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EUROPE
- COSTS, MONEY AND BANKS |
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It's hard to generalize about what you're
likely to spend travelling around Europe.
Some countries - Norway, Switzerland and
the UK - are among the priciest places to
be in the world, while in others you can
live like a lord on next to nothing -
Turkey, for example. The collapse of the
eastern European economy means that many
of the countries there appear very
inexpensive if you're coming from the
west. However, the absorption of a number
of the previously inexpensive countries of
southern Europe into the EU means their
costs are becoming much more in tune with
the European mainstream.
Accommodation will be the
largest single cost, and can really
determine where you decide to travel. For
example, it's hard to find a double hotel
room anywhere in Scandinavia - perhaps the
most expensive part of the Continent - for
much under £40/$65 a night, whereas in
most parts of southern Europe, and even in
France, you might be paying under half
that on average. Everywhere, though, even
in Scandinavia, there is some form of
bottom-line accommodation available, and
there's always a youth hostel on hand. In
general, reckon on a minimum budget of
around £10/$15 a night per person in most
parts of Europe.
Food and drink costs also vary
wildly, although again in most parts of
Europe you can assume that a restaurant
meal will cost on average £5-10/$8-15 a
head, with prices at the top end of the
scale in Scandinavia, at the bottom end in
eastern and southern Europe. Transport
costs are something you can pin down more
exactly if you have a rail pass or are
renting a car. Nowhere, though, are
transport costs a major burden, except
perhaps in Britain where public transport
is less heavily subsidized than elsewhere.
Local city transport, too, is usually
good, clean and efficient, and is normally
fairly cheap, even in the pricier
countries of northern Europe. It's hard to
pinpoint an average daily budget for
touring the Continent, but a bottom-line
survival figure - camping, self-catering,
hitching, etc - might be around £15/$25 a
day per person; building in an investment
for a rail pass, staying in hostels and
eating out occasionally would bring this
up to perhaps £20/$30 a day; while
staying in private rooms or hotels and
eating out once a day would mean a
personal daily budget of at least £25/$40.
Obviously in the more expensive countries
of northern Europe you might be spending
more than this, but on a wide tour this
would be balanced out by spending less in
southern and eastern Europe, where
everything is that much cheaper.
When and where you are travelling also
makes a difference. Accommodation rates
tend to go up across the board in July and
August, when everyone is on vacation -
although paradoxically there are good
deals in Scandinavia during these months.
Also bear in mind that in capital cities
and major resorts in the peak season
everything will be a grade more expensive
than anywhere else, especially if you're
there when something special is going on,
for example in Munich during the Beer
Festival, Pamplona for the running of the
bulls, Siena during the Palio. These are,
in any case, times when you will be lucky
to find a room at all without having
booked.
As for ways of cutting costs ,
there are plenty. It makes sense,
obviously, to spend less on transport by
investing in some kind of rail pass, and
if you're renting a car to do so for a
week or more, thereby qualifying for
cheaper rates. Always try to plan in
advance. Although it's good to be
flexible, buying one-off rail tickets and
renting cars by the day can add a huge
amount to your travel budget. The most
obvious way to save on accommodation is to
use hostels and/or camp; you can also save
by planning to make some of your longer
trips at night, when the cost of a
couchette may undercut the cost of a
night's accommodation. It's best not to be
too spartan when it comes to food costs,
but doing a certain amount of
self-catering, especially at lunchtime
when it's just as easy (and probably
nicer) to have a picnic lunch rather than
eat in a restaurant or café, will save
money. Bear in mind, also, that if you're
a student an ISIC card is well
worth investing in. It can get you reduced
(usually 50 percent, sometimes free) entry
to museums and other sights - costs which
can eat their way into your budget
alarmingly if you're doing a lot of
sightseeing - as well as qualifying you
for other discounts in certain cities; it
can also save you money on some transport
costs, notably ferries, and especially if
you are over 26. For Americans there's
also a health benefit, providing up to
$3000 in emergency medical coverage and
$100 a day for 60 days in hospital, plus a
24-hour hotline to call in the event of a
medical, legal or financial emergency. If
you are not a student but under 26, the Go-25
Card (or FIYTO) costs the same as the
ISIC and can in some countries give much
the same sort of reductions. Teachers
qualify for the International Teacher
Identity Card , offering similar
discounts. All these cards are available
from youth travel specialists such as
Council Travel, STA, Usit and Travel CUTS.
Basically, it's worth flashing one or the
other at every opportunity to see what you
can get.
The Euro
On 1 January 1999, eleven EU countries -
Austria, Belgium, Finland, France,
Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Portugal and Spain,
subsequently joined by Greece - fixed
their exchange rates to a new currency, the
euro ( ? ) , which has
gradually taken over as the single
currency for all of them. Euro notes and
coins replaced francs, Deutschmarks,
lire and the like from 1 January 2002
onward. The remaining three EU countries
(the UK, Denmark and Sweden) are
expected to join Euroland eventually,
though their politicians may have a hard
time convincing voters that this is a
good idea, especially if the new
currency continues to perform badly
against the dollar, the yen or the pound
sterling. The British government has
promised a referendum before joining;
Denmark had one and voted against; but
attitudes in those countries are
expected to change as the euro becomes
established.
Prices
For countries in Europe we've quoted prices
in local currency wherever possible,
except in those countries where the
weakness of the currency and the
inflation rate combine to make this a
meaningless exercise. In these cases -
parts of eastern Europe and Turkey -
we've used either US dollars, pounds
sterling or Deutschmarks, depending on
which hard currency is most commonly
used within that country.
Travellers' cheques and exchange
The easiest and safest way to carry your
money is in travellers' cheques ,
in either dollars, euros or pounds
sterling. These are available for a
small commission from any bank. You
should, strictly speaking, order them in
advance but this isn't always necessary
in larger branches, or if you get them
direct from offices of the issuing
companies. The usual fee for travellers'
cheque sales is one or two percent,
though this may be waived if you buy the
cheques through a bank where you have an
account. It pays to get a selection of
denominations. Make sure to keep the
purchase agreement and a record of
cheque serial numbers safe and separate
from the cheques themselves. In the
event that cheques are lost or stolen,
the issuing company will expect you to
report the loss forthwith to their local
office; most companies claim to replace
lost or stolen cheques within 24 hours.
The most commonly accepted travellers'
cheques are American Express, with Visa
a close second, and Thomas Cook/Mastercard
trailing third. Most cheques issued by
banks will be one of these three brands.
You'll usually pay commission again when
you cash each cheque; this varies from
country to country but is normally
another 1 percent or so, or a flat rate,
in which case it makes sense to cash as
many as possible at once, though in some
countries it's a flat rate per cheque.
Keep a record of the cheques as you cash
them, and you can get the value of all
uncashed cheques refunded immediately if
you lose them (though in practice most
firms drag their feet if they can,
especially when dealing with
backpackers, or if fraud is suspected).
An alternative now available from
Visa (and their competitors will no
doubt soon be offering the same) is travel
money , a disposable pre-paid debit
card that you can use in ATM machines
worldwide. It's a sort of electronic
version of travellers' cheques, where
you can buy as much credit as you think
you'll need, throw the card away when it
runs out and carry up to eight spare
cards in case you lose one (or for a
family or group with a common pool of
money). The card is available from,
among other places, Colombus Bank in the
US and Thomas Cook in the UK. For
further information, ring Visa's 24hr
toll-free customer services line on
1-410/581-9091 or check out their Web
site at www.visa.com .
You'll find that most hotels, shops
and restaurants in Europe accept the
major credit cards - Access/Mastercard,
Visa, American Express and Diners Club -
although they're less useful in eastern
Europe, where you shouldn't depend on
being able to use one. Credit cards can
also come in handy as a backup source of
funds, and can even save on
exchange-rate commissions; just be sure
someone back home is taking care of the
bills if you're away for more than a
month. Your card will also enable you to
get cash advances from certain ATMs,
mostly in western Europe, but remember
that all cash advances are treated as
loans, with interest accruing daily from
the date of withdrawal; there may be a
transaction fee on top of this, and
there will invariably be a minimum
amount you can draw. This varies from
one country to the next, but it's
usually at least the equivalent of £50-100/$80-150
in local currency. Bear in mind though
that you can always use your credit or
debit card to withdraw money from ATMs
across the whole of Europe.
In many countries banks are
the only places where you can legally
change money, and they often offer the
best exchange rates and lowest
commission. They can also mess you
around a lot, be annoyingly
bureaucratic, and sting you for hidden
charges, though this is improving and
banks in most countries are much better
in this respect than they once were.
Bank opening hours are given in the
text. Outside these times there are
normally bureaux de change, often at
train stations and airports, though
rates and/or commissions may well be
less favourable (always check the rate
of commission first - it is sometimes as
high as ten percent), and even automatic
money-changing machines. Try to avoid
changing money or cheques in hotels,
where the rates are generally
rock-bottom.
Wiring money
Having money wired from home is
never cheap, and should be considered as
a last resort. Funds can be sent to most
countries via MoneyGram or Western
Union. Both companies' fees depend on
the amount being transferred, but as an
example, wiring £700/$1000 will cost
around £40/$60. The funds should be
available for collection (usually in
local currency) from the company's local
agent within minutes of being sent; you
can do this in person at the company's
nearest office (in the UK all post
offices are agents for MoneyGram), or
over the phone using your credit card
with Western Union. It's also possible,
and slightly cheaper, to have money
wired from a bank in your home country
to one in Europe, but this is much
slower (a couple of weeks is not unheard
of) and less reliable; if you go down
this route, the person wiring the funds
will need to know the routing number of
the destination bank. From the UK, a
compromise option is Thomas Cook's
Telegraphic Transfer service, available
through their high street branches,
which costs £15 plus one percent of the
amount to be sent (minimum charge £25),
and takes 1-2 days to arrive.
If you have no money in your account,
and there is no one you can persuade to
send you any, then the options are
inevitably limited. You can either find
some casual, cash-in-hand work, sell
blood (not possible in all European
countries), or, as a last resort, throw
yourself on the mercy of your nearest
consulate. They won't be very
sympathetic or even helpful, but they
may cash a cheque drawn on a home bank
and supported by a cheque card. They
might, if there's nothing else for it,
repatriate you, though bear in mind your
passport will be confiscated as soon as
you set foot in your home country and
you'll have to pay back all costs
incurred (at top-whack rates). They
never lend money.
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