japanese travel money - bugger

Former Member

travel or money forum, it doesn't matter I suppose...

im going to japan for 3 weeks over christmas, and ive just had a look at the stock markets.
i always considered £1 to roughly equal 200 yen, and it was still this 2 months ago. But this last two months its now down to 140 yen!

http://www.currenciesdirect.com/uk/british-pound-gbp-to-japanese-yen-jpy.aspx


That means if i spent £1000 pound worth 2 months ago in japan, the same now would cost me over £1400! I wish I bought a load 2 months ago. Now I'm wondering if I should buy some quick before they drop further, or hope it pops back up (even a little). I suppose thats what 1000's of people do every day for a career though.

Or should I just use my cards over there? I don't particually want to carry around wads of cash. I'm staying with a friend, so I wouldn't be spending loads there...

I've only been abroad once when I was 16, so this is all a little new to me. Any hints?

Former Member

It might be worth checking what the exchange rate on your cards is roughly.

My currency fell drastically in October, the exchange rate was bad enough but many who went abroad woke up to a nightmare when they saw that the VISA exchange rate was about 40% worse than the banks traded.

I doubt it's that bad in the UK but it wouldn't be a bad idea to check it out.

Former Member

Jaloux wrote: »

It might be worth checking what the exchange rate on your cards is roughly.

Plus what fees you'll get charged as well. As for the price of currency there really isnt much you can do to forecast rates at the moment.

Former Member

I doubt it will go back up that quickly. Either buy now or just use cards later. I wouldn't rely completely on cards though. Take out some cash. Check to see if US$ would be any good, if that's better.