Spending a a day or so in Vancouver. With the U. S. Dollar only 92% of the Canadian, how does one handle taxis, credit card charges, etc.
Speaking of Vancouver, are the any options to get downtown from the airport other than a taxi? If not, what can I expect to pay for the taxi ride?
Thanks.
The Vancouver Skytrain runs from the airport to downtown. Costs about 9 bucks for the trip.
You can use your US cards anywhere, but you’ll pay a slight premium through your credit card company on the exchange rate. Any store will gladly take your US cash, but again, will charge you a premium on the rate. You could stop by any bank when you get here and exchange some US money and get the best rate.
Pretty sure you mean the opposite of that. CAD/USD ~=0.92.
Yeah.
Subway from the airport to downtown. Why can’t other cities be that smart? IIRC, Skytrain works on the honour system, but it can get expensive if you cheat - buy a ticket. I think the ticket machines are automated, I think they take VISA etc.
Check the terms and conditions of your card(s). My Canadian card, for example, charged the published exchange rate plus 2.5% for foreign transactions. Most Canadian provinces other than Alberta have a provincial sales tax (PST - in BC, 7%) as well as the federal one (GST -5%). So you see a price posted as $100, you’ll pay $C112 which is just over $US100 plus whatever the credit card tacks on, for a total of - let’s say about - $US105
Welcome to the world outside the USA. I’ve used Visa and Amex all over the world - some places charge you local currency and your card company does the exchange; some more touristy businesses, especially in the third world, the credit card machine may give the option of being charged directly in US dollars. Regardless, your card works anywhere that local VISA, AMEX, or MC works.
2.5% is not bad compared to cash currency exchange booths. If you plan to use your debit card at an ATM (should work) but not your bank (we have different ones up here unless yours is TD) you may pay the network fee just like in the USA (a dollar or so?) plus, my bank for example charged I think $2 for US withdrawals on my Canadian account and $5 per withdrawal outside USA and Canada. Check the terms of your ATM card with your bank. If they charge that on every transaction, using debit may not be a very good idea for most purchases.
Short answer - check with your bank about your cards.
Canada makes a special exception for USA transactions (cost less than overseas) but US banks may not be as accommodating about Canadian transactions.
I was in Victoria last week, every place I spent money accepted US currency 1 for 1. A couple places even gave me change in US coins. I was in a touristy area, it will depend where you are.
Using US currency at 1/1, you are giving the merchant an 8% premium. Use credit cards, your CC company will give you full value, within less than one percent. That’s an even better rate than a bank exchange window will give you. One percent is imperceptible, and will have meaningless impact on your budget. You will waste more than that, on the overall cost of the trip, just by getting lazy once and failing to bargain-shop a better price for something. Better to be “penny-foolish” and forget about it and enjoy your trip.
The closest you can come to a perfect rate is to find a Canadian tourist before you go, who will exchange with you at exactly spot rate, you both get what you want and cut out any middle-man.
Pretty much every place takes credit cards. Your ATM cards should work, but if you don’t have a chip-and-pin card, it will be a minor pain. Still, there are so many Americans here that most merchants will know the drill.
PM me if you have specific Vancouver questions.
Correct. Currently, one U.S. dollar will buy CDN$1.09.
I’ve read in threads on FlyerTalk that the instant conversion to your currency at the merchant, called “DCC”, typically takes place at less favourable rates for you than the conversion that the credit-card company does later. For this reason, you should decline it. This was mentioned somewhere in this mega-thread about chip-and-PIN on FlyerTalk, but I’ll try to find a better reference. Edit: here’s a thread about DCC.
That made me grin. I remember back before the Euro, a worker in my department used to go back home to Ireland for a long weekend every month. At the time he should have got about 1.2 Punts for a GBP. I asked him how he exchanged his Pounds for Punts and he told me that his mother was great, because she have him a one to one exchange. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his Ma was ripping him off.
To be fair, there’ve been plenty of times the last few years when the situation was a lot more even, or the merchant was even taking a small loss in such an offer. CAD/USD had been hovering very close to 1.00 for quite a while before the drifting apart in the last year or so.