Reply #1 DutchDoubles's post
Couple of experiences ...
Once I was going through Immigration at the Austro-Hungarian border, a minivan full of students from Scotland drew up, and I overheard one of them proudly (and loudly) announcing to his friends how he had deliberately left all UK pounds behind, and his entire cash supply was Scottish banknotes. It's still Pounds Sterling and has the same value, but is technically only legal tender in Scotland. He was going to insist to use Scottish banknotes everywhere as a statement of nationalistic principle ... and he was still trying when we got through and continued our journey!
Maybe it was funnier at the time ... but it was hilarious to watch especially if you've met any Scottish Nationalists (don't flame me, I'm partly scots myself!!)
Another experience was with USD when leaving Vietnam. I'd taken a load of currency, but got really excited by the prices of arts and crafts, and spent the lot by the last day keeping just a few Dong for living expenses.
Arriving at the airport and heading for passport control I felt an unusually cold cold shower as the realisation hit "Oh shit I forgot something important" ... the airport tax is due, in cash, in USD. I'd spent it yesterday after spending half an hour trying to remember why I'd set aside a couple of notes as a reserve. Then a couple of seconds later the warm shower came back on as my "thank God I'm anally retentive" memory cut in: years ago I had stashed a crisp new $50 note in an unused corner in my wallet, and forgotten about it ready just for that moment where I might need it most. I pulled it out and offered it with a sigh of relief.
Then the fun really started "no good" - the official pointed to the $20 sign - they were only accepting $20 notes, guess she'd never seen anything bigger and couldn't imagine it even existed. Hell, I'd probably just pulled a month of her salary out of my pocket in a single crisp banknote. I'd freak out too if someone did that to me!
I argued, of course. She refused, of course. So I wandered around a bank and an FX place, asking to break the note into smaller denominations, which (of course) they refused. All's well that ends well (otherwise I'd still be standing there), I had plenty of time to the flight, and after about an hour of patiently standing by the counter she eventually relented and accepted the note giving me change.
Guess the lesson of both stories is, find out what's going to be acceptable in advance and take only that. Patience and good humour also goes a long way.
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