Re: Toronto - COMMON planning... -- MIDRANGE-L

At one point in times, I don't know if it is still the same, the word was that Canadians were using their debit card at a much higher percentage than the Americans.....Yes, Dan, "the bank ATM 'systems' cross the borders" and VERY well as well!.....and that, in most of the countries around the world!.....Last winter we went to Vietnam. When we arrived in Saigon (now Ho Chi Min), my wife insisted in changing some money. We ended up in a national Vietnamese bank branch. She went to a teller and she was asked for Passport, Visas etc, and then, she had to wait at least 15 minutes (litterally) to get her money. In the meantimes I was chating with our guide when I spotted an ABM right in the branch. I waited for the 2 or 3 customer to finish their transactions and got to the terminal. In less than 2 minutes I had money in the Vietnamese currency, no sweat! The shock to me was when I saw my bank balance in Vietnamese currency... I was almost a billionnaire.....what a feeling!

Yes, I love ABM's and debit cards.

Leo


Dan Bale wrote:

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...


--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.


--
Léo Lefebvre
President
Toronto Users Group for Midrange Systems
Visit our home page at <http://www.tug.ca>
Ph: (416) 606-5960   ---   Fx: (416) 495-0100
mailto:leo@xxxxxx