# Vacation - Currency Advice

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacation-currency-advice/536670>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 19, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacation-currency-advice/536670 "2010-04-19T21:37:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Spezza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacation-currency-advice/536670/1 "2010-04-19T21:37:10Z")

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While cycling today I had a though…

Next year (May 2011) I am planning on going on a month-plus Scandinavian / Russian vacation with the girl. The majority of our time will be spent in Norway and Sweden. With the Canadian dollar currently above the USD and the Euro being dragged down by Greece (_et al_), my thought was that I should purchase Euros now. Thoughts?

Obviously, who knows what will happen between today and a year, but I am thinking that buying Euros today is a safe bet, and will end up saving me some money.

Essentially, I have $1000 cash to spend. The options are either putting it into my TFSA (for non-Canadians, that is a tax-free investment vehicle) or buying Euros and putting them in a shoebox under my bed.

IMHO this is a good idea. How about in yours?

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**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacation-currency-advice/536670/2 "2010-04-19T21:56:41Z")

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> [@Spezza](#):
>
> … I am thinking that buying Euros today is a safe bet, and will end up saving me some money.

No foreign exchange transaction based on what exchange rates will be in one year’s time is a “safe bet”. If it were, then all the people dealing in foreign exchange every day would be making the same “safe bet”. In a year’s time, the Euro may have been pushed down even further, either by Greece or by other factors, and the Canadian dollar may be doing even better. If you want to gamble a little, with not much chance of a big swing either way (the Canadian and Eurozone economies both being relatively safe and stable), then do so, but accept that there is a chance that you will lose the gamble,

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacation-currency-advice/536670/3 "2010-04-19T22:02:31Z")

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It’s crazy to carry huge amounts of cash with you when you’re travelling.

Crazier still is that you’re thinking about buying euros: neither Norway, Sweden nor Russia use the euro, so you’d have to change all those notes back again and lose on exchange a second time.

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**Author:** ![Spezza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacation-currency-advice/536670/4 "2010-04-19T22:21:46Z")

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> [@jjimm](#):
>
> Crazier still is that you’re thinking about buying euros: neither Norway, Sweden nor Russia use the euro

Ha! The fatal flaw to the plan! Thank you. I knew that, but clearly wasn’t thinking about that as I was so overcome by the sheer beauty of my plan. So, thank you **jjimm**.

This - now slightly embarrassing - thread may be closed.