sta123

Hi guys.

I fly from Manc. Airport next week to Toronto. Is it best to swop money to can dollars in the UK like post office or sainsbury's.

Or Toronto airport will be that small ammount better on getting extra for your UK pounds? Or maybe a high street place in Toronto?

Thank you in advance.

rubberduckofdeath

How much money are you exchanging?

sta123

I was thinking £100 into Dollars so I have that on me for when I land in Toronto. Then from there I can change uk pounds when in Toronto. Also I have my HSBC Visa debit card (uk account), so I can go to a HSBC and withdraw canadian dollars out on that. Or will they give a bad rate?

Basically, I am not sure where will give the better rate. I wont be big spending money there. So if I say £1000 cash is what I am taking with me. If you can guide me on how much to change here in UK and then to leave rest in pounds to have with me over there. Also my HSBC account/card. Or shall I just keep that as emergency use and use the £1000 cash that I will have on me?

Please guide me

rubberduckofdeath

Okay, how long are you staying for? What are you going to be doing day-to-day? You're unlikely to get a good deal from an ATM which will charge you for every withdrawal...

Try here:

http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

sta123

6 days , 27th to 2nd jan.

My friends there have said not to worry about restaurants and travel as they have that covered.

So my spending will be the hotel bill (just under 800 dollars) and food and little shopping. So as a very rough guess, all that adds up to $1200 ?

Hobbess

That's a good link, MSE is such a good site and I've never found anything similar on this side of the pond.

I've in-laws coming in the New Year, and I've offered to "broker" the money for them. I figure I can bring money over through OANDA or similar at a much better rate and they will then just use cash from us. Looking at that link the best rate seems to be about 1c less than I could get on OANDA, so not huge savings, but the theory is I bring the money over when I like the rate and not when they need it so I should be able to beat the rate handsomly.

Tripitaka

Definitely MoneySavingExpert to give a comparison of who to buy from. I'vealways had teh cash delivered next day by special Delivery but if you are London-based then there are many places you can collect from.

Once, I even bought the cash through Travelex and then collected at the airport on the way out. This is NOT the same as buying it from the Travelx booth at the airport though as the rates are massively different. Lots of options there, just check it out.

workhouse

There are a bunch of places to change your wedge once downtown and this is as good as anywhere: www.guardianfx.com

johnh009

This is a useful site, especially as it points out that some of these companies have no compensation scheme in case they go bust (like Crown Currency Exchange recently) so I suppose it is a case of buyer beware. What may seem to be a good deal could also be a major risk.

http://crowncurrencyactiongroup.org/

sta123

HI all

thanks for the info

I have yesterday got myself $150 dollars from Sainsbury's (receipt says provided by Travelex). Rate 1.4774

Will change other pounds sterling when I get there.