Returning to England for a Holiday

jonscott14

Hi everybody, I hope you can help with a few queries I have and help me make the most of my holiday to the UK. During my life in England I saved a considerable amount with MSE, but returning from abroad I have some problems I can't find solutions to on the website, so I thought I'd give the forum a go and see if anyone here has had a similar experience or would be kind enough to offer a solution, so thanks in advance for reading, here is the problem:

I am an expat travelling from Vietnam to the UK with my partner for a one month holiday. Our biggest problem is bringing holiday spending money to the UK, of an roughly estimated value of 2200USD/1500GBP. Rules and regulations prevent us from bringing more than a small amount of Vietnamese Dong out of the country, so any cash currency we bring will have to be in dollars or pounds - both have reasonably high commission here in vietnam. If we were to bring dollars we would have to exchange in the UK and face a second round of commission.

My other option is a bank transfer, but the charges for using a intermediary bank are around 35GBP on top of a charge of 400,000vnd (roughly 15GBP). So 50GBP for bank transfer.

Either way, I stand to loose around 50GBP along the way unless I can find another solution. Which is where I am struggling, so kind folk of the MSE forum - please let me know your ideas!

Many thanks,

Jon

wealdroam

Probably best asked on that part of the overseas holidays board concerned with currency exchange...
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=193

dzug1

If you can get ££ at anything approaching a reasonable rate in Vietnam then that's what to bring. If it costs you £50 on £1500 then so be it - it's not that bad a charge as they go.

I assume use of credit or debit cards is ruled out?