If, like me, you have had to purchase euros for your holiday recently, you may have been left weeping when you caught glimpse of the horrendous exchange rate you received. A Euro is now worth around 92p and this means that travel to Europe is very expensive at the moment.
When you are away on your travels, the best way to work out the exchange rate is to knock off around 10% to give you the conversion into GBP. You should tend to find that most European countries will still be affordable to you, although you will not be getting the massive discounts on products and services you would have around 10 years ago.
Then, of course, we need to discuss the ways in which you actually purchase those euros for your holidays in the first place. This will have a further impact on the amount of money you will have available to spend on your holidays.
When exchanging money for euros, it is always best to do so in cash. Even if you pay using a debit card, most banks will consider this to be a cash advance and will rip you off with a weighty fee. Credit cards are even worse and you should always give these a very wide birth when it comes to using them at the bureau de change.
Some people are under the impression that it is best to get their currency from an ATM machine when they reach the country they are travelling to: again this is false! Your card issuer is likely to charge cash advance fees for this, too, and these costs really can add up.