Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

jools39

shezie wrote: »

Hi newbie here and not sure if this is the right place to post!!?
My boyfriend is working in Germany for 3-4 months, each week he will be flying from Stanstead to Hanover (Sun-Fri)
This is his first week and iv been looking online at all the cheap air fares for next week but they are al coming up about £200+
Does anyone know of a more cost effective way of doing this?
Thanks
Sheree

Firstly book further in advance, you will get it cheaper.

Another option is to try looking at flights to somewhere like Dusseldorf, Dortmund or Hamburg and then taking the train to Hannover. Very easy to do and would probably be cheaper.

John_Pierpoint

Or he could stay there and you could fly out to join him some weekends - but that would probably have to be regarded as a holiday break as it is unlikely to work out cheaper, unless you could travel "off peak" relative to the hours your boyfriend is expected to graft.

grainy_2

I am going to finland for 3 months, unable to get a credit card due to being a student, so i believe the best thing for me to use to spend whilst over there is the Fair FX.

Have gone through the link to buy the card. Do i select payment currency as 'pounds sterling' (anywhere card)? When using this card is the best thing to do, take out lump sums of euros at a time to reduce the spending fee?

Thanks!!

CountryGoose

grainy wrote: »

I am going to finland for 3 months, unable to get a credit card due to being a student, so i believe the best thing for me to use to spend whilst over there is the Fair FX.

Have gone through the link to buy the card. Do i select payment currency as 'pounds sterling' (anywhere card)? When using this card is the best thing to do, take out lump sums of euros at a time to reduce the spending fee?

Thanks!!

Well you have a choice.... You could take the Euro card and fix your rates now. There's no fee for spending (Shops, etc.) and a €1.50 fee for each ATM use

The currency card will cost you 1.5% of all you spend, but no ATM fees. Also, you get the fx rate on the day.

If you want to keep popping to the ATM at taking £50 each time, the currency card will be cheaper. If you want to take £200 a time from the ATM, and spend a lot in the shots, the Euro card may be cheaper, but you are at the mercy of exchange rates.....

I would take the currency card, as it's good for 3 years and you never know where your travels may take you in the future.

grainy_2

Thanks countrygoose.
Are exchange rates likely to get better from now til the end of the year? If so, the caxton currency card does sound better! more confused now!! lol

iblametheparents

grainy wrote: »

Thanks countrygoose.
Are exchange rates likely to get better from now til the end of the year? If so, the caxton currency card does sound better! more confused now!! lol

Also the Euro rates are slightly loaded (1.5-2%) on the Caxton card against interbank. I'd go for for the Anywhere card.

CountryGoose

grainy wrote: »

Thanks countrygoose.
Are exchange rates likely to get better from now til the end of the year?

If I knew that, I would be working as a currency trader :beer:

grainy_2

hehe, thanks. On reflection I think i'll go for Fair FX card because i will withdraw large sums at a time not little bits. Do I choose to buy the card in Euros or Pounds Sterling? That I am confused about. Please help

CountryGoose

grainy wrote: »

hehe, thanks. On reflection I think i'll go for Fair FX card because i will withdraw large sums at a time not little bits. Do I choose to buy the card in Euros or Pounds Sterling? That I am confused about. Please help

If you're not going to sweat about the rate, and can be sure you'll spend just about all on the card and take more than €100 from the ATM each time, I would go for the Euro card, but it is a close call.

If you think you may travel out of the Euro zone, don't want to spend in shops (because you'll have a best buy credit card for that!) and are worried about locking in to a rate, get the £ card.

DCIC

I agree.

After looking at FairFx and Caxton in some detail, it seems to me that Caxton, despite a slight less favourable exchange rate than FairFx, is a better euro or dollar card if you want to withdraw cash as well as pay merchants directly. Caxton, unlike FairFx, doesn't have fees for ATM withdrawals, and this more than compensates for the exchange rate.

On the other hand FairFx is attractive for short trips because unlike Caxton it doesn't have a (€150 or $200) minimum load and it's cheaper to take money off it on return. In this case, however, it might be better to go for the FairFx Anywhere card even in euroland or USA, because the charge is 1.5%; thus for smaller ATM withdrawals it is more cost effective than a card with a fixed fee.

Anyone had similar thoughts?