I’m set to travel from the U. S. to Canada on Friday (Vancouver, in particular). I have a passport (just got it) and the flight booked. I’ll be flying from Houston to Calgary first, and then from Calgary to Vancouver. I had to do that because the trip is school related, and the school wants the lowest airfare possible. Surprisingly, that was the cheapest I could find.
Anyway, what are some things I need to do/know about traveling abroad? One thing that I think might cause trouble is that I have been prescribed a controlled substance (Ritalin) recently. Will that cause any trouble going through customs?
I have been given a cash advance by the school to pay for some expenses. Should I just get a prepaid credit card and pay for everything that way, or should I get some percentage of that converted to Canadian money? I’ve never exchanged currency before, so I’m not sure where I do that. Are airports the best place to do that? What is a “reasonable” fee for exchanging currency?
Lots of questions, I know. But any help is appreciated. I’m a bit nervous about traveling internationally, even though its to a contiguous country.
Be aware that there may be a foreign transaction fee if you use your credit card. Prompted by this thread, I’ve called my issuer, and there is a 3% transaction fee for purchases made in foreign currency.
I usually exchange currency upon crossing the border, as it is convenient. I think you’d get a better rate if you went to a bank instead. (I could be wrong.)
If you’re renting a car, you may want to check rates before you go. In the U.S. rates are often less when you get away from the airport.
You’re going to feel fairly comfortable up here, we try and lull tourists into a false sense of security before we boil them for dinner.
You should convert some cash - most banks will do it if you call in advance to be sure they have the currency on hand - do it mainly because our money is pretty. Our dollars are pretty close to par right now - there shouldn’t be any fee for changing your currency they make their profit on the gap between what they buy at and what they sell at.
We accept all major credit cards for almost everything so the majority of your cash on a prepaid credit card works.
Almost forgot your drugs. Just make sure your prescriptions are in the official pharmacy vial and that it’s your name on the bottle and you won’t have any trouble.
Prescription medication is not an issue at Customs going either way, although if you had a case of it, it might raise an eyebrow. You don’t have to declare it.
There will probably be currency exchange spots at the airport, which will probably be more expensive than a bank in town. Some places charge a commision, and some hide their commission in the exchange rates. Look up the exchange rate on the Internet before you go, (here’s one example). These are the rates that the banks get so will be a better rate than you can get, but it will give you an idea. If you have an ATM card you can get local currency at any nearly any ATM machine instead of going to a currency exchange, and probably get a good rate. I have done this in France, Italy, and Egypt so Canada should be a piece of cake. You can also use your credit card, but the bank will probably change an exchange fee (my bank is Bank of America and they charge a 3% commission). That still might compare favorably to a currency exchange.
I suspect that if you get a prepaid credit card, you will pay a fee just to get the card, then another fee when the foreign transactions come across. If you decide to go that route make sure you are aware of all fees first. That wouldn’t be my first choice.
I never thought of getting money out of an ATM there with my debit card. And that does the currency conversion for you? Wow. If I’m understanding you correctly, that’s pretty neat.
On a related note, if I decide to just use my debit card for everything, would it be standard practice to assess conversion charges as well on every purchase? Or does that just apply to credit purchases (usually). I’m going to call my bank now, but I just wanted to see what the standard practice was.
Actually, a second purpose of this thread is to hear some suggestions of places to eat and attractions to visit. I’ll be staying from the 30th to the 4th in the area of the convention center. I have a Frommer’s guide, but I trust Dopers’ taste more. Are there some favorite restaurants in Vancouver near the convention center that I just have to try?
We use both native currency and our Visa cards when we travel to the US from Canada. We go to our local CAA (AAA to you) office and get some US bucks; there is a charge for that, but it’s not very large - you could also use a bank, but we always buy our traveller’s medical insurance at the same time - we don’t set foot in the US without having traveller’s medical insurance. I would suggest getting at least $100 or so in Canadian dollars; you could probably buy a pack of gum with your credit card, but we usually don’t like to do that. You just go to your bank or AAA outlet and say you’d like to buy some Canadian money - I imagine that is a very common transaction for them. Try not to use ATMs - the fees are exorbitant unless your bank account covers them (ours doesn’t).
Speaking of traveller’s insurance, make sure your healthcare coverage extends to Canada.
Visa just puts the US items through with a conversion rate based on the day they process the transaction; we haven’t run into a place in the US yet that wouldn’t take a Canadian Visa card, and there are very few places here that won’t take an American Visa card, as far as I know. I’ve never noticed a foreign transaction fee on Visa - just a conversion rate from USD to CAD.
You may need a note from your doctor regarding the Ritalin - certainly make sure you keep it in the prescription bottle with your name on it.
Some places will accept American currency – at unfavourable (to you) exchange rates. I don’t know how many will in Vancouver, but closer to the border it’s fairly common.
I was at my local market, in a little village that has a LOT of Canadian visitors, and the person in front of me asked if they accept Canadian currency. They did, at 90¢ on the dollar.
Oh, regarding debit and credit cards - we use the same words as US Americans, but they don’t mean quite the same things. A debit card here is used to make a purchase from your bank account (savings or chequing); a credit card is used to make a purchase on credit. I have never quite been able to understand how this works in the US, but I know that it’s different from us. When you purchase things here, they’ll want to know if you will be paying by debit (your bank account), credit (your credit card) or cash.
Just pull cash out of an ATM - there should be some in the airport that charge no more than the usual out-of-network ATM fee.
Also, remember that if you run into any inconvenience, you can overcome it by loudly announcing that you’re an American and reminding your hosts that they would be speaking German if it weren’t for you.
That’s pretty much my standard way of getting local currency while traveling anywhere. The worldwide ATM network is pretty convenient. You didn’t expect it to issue you US Dollars in Canada, did you?
Sounds like exactly the same thing as here. Ususally you will be asked, ‘Debit, or credit?’ Debit means it comes from your bank account and you need to enter your PIN. Credit is credit card.
I’ve just got of the phone with my credit union. They said that they charge no fees for international purchases, and that I can use my debit or credit card for purchases, or my debit card at ATMs, and they will not charge a fee. Any fees will be on the seller’s end (including the usual fees for using ATMs that are for banks you’re not a client of).
Interac is the major Canadian debit card network. My bank card is linked to the Interac network, so I can use it as a debit card. I don’t believe I can use it as a credit card, although it is possible that I could get cash advances from my Visa account (with the same financial institution) with it.
My understanding is that the Interac network is a partner of the international Plus network, and I can use my bank card to get money from ATMs abroad. I’ve never tried using is as a debit card abroad, even in the US. I don’t know if it would work.
I also have a Visa credit card (issued by my main financial institution) and a MasterCard with another bank. Both of them work in foreign countries, but they are not linked to my chequing account and I cannot use them as debit cards.
I can use my debit card as a Visa. I can’t use my Visa card as a debit card (AFAIK – anyway, I don’t have a PIN for it).
Thanks for the info about Interac. My debit card is part of the Plus network (and Interlink, Co-Op Network, and Star). I’ll change dollars when I go to the airshow, but it’s good to know that my debit card is in the network. (Of course I know the Visa works anywhere.)
What Hypnagogic Jerk said - I still don’t quite understand how US Americans are using debit and credit cards, but that sounds like it. Maybe statsman’s debit and credit cards will work the same way here as he’s used to; I couldn’t say.
That sounds exactly like the American system. (Although I’m unfamiliar with the Interac system specifically…is that like, it’s Interac instead of Visa or MasterCard? If so, I doubt it would work as a debit card in the US.) I’m confused as to what the difference could possibly be.
Anyway, I’m an American and I’ve used both my debit and credit cards all over the world. I once ran into trouble when my bank shut down my account after I used my debit card in Bulgaria, but I called them up and told them it was really me and they reactivated it. Since then they seem to have tagged my account with a “travels to weird places” and I haven’t had a repeat of the problem.
So if you’re REALLY paranoid, you may want to let your bank know that you’re traveling abroad, but I doubt a trip to Canada would really trigger their “possible fraud” alert.
You probably can, actually. You can get Visa to issue you a PIN code so you can use it as an ATM card. I learned this when I ran into an unfortunate financial situation in Macedonia one time. (Not that it did any good, because they wouldn’t issue me the PIN over the phone. And the woman I was talking to didn’t seem to know where Macedonia was. She kept telling me to go to the nearest Bank of America branch, where they could issue me a PIN code.)
Yeah, let the card issuer(s) know you are traveling. My credit card issuer and credit union put notes on my accounts when I talked to them earlier today, just to prevent any problems when I go to the airshow.
Sounds like exactly the same thing as here. Ususally you will be asked, ‘Debit, or credit?’ Debit means it comes from your bank account and you need to enter your PIN. Credit is credit card.