Europe trip preparation: Currency
With the introduction of the Euro in 2002, the hassle and fees of changing currencies has largely been eliminated for this trip. The problem is that my home currency is not the Euro, and the UK still uses the British Pound.
At least France and Italy, two of the countries I'm visiting, uses the Euro.
Guess what. The flight I'm taking makes a stopover in a small country in the Middle East called Quatar. (Near UAE and north eastern corner of Saudi Arabia if you didn't know where) It has its own currency called Qatari Riyal, so I don't know how am I to obtain that. I don't recall seeing it at the money changers I have been to or walked past.
On closer look, it does have money changer and has ATMs (unclear on fees or if international cards are accepted). It's not clear if my home currency is accepted there, but what is certain is that the Euro notes that I'm already bringing along would be accepted. (Some money is lost in the conversion though.)
Sadly, I can't find any more info about the Rial or the cost of things other than it being pegged to the USD at a rate of 3.something rial per USD. Travel guides seem to suggest that there is nothing there for tourist to see. Oh well.
When I asked people about the Qatar currency, they don't even seem to know such a country exists! *sigh*
At least France and Italy, two of the countries I'm visiting, uses the Euro.
Guess what. The flight I'm taking makes a stopover in a small country in the Middle East called Quatar. (Near UAE and north eastern corner of Saudi Arabia if you didn't know where) It has its own currency called Qatari Riyal, so I don't know how am I to obtain that. I don't recall seeing it at the money changers I have been to or walked past.
On closer look, it does have money changer and has ATMs (unclear on fees or if international cards are accepted). It's not clear if my home currency is accepted there, but what is certain is that the Euro notes that I'm already bringing along would be accepted. (Some money is lost in the conversion though.)
Sadly, I can't find any more info about the Rial or the cost of things other than it being pegged to the USD at a rate of 3.something rial per USD. Travel guides seem to suggest that there is nothing there for tourist to see. Oh well.
When I asked people about the Qatar currency, they don't even seem to know such a country exists! *sigh*
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