto...problem is, most of
> you will be arriving on Saturday or Sunday and the banks will be closed,
> so check with currency exchanges in the airport, provided the handling
> fee's aren't too high...