Whenever I’m planning my next trip to the UK, I like to get some pound notes (50 or 60 pounds) from my bank here before I go in case I run into any trouble with ATMs. I have a couple of times had trouble getting money from ATMs, so I feel better having a little cash in hand.
The absolute best place I ate in London last year was The Seven Stars pub. It’s not in Holland Park, but its in the City, so will be an easy journey from most of the central attractions. It definitely counts as an offbeat place, complete with a cat wearing a barrister’s collar.
It’s not strictly necessary to arrive with Pounds. The airports have cash points (aka ATMs), but they’re not always easy to find. Failing that, wherever your airport train dumps you, Paddington, Victory, etc. is also going to have cash points nearby. If you have a smart phone, I found the Tripadvisor app, with offline data and maps, was very useful.
An ATM card should be fine. Through 22 countries, I’ve never had an issue with my B of A card. Whether or not you call in to warn them depends on the bank. My bank has never given me issues, but my mother’s freezes her card every time she as much as leaves the state.
To minimize fees, try to do it in one or two large transactions rather than a bunch of smaller ones. There is always an ATM somewhere in the airport, so there isn’t really a need to change money before. If worse comes to worse, you can change just enough at the airport to get into town.
I’ll typically stash a few twenties across my luggage, shoes, etc. It’s also a good idea to have a backup credit card just in case. If worse comes to worse, make sure you’ve memorized the contact info of someone who can wire you money in an emergency.
Another good tip is to scan both sides of all pertinent documents and put it in your email or dropbox or google drive or similar.
Passports, credit cards, drivers license, reservations, important phone numbers from home-any thing you might conceivably lose or need.
All you need to be able to do is find internet to access it-and internet access is very easy to find.
I definitely vote for bringing Pounds with you. Just go to your bank a week or more before your trip, any major anyway and grab $500 and turn it into £. Close to the inter bank rate and IME the best rate you will ever see and you can deposit £ into USD at the same bank when you get home. IME it sucks to get off the plane and need cash for a coffee and a bite and have to go to an ATM after a 9+ hour flight. Don’t forget to bring some USD for the return flight. London is expensive BTW and what’s the VAT rate these days?
Have a blast, I wish it was me
BTW the currency exchange rates posted in the paper and online can be very deceptive, the rate you get at the bank will give you an idea what you are really spending. It is really easy to think of a 10€ or a 10£ note as a 10$ note but they are appx $13 and $17 each. I have made this mistake.
Capt
Why would this make any difference? All the ATMs I’ve used in London (and other places in the UK) never charged a per use fee, the only extra you’d pay is the foreign transaction fee charged by your bank, typically around 3%. Whether you take out £20 five times or £100 once, the fees are the same.
I’ll agree. I always carry one hundred to two hundred dollars in destination currency with me on the flight to my foreign destination.
ATMs are fine for later use, but when you land after a long flight, when you may be jet-lagged and confused and perhaps hungry and thirsty, then having some local cash makes things such as cabs, bus fare, snacks, etc., so much easier. Besides, do you really want to line up at an airport ATM after you’ve lined up for immigration, baggage claim, customs, etc.?
If you do this, just make sure beforehand that the notes you receive are actual current money. If it’s not one of the designs on this page you might have trouble using them, and god knows what lurks in whatever vault the bank may have pulled them from. (The last time I got Canadian money in advance, the bank helpfully threw in some small bills…that were from the 1950s. I was actually pleased by this and still have them, but not everyone is that eccentric.)
The 1954 series of bills are still valid currency in Canada, though individual bills may be worth more than face value, depending on how worn they are. At any rate, you have at least the face value of your Canadian currency: Canada does not, and has never, devalued (or declared null) the worth of its currency.
ETA:
That’s better.
That would depend on the bank. One of mine changes a %, the other one changes a % with a minimum value - so for the first one, it doesn’t matter, but for the second one it does.
If you do decide to get some cash sterling before you leave for London, ask your bank not to give you any £50 notes – small retailers are sometimes suspicious of them as they don’t see them very often and don’t want to risk getting scammed with fakes.
It’s not that we have a forgery problem here, just that ATMs only issue £10 and £20s, so people don’t see £50s very often.
Holland Park, eh? There’s posh…
You are working distance of Notting Hill (of notoriously average romcom-film fame). This is actually a great area to explore. Head for Portobello Road any day except Sunday for an open air market, selling at one end of the street high end antiques, and at the other general market tat. It isn’t ‘offbeat’ – it’s famous and attracts large crowds, but fun nonetheless.
Good area for pubs too, I like The Elgin and The Ladbroke.
I tried that just to have some Euros in my pocket a couple of years ago and my (pretty big) bank told me that they don’t keep foreign currency on-hand. They directed me to a high-cost currency exchange across town :dubious:
So I waited and used an ATM when I got there.
If you have any friends there who you trust with your money, I found that PayPal actually had the best exchange rate - better than any of the banks I checked with. So I just sent a chunk of money to my friend in England via PayPal, and then he withdrew it from his bank and gave it to me in cash when I arrived. Obviously this only works if you know people there already, though.
Wells Fargo cards have worked in the UK just fine on 3 separate occasions, and in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic, as well as Mexico. I always called to let them know when and where I’d be, and never had an issue.
I usually do the daily couple hundred pounds/euros, with credit card for larger purchases and meals routine. I prefer the money belt route to the neck-pouch, but both work well.
I usually hit the airport with 200 bucks or so, and use it to buy stuff on the US side, and then change it in the airport on one end or the other(yes, at the obnoxiously unfavorable rate), so I can get coffee, sodas, cab fare, tip, etc… when I get there, without having to hunt down an ATM machine right away. It’s a case where convenience trumps cost.
A jar of coins will just about cover the excess baggage that you will pay for carrying the heavy jar.
I was pleased to learn that the credit card companies’ll give you the best rate of exchange possible, so my card purchases and ATM withdrawals were much more advantageous than changing money or traveller’s checks would’ve been.
BTW, Most of my purchases were in pubs. Best. Lunches. In the world.
I got them at roughly .20 US per Pound so the weight isn’t that bad compared to the value once I hit dirt. And the rest of my baggage being pretty light ------- I still may have to consider it.
Cram as many as you can in your pockets in ziploc bags/carry on. 200 pound coins should be do-able in carry-ons.